WILL GELLER EVER MAKE UP HIS MIND?
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- Written by James Randi
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In a new film just out, spoon-bender “psychic” Uri Geller is now claiming that he had a secret career as a US CIA agent, that he’d worked for both Mossad and the CIA on secret missions, that in 1976 he’d used his massive powers to disable a radar unit during “a raid on Entebbe” when Israeli forces stormed a hijacked plane there, and that the CIA had planted him on Aeroflot flights carrying KGB agents so as to erase the data from floppy disks carried in their diplomatic bags.
Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Still Dubious
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- Written by Dr. Steven Novella
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A recent article in The Star tells of “One Woman’s Battle with Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity,” without a hint critical thinking, skepticism, or actual investigative journalism anywhere in evidence. This is one of those issues that does not appear to be going away anytime soon, despite a fairly solid scientific consensus that there is no such thing as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).
Listening to Voices
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- Written by Dr. Romeo Vitelli
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Should you take medical advice from voices apparently coming out of thin air?
Cases of people “hearing voices”, whether spiritual or not, lies at the root of most religions with a litany of saints and prophets describing the apparently supernatural guidance they received. Still, modern neuroscience has indicated that many of these experiences can be due to different forms of brain pathology. Along with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations have also been linked to complex forms of epilepsy, injuries, or strokes involving auditory regions of the brain’s cortex.
Or possibly even a tumour.
Reality Hits Hard
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- Written by Kyle Hill
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Heg Robinson has been a martial artist and Tai Chi teacher for four decades. 
He has surely taught legions of willing participants to relax and “find their inner flow.” Through his practice of this ancient art, Robinson claims “that a self-health practice such as T'ai Chi heals the mind/ body /spirit and prevents common ailments.”
It’s the boilerplate alternative medicine pitch. I was expecting that. Traditional Chinese Medicine has made that claim based on the supposed power of Chi forever. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was how extraordinary his demonstration of telekinesis was.
I have to be honest (and laugh). Even if skeptics unduly assume that many of those who claim to have supernatural powers are knowingly faking it, this demonstration does seem like an impression of an impression of a fake. It could be a Poe. I have seen spoon-benders and page-turners and other martial artists who can “knock out” an attacker without touching them. This is something else.
Psychic Predators in Caring Clothing
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- Written by Jamy Ian Swiss
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The June 6 edition of the “Broward/Palm Beach NewTimes” contains an excellent long-read piece, “How Modern Fortunetellers Pull Off Their Scams”. Reporter Kyle Swenson recounts detailed and horrifying stories of four devastated victims of fortuneteller scam artists.
The article provides an excellent overview of sorts to the subject of psychic con artistry, including not only the stories of the four victims, but also looking at the law enforcement aspect of these moral and legal offenses, particularly as practiced by the criminal subculture elements of the American Romani, i.e., Gypsy, culture that specialize in a long tradition of such psychic fraud, and some current prosecutions taking place in South Florida (one of two “hotbeds” of such activity, the other being New York City).
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