Ask The Skeptics: The Cottage Ghost, Global Warming
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- Written by Brandon K. Thorp
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 13981
(Editor's Note: If you wish to contribute a question to Ask The Skeptics, please write an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Questions may be edited for brevity, and frequently asked questions may be edited together so that the resulting query is representative. All questions shall be published anonymously. If you have an answer for this week's questioners, please supply it below.)
Dear Swift:
My mother has always been a hard-headed realist. (She does attend Methodist church off and on, but that's more a matter of upbringing than anything else.) She is a stubborn, no-nonsense lady and a hard worker, and she's always kept her wits about her. She is also twice-widowed - the first time when my father died in 1976 (sudden heart attack), and again when her second husband, Rupert, died in 2007 (another heart attack). Mother is 74 now and just beginning to slow down, and I'm concerned about a habit she's developed since Rupert's death.Read more: Ask The Skeptics: The Cottage Ghost, Global Warming
The Sheldrake Kerfluffle
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- Written by Brandon K. Thorp
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 24120
A week and a half ago, we published a request for information regarding some quotes attributed to James Randi in a letter sent to Skeptic. (That's the English one, edited by Chris French, rather than Michael Shermer's American publication.) The letter was from Rupert Sheldrake, the éminence grise of "morphic fields" and psychic canines, and it's scheduled for publication in Skeptic's next issue. Thanks to a handful of good friends with impeccable record-keeping habits, we now have Sheldrake's infamous source document in our possession. The quote in question:
The quote was culled from a handout distributed at a seminar at The Amaz!ng Meeting 3, entitled "Communicating Skepticism to the Public." It's accurate, as far as that goes. But Randi didn't write it.Becoming an expert is a pretty simple procedure; tell people you're an expert. After you do that, all you have to do is maintain appearances and not give them a reason to believe you're not.
Crocopetard
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- Written by Martin A. Lessem, J.D.
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 18344
For the past few years, anyone who has been following the Creation vs. Evolution debate has come across the comment by Kirk Cameron, made on the The O'Reilly Factor, that there are no "transitional forms." His exact quote, which demonstrates his general misinformedness as to how evolution actually works, was:
Not so fast, Cameron. The croco-duck has been found."Plus, Darwin said in order to prove evolution, which is the number one alternative to God, you gotta be able to prove transitional forms. One animal transitioning into another, and all through the fossil record and life we don't find one of these. A croco-duck. There's just nothing like it. There is no one animal transitioning into another"
Last Week In Science-Based Medicine
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- Written by Harriet Hall, MD, The SkepDoc
- Category: Latest JREF News
- Hits: 8759
Science In Medicine
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- Written by Harriet Hall, MD
- Category: Latest JREF News
- Hits: 6672
The Institute for Science in Medicine is a newly formed international policy institute that seeks to promote science as the best and only way to ensure not only safe, quality health care, but cost effectiveness as well. Its list of 42 founding members and 15 fellows reads like a Who's Who of prominent physicians, researchers, scholars and other professionals who are already noted for speaking out in support of science and reason in health care, and against a multitude of non-science-based therapies collectively known as "Complementary and Alternative Medicine." The list includes many long-time friends of the JREF.
The ISM has just issued its first press release, expressing concern about provisions in the health care reform bills that would require reimbursement of ineffective and potentially unsafe care by alternative medicine practitioners. "Congress will be giving a green light to practitioners who are unrestrained by professional ethics, the requirements of scientific evidence, or a defined scope or practice, thus paving the way for further waste, fraud and abuse."
There is still time to change the specific provisions that are listed at the bottom of the page. If you have any press contacts or know of anyone that should receive this information, please help us get the word out.
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