There Are Other Gods Out There, Nice Try, An Expensive Magical Rod, Finding Significance, Not Just Yet, Playing the God Card, Saccharine Sooth, Tune In, Still Scamming, Medical Mythology Addressed, Viewer Comments, The Secret’s Out, Very Wise Words, Do This, Neatly and Evasively Done, In Conclusion.
Reader and frequent commentator Avital Pilpel has sent me a 334-word message that I will give you here in full, not only because it’s interesting and from an expert, but because it’s brief enough for you to handle easily. Had it been 350 words… Referring to the item at randi.org/joom/content/view/142/27/#i2, Mr. Pilpel writes:
In your discussion with Jay Roessler, both of you are – slightly – wrong, due to translation problems.
The original Hebrew says, "Lo ihyu lachem elohim acherim al panay" – you shall have no other Gods al panay. Literally, "al panay" means "on my face." It is an Hebrew idiom, meaning "in preference to me." It is often used elsewhere in the Bible in matrimonial matters, i.e., when someone divorces one wife and marries another al paneyha – "over her face" – that is, in preference to her.
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There Are Other Gods Out ThereReader and frequent commentator Avital Pilpel has sent me a 334-word message that I will give you here in full, not only because it’s interesting and from an expert, but because it’s brief enough for you to handle easily. Had it been 350 words… Referring to the item at randi.org/joom/content/view/142/27/#i2, Mr. Pilpel writes: In your discussion with Jay Roessler, both of you are – slightly – wrong, due to translation problems. Okay, and I see that this comment only supports even more my contention that there is nothing in the Bible that says the God they endorse and so admire, is the only deity…! Is this a “find,” or what? Several of those who posted comments on last week’s page also reflected these observations of Mr. Pilpel, though less specifically. Thank you! |
NICE TRYReader Ron Holmstrom in Chugiak, Alaska, wrote to a local FOX-TV show there about their coverage of a recent near-disaster in which a family of four was rescued after having been lost in a mountainous area. A “psychic” had been called in for consultation (Wow! On FOX-TV? Quelle surprise!) and was credited by the station with having been helpful. Ron was insulted by the applied slant of the story, and he wrote: When the relative first told the story this morning, the "psychic" had supposedly told authorities the location and the owner's name of the cabin where the lost family was holed-up. The TV station responded: We said that earlier... sorry you missed it. Ron was not to be easily pushed aside: I did hear it. The problem is, that was what made her prediction wrong. Further coverage has omitted this. This sort of thing is simply what props up superstitious claptrap. Unfair. Ron, join us in resignation to the fact that the media wants, needs, prefers and thrives on woo-woo, in total disregard for inconvenient facts. Here in Florida, on another “lost family” episode with a similarly satisfactory result, I counted 17 designations of this event as a “miracle” during one local news report. No, a miracle should be a little more stunning than a rescue effort that works out, I think. And, when the rescue fails, perhaps we should wonder whether the angels were off carousing somewhere, or God was out on the celestial golf course, and missed the request for a miracle… |
AN EXPENSIVE MAGICAL RODFrom reader Dean Malandris we received notice of this truly hilarious – yet still fraudulent – web site. Dean describes it as, “For the truly intellectually handicapped, a great web site,” and I enthusiastically agree. It’s to be found at toolsforwellness.com. Says Dean: Pretty much all of your favorite woo-woo products under the convenience of one on-line store. Devout believers can truly have a field day, poring over the catalogue. My personal favorite has to be the copper tube they charge $220 for: toolsforwellness.com/safespaceiii.html. As they say in the movies, "I gotta get me one o' THESE!" I note that the validity of this device seems appropriately indicated by the “click to enlarge” note – which when clicked on the site, gives you exactly the same-size graphic… and the text for this “Tools for Wellness” advertisement reads, in part: This powerful 20-inch copper tube holds imprinted holographic bars, programmed to neutralize and protect up to 200 acres of land. Briefly: There is no such thing as a “powerful” “holographic bar” – let alone an “imprinted” one. No such “programming” is possible, the “neutralization” and “protection” claimed are imaginary, no such “vibrations” – “noxious” or otherwise – exist, the rod “broadcasts” nothing, and it’s not “designed” to do anything but extract money from the naïve. The “imbalanced energies” cited, are imaginary, “Geopathic Stress” is a fiction, there are no ‘harmful” “earth grid systems or earth fault lines” – real or imaginary – and “electromagnetic radiation” of any sort is totally unaffected by having a magical copper rod buried in the area; EMR is always there. There’s no “energy pattern” “radiated” by this rod, no “toxic energies and negative etheric forces” – whatever they may be – are “cleared” by this means, and the vendors cannot demonstrate any effects whatsoever from the use of their fake device. Or, I may be wrong, in which case a legal action brought by the vendors of the “Safe Space 3” product will easily prove their case and cause the JREF huge financial losses in favor of the vendor. We await such an action. Hello…? (I must admit that Dean exaggerated the price of this wonder. It’s only $219.95… and I note the subtly imbedded “20,” “200,” and “220” magical sequence in their text…) |
FINDING SIGNIFICANCEHere’s an excerpt from an otherwise excellent and well-thought-out story at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC] site at cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_handler/20071219.html by Richard Handler, their “Ideas Guy.” It’s titled, “Moments of extraordinary knowing.” We all have heard stories that can't quite be explained. Let me end [this item] on one of mine. For Mr. Handler, I’ll offer here a repeat of a comment I published here in October of last year. I was discussing this same “finding significance” phenomenon”: Let me give you another example of this phenomenon from my own experience. That’s my account, and now let’s look at Mr. Handler’s experience. Importantly, I note that we’re not given the nature nor the location of the “wracking pain” suffered by the author. The pain of a heart attack can consist of discomfort or numbness in the center of the chest, uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach, shortness of breath, and/or breaking out in a sweat. Believe me. I went through all this. Also, we aren’t told at what hour the pain was experienced by him, and whether that might provide a parallel to the distress suffered by his father, nor do we learn whether his father already had a heart condition and would have been expected to have such an attack. I believe that Mr. Handler is choosing to create a false association for this event, which he would have written off as a rather memorable but not significant night-time experience, if the death of his father had not occurred in conjunction with it. By our vary nature, we humans tend to easily make such associations. This practice tends to “round out” the picture for us and provide a more satisfactory conclusion. People who bet a “lucky number” in a lottery and win, or who choose a winning horse by the color of the livery, may similarly choose to assign significance. Mind you, Mr. Handler has made allowance for the possibility of such psychological phenomena in his article, and I’m sure he would not try to point out this recalled event as proof of anything, so he’s “off the hook,” clearly…! |
NOT JUST YETLast week Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes wrote a letter to The New York Times. See randi.org/joom/content/view/142/27/#i9 for our brief comment on the matter which concerns him. He wrote: Re “Green Light for Institute on Creation in Texas” (news article, Dec. 19): This is hardly a matter that can or should be submitted to any “board” for a vote. Would Commissioner Paredes’ board take under consideration the question of whether or not to leave cookies and milk for Santa Claus? That is just as legitimate a question. In my opinion, any program that is – right up-front – clearly not only unscientific, but anti-scientific – as creationism is – should not have to undergo deep thought and mulling over by a committee to decide whether it would be suitable for a science curriculum. Creationism is not part of science. It may be a part of philosophy or what Nobel-winning chemist Irving Langmuir, in his famous 1953 essay, dubbed “pathological science,” but it should not enter classrooms except as a religious subject. |
PLAYING THE GOD CARDReader Frank Monaco quotes presidential candidate Mitt Romney on MSNBC:. I was amazed that a potential leader of our country would say this:
Adds Frank: I thought we have always been a secular nation? Gee, I thought so too, Frank. It just shows how we can be ignorant of the basics of democracy and the true structure of the system. Or perhaps Mitt Romney was just trying for a few votes from the terminally religious…? Nah… While we’re here, I’ll just express a personal opinion about this situation. I’ve been hearing so many pundits preach that the religious affiliation and the convictions of a candidate should not be matters brought into consideration by the voters. That’s ridiculous. Think: if religion is a paramount element in a candidate’s thinking, morality, behavior, decision-making, attitude, and philosophy, then it should be the major element to be considered by a voter! Heaven or Hell, survival into the Afterlife or Everlasting Torment, damnation or eternal bliss – these are paramount matters, aren’t they? In my mind, the turning point for my vote will be to select a candidate who I perceive as playing the I-love-God game solely in order to win – because he/she cannot win an election without embracing mythology, even if only cosmetically. If elected, that candidate just might be able to make a presidential decision based on evidence and rationality, rather than on an ancient and totally naïve book written by understandably uninformed authors… |
SACCHARINE SOOTHIf you have 5 minutes and 49 seconds to be entertained by “Veronica” – not her favorite name, as she says, but one she adopts to more easily speak to lower-vibration folks like us – go to youtube.com/watch?v=g1ctJimXu2w and enjoy. An anonymous reader sent me there, saying that We puny three dimensional beings can be and see so much more with the help of "VERONICA". Referenced web pages can be found at: InnerWhispers.info, and at AprilCrawford.info. But be sure to brush your teeth immediately after. The sugary traces might cause caries… If you’ve survived this, you might want to travel on to new heights of idiocy with these, sent in by a reader who found them through the "Science and Technology" category at YouTube. He comments: I had welcomed the recent return of the "Science and Technology" category at YouTube that had been removed about a year ago. But it bothers me that videos like this end up in the category. Then I stumbled across this video: youtube.com/watch?v=6dvMGzCK7kM of another channeler in the "Science and Technology" category. I then discovered that this person has posted 860 videos since Aug 6, 2007. See youtube.com/profile?user=DesteniProductions. That's more than 6 videos per day. This person channels historical figures, celebrities, random people, animals, things. It's just too bizarre and sad. Here is just a very small sample of these: I’m sure you won’t be able to look at all these, or want to, but maybe this could be a good school project on delusional pastimes for a student with very bad judgment? |
TUNE INReader/author Geoff Gilpin (see randi.org/joom/content/view/141/#i6) informs us: Put some cosmic consciousness in your holiday with my upcoming interview on public radio. I’ll be appearing on “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” a program that airs on the NPR, PRI, and XM satellite networks. Dates and times vary by station, but most listeners will get the program on Sunday, December 30th. Check the following page for a list of stations and air times: www.wpr.org/book/stations.html. |
STILL SCAMMINGFrom Wired.com we received a list of “The Top 10 Heartbreaking Gadgets of 2007,” and #2 on their list is the Steorn Company, which we referred to back at randi.org/jr/2007-07/070607steorn.html#i1. The item reads: Eternal energy from the Emerald Isle, that's what Steorn promised us with Orbo. The Irish company pitched us a perpetual-motion machine that would change the world using "time-variant magneto-mechanical interactions." Instead we got a plastic wheel with dodgy bearings and a press conference full of so many blatant lies it embarrassed even us. Sure, we'd all love free energy, but handing a toy out to 22 hand-picked scientists isn't going to do it. We'd be better off tying a piece of buttered toast to the back of a cat and throwing the tandem out the window. And hey, at Wired News we obey the laws of thermodynamics! Add to this another mention from Wired News as 2007 vanishes into history: It's time again to inhale the fumes of failure. Every December, Wired News asks its readers to nominate their choices for our annual Vaporware awards. We hand out accolades (and raspberries) to the most-prized products that were promised but never delivered. Reader votes have helped whittle the list down to the top 10 honorees for the 2007 Podium of Shame. So, with a quick nod to this year's honorable mention – Iran's nuclear weapons program – let's savor the vapor, starting with the bottom of the short list.
At the close of 2006, the Dublin-based firm Steorn announced the creation of the Orbo, a magnetic motor device that generates free, constant energy. In other words, a perpetual-motion machine. Steorn claims its technology can be used in everything "from portable music players to cars.” You can see the incredible nerve still being exhibited and advertised by this company of Irish scam-artists at www.steorn.com. And they’ll still be here in 2009, when that rolls around… Reader Jeff Snowden sends us to tinyurl.com/2rrlsk to read what he calls, “a classic example of True Believer diplomacy” contributed by a poster known as “Naked Robot” – who explains himself quite adequately… |
MEDICAL MYTHOLOGY ADDRESSEDCourtesy of the Children’s Health Services Research, Indiana University School of Medicine, and the Regenstrief Institute – both of Indianapolis, Indiana – we now have a good examination of a number of rather well-accepted medical notions that may not be as firm as we’d thought. The seven immediately cited are: 1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day The researchers wisely and carefully conclude: Despite their popularity, all of these medical beliefs range from unproved to untrue. Although this was not a systematic review of either the breadth of medical myths or of all available evidence related to each myth, the search methods produced a large number of references. While some of these myths simply do not have evidence to confirm them, others have been studied and proved wrong. I’m particularly happy with numbers 2 and 7. Visit bmj.com/cgi/content/short/335/7633/1288 for the full discussion. |
VIEWER COMMENTS…The advent on YouTube of the Geller video from last week brought a number of interesting comments from viewers. Only seven are given here, with a few minor grammatical corrections, FYI: The only benefit to the existence of Uri Geller is that his body acts as a natural carbon sink. Thanks Uri. Because of you, global warming is slightly slower than it otherwise would be. |
THE SECRET’S OUTAt tinyurl.com/24yfsb the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper has just published a complete explanation of the spoon-bending trick so dear to Uri Geller, and I’m sure the fur will be flying in all directions. The explanation they provide is quite correct, though it doesn’t cover the spoon-breaking stunt. I wonder if they’d be interested in knowing about that, as well? I’m available… |
VERY WISE WORDSWhile watching a re-run of the 1996 BBC program, "Attenborough in Paradise" a wonderful documentary filmed in Papua New Guinea's jungles on the remarkable Birds of Paradise found there, I heard Sir David read a quotation from Alfred Russel Wallace, the man who proposed – in parallel with Charles Darwin – a theory of “natural selection.” While Wallace was a fully-developed woo-woo in regards to spiritualism and certain aspects of brain functions, he also wrote these perceptive words, dealing with the Birds of Paradise: I thought of the long ages of the past, during which the successive generations of this little creature have run their course – year by year being born and living and dying amid these dark and gloomy woods with no intelligent eye to gaze upon their loveliness, to all appearances such a wanton waste of beauty… It seems sad, that on the one hand such exquisite creatures should live out their lives and exhibit their charms only in these wild inhospitable regions… This consideration should surely tell us that all living things were not made for Man. Many of them have no relation to him, their happiness and enjoyments, their loves and hates, their struggles for existence, their rigorous life and early death, would seem to be immediately related to their own well-being and perpetuation, alone. Apparently, Sir Richard agreed with Wallace’s observation. He closed the program with the quotation, and merely added, “Indeed so.” |
DO THISGo to tinyurl.com/yp8fjp for a Washington Post piece by Sally Quinn, read it, and then think about my contention that we’re already immersed in a full-blown theocracy… |
NEATLY AND EVASIVELY DONEReader Jim Boskus sent us this: I am writing to you because, once again, I have encountered quackery that needs to be challenged. I recently received a catalog as a supplement with our daily newspaper. This catalog is a listing of the classes being offered by the Duchess Association for Continuing Education, an organization that offers classes for all ages under the sponsorship of the local school district. One particular class got my attention. Here is the course description:
I was aghast that this organization would offer such a class under the guise of "education." I promptly fired off this email to the organization's Class Coordinator:
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IN CONCLUSIONWhen shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning or in rain…? Oh. Sorry. I’m rather carried away by the upcoming production of Shakespeare’s MacBeth conceived and directed by our friend Teller – of Penn & Teller – and artistic director Aaron Posner, which will run from January 15th through February 10th at the Two River Theater Company in Red Bank, New Jersey – my old stamping grounds. Ticket sales have been so brisk that the run has extended its winter production by eight more shows added to the original performance schedule. But the answer to the question above, is, "next year." There will be a few startling announcements to be made next week… There was a high-level meeting of the JREF Executive Board last week, and there will be drastic changes at the Foundation. Our talent lineup for TAM6 is due very shortly, and we’ve landed – as usual – some brilliant talent to attract you. TAM5.5 is still signing up folks from all over, and there’ll be some of the most astonishing magical talent there to confound you… Happy Xmas, all, and have a wonderful 2008! |