Are We Alone? (In Thinking Critically…)
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- Written by Karen Stollznow
- Category: Swift
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It's a BIG universe but we need to share it with others who are not from Earth.
Jeff Peckman
When the people of Denver, Colorado, go to the polling booths for the upcoming general election, they will be presented with the following ballot question:
"Shall the voters for the city and county of Denver adopt an initiated ordinance to require the creation of an extraterrestrial affairs commission to help ensure the health, safety, and cultural awareness of Denver residents and visitors in relation to potential encounters or interactions with extraterrestrial intelligent beings or their vehicles, and fund such commission from grants, gifts and donations?"
But this will be November 2, not April 1. This is no practical joke, and no celebrity will leap out from behind the booth and proclaim, "You just got punk'd!"
This is the proposal for the City and County of Denver Ballot Question Initiated Ordinance 300. Known as the Welcome to Earth campaign or Initiative 300, the campaign proposes to establish an Extraterrestrial Affairs (ETA) Commission. Chosen by the Denver mayor, the Commission would consist of seven members who would investigate alleged government cover-ups of alien abductions and encounters, explore extraterrestrial energy sources and cancer-curing technology, and provide their findings on the city's website. This would also be a refuge for citizens to report their own sightings and personal experiences.
Women's Exposition 'Woo'-fully Sad
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- Written by Bart Farkas
- Category: Swift
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Last weekend I went to a local ‘World of Women’ exposition with some friends, and while I am not a woman, I thought it wouldn’t be too far out of line for a guy like me to crash a party that’s ostensibly there to ‘celebrate womanhood’. What I saw at this trade show/exposition shocked me, and actually disheartened me a little. While the show had the usual barrage of aroma-laden candles, furs, weight-loss booths, jewelry and cookware, there was a shocking amount of ‘woo’ based salespeople selling everything from aromatherapy and chiropractic to magnet therapy and whole-body detoxification.
As I walked through the aisles of the show I had to ask myself the question: “Why are the booths at a so-called ‘woman’s’ exhibition so heavily steeped in pseudoscience and woo?” I would hate to think that women are naturally more prone to woo than men, but I have to admit that this experience got me thinking about whether women are more prone to certain kinds of woo than men.
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| My eye picture for the Iridologist. |
Some research on the old Internet showed that there is quite a bit of data on this subject and it appears that perhaps women have a tendency toward more woo-ish beliefs than men, but I’m not here to argue that one way or another because I see it as pointless. We’re all human and we’re all fully capable of logical thought and critical thinking and our gender is meaningless.
I think it’s more accurate to say that ‘World of Women’ expositions are more likely to attract folks that like paranormal beliefs than to say that all women are more prone to such belief systems. Someone in our group did come up with the idea of perhaps getting a booth at next year’s exposition that debunks a lot of the stuff being peddled in other booths, but I’m not sure that would go over too well. I’m going to take a look at three of the booths that annoyed me the most, but if you want a different angle on the subject might I suggest Ramblings of an Armchair Skeptic for a female’s take on the same exposition.
EYES ON THE SKIES!
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- Written by James Randi
- Category: Newsflash
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Our good friend and prominent skeptic Robert Sheaffer has announced his new blog, which he says is “in the skeptical spirit of ‘Bad Astronomy,’ ‘Bad Science,’ ‘Bad Language,’ etc.”
It’s: "Bad UFOs" (http://www.BadUFOs.com, or alternatively http://BadUFOs.blogspot.com ). As Bob says, “there is no other blog in the U.S. being written by an experienced UFO skeptic, so it fills a need.” And indeed it does.
Please check it out and feel free to contribute comments. Given the prevalence of hard-core UFO believers on the Internet, once this new blog gets to be known, lots of negative comments can be expected. As Bob says, some of these people get incensed by any hint of UFO skepticism, no matter how well-founded, and some balancing skeptical comments will always be welcome.
So, tune in and enjoy!
Oprah & Dr. Harriet Hall: Not BFF
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- Written by Brandon K. Thorp
- Category: Swift
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At the beginning of September, Dr. Harriet Hall – usually a paragon of calm, cool collectedness – was a little teed off. At Science-Based Medicine, she wrote:
From January through June of 2010 I wrote a column entitled “The Health Inspector” in O, The Oprah Magazine. Now, apparently, I have been fired; although they have not had the common courtesy to tell me so. The whole thing has been a bizarre, frustrating experience.
Of course, O's failure to tell Dr. Hall she was canned was nowhere near as strange as their decision, late last year, to hire her in the first place. Dr. Hall is not exactly Oprah's favorite kind of writer. She prefers Rhonda Byrne or Suzanne Somers. (Or, to be fair, William Faulkner.) Oprah likes writers who leave the impression that each reader exists at the center of her own, private universe, the laws and strictures of which have been carved from the ether for her sole benefit. Oprah does not like writers who acknowledge the impossibility of... well, anything. (And why would she? What has ever been impossible for Oprah?)
Bigfoot! The Search Continues
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- Written by Maria Myrback
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Whether it's called Yowie, in Australia, Mapinguari in the Amazon, the Yeti in Tibet, or Yeren in China, Bigfoot myths and sightings have pervaded cultures around the world since the early 1800’s. Described as having long white, reddish or brown hair, this bipedal creature reportedly stands between five and feet tall and sometimes weighs over five-hundred pounds. A common factor in close sightings is the beast's incredible stench. According to castings of footprints, Bigfoot has five toes, but it has been known to have as few as two. Sometimes it even has claws.
One of the earliest documented sighting of such a creature was mentioned in James Prinsep’s Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in 1832. An explorer in north Nepal, B.H. Hodgeson reported that his guide saw what appeared to be “a tall, bipedal creature covered in long, dark hair.” After evaluation, Hodgeson concluded that his guide saw an orangutan.
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