JREF News & Updates for April 2012
- Details
- Written by D.J. Grothe
- Category: Latest JREF News
- Hits: 6997
It’s been a busy month for the JREF team with the opening of registration for The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012 (register here!), the announcement of our annual Pigasus Awards, JREF’s new column on Wired.com, the release of two new classroom modules, our new online skeptical group database, more ebooks available in more formats, and various speaking appearances and grassroots events in California, Florida and Colorado and at the Reason Rally in Washington D.C. and QED Con in the UK.
Jaime Licauco: Reluctant Psychic or Shameless Charlatan?
- Details
- Written by Red Tani
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 24036
The Philippines' most famous promoter of the paranormal is Jaime Licauco. As early as the 70s, he's been writing books about the mystical, and his bibliography charts the fantastical trends in our country -- from psychic surgery and faith healing to reincarnation and New Age abilities. He is considered an authority on the supernatural, which unfortunately means something in this country. Businessmen, politicians, and other leaders consult him on non-supernatural subjects, and one of our major local newspapers gave him a regular column: Inner Awareness.
Read more: Jaime Licauco: Reluctant Psychic or Shameless Charlatan?
We Get Emails: JREF Involved in "Cognitive Infiltration"?
- Details
- Written by D.J. Grothe
- Category: Swift
- Hits: 15398
Over the last few years as head of this foundation, I and others on our team have received some spectacular emails from folks claiming we were part of a government coverup about UFOs, part of a “Big Pharma” conspiracy to keep the truth about new alternative medicine cancer cures hidden from the public, that we are all CIA operatives engaged in misinformation about the truth about psychic combatants, etc. etc. But we recently received an impressive new accusation. Someone emailed about his concerns that JREF leadership is coordinating a deliberate effort to weaken the 911 Truth movement, engaging in what Cass Sunstein has called “cognitive infiltration.”
Read more: We Get Emails: JREF Involved in "Cognitive Infiltration"?
Last Week At Science-Based Medicine
- Details
- Written by Dr. Harriet Hall
- Category: Latest JREF News
- Hits: 5328
Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine.
Why haven’t we cured cancer yet? (Revisited): Personalized medicine versus evolution (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/personalized-medicine-vs-evolution/ Genomic research underscores that cancer is not one disease, but a diverse and complex mixture. The process of evolution continually changes the original genetic identity of a tumor into a mixture with multiple different gene expressions. Designing personalized cancer treatments will be far more difficult than we imagined; but there is real hope for progress based on science, as contrasted with the spurious “personalized medicine” offered by alternative medicine providers.
An Amazing Time at Ohlone College
- Details
- Written by Brian Thompson
- Category: Latest JREF News
- Hits: 7982
Last night, James Randi delivered another of his highly in-demand lectures at Ohlone College in Fremont, CA. A sold-out crowd of hundreds packed into Ohlone's Smith Center to see Randi live, and several more watched via live video feed in a nearby overflow room. The enthusiasm from the crowd was very nearly overwhelming, especially during a moving and personal introduction by Prof. Sheldon Helms.
Page 134 of 408