British Columbia, Canada's Pacific coast province, has eagerly jumped far back to a period well before the Middle Ages by conferring official status on doctors of "Traditional Chinese Medicine," becoming the first government in North America to officially recognize practitioners of a system of medicine that is 40 centuries in the past. At a ceremony at the University of British Columbia, the province's health minister officially conferred the title of "doctor" on more than 200 graduates. The College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CTCMP), a non-profit organization created by an act of the B.C. government, will regulate who can and can't practice the ancient healing notion. The only way I can see of deciding this, is to observe which "doctors" lose less patients to death by the processes of observing their yin and yang, feeling the different rates of pulse in various parts of the patient's body, and sticking needles into remote areas of the body not connected in any way with the sites of the actual problems. That oughta do it.

The hope of the CTCMP is that the new licensing system will eventually result in coverage for this long-superseded notion under Canada's Medical Services Plan, and that the province will set an example for other Canadian provinces and the United States. "Eye of newt and toe of frog" is said to be next up for consideration, along with bleeding for fevers and chanting in the moonlight. I can't wait to see the surge in general health that will soon be obvious in British Columbia.

While on the subject of Canada, my birth country, I must mention that the Canadian Association of Magicians honored me last week with a beautifully organized and designed tribute at their 2003 convention in Kitchener, Ontario. My sincere thanks to president Joan Caesar and the many who assisted her at the convention, and particularly to Tom Baxter, who worked for months to bring together the artists, the video material, the documents and guests who so favored me by their presence. Jamy Ian Swiss, Dean Gunnarson, Banachek, Jeff McBride, and others did their usual fine work, to my awe and delight. Penn & Teller, The International Brotherhood of Magicians, The Society of American Magicians, The Magic Circle, Arthur C. Clarke, Johnny Carson, Paul Daniels, Michael Shermer, David Berglas, Ray Hyman, Peter Reveen, Chip & Grace Denman, and Jim Alcock provided comments that were gratifying to me, and magican/author John Booth topped it off with his closing comment: "Randi, oh to be young again, like you!" John just celebrated his 91st birthday...

The TV promoter of the "coral calcium" flummery, the man who oohs and aahs over claims of cancer cures, weight loss, and other miracles by filling up with this farce-of-the-month, is Kevin Trudeau, a man with quite an interesting past. He's served jail time for writing bad checks, and for credit card fraud, and has even posed as a physician to bank officials. The current charges against Trudeau are for issuing "false and misleading and constitute deceptive acts or practices." Despite a court order stopping the advertising for one of his books, Amazon.com still sells his "Mega Memory" course.

Tom Freeman suggests we go to a very good article about Coral Calcium written by Stephen Barrett, M.D., which can be found in Quackwatch.org. It is complete with details of the reasons why, at the recommended doses of Barefoot, that one might have more than a small chance of surviving at all, much less the 120 years Barefoot and Trudeau promise. At best it does nothing. At worst it increases the severity of joint problems in arthritic-prone people. The report is very detailed and one shakes one's head from beginning to end. The infomercial is full of unquestioning broadly-based claims with no research whatsoever to back them up.

There's much more to this matter, which just came to my attention via a mass of documents that arrived at the JREF from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Phoenix, Arizona. In these data, I found references to the fact that the Robert R. Barefoot who peddles "Coral Calcium" on TV with Mr. Trudeau, has been trading on the resemblance of his name to that of Dr. Ronald R. Barefoot, a very respected and accomplished now-retired professor of the University of Toronto, a well-known analytical geochemist. The real Professor has never done any work in Arizona, and he really has written scientific papers on minerals and assaying methods; Bob Barefoot claims to have expertise in gold assaying, and says he has written scientific papers on the subject. He also claims, without any proof at all, that he has been an oil company executive, and a mining industry executive, and that he has a secret method of recovering gold from ore using only water — a false statement. The U.S. Department of the Interior has determined that Robert R. Barefoot — the calcium peddler — has no qualifications whatsoever for the claims he makes. At a court hearing this last May, a report by Barefoot was quoted as saying that he used a "DCRS Autocon metal concentrator" then "electro-amalgamated" the material "with the amalgams distilled and treated with concentrated nitric acid to liberate the bullion." The hearing at which these ludicrous statements were quoted, was about a site of land that was "salted" with gold to encourage — and deceive — investors. Usually, in this "salting" process, a shotgun is used to distribute particles of gold into the land being assayed. Not a kosher operation...

I find the name of the device Barefoot claims to have used — the "Autocon," most interesting.

Barefoot clearly says on his TV infomercial that his "Coral Calcium" pills will cure terminal cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, high blood pressure, and digestive reflux. When I hear of such blatantly quack claims, I'm subject to attacks of digestive reflux.

Reader Steve Rigatti, M.D., comments on a basic misunderstanding of one role of calcium in the body:

I should point out to your previous correspondent on this matter, that it is not the calcium in Tums which neutralizes the acid, it is the "carbonate" anion (CO₃). The calcium is really just a carrier. Other antacids use magnesium or aluminum hydroxide or a combination. Again it is the anionic hydroxide (OH) that neutralizes the acid.

Be warned: there will be a test...

That perennial complainer Karen Boesen, is back again. As we told you, she has a web site where the poor scam-artists who were blown away on �jvind Kyr�'s TV show in Denmark, can complain. On that site, she runs a photo of me with the caption: "Magician by profession who now continues his illusions as a modern inquisitor." She's some smooth talker!

Translator Julian Jensen tells me that he had to correct much of Ms. Boesen's language in order to make sense of what she wrote. Here's a beginning translation of the part of her site that deals with me:

I am also completely baffled about the fact that DR1 [Denmark Radio's Channel 1] allows a person such as James Randi to have anything to say. Please see the description of James Randi elsewhere on this [site].

The link appears to be broken at this time. What a pity. But DR1 just might have decided that the claptrap put out by Boesen needed to be a bit clarified — which is one of my functions, much to the dismay of Boesen and the generally deluded. She continues:

Of course, you could say that James Randi fits in perfectly with the goal of this [DR1] broadcast. But James Randi is infamous in the USA, not only among so-called alternative [sic] and astrologists, but also in academic circles, where he has been excluded from several fora because of his unethical behavior and falsification of data. His tactic, when people pass his tests, is also well known.

As I've said previously, this is a blatant series of calculated lies. Ms. Boesen obviously directs such material to her sycophants and clients, who are not going to ask her to support her accusations. I have challenged her, several times, to provide information on the claims she makes here, but she has fallen silent. Why? Because she knows this is a sheer invention of hers, a vicious canard. Note: Karen admitted above that she's "completely baffled." Apparently she's baffled by truth. She babbles on:

I have discussed with my attorney whether there is a basis for including the first broadcast in our legal claims since James Randi is here allowed, in full public view [lit. on open screen], to call us criminals. Later in the 1st 2nd [sic] broadcasts he expands his injustices to also include psychic deviants. I have inquired of the participants [of whom] I have knowledge and none of us have been sentenced for criminal behavior.

My attorney feels that it would be difficult to do anything about such a statement since it is folly to sue a person in the USA: So we will have to put up with the fact that DR1 has conveyed these non-contradicted [sic] and undocumented accusations.

Karen, I'll repeat here my previous offer to you, which you have chosen to ignore: since your attorney is loath to sue me in the USA, I'll go to Denmark to assist him. I'm accustomed to being sued — unsuccessfully — but I'll give you the opportunity. What do you say, Karen? Silent? You must be a Virgo with Bull ascendant...

Re the "dirty money" that Danish numerologist Annet Kofoed says, on that same Boesen site, that she doesn't want from the JREF, reader William Rentfrow suggests:

If the physical money is somehow "cursed," couldn't she just exchange it? "Hello, I'd like to exchange this for some non-cursed money, please." It's a practical approach.

Or give it away to an enemy...?

Correspondent Mogens Winther gives us yet more reason to think that Denmark needs another kind of serious help. A Danish court case is going on right now. This has been developed so far:

On June 4th, a woman in Copenhagen paid an African "healer and necromancer" $25,000 in order to fight off a spirit which she was told had put a serious curse on her. For years, this man says, he has had a clinic as a clairvoyant and healer in Copenhagen, selling "natural" medicine and making contact with spirits. At his homeland in Guinea Bissau, he claims, this kind of work has been part of his family tradition for three generations.

In December of 2001 the victim answered a newspaper ad placed by the "healer," who then gave her bad news: there was an evil curse on her, and a spirit demanded she should sacrifice seven lambs. Price: $1000. But that didn't work, for some reason, so the scam-artist next extracted 94 peppercorns from her body, at $15 each. Next, part of her hair was cut off, to be investigated by the healer's family in Africa. Price of his air ticket to take the hair home for examination? $1,150.

However, it appeared that this evil spirit was still not satisfied, and from Africa, someone phoned the woman and told her that three horses now had to be sacrificed. That came to $3,000. Nope, still not enough. Now $3,500 more, plus 3,000 Swiss Francs, and an additional $1,000 had to be put in three boxes, to be buried together with duck eggs in public areas outside Copenhagen. I wonder: do you need a special permit to do that?

But bad and evil spirits can apparently be greedy. At New Year's, the spirit demanded $6,500 more from her, the woman told the police. Friends and family were asked to contribute. Finally, she broke down, and told her employer about the "spiritual" affair. The healer has rejected all her accusations, referring to his customers in several countries, including the USA, among whom — he says — not one has been dissatisfied.

Since the Prosecution feared that this operator might disappear — it's just possible! — the judge put him in jail, charged with fraud, while the case is being tried in court.

As we "go to press," another victim of this swindler has been discovered. She parted with $80,000. The judge has decided to hold onto the African for another two weeks. Good move!

Yep. I think I need to go to Denmark. Saddle my white horse!

At Susan Miller's Astrologyzone.com Message Board, reader "Petra" found this critical situation expressed by a confounded customer:

A crisis: maybe astrology isn't for me... posted by mana

hello!!

yes, i am going through a crisis...well, for a long while now, i have been reading forecasts for my sun sign (virgo) and my rising sign (pisces, 26 degrees). I thought they were quite relevant to what i was going through, especially the pisces one...only to find out yesterday that during all that time, i should have read the aries forecast as my ascendant is at 26 degrees. needless to say, i do feel very silly about the whole thing. i don't think i have any aries 'traits' at all, believe me, and how could i have related to forecasts and actually find them accurate when they were not corresponding to my transits. I feel very stupid. should i just give astrology up?? (as i don't believe in the 'whatever forecast works for you' thing...)

please tell me what you think, i am a tiny bit lost...

thanks, mana

I ran this here just as it appeared on the astrology site. I frequently get postings done like this all in lower-case, which I consider a silly affectation adopted by juveniles. I admit, it must be disturbing when your forecasts don't agree with your transits! You might even begin to think you've been swindled!

This heart-rending situation can be viewed in full at http://messaging.warmbrodt.com/az/az.php?v=2&mid=471575 I'll let you look in there at the incredible answers that poor "mana" got! I couldn't have composed these with the help of Jay Leno's best writers!

In an intellectual leap forward, the Hartford Housing Authority in Connecticut has hired two "feng shui" advisors to review its plans for a new headquarters building. Using this ancient Chinese notion that preaches harmony with one's natural environment, the re-arrangement of furniture, windows, and doors to provide better flow of the mythological substance "chi" through the edifice, and to make sure that the "chi" doesn't stagnate in the waiting area or in some dark stairwell near the bathroom, they seek to "enhance the health and prosperity of the individual staff members and the organization." Their own prosperity will also be considerably enhanced, by $6,000, just to look over the plans.

For this sum, the HHA was advised that "The chi is under pressure from the doors," the consultants solemnly warned. "This can mean quarrels and misunderstandings. . . . For the health and well-being of the Hartford Housing Authority and its staff, the chi has to flow freely throughout the whole building," says their report "Ideally, healthy chi enters from the front door and flows without obstruction or restriction." Well, of course! Everyone knows that!

And, warned the feng shui experts, the "life force" that flows through the front door doesn't push toward the first and second floors. This was duly noted by housing authority director John D. Wardlaw, who saw feng shui as an opportunity to correct their old site's shortcomings. The 3,000-year-old design philosophy held appeal for his agency's future, the director said. It seemed wise to Wardlaw to bet on an idea that promised to rid the agency of negative influences and imbue it with promise of success. Well, now that the experts have assessed how the agency's structure and furnishings could be rearranged to help staff feel more productive, happy and less combative, and they will now be in "energetic alignment," all worries are over. But this brilliant move came just in time: The analysis, for example, doesn't like that the new building will be in a cul-de-sac (blocked chi flow, don'tcha know) or that a river will run behind the authority's building; this signifies "opportunities slipping away," Wardlaw was warned. It also suggests that closet doors in the conference room should not open inward. Oh, I agree!

The analysis has also divided the new housing authority into several ethereal realms. The left side of the building is "earth, lake and heaven." The property management offices should be located there, says the report, because those areas represent creativity, equilibrium and relationships. And, the accounting office should be located on the right side of the building, in the section called "wind." "Wind represents wealth and prosperity, which is the type of chi needed to support the efforts of the accounting department," the report reads. Yes, and let's put the psychics in there, too. Hot air is their specialty.

Reader Alex Dering has a few opinions about constructive caveats that I'll share with you, though I think the snowball-in-hell scenario applies here...

Reading the bit in your latest column concerning the two British TV shows and how they will be required to have notices at the beginning and end about being for "entertainment purposes only" (and what's so entertaining about being deceived, I wonder) reminds me of something I saw recently at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. As part of an exhibit about the Jewish holocaust, the museum had a Nazi propaganda film going on continuous loop. At all times "NAZI PROPAGANDA FILM" appeared on that recording. I would suggest that perhaps a similar label should be stamped on all TV shows that try to dupe people. How about: "FAKE PSYCHIC PERFORMANCE," or "WASHED-UP TV STAR SHILLING GOOD NAME FOR MONEY," or "PRETENDS TO TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE"? All the networks have those vexing floating icons in the corners of the screens, so don't tell me they can't do it for some deluded "artistic integrity" hoohah.

Randi comments: That would tend to dull the audience interest in these programs, and as I've said here so many times, the networks have expensive advisors showing them how they can stay within the minimum legal requirements of their trade. Ethical requirements aren't even considered. Alex continues:

At www.journalismjobs.com, one of the key sites for journalist types who are — um — looking to move on, they run a weekly "survey." After responding (or selecting "view results without voting") the page jumps and you see the results and the following: "NOTE: Poll results are not scientific and only reflect the opinions of those users who participate."

Now, as a journalist, this irks me to no end. As it is, many journalists are staggeringly bad at comprehending statistics, other branches of math and most of the sciences. To have these idiotic polls (which are on so many news sites) and then just dismiss them with an "oh, it's not scientific" blurb, is staggering to me. A newspaper is supposed to be as accurate as possible. Deliberately including inaccurate material is one of those things you just don't do. But, as with horoscopes, lots of newspapers shrug it off as an "oh, it's just for entertainment" thing. And we come back to the question from above: what's so entertaining about being deceived?

Randi again: I've mentioned here a pertinent fact about media mavens: they are usually educated in the humanities, and have little or no expertise in science or mathematics — nor do they have much interest in these disciplines, either. There are outstanding exceptions to this, of course, but a small media outlet is unlikely to be fortunate enough to have a widely-educated journalist working with them. Mr. Dering continues:

In a previous commentary column, you mentioned Sylvia Browne and her continued avoidance of the challenge. Perhaps you could comment on this: Has dear Sylvia made any statements which are actionable for slander? Is it possible to force her into court to compel her to take the Paranormal Challenge in order to avoid a lawsuit for slander? Or perhaps Larry King? I realize you probably don't want to spend your entire life filing court papers, but it seems as if these people are damaging your reputation by stating you're not aboveboard. And I suspect they don't dare sue because then you would show up in court and demonstrate through scientific methods that no, you weren't slandering them because they have no abilities.

The costs, both in money and time, just aren't worth it. After a long and expensive procedure, the chance of obtaining any compensation that would exceed the costs, is very small. One reason for that, in the USA, is that this is the only country on the globe that chooses not to require losers in civil actions to pay the costs. That's why I've only ever been sued in the USA, except for one ludicrous case in Japan in which the magistrate reduced the charge against me from "libel" to "insult," and since that is not an actionable infraction in the USA, and the amount awarded the plaintiff was one-third of one percent of the demanded amount, I didn't have to pay — and the plaintiff had to agree to drop his case against me, anyway, in order to settle another case he'd lost.

Thank you, Alex...

The ghost photos got crowded out this week. Next week, I promise...!