This last week, I was privileged to repeat my annual appearance at a most remarkable event, the Arkansas Governor's School. This is an exciting six-week summer residential program for gifted and talented students who are upcoming seniors in Arkansas public and private high schools, and it's funded by the Arkansas State Legislature as a portion of the biennial appropriation for Gifted and Talented Programs, Planning and Curriculum, in the budget of the State Department of Education.

And it's free! The state of Arkansas provides tuition, room, board, and instructional materials for each student at the School on the campus of Hendrix College in Conway. The program was begun in 1980, and now hosts some 400 students, all exciting young people who aren't afraid to ask questions and argue. Please, go to http://www.hendrix.edu/AGS/ and learn more about this wonderful opportunity for learning. I can't tell you how proud and privileged I feel to be a part of this operation; it seems as if I have found encouragement and validation for the work of the JREF, as a reward for my attending every summer. It's a spot on my calendar that I just can't wait to get to....!

There are no tests, no grades, and no credits. There are Saturday classes, concerts, art exhibits, drama performances, nationally-known speakers, various film series, and many opportunities for students to learn on their own, as well as from a distinguished faculty, staff, and from one another. The curriculum focuses on theory rather than on practice, on the paradigms of modern thought and their grand implications rather than data acquisition. The aim of the AGS is to arouse curiosity and to inspire students to use and to develop their intellectual capacities to the maximum. They carefully state that "It is not for the faint of heart or the intellectual midgets."

The AGS provides students with the chance to exchange ideas with equally qualified students from all over Arkansas, with the specially-selected faculty and staff, and with national caliber speakers in an ideal campus environment, offering a challenge to maximize the development of a student's special abilities and talents, to celebrate the joy of learning for its own sake, to integrate and use knowledge in creative ways, to be futuristic problem-solvers, and to assess their special roles as leaders and fully contributing members of society. It is designed to nurture independent thought.

Their brochure warns the prospective student:

Do not apply if grades are more important to you than learning, if social activities are more enriching to you than intellectual and cultural activities, if watching soaps and cruising are your favorite summertime activities, if you never take time to read a novel, if you hate having others challenge your ideas, if you feel threatened by social and political controversy or by others who think differently than you do.

I must report that I found this particular "crop" of students to be the most exciting and promising group I've encountered so far in the many years I've been the opening speaker for the AGS. At the same time, I must also tell you that I had an experience there that I very much wish had not taken place. One student, questioning me on my religious beliefs and finding that I'm an atheist-of-the-second-kind (one who does not/cannot deny the existence of a deity, but holds that there is not good evidence for any deity) threw me the question that I consider to be the last-ditch refuge of the religious believer under pressure. Said he, "Tell me, if there were no God, why would anyone act in a moral manner?"

That question — and its clear implication — enrages me in general, and did so more coming from someone who had been accepted into that community for his ability to think and learn. I responded loudly and at length, telling the young man that I was grossly insulted by the implication that I, as an atheist, would not act in a moral fashion because I did not fear divine retribution — Hell and damnation. I act morally and "properly" (by my definitions, of course) because it is just hard-wired into me to do so, and because when I test and question my decisions made on that basis, I conclude that "doing the right thing" is productive, useful, and preferable. And I thought that way long before Spike Lee verbalized the principle.....

I regret that I attacked that student. I apologize for it. I failed to reach him, and I only hope that someone manages to reach him in a gentler fashion, in the next few weeks that he will be at the AGS. His final remark left me with diminished hope of that possibility, when he declared that he believed everything written in the Bible, and that was that. There are other books....

I cannot leave this account without telling you that I had a revelation of my own. I'd been saying that in "holy writ" there was no reference to angels having wings, that the wings were the invention of 14th-century artists who started out differentiating between human figures and angel figures by placing tiny butterfly wings on the shoulders of the latter, wings that eventually grew into full, white or multicolored, bird-like wings. Well, this young man and another student — quite rightly — challenged my statement. So here's the "facts" on this mythology: the Cherubim and Seraphim, two of the nine celestial orders of divine, benevolent, spiritual beings, are defined as having wings. Angels, however, the lowest of the nine orders, do not have wings. The differences between angels and the winged guys, are very evident; you can tell 'em apart right away. A cherub is a chubby infant style of being, and a seraph (member of the very top rank of these critters) has either four or six wings. Think what a flutter that would work up!

Incidentally, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism also claim these kind of beings. A popular feature in religions, it seems!

But to return to the Arkansas Governor's School: in my opinion, it should be an example to every other state of this Union. A great concept, served by dedicated and serious instructors. Way to go, Arkansas!

Shaun Brannan of Edinburgh, Scotland, sent us this message during our Thursday night Internet Webcast. He relates an interesting event, one that might have been snapped up by eager believers, but had its ghost laid quite effectively....

Thanks for the really great webcast. Despite having to get up at 2am to listen to it in Scotland, it's well worth the tired yawns at work in the morning.

I thought you may be interested in a little tale which illustrates the point that people will accept any baloney psychical and mystical interpretation of what turns out to be, very ordinary events.

A friend of mine comes from Surinam and he related to me this little tale. While watching TV, he popped into the kitchen only to find that the TV had switched channels. He took no notice of it, but this began to happen every night. As soon as he popped out to the kitchen, upon his return the TV had changed channels. While he was happy to accept that maybe the remote was playing up, his wife was convinced that a poltergeist was playing tricks on him.

She called in the local priest, who came in and blessed the house, claiming he could sense an evil presence. The local witch doctor also called in (for the equivalent of $200 an hour) and performed various magical rituals to cleanse the house.

However, the mysterious channel changing continued. My friend decided to set up a webcam to see if he could spot anything unusual. And lo! and behold! the solution to the mystery was revealed.

He wasn't alone in the house!

However, he did not film a poltergeist. He filmed his unsupervised cat jumping onto the couch and flipping the remote around like a toy! And sure enough, this hammering from the cat would cause the channel to change, a simple explanation no one had thought of. Pity it cost him $200 plus a webcam to get the solution, though.

I ask you to consider how many "remarkable" events like this have occurred, which have never been so properly investigated. These are fodder for the media, who can manage to prepare a 30-minute TV special based on an "unexplainable" miracle that will be eagerly embraced by believers and pass into the lore of the wondrous. Yet, here we have a man who really wanted to solve the mystery, and did. We can only wonder if domestic bliss continued for him following the mundane solution.....

A reader in Dublin, Niall Morrissey, writes us about his views on that ever-popular and quite misunderstood phenomenon, co-incidence. A substantial portion of my mail that begins, "How do you explain this, Mr. Randi....." deals with remarkable co-incidences that folks just can't accept as statistical facts. I have often remarked, "If there weren't such fantastic accidents, that would be really remarkable!" Says Niall:

I was pleased to read the recent discussion on your website about co-incidence. It's something of a hobby-horse of mine to find logical links between co-incident events that appear to be unrelated, but actually are. I've had years of experience at rationalizing apparent co-incidents, but a simple example might suffice:

Some time ago, I made a trip to France for a weekend. After I had checked into my hotel, I went for a drink in the bar. When I got there I met two colleagues. Rather embarrassed they were too, as they were both married — but not to each other! After they had overcome their initial embarrassment they commented on what a strange co-incidence it was that we were all in the same hotel.

I couldn't resist the bait, and commented that it was not a co-incidence at all. To demonstrate this I asked them the following questions:

Why had they decided to take a weekend break? They answered that they had decided to go on the basis that they had just completed a very grueling and testing project which had involved long nights and weekends over a period of six months. With the project delivered, they had need of a break, and they also had extra funds in the form of the delivery bonus. Have I mentioned that we worked together? My reason for taking a weekend break was precisely the same as theirs.

Why had they chosen Paris? The answer was that because of the large number of French rugby fans traveling to Dublin for a match against Ireland, cheap flights were available from Dublin to Paris. This is a standard benefit of rugby weekends, and thus served to explain why we were all in Paris, and why we were there at the same time.

Why had they chosen this hotel? Because of the fear of being overheard by other colleagues, and because we work in a technical arena, they had decided to use the Internet at their desks to book their hotel. They happened to use a site that is included in our company-supplied bookmarks. I also separately used the same site. Since we are roughly in the same wage brackets, we both requested similarly-priced hotels. Of the twenty hotels that were presented to us, we worked our way down the list before we both discovered that the only hotel with rooms available, was the one we were now in.

By this stage they not only agreed with me that there was no co-incidence involved in our meeting, but that it was actually as inevitable as if we had made an appointment to meet. I always like to guide people further than mere acceptance that there may be a logical link between events. (I love to position them so that they use the word "inevitable.")

The fact is that under the same set of influences — need for a break, availability of spare cash, availability of cheap flights on a specified weekend, similar budgets and a well-known website and lot of full hotels, we had both arrived at the same destination. No co-incidence at all.

Of course, there will be some events that cannot be rationalized in this way, but I always enjoy the challenge of trying to show how seemingly-unrelated events can be explained.

Yes, Niall, such matters can be explained — without resorting to supernatural explanations. But that's not half as attractive as ascribing an event to UFOs or to angels.....

The account that follows is based on an article that originally appeared in Skeptical Inquirer, and was picked up in "A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology," published in 1985 by Prometheus Books.

Back in January of 1975, I was invited to appear on a popular Canadian TV Show, "Point Blank," with one Geraldine Smith, a renowned "psychic" from Toronto. She had been extensively and convincingly written up in the Canadian papers as a powerful supernatural worker, and I was looking forward to being astonished. I had brought along with me an object that I thought should have strong "vibrations" for a genuine psychic, and the host of the show had an article of his own to try for results.

I reproduce here the text of Ms. Smith's "reading" for each article and I suggest that students of "cold reading" techniques note the methods she used. The end result is hardly convincing, but that is due to the fact that the owner of each object was careful not to provide any feedback to Smith at any time. The words are transcribed directly from a tape recording provided by the people at the TV station in Toronto.

The host offered Smith a small silver chain bracelet.

Host: Tell me something about the owner of that [handing her a "Medic Alert" bracelet].

Smith: Okay.

Host: A little bracelet. Other than the fact that they need a Medic Alert bracelet....

Smith: [she laughs] Okay. First of all I'm getting a very strong gold. Now one thing I should let everybody know is, I also work with what is called "auras," and I've tuned myself into picking up vibrations, colors, from the article that the person has worn — had for some time. Now, first color is gold, and that is an extremely sensitive color. It's also, of course, allergy color too. It's the color of super, super, super, nervousness. This person I'm feeling physically, upper, lower back area problems. I'm also seeing some upper stomach area things going on. Do you know this person?

Host: Uh-huh.

Smith: Personally?

Host: Uh-huh.

Smith: All right, there's something in this area here [she points to her chest]. You see, as soon as I pick up an article, I will physically feel different areas that perhaps have been affected by the person. Feeling this area [she indicates her chest], feeling this area [she indicates her forehead], headaches, eyestrain, something like that. Upper and lower back areas. It's also the intuitive color. I would also... I'd have to say that the person who owns it is extremely intuitive, probably clairsentient, which is very clear on the gut-feeling type areas. I'm seeing — there's a separation around this person. Are they in this area now? Because I see them, like, not here.

This is a clear attempt to discover whether the owner of the Medic Alert bracelet might be dead, and in most cases, this would result in a dramatic acceptance of the powers of the performer.

Host: Physically not here?

Smith: Physically not here. No.

Host: Uh-huh. Well!

Smith: Which — which would make me wonder if the person is [laughs] either dead or if there's been some very, very bad health problems with them, because I'm just really feeling sluggish myself. Interesting. I'm seeing the month of January here — which is now — but there would have to be something strong with the person with January as well.

Host: Okay. What color is my aura?

Smith: You've got blue, you've got gold, you've got green.

Host: What do those things mean? What's an aura?

Smith: An aura is — I perceive it as a color. A color energy vibration that surrounds the person's body. It tells me mental, physical, spiritual — uhh — general personality. Green is the color of the communicator. Anybody in the communications area has to have green in their aura. In other words, in any area.

Host: So you can tell me that without looking, huh?

Smith: Yeah. In other words — yeah. In other words, you've got to have good communication in all areas. The one thing I would emphasize very strongly right now is that the green is a little bit blocked in the mental area of your aura, so that means you have been very frustrated in the area of communication on a personal level. It's almost as if you've been talking to the wall. I'm seeing a lot of — [she laughs] a lot of vibration there. And it's more in a personal area rather than in — you know — a work, business situation.

Host: Okay.

The host, who had been very careful not to tip his hand, following my admonitions to that effect before the program, was the owner of that Medic Alert bracelet. He had not tried to conceal the fact, though he picked the bracelet up from a small table to hand it to the psychic, rather than removing it from his wrist. Smith assumed that it belonged to another person and gave her "reading" with that assumption. Note that she did not tell us the age, sex, or any relationships of this mythical person. She tried to "pump" the host by asking whether he knew the person and whether the owner was physically there, or not. The host carefully gave answers. Yes, he knew the person. And he answered her question about the whereabouts with another question. I'm proud of him.

Jumping the gun, she guessed the person was absent, and then covered all bases with a classic generalization/cop-out: ". . . which would make me wonder if the person is either dead or if there's been some very, very bad health problems." Note that she was only "made to wonder," not know, and as phrased, that also became a question that might have elicited an answer but failed to do so.

The host was neither dead nor absent. His back, he assured Smith, was excellent, nothing was wrong in the chest area, and when she tried to add a neck/upper-shoulder area quickly to the reading as he revealed his unfortunately good state of health, he denied that as well. But she mumbled an encouraging "Excellent! Fine!" as he outlined his condition, to cover the fact that she was simply dead wrong. He was neither nervous nor allergic and had no stomach problems. Headaches and eyestrain, he assured us, did not bother him either.

But I must report that our host did tumble for one of the more common tricks of such readings. You see, the victim is allowed and encouraged to read more into the recitation than is already there. Smith had said, "I'm seeing the month of January here," and during his denial of the accuracy of her reading, he said he had to admit that she had correctly determined that his birthday was in January! But she had said nothing about any birthday, particularly his birthday, since she didn't even know the bracelet belonged to him!

When confronted with all this negative evidence, Ms. Smith explained: "The thing is, that [a blocked green aura] to me, in a reading, means quick removal from a situation, which means either leaving this place, leaving the country — quick removal." Perhaps the lady was expressing her own desires of the moment. Her remarks certainly didn't make any sense to me.

I offered a few observations, such as her throwing in the "communications" factor when we all knew that the host was very obviously a communicator, and then falling back on the ever-popular stomach/back/chest/head combo to try for an ailment. Looking at me rather impatiently, as though I was denser than she'd expected, she tried another tack. "Understand, I can totally see what you're saying. The thing that I take a little bit further down the line is — my readings — as much as many things can be applied to many people, aren't there a lot of similarities in life?"

There was a short stunned pause here, as we all tried to think what she could possibly be trying to say. Not in the least daunted, she soared on: "You know, we get married or we don't, we're male or we're female, we have children, or we don't."

Ms. Smith, though a little bit subdued, smiled bravely after this confrontation, and we moved on. She was yet to be tested with the object that I had brought along specifically for that purpose. It was an object of which I had a complete history, and it was something I had owned for some time. In terms of a "psychometry" reading, it should have been excellent material.

I will reverse the regular procedure here by telling you in advance all about the object, and then give you her entire word-for-word "reading" of it. You will then be in the position I was, and will be able to do your own analysis of her accuracy.

The object was a small, glossy, bisque-fired ceramic, black in color, of Peruvian origin. It measured seven inches long and was in the form of a bird, with a spout coming from the top. (In the accompanying photo, the spout has come loose again, and is not shown.) It was a fake — a replica — of a genuine Mochica grave object and had been made by a fellow in Lima who is Peruvian by birth but Chinese in ancestry. He is a short man, five-foot-seven or so, heavy, straight black hair, 28 years of age in 1975, with totally Chinese features, to all appearances. He was single at the time the reading was made. He spoke only Spanish. His business was making accurate replicas of original Peruvian art, often for museums, and repairing damaged ceramics. This piece had been given to me by him because it had been dropped and broken, and I had repaired it myself after I returned to the United States. I have a large collection of similar pieces, both genuine originals and good replicas. I'd brought this particular one with me fr the test to avoid the possibility of breaking a valuable original, and to get around the tendency of psychics to expound on nonexistent people long extinct, who they can safely claim were associated with such an article. I knew the whole history of the object, from molding, to firing, to breaking, and beyond.

Psychic Geraldine Smith took a deep breath and started on her "reading" of this article, while I sat there carefully not blinking nor changing my expression. She rattled on without a pause, speaking quickly and getting in as much as she could in the time she had:

Okay. The first thing that — actually I'm very quickly being taken over maps, and I'm tuning in very strongly to Mexico, United States, general area there. I'm seeing three very strong personalities, two females and a male, and I'll describe them all for you. First of all, the man I'm seeing is approximately five-foot-eight, five-foot-nine. To me, that's short for a male. Very deep brown hair, but receding at the temples. Glasses, quite thick. Obviously very bad eyes, because the focus I'm seeing is very, very strong. I'm seeing kind of a round-neck shirt. It's not the type you have on now. I guess it would be more along the line that he's wearing [she pointed at one of us]. Then I'm going to the two ladies. Oh, I didn't give you an age on the man. He would have to be 45 to 50. Something like that. The ladies I'm seeing, one would be, hmm, five-foot. Very short. Four-nine, five-foot. The other lady is quite a bit taller. One is very, very, very heavy-set, and shortish curlyish hair, but fluffy. And the other one, the shorter one, is just, well, there's nothing really big about her. I'm seeing these three people very much in connection with this. Do you recognize them at all?

Randi: Now you're asking me something. You're supposed to be telling me.

Smith: I mean, do you recognize them?

Randi: Do you want now to hear the history of the object? Is the reading finished?

Some things about this exchange will be obvious. Wrong country, wrong continent. She took a guess at an "Indian" origin for the object, but missed. It could have been North American Indian or Mexican, to the uninitiated, but it was not. She threw in three people for try-ons, and I'm still trying to fit in the two women, but I can't. The man's eyesight was excellent, he did not wear glasses. As for height, she was right on that, and I recall that the fellow did wear turtleneck sweaters frequently. She missed altogether the Chinese connection. His hair was very definitely not receding, quite the contrary. The age she gave him was at least 17 years off.

As usual, the "reader" provided a great deal of drivel that filled in for lack of real information. Here is the body of her reading of the bracelet, with the "fill" left out. You'll see just how few actual items she offered....

This person I'm feeling physically, upper, lower back area problems. I'm also seeing some upper stomach area things going on. Do you know this person?

All right, there's something in this area here [she points to her chest]. Feeling this area [she indicates her chest], feeling this area [she indicates her forehead], headaches, eyestrain, something like that. Upper and lower back areas. Are in this area now? Because I see them, like, not here.

. . . there would have to be something strong with the person with January as well.

Note: all of this was denied by the bracelet owner....

Now, you should know two other things about this test. First, I had told Geraldine Smith very clearly that this was not to be considered a formal test. My reasons should be obvious. It was quite possible for her to have looked into my background and discovered my interest in Peruvian archaeology. She could have visited a museum and seen Peruvian artifacts to come up with the origin of the object easily. Second, she had agreed to enter into a formal test later on, to be conducted regardless of the outcome of this demonstration.

I have not heard from her since that time. That's 27 years, 5 months ago. No surprise, really.....

After all, Sylvia is now only on day number 291.....