We had 15 people at our December meeting. We seem to consistently have a group size that works well with a very informal format. Our topic was holiday celebrations and our relationships with others during the holiday season.

For our January meeting we will consider the broad areas of ethics and the meaning of life. Sam Harris has a book: The Moral Landscape. Is it possible to have a science of ethics that actually works? A You Tube lecture on this by Harris: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTKf5cCm-9g. Christians assert that their religion gives their life meaning. Many of our secular friends think that life is a pure accident with no meaning whatsoever. From a strictly sales perspective this puts the secular worldview in a disadvantageous position. If we can have a science of ethics does that also define a justifiable view of meaning for our lives? Does the meaning of life rest in achieving the ethical good for ourselves and others?

As noted before, the counts on meetup do not reflect the numbers who will be there. This is because many have friends who invite them or or they learn about our group through other than meetup channels or they just look at meetup to verify that we are having a meeting and if they RSVP they only do it at the last minute. Even a small count on meetup will mean that we will have a good number at our meeting.

Robert Ahrens as usual will be hosting this third Friday of the month meeting. The meeting will start at 8 pm. People may arrive as early as 7:30 so that we can actually start at 8 pm. Please bring a small contribution of food and/or drink to be shared with the group. The home is in Rockville near Viers Mill and Aspen Hill Road. Transport to and from the Twinbrook Metro stop can be arranged if needed.
Mr Ahrens address and phone numbers are not posted here to preserve the privacy of his home. Those details will be emailed the week of the meeting to those who are coming (see note below). Affirmative RSVPs should be posted before 8 pm the prior Thursday to allow time to notify all attendees.

Note: an occasional problem with Meetup emails is that some spam filters will preclude delivery of Meetup email. If you RSVP Yes and want the email informing you of a meeting held in a private home this can be a problem. To prevent this a member can add info@meetup.com to their personal email addresses. If a member does not receive the directions to a Friday meeting by late Tuesday evening he/she needs to directly contact to the organizer. Use the Meetup option for this. A phone call to 202-643-4366 leaving your email address is another option. Posting a comment saying that you did not receive the directions (without including your personal email address) is not helpful since if your spam filter stopped the first email it will also stop subsequent email. We want people to be comfortable in opening up their homes to other meetup members and this technical difficulty is a small price to pay to preserve the privacy of those who host events in their homes.