At the JREF last week, we tested a dowser, Mike G., as part of his application for the million-dollar prize. Mr. G. had sent in the properly filled-in form, and we had discussed by e-mail — at length! — the procedure he would follow for the preliminary test. Since he lives not far away from Fort Lauderdale, we decided that it would not be necessary for us to appoint another person to conduct the preliminary test. He showed up at the JREF with some dozen different forked sticks, and prepared to deliver a speech on his theories and tales of past victories in dowsing, which we closed off quickly so that we could get right to the testing procedure. When involved in tests, we are not interested in such discussions, but wish only to see results.

Mike was to be tested for finding gold, his specialty. The target material he had chosen, and brought along with him, consisted of five quartz stones, nine "Sacagawea" dollar coins, a gold ring, a gold nugget, and a small vial containing water and a few panned flakes. He said he had always been successful in detecting each and all of these seventeen items, when his forked stick was specifically "tuned" to pick up gold — by having a small scrap of gold fastened to its tip. That's a common claim made by dowsers, that their stick/rod/pendulum is sensitive to the substance attached to it. We decided to use the entire package of seventeen items, sealed in a plastic bag, to give Mike the maximum chance of finding his target, and he affixed his gold "guider" sample to the stick to "tune" it. The total weight of his composite target was 230 grams (8.2 ounces).

Now, we knew that those dollar coins have no gold in them. They're clad in a layer of manganese brass, which is gold in color only. And, when we asked Mike if the quartz stones were supposed to contain gold — since gold most frequently occurs in association with quartz — he told us, no, but that he'd discovered that when two of the rocks were struck together in the dark, they emitted sparks — which he said was stored-up energy "which never runs out." The mineral, he told us, had a "charge" his stick would react to. (This effect is what's known as the piezoelectric effect, which makes quartz emit sparks when struck.) We didn't question his beliefs, because by the rules we should do nothing to discourage him. We just let him go on with the test.

We numbered ten JREF coffee-mugs from 1 to 10 on the outside bottoms. For the baseline part of the test (20 "open" trials in which all those present would know in which cup the target had been placed) Mike was first asked to choose one of ten face-down shuffled cards bearing numerals from 1 to 10, and that choice would designate where the target would be placed, each time. I had asked him to carefully "scan" the floor area of our library in advance to make sure there were no distracting elements present, and he himself carefully chose the positions of each of the ten cups on the floor. He was encouraged by me to adjust the placement of the cups as many times as he needed to, during this phase. He'd told us, first, that at least five feet of separation was required between each cup, but that he could work with just three feet between them. I immediately insisted that he must use at least five feet, since I did not want to allow an excuse later on that the spacing had been inadequate. As it turned out, he chose to have some cups within a foot of one another. But we could not interfere with his choice, since he assured us that all was sufficient for his needs.

Mike also asked that several metallic objects (trophy cups, plaques, steel devices) be removed from the bookshelves nearby. At his request, a teaspoon was taken to the next room because he said that the silver could also attract his stick; that spoon was made of aluminum. But, again, we did not correct his statements.

For the "open" phase of the preliminary test procedure, the target package was placed in the designated cup, which was then openly placed in the spot Mike had chosen for it, mouth-down. He then scanned all ten cups, and declared — both by pointing and verbally — where he believed that his stick had detected the target. Another number was then selected, and the procedure was repeated, twenty times in all. His score was 100% in these "open" tests.

Pause. Let me explain here the purpose of the baseline test of twenty "open" detections, in which the location of the target is known in advance. It served five distinct purposes, which is why we always use such a procedure:

(1) The performer has the opportunity to try out the setup, and make any necessary changes, adjustments, or re-locations that he thinks are needed. Mr. G. changed the location of the ten cups on the floor many times before the "open" detection trials were completed, and finally declared his total satisfaction with the placements, and with the conditions.

(2) The process of randomizing numbers, etc., which is sometimes unfamiliar or unknown to the performer, becomes clear. For Mike, we prepared ten cards bearing numbers from one to ten, shuffled them face-down, and asked him to choose one for each test.

(3) The performer becomes familiar with the sequences and rules of the test. With Mike, we changed only one factor: we began with plastic cups, but because of the bulk of the target package, we switched to using the JREF coffee mugs.

(4) The performer has the opportunity of deciding for himself — in the "open" tests — whether it's his powers, or just his foreknowledge of the answer, that is actually at work. Mike was convinced of the former.

(5) After the "blind"test is done, following the "open" series, the performer cannot offer the excuse that his powers were not working at this time. Mike obtained 100% results during the "open" test, quickly and positively, showing that he was quite able to use his powers.

Following the "open" sequence, for each of the "blind" tests, Mr. G. and I stepped out of the library area, and two other persons randomly (by choosing a face-down card, as before) placed the target package in position, then they left the area and informed us that the target was in place. Mike and I re-entered, alone, and he made his determination while I watched carefully to be sure that he did not nudge any cups, or otherwise attempt to use any means but the movements of his forked stick, to make his guess; at no time was any such procedure observed. After Mike made his guess on each trial, the other two persons were invited back in, and we recorded the results. That procedure was repeated ten times.

On the "open" tests, Mr. G. took an average of 2 1/2 minutes for each determination; on the "blind" tests, he spent an average of 8 1/2 minutes on each one. During the dowsing process, he kept up a running commentary to me on such matters as a rare "Indian root" with which he was familiar and which was a sure cure for the 'flu, a special crystal he carried on his person to ensure his good health, and a few "free energy" machines that he thought I should know about. Not wishing to become involved in any distracting activity, I resisted discussing these matters with him at that time.

The results were that when Mike G. knew the location of the concealed target (the "open" tests), he obtained 100% results. When the test procedure was double-blinded, he obtained exactly what chance alone would call for: one out of ten correct.

By the rules, Mr. G. can re-apply in twelve months to be tested.

Now, following the tests, Mike said that he'd found, all through the trials, that his stick was being "distracted" by the "gold" lettering on a double set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica on the shelves located near cups #1 and #2. Remember, he'd "tuned" his forked stick specifically to react to gold. We told him later that there was no gold in that location, either, since the book lettering is done with a bronze-powder ink.

As I've said before many times, I have found that dowsers are generally very honest folks, and their firm convictions about the reality of their dowsing powers are examples of genuine self-delusion. On only two occasions, with the literally hundreds of dowsing claims I've examined over the last 56 years all around the world, have I found dowsers attempting to cheat — and both were caught out immediately, easily, and definitively.

Mike G., I'm sure, will be back next year. And I think I already know the results.

Reader Win Fowles writes from Australia:

I live on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, just north of the state capital, Brisbane. "Psychics" are big here, as are churches of every conceivable denomination. Other Australians tend to regard us (with some justification) as living in the Deep North, the antipodean equivalent of your Deep South.

A local radio station carried an evening program last year on which a "psychic" appeared regularly. The usual flummery — calls from listeners (usually younger women) wanting forecasts of their love-lives, jobs, happiness etc., followed by confident replies from the "psychic" together with supportive clucking noises from the credulous anchor entity. Here's my recollection of the "psychic's" classic blooper:

Caller: "Will I meet someone?"

Psychic: "Yes of course you will, darling. I see you dancing — you dance so well! — and meeting that man and dancing through life together, you know what I mean?"

Caller: "But I'm confined to a wheelchair..."

Reader Gregory S. Camp, Ph.D, shares with us an account of an alleged miracle brought about through the healing ministry of one Reinhard Bonnke, a charismatic preacher who is very well known in Africa.

On February 20, 2002, Charisma News Service (CNS), a Charismatic Christian news service of Strang Communications, carried a most unusual story about an alleged resurrection that they reported took place in the west African nation of Nigeria last November. The headline of their lead story read, "Reinhard Bonnke Video Documents Modern-Day Lazarus" along with a secondary teaser, "Nigerian certified dead, but revived days later at evangelist's meeting."

According to early reports that came out of Africa, the resurrection came about as a result of the prayer and participation of German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke and some of his African associates. Bonnke, whose "Christ for all Nations" ministry has been active in Africa for some thirty years, is no stranger to outlandish claims of healings. Over the course of the last three decades, Bonnke has claimed literally hundreds, if not thousands, of healings or resurrections in several African nations. Indeed, in April of 2001, Home Box Office (HBO) ran a documentary on Bonnke and fellow healer Benny Hinn and the many claims that both men have made. The HBO producers of that program went to great lengths to track and follow up on individuals who had claimed miracles of one sort or another. The appropriate conclusion was that not a single claimed healing could be verified for either Hinn or Bonnke. This most recent claim of a resurrection is very similar to those Bonnke has made in the past, and immediately caused skeptics both inside and outside of Charismatic/Pentecostal Christianity to roll their eyes in disbelief. What made this claim interesting, however, is Bonnke's sale of videos of the alleged resurrection — for sale on his website for a donation of at least $35. See www.cfan.org for details.

The man who is alleged to have been resurrected was a pastor, one Daniel Ekechukwu (no age given), who apparently was involved in an automobile accident in November 2001. After his decades-old Mercedes had its brakes fail, the pastor slammed into a pillar, which caused his life-threatening injuries. What happened next is murky, as subsequent reports state different things and involve different people. One account has it that the injured pastor was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries; another states that the man insisted on being taken to his personal physician, even though that meant a drive of some ninety minutes — a long haul for one supposedly near death.

In any event, the pastor was said to have been examined by unnamed persons and declared dead. He was then taken to a mortuary where his grieving wife, Nneka Ekechukwu, insisted on taking the deceased home with her. One account says that a solution was injected into the body to "retard mortification." That, in itself, is interesting, as what possible good could an injection do for someone who supposedly no longer had blood circulation? According to Bonnke's website, the woman was relying on God for a resurrection miracle. One account contends that the corpse was even slapped about with a Bible in hopes of eliciting a response from the moribund pastor.

A full three days after the death — notice the significance of the three days and resurrection in Christianity — Nneka took her husband's supposed lifeless corpse to a meeting where Reinhard Bonnke was ministering. The body was taken to the church, removed from its simple coffin, and laid on a table somewhere in the building, where Bonnke and other preachers began to pray. According to CNS, after a short time of prayer for resurrection, the body in rigor mortis began to twitch and then slowly to breathe, causing a sensation among those who witnessed it. A video of this alleged miracle was made and, predictably, was available for purchase through Reinhard Bonnke.

A certificate of death was said to be available, although there are questions about its authenticity. Likewise, Bonnke's ministry made much of the fact that the resurrection story was carried in Nigerian newspapers as a true story. What Bonnke doesn't tell us is that stories of the supernatural are common fare in Nigerian papers, with little or no — or fabricated — proof. Indeed, belief in the supernatural of all sorts is endemic in that nation.

The freshly-resurrected Pastor Ekechukwu stated that during his "death" he encountered both Heaven and Hell. He reportedly saw " . . . a multitude of people dressed in white who were singing praises to God." No doubt the whiter-than-snow-robed saints were sitting on clouds and playing harps, too. Hell was understandably less positive: "[The] angel told him that he had been given another chance to go back, and that the rich man's request to Lazarus — to warn those still alive about Hell — had been granted this generation." Either Hell was unimpressive, or the news service simply left out his description of the nether regions.

Now on the surface, all of this seems no more unusual than what Charismatics and Pentecostals have been claiming — and not proving — for years. After all, Oral Roberts, Jack Coe, A. A. Allen, William Branham, Kathryn Kuhlman, Benny Hinn and any number of others have been saying stuff like this for decades. One also needs to remember that Bonnke, with his soiled reputation as a healer, may have had something to prove.

Within hours of the initial press release, Charismatic and Pentecostal chatrooms and forums were buzzing about this story. To be sure, there were many who believed, without proof, that this was indeed a miracle. Others were not sure at all, and cognizant of Bonnke's previous unsubstantiated claims, were understandably suspicious. this for decades. One also needs to remember that Bonnke, with his soiled reputation as a healer, may have had something to prove.

To my surprise, I found some of the harshest critics of this alleged miracle to be among the Charismatics themselves. Too often taken for a ride or made to look ridiculous by outrageous claims, some have come to take a very hard-nosed approach to any healing claims at all; but that fraction is, sadly, in the minority. One such bastion of "Charismatic skeptics", though that seems to be a contradiction in terms, is at a website called Charismatic Research Journal (www.crjournal.com), which contains forums and articles questioning some of the loopy things so common in the movement. One can contrast that with the majority view in the Charismatic world as typified by Charisma magazine (owned by Strang Communcations, the same people who originally released the resurrection story) website and forum, www.strang.com. This site contains some of the strangest and most bereft-of-critical-thinking examples you can encounter. If you want something of an insight on how these people think, this is a good place to start.

The Bonnke ministry has been bombarded with requests from around the world for more information on this event. From all indications, the proof — if any — will be of the usual fare we have become accustomed to from Pentecostalism and Charismatics. The poorly-videotaped resurrection will not satisfy anyone who is wanting traditional, logical forms of proof, nor will the medical documentation of those who claim to have seen and examined the body. There are too many loopholes, too much time between "death" and resurrection — when anything could have happened — for anyone to really come to the kind of conclusion Bonnke would like us to make. There are other possibilities, much more believable.

For one, the pastor who is said to have died may have ties to the Bonnke ministry. There is, as yet, no proof of this, but it has been rumored. If so, there is a possibility that this was staged, far more likely, I should think. Or one must assume that this guy wasn't dead at all, merely in a coma, and that the mis-diagnosis corrected itself — albeit in a very suspicious and timely manner. Whatever the case, it has all the trappings of yet another Charismatic/Pentecostal circus. These dog-and-pony shows can only hurt their cause; their defense of them is inexcusable.

An interesting communication from a reader who signs herself as, Jennifer....

I always believed that dowsing was real, after all, I tried it at my old house, at my old job and at the college where I work. After I read your article, I decided to try a blind test at the new building where I live. It didn't work. I know the building has underground water and gas pipes and electrical and phone service, but I couldn't find them. You're absolutely right when you say that it's all in the mind. Ten years ago, I would have called you a crank, but now...

You may feel free to use my information however you wish. I'm currently just a disabled person, working (volunteering) in a local community college. Back in the late 80's I was working as a blacksmith at a local theme park where the electrician held total faith in dowsing. He would use it to "find" underground electrical lines. Thinking back, he was the one who installed them in the first place.... In the early 90's I got caught up in the New Age movement and learned what they called Aura Dowsing. Again, what we did was basically what was expected. I also used dowsing to "find" the water and sewer pipes that ran from my family home to the street, never thinking that I already knew where they were. When I came to this college, I magically "found" the pipes and wires that I clearly watched them bury over the summer. Then I found your web page and tried the test on my apartment building — and failed miserably! I wasn't able to find any of the services that I know have to be there.

Right now, I'm planning to do another "test" using dowsing rods and a metal detector at a local mall. Since the mall was built long before I came to this area, I can't possibly know where the services are and expect that I will fail there, too. You know, I spent over $500.00 to learn how to do this. Your web pages may be able to save someone else the expense. By the way, I have a BA in education and a Masters degree in computer engineering. Yes, even people with college degrees can be fooled. Keep up the good work. You RULE!

You should know that a directive has been issued to all members of the American Society of Dowsers, telling them not to respond to the JREF million-dollar offer....

Here's a probably-apocryphal story....

Gertrude visited a psychic of some local repute. In a dark and hazy room, peering into a crystal ball, the mystic delivered grave news: "There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just be blunt — prepare yourself to be a widow! Your husband will die a violent and horrible death this year." Visibly shaken, Gertrude stared at the woman's lined face, at the single flickering candle, then down at her hands. She took a few deep breaths to compose herself. Looking up, she met the fortune teller's gaze and steadied her voice. "Will I be acquitted?"

Reader Simon Nicholson tells us a tale that illustrates perfectly the "Henriette Syndrome" that I discussed recently here. That syndrome makes the believer persist in believing the unbelievable — or the very highly unlikely — in spite of undeniable proof to the contrary. Writes Simon:

Last Christmas, at our faculty party, the head of faculty "invited" (read, "coerced") staff to provide entertainment by each doing a "party piece." Largely in order to get out of anything involving singing or dancing, I agreed to perform a few magic tricks. Now, I am the merest amateur, and lacking in both manual dexterity and the patience to learn and practice more sophisticated tricks, I settled for what I believe is termed "mentalism," or pseudo-ESP.

The highlight of my little routine was a "one-step-ahead" type of piece, which worked very well. Afterwards, several of my colleagues came forward with ideas as to how the thing was done, some got it spot on, others went off on weird and wonderful tangents involving secret accomplices, invisible ink, etc. However, one chap astonished me. He congratulated me on a good performance, then said, in a rather superior way, "I know how it was done, of course." I asked him for his idea, and he replied, "Thought projection. A variation on mass hypnosis. Anyone with a superior will can do it. You plant the suggestions telepathically, people think they are spontaneously coming up with ideas, and all the time you are controlling them."

I was amazed, and quickly tried to explain how the (very simple) trick was done. The point of this anecdote is that this guy insisted that he had witnessed a genuine paranormal demonstration even after I had told him what I had really done! In fact, he started to get rather upset with me, and the more I denied having any psychic ability, the angrier he became. I had encountered this sort of "Life of Brian"madness, where denial becomes confirmation, in the weirder backwaters of the web, amongst the "we-never-went-to-the-Moon" and "aliens-in-the-freezer" brigade. Especially, crop-circle enthusiasts get apoplectic when the manufacturers of such wonderful art forms provide chapter, verse and video documentaries of how they did it, but I never thought I would find it among my colleagues.

One would think that British Academia is full of pretentious, gullible, self-deluding idiots, and we know that cannot be the case. (Cough. Cough.)

Of course not.....

With credit to "Think, published by the Royal Institute of Philosophy," here is Part II of the article from our friend Tony Youens, in the UK. Part I appeared last week....

Cold Reading

Fortunately, in the case of psychic readings, an explanation is possible, but it is difficult to present the explanation as a sound bite. The main mechanism involved is usually referred to as "cold reading." This term refers to the way in which a reader can tell you a great deal about you without having any prior knowledge, i.e. "cold." There are other terms that stick with this temperature metaphor, such as a "hot" reading, which means having prior access to information which is then fed back to you, and a "warm" reading, which generally refers to information inadvertently given out during the course of the reading.

An important skill in cold reading is the ability to get information without obviously fishing for it. An advantage here is that no one expects the reader, whatever the method, to be able to come up with laser-like precision. Communication with the dead is, after all, not like using a telephone. For example, the psychic may fondle your watch (psychometry) and attempt to "tune in" to its vibrations. It's not easy, so they begin cautiously,

I'm getting something about a man...called Michael...."Mick", or is it "Mike"? I feel a kindly presence...very caring....could be difficult at times, but generally has his heart in the right place."

During the pauses the psychic will look briefly at you for some kind on confirmation that they are on the right track. It will be by no means clear if they are asking or telling you. But if you are not very forthcoming, they have no need to worry; they can simply ask "Is this making sense for you?" Curiously, you might not actually perceive this as a question designed to elicit information. After all, you may think, the psychic has already given the name "Michael"; they are asking this question just to see if the information they have given is correct.

In this situation, you might say either that you have or have never heard of anyone called Michael: it really doesn't matter. If right, the psychic can build on the information. Conversely, if they are wrong, and to be honest this is fairly unlikely, given the popularity of the name, then Michael is obviously not someone very close to you. So the psychic can either move on to something else, or try to push a little further. For example,

I don't think this a family member I'm getting, but it's certainly someone you knew quite well.

This simple sentence has the effect of opening up relationships both past and present, either at work or in virtually any social setting. They also have the option of making the switch to a future event:

I sense this person is going to play a very important role in your life within the next few months. It may well be you haven't met them yet, but if not it will be quite soon.

The key to most successful readings is simple: the psychic offers up slightly ambiguous information, and you, the client, then try to fit this into some aspect of your life. The psychic's further responses are then dependent on your feedback. Unless you are a skeptic, like me, you will tend to be helpful. After all, the psychic is making great efforts on your behalf.

But suppose you are desperately trying not to give anything away. You offer no information and ask no questions. Well, there is still going to be some information leakage. With a one-to-one reading, the psychic is going to be aware of your gender and approximate age. They can probably make some assessment of your social status and level of intelligence. We all go through various stages of life, the stages that Gail Sheehy describes very well in her book "Passages" [Gail Sheey, Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life (New York: Bantam, 1977)]. So knowing someone's age can be of enormous help.

Here are two examples from my own experience. I once gave a tarot reading to a female in her mid-twenties. Using "Passages," I memorized over fifty different age-appropriate statements and simply went through each one in turn, missing out those I felt were not applicable. Afterwards, a journalist asked my subject for her impression and she said she was amazed at the accuracy of the reading. Curiously, when she was later informed that my psychic ability was zero, she felt that this could not be the case and that I had some latent ability of which I was unaware.

Randi comments: Again, the Henriette Syndrome!

On a second occasion, I posed as an astrologer for a television company. I was only given the subject's gender and date and place of birth, but from this I guessed which years in the subject's life were probably significant. The result was surprisingly accurate.

It is impressive to be able to identify the specific problems and difficulties in someone's life when there are so many things that could be happening. Well, in truth, it's not that difficult. Problems can be classified under a very small number of broad headings. Once the psychic hits the right note it is simply a question of homing in and adding the necessary detail. Unless your life is uniquely problem free, I am willing to bet you have problems, though not necessarily major ones, in at least one of the following areas:

Relationships

Career

Money

Health

Here are a few sentences that a psychic might use to find out which applies to you:

There seems to be some kind of difficulty with a family member... (pause) or perhaps someone close to you at work...?

Your career needs a bit of a shot in the arm doesn't it? Maybe you should think about making a few changes.

I can see some concerns over money.... But try not to let this worry you too much. The signs are, that providing you plan carefully, things should turn out right in the end. It just takes time.

I can see a health issue that's... well, shall I say, worrying you?

If possible, the psychic would wait for you to voluntarily confirm or deny the above, but if you prove a bit tight-lipped (shame on you) then they may ask you (either verbally or else by using body language showing that a response is required). Either way, the psychic can make the necessary adaptations. Look at the above sentences and ask yourself how you might feel if:

You've just discovered your partner has been having an affair.

You have just decided to enroll on a management course.

You've just lost your life savings on the Stock Exchange.

Your brother is about to have open-heart surgery.

You would surely be impressed, but would each statement also have some resonance if:

You had a slight disagreement yesterday with someone in your family or maybe at work.

You've been thinking about looking for a new job or just decided you need to re-organize your work.

You've been left £100,000 by a rich uncle and are not sure how best to invest it.

Your daughter has been off school because of flu or you have a toothache.

The point is that phrases used by psychics can be interpreted in many different ways, and as long as you can find some meaning, the physic has scored another hit. Of course, you might catch on if this pattern were repeated throughout the whole reading, but, like life, readings benefit from variety. Character profiles are one useful way the psychic can show just how tuned in to you they really are, for example:

You have grown at lot, psychologically speaking, in just the last few years.

You are a good judge of character. You're the sort of person who probably can tell when someone is lying.

People are surprisingly poor at assessing their own character, so any type of character statement should work, providing it's not insulting. Predictions are useful and a fairly safe bet as you are in no position to know whether they are going to come true or not. Better still, why not make a prediction that is self-fulfilling? For example:

Now I don't want you to worry, but can I suggest that you drive more carefully over the next three weeks? This is by no means serious, but I get the feeling of some kind of accident. No one will get hurt, but it might turn out to be an enormous inconvenience. But look, providing you take things a bit easy, then I think you can avoid it.

Apart from all these ploys, the psychic has other things working in his or her favor. For instance, we all have a tendency to remember claims that are correct and forget those that aren't. Our memories also are less precise than we like to think. Did the medium really tell you that your dead father's name was William? Or did it go:

Psychic: I'm being told "William," or perhaps he was known as "Bill" to his friends? He wants to come through to you. Do you know a William... or Bill?

Subject: My father was called William.

Psychic: Ah, that's who it is then, 'cause he's saying to me, "Tell him it's Dad."

Amazingly I have heard exactly this sort of conversation — and it was accepted by the sitter!

So, returning to my reading with the mystic, perhaps you can begin to see the reason for my lack of amazement. Before agreeing to the meeting I had insisted on certain conditions:

I would record the whole session.

I would not answer any questions nor provide her with information.

I would not tell her what she got right or wrong until after the reading was over.

I should point out that even though these guidelines were fully agreed to, she still asked me questions throughout the reading. I did answer some, but only after pointing out that it was I who was providing the information. Regarding the correct statements she made about my being an only child and the number and gender of my own children, these correct statements were considerably outnumbered by the incorrect ones.

Using numerology, she said, "You have a "1" in your date of birth so you could have been an only child." No response from me, so she continued, "Or if you did have brothers and sisters, you were probably very solitary." So now she has told me firstly that I could have been an only child, and secondly that I might have had brothers and/or sisters. I wonder if that's true of anyone you know?

A similar story occurs with the second "accurate" statement. Using palmistry this time, she pointed out four lines below my little finger. "I can see four children. This longer line, the first one, represents a boy child and the three smaller ones, girls." Again, no reaction from me, so she continued, "But that's only your potential. You may not have had all of those."

I reminded her of this after the reading was over, confirming that I did have a boy and three girls. She looked suitably pleased with herself. However, I pointed out that although I had led a fairly sheltered life, my "potential" was considerably more than four. The psychic was utterly unfazed.

Thank you, Tony! This is something to which I will refer readers who have questions about the "readers" who often puzzle them so.

This will be the very last episode of the Krups Coffee-Maker saga, I promise you. Reader Matthew Snoddy writes:

I've been an ardent follower of your work and am a fellow skeptic. I read with much fascination your short article on your web site about the "talking" coffee pot and decided to take a look at the web site http://coffeepotghost.com myself. I'll preface my determination of the nature of the sounds by saying that I've run a personal project recording studio for about 5 or 6 years now, specializing in electronic dance-techno music. I'm very familiar with sound synthesis and effects processing. I don't know how familiar you are with audio or the technical nature of sound, but I'll assume that you've not had the opportunity to play in a studio with lots of gear and gadgets.

One of the less common pieces of gear used for 25+ years is what's called a vocoder. Essentially it modulates one sound with another . . . . Note [a page dealing with the vocoder device] has audio examples of what a vocoder can sound like. In several of the audio file examples available on the coffee pot web site, it sounds very clearly to my ear that a vocoder was used to modulate a human voice with a source of noise (perhaps an actual coffee pot percolating).

I don't know how seriously you're taking this claim by this woman, but this is my opinion of what is being done to make at least some the audio files. Some of the others obviously sound just like random noise and some are clearly reversed to get their effect. If this case warrants further investigation, of course, it would require firsthand experience with the coffee pot in question, but also a high-quality recording setup, using proper quality microphones in placement determined by an audio engineer. I'm sure you have someone with such qualifications at your disposal, but if not, I would be very happy to volunteer my time and/or studio resources in helping debunk this "talking" coffee pot.

Thanks, Matthew, but I'm off coffee for now. Yes, as many readers told me, the claim is just a bit more than juvenile, but at the JREF we just have to deal with such nonsense, and since the claimant here seems to be disinterested in further pursuing the claim, we're turning to more promising matters — like the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. Pour the tea, please.

You must look in on the London Observer site, http://www.virtuallystrange.net/parapsychology/index.html to see a piece by Lynn Barber from which I've extracted just the following two bits:

[Uri Geller's] house has been on the market for years. It was first advertised in 1991 at £10,000,000, then again in 1998 at £5,500,000 but it is still waiting for a buyer. [Says Geller] "I came to a stage when I didn't need any marble around me, or gold taps, or silk walls. I've grown out of that. I want a rustic house, something strange, technologically empowered to turn around like by solar energy, on some little plot by the river — half an acre would be enough for me. I'm happy here, but if some day I really have to move, I will drop the price drastically."

There are enough sweet sentiments here to bring about caries, I believe....

. . . his next plan is to take Michael Jackson on a "peace mission" to the Middle East. He has contacts who can arrange meetings with the kings of Morocco and Jordan, and, "Ariel Sharon is no problem. I just feel that it will be a fantastic journey for peace. The focal point of the three main religions is concentrated on Jerusalem, and that is why I feel that going there with Michael, with Shmuley*, and maybe with other positive people who are singers, but nothing to do with politics, we will make something happen."

Oh, fine. Now that Geller has Middle East politics in control, we can all relax, right? I'm sure the "positive singers" will do it. Seriously, folks, is the man smoking weird weeds, or does he really believe this codswallop? There will always be some out there who will swallow material like this, but they're the ones who also believe we never went to the Moon, that Richard Nixon knew nothing about Watergate, and that Elvis is still alive. The complete Observer article shows quite clearly how the reporter resented being treated as if she had no discernment nor common sense. We need more such reports.

I seem to recall that Geller was going to drive his bent-spoon-festooned Cadillac through the Middle East a couple of years back, to bring about peace. I commented that it just might work, since combatants would surely drop their weapons, laughing. My prediction: this grandiose "peace" scheme will take place as rapidly as the other.

* "Shmuley" is Rabbi Boteach, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who calls himself the "Love Prophet." On tour for his new book, "Dating Secrets of the Ten Commandments," he made the rounds of the network TV morning shows giving dating advice to singles, and also provided romantic tips to Monica Lewinsky, in an obviously humanitarian gesture. He's made pals of Geller and Jackson, and they three appear to be in engaged in a mutual feeding frenzy — on one another. Boteach is also known for his corny humor, granted us last year in his bestseller "Kosher Sex," and he has bestowed his official "blessing" on such matters as oral sex, the film "American Beauty" and attending synagogue. This has added about as much to our well-being as spoon-bending has, I guess.

Carl Sagan observed, in "The Demon-Haunted World," that all countries and cultures are prone to belief in the ridiculous. I'm often asked about this, and I reply that only the flavor, not the extent, changes. I found that to be true all through Europe, South America, and Asia. Wrote Sagan:

A somewhat analogous situation exists in China. After the death of Mao Zedong and the gradual emergence of a market economy, UFOs, channeling and other examples of Western pseudoscience emerged, along with such ancient Chinese practices as ancestor worship, astrology and fortune telling — especially that version that involves throwing yarrow sticks and working through the hoary hexagrams of the I Ching. The government newspaper lamented that "the superstition of feudal ideology is reviving in our countryside." It was (and remains) a rural, not primarily an urban, affliction.

Individuals with "special powers" gained enormous followings. They could, they said, project Qi, the "energy field of the Universe," out of their bodies to change the molecular structure of a chemical 2000 kilometers away, to communicate with aliens, to cure diseases. Some patients died under the ministrations of one of these "masters of Qi Gong" who was arrested and convicted in 1993. Wang Hongcheng, an amateur chemist, claimed to have synthesized a liquid, small amounts of which, when added to water, would convert it to gasoline or the equivalent. For a time he was funded by the army and the secret police, but when his invention was found to be a scam he was arrested and imprisoned. Naturally the story spread that his misfortune resulted not from fraud, but from his unwillingness to reveal his "secret formula" to the government. (Similar stories have circulated in America for decades, usually with the government role replaced by a major oil or auto company.) . . .

The government of China and the Chinese Communist Party were alarmed by certain of these developments. On December 5, 1994, they issued a joint proclamation that read in part:

Public education in science has been withering in recent years. At the same time, activities of superstition and ignorance have been growing, and anti-science and pseudoscience cases have become frequent. Therefore, effective measures must be applied as soon as possible to strengthen public education in science. The level of public education in science and technology is an important sign of the national scientific accomplishment. It is a matter of overall importance in economic development, scientific advance, and the progress of society. We must be attentive and implement such public education as part of the strategy to modernize our socialist country and to make our nation powerful and prosperous. Ignorance is never socialist, nor is poverty.

I can assure you that China is paying close attention to these matters in recent years. Partly, I'm sure, to demonstrate their willingness to reach out to the Western world, the government of this huge population has chosen to make skeptical thought and critical thinking available, mostly through TV and the printed word. My good friend Sima Nan appears all over that country demonstrating the foolishness of the tricks the "supermen" use. And I've just received copies of the Chinese editions of six of my books that are now available in China, in that language. It's rather humbling to know how vastly the audience for my work has now expanded. When I appeared on Wuhan TV during my last visit, I was seen by some 100 million viewers. How's that for ratings? Eat your heart out, Oprah!

The active little group in Shanghai, the "JREF Shanghai People," with valued friends Alfred, Seven, and Smarty, will now have an easier job digesting my Western ideas, with those matters being expressed in their own language. That pleases me very much. I'm told that in China I'm known as, "Shi Jingqi Ren Ling Ling."