Coffee & Brains - take 2

So, the first iteration of coffee and brains was a partial failure. Other than me, only one person showed up on time; anagathic. His ambulance background was particularly relevant given the organ transplantation topic, and we had a very interesting hour-long discussion about organ harvesting, types of transplantation, ambulance procedures, and various ways of organizing organ exchanges that allow for some form of compensation.

At about 7:30, we gave up waiting, txted jwm telling him not to bother showing up later on as there was no-one else around, and departed. An hour later though, I got a text from _summer_sun_, saying that he and persephane were at the Dux, wondering if anyone else was still around. I ended up heading back in to have coffee with them.

So, worth trying again? I think so..

• The idea definitely has merit - with one or two more people, we could have been there for hours, probably. I'm still quite optimistic about the idea.
• I should probably have asked for RSVPs - several people expressed interest, but never showed up
• We should start later, and have a set time period, so everyone can show up at about the same time.
• The Dux would probably be great in summer, but it's not so practical for winter unless we want to order a meal.
• That said, a food place might be a good idea.. There's lots of quite good but comparatively quiet small eateries around that we could have gone to.
• Otherwise, someones lounge might be OK, provided everyone (including flatmates) is OK with the idea that this is a semi-focused discussion group rather than a general chat session.
• (added later) Weekends might be a good idea - a number of people have said they've got trouble with weekends, and others have said that it would be nice to have something civilized to do on a Sunday. 9pm's not too late for people to go home and sleep, is it? Let's try it out..

I don't have a lounge that we can use, so I'm going to stick with a commercial venue. The other big suggestion we've had is Coffee Culture in Riccarton - I don't know how busy they are at night, but they have plenty of spaces that that would be suitable, and the noise inside is low enough not to be a problem. So:

• Time: Sunday 25th, 7:30-9pm
• Place: Coffee Culture Riccarton
• Topic: I think it would be interesting to building on the questions raised in my post a couple of days ago, as well as some of the responses. In addition, there's a significant piece of related legislation passing through the British Parliament at the moment. It concerns the production of stem cells using a process called 'animal admixture', in which animal eggs are used, but with human DNA. In theory, this leads to the growth of cells functionally equivalent to human embryonic stem cells that don't raise quite the same objections (it removes the critical step of killing human embryos that brings up many religious objections).

Please RSVP by leaving a comment. If you're interested in this sort of thing in general, but can't make it, leave a comment, too, so I've got some idea of whether I should keep trying..