Skeptic (Altadena, CA) articles from January 2006

Skeptic (Altadena, CA) archives from January 2006

'Twas Brillig ... psychics prosecuted--never saw it coming.(Sabrina Martell, Dorothy Miller, and Rose Miller)
January 1, 2006... THREE WOMEN IN QUEENS, NEW YORK, WHO claimed to be psychics, were arraigned in July on fortune telling and other charges following a "sting" operation in which undercover police officers posed as clients. Queens District Attorney Richard A....

Fallacy.
January 1, 2006... THE FALLACY OF THE GOLDEN Mean, a.k.a. Fallacy of the Mean, Fallacy of Compromise, or Fallacy of Moderation, is based on the assumption that the middle ground is always more likely to be a correct position than the two positions that are...

Prayerful science: more on the relationship between prayer and healing.(News)
January 1, 2006... THE ISSUE OF INTERCESSORY prayer was recently in the news again when a study reported no significant health benefits among those who received prayer (see SKEPTIC, Vol. 12, No. 3). This flies in the face of a conventional wisdom cultivated by...

British UFO report skeptical of aliens.(NEWS)
January 1, 2006... A 400-page confidential British study conducted in 2000 by the Ministry of Defense was released to the public on May 6, 2006, concluding that there exists no credible evidence for the existence of Unidentified Eying Objects. Stamped "Secret: UK...

Mind reading finds support in brain scans.(magnetic resonance imaging)
January 1, 2006... According to a study published in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, a team of scientists led by Geraint Rees and John-Dylan Haynes from University College London discovered that by using a functional MRI brain scan they could detect...

UK study reveals more than 40% of Britons believe in psychic powers.(NEWS)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... A 2006 Readers Digest survey of 1,006 adult Britons released on May 26 reported that 43% said that they can read other people's thoughts or have their thoughts read, more than half said that they have had a dream or premonition of an event that...

Alcohol diminishes ability to see Gorillas.(NEWS)
January 1, 2006... A new study published in the July issue of the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology will have a familiar ring to skeptics familiar with the concept of "inattentional blindness" and the now-classic experiment of the inability of subjects to...

Facilitated communication and the power of belief: how time magazine got it wrong.
January 1, 2006... TIME MAGAZINE'S COVER STORY dated May 15, 2006, was entitled, "New Insights Into the Hidden World of Autism." The article told the story of a profoundly autistic 13-year old gift whose language was "limited to snatches of songs, echoed...

The big lie lie: why a warning about "Disinformation" is itself a form of Disinformation.(COMMENTARY/OPINION)
January 1, 2006... IF SKEPTIC HAS AN EVIL TWIN, IT may be The Disinformation Company, a U.S.-based print and Internet publishing house whose titles include You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural...

Al Gore on evolution and creationism.(FORUM)(Correction notice)
January 1, 2006... In the previous issue of SKEPTIC, I quoted Gregory S. Paul as saying that, "presidential candidate Al Gore supported teaching both creationism and evolution." It has come to my attention, however, that this is misleading at best. Al Gore has...

Prayer study fallout.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2006... One might reasonably expect that the results of the recent Benson study on prayer [see SKEPTIC News, Vol. 12, No. 3, and the News section this issue] would cause Christians to throw up their hands in surrender, admit their error, and perhaps...

Societal Health study flawed.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2006... I read Matthew Provonsha's article "Religious Belief and Societal Health" (Vol. 12, No. 3) with a great deal of interest, and I have some concerns that will need to be addressed in future studies. 1. Defining "religious belief": We cannot...

Artificial Intelligence.(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2006... I enjoyed Peter Kassan's article on Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 12, No. 2), and feel that it effectively captures most of the criticisms of AI that caused me to give up pursuing a Ph.D. in it. I have two complaints about the article, however....

Deepak Chopra.(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2006... This quarter's SKEPTIC is stellar. I found the debate with Deepak Chopra a particularly inviting format. More debates would be an effective addition to an already great publication. Dr. Shermer's reply to Dr. Chopra was right on. Chopra starts...

"Bad science! Bad, bad science!".(Paranormal Pooches)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2006... No stranger to your pages, having been written up myself as the "Nostradamus of Comics" (Vol.10, No.3), I found two disturbing lapses in April Perdersen's article on "Paranormal Pooches." First, in the opening salvo of her piece, she describes...

Do dogs thinks?(Paranormal Pooches)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... While I agree with most of April Pedersen's skepticism about paranormal pooches, I was left with such questions as "Do Dogs Think?" "Are dogs aware of the world around them?" "Do dogs feel emotions, pain, or any of the feelings that we, as...

Environmental wars forum.(FORUM)(Skeptics Society: 2006 annual scientific conference on the 'Environmental Wars. The Science Behind the Politics")
January 1, 2006... In conjunction with the Skeptics Society: 2006 annual scientific conference on the 'Environmental Wars. The Science Behind the Politics" at Caltech the first weekend of June, Executive Director Michael Shermer penned one of his monthly columns...

Flawed survey on Orthodox Jews and evolution.(FORUM)
January 1, 2006... What Orthodox Judaism Really Is I find several faults with Alexander Nussbaum's study about Orthodox Judaism: 1. His understanding of what constitutes "modern orthodoxy" is incorrect. 2. He makes no reference to the historically...

Keeping an eye on alternative medicine.(The Skep Doc)(Column)
January 1, 2006... IN CASE YOU HADN'T NOTICED, SNAKE OIL IS ALIVE AND thriving under the shield of alternative medicine. As the Baby Boomers approach retirement age and develop health problems, we can expect an even greater boom of quackery, pseudoscience, and...

The day without yesterday: is intelligent design really like big bang theory?(Eric Rothschild)(Interview)
January 1, 2006... MICHAEL BEHE, AUTHOR OF ONE OF THE leading Intelligent Design (ID) books, Darwin's Black Box, appeared as an expert witness for the Dover, PA School Board in the case, Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District. Behe offered no specific...

9/11 conspiracy theories: the 9/11 truth movement in perspective.(World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks, 2001)
January 1, 2006... AT THE HYATT REGENCY O'HARE NEAR Chicago, a crowd of approximately 400 people has gathered on a pleasant summer evening. Some are old and some are young; some are dressed in colorful tie-died shirts while others wear dress shirts and slacks,...

What demolition experts say about 9/11: is there evidence that explosives caused the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings as many conspiracy theorists claim?(World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks, 2001)
January 1, 2006... Brent Blanchard is Director of Field Operations for Protec Documentation Services, a company that documents the work of building demolition contractors. This article is a summary of his response to those who feel that the WTC buildings...

Anthropologist as fortuneteller.
January 1, 2006... THERE HAS BEEN MUCH ADO OVER psychics and Gypsies who read fortunes with the help of playing cards like the Tarot. Accolades everywhere exist for the card-reader believed to have special talent to divine the future. Fortunetelling is even...

The ball lightning conundrum.
January 1, 2006... THE EXISTENCE OF BALL LIGHTNING HAS been questioned for hundreds of years. Today, the phenomenon is a reality accepted by most scientists, but how it is formed and maintained has yet to be fully explained. Uncritical observers of a wide variety...

Three perspectives on longevity: fantasy, reality and confusion.(Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever)(Anti-Aging Medicine: The Hype and the Reality)(Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman, M.D. Rodale, 2004. 400 pp. $24.95 ISBN: 157959543. Anti-Aging Medicine: The Hype and the Reality, edited by S. Jay Olshansky, Leonard Hayflick, and...

The conspiracy.(The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Eiders of Zion)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Eiders of Zion by Will Eisner. introduction by Umberto Eco. W.W, Norton, 2005. 148 pp. $19.95. ISBN: 0-393060454. HAS THERE EVER BEEN A MORE outlandish--and sinister--document...

"One of you will betray me".(The Gospel of Judas)(Television program review)(Audiobook review)
January 1, 2006... A review of The Gospel of Judas, National Geographic Channel, April 9, 2006; and The Gospel of Judas, by Bart Ehrman (Commentary), and Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst (Eds). National Geographic, April, 2006, 192 pp. $22.00....

The word of the Lord?(Misquoting Jesus)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of Misquoting Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman. Harper San Francisco, 2005. 256 pp. $24.95. ISBN: 0060738170. BART EHRMAN'S LATEST BOOK throws into high relief the problems faced by those trying to establish just what Jesus actually said....

The last animal on earth.(Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of a Conservation Icon)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of a Conservation Icon by Henry Nicholls. Macmillan, 2006. 256 pp. 16.99 [pounds sterling]/$24.95; Hardback 1-4039-4576-4. Paperback ISBN: 0-230-00727-9. IN JUNE OF 2004 I ENCOUNTERED my first...

Is Lonesome George really Lonesome?(Galapagos tortoise)
January 1, 2006... IT IS OFTEN ASSERTED THAT Lonesome George, a Galapagos tortoise (Geochelone nigra abingdoni) from Pinta Island, is the last survivor of his race. A little known fact, however, is that a zoo in Prague houses what is claimed to be another...

Broken spells and unveiled secrets.(Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett, Viking 2006, 464 pp. $25.95. Hardback ISBN: 067003472X. SHOULD THE TOOLS OF SCIENCE be used to study the phenomenon of religion? Or should the domain of the...

In the beginning was the word.(The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism by Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Peter C. Hill, and W. Paul Williamson. Guilford Press, New York, NY 2005. 247 pp. $35. Hardcover ISBN: 1-59385-150-2. IN A SMALL CHURCH IN RURAL Appalachia, the...

Hardwired for good.(Hardwired Behavior: What Neuroscience Reveals About Morality)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of Hardwired Behavior: What Neuroscience Reveals About Morality by Laurence R. Tancredi. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 226 pp. $28.99. Hardcover ISBN: 0-521-86001-6. NATURE PRECEDES NURTURE. Biology sets the...

Humility, charity, and hope.(Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe by Erik J. Wielenberg. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, 202 pp, $20.99, Paperback ISBN: 05;21807841 AN INDIVIDUAL'S MOST CLEARLY juxtaposed academic adversary is, or at least...

It won't be long now.(The Evolution-Creation Struggle)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of The Evolution-Creation Struggle by Michael Ruse. Harvard University Press 2005, 320 pp. $25.95. ISBN: 0-674-016874. THE POLITICS OF MY HOME STATE of California are rarely boring, particularly when activists and actors achieve...

Not believing in belief.(Natural Atheism)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... A review of Natural Atheism by David Eller. American Atheist Press, 2004. 382 pp. $18.00o ISBN: 1578849209. "THERE IS NO DOUBT," WARNS cultural anthropologist David Eller, "that I will get debate and criticism for these positions." (171)...

Alien abduction Part 2.(Editorial)
January 1, 2006... HELLO! I'm Daniel Loxton, the Editor of JUNIOR SKEPTIC. I'd like to welcome you to Part Two of our two-part look at the eerie world of alien abduction. In the last issue we looked at the history of the idea that people are being...