Saturday, March 24, 2012

Food and Fellowship, 3.24.12

Today the Humanist group met at La Hacienda for our monthly Food and Fellowship gathering.  There were 11 people present, with two, Mike and Lisa, being first-timers.

One topic of conversation was about a study conducted at the University of Michigan dealing with beliefs and facts.  The study showed that when facts were presented to a person which conflicted with his or her beliefs, that the person would not shift beliefs to make them fit the facts. 

Facts about a matter were ignored so that a person would not to have revise his or her thinking.  The more facts that were presented, the more the person would double down with his or her incorrect beliefs.

Gail and Glenn were back from their birding trip to Arizona.  I chatted with Barbara Frey telling her about the movie Midnight in Paris which I recently saw (DVD from library).  Barbara for years taught English and I knew she would like to see the movie.  It is one of the best movies I have seen in recent years.  It is written and directly by Woody Allen.  It contains an element of the supernatural in that the main character is able to time travel back to the 1920s to fulfill I wish he secretly longs for.  One of the characters he meets in the 1920s longs to live in the Belle Epoch of the 1890s.  It is a good movie with a happy ending.

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