Skeptic (Altadena, CA) articles from September 2002

Skeptic (Altadena, CA) archives from September 2002

The Skeptics Society.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... The Skeptics Society is a member-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific and educational organization of scholars, scientists, historians, magicians, professors and teachers, and anyone curious about controversial ideas, that does the...

What is a skeptic?(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 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...

Fund for science literacy: because skepticism is essential in a democratic society. (The Skeptics Society).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... The false hopes, unrealistic expectations, and irrational fears created by the public's growing belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal chip away at the soundness of our social order. The attraction of belief systems that provide easy...

Be part of our next ten years. (The Skeptics Society).(scientific book publishing)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... We need your help to get the word out. Pseudoscience and other nonsense continues to flourish in the hothouse climate of media sensationalism. To counteract these powerful forces we have launched a major fund-raising drive not to construct a...

The Pigasus "Flying Pig" Awards for 2001. (I Was Brillig).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... The Pigasus "Flying Pig" Awards On April 1st of each year, the James Randi Educational Foundation proclaims the yearned-for Pigasus "Flying Pig" awards in four categories, for accomplishments in the year previous. We allow the Academy...

How to talk to the dead. (I Was Brillig).
September 22, 2002... On the subject of "cold reading," as used by such "psychics/sensitives" as John Edward, Sylvia Browne, and James Van Praagh--the three currently popular "readers"--I recall very well the work of the late Doris Stokes, who was very big in the UK...

Atlantis in fantasyland a Mickey Mouse documentary about the Lost Continent. (News).
September 22, 2002... ON APRIL 9 OF LAST YEAR I received an e-mail from a colleague concerning a television documentary focusing on the Lost Continent of Atlantis. My colleague informed me that the independent production company putting the show together had...

2002 Emily Rosa Award.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... Awarded by SKEPTICS and JR. SKEPTIC magazines, and organized and judged by Larry Samer and Linda Rosa, the Emily Rosa Award is given in recognition demonstrating the best critical thinking skills, and challenging or exposing pseudoscience...

How a skeptic achieved "enlightenment" (and How this phenomenon is explained). (News).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... THIS ARTICLE DESCRIBES HOW I, AN ORDINARY MORTAL incidentally achieved "higher consciousness." No regimens of meditation, mortification of the body, physical isolation or devotion were needed to achieve a glimpse of the "ineffable." No drugs,...

Angel beliefs on the rise. (News).(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... Americans overwhelmingly believe in angels and think they still walk the Earth today. According to a survey of 1,127 adult residents of the United States conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University, one out of every five...

Forum.
September 22, 2002... The Mysterians The existence of mysterian issues--ones raising questions that we have no reliable means of answering--is a cornerstone of agnosticism. The view that "consciousness" (in the sense of "sentience") is such an issue is seldom...

Science education is no guarantee of skepticism.
September 22, 2002... MANY SKEPTICS TAKE A MEASURED AMOUNT of pleasure in the kinds of tasks often set before them: evaluating blurry photographs, conducting laboratory experiments that reduce or eliminate trickery, critiquing flawed science and pseudo-science, and...

Pseudoscience at 30,000 feet: suggestology, suggestopedia and accelerated language learning.
September 22, 2002... THE NEXT TIME you're in an impressionable state of mind during a long flight, check out the SkyMall[TM] catalog in the seat pocket in front of you. (1) There you will find a dazzling array of ultra-slick, ultra-pricey, and...

Social influence and the power of the pyramid.
September 22, 2002... MORE THAN 90% OF ADULT AMERICANS report holding at least one paranormal belief, and the rates for some specific beliefs have risen steeply in recent years. (1-5) Skeptics often bemoan such numbers, knowing as they do that the overwhelming...

Cognitive catastrophes: how smart people sabotage their thinking.
September 22, 2002... AS A LIFELONG SKEPTIC, I often find myself squirming uncomfortably during lunch conversations with my professional colleagues. Only so much time passes before someone asks me if I've heard about the astounding new evidence for the fulfillment...

Ufology, god-talk and theology: an excerpt from The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs, by Brenda Denzler, University of California Press, 2001. 295 pp. ISBN: 0-520-22432-9.(Excerpt)
September 22, 2002... THE IDEA THAT UFOS AND OCCUPANT encounters were demonic, not just in their behavior but in very Fact, surfaced early in the UFO community. some UFO students with Christian convictions proposed that the aerial anomalies that had been under study...

Neo-confederates at the gate: the rehabilitation of the confederate cause and the distortion of history.
September 22, 2002... PUBLIC CONTROVERSY OVER SEVERAL southern state flags incorporating the Confederate battle flag has made much of America aware of Neo-Confederates. To many, the Neo-Confederates' arguments supporting the flag must seem obscure and quaint. To...

A.I. and the return of the Krell Machine: Nanotechnology, the singularity, and the empty planet syndrome.(Critical Essay)
September 22, 2002... IN 1956, THE FRED MCLEOD WILCOX FILM Forbidden Planet became the second memorable science fiction movie of the 1950's (the first being Robert Wise's The Day The Earth Stood Still). Forbidden Planet has become a classic because it was among the...

The attorney and the shrink: Clarence Darrow, Sigmund Freud, and the Leopold and Loeb Trial.(first case of forensic psychiatry in a murder trial)
September 22, 2002... CLARENCE DARROW and William Jennings Bryan are historically linked by their participation in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Over the years, Bryan has been rightly evaluated by skeptics for his (a) dogmatic views (e.g., he would not entertain the...

Autonomous Agents and Free Lunches in the Modern Economy. (Book Reviews).
September 22, 2002... A review of Investigations by Stuart Kauffman, Oxford university press, 2000. $35.00, 336 pp. ISBN 019512104x HOW DID LIFE BEGIN? Do we have a satisfactory definition of life? Do we really understand evolution? Do biology and economics...

Reincarnation all over again. (Book Reviews).(Reincarnation and Biology, vols. 1-2)
September 22, 2002... Evidence for reincarnation rests on backward reasoning A review of Ian Stevenson's Reincarnation and Biology, Praeger Publishers, 1997. Volumes 1 and 2, 2,228 pp. $135. ISBN 0275952843. THROUGHOUT HISTORY PEOPLE IN every country around the...

Witch Fever. (Book Reviews).(A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials)
September 22, 2002... A review of A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials, by Laurie Winn Carlson, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, 2000; 224 pp. $14.95 Paperback. ISBN: 1-566633095 A FEVER IN SALEM POSITS A biological cause for the early...

I See Dead People. (Book Reviews).(The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death )
September 22, 2002... Review of The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D. with William L. Simon. Foreword by Deepak Chopra. New York: Pocket Books, $25.00, pp. 372. DR GARY SCHWARTZ'S NEW BOOK,...

Monotheism's Legacy. (Book Reviews).(One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism )
September 22, 2002... A review of One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism by Rodney Stark 2001 Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, $24.95, pp. 319. ARGUABLY, NO SINGLE philosophical idea has had more influence on civilization and...

Psychic surgery-too good to be true? (Junior Skeptic Bad Medicine Issue).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... The Internet is packed with reports of a miracle cure that originated in the Philippines, performed by mysterious healers known as "psychic surgeons." The healers appear to reach through a patient's skin to pull out tumors or disease. The...

What's really behind psychic surgery.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... How do we test a claim like psychic surgery? Since no one in Western medicine is able to reach through skin and have it heal instantly when their hand is withdrawn, our first hunch might be that its some kind of trick. Similar healing rituals...

Magician James Randi demonstrates how the illusion of psychic surgery is created.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... The psychic surgery effect is created by a magician's technique known as "sleight of hand" which combines skilled movements of the hands with knowledge about how people misinterpret things that they see. (Check out pages 103 to 105 to learn...

The patent Medicine era. (Snake Oil!).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... A "snake oil salesman" is someone who makes false promises in order to sell a harmful or useless product. The term comes from the late 1800s when traveling salesmen roamed the countryside selling bottled "medicine" they claimed could cure any...

When advertising created a nation of addicts. (Snake Oil!).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... There were no laws back then to protect the consumer--anyone could bottle anything and make any claim they wanted to about it. The tale ingredients in products were not required by law to be listed on the label. The "patent" in patent medicine...

Searching for the latest miracle. (Snake Oil!).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... Like heroin, cocaine was hailed as a new miracle drug and panacea (cure-all) before its dangers became known. Doctors and medical researchers expressed enthusiasm for the medical benefits of the chemicals derived from the coca leaf (these...

When there was really coke in Coca-Cola! (Snake Oil!).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... Coca-Cola was invented in the turbulent years following the American Civil War when the train and telegraph speeded up people's lives, and many people moved from quiet rural villages to noisy overcrowded cities. Coca-Cola was first sold at...

The government attempt to regulate medical products. (Snake Oil!).(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... In the early 1900s the government established the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) which tried to regulate patent medicine ingredients by requiring that they be tested for safety and effectiveness. A series of laws were passed in the...

Why is it so hard for people to tell what works?(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... How do we know what medical cures work? The answer to this question should be simple: try it and see. But its not that easy to figure out what really works. The history of medicine is full of worthless and dangerous cures. Our stories about...

The blue dot cure--100% effective.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... Most people who see a doctor have something that will get better all by itself. (But seeing a doctor might be a good idea anyway--a doctor can help you heal faster and you can be checked to make sure you don't have something more serious.) ...

Bad theories about what caused disease slowed the progress of medical science.
September 22, 2002... In the early 1800s it was often a fatal mistake to call a doctor. Many medical treatments were so extreme they weakened the patient and often led to their deaths. The problem was that medicine was based on concepts of illness that were wrong,...

People love stories, but it was statistics that finally eliminated the terrible practice of bloodletting.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... One of the easiest ways to convince someone that a medical treatment works is simply to tell an anecdote (a story) about a single person that was cured. A medical success story has warmth, drama and personal appeal compared to dry, boring...

The invention of the doubleblind test.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... Common sense suggests that you could test a pill by comparing a group of people who take it with a group who don't. Your test group should be large, the test should run over a long period of time, and others should be able to repeat your test...

Bob Friedhoffer madman of magic.
September 22, 2002... SLEIGHT OF HAND Sleight of hand is any sneaky move a magician makes that is not seen by the audience. The audience does not miss the move because the magician's hands are moving so fast they can't be seen. They miss the move because it...

Classic sleight of hand: the coin vanish practice, practice and more practice.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... If you really want to foal people it is vital that you leave no clue about how you are deceiving them. The coin vanish trick requires that you practice the two movements below until you can make them both appear completely natural. ...