CALENDAR OF EVENTS

December 2020 Calendar of Events
Eric Eichorn, Calendar Editor

Codes: ACW all children welcome; BYOB bring your own beverage; CO clothing optional; C/D cat/dog at residence; FE fictitious event; FFE fragrance-free event; FFO finger food only; LCR light carpet rules (no red wine or other staining substances; can also mean no shoes); MO members only; NC no children; NPC, PC no public calendar, public calendar; NMPCW new members, prospects, and candidates welcome; NS, S, S/NS, SO no smoking, smoking, provisions for both, smoking outside; NXM not exclusively Mensa event; RSE regularly scheduled event; WBC well behaved children; WCD, WCE, WCI, WCP wheelchairs difficult, easy, impossible, possible; RSEs are reprinted verbatim unless an update is received by the deadline for the issue in which a change is requested. Note: Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Web Calendar Policy: Our policy is not to list events on the Web calendar unless requested to do so by inclusion of the “PC” (“public calendar”) code. If the PC code is not included, your event will default to NPC (no public calendar) and will not be included in the Web calendar. Home addresses (and directions to same) are not listed on the Web, but city and contact information such as telephone and e-mail are unless requested otherwise.

Meetup: SFRM maintains a MeetUp group for events announced on short notice. See meetup.com/SFMensa

To List Your Event: Length limit: 120 words. Submit items to the Calendar Editor at calendar@sfmensa.org. Items must be received by the deadline listed in the calendar to guarantee inclusion. Items must include host’s name, date and time, location, and applicable codes (above), and should also include phone (including area code) or e-mail address. Notices are published on a space-available basis subject to the discretion of the Calendar Editor. The policy for inclusion in the calendar is based on the SFRM bylaws.

Note to Readers

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, most December events have been cancelled, and are so noted below. The few remaining events are virtual or employ effective social distancing. Please continue to check here for updates as well as join our Meetup group where we have several impromptu virtual events happening.

WEEKLY EVENT

None at this time.

End of November

22 – Sunday

Channing Club is cancelled for November. PC (RSE 4 Su)

25 – Wednesday

Brainstormer Trivia Night is cancelled for November. PC (RSE last W)

6p Sapiens Book Discussion : One chapter a week. Chapter to read: The wheels of industry. See November 4. (RSE W)

26 – Thursday

South Bay Lunch is cancelled for November. PC (RSE 2,4 Th)

27 – Friday

6:30p Virtual Happy Hour . Mix up your favorite beverage. Bring out some happy-hour munchies and join us for a virtual relaxing time. Join the Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 819 0431 6965. Password: 162034. Hosted by Judy Unger, junger2040/a/t/gmail.com . PC (RSE 4 F)

December 1-7

1 – Tuesday

Tuesday Tipplers (as an in-person event) is cancelled for December, but watch the sources mentioned above in Note to Readers for Zoom Tipplers. PC (RSE 1 Tu)

2 – Wednesday

Math Lovers’ Lunch is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 1 W)

6p Sapiens Book Discussion: One chapter a week. Chapter to read: A permanent revolution. We’re reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Instead of discussing the whole book in one sitting, we discuss the subject matter in more depth one chapter at a time. The chapters are so different that it is no problem if you are only joining this week. This is a Zoom event. The login details are listed on Meetup. Hosted by Pia Smith. PC (RSE W)

4 – Friday

Movies That Matter is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 1,3 F)

5 – Saturday

6p Online Board Games. Come explore some board games that can be played on the Web. To prepare, it’s best if you create an account at boardgamearena.com and walk through the “Can’t Stop” tutorial. We’ll meet online with Zoom to establish voice contact, then we’ll decide on a game to try out. RSVP on the Meetup calendar if possible, otherwise contact Karl Heuer at puzzles/a/t/sfmensa.org or (650) 648-3594. PC, NMPCW, ACW

Start the Month Right is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 1 Sa)

6 – Sunday

2p Speaker MeetingAwakening Joy in Challenging Times. True happiness is not about acquiring anything but rather opening to the natural joy and aliveness right inside you. Today, as we are bombarded with messages that heighten our fear and sadness about the world, more than ever it is vital to understand the importance of joy as a central aspect of spiritual practice. We need to remember how to stay connected to that place inside that makes life worth living. Our own cultivation of well-being and joy can become our gift to a troubled world. This talk is based on the popular 5-month Awakening Joy course that thousands have taken with James since 2003. James Baraz is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has been teaching mindfulness meditation and Buddhist philosophy for over 40 years. He is the co-author of Awakening Joy: Ten Steps to Happiness and Awakening Joy for Kids. He has led the popular Awakening Joy online course since 2003. James is also a guiding teacher of One Earth Sangha, a website devoted to Buddhist responses to Climate Change. James lives in Berkeley with his wife, Jane, and has two sons and three grandchildren. Hosted by Roberta Maguire. This is a Zoom meeting; see Meetup for details. PC

4p Albany Hill Hike. (NOTE: This event is on, since the trail is still open as of this posting and is amenable to social distancing. Contact Roberta as below just before the event to make sure that this is still the case.) Join us for a one-hour scenic and historic hike up and around Albany Hill. The trail is steep in spots, but the views are expansive. Special bonus: We have scheduled the Sather Tower Solar Beacon to shine directly upon us as we arrive at the top of the hill. Meet under Pacific East Mall Jumbotron just behind the bus stop on the east side of Pierce St. between Central Ave. in El Cerrito and Washington Ave. in Albany. Free parking is available in the mall lot, which is seven tenths of a mile from the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. Please contact Roberta Maguire to make sure she is in town at robertamaguire/a/t/hotmail.com or (510) 292-6370. PC, ACW, NMPCW, NS, WCI, NXM (RSE 1 Su)

December 8-14

8 – Tuesday

6:45p Puzzled Pint. (NOTE: If shelter in place is still in effect, this will instead be a virtual event on Zoom. Contact Karl as below for instructions on how to connect.) Who likes PUZZLES? The kind where part of the game is to figure out what you need to be doing in the first place? Want to do it as part of a team, so you can bounce ideas off each other, and let someone else do the parts that you find uninteresting? This is a monthly event held in the Bay Area (and simultaneously elsewhere in the world), at a convenient pub where we might order food and drink before or during the game. RSVP to Karl Heuer at puzzles/a/t/sfmensa.org or (650) 648-3594 (voice or text) to reserve your spot and learn the address; it’s almost always either Sunnyvale or Mountain View, near Central Expressway. PC, NMPCW, NS, NXM (RSE 2 Tu)

Intelligencer Deadline. Deadline for calendar events, advertising, members’ free ads, and all other content. See above for information on submitting events. PC (RSE Tu after 1 Sa)

9 – Wednesday

6p Sapiens Book Discussion: One chapter a week. Chapter to read: And they lived happily ever after. See December 2. (RSE W)

10 – Thursday

South Bay Lunch is cancelled for December. (RSE 2,4 Th)

6:17p Bay Area Restaurant Group (BARG). A new version of BARG-It-Yourself: Please support one of your local restaurants by ordering take-out or delivery to enjoy in your own home. Tip generously! And for great conversation, consider phoning one of your Mensa friends. PC (RSE 2 Th)

11 – Friday

6:30p M Weisley’s Café. Ever wanted to hang out with all the space pilots at Mos Eisley’s cafe (Star Wars 1977)? Unfortunately Tatooine is rather a long commute just for a Happy Hour so we wisely located M Weisley’s in hyperspace where it can easily be accessed instantly by Zoom. No matter where in the universe you are located, you will not experience any light speed delays in your communications. So now you can experience all the ambience of our seedy cantina crowded with numerous alien races in our virtual meet up. All aliens and humans are welcome at M Weisley’s. Mix up your favorite beverage, gather up some munchies and join in our out of this world Happy Hour. To attend as an alien visit Snap Camera snapcamera.snapchat.com and download their software. Choose from hundreds of available avatars which will move and act with your movements in Zoom. If you’re creative, you can use their software to create your own avatar. Or of course you could do it the old-fashioned way and actually put on a costume. The login details are listed on Meetup.PC (RSE 2 F)

Missing Mid-Month Mex (MMMMex). Were it safer to do so, we would have met, eaten, and rested our feeten at Tito’s, 15508 E. 14th St., San Leandro 94578, 1,500’ NE of the exact geographic center of the Bay Area. Twixt 580 and 880, and close to Bay Fair BART, this is where Mensans might have met in the middle and gone, “MMMM!” In the better days to come, come for the Mensans and the margaritas (or just for the Mensans), along with the marvelous Mexican meal you’ve been missing after 7p. Cohosted by Hank Stephenson, hank888/a/t/earthlink.net or (415) 793-0300 (cell), and Peter Midnight. Come when you can to see why Tito’s has been there for more than 60 years, directly across E. 14th St. from Bay Fair Mall. Someday we’ll see you again at Tito’s! No Pets. PC, WCE, NMPCW, NC, SO, NXM (RSE 2 F)

GenX Food and Movie Night is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 2 F)

12 – Saturday

4p Big Ideas Reading Group: How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. (NOTE: We are meeting online via Zoom. E-mail host Chris Boyd as below if you might want to be included in the online meeting or to be updated on any changes in venue.) Pollan’s natural skepticism and wry humor is a good match for the detailed accounts he includes of mind-blowing, trip-induced revelations. Can magic mushrooms be used more broadly for “the betterment of well people”? Readers who begin reading Pollan’s book feeling doubtful about the responsible use of psychedelics may find their own minds changed by his engaging, enlightened, and persuasive combination of personal and journalistic research. For January 9 on Zoom: The Doomsday Calculation by William Poundstone. We have a list of books read at www.bigideasreadinggroup.com/BIRG2.html. For questions and directions please contact Chris Boyd at snoboyd/a/t/sbcglobal.net. PC, NMPCW, NXM (RSE 2 Sa)

13 – Sunday

3p Monthly Gathering: Extrasensory Perception: How science is developing previously underused parts of the body to create new ways to process information. Can you see colors with your skin? How about 360° vision? What about learning to adapt body sensors to “see” in the dark? Or to be able to feel the presence of electromagnetic machines or even other people in a building? How about learning how to feel the earth’s magnetic field and thus orient yourself in space the way migrating birds do? Dr. Elna Tymes will discuss some of the amazing discoveries in brain interpretation of different kinds of signals. Hosted by Nick Kloski. This is a Zoom meeting; see Meetup for details. PC

14 – Monday

Monday Munchers is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 2 M)

San Francisco Pub Get-Together is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 2 M)

December 15-21

16 – Wednesday

6p Sapiens Book Discussion: One chapter a week. Chapter to read: The end of Homo sapiens. See December 2. (RSE W)

21 – Monday

6p Online Board Games. See December 5.

December 22-31

24 – Thursday

South Bay Lunch is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 2,4 Th)

25 – Friday

6:30p Holiday Get Together/Virtual Happy Hour. Our regular Happy Hour will become a Holiday Party this month. So wear your ugly sweaters, elves hats, or other festive wear and mix up your favorite beverage. Bring out some happy-hour munchies and join us for a virtual relaxing time. PLEASE RSVP on Meetup. Join the Zoom Meeting. The login details are listed on Meetup. Hosted by Judy Unger, junger2040/a/t/gmail.com. PC (RSE 4 F)

27 – Sunday

Channing Club is cancelled for December. PC (RSE 4 Su)

30 – Wednesday

Brainstormer Trivia Night is cancelled for December. PC (RSE last W)

 

FUTURE FLASHES

January 1 – Friday

6p Movies That Matter. PC (RSE 1,3 F)

2 – Saturday

6p Start The Month Right. PC (RSE 1 Sa)

3 – Sunday

4p Albany Hill Hike. See December 6. (RSE 1 Su)

5 – Tuesday

6p Tuesday Tipplers. PC (RSE 1 Tu)

6 – Wednesday

11:30a Math Lovers’ Lunch. PC (RSE 1 W)

8 – Friday

6:30p M Weisley’s Café. See December 11. (RSE 2 F)

9 – Saturday

4p Big Ideas Reading Group. See December 12. (RSE 2 Sa)

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