Skeptical Debate

Sylvia flubs again

essentialsaltes — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:57:00 GMT

Hate to bag on Sylvia Browne again. OK, no I'm not.

Amanda Berry goes missing in 2003.

In 2004, on the Montel Williams show, Sylvia Browne tells Amanda's mom "She’s not alive, honey."

In 2006, Amanda's mom dies of heart failure:

The ordeal had taken a toll as her health steadily deteriorated in recent months, family and friends said.

...

Activist Art McKoy befriended Louwana Miller during her ordeal. He said he could tell that the stress and heartache were wearing her down. The visit with the psychic was the breaking point, he said.

“From that point, Ms. Miller was never the same,” McKoy said. “I think she had given up.”

LINES OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

geolines — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:21:54 GMT

Thanks to that the most considerable constructions of an antiquity were erected on our planet not chaotically and as it became clear, in strictly certain places and according to the uniform project, the latitudes and meridians they set a certain geodetic System by means of which key objects unite in the general network and wonderfully cooperate among themselves.

In this publication we will consider interaction of lines – the Big circles directlyconnecting the Great pyramid (GP) to the main points of System. Lines
which connect GP to Teothiuacan, Uluru, Stonehenge, Tiwanaku, Easter Island, Nan Madol, Baalbek and Angkor, possess many surprising properties. In particular, they are diagonals of the adjacent rectangles formed by crossings of latitudes and meridians of reper points.
The lines connecting GP to key points, set some symmetric combinations and
reveal a number of the unusual regularities once again confirming existence of System in an arrangement of monumental constructions of an antiquity. Systems - carefully planned, thought over and realized with such grace which allows to carry out at the same time a set of various conditions for very limited number of objects.

As always we remind that more visually all regularities can be seen on an interactive map. It is necessary to have Google Earth plug-in.

Read article.

Paul Kurtz, RIP

essentialsaltes — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:35:51 GMT

One of the founders of CSICOP, Paul Kurtz, has died.

SYSTEM OF ANCIENT MONUMENTAL STRUCTURES. GEODESY OF MERIDIANS.

geolines — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:37:02 GMT

In previous publications «ORIENTATION OF TEMPLES IN THEBES AND VALLEY OF KINGS» and «SYSTEM OF ANCIENT MONUMENTAL STRUCTURES» some words were told that meridians and latitudes of some known ancient constructions have curious regularities in the arrangement relatively each other. So, the meridian of Great Pyramid (GP) is a symmetry axis perpendicular to the meridians of Tiwanaku and Uluru, and the meridian of Easter Island is an axis of symmetry of the meridians of Teotihuacan and Vera Island, and practically with identical values close to 10 degrees.

Upon further study of the characteristics of the location of the meridians most significant and monumental buildings of antiquity revealed that most of them are directly related and are a system similar to the modern geodetic system.

If the equator - a natural baseline Latitude, it is equally obvious equivalent to the reference longitude missing. In the II century AD. e. Ptolemy oriented own meridian with the blessing of the islands (then called the Canary Islands), which, in his view, is the westernmost point of the world's population. In the Age of Discovery, followed the discovery by Columbus in the New World in 1492, almost every state to use its own meridian.

That fact is little-known that when in 1884 at the International meridian conference in Washington the point through which will pass prime meridian , along with Grinvich was defined, for this right applied Paris and … A Great Pyramid in Giza. If then a zero meridian carried out through GP, everything would rise on the places. More...

Indian skeptic charged with blasphemy

essentialsaltes — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:22:07 GMT

Sanal Edamaruku under attack for exposing Catholic "miracle"

Jesus statue dribbles water from its toes. Edamaruku concludes it is due to faulty drainage and capillary action. Officials of the Church call for an apology on live TV. Instead, there's a war of words.

"When they [the Church officials] saw Sanal refused to bow to their demands, they threatened to file a blasphemy case against him. And they did. Yesterday (10th April,2012) Sanal received a phone call from a Police official of Juhu Police Station in Mumbai directing him to come to the said police station to face the charges and get arrested."

JIM ALISON'S LINES

geolines — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:16:25 GMT

Alfred Watkins, who discovered the ley lines in England, laid the beginning for the new direction of research related to the geographical location of historic objects. He noted that the various historic structures, megaliths, burial mounds, temples and other holy places lie on the straight lines and form a complex system, like a spider's web.

For Watkins, the concept of a system of straight lines connecting the points of the ancient, landscape was something much more than just a game of imagination. The hard work of compiling maps for the Military Surveyor, and field observations convinced him that "special place" of ancient Britain were actually located along straight lines. The work of Watkins about leis , as he called these lines, caused small sensation when it appeared in book form, entitled "An old straight path," in 1925. Contemporary research of lees in Britain led Paul Devereux, who became editor in chief of the English periodical, "Ley Hunter" in 1976.

But, as the British Isles, are so rich in archaeological and architectural monuments, that many sanctums ,monuments and notable points of the landscape are simply obliged to locate in straight lines, even if by accident.

Belonging of the nodal points of leis to different periods of history and the presence of many different functions, was considered a weak point "ley-hunters." Also. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine why Christians built their churches on the places of some megalithic structures, not only in England, if there was no real tradition emphasizing their importance as special and sacred places, tradition that came from the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of barbarian Europe in historic times. On the other hand it may mean that the leis lines form a system, which originated in prehistoric times.

Exactly about such system says Jim Allison in his works, who discovered the laws in location of the ancient historical objects already in the global - planetary scale. In his article "A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD DESIGN" he describes one of the main lines that exactly passes through Great Pyramid, Easter Island and Nazca desert. Also on the line with high accuracy are located two dozen well-known ancient objects , historic cities and monuments. In another article, Alison describes some great circles passing through other objects located on one line.

Except the patterns described by Jim Allison, in his articles, at putting of the lines on three-dimensional model of the Earth, were revealed other interesting features of the interaction is very large circles. These features are associated with intersections of lines and proportional correlations in the distance between objects.

For example, it was found that the Nazca desert does not simply lie on the line of Easter Island - The Great Pyramid (GP), and divides the line in the ratio 4/13. Distance from Easter Island to the GP is 16,167 km, or about 145 (145.4) degrees. Thus, the line is divided by 34 and 111 degrees, it will be 3804 in kilometers and 12,363, respectively. It turns out, as well as in the case with Mecca, from which to the South Pole is also 111 degrees, the distance from Nazca to the GP is the number of arc degrees (111) multiplied by the number of kilometers in a single degree (111.2 km). i.e approximately the square of 111. As it is well known Mecca lies in a golden-section relatively to the poles, which is given exactly with 111 degrees (180/111 = 111/69). Therefore, the Nazca also lies in the golden- section between antithesis of GP the Great Pyramid itself.

Also are interesting the intersection of the lines on when three or four absolutely unrelated lines intersect at one point. For example, the same basic line of the Easter Island - GP, crosses the equator on the meridian of Uluru, the latitude of Easter Island on the meridian of Vatican, as well as latitude of Nazca lines (15 ° S) on the meridian of Nan Madol.

Line of Easter Island - Tiwanaku passes through point symmetric to Nan Madol relatively equator and the line GP- Nan Madol crosses the latitude of Teotihuacan on the meridian of the same Vatican.

At interacting with the orientations lines of historical objects which are also (great circles), appears many interesting intersections which can be seen on the interactive map.

The randomness of all these "coincidences" causes serious doubts and makes you to think whether really assumptions is not justified about the availability of the world system that combining the pyramids, megaliths and other historic buildings.

INTERACTIVE MAP

2012 Pigasus Awards

essentialsaltes — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 18:06:24 GMT

The 2012 Pigasus Awards have been announced (as always, on April 1st). These awards are given by the JREF to (un)deserving efforts in the various fields of flim-flammery. For those who (like me) prefer to read rather than watch video, I give you the awards...

To the scientist who said or did the silliest thing relating to parapsychology in the preceding twelve months: Daryl Bem, for his recent work on the mind's ability to precognitively detect pornography.

To the funding organization that supports the most useless parapsychological study during the year: Syracuse University, for its continued support of Facilitated Communication.

To the media outlet that reported as fact the most outrageous paranormal claim: The Learning [sic] Channel, for several offenses, including...

To the "psychic" performer who fools the greatest number of people with the least effort in that twelve-month period: The Long Island Medium

The occasional Award for Refusal to Face Reality goes to James van Praagh.

A rat done bit my sister Nell.

essentialsaltes — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:39:38 GMT

Two former participants in the CIA’s Mars visitation program of the early 1980’s have confirmed that US President Barack H. Obama was enrolled in their Mars training class in 1980 and was among the young Americans from the program who they later encountered on the Martian surface after reaching Mars via “jump room.”

Sai Baba, RIP

essentialsaltes — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 14:58:13 GMT

Miracle Man Sai Baba passed away.

The retired Icelandic psychology professor Erlendur Haraldsson wrote that he did not get Sathya Sai Baba's permission to study him under controlled circumstances, but that he investigated the guru's alleged miracles and manifestations through interviews with devotees and ex-devotees.[102] Some of the reported miracles included levitation (both indoors and outdoors), bilocation, physical disappearances, changing granite into sugar candy, changing water into another drink, changing water into gasoline, producing objects on demand, changing the color of his gown while wearing it, multiplying food, healing acute and chronic diseases, appearing in visions and dreams, making different fruits appear on any tree hanging from actual stems, controlling the weather, physically transforming into various deities and physically emitting brilliant light.[103] Haraldsson wrote that the largest allegedly materialized object that he saw was a mangalsutra necklace, 32 inches long, 16 inches long on each side.[104] Haraldsson wrote that some miracles attributed to Sathya Sai Baba resemble the ones described in the New Testament, but that although healings certainly figure in Sai Baba's reputation, his impression is that healings do not play as prominent a role in Sathya Sai Baba's activities as in those of Jesus.[105]
Sathya Sai Baba has explained the phenomenon of manifestation as being an act of divine creation, but refused to have his materializations investigated under experimental conditions. In a 1974 discourse, he stated, "The optical sense cannot visualize the truth. It gives only false and fogged information. For example, there are many who observe my actions and start declaring that my nature is such and such."[42]
In April 1976, Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, a physicist, rationalist and then vice chancellor of Bangalore University, founded and chaired a committee "to rationally and scientifically investigate miracles and other verifiable superstitions". Narasimhaiah wrote Sathya Sai Baba three letters that were widely publicized, in which he publicly challenged Baba to perform his miracles under controlled conditions.[106] Sathya Sai Baba said that he ignored Narasimhaiah's challenge because he felt his approach was improper.[107] Sathya Sai Baba further said about the Narasimhaiah committee, "Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while spiritualism transcends the senses. If you want to understand the nature of spiritual power you can do so only through the path of spirituality and not science. What science has been able to unravel is merely a fraction of the cosmic phenomena ..."[107] Narasimhaiah's committee was dissolved in August 1977.
According to Erlendur Haraldsson, the formal challenge from the committee came to a dead end because of the negative attitude of the committee, and perhaps because of all the fanfare surrounding it. Narasimhaiah held the fact that Sathya Sai Baba ignored his letters to be one of several indications that his miracles are fraudulent.[108] As a result of this episode, a public debate raged for several months in Indian newspapers.

Sathya Sai Baba supported a variety of free educational institutions, hospitals, and other charitable works in over 166 countries.[61] The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (now changed to Sri Sathya Sai University) in Prashanthi Nilayam is the only college in India to have received an "A++" rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission).[62][63]
The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Puttaparthi is a 220 bed facility that provides free surgical and medical care and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao on 22 November 1991.[33] The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Bangalore is a 333 bed hospital meant to benefit the poor.[70] The hospital was inaugurated on 19 January 2001 by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.[71][72] The hospital has provided free medical care to over 250,000 patients.[73]
The Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital was opened in Whitefield, Bangalore, in 1977 and provides complex surgeries, food and medicines free of cost. The hospital has treated over 2 million patients.

Randi $1 Million Paranormal Challenge

essentialsaltes — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:48:34 GMT

Some changes have been announced that more or less revert the rules back to what they were before they changed them the last time (adding the requirement of a media presence AND a note from ~~your mom~~ an academic).

"Before today, applicants for the prize were required to submit press clippings and a letter from an academic to demonstrate the seriousness of their application. Now, applicants will only have to submit one or the other—demonstrating that somewhere, at some point in time, some independent person has taken their claim seriously. Applicants who cannot provide this evidence have a new, third option: submitting a public video that demonstrates their ability."

Just as I enjoyed reading unintelligible application forms for the Challenge, I'm sure I'll enjoy seeing peculiar YouTube videos.

Proof of Cold Fusion!

essentialsaltes — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:44:28 GMT

Wait, did I say proof? I meant to say press release.

One of the researchers "has been accused of a few crimes, including tax fraud and illegally importing gold, which are unrelated to his research."

I hope this pans out and they become billionaires!

But I'm not betting any money on it.

Now that I've read the paper (which was 'published' in a journal founded by the researchers), the most suspicious thing to me is:

"No radioactivity has been found also in the Nickel residual from the process."

If the dingus works as claimed, nickel nuclei are absorbing protons (i.e. hydrogen) which transforms them into copper nuclei, which then decay by positron emission or electron capture into a nickel nucleus with a one higher mass number. So the overall effect is to change the isotopic abundances of the nickel, skewing it toward higher masses. This would provide a crucial test of the device to measure the 'fuel' before and after. But the SIMS analysis that was performed (though too insensitive to differentiate isobaric isotopes) still provide important info:
"The peak in the mass spectrum at a.m.u.=64, due to Ni64and Zn64(both caming from Cu64 decay) requires the existence of Ni63 which, absent in natural Ni composition, must have been in precedence produced starting by more light nickel isotopes." [my emphasis]

The reason there's no natural Ni63 is that it has a half-life of 100 years, i.e. it's pretty radioactive. Similarly, Ni59 has a half-life of 78,000 years, and there is basically none of that isotope naturally occurring.
The most common nickel isotope is Ni58 (68%) - so this process should be producing a lot of Ni59 at least as a step on the ladder. And their explanation requires the creation of Ni63.

When they turn the dingus off, there should be plenty of these radioactive nuclei present in the fuel, and given the magnitude of the effect they're seeing, this radiation should be detectable, since all the garden variety nickel isotopes are stable.
As a rough estimate, they give the total released energy for the complete series taking Nickel from 58 to 64 as about 35 MeV. One of their tests produced 3768 kWh of energy. Dividing one by the other gets 2.4 x 10^21 atoms of nickel being transformed. Or .004 moles, or a quarter gram of nickel. That's if the process was entire conversions of Nickel all the way from a mass number of 58 to 64. But in the stepwise way this would presumably happen, plenty of atoms should be stranded along the way at different isotopes, including the radioactive ones.
If we conservatively said there was a hundredth of a gram of Ni63...

With a half-life of 100 years, the decay constant is 2.2*10^-10 s^-1

So with a hundredth of a gram, carry the one, if I've done this right, there should be about 2.1*10^10 decays per second (Becquerel), or a little more than half a curie of radiation.

For comparison, a pound of Uranium 238 has an activity of 0.00015 Curies.

Since things are quiet...

essentialsaltes — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:08:32 GMT

Member introduction

politeskeptic — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:00:54 GMT

Hello. My name is Cal Booker and I'm new to livejournal. I enjoy skeptical debates, and perhaps I could provide some debate material here myself. If anyone could recommend other skeptical groups that I may join, or even "paranormal" groups, I'm interested in friends that I can agree with, as well as friends that I can disagree with. There's a link to my main blog, which is fairly new, in my profile if you're interested.

I hope to take part in some interesting debates.

Nonsensical twaddle is immortal

essentialsaltes — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:54:42 GMT

Good Morning America offered a completely credulous account of the story of a Belgian man, who appears to be communicating via Facilitated Communication, a discredited practice that not only fails to provide actual communication, but has led to spurious accusations of sexual abuse. FC was discredited more than 15 years ago, but it's still around.

An article on the Belgian man with at least some skeptical input is here.

The business about the brain scans is interesting, and maybe it means what the doctors say it means. Nevertheless, if the patient is actually doing the typing, I'll eat my hat. Watch the video and see if you don't agree.

Abraham, Brahma?

portiri — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:21:04 GMT

Not well-versed in Hinduism or Judaism though I've read enough on this "Abraham-Brahma" link to think that it is very dubious. Yet many on certain boards claim it is the truth and variations of it sometimes eventually leads to the theory that the Vedic religion spawned everything else. If you could point me to rebuttals or if you have your own, that would be great. I've found only one so far: http://www.bad-language.com/sanskrit

Literature from actual scholars/scientists would be highly preferable as opposed to more crackpot theorists. Thanks.

Here is a link you can start from: http://www.viewzone.com/abraham.html

Also, cross-posted.

Synchronicities

marmaladious — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:55:39 GMT

While I wouldn't place myself in the skeptic category, I recently sold this essay to Digital Bits Skeptic. Synchronicities and "The Odds".

Feedback?

rabid_chemist — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:14:35 GMT

Cracked on Conspiracy Theories

"Conspiracy theorists believe the world is run by schizophrenic shadowy organizations who - despite conspiring with millions in perfect silence - can't resist putting clues in things like major public monuments and every note of currency ever printed. Making the average Batman villain look like Professor Moriarty."

MindReader and learning

areopagit_com — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:02:39 GMT

The specialists of the International center for education "Areopagit" (www.areopagit.com) develop the "convincing" to learn program. This program is designed on the base of the research of Dr. Igor Smirnov “Semantic Stimuli Response Measurements Technology”, or SSRM Tek, a software-based mind reader that supposedly tests a subject's involuntary response to subliminal messages.

The program inspires to recipient an idea about need to learn, think and develop their own abilities. If to unite this program with a network self spreading module (like a virus) then during several months it would install on hundreds of thousands of personal computers around the world. Besides, program can define the language of the user and use suitable - an English, French, Chinese, Spanish, German, Russian or Arabic.

Accentuate the Contrapositive

essentialsaltes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:04:51 GMT

Slightly edited and improved(?) crosspost from my journal.

The set-up: I have four cards. Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other.

Suppose I suggest a possible fact about the cards: "Statement#1 - A card that has a vowel on one side must have a prime number on the other."

The four cards are lying on a table, and the faces you can see are:

E K 4 7

Which of the cards should you turn over in order to determine whether Statement#1 is indeed true? (ok, you could turn them all over, but suppose you are extremely fatigued, what would be the minimal amount of work you would have to do.)

You need only turn over two cards, the E and the 4. If you got it right, pat yourself on the back. Apparently, only about 10% of college students get it right.

It's pretty obvious you gotta flip the E, and check to see whether it's got a prime on the other side (as it is supposed to). That's a pretty direct test of what Statement#1 says in plain English.
Probably you didn't flip the K, since Statement#1 doesn't say anything about consonants.
However, there seems to be a strong pull to flip over the 7 -- after all, primes are mentioned in Statement#1. But Statement#1 doesn't say that primes have vowels on the other side... it says that vowels have primes on the other side. Statement#1 doesn't predict anything about the 7 card. We don't need to flip it.

But we do need to flip the 4. Imagine if we did, and there were an A on the other side. That would disprove the idea that all vowels have primes on the other side. So we do need to flip the 4.
Going back to what was wrong with flipping the 7, I said "Statement#1 doesn't say that primes have vowels on the other side... it says that vowels have primes on the other side." Our brains are trying to suck some extra knowledge out of Statement#1, but it hasn't quite done it right. It turned Statement#1 around the wrong way. In logic-speak, we could write Statement#1 as...

If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has a prime on the other.
or
If V, then P.
Flipping the 7 is like testing "If P, then V", but this statement (the converse of Statement#1) is not logically identical to Statement#1. So testing it does not provide evidence for the truth of Statement#1.
However, the contrapositive of a statement is equivalent to the original. The contrapositive is:
If not-P, then not-V.
or
If it's not a prime, then it's not a vowel on the other side.

So flipping the 4 clearly constitutes a test of the contrapositive, and the contrapositive is equivalent to Statement#1.
Okay, I've belabored this point in maybe more detail that it deserves (probably especially with this audience), but I think it reveals something about the kind of mistakes that people make.

Flipping the E is obvious. Flipping the 4 is not. Flipping the 7 may make us feel like we're testing something, when it isn't. If, when we are evaluating the truth of some claim, we do the equivalent of flipping the E and the 7, we may be led to accept as true a statement that isn't.

I was actually spurred to post this by something in Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy, which I have finally started reading. He was discussing the old 'you can only balance eggs on the equinox' urban legend, which provides another example of what I'm talking about. We can rephrase this as:

Statement#2: If eggs can be balanced on end, then it must be the equinox.

Hypothetical Frank, maybe led astray by a TV news report showing kids balancing eggs on the equinox, considers the truth of the direct statement. Those kids balanced eggs, and it is indeed the equinox. Hurrah! As a further 'test', Frank goes to his fridge and pulls out some eggs and attempts to balance them. After some time, he succeeds. In a way, this is like flipping the 7. If it's the equinox (and it is), then eggs can be balanced (and they were). Frank now feels confident in accepting the statement. But he neglected to flip the 4.

Let's look at the contrapositive of Statement#2:
If it is not the equinox, then eggs cannot be balanced.

We need to do some testing on a day other than the equinox in order to completely test the logical implications of Statement#2. And what we discover is that there is nothing special about the equinox. Yes you can balance eggs on the equinox, but you can also balance eggs on any day ending in y.
By only testing the direct meaning of the statement (and the usually irrelevant converse), we become liable to fall into accepting a superstition for lack of a better term. Frank accepted the superstitious belief that only on the equinox can eggs be balanced.

A particular difficulty here is in cases where the second half of an if-then statement is always true. Eggs can always be balanced (assuming a modicum of effort and steady hands). By the rules of logic, the statement

Statement#2A: If it is the equinox, then eggs can be balanced.

is quite true. But accepting this true statement may put a superstitious blinder on our thinking, so that we don't realize the more general truth that eggs can always be balanced.

Anyway, if the 'then' part of the statement is always true, you can plop anything into the 'if' part of the statement, and it will be true.

Consider Statement#3: "If I drink herbal tea made from bull scrota, then 2 + 2 = 4."

After testing the direct reading of the statement, I try to test the contrapositive, tapping endlessly at my calculator waiting to find 2+2 equalling something other than 4, so I can record whether I had recently drunk the tea or not. But that never happens. So no disproof of statement#3 is forthcoming.

Statement#3 is logically true, but seems to express a superstitious connection between the two halves of the statement that does not exist.

Going back to the letter/number cards, suppose flipping the K showed a 5 on the other side. Then maybe statement#1 (though true, which is all the original problem asked) is slightly superstitious. The more general truth is that both vowels and consonants have prime numbers on the other side. [the 4 has a Y on the other side!]

Homeopathy isn't entirely useless -- sometimes it's harmful.

essentialsaltes — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:14:11 GMT

Homeopathy qua homeopathy says to me 'ingredients diluted to the point of absence.' Such preparations are of course impotent and harmless (except inasmuch as eschewing standard medical treatments can make things worse). However, in the unending war of snake-oil salesmen against standard medical treatments, homeopathy as a term has broadened somewhat into other kinds of alternative medicines, including some that contain ingredients that are actually there.
In 1994, with the aid of Sen. Orrin Hatch, the US passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which allowed "natural supplements to be marketed without any proof of their purity, safety or efficacy. Producers of these supplements are largely exempt from regulation by the Food and Drug Administration, which can take action against them only if they make claims about their products curing or alleviating disease — or if, say, their customers start dropping dead."
Or, if they start losing their sense of smell. Zicam protests its innocence, but is voluntarily recalling the affected products, now that the FDA has started to step in. (In 2006, Zicam also protested its innocence as it settled out of court with 340 anosmic users for $12 million.)

How to Perform a Konxari Reading!

planetmatt — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:08:38 GMT

Wanna contact the dead?

No, seriously. I've just produced a new video that shows how to use Konxari Cards to communicate with those on the other side. This may sound complicated, but this user-friendly video will show you all you need to know in less than 5 minutes!

The video below will have you solving your poltergeist problems in no time flat. Whether you're eager to ghost hunt, or contact a loved one long-gone, here you'll learn the simple steps to utilize the Konxari, quick and easy.

For more information, or where to order your own deck of Konxari Cards, visit www.konxari.com!

The Mad Skeptic's Still Kicking

baron_army — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:29:56 GMT

I've got a number of posts community members may be interested in reading and discussing.

Check out http://www.themadskeptic.com.

My recent posts have been about the recent "Champ" video.

Creativity in science

areopagit_com — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:58:22 GMT

Does anybody know any course in creativity in science? I'm interested in this theme.

Many thanks!

Another Breakthrough from the Intelligent Design Paradigm

essentialsaltes — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:43:55 GMT

The concept of ID arose in biology, but this new scientific paradigm has revolutionized other areas of science. Physicists are ever eager to use a new tool in the toolbox, so it wasn't long before Intelligent Falling made waves. But this is probably old news to most of you.

More recently, computer science has used the paradigm to uncover an elegant sorting method: Intelligent Sorting.

Now I myself have made a wondrous discovery in meteorology that makes use of the intelligent design paradigm. But first let's refresh our memories of what the ID paradigm is.

Starting from a cloud of gas, the likelihood of the solar system forming and Homo sapiens evolving via naturalistic means is a very very very very very very very very very small number, as even scientists will admit. And as we all know, infinitesimally small numbers could never amount to anything or have real world effects, and are thus zero. Having eliminated naturalistic explanations, the only possible alternative is an Intelligent Designer.
Besides, no one could ever establish the truth of a naturalistic explanation, because we could ask of the scientists: "Were you there?"
If they answer Yes, they're liars; if they answer No, we don't have to listen to them.
Teach the controversy.

Now, moving on to my discovery. Exhibit A: perfectly cylindrical rolls of snow on the prairies of Idaho. They are up to two feet tall. Even the scientists at the National Weather Service admit that they are exceedingly unlikely, since naturalistic explanations require a "unique combination of snow, wind, temperature and moisture." You can't get rarer than unique! Since the chances of them forming naturally are very very very very very very small, the chances are zero. I mean, just look at them! The very idea that they formed from blowing wind is ludicrous. Besides, if you've ever seen someone build an intelligently designed snowman, this is just the sort of thing an intelligent agent does to accumulate snow. But there are no footprints in that photo. Thus, I posit a metaphysical Intelligent Roller.

If you disagree with Intelligent Rolling, all I can do is shake my head sadly and ask, "Were you there?"
Teach the controversy.

The Dread Tomato Addiction

essentialsaltes — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:49:28 GMT

From the Feb 1958 Astounding Magazine:

Ninety-two point four per cent of juvenile delinquents have eaten tomatoes.
Eighty-seven point one per cent of the adult criminals in penitentiaries throughout the United States have eaten tomatoes.
Informers reliably inform that of all known American Communists ninety-two point three per cent have eaten tomatoes.
...

Originally spotted at the Annals of Improbable Research blog.