Article #2 (21 is last): Subject: Welcome to the CSICOP Electronic News Stand. Date: Wed J
Article #2 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: Welcome to the CSICOP Electronic News Stand.
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:13:47 1992
About C.S.I.C.O.P.
-------------------
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the
Paranormal attempts to encourage the critical investigation of
paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible,
scientific point of view, and to disseminate factual information
about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community
and to the public. It also encourages critical thinking, an
appreciation of science, and the use of reason in examining
important issues. To carry out these objectives the Committee:
* Maintains a network of people interested in critically
examining paranormal, fringe-science and other claims, and
in contributing to consumer education.
* Prepares bibliographies of published materials that
carefully examine such claims.
* Encourages and commissions research by objective and
impartial inquiry in areas where it is needed.
* Convenes conferences and meetings.
* Publishes articles, monographs, and books that examine
claims of the paranormal.
* Does not reject claims on a priori grounds, antecedent to
inquiry, but rather examines them objectively and carefully.
The Committee is a nonprofit scientific and educational
organization. The SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is its official journal.
Inquiries from the media and the public about the work of the
Committee should be made to:
Paul Kurtz, Chairman
CSICOP
P.O. Box 703
Buffalo, NY 14226-0703.
Tel. (716) 636-1425. FAX: (716) 636-1733.
Subscriptions to THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER which is published
quarterly are $25.00 for one year, $43.00 for two years, and
$59.00 for three years. The money should be sent to: THE
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Box 703, Buffalo, NY 14226-0703. Or you may
call toll free 1-800-634-1610.
The Committee also publishes a quarterly newsletter, SKEPTICAL
BRIEFS. Subscriptions to SKEPTICAL BRIEFS cost $15.00 for one
year, $28.00 for two years, and $35.00 for three years. The
address of SKEPTICAL BRIEFS is CSICOP, Box 703, Buffalo, NY
14226-0703.
No subscriber to either of these publications may speak on behalf
of CSICOP or either publication.
About The CSICOP Newsgroup
--------------------------
This newsgroup is reserved for official CSICOP publications, and
is operated on behalf of CSICOP by:
Page Stephens and Jim Kutz
chairman member
CSICOP Electronic CSICOP Electronic
Communications Subcmte. Communications Subcmte.
(aa325@cleveland.freenet.edu) (aa387@cleveland.freenet.edu)
(local Free-net address: aa325) (local Free-net address: aa387)
In addition, the following people will be working on the board:
Cynthia Bell-Moores (aa470@cleveland.freenet.edu)
Ron Hopkins-Lutz (aa747@cleveland.freenet.edu)
Dr.D.A. Rickards (aa354@cleveland.freenet.edu)
We hope you will enjoy reading this board, and find it both useful
and educational.
Electronic mail feedback regarding this newsgroup should be sent
to the mail room address for forwarding to CSICOP:
from Free-net: xx029
from Internet: xx029@cleveland.freenet.edu
CSICOP does not have sufficient staff to operate a discussion
board of its own. Please use the main Skeptics' Sig discussion
board ( section #3 on the main menu ).
--
Article #3 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: Skeptical Briefs (v.2 #2) Copyright Notice, Address, Subscriptions
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:15:22 1992
Copyright 1992 by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of
Claims of the Paranormal, P.O. Box 703, Buffalo NY 14226-0703.
All rights reserved.
Editor: Barry Karr
Skeptical Briefs is a quarterly newsletter of the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP).
Chairman: Paul Kurtz, Executive Director: Barry Karr
Subscription rates: $15, one year; $28, two years; $35, three years.
Address all correspondence to:
P.O. Box 703,
Buffalo NY 14226
Telephone (716) 636-1425. Fax (716) 636-1733.
--
Article #4 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Cleveland Free-net Chosen as Official Online BBS for CSICOP
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:19:23 1992
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
CSICOP's Electronic Communications Subcommittee
Page Stephens
The Electronic Communications Subcommittee of CSICOP is in the
process of setting up a moderated (read only) bulletin board on
the Cleveland FreeNet for use by CSICOP, and another similar
bulletin board for use by local groups. These boards are designed
to disseminate information from such sources to the public at
large.
In the future, we will be requesting news items that you think
would be of interest to skeptics worldwide. These items should be
sent to us either via MS-DOS compatible disk (either 3.5" or
5.25", any format up to 1.44K) or E-mail and should preferably be
written in ASCII, although almost any other word-processing
format is acceptable. Disks should be sent to Page Stephens, 6006
Fir Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102. E-mail should be sent via
InterNet to xx029@cleveland.freenet.edu.
We chose the Cleveland FreeNet as the initial node in a proposed
skeptical news net for several reasons. The first is that the
service is free and two members of the subcommittee, Jim Kutz and
Page Stephens, already work with the FreeNet and thus will be
easily able to take care of the board in the course of their
everyday duties. The second is that FreeNet gives us ready access
to InterNet as well as a variety of other E-mail networks so that
we can readily communicate with other skeptical groups. Finally,
a network of free-nets is being set up in geographical areas
where other local groups exist so that in the near future such
groups will be able to take advantage of its features if they
choose and perhaps even set up their own bulletin boards. For
example, a Buffalo group is currently developing a free-net, and
this would allow CSICOP and perhaps the Western New York Skeptics
to tie directly into our bulletin board for an even more rapid
exchange of information.
We are also interested in hearing from skeptical groups that run
independent computer bulletin boards and skeptical activities on
such computer networks as CompuServe, GEnie, etc., so that we can
coordinate our activities with theirs in order to pass
information back and forth. We would thus appreciate it, if you
either run such an operation or know of a group that does, if you
would contact Page Stephens at one of the above addresses or via
U.S. mail. We also need to develop a new E-mail directory for the
use of skeptics, so please send us any address you or your group
has.
If you would like to look in on our activities on the Cleveland
FreeNet, you can dial 216-368-3888 via modem _ 8 bits, one stop
bit, no parity, any speed up to 2400 bps. If you have telnet
access, you can also log onto the Cleveland FreeNet via
freenet-in-a.cwru.edu or, if it (a) is busy, via
freenet-in-b.cwru.edu or freenet-in-c.cwru.edu. Once you are
online, type "go skep." Registration, which will allow you to use
the E-mail facilities, is free and is explained once you sign on
as a visitor. As the project develops, we will print more
information in these pages.
Page Stephens is chairman of the CSICOP Electronic Communications
Subcommittee.
--
Article #5 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Skeptics Organize in Hungary, Host Randi
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:21:13 1992
Skeptics Organize in Hungary, Host Randi
Barry Karr
In a previous issue of Skeptical Briefs (November 1991), we told
you about the efforts being undertaken in Hungary to organize a
skeptics group. At the conclusion of that article, I predicted
that we would soon be reading about the success of this new
organization. Who said predictions never come true? The new
Hungarian Skeptics have been quite active and have made their
presence felt on a variety of fronts. Their first project was to
publish an appeal for support in creating an association of
skeptics in Hungary. The announcement appeared in Nepszabadsag,
the largest circulation daily in Hungary, and in the monthly
science magazine Termeszet Vilaga (World of Nature). The
announcement read in part:
As a consequence of democratic changes in our country,
pseudoscientific tendencies and their most primitive outlets grow
stronger. It is the duty of the scientific community to prevent
all those speculating swindlers bargaining with pseudoscience
from abusing people's credulity. The community is able to carry
out this task only by popularizing the idea of the critical way
of thinking, which is essential for science. Nowadays it has a
special importance in our changing society, where trustworthiness
of science has been undermined by the general crisis of
confidence. . . . Our association can be joined by anyone who
approaches so-called "paranormal" phenomena, and the harmful
cults so dangerous to society, in a sensible and critical way.
The Society for the Dissemination of Science and the editorial
staff of World of Nature had contacted CSICOP earlier for advice
in setting up an association of Hungarian skeptics and
integrating it into the international skeptics network. The
appeal was signed by the Hungarian Society for the Dissemination
of Science, the Editorial Staff of World of Nature, the Chamber
of Scientific Journalists, and the Hungarian Association of
Scientific Films.
Following this, several of the skeptics brought super-skeptic
James Randi to Hungary for a grueling eight-day lecture and media
tour.
At the Association of Hungarian Journalists, Randi met with the
members of the Chamber of Scientific Journalists for an evening
discussion lasting several hours. He also gave a lecture for the
Hungarian magicians. In Visegrad, at the International
Neurological Conference, more than one hundred scientific
researchers attended his talk. On the evening of January 24, he
lectured before five hundred people at the Budapest Planetarium.
The following day, Randi attended a World of Nature program for
high school teachers and students. At this meeting, World of
Nature announced a national competition of scientific articles by
secondary pupils. This was the first such competition in the
123-year history of World of Nature. Also at this meeting, Randi
was presented with the highest award of the Society for the
Dissemination of Science by its president, Professor Janos
Szentgothai. Professor Szentgothai is the former president of the
Hungarian Academy of Science and a current member of the
Hungarian Parliament. The award, a plaquette and golden wreath,
was given for Randi's work throughout the years exposing
pseudoscience. In addition, World of Nature has been printing a
monthly feature called the "Skeptics Corner." In this space, they
have been running articles translated from the pages of the
Skeptical Inquirer.
On March 20, I received a fax from Orsi Rethelyi. She said: "I am
happy to announce the formation of the Hungarian Skeptics. . . .
We held our first, very successful meeting yesterday, with nearly
one hundred participants and many good ideas, and future plans."
The president of the group will be Professor Szentgothai. Other
members of the board will include: physicist Gyula Bencze;
astronomer Ivan Almar; magician Gergely Molnar; author Istvan
Lazar; World of Nature editor Gyula Staar; historian of science
Laszlo Vekerdi; professor of physiology Gyorgy Adam; chemist
Mihaly Beck; and organization secretary Orsi Rethelyi. The
address of the group is: Hungarian Skeptics, c/o Termeszet
Vilaga, PO Box 256, Budapest 8, 1444 Hungary. Fax 36-1-118-7506.
--
Article #6 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Scourge of the Godmen in India
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:25:41 1992
Scourge of the Godmen in India
Lewis Jones
On the afternoon of the last Saturday in March, London's Conway
Hall was packed with 350 people who had come to see miracles.
They were not disappointed. The performer was everyone's idea of
a bearded Indian guru. He ate glass, ran fl aming torches along
his bare arms, handled lighted camphor freely and put it int o
his mouth, hung a weight on a hook stitched through his skin,
shoved a nasty-l ooking spike through his tongue without harm or
bleeding, caused pieces of paper to burst into flame by the power
of thought, changed a single biscuit into a pi le of a dozen of
them, produced enough holy ash out of thin air to be able to de
liver some to a great many people in the audience, showed spoons
that bent and b roke at a touch, and, of course, turn water into
wine.
And that would have been enough for any self-respecting guru. But
this was no gu ru. This was Premanand, whose mission was not only
to demonstrate miracles, but to explain how they all done. And
this he did, to the further amazement and amus ement of his
audience.
There was a time in his youth when he was highly impressed by the
miraculous feats of those of his fellow-countrymen he calls
"godmen." He was willing to learn from them, and he spent a great
deal of time and effort trying to acquire their magical powers,
but doubts began to creep in. The yogis were forever telling oth
er people how to achieve good health (not to mention
immortality), so how come a number of the godmen had cancer,
rheumatic complaints, liver complaints, tuberc ulosis, asthma,
diabetes . . . ?
One yogi replied to Premanand's query: "I could achieve health,
but I am conscio usly atoning for sins in a past life." But it
was soon obvious that a critical f rame of mind was not welcome.
The yogi Sivananda's response to Premanand's probi ng was: "No
questioning! Get out!"
The young Premanand's skepticism took a practical turn. One
godman was regularly brought out and put on show while apparently
possessed. Premanand wondered if g ods ever went to the toilet.
So he laced the godman's bottles of country liquor with epsom
salts. In mid-performance the mystic called out for a wooden
barrel. He sat on the barrel and evacuated into it while his head
and body continued to sway. A disappointingly human response.
It was soon clear that every one of the godmen's miracles was
merely a trick, an d since 1976 Premanand has been mercilessly
exposing their methods.
To be allowed to infiltrate the inner circles of the godmen has
sometimes requir ed large expenditures of money, and Premanand
himself is a man of modest means. He had to find two million
rupees (about $117,000) in order to worm his way clos e to his
bjte noire - the highly influential Satya Sai Baba. To do this,
he had to give away ninety acres of fertile land.
Premanand became particularly incensed that poor people were
being tricked into handing over sizeable amounts of their
hard-earned money for worthless remedies and advice. "Religion,"
he says, "is a means to exploit people who believe in god." Even
more ominously, Sai Baba "has followers among the bureaucracy,
law enfo rcement departments, revenue departments, the judiciary,
the state and central m inistry, and among the elite and
influential."
Premanand toured the villages and small towns of India in a jeep
and deliberatel y set off the car's alarm when he stopped at the
roadside. He treated the crowd of onlookers to a miracle show in
the manner of a godman, then set about exposin g the trickery.
"If the claims of the godmen are false," he says, "then godmen
should be prosecu ted for cheating the credulous public in order
to exploit them. Or, if they are true, the education department
should stop teaching the theory of conservation a nd relativity
to the students." Right now, Premanand is gunning for Sai Baba in
particular and is in the process of nailing him down in a court
of law.
Premanand has given more than 7,000 lectures, "educating our
people in the scien tific temper." He has met about twenty
million people, and visited twenty-seven countries. Twenty-five
days of every month are spent traveling, and he has writt en
thirty books in Malayalam and six in English.
In 1989, Premanand was awarded a fellowship by the director of
the Communication Department of India's Council for Science and
Technology. His brief is to compl ete a video library of 1,200
miracles, to write books, and to train 1,000 people to tour
50,000 villages. "They will explain the science and tricks behind
mirac les, superstitions, and blind beliefs, so that
exploitations in the name of gods and miracles are stopped."
He is close to fulfilling a dream of 40 years _ the building of a
research cente r, with a library where explanations of religion,
magic, science, miracles, and psychic phenomena are available.
This is to be on a 15-acre site in Kerala, at a spot that the
poet Rabindranath Tagore named "Shrishaila."
Premanand has not achieved all this without attempts on his life.
He has been ph ysically attacked by the godmen's followers. He
has been hospitalized, his car w as tampered with so that it
overturned at speed, and a lorry has tried to run hi m down.
None of these things has dampened the energy of this remarkable
62-year-old. He is convenor of the Indian Rationalist
Association, and since 1976 he has been co nvenor of the Indian
Skeptics.
In 1988, Premanand began publishing Indian Skeptic. It still
comes out every mon th, and you can have it sent by airmail for
$12 a year or $150 for a lifetime su bscription. (And if the
magazine should ever fold, you would get the whole of yo ur
lifetime subscription back.) Address: 10 Chettipalayam Road,
Podanur 641 023 (Tamilnadu), India.
Each issue includes descriptions of how a number of miracles are
performed _ and there are 1,000 to cover.
Talking of miracles, everyone who was in that Conway Hall
audience can now perfo rm the feats that at first seemed
impossible: how to run a flame along your arm without getting
burned; how to create psychic fire with ingredients from your lo
cal drugstore; and how to produce a seemingly endless supply of
holy ash. Some of the "miracles" require simple gimmicked
apparatus. The spike doesn't rea lly go through the tongue:
there's a little u-bend in the middle of the spike th at fits
around it. But it looks alarmingly realistic.
Is there anything else Premanand would like to accomplish in his
lifetime? "Oh y es," he told me. "To see a real miracle before I
die."
But I can't convey in print the twinkle in his eye or the
blossoming grin. It wa s like so many of Premanand's
performances. You had to be there.
--
Article 7 does not exist
Article #8 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Magic and Trickery in Lexington
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:28:29 1992
Magic and Trickery in Lexington, Kentucky
Barry Karr
"In dealing with the paranormal, you can find a lot of
deception and misperception. Magicians are interested in
this sort of thing. They are experienced in sleight of hand.
That's their business - having people see what they want
them to see. Who better to spot tricks and deception than a
magician?"
This is the answer I gave the Memphis Commercial Appeal when they
asked why CSICOP believes it is important to have magicians
involved in investigating paranormal claims.
With this in mind, CSICOP organized an Institute for Inquiry
seminar on the subject "Magic for Skeptics: Trickery and the
Paranormal," which was held April 17 to 19, at the Ramada Hotel
in Lexington, Kentucky.
The seminar, led by former professional magician Joe Nickell, who
now teaches technical writing at the University of Kentucky,
Lexington, and Robert Baker, professor emeritus of psychology at
the University of Kentucky, provided an intensive history of
magic and its association with the paranormal, and at the same
time explained various conjuring techniques and offered hands-on
demonstrations of various effects.
Thus participants not only learned some of the ways that such
effects as reading the contents of sealed envelopes, the passing
of one solid object through another, mind reading, and the old
spoon-bend are accomplished, they also were shown how these
various effects are used by people claiming paranormal abilities.
The point was stressed, however, that because you may know one
way an effect can be done, this doesn't mean that there aren't
other ways. We can all be fooled.
Although I don't know that any of the 60 or so participants will
be quitting their day jobs to go on the road as professional
magicians, I do think they came away with a solid foundation, and
appreciation, for basic conjuring skills.
--
Article #9 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Voice of Inquiry Heard Across Australia
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:29:33 1992
"Voice of Inquiry" to be Heard Across Australia
"The Voice of Inquiry," the 13-part radio series produced by
Inquiry Media Productions, in cooperation with the Skeptical
Inquirer and Free Inquiry, will be heard on 160 stations across
the continent of Australia.
The well-known Australian broadcaster Phillip Adams, a founder of
the Australian Skeptics, will air the tapes across the country.
They will be heard on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) Radio
Nation, the national broadcasting organization's "spoken word"
network.
It's not too late to help air "Voice of Inquiry" on your
continent. For more information, write Tom Flynn, Director,
Inquiry Media Productions, Box 32, Buffalo NY 14215-0032.
--
Article #10 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . "Can Psychic Astrology Solve Your Problems?"
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:30:53 1992
Barrett's Corner by Steve Barrett
Can "Psychic Astrology" Solve Your Problems?
Would you like to "hit it big" and accrue "up to millions"? Cope
better with important personal relationships? Have everything
mapped out so you can "fulfill your dream of living the good
life"? Just complete the enclosed "psychic interview form" and
send it with $19.95 for your "Personal Forecast and Life
Development Chart," guaranteed to provide "full Good Luck/Money
instructions" for the next year or your money will be returned.
This sales pitch, in an envelope marked "absolutely confidential"
_ was mailed by "psychic astrologer" Irene Hughes. "Dear Tom,"
the letter said. "Your name got on my special list. The moment I
saw it there I had a hunch: a psychic 'gut feeling.' I knew I
should contact you. I said to myself, 'Things are not right with
this friend. I must help my new friend.'
"Now I happen to be famous for spotting people in trouble, and
helping them. . . Even officials of the Church and Government
call on my services. Being able to 'receive' psychic impressions
from anywhere in the world . . . I've been nearly 100% successful
assisting important world figures in ways that amaze
authorities."
"Right this minute I'm concentrating on you. On how Irene Hughes
should and must help you. What my gut feeling tells me is this.
You have a serious personal problem. It is eating away at you. .
. . '
"There is no shortage of so-called psychics or astrologers out
there willing to help you . . . They will take your money and not
actually do anything for you or tell you anything you didn't
already know," Hughes continued. "You don't know how lucky you
are that a truly qualified psychic counseling expert _ someone
known to be 'right' as a psychic 74 out of 75 times _ is now on
to your problem. . . . Normally my consultation services cost a
client $500.00 or more, plus expenses."
I have no way to determine whether Hughes helps people. But I do
know that her selection of "Tom" was not psychic. "Tom" does not
exist. He's just one of many assumed names used by a reporter I
know to subscribe to offbeat health publications, order bogus
products, and inquire about get-riah-quick schemes. "Tom"
receives a steady stream of mail from entrepreneurs who have
acquired his name for their "sucker lists."
Stephen Barrett, M.D., co-chairman of CSICOP's Paranormal Health
Claims Subcommittee, practices psychiatry and edits Nutrition
Forum, a newsletter focusing on nutrition fads, fallacies, and
quackery. His 28 books include Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds,
published by Consumer Reports Books in 1990. His recommended
reading list can be obtained by sending a self-addressed, stamped
envelope to the Lehigh Valley Co. Against Health Fraud, Inc.,
P.O. Box 1747, Allentown, PA 18105.
--
Article #11 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Earthquake Lights and UFOs
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:33:17 1992
Earthquake Lights and UFOs
"Earthquake lights", a low-intensity luminescence sometimes
visible on the exterior surface of rocks near the epicenter
shortly before an earthquake, are a well-established scientific
fact, although the phenomenon is not too well understood. The
phenomenon is believed to involve the "piezoelectric effect",
used in some cigarette lighters to create a spark to ignite
butane gas. The idea that some UFO reports might be triggered by
"earthquake lights" is not in itself new, having been proposed
more than a decade ago by Michael Persinger, a Canadian
psychologist who is interested in UFOs.
Recently John Derr, who is with the U.S. Geological Survey's
Albuquerque Seismological Lab, has been trying to correlate
earthquake activity in New Mexico 40 years ago with UFO sightings
of that period. While a few of the UFO sightings may have been
triggered by earthquake lights, the high apparent correlation is
suspect for several reasons, according to Philip J. Klass,
chairman of CSICOP's UFO Subcommittee, who has written four books
on UFOs. First is the considerable distance of some of Derr's UFO
sightings from the epicenter of the quakes, and another is the
elapsed time separating the two events. Still another is that,
for most UFO sightings, the object is reported to be airborne,
while earthquake lights are on or very close to the surface,
according to Klass. Additionally, many UFO sightings involve
brightly illuminated moving objects, whereas earthquake lights
are of low intensity and necessarily relatively static.
Derr has used scientific methodology to try to find a prosaic
explanation for UFO reports, and believes his theory may explain
a small percentage of the total. "However," Klass said, "after
nearly 26 years of investigating UFO sightings, I have learned
that there are dozens of different 'trigger mechanisms.'
"These include bright planets/stars, re-entering space debris,
meteor-fireballs, advertising aircraft with strings of flashing
lights, military aircraft conducting refueling operations or
special tests, and hoax hot-air balloons launched by pranksters,
plus many others," Klass said. "perhaps the list should include
earthquake lights," he added.
--
Article #12 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . BEYOND BELIEF: Photographic Proof? Not For Long!
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:35:08 1992
BEYOND BELIEF
Photographic Proof? Not for Long
by Tom Flynn
If your kids dragged you to Steven Spielberg's movie Hook, you
may have been impressed with the fluidity and realism of its
flying scenes. Robin Williams as Peter Pan (obviously not a
stuntman) would swoop around those studio sets with the greatest
of ease, while the camera wheeled gracefully around him. How was
it done? With a technology called "wire removal." Why should
skeptics care? Because the digital visual-effects technology
behind today's blockbusters is poised to thrust all our old ideas
about "photographic evidence" into the dustbin of history.
Until about 1990, flying an actor in a movie studio meant taking
enormous pains to hide the wires. In pictures like Superman
(1978), the wires were kept so thin that they limited both the
possible flying maneuvers and the performers' safety. (Of course,
traveling matte techniques were available that permitted certain
types of flying shots to be executed without worrying about
wires. But these methods introduced problems of their own.)
With Back to the Future II, the technicians at Industrial Light
and Magic (ILM), George Lucas's cutting-edge special-effects
facility, rewrote the book on flying scenes. That picture
featured dozens of shots with Michael J. Fox on a flying
skateboard. Director Robert Zemeckis staged them with all kinds
of big, clumsy, safe steel rods and wires out in plain sight. He
just let the hardware show. Then ILM technicians scanned each
frame of film into a powerful graphics workstation. Using
proprietary software, they removed the rods and wires. They
extrapolated background imagery from either side of the objects
to fill in the spaces where the hardware had been. And it all
worked invisibly, frame after frame, 24 frames for every second
of screen time. Finally, each manipulated frame was laser-scanned
back onto 35mm or 70mm film negative. Cut into the finished
picture, these highly manipulated shots matched perfectly with
"virgin" first-generation footage. You never saw the wires, and
you never saw where they'd been removed.
Which brings us back to Hook. Unencumbered by the need to make
wires invisible to the camera, Spielberg's technicians
concentrated on building a flying rig that would do just about
anything _ and do it with such a margin of safety that Robin
Williams could do most of the flying himself. All Spielberg had
to worry about was getting the moves and the performance right.
The techno-pixies at ILM would take care of everything else.
This made for some fine entertainment _ and for rising anxiety
among specialists in visual forensics. Suppose someone with
access to ILM technology created, say, a phony UFO photograph. If
the faker was skillful, neither the photo nor its negative
(previously the Achilles' heel of photo manipulators) would
betray any signs of the manipulation they had undergone.
Picture-massaging technology almost as sophisticated as the
equipment at ILM is already in use at service bureaus, in
corporations, and on college and university campuses. It's a
sizeable installed base, much of which is good enough to
manipulate 35mm negatives at snapshot resolution. With the
ubiquity of camcorders, which produce low-resolution moving
imagery already in electronic form, an increasing number of
extraordinary claims, criminal prosecutions, and the like, will
hinge on a form of evidence that's even easier to manipulate.
Finally, electronic still cameras are beginning, however slowly,
to move into applications that once belonged exclusively to
silver-halide film technology. These devices do not produce
negatives, but graphics files _ the ideal format for easy
manipulation.
The days when a skilled photo analyst could be sure of detecting
a doctored image may soon be history. The next Rodney King-style
scandal could be set in motion by faked camcorder footage, and
the fakery may prove difficult or impossible for authorities to
detect. While we wait for that, skeptics can occupy themselves
wading through what I'm sure will be a growing stream of
increasingly better-quality "proof shots" of ghosts, levitation,
UFOs, and who knows what else. Till next time, grow doubtful with
along with me. The weirdest is yet to be.
Tom Flynn, director of Inquiry Media Productions, is currently
producing the upcoming CSICOP video "Case Histories in the
Paranormal."
--
Article #13 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Oops Awards
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:37:23 1992
The "Oops!" Awards
Barry Karr
Our readers have an excellent habit of sending us interesting
items from their local newspapers. Sometimes these clips are so
good we feel there should be some means of honoring them. In this
spirit, I propose the "Oops!" Award. For example, "Oops!" Awards
that could have been given in the past include this, in the
"Perhaps I Have Said Too Much" category:
Psychic News, a London Spiritualist weekly newspaper, reported in
its January 31, 1987, issue that their offices had been
burglarized. "A day's mail was stolen _ and we have no idea what
it contained," said the report.
In the "I Should Have Seen It Coming" category:
"E. Frankel, one of the Soviet Union's growing number of
psychic healers and mentalists, claimed he used his powers
to stop bicycles, automobiles, and streetcars. He thought he
was ready for something bigger, so he stepped in front of a
freight train. It didn't work." (AP, October 2, 1989)
For this issue, also in the "I Should Have Seen It Coming" category:
"A Denver psychic and her ex-husband . . . were joined
together Friday in a 14-count federal grand-jury indictment
charging them with tax fraud.
"Lou Wright and Richard G. Deubel were charged with filing
false federal income tax returns for certain years in the
1980s. If convicted, Wright faces as many as 24 years in
prison and a maximum $2 million in fines. . . . "Deubel
testifies that Wright may have been earning more than
$100,000 a year from her consulting business, even though
she claimed . . . that her company, Lou Wright Enterprises,
was worthless. . . . "Federal prosecutors say Wright filed
false corporate returns for the company and another company
called Lou Wright Inc. and that Deubel aided in their
preparation." (Rocky Mountain News, March 28, 1992)
--
Article #14 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . A Tribute to Isaac Asimov
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:39:39 1992
In Memory of Isaac Asimov
"[Asimov] is a natural resource and a national wonder."
- George Simpson
"There is a crying need for the popular understanding of
modern science. Asimov was remarkable for his ability to
popularize and entertain. He was a national resource, and
there ought to be a national day of mourning for him."
- Leon Lederman, in the New York Times.
"What H. G. Wells did for public appreciation and
understanding of science in the first half of the 20th
century, Isaac Asimov did in the second half."
- Gerard Piel, in the New York Times.
"I think one of the most powerful aspects of his science
fiction, one of the ways it worked so well, was that it was
grounded in reality. It was based on real science, it felt
like real science."
- Carl Sagan, Boston Globe.
"Yeah, well. Anyway it's been a fun life. I don't enjoy the
thought of having to leave it, but if I do leave it, at
least I have the feeling that I haven't wasted it."
- Isaac Asimov, Interview magazine.
--
Article #15 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Watch for a CSICOP Seminar Near You
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:40:50 1992
The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
announces the 1992 CSICOP Conference at the Harvey Hotel in Dallas, Texas
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 16, 17, and 18, 1992
Fairness, Fraud, and Feminism:
Culture Confronts Science
Keynote Address (Friday at 8:30 p.m.)
Richard Dawkins
distinguished professor of zoology at Oxford University,
author of The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene
Friday, October 16
7:30 - 9:00 a.m.: Registration
9:00 - 9:15 a.m.: Opening Remarks _ Paul Kurtz, CSICOP Chairman
9:15 a.m. - 12 noon: Multicultural Approaches to Science:
the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Moderator: Eugenie Scott, Executive Director,
National Center for Science Education
Bernard Ortiz de Montellano,
professor of anthropology, Wayne State University
Diana Marinez,
professor of biochemistry, Michigan State University
Joseph Dunbar,
professor of physiology, Wayne State University
12 noon - 2:00 p.m.: Lunch Break
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.: Gender issues in Science and Pseudoscience
Moderator: James Alcock, professor of psychology, Glendon College, York
University, Toronto.
Susan Blackmore, psychologist, University of Bristol, U.K.
Carol Tavris, social psychologist, author of The Mismeasure of Woman.
Steven Goldberg, professor of sociology, City College, City University
of New York, and author of The Inevitability of Patriarchy
5:15 - 6:15 p.m.: Reception (cash bar)
6:15 - 8:30 p.m.: Dinner:
The Future of Skepticism:
The Price of Reason
with the CSICOP Executive Council, Paul Kurtz, James Alcock,
Barry Beyerstein, Susan Blackmore, Kendrick Frazier, Ray Hyman,
Philip J. Klass, Joe Nickell, and Lee Nisbet
8:00 p.m.: Keynote Address
Richard Dawkins, professor of zoology, Oxford University, and author
of The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene.
Saturday, October 17
8:00 - 9:00 am.: Registration
9:00 a.m. - 12 noon: Fraud in Science
Moderator: Elie Shneour, Director, Biosystems Research Institute
Paul Friedman, professor of radiology, School of Medicine, University of
California, San Diego, at La Jolla.
Clark Glymour, professor of philosophy, Carnegie-Mellon University
Walter Stewart, National Institutes of Helath.
12 noon - 2:00 p.m.: CSICOP Luncheon
Sergei Kapitza, editor of Russian edition of Scientific American;
member Russian Academy of Sciences.
Evry Schatzman, former president, French Physics Society;
member French Academy of Science.
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.: Two Concurrent Sessions
Session 1. Crashed Saucers
Moderator: Philip J. Klass, leading investigator of UFO claims
and former senior editor of Aviation Week and Space Technology.
Robert Young, education director, Harrisburg Astronomical Society
James McGaha, Major, U.S. Air Force (ret.), Tucson.
Kevin Randle and Donald R. Schmitt, authors of UFO Crash at Roswell.
Session 2. The Paranormal in China
Moderator: Paul Kurtz, CSICOP Chairman and professor emeritus of
philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Guo Zheng-yi, Shen Zhen-yu, Weng Shi-da, and Dong Guang bi,
members of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology; Lin Zixin,
former editor-in-chief of China's Science and Technolgy Daily; Yu Li,
journalist and magician.
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.: Reception (cash bar)
7:00 - 10:00 p.m.: Awards Banquet
Entertainment by Steve Shaw, mentalist, magician, and
"Project Alpha" alumnus.
Sunday, October 19
8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Tour of Dinosaur Valley State Park
See the Paluxy River footprints and the fossil imprints left by giant
reptiles of eons past. Dr. Ronnie Hastings, an expert on the Paluxy River
footprints, will be our tour guide. A complete box lunch will be provided.
9:00 a.m. - noon: Conversation Session
Screening of CSICOP video.
Conference Information
The CSICOP Hospitality Room will be open at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday,
October 15 (cash bar 7:30 to 11:00 p.m.). This room will be available
for the entire conference.
Accommodations: The Harvey Hotel, near the Dallas-Fort Worth
Airport, Highway 114 at Esters Blvd., 4545 W. John Carpenter
Freeway, Irving, TX 75063. Free Parking. Single $68.00, double
$68.00 (plus 11% tax). The Harvey will arrange shared doubles
upon request. These special rates will be available from October
13 through October 19. For reservations call 214-929-4500, fax
214-929-0733. Benton's restaurant, Scoop's Diner, Cassidy's
Lounge, and the Lobby Bar are on the premises, and the hotel will
provide free transportation to Oestaurant Row. Complimentary
coffee will be available in the lobby for hotel guests.
Transportation: For special conference airline rates call
CSICOP's travel agent, Judy Pensack, Creative Destinations,
800-572-5440 or fax 407-830-5530, who has arranged discounts.
Free transportation to and from DFW Airport to the Harvey Hotel.
For more information, call or write Mary Rose Hayes at CSICOP,
Box 703, Buffalo, NY 14225 or telephone 716-636-1425, fax 716
Media representatives should contact Barry Karr: 716-636-1425.
This conference is hosted by the North Texas Skeptics, an
independent, autonomous organization.
Registration Form
YES, I (we) plan to attend the 1992 CSICOP Conference in Dallas.
$125 registration for _____ person(s),
includes Keynote Address $
$15.00 Friday Dinner for _____ person(s) $
$15.00 Saturday Luncheon for _____ person(s) $
$25.00 Saturday Awards Banquet for _____ person(s) $
$10.00 nonregistrant ticket(s) to Keynote Address
for _____ person(s) $
$31.50 Sunday tour of Dinosaur Valley Park
and Box Lunch for _____ person(s) $
Visa MasterCard Check enclosed TOTAL $
Acct. # Exp.
Signature
Name
Address
City State Zip
Phone: (day) (evening)
No, I will not be able to attend the conference, but please accept my
contribution (tax-deductible) of $__________ to help cover the costs of this
and future CSICOP events.
Preregistration is advised. Students 25 or under with I.D., $25.00.
Registration fee does not include meals or accommodations. Mail to:
1992 CSICOP Conference, Box 703, Buffalo, NY 14226
--
Article #16 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . Skeptics' Legal Defense Foundat'n...Against Harassing Suits
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:44:32 1992
CSICOP Legal Defense Foundation
Help Us Defend Skepticism Against Harassing Suits
In the Winter 1992 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer we outlined
the difficulties that the Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal is experiencing because
of harassing lawsuits filed against skeptics. We feel confident
that these suits will eventually be dismissed. Still, we suspect
that the lawsuits were brought for reasons other than the redress
of alleged grievances.
For what do these suits mean? They mean that the
pro-paranormalists think they have finally found a way to strike
below the belt of scientists and skeptics. For years they have
been unable to prove their claims of miraculous abilities.
They've grown tired of hearing our challenges. Now they have
turned to intimidation by lawsuit in an effort to silence their
only persistent critics.
It doesn't necessarily matter if the plaintiff wins or loses the
suit. Their purpose is to waste their opponents' resources and to
intimidate and silence them in effect, depriving individuals or
organizations of their First Amendment rights.
We are by no means a wealthy organization, but we are not
prepared to surrender our rights. We have vowed to fight back. To
do so, we need your support. CSICOP has established the CSICOP
Legal Defense Foundation. Its funds will be used to help pay the
costs of existing lawsuits and any that may arise in the future,
and to countersue when appropriate.
Don't allow the claim-mongers to destroy CSICOP (and the values
of science and reason it steadfastly represents) through unjust
and frivolous legal proceedings. Support the CSICOP Legal Defense
Foundation today. It's the best way to blunt this frightening new
weapon of the apostles of nonsense.
Yes, I want to help defend the rights of skeptics. Enclosed is my
tax-deductible contribution of: $ . (Please make check payable to
the CSICOP Legal Defense Foundation.)
Charge my
Visa
MasterCard
Check Enclosed
Card Number Expiration Date
Credit-card contributors may call toll-free: 1-800-634-1610
Name
Address
City State Zip
Mail to:
CSICOP Legal Defense Foundation, Box 703, Buffalo, NY 14226
--
Article #17 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . The Skeptic's Toolbox: Inst. For Inquiry Seminar Aug. 20-24
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:46:41 1992
A CSICOP Institute for Inquiry Seminar
The Skeptic's Toolbox
University of Oregon at Eugene, Thursday to Monday, August 20 to 24, 1992
Thursday, August 20
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.: Registration
7:30 - 10:00 p.m.: Dinner _ Welcome and Introduction
Quackery and Mental Health by Loren Pankratz
Close Up Magic with Jerry Andrus, David Harkey, Ray Hyman, and Loren
Pankratz
Friday, August 21
9:00 - 10:15 a.m.: Getting Your Message Across
by Jeff Mayhew
10:45 - 12 noon: Critical Incidents
This will be a group session in which faculty and
participants relate incidents in which they were
confronted by paranormal claims. How did we handle the
situation? With hindsight, what could we have done
better? What tools could we have used?
2:00 - 3:15 p.m.: Random Andrus by Jerry Andrus
A lecture demonstrating using optical illusions and magic
to demonstrate how we often come to the wrong conclusions
for the right reasons.
3:45 - 5:00 p.m.: Consult the Expert
Choose one:
1. Ideomotor Action: Dowsing, Black Baxes, and Ouija Boards
2. Effective Communication and Argumentation
3. Children as Deceivers
4. Illusions and the Mind
5. Graphology and Assessment
Saturday, August 22
9:00 - 10:15 a.m.: The Personality Styles of Deceivers
by Loren Pankratz
10:45 - 12 noon: The Esoteric Brian by Barry Beyerstein
2:00 - 3:15 p.m.: The Psychic Reading by Ray Hyman
Video and audiotape examples of Ray Hyman giving
convincing psychic readings. Discussions of why they work
and advice on how to do them.
3:45 - 5:00 p.m.: Practice at Doing Psychic Readings
The participants will be given opportunities to practice
giving psychic readings to volunteer clients.
Sunday, August 23
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Eugene Vortex and Picnic
The entire morning session will take place at Hendricks
Park, within walking distance of the University of Oregon
campus. Jerry Andrus will have set up some demonstrations
equivalent to those that occur at the Oregon Vortex. He
will also set up his "Impossible Box." The park has
picnic facilities, and we will hold a group picnic along
with discussion of the phenomena.
2:00 - 3:15 p.m.: Small Group Workshops
The participants will be divided into five working
groups, which will devise solutions to previously
assigned problems or cases.
3:15 - 5:00 p.m.: Plenary Session of Participants
The working groups will convene to compare solutions and
discuss the cases.
7:30 - 10:00 p.m.: Dinner
The Psychology of Deception by Ray Hyman
Monday, August 24
9:00 - 10:15 a.m.:
Subgroups Compose Summary Checklist
The participants will be divided into five subgroups.
Each subgroup will generate its own checklist of key
tools and ideas developed during the workshop.
10:45 - 12 noon: Plenary Session and Wrap-up
The participants will convene in one group and the
checklists from each subgroup will be merged into one
master checklist.
Registration Form
$130 registration for _____ person(s) $
Please reserve _____ double room(s) and board
for _____ person(s) at McAlister or Schafer halls
at $140 for four nights $
Please reserve _____ single room(s) and board
for _____ person(s) at McAlister or Schafer halls
at $160 each for four nights $
Visa MasterCard Check enclosed TOTAL $
Acct. # Exp.
Signature
Name
Address
City State Zip
Phone: (day) (evening)
Fill out and mail to:
Barry Karr, CSICOP, Box 703, Buffalo, NY 14226-0703
Credit card orders call 1-800-634-1610
or fax charges to 716-636-1733
A CSICOP Institute for Inquiry Seminar
--
Article #18 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . INSIDE CSICOP
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:47:34 1992
Inside CSICOP
Barry Karr
The CSICOP Executive Council is pleased to announce that Barry
Beyerstein and Vern Bullough have been elected Fellows of CSICOP
and Terence Hines and Gary Posner have been named Scientific
Consultants.
Barry Beyerstein, a biopsychologist at Simon Fraser University,
Vancouver, British Columbia, was elected a CSICOP Scientific
Consultant in 1984 and is now a member of the Executive Council.
His contributions to the Skeptical Inquirer include "The Myth of
Alpha Consciousness" (Fall 1985), "The Brain and Consciousness"
(Winter 1987-88), and "Neuropathology and the Legacy of Spiritual
Possession" (Spring 1988). He is also head of the British
Columbia Skeptics. Vern Bullough, Distinguished Professor of the
State University of New York, has been a CSICOP Scientific
Consultant. He was recently named Dean of the Institute for
Inquiry, which sponsors many CSICOP seminars. He is the author of
"Spirit-Rapping Unmasked: An 1851 Investigation and Its
Aftermath," which appeared in the Skeptical Inquirer (Fall 1985).
Terence Hines is a professor of psychology at Pace University,
Pleasantville, New York. His contributions to the Skeptical
Inquirer include "Biorhythms" (Summer 1979), "High Flying Health
Quackery" (Summer 1988), and "A Reaction-Time Test of ESP and
Precognition" (Winter 1989). He is also the author of
Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, an excellent overview of the
paranormal. Gary Posner, M.D., is an internist in St. Petersburg,
Florida, a longtime member of CSICOP's UFO Subcommittee, and the
founder of the Tampa Bay Skeptics. He has written "Nation's
Mathematicians Guilty of Innumeracy" (Summer 1991) and other
articles for the Skeptical Inquirer. Posner also was Medical
Consultant to James Randi during Randi's investigation of faith
healers.
--
Article #19 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: . . . S.I. CURRENTS
Date: Wed Jul 8 01:48:59 1992
SI Currents
CSICOP is pleased to announce that International Periodicals
Distributors (IPD), of San Diego, Calif., has agreed to
distribute the Skeptical Inquirer to its network of bookstores
and newsstands across the United States and Canada. Currently,
the Skeptical Inquirer has a newsstand circulation of about 1,850
issues per quarter. IPD will be able to make SI available to
almost 5,000 retail bookstores in the U.S., as well as possibly
provide international distribution in the future. Major chains
serviced by IPD include Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, Tower Books,
B. Dalton, and Encore Books.
Other distributors of SI include: Armadillo & Co., Culver City,
Calif.; Fine Print Distributors, Austin, Texas; Small Changes,
Seattle, Wash.; and Ubiquity, Brooklyn, N.Y.
So look for us at a newsstand near you. Chances are we'll be
there soon.
--
Article #20 (21 is last):
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
From: xx029@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Skeptics SIG)
Subject: Judge Authorizes Sanctions Against Geller (CSICOP News Release)
Date: Mon Jul 20 23:38:35 1992
[The following is the text of a news release from The Committee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.]
LAWSUIT AGAINST CSICOP DISMISSED
A federal court in Washington, D.C has thrown out a lawsuit filed
by self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller against the Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
(CSICOP) and has authorized the imposition of monetary sanctions
against Geller for prosecuting the case.
In orders issued by Judge Stanley S. Harris, the United States
District Court for the District of Columbia entered judgment on
behalf of CSICOP and granted CSICOP's request that the Court
impose sanctions on Geller for his prosecution of the lawsuit.
Geller commenced the fifteen million dollar lawsuit in May of 1991
against CSICOP and James Rand, alleging that Geller was defamed by
Randi in statements reported in The International Herald Tribune.
In its motion to the Court seeking judgment on Geller's claims
against it, CSICOP asserted that Geller had no legal or factual
basis for his assertion that CSICOP should be held liable for
Randi's alleged statements.
In a declaration filed with the Court in Geller's lawsuit, CSICOP
Executive Director Barry Karr stated that "I believe that CSICOP
was made a defendant in this lawsuit solely for the purpose of
harassment and intimidation, and in the hope that the lawsuit
would dissuade CSICOP from encouraging and providing a forum
for... the critical discussion and analysis of paranormal claims,
particularly those asserted by Geller."
CSICOP publishes on a quarterly basis the Skeptical Inquirer, a
scholarly journal of articles and comment regarding claims of the
paranormal and scientific controversies intended to inform
interested scientists and scholars, the media and the general
public on such matters and to publish skeptical and evaluative
critiques of them based upon scientific principles and recognized
concepts of creditable evidence. On numerous occasions, the
Skeptical Inquirer has included articles that have examined and
commented upon claims of paranormal powers asserted by Geller,
many of which have called into question Geller's claims.
Judge Harris's authorization of sanctions against Geller was made
pursuant to a federal court rule that mandates the imposition of
sanctions if litigation is "interposed for any improper purpose
such as to harass or cause unnecessary delay or needless increase
in the cost of litigation," or if papers filed with the court are
not "to the best of the signer's knowledge, information, and
belief formed after reasonable inquiry...well grounded in
fact...and warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for
the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law."
Following notification of Judge Harris's orders, CSICOP Chairman
Paul Kurtz commented, "This type of libel suit, even if ultimately
unsuccessful, threatens to chill debate on scientific issues. If
such obstacles as these are placed, unchecked, in the way of
scientific research, and if one cannot question extraordinary
claims, then a serious blow will be dealt to freedom of expression
and of scientific inquiry." Kurtz continued, "We view this case as
a serious challenge to our First Amendment rights, and we are
thankful that Judge Harris chose to vindicate those rights." In
addition, Kurtz observed, the judge's decision to impose sanctions
against Geller "sends a stern warning to those who would utilize
libel suits as a weapon to harass; such conduct can carry a heavy
penalty."
--
Article #21 (21 is last):
From: aa470@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Cyn Bell-Moores)
Newsgroups: freenet.rec.skeptic.csicop
Subject: Skeptical Briefs Volume 2 Number 3
Reply-To: aa470@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Cyn Bell-Moores)
Posted-By: xx029 (aa470 - Cyn Bell-Moores)
Date: Wed Sep 23 12:30:30 1992
Skeptical Briefs
This electronic document contains material copyrighted
by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation
of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP)
Box 703, Buffalo, NY 14226-0703.
Paul Kurtz, Chairman
Barry Karr, Executive Director
Inklings
The Natural Law Party
Lewis Jones
I guess most people know the names of the main political parties in Britain,
but the most recent election reminded us that almost a hundred other parties
were also hoping to take over the reins -- among them the Jolly Small Brewers
Party, the Fancy Dress Party, the Forward to Mars Party, the Whiplash
(Corrective) Party, the Struck Off and Die Doctor's Alliance Party, and the
Official Monster Raving Loony Party.
By far the biggest election manifesto to drop onto my doormat this time came
from a party that wasn't around at the previous election -- the Natural Law
Party (NLP). In contrast to the modest pamphlets put out by the main parties,
the NLP's offering extended to 16 square feet of printed paper. And like other
parties, the NLP set out its proposals for running the country. "It is time,"
they say, "to bring the light of science into politics."
Economy? "We will implement programs to develop the full creative potential of
every individual, and educate and train everyone how to achieve perfection in
their profession." In this way, "a better economy will be created not on the
basis of hard work, but on the basis of following Natural Law, which works
through the Principle of Least Action (Physics) -- maximum accomplishment
through minimum effort on the basis of infinite creativity."
Taxation? "We will aim at keeping a tax level of between 10 and 20%," because
the NLP's administration "will disallow emergence of problems, negativity,
crime, and disease in the country, thereby increasing the efficiency of the
administration and substantially reducing government expenditures."
Education? "It is imperative to introduce the study of consciousness and
research in consciousness in order to generate the influence of coherence and
positivity in individual and national consciousness . . . . These programmes
include Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation."
Employment? The unemployed will be trained "to unfold their latent creative
potential and gain the support of Nature . . ."
Health? The NLP will create "a Disease-Free Society through
prevention-oriented health education, based on the complete knowledge of
prevention available in Maharishi Ayur-Veda."
Law and order? The Maharishi Effect will "eliminate the very cause of crime --
the inability of the population to think and act spontaneously in accord with
Natural Law."
The environment? The NLP "will regenerate the inner cities by developing
parklands with beautiful lakes, flowers, and trees in the decaying centres of
cities and redistributing the population to ideal villages and towns around
the outskirts of the cities." (No mention of how to deal with people who
decline to be "redistributed.")
By a happy chance, it appears that "the tradition of administration of the
United Kingdom mirrors the absolute system of Nature's Government." since "a
monarchy, integrated with democracy, appears to be the ideal structure of
government which upholds the unifying and diversifying values of Natural law."
In short, the NLP's aspiration is to "create a government which can satisfy
everyone," and to create a "positive influence of harmony in our national
consciousness, by establishing a few groups of 'Yogic Flyers' in the country."
These claims, say the NLP, "would appear unbelievable, were it not for the
more than 500 scientific research studies conducted at over 200 universities
and research institutions in 27 countries worldwide, as well as decades of
experience."
The manifesto includes photographs of 35 members of the Executive Council.
Among them are two physicians who were struck off the medical register some
months before the election, for what the Lancet reported as "serious
professional misconduct."
Leading the Council's photographic parade is a figure more often seen on
American television screens: one-time hippie magician Doug Henning -- seen
here in sober jacket and tie, and captioned "Dr. Doug Henning." It turns out
that his doctorate was in the Science of Creative Intelligence, awarded by a
Maharishi College. For his British constituency, Canadian-born Henning chose
half of a seaside town (Blackpool South) that is well known as an
entertainment center.
There are 651 seats to be filled in the British parliament, and the NLP claims
that it is already the fourth-largest party in terms of number of candidates
(310).
In high hopes of success, the NLP's manifesto proclaimed: "Great Britain will
be the first great nation in the world to enjoy freedom from problems." But it
was not to be.
In Britain, election candidates put up a deposit of 500, and if they fail to
attract at least one-fifth of the votes, they forfeit that deposit. In the
event, all NLP candidates throughout the country forfeited their deposits.
(Henning drew 173 votes -- 0.4% of the votes cast in Blackpool South).
But the NLP reckons that as a political party it is here to stay, and it has
its eye on other countries. (Stand by; the NLP is already claiming a U.S.
presidential candidate -- quantum physicist John Hagelin.)
Tomorrow, the world?
***Lewis Jones is a science writer from the United Kingdom.***
EuroSkeptics Meet in Italy
Paul Kurtz, CSICOP Chairman
to 19 in St. Vincent, a small village nestled in the Italian Alps.
Delegates came from more than a dozen European countries, the United States,
and Canada. The theme of this meeting was "What is the Experimental Evidence
for ESP?" although a wide range of other topics were debated, including
dowsing, psychokinesis, the Saint Januarius "miracle," astrology, and
homeopathy. The conference received wide coverage on television, radio, and in
the Italian press. A noted Italian science writer and TV moderator, Piero
Angela, played an especially important role in organizing the Italian CICAP
organization and the conference.
Also important were Steno Ferluga, professor of astrophysics at Trieste
University, and two young Italian skeptics, Massimo Polidoro and Lorenzo
Montali. CICAP has had strong support from the Italian scientific community,
especially from its Nobel laureates.
The conference contributors issued the following statement about the
responsibilities of the scientific community in examining paranormal phenomena:
This statement is issued at the conclusion of the Congress of CICAP (Comitato
Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sul Paranormale), and
seventeen countries, July 17-19, 1992, at Saint Vincent, Italy.
In response, to the basic question, What is the experimental evidence for, the
paranormal? we submit that what is available is insufficient, inconsistent,
and inconclusive.
Therefore we suggest that the scientific community has a professional and
social duty to express itself about the unchallenged growth of paranormal and
pseudoscientific claims, to fill the gap between science and popular opinion.
Indeed, significant sectors of tile public throughout the world believe that
"paranormal phenomena" have been proved by science, and there is a continuing
abuse of scientific language by pseudoscientists.
Scientists should be open to the investigation of any responsible claim about
alleged anomalous phenomena, or at least they should support their colleagues
who critically examine paranormal claims. When, in the past, scientists and
their organizations have applied their expertise to question ill-founded
notions, they have usually proved effective.
Where there is clearly insufficient evidence, or when a specific claim has
been falsified, scientists should convey this knowledge to the public. This is
particularly important when the media sensationalize these claims, and when
there is commercial exploitation by astrologers, psychics, spurious medical
healers, and other pseudoscientific practitioners.
Scientists should also promote governmental and public support for scientific
education, and foster critical thinking to enable the general public to
distinguish science from pseudoscience.
Beyond Belief
War in the Gulf
Tom Flynn
In the inky darkness beside the bridge, 20 people cluster outside their cars.
A man scans the night sky with binoculars. Half a dozen senior citizens have
arranged their lawn chairs in an outward-facing circle. They sit, heads thrown
back, each responsible for 60 degrees of sky. Standing unattended a dozen feet
away are three large camcorders on tripods. One has been modified; a sports
photographer's super telephoto lens explodes from the camera body, supported
by a machined aluminum bar.
My companion, the videographer, is local. He introduces me as "Tom from out of
town." It wouldn't do to reveal more. This is Gulf Breeze, Florida, and these
people are waiting for a UFO.
Other business had taken me to Orlando, and I took the opportunity to visit
Gulf Breeze and shoot some interviews for the upcoming CSICOP video. Gulf
Breeze, of course, is the home of Ed and Frances Walters, who say they were
contacted and abducted in multiple alien encounters -- and claim to have the
pictures to prove it. Skeptical investigators think the photos were faked. So
do some people in the pro-UFO movement. Other UFOlogists swear by the photos,
giving rise to the most bitter feud in current UFOdom.
But that's old news. What's happening now is really weird. Since April 1991,
slow-moving objects with red and white lights began appearing over Gulf Breeze
on a regular basis. Often they sweep over Pensacola Bay, hang a right over the
3-mile bridge that links Pensacola with Gulf Breeze, and disappear into the
distance. They have been sighted more than 160 times. many were probably
misidentifications of ordinary objects; this part of Florida is freckled with
military airbases. But a substantial number have been more mysterious. One
mystery: Why are the objects such camera hounds? Until I arrived, they had
never failed to appear on a night when a television crew was in town. Some of
the resulting footage suggests that we may be dealing with airborne flares,
perhaps suspended by a balloon, kite, or some type of remotely piloted
equipment.
If the phenomena are intriguing, the human response is perversely
spellbinding. UFO believers now keep a nightly vigil at the foot of the bay
bridge and at a nearby shoreline park. By the dozen, by the score -- every
single night -- summer, winter, Christmas eve. Always. The city has bought the
land at the foot of the bridge; it's being made into a park.
My companion is talking with one of the watchers. Casually, he mentions a
well-known local UFO believer who got blacklisted for suggesting that the
Walter's photos were fakes. The watcher's voice rankles with venom. "We don't
want to know about him," he rumbles. "I don't think he'd be welcome here any
more." (The "banishee" reports he has had his tires slashed and received death
threats.) I try to keep from showing surprise -- the darkness helps.
For most people in the Florida panhandle, the "Gulf Breeze war" ended long
ago. But those who remain committed are chained to a startling enmity. To be
among the enthusiasts is like visiting one of those Appalachian towns where
family members have turned against each other over a proposed landfill. All
this over flying saucers?
I watch the sky for an interval. Radio antenna strobes, the lights of passing
aircraft, lights glinting on the waters of the bay. No red lights. I get in my
companion's car and we inch away, driving without lights for the first hundred
feet so as not to blunt the watchers' night vision. They'll watch hours more.
They'll be back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.
I'm glad to leave.
***Tom Flynn, director of Inquiry Media Productions, is currently producing the
CSICOP video "Case Studies of the Paranormal."***
The Psychic Says . . .
According to the National Enquirer, and their "ten leading psychics," these
are some of the things we have to look forward to before the end of 1992.
y Patrick Stewart of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" will go missing for a
month and then turn up wandering the desert claiming he was abducted by aliens
y After a dam breaks in eastern Tennessee, scientists will find the remains of
three two-headed prehistoric creatures.
y A secret UFO base that has been in use for thousands of years will be found
in the Mexican desert. (This is just plain silly -- everyone knows the UFO
base is in New Mexico.)
Barrett's Corner
Vitamin Wars
Stephen Barrett
About twenty years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed
that food products be labeled so that ingredients, nutrient content, and other
information would be displayed in a standard format. These provisions became
regulations with little controversy and are still used today. But the proposal
also said that labeling could neither state nor imply that a balanced diet of
ordinary foods cannot supply adequate amounts of nutrients.
Because this struck at the heart of health-food-industry mythology, the
industry responded with lawsuits and a massive letter-writing campaign. In
1976, in response to this campaign, Congress passed a law preventing the FDA
from regulating "dietary supplements" unless they are inherently dangerous or
are marketed with illegal therapeutic claims. Simply put, the law permits
worthless substances to be marketed if they meet two criteria: (1) they don't
cause direct physical harm, and (2) product labels contain no disease-related
claims.
One FDA commissioner called the 1976 law "a charlatan's dream" because it
prevents the FDA from removing worthless substances from the marketplace if
they are cautiously marketed -- which, of course, most are. Inspect the
shelves of any "health food" store and you will find few labels that state
what the products are for. Most labels simply say: "Take two a day as a
dietary supplement." The intended purposes of the products are not difficult
to discern, however. False and unproved claims for their ingredients abound in
books, magazines, and newsletters written by health-food proponents. Such
claims are also made by retailers, who aren't the least bit shy about
recommending products for virtually every health problem known to humans.
Consumer Health Education Council, who telephoned 41 Houston-area health-food
stores while posing as potential customers. Each caller explained that he or
she had a brother with AIDS who was seeking an effective alternative product
to use against the AIDS virus. Each caller also explained that the brother's
wife was still having sex with her husband and was seeking products that would
reduce her risk of being infected or make infection impossible. All 41
retailers offered products they said could benefit the brothers immune system,
improve the woman's immunity, and protect her against harm from the AIDS
virus. Thirty said they carried products that would cure AIDS. None
recommended abstinence of the use of condoms.
In 1990 Congress passed the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act to strengthen
the FDA's ability to regulate health claims on food products. Shortly before
the law's passage, the health-food industry succeeded in exempting "dietary
supplements of vitamins, minerals, herbs, or other similar nutrients" from
certain provisions applicable to foods. Instead, the law called for separate
standards to be established by the Secretary for Health and Human Services.
The industry, which attributed its success to the efforts of Senator Orrin
Hatch (R-Utah), hoped that the standards for supplements would be more lenient
than those for foods.
In response to the law , FDA Commissioner David Kessler, M.D., J.D., set up a
Dietary Supplement Task Force to explore how food supplements should be
defined and regulated. In a statement submitted to the task force, Kessler
said that "the desire to take the products often arises from a belief that
dietary supplements can have drug-like effects." Since attempts by the FDA to
regulate supplement products have had only limited success, he suggested that
"a completely new look at how supplements should be regulated is necessary."
Once again, the health-food industry has gone into a panic. Early this year,
industry leaders organized the Nutritional Health Alliance (NHA) to coordinate
the activities of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, retailers,
consumers, and other supplement industry allies. At a trade show in April,
alliance leaders pledged to generate one million letters to Congress within
six months and raised $500,000 to launch the campaign. "Health Freedom Kits"
containing form letters, sample press releases, and other campaign materials
have been distributed to many health-food stores throughout the United States.
Most trade and consumer "health-food" publications have published ads urging
their readers to "fight for your family's right to choose safe and beneficial
nutritional supplements."
The health-food industry fears that the FDA intends to promulgate labeling
regulations that will sharply curtail its freedom to market products. The
industry also fears that Congress will enact new laws giving the FDA greater
efficiency and power to enforce its regulations. NHA's campaign is intended to
block both of these possibilities and to weaken the agency's current
enforcement power.
In line with these goals, Senator Hatch has introduced what he calls the
"Health Freedom Act of 1992." This bill would amend the Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act to define dietary supplement as "an article that includes, and is
intended to supplement the diet with: (A) a vitamin; (B) a mineral, (C) an
herb, or (D) another similar nutritional substance, including a concentrate or
extract of . . . (A), (B), or (C)." The bill would prevent the FDA from
regulating the dosage of any substance for which no therapeutic claims are
made, but would permit therapeutic claims based on "scientific evidence,
whether published or unpublished, that provides a reasonable basis." The FDA
would be prevented from regulating claims before they are made, and
manufacturers would be permitted to seek immediate court review of FDA warning
letters.
Senator Hatch's proposal would enable manufacturers to call anything they
please a "supplement," make false claims based on a poorly designed study, and
tie up the FDA in court while continuing their dubious promotions. For
practical purposes, consumer protection against health-food-industry deception
would end. It remains to be seen whether Congress can ignore the industry's
campaign and do what is needed to protect the public.
***Stephen Barrett, M.D., co-chairman of CSICOP's Paranormal Health Claims
Subcommittee, practices psychiatry and edits Nutrition Forum, a newsletter
focusing on nutrition fads, fallacies, and quackery. His 31 books include
Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds, published by Consumer Reports Books in
1990. His recommended reading list can be obtained by sending a
self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Lehigh Valley Council Against Health
Fraud, Inc. (LVCAHF), P.O. Box 1747, Allentown, PA 18105.***
A Skeptics Notebook
The Alien-Abduction Bonanza
Robert Baker
Hard on the heels of the May television sweeps, the nation's publishers also
jumped on the UFO-abductions bandwagon and recently provided us with a number
of equally far-out and sensationalistic tomes, namely: David M. Jacob's Secret
Life: Firsthand Accounts of UFO Abductions (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992),
Kenneth Ring's The Omega Project (New York: William Morrow, 1992), John E.
Mack's The Abduction Syndrome (New York: Scribner, 1992), and Peter Hough
and Jenny Randle's Looking for the Aliens (U.K.: Blanford, 1992). While a
great deal of time and attention has been devoted to David Jacob's 39 alleged
abductees and their fantasies (See Fate, June 1991), much less has been
accorded the work of the other scriveners.
Because Kenneth Ring uses a long, detailed questionnaire and compares the
responses, his Omega Project purports to be scientific. Unfortunately, it
falls far short of the experimental ideal. His attempt to "connect" near-death
experiences (NDEs), UFO encounters, and what he calls "Mind at Large" leaves
much to be desired. The "loose mind" neologism, which he borrowed from Aldous
Huxley, supposedly refers to a kind of planetary or collective mind "that is
both an expression of humanity's deepest yearnings and transcendent to them."
Ring's major thrust is an attempt to show that people reporting alien
abductions and NDEs are very much alike. Both possess an "encounter-prone
personality," which is "a distinctive spiritually sensitive and visionary
psyche that may, collectively, represent the next stage in human evolution."
After such heady talk, Ring sails off into the wild blue yonder with some deep
thoughts about cosmic koans, alternate realities, and imaginal earths. Not
surprisingly, the foreword to this lengthy speculative essay was written by
Whitley Strieber. Strieber, Morey Bernstein (of The Search for Bridey Murphy
fame), Leo Sprinkle , Budd Hopkins, and John White (all of UFOlogical fame)
were Ring's helpers and technical advisors throughout this project. Ring is
also an admirer of Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe (New York: Harper
Collins, 1991), a similar sort of essay in unbridled speculation. If people
tell us they have been carted off by little gray men or that they died, went
to heaven, and played chess with Jesus, Ring and Talbot insist we shouldn't
contradict them. After all, they experience "realities" we don't, and as
everyone knows, one reality is just as good as another in both Omegaland and
that old holographic universe.
John E. Mack, a Harvard professor of psychiatry, after writing a Pulitzer
Prize-winning biography of Lawrence of Arabia (as well as the foreword to
David Jacob's Secret Life) has now come into the big money with his The
Abduction Syndrome. According to Big Mack "population surveys suggest that
hundreds of thousands and possibly more than a million persons in the United
States alone may be abductees or 'experiencers' as they are sometimes called.
The abduction phenomenon is, therefore, of great clinical importance if for no
other reason than the fact that abductees are often deeply traumatized by
their experience and need appropriate help. " This is indeed a big bag of
fries and Mack is ready and able to help us digest it by describing the
Syndrome in great and graphic detail. Abductees are not mentally ill but they
"do experience great emotional distress, confusion, and social isolation and
are reluctant to speak about their experiences out of fear of being labeled
crazy and becoming further isolated." Abductees also need the comfort and care
that only kindly UFOlogists can provide in order to deal with their symptoms,
e.g., "nightmares, and fear of the dark, missing-time episodes, small cuts,
scars, and red spots on the body, experiences of flying through the air and
the seeing of unusual lights." While none of these indicators would send
anyone familiar with anomalistic psychology and hypnogogic phenomena into a
dither or would cause them to create new abnormal-psychology categories, this
is not true for Mack and the other abductologists. Apparently the good doctor
is now convinced that "hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American
men, women, and children may have experienced UFO abductions or abduction
related phenomena." What a great day for the practice of psychiatry: Think of
all the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of articles, television
scripts, books, and movies -- and the hundreds of thousands, if not millions,
of dollars -- that can be made, and all in the name of healing. Why didn't the
skeptics think of this first?
Hough and Randle's Looking for Aliens is the British equivalent of the
Jacobs book, with one major difference. English contactees and abductees
"almost never claim the phenomenon is extraterrestrial. . . Yet it seems to
have a psychological basis -- and a 'reality' basis. . . . Our studies of the
UFO abduction phenomenon have made us wonder if the arguments as to whether
they are 'actual' or 'fantasy generated' have become invalid. In some
indefinable way, we need the aliens, they are a part of us, a curious
symbiosis reflected in our art, literature, wishes, and nightmares. The
concept of 'aliens' is a living germ, an idea which resides in all of us." The
authors go on to say that their book, divided in five sections ("The Dream,"
"The Belief," "The Search," "The Evidence," and "The Consequences") is
puzzling even to them. In their words, "At times we wondered why we bothered."
We also wondered and emphatically agree: they shouldn't have bothered.
Before leaving, we should mention not only Jacques Vallee's latest
contribution to the current UFO-theology, Forbidden Science: The UFO
Phenomenon and the Research Community (North Atlantic, 1992) but also the
second volume of Jerome Clark's monumental UFO Encyclopedia series: The
Emergence of a Phenomenon: UFOs from the Beginning Through 1959, vol. 2
(Detroit: Omnigraphics, Inc., 1992).
Vallee's book, which he describes as "both testimony and testament," is a
compilation of his private journals for the period between 1957 and 1969,
argues that "a genuine UFO phenomenon exists. It is physical and it is
unexplained. . . . It is an opportunity and a challenge to science. I
speculate, although I cannot prove, that a non-human form of intelligence is
involved. . . . I refuse to align myself with the extraterrestrial party line
. . . . The skeptics do not want free inquiry on the subject because it might
disturb their rational universe. And many advocates are equally opposed . . .
because the systematic application of the tools of science to this problem
might reveal their incompetence as researchers." Vallee is particularly
disturbed about the unscientific nature of the abduction researchers and, in
his words, "We have allowed abduction believers to drive us into a blind
alley. . . . Sensational theories (which are not really theories in the
scientific sense but little more than strongly held beliefs) should be
de-emphasized and more serious investigation should be conducted, as Dan
Wright has suggested." Vallee too, unfortunately, believes in "new models of
reality." I Wonder what model he used when he wrote this book?
Clark's second volume in the UFO trilogy (an upcoming third volume will deal
with abductions and other events during the period 1960 through 1979) is
nearly 300,000 words long and covers just about everything any biased
UFOlogist would want to know about the early days -- for just $85.
***Robert Baker is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of
Kentucky and a CSICOP Fellow.***
Reality Check
Running On H2O
Milton Rothman
The Reno Gazette-Journal (May 18, 1992) brings to our attention a remarkable
invention. Rudolf Gunnerman, a physicist, has converted a Porsche and a Dodge
Shadow so that they run on a half-and-half blend of gasoline and water. Says
the article, "Sparks from catalytic poles in the converted engines break down
the water into oxygen and hydrogen, which is burned with the gasoline." Since
"hydrogen has a higher energy density than carbon . . . you need less to get
the same power." It is claimed that this device cut gasoline use by more than
half, so that the Porsche went "from 20 miles per gallon to about 50 mph [sic]
on the open highway."
Let us examine this claim carefully. First the odd vocabulary: what are
"catalytic poles," for example? The physicist writing this column is
unfamiliar with the term. Let us assume, for charity's sake, that these
"poles" are actually electrodes for the separation (electrolysis) of water
into hydrogen and oxygen. Electrolysis is a simple process. It is accomplished
by passing an electric current through the water. However, we know from
elementary physics and chemistry that a certain amount of energy must be
supplied to a water molecule in order to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen
atom in that molecule. Later, when the hydrogen burns (hydrogen plus oxygen
yields water), you get exactly the same amount of energy back, usually in the
form of heat.
Whence comes the energy to consummate the electrolysis? Either it must be
supplied by a battery, or it comes from a generator driven by the car engine.
If you use a battery, you haven't gained anything. If (you claim) the engine
provides the energy to electrolyze the water and also to drive the wheels,
then again you haven't gained anything, because the electrolysis must take
away from the engine as much as you put back in through burning the hydrogen.
If you claim an increase of efficiency through this scheme, then you are
claiming a perpetual-motion machine. The energy output is more than the input!
But this is impossible.
The basic rule for analyzing any kind of device is: see where the energy comes
from and follow where it goes. If an inventor claims that the output energy
from his device is greater than the input, than the device cannot possibly
work in the real world. Conservation of energy is the most thoroughly verified
law of nature, and my recent book The Science Gap (Prometheus Books, 1992)
demonstrates many ways to use this law in analyzing claims of the paranormal.
The method is simple and foolproof.
***Milton Rothman is a former professor of physics at Trenton State College and
was a physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.***
Notes on Skeptics Near and Far
y The CSICOP Executive Council is pleased to announce that John F. Fischer
has been elected a Scientific and Technical Consultant. Fischer is a forensic
analyst for Orlando, Florida. He should be very familiar to readers of the
Skeptical Inquirer for articles he co-authored with Joe Nickell, including
cover stories on spontaneous human combustion and the crop circle hoax. He
is also co-author with Nickell of Secrets of the Supernatural.
y The Science Gap: Dispelling the Myths and Understanding the Reality of
Science, by CSICOP consultant and SB columnist Milton Rothman, has just been
released by Prometheus Books. According to a review in Science Books and
Films: "For a generation that has grown up with Star Trek, an immense
library of science fiction, and media that entertain rather than educate,
this book will be a harsh but desperately needed therapy. . . . Those who
believe in UFOs, ghosts, telepathy, and other arcana of the Twilight Zone
will find no comfort here. . . . The National Science Foundation would be
very well advised to put a copy of this book in every high school and
college."
A new independent and autonomous national skeptics group has recently
formed in Japan, under the leadership of Tokai University astronomer Jun
Jugaku. The group held its first annual meeting on April 18 in Tokyo,
attended by 150 people. Subjects discussed included "The True Knowledge from
Skepticism," "Think Scientifically About PSI Phenomena," and a symposium on
crop circles. The group has also begun to publish a regular newsletter, and
a journal will follow. One issue of the newsletter carried a message to the
new group from astronomer (and CSICOP Fellow) Carl Sagan:
Science thrives on a delicate mix of openness to new ideas, however
seemingly counterintuitive, and the most rigorous skeptical scrutiny of all
ideas, ancient and modern. We humans are fallible and prone to error, which
can be especially dangerous in a world that is changing as rapidly as ours.
This scientific habit of thought, this delicate mix, is badly needed in all
areas of life, not just science. If we are credulous and unwilling to ask
hard questions about UFOs, say, or communicating with the dead, how
skeptical will we be about virulent nationalism or ethnocentrism or the
next leader who tells us not to question, but to follow blindly? Where our
emotions are engaged, we are vulnerable, liable to be misled and
manipulated. Especially in democracies where people are said to rule, the
citizens must be practiced in scientific skepticism.
I welcome the initiation of an organization in Japan to promote this
powerful and democratic way of thought.
y The Australian Skeptics organization now has its own weekly radio program.
Titled "The Liar's Club," the show airs on Sundays from 12:00 noon to
1:00 p.m. Each week, the program will present special guests and the latest
news from the realms of the paranormal. In the first show of the series, the
skeptics were scheduled to quiz a television reporter about why his station
used almost an hour of prime-time news over three nights alleging widespread
Satanism in Melbourne without presenting anything memorable in the way of
hard evidence.
The Oops! Award
The Oops! Award for this issue of Skeptical Briefs goes to famed San
Francisco "psychic" Sylvia Brown. According to the June 6 issue of the San
Francisco Chronicle, Brown, along with her estranged husband, were arraigned
June 5 on six counts of grand theft and investment fraud. Brown allegedly sold
securities to a gold-mining venture in Paradise (Butte County) under false
pretenses. According to the criminal complaint filed in Santa Clara County
Superior Court, the Browns told investors their money would be used to pay
operating expenses at the mine. Instead, the Browns allegedly transferred at
least $27,000 to an account maintained on behalf of a foundation the Browns
founded in 1974. According to the complaint, one month after the transfer, in
April 1988, the Brown's declared bankruptcy in the mining venture.
CSICOP Subcommittee on Magic Proposed
Jerry Mertens
The following proposal for a CSICOP Subcommittee on magic is addressed to
skeptics with an interest in the role played by magic in CSICOP's objectives.
This subcommittee would have as objectives the exploration of the general area
of magic: (1) how it is used by those in the paranormal area, (2) its
relationship to fraud, deception, etc., (3) the principles of magic and how
they are at work in various areas of daily life, (4) the history of magic and
its relationship to the issues of interest to CSICOP, (5) the role of magic in
false claims and false perceptions, (6) how magic has been and is used to
deceive scientists, (7) how magic can be creatively used to explore CSICOP
interests.
The issue of "the magician's ethic" immediately presents itself (i.e., that
magicians share professional magic secrets only with "magic types"). It would
appear more interesting and useful if magic disclosures could be utilized in
this group. Magicians are not very explicit about how "magical" one has to be
to be included in their ethical position. I think such a subcommittee could
restrict membership to those with a strong magic involvement, advocacy,
interest, or participation. One need not be formally a member of a state,
national, or international magic group to join our special-interest group.
A meeting to discuss this proposed subcommittee will be held at the 1992
CSICOP Conference in Dallas, on Friday night, October 16, following the
regularly scheduled conference schedule -- at approximately 10:00 p.m.
Because this is a participatory group, the price of admission to this meeting
will be some contribution to the meeting. This contribution might include, but
will not be restricted to: (1) performing a supposed "paranormal feat," (2)
show and tell: #1 above and telling how it was done, (3) presenting a quick
research finding in the area of magic, (4) giving an interesting account of
something in the area of magic, (5) submitting a short proposal about the
nature of the proposed group, (6) a sales pitch for something you sell in this
area of interest, (7) an improvement or suggestion for some method already
used, (8) a brief report of some investigation you were involved in, or (9) a
creative contribution within the objectives of the group.
Presentations (contributions to the meeting) will be made in the order in
which they are received.
All those interested in the formation of a CSICOP subcommittee on magic should
respond to Jerry Mertens, Psychology Department, St. Cloud State University,
St. Cloud, MN 56301 (office: 612-255-2138; home : 612-251-3134) If sufficient
interest is expressed, the proposal will be submitted to the CSICOP Executive
Council on a date following the Dallas conference. -- Ed.
Looking Towards the Stars
Ivan Kelly
Twenty-two years ago, two astrologers, John West and J. G. Toonder, published
The Case for Astrology (Penguin Books). Interestingly, John West has revised
the book, and a paperback edition has now been published. Readers of Skeptical
Briefs can expect to hear this book quoted extensively by astrologers and
their advocates. Unfortunately, the author makes his case by simply ignoring
the negative evidence. Stay tuned, though! Geoffrey Dean is preparing an
informed critique of the revised edition of The Case for Astrology for
eventual publication in the Skeptical Inquirer.
It is of interest to note that both Roger Culver and I were consulted during
the revision of the book and copies of relevant critiques of astrology were
forwarded to John West. Alas, these critiques received little or no mention
in the book.
***Ivan Kelly is in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of
Saskatchewan, and chairman of CSICOP's Astrology Subcommittee.***
*** *** ***
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