Here are some of the solicited comments on last week's JREF Pink Spot...

It works! I got little sleep last night and was reading your latest update to pass the time away. I have a recliner in front of my computer so I leaned it back and got comfortable. Several minutes after reading your article, I noticed that I began to feel drowsy. I'm just sure that it was from my brief encounter with your pink spot.

Why, I'd put money that even though I hadn't been able to sleep well last night, that several hours of staring at the amazing JREF pink spot would put me fast asleep.

You may want to consider the obvious repercussions of this. Someone could invariably stare at this potent talisman for months on end and possibly go into a coma.

I must report that after looking into your pink spot for about a minute, I was able to distinguish mystical "ghost" green spots floating over the surface of my monitor's screen. Truly amazing! I also noticed a slight difficulty in focusing for a couple of minutes. Perhaps a small portion of negative energy is leaking into the spot?

Thank you very much for your wonderful Spot. In just one day I was able to find a multitude of tasks for which it proved to be useful. Thus far it has helped me to:

1. Repack my car's muffler bearings, My mechanic says that they're fine now!

2. Rejuvinate my car's blinker fluid, - The blinker works just like it did when the car was new!

3. Recalibrate my box of atomic weights, - Unbelievable!

4. And last but not least, improve the state of my mental health. - Just looking at the JREF Spot makes me smile!

I can't tell you how thankful I am for the chance to participate in your Spot experiment. I am completely gruntled with the results and believe that anyone would be truely lucky to have the JREF Spot work for them.

I was intrigued by your story about Uri Geller and his Orange Dot and your subsequent claims of paranormal powers from using your Pink Dot. I proceeded to participate in your experiment and found some interesting results.

I first placed my finger on my monitor for 5 minutes... nothing of immediate effect happened. I thought maybe the small surface area was the cause of my lack of results. I placed the whole palm of my hand on the monitor for 15 minutes. Still nothing.

I thought about how the pink dot would best affect me in the positive way I so wished for. Maybe the effect of the pink dot needed to be closer to my centre of being... my brain.

I placed my head on the monitor for 45 minutes and lo and behold... the effect was immediate. 5 o'clock had come around and my dreary time in the office had finished and I was now free to go home to a life of pleasure once again.

Thank you for your wonderful pink dot. I hope many more people receive as much well-being as I have.

I tried your "pink" spot, which comes across as purple, or mauve, on my screen, and didn't win the National Lottery this evening.

Bummer. I'm bereft.

After first touching your spot on my computer screen I noticed that it "ebbed" with "psychic" energy. I began thinking of all the things I wanted in life, a supermodel wife, a Ferrari Moderna, a 10 Million dollar home, a law degree from harvard law, and a 2-Liter bottle of Coca-Cola Classic. Then I realized the ebbing was just the fact that I have an LCD monitor, and that I could be doing significant damage to it if I continued.

So unfortunately, I must report I was only successful in my wish for a 2-Liter Bottle of Coca-Cola, mainly because I had forgotten about my extra bottle I had outside my dorm room fridge. I consider it a complete success. I hope that you market it successfully, as the powerful tool that it is.

I have tested your magical pink spot assiduously and can now report these remarkable results to you with total confidence in their 100 percent accuracy.

On three (3) occasions I pointed the Pink Spot at airliners flying overhead. In each case, the aircraft in question did not crash and successfully reached its destination. This conclusively proves that the Pink Spot emits a powerful psycho-electric aura that prevents complex mechanisms such as airliners from failing. I would suggest an immediate campaign to have the Pink Spot installed on all forms of public transportation.

I have rubbed the Pink Spot on all the cutlery in the office canteen. Since this pre-emptive action not one spoon, fork or knife has become bent or distorted. From this I believe we can safely conclude that the Pink Spot acts as a powerful dampening field preventing the malign activities of Uri Geller. However, I also note that several spoons have vanished, leading me to believe that your Pink Spot has been successful in opening a dimensional gate to a parallel universe.

Seeing a picture of General Gromov, commander of Russian forces operating in Chechnya, I placed the Pink Spot against said picture. Within two days resistance in the Chechnyan capital of Grozny collapsed completely. What more conclusive proof of the efficiency of the Pink Spot could any critic demand?

I received a copy of a marketing brochure concerning a new highly accurate guided bomb for the USAF. I placed the Pink Spot inside this overnight. Subsequently, the equipment in question was delivered under budget, ahead of schedule and worked better than the manufacturers claimed. Believe me, that IS a miracle.

After staring at your spot for only one minute, my telekinetic powers have inceased 200%!!!!!!

First, let me thank you for the opportunity to partake in such an important scientific test! I placed my forehead against the pink spot on my computer screen (I was attempting to clear my sinuses, I have allergies) and I experienced something I have never felt before at my computer...I was overcome with a strong feeling of stupidity! It works! Your pink spot has the power to effect changes to an individual, even through a computer monitor! Amazing..... What next, pain relief from magnets?

Okay, so these comments are (probably!) not serious. But this sort of little "experiment"can be taken quite seriously by a sizeable portion of the world's population, if presented loudly enough by any person who claims to have backing from ANY source that appears to be authoritative. We are accustomed to rely on authority, as part of our cultural background. Teachers, parents, academics, officials of various degrees and disciplines, respected friends, and the media, are agents upon which we may choose to place dependence. Usually, with good reason and to good results. But sometimes, quite the opposite.

One of my two next books will be titled, "Wrong!" and will deal with unwise dependence on authority, bad decisions based upon wishful thinking, and simple stupidity in decision-making. I was inspired to do this book when I became aware of the history of an ambitious undertaking by one of Sweden's greatest rulers, Gustav II Adolf (1594-1632) who determined to build for his navy the greatest flagship to be found afloat. This ship, the Vasa, was completed in 1628, and was launched despite the warnings of its designers that His Majesty had insisted on an unworkable format and had loaded it down with far too much artillery. At that period of history, the Swedes made the finest firearms ever seen, and Gustav wanted to show off the power of his naval might by producing this very expensive and extravagant dreadnought that had bronze and iron cannon bristling from it like a hedgehog. The ship was far too tall to be stable, and within fifteen minutes of its launching, attended by all the citizens of Stockholm and hosting the families of many dignitaries aboard, this doomed vessel slowly leaned over to one side and sank, in full sight of the once-cheering crowd.

Today, the Vasa has been recovered from the harbor, very well-preserved by the cold brine, and restored to much its original condition. A museum has been built around it, and is well-attended by those who become aware of its existence, though that seems a rather poorly-advertised fact. One can walk around this huge mistake, seeing quite clearly that cannon-ports two feet above the water-line would not seem wisely-placed, and observing that it certainly appears to be very top-heavy -- as indeed it was. The Vasa disaster was a major cause for merriment among the other seagoing cultures of the time -- Britain, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, among them.

It was the assumption of infallibility on the part of the king that sank the Vasa, not poor technology, just as today we are often faced with those who throw their better judgement aside in favor of accepting the opinions of a Ph.D. who may have very poor knowledge, or none at all, on a subject he might be asked to declare upon. And knowing how the public today depend upon fame and profile for their criteria of expertise and dependability, we cannot be surprised when the opinions of John Travolta and Shirley MacLaine far outweigh common sense.