"Psychic" Rosemary Altea Scammed
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- Written by Jeff Wagg
- Category: Swift
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Sometimes you have to ask: what good is it being psychic? As I'm not psychic, I will probably never know the answer to that question, but being psychic apparently doesn't protect you from having your accountant run off with $200,000 of your "hard-earned" money. Such a fate has befallen self-proclaimed psychic Rosemary Altea, who was exposed on Penn & Teller's Bullshit! as having a stacked audience for her reading.
From the Rutland Herald article:
Denise Hall of East Arlington faces one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return after investigators with the U.S. Attorney's office say she stole money from self-proclaimed spiritual medium Rosemary Altea - using four credit cards to obtain cash advances, forging checks and giving herself unauthorized electronic paychecks all under Altea's name for the past seven years, according to court records.
So, for seven years, a bookkeeper was able to swindle money from Rosemary in ways that most of us would detect simply balancing our checkbooks.TAM Things
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- Written by Alison Smith
- Category: Latest JREF News
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With The Amaz!ng Meeting approaching so quickly, and with so many exciting events, some of the fine details may have slipped right past! So, here are a few things you might find interesting and fun at TAM, and may not have heard about already.
Million Dollar Challenge
James Randi introduces Connie Sonne, a psychic from Denmark who will take her preliminary Challenge test LIVE in front of the TAM audience on Sunday, July 12th, at 1pm. Sonne will be tested by famous mentalist and friend to the JREF, Banachek, and the test will be attended by famous skeptics, critical thinkers, and magicians from all over the world. In fact, you may have already heard about the test from Penn Jillette!
This event is free of charge. However, the first couple of rows of the audience will be blocked off during this event for VIP guests, but don’t worry – there’s a way you can attend as a VIP too!Book Review: Science Under Siege
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- Written by Harriet Hall
- Category: Swift
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A new book has just come out that will be of interest to skeptics everywhere. Science Under Siege: Defending Science, Exposing Pseudoscience. Edited by Kendrick Frazier, it is a collection of some of the best writing from Skeptical Inquirer from the last few years:
Some of the gems it contains:
- Carl Sagan’s last Q & A on science and skeptical inquiry.
- A paean to the wonder and awe of real science by Sagan’s wife, Ann Druyan.
- An article explaining Ray Hyman’s Categorical Directive: “before we try to explain something, we should make sure it actually happened.”
- John E. Jones, III’s eloquent decision in the Dover “Intelligent Design” case.
- An article on AIDS denialism by Nicoli Nattrass, who is director of an AIDS research unit in South Africa and can testify to the incalculable harm denialism has caused her compatriots.
SAPS at TAM
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- Written by Alison Smith
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 9966
You might’ve noticed that SAPS has, lately, fallen off the grid a little while I sat around contemplating the wisdom of being on a television show called Door to the Dead.
With The Amaz!ng Meeting coming so fast, though, I’ve been forced out of my funk and into participating in a big way.
SAPS is involved in a lot of events at TAM 7, and here are some of them, if you’d like to be involved too.
Bats in the Bellfry
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- Written by Jeff Wagg
- Category: Swift
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What is it with Baseball players? They're big, strong, well-paid... and yet some of them are afraid to sleep in a hotel alone.
No, I'm not making this up. Others sleep with a baseball bat by their side. Are they afraid of paparazzi? Jealous wives and girlfriends? No. They're afraid of ghosts.
WISN in Milwaukee reports that a local hotel, the newly remodeled Pfister, is scaring ballplayers from many visiting teams. You can check out their video report here.
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