Skeptic (Altadena, CA) articles from March 2008

Skeptic (Altadena, CA) archives from March 2008

What is a skeptic?
March 22, 2008... What does it mean to be a skeptic? Some people believe that skepticism is rejection of new ideas, or worse, they confuse "skeptic with "cynic" and think that skeptics are a bunch of grumpy curmudgeons unwilling to accept any claim that...

Last chance to win the million-dollar challenge; magnetic therapy.('Twas Brillig ...)(James Randi Educational Foundation Million-Dollar Challenge)
March 22, 2008... IT WAS MARCH 6TH, 1998, WHEN the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) Million-Dollar Challenge first came into existence. That's almost ten years ago. It's always been a simple, direct, matter: do what you claim you can do of a paranormal...

Detox quackery: from footbaths to fetishism.(The SkepDoc)
March 22, 2008... The last time I went to the Puyallup fair, I passed a booth where an elderly man and woman were sitting with their feet in basins of water. How nice--a chance to rest their tired feet after a day of walking the fairgrounds! Unfortunately, they...

No victory in the textbook wars in sight.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... By Glenn Branch National Center for Science Education In his dispatch from the textbook wars ("Are the Textbook Wars Over?" (SKEPTIC Vol. 13, No. 4, 15), L. Kirk Hagen contended, "There are now unmistakable signs that the textbook...

The SkepDoc's III tone.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... By Ralph G. Walton, MD In response to Dr. Harriet Hall's article "Double Blind or Double Talk" I would urge the author to adhere to Spinoza's view ostensibly adopted by the Skeptics Society: "I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule,...

Consciousness and altered states of consciousness.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... I was fascinated by the simplicity and elegance of Henry D. Schlinger's definition of what is called "consciousness" as a verbal-based behavioral state ("Consciousness is Nothing But a Word," Vol. 13 No. 4). It would be even more interesting if...

Consciousness and ape language.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... I'm pleased to note that two articles in SKEPTIC (Vol. 13, No. 4) are surprisingly related: the first, Henry Schlinger posits that consciousness is derived from verbal behavior ("Consciousness is Nothing but a Word"), and in the second, Clive...

Neuroscience psychobabble.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... Henry Schlinger gave us all a refreshing and bracing tonic from the usual loose speculation about consciousness that frankly borders on cognitive-neuroscience psychobabble. An alleged "science of the mind" will not clarify and point the way for...

Jr. Skeptic debunks Von Daniken.(FORUM)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... Everytime I read your magazine, I learn something new! This time I learned something from JUNIOR SKEPTIC magazine. I always thought the ancient pillar in India was rust free. Von Daniken had me convinced. I never knew he was confronted with...

Skull Island, Canada: could one of history's most famous films have inspired two of our most enduring monster legends?(King Kong)
March 22, 2008... SKULL ISLAND, THE SETTING FOR THE SECOND ACT of King Kong, is an utterly nightmarish place--a steaming jungle packed with prehistoric beasts and crawling with unlikely monsters. It is a place where even the insects can drag you away for dinner....

A reconstruction of Houdini's famous show exposing seance fraud.(Harry Houdini)
March 22, 2008... THE MAGICIAN HARRY HOUDINI SPENT A considerable amount of time working to expose the fraudulent seance mediums of his time. He toured the country with a lecture and show that exposed spiritualism, and demonstrated the tricks used by fraudulent...

A climate of belief: the claim that anthropogenic C[O.sub.2] is responsible for the current warming of Earth climate is scientifically insupportable because climate models are unreliable.(Global Warming Debate: C[O.sub.2] Data)
March 22, 2008... "He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense."--John McCarthy (1) "THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC DATA CONFIRM THAT the earth's climate is rapidly changing.... The cause? A thickening layer of carbon dioxide pollution, mostly from...

How we know global warming is real: the science behind human-induced climate change.
March 22, 2008... ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE concentrations are higher today than at any time in at least the past 650,000 years. They are about 35% higher than before the industrial revolution, and this increase is caused by human activities, primarily the...

Turning around by 2020: how to solve the global warming problem.(Global Warming Debate: Global Warming Solutions)
March 22, 2008... TIME HAS BECOME SO SHORT THAT WE MUST turn around the annual emissions growth before 2020 to avoid saddling today's students with the world of refugees and genocides that will result if we're too slow. That means not waiting for a better deal...

The hydrogen economy: savior of humanity or an economic black hole?
March 22, 2008... SKEPTICS SCOFF AT PERPETUAL MOTION, FREE ENERGY, and cold fusion, but what about energy from hydrogen? Before we invest trillions of dollars in a hydrogen economy, we should examine the science and pseudoscience behind the hydrogen hype. Let's...

Journalist bites reality! How broadcast journalism is flawed in such a fundamental way that its utility as a tool for informing viewers is almost nil.
March 22, 2008... IT IS THE MEASURE OF THE MEDIA'S obsession with its "pedophiles run amok!" story line that so many of us are on a lust-name basis with the victims: Polly, Amber, JonBenet, Danielle, Elizabeth, Samantha. And now there is Madeleine. Clearly these...

In belief we trust: why anthropologists abandon skepticism when they hear claims about supernatural beliefs.
March 22, 2008... CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS HAVE MADE great progress advancing the study of human behavior by developing detailed methodologies to make their research more scientific. There is, however, one subject where concerns for skepticism and scientific...

What the fossils say--in spades!(Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters, by Donald R. Prothero, Illustrations by Carl Buell, 2007 New York: Columbia University Press; 381 pages $29,50. ISBN 978-0-231-13962-5 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ABOUT THE ONLY FAULT I...

What's so great about Dinesh D'Souza?(What's So Great About Christianity)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... What's So Great About Christianity, by Dinesh D'Souza, 2007 Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc. 348 pages, $27.95 ISBN-10: 1596985178 ISBN-13:978-1596985179 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DINISH D'SOUZA'S BOOK WHAT'S SO Great About...

Jackpot or crackpot?(Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life by Paul Davies, Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2007, 315 pp. $26. ISBN-10: 0618592261 ISBN-13: 978-0618592265 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS THE SUBTITLE INDICATES, Cosmic Jackpot: Why...

The painful elaboration of the fatuous.(Science v. Religion?: Intelligent Design and the Problem of Evolution)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Science v. Religion?: Intelligent Design and the Problem of Evolution, by Steve Fuller, Polity Press, 2007, 179 pages, ISBN-13: 978-07456-4121-8 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN movement begets intellectual monstrosities...

Steve Fuller responds to Norman Levitt's review of Science v. Religion?(Science v. Religion?: Intelligent Design and the Problem of Evolution)(Critical essay)
March 22, 2008... I CONFESS THAT I AM NOT ENTIRELY convinced that Norman Levitt has read Science v. Religion? What passes as a review of the book consists of a smattering of his own preoccupations that make passing contact with things I say, sandwiched between...

Levitt responds to Steve Fuller.(Norman Levitt)(Critical essay)
March 22, 2008... Prof. Fuller's protest of my review obviously invites a rejoinder. I tag each of my responses with the last line or so of the passage containing Fullers specific objection, though the full passage should be consulted to see the central point:...

Dragons.
March 22, 2008... Hello! I'm Daniel, the Editor of JUNIOR SKEPTIC. Welcome to our look at the ultimate monster: the dragon! The idea of dragons stretches as Far back as our most ancient writings. Almost every culture around the globe has told tales of...