SWIFT January 25, 2008
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- Written by James Randi
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 37512
The Geller Effect Lives On, Oregon “Scientific”?, Updates, Mission Impossible, An Excellent Opportunity, UFO Observations, Because You Need Quackery, Bear With Us, A Simple Solution, Pat’s Back – With More Prophecies, PBS Persists in Woo-Woo, That Highway, You Mean the Prophecy Was Wrong?, Ho Ho Ho, In Conclusion…
Here is – essentially – a diatribe against the perceived fuddy-duddy convictions of shortsighted modern scientists. It was written by author Colin Bennett, who says that
…the problem here is that in the 20th century we have lost the relationship between imagination and fact.
Asteroid 2007 TU24: No danger to earth.
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- Written by Jeff Wagg
- Category: Latest JREF News
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The Bad Astromer (Phil Plait) lets us know that we will be ok and that this asteroid will not hit earth as some websites are claiming. He says:
For those who haven’t been following this saga, some doomsayers have been claiming that an asteroid named 2007 TU24 poses a grave threat to Earth. These fearmongers are completely wrong, scaring lots of others, and are apparently unwilling to listen to reason. The videos still make outrageously bad claims and the websites still make utterly false statements. I decided to make my own video so that the truth can get out to as many people as possible.
SWIFT January 18, 2008
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- Written by James Randi
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 59898
Geller Reversal, The Law Is a Ass, It’s All in the Mind, That Magnet Claim From Last Week, Highway of Holiness, Dowsing Update, Remember TM?, Good Comment, Miracle Substance For Sale, The Q-Ray Swindle in Canada, In Closing…
Didn’t I tell you that Uri Geller, due to the recent exposures of his tricks on YouTube and on live TV, was no longer able to support the mythology that he is psychic, and now has to back away from the firm claims to genuine psychic power that he’s made for the last 35 years? Well, he’s done so. Reader Stefan Pochmann writes:
At youtube.com/watch?v=zGrn1IkMXbE you can see Geller in a recent German show completely failing to guess a picture of a square with four dots in it. Then at 2:14 into the video he explains:
Tom Cruise - Scientology Video
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- Written by Jeff Wagg
- Category: Latest JREF News
- Hits: 18647
Media News website Gawker posted the almost-10-minute-long video of Tom Cruise's Scientology Indoctrination Video (view at: Gawker 200801). In which Cruise supports the Church of Scientology saying such things as:
"When you're a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you're the only one who can really help... We are the way to happiness. We can bring peace and unite cultures."
SWIFT January 11, 2008
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- Written by James Randi
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 51575
More Nonsense, Hoax Still Active, Plain and Simple - It's a Magic Charm, Welcome News, The Anouncement, Warning, Edward Down Under, Bagged Psychics, Pendulum Magic, A Surprise to Look Into, Oops!, He Should Know, Science-Based Medicine, Re 666, Sylvia Again, IQ Test, Justice Is Served, In Conclusion...
Reader James Todd, Ph.D., with the Department of Psychology at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, comments on the continuing academic endorsement of the ridiculous “Facilitated Communication” [FC] notion as a means of treating autistic children. See www.randi.org/joom/content/view/121/27/#i1 for our most recent mention of this subject. Dr. Todd writes:
In case people are wondering, Nancy Cantor, Syracuse University Chancellor, has recently confirmed her FC true belief. I suppose that her appointing Douglas Biklen as Dean of the Syracuse College of Education, was probably enough to demonstrate that. But this nails it down.
In a speech delivered on September 7 this year, Cantor (a Stanford-trained Ph.D. in Psychology) stated: