For over a year now I have been visiting this site, reading and learning about rationality, and meeting other rationalists sounds like a wonderfully positive experience. Sadly, there are no meetups in my area -- I looked at the RI skeptics society website, but their news page seemed focused on religious-people-bashing to a point that seemed mean and spiteful to me (at least at the time, it was awhile ago. Yes, we know people do dumb things because of religious beliefs; how about focusing on improving ourselves instead of pointing at them?).

Maybe there are a lot of others in the area like me who have been lurking on the site, longing for a chance to meet likeminded people but too shy to speak up. Of course, not all of them may be checking the discussions page but I'm not sure what else to do.

So, anyone out there in Rhode Island or close to the borders of Massachusetts and Connecticut that would like to start a local rationality meetup with me?

I am also interested in any advice for getting this to its target audience, as not everyone may be looking at the discussion page.

I am also also interested in anywhere I can talk with lesswrong folks in real-time -- it's hard to establish friendships through posts, and this discussion forum doesn't seem like the place for random chatter with people.