Skeptic (Altadena, CA) articles

Recent articles from Skeptic (Altadena, CA)

Double blind, Satan's UFO, failed prophecies.(Twas Brillig...)
January 1, 2009... How to Conduct a Double Blind Experiment At the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) we have had several requests from potential prize applicants who believe that they have the power to dowse, and who need general guidelines on how to conduct a double-blind test before they actually...

What to eat: food, not too much, mostly plants.(The SkepDoc)
January 1, 2009... AS I WAS FEEDING THE DOG, IT occurred to me that dogs have a very straightforward relationship with food. Our Labrador's philosophy seems to be "eat everything you can get and as much of it as possible, whether it's food, ice cubes, pine cones, wood, or anything else you can chew or swallow."...

Misleading by petition: just what is the consensus on global warming?
January 1, 2009... IS GLOBAL WARMING A REAL phenomenon, and if so, are humans causing or contributing to it by burning fossil fuels and will it lead to an increased frequency and/or severity of natural disasters? The American public looks to science or scientists to help answer these questions. A petition...

A skeptic visits Noah's Ark: evolution and creationism in England.
January 1, 2009... DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF February, 2009, on the occasion of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday celebrations at various locals around England (including his birthplace city of Shrewsbury--see photo montage below), my hosts Andrew Kelly (a science writer who authored a gorgeous coffee-table book...

Adventures in math and marriage: or why gay does marriage does not decrease straight marriage.
January 1, 2009... DOES THE LEGALIZATION OF GAY marriage contribute to the decline of heterosexual marriage? A good portion of our fair republic's cultural conservatives seem to believe that it does. Evangelical radio personality James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, told a typically credulous Larry King...