Next week I will begin featuring a series of observations by ancient writers on the charlatans of their times. We will find that the centuries have not much changed the basic nature of the rogues; lying, tricking, charming, faking, blackmailing, and stealing were among their weapons, and some became not only famous and rich, but politically very powerful. Some went down to ignominious defeat, while others died full of honor. Many had cults named after them, monuments built to them, and religions founded on their mythology. We'll discuss Edgar Cayce, Apollonius of Tyana, Simon Magus, Allan Kardec, L. Ron Hubbard, Daniel Dunglas Hume, John Worrell Keely, and Alexander of Abonutichus/Abonouteichos — among others.

My purpose is to demonstrate that only the names, the language, the flavor and the costumes — but not the basic methods and goals — change from generation to generation and culture to culture. And we'll run a comparison with today's practitioners.

Part One — Alexander of Abonutichus, will begin next week....

Reader Michael McCarron has an interesting parallel to draw for us....

I was thinking today as I read your articles and while pondering the exploits of Van Praagh and Edward. I came upon an interesting comparison. I thought that in a funny way, those psychics that "talk to the dead," work in the same way that evolution does. Not only is their technique similar in its workings, it's also similar in the way it doesn't work.

A "psychic" starts out by making a bunch of random statements and hopes for a "hit" among the accumulated audience. When a "hit" is acknowledged, he jumps on it and builds better predictions with other statements that are thrown out for possible inclusion. The "misses" are forgotten about, and the "hits" are saved in the memory to be used in the summation to show how well the "reading" has worked.

We can see an evolutionary comparison here. From vague and broad beginnings, we got a single "hit,"or life. This may have happened over much time and geography, but it happened due to the mass of opportunities and one (or a few) chance encounters. Then as time went on, those creatures/life-forms that "hit" got to live on and make more. As life moved on through the years, it got more complicated and the "hits" got more and more complex — like a "psychic" finally, after a day of "reading," determining that you have a red car with a tear in the seat and that you found a pen that was blue under the floor mat last week. Only after hours and sometimes days of "reading" can a person tell you something that specific.

So can evolution, only after millions of years, arrive at something like an advanced organism or part thereof. Of course, the floormat was probably wrong — it was the back seat, not the front — but evolution makes mistakes that people forget, too. Why do people need a plantaris muscle, for example? Or a palmaris longus? Not "mistakes," I know, but if taken from a "creationist" point of view, certainly they are! Both evolution and these "psychics" can seem to have powers or supernatural origins, but both can be explained with some thought and some understanding of how things work. Might be a good book idea, eh?

Let me explain a couple of terms here. The muscles referred to above are rather mysterious, and one has an uncertain function. Judging from discussions I've referred to on these muscles, I use my palmaris longus quite regularly....! I would suggest that these are not only non-mistakes, but may just be something that developed as they did, and didn't interfere with the survival of the organism, so remained — or they may be items that were once useful in other ways, and which haven't gone away simply because they're not "in the way." Myself, I was born without a veriform appendix, to the astonishment of a couple of doctors. Never had a call for it, that I know of....

These evolutionary variances might also be compared to the "filler" that the psychics throw in, information that can't be checked and that doesn't therefore change the hit rate. "Grandma kept a secret from you, she says" or "You've got an unexpected trip coming up in November," are examples of such "filler."

Also, the "single hit" that Michael postulates here, is, I think, inescapably a series of many such, ones that resulted in life forms that, though they might have then gone on for aeons, did not persist. For example, we know that there were combinational experiments that produced 12-limbed and 8-limbed critters of which we see no survivors today.....

Michael, thank you for the interesting contribution!

Reader Dr. Jeffrey E. Chilton of the Center for Naval Analyses, contributes an excerpt from an interesting piece by Giambattista della Porta, written in 1584. The text of the collection of essays, "Natural Magick" may be found online by going to members.tscnet.com and entering "Della Porta" in the "Google" box you'll see, and clicking "go." Then scroll down until you see "Natural Magick" and click on that. Scroll down to Book Number 19. Here's Jeff's comment, followed by the excerpt: http://members.tscnet.com/pages/omard1/jportat2.html.

In your most recent commentary you note that for decades crackpots have insisted that rocks trapped the sounds of dinosaurs. This reminds me of a passage I read in "Natural Magick" by Della Porta, which claims in the frontispiece to "set forth All the Riches and Delights Of the NATURAL SCIENCES." It's a fascinating volume whose contents describe some early physics and chemistry (and alchemy) experiments, as well as chapters entitled "Of Beautifying Women," "Of the Generation of Animals," "Of Cookery," and "Of Counterfeiting Glorious Stones." The passage I'm thinking of comes from "Of Pneumatic Experiments" and reads thusly:

We see that the voice of a sound, will be conveyed entire through the air, and that not in an instant, but by degrees in time. We see that Brass guns, which by the force of Gunpowder, make a mighty noise, if they be a mile off, yet we see the flame much before we hear the sound.... Wherefore sounds go with them, and are entire without interruption, unless they break upon some place. The Echo proves this, for it strikes whole against a wall, and so rebounds back....

Randi comments: Up to this point, Della Porta's observations are perceptive and "correct." But then he proposes a theory which, had he performed the experiment he wisely suggested, would have been negated.

If any man shall make leaden pipes exceeding long, two or three hundred paces long (as I have tried) and shall speak in them some or many words, they will be carried true through those pipes and be heard at the other end, as they came from the speaker's mouth.

Randi again: So far, so good, but then....

Wherefore if that voice goes with time, and hold entire, if any man as the words are spoken shall stop the end of the pipe, and he that is at the other end shall do the like, the voice may be intercepted in the middle, and be shut up as in a prison. And when the mouth [of the pipe] is opened, the voice will come forth, as out of his mouth that spoke it. But because such long pipes cannot be made without trouble, they may be bent up and down like a trumpet, that a long pipe may be kept in a small place. And when the mouth [of the pipe] is opened, the words may be understood. I am now upon trial of it. If before my book be printed the business is to take effect, I will set it down, if not, if God please, I shall write elsewhere.

Jeff comments:

Clearly Sgnr. Porta's scheme for an early tape recorder (pipe recorder?) was doomed to failure. But it goes to show that loopy ideas about trapping sound have existed for centuries.

Thank you, Jeff. What makes this most interesting to me is that Della Porta came up with a theory, then proposed an experiment that would test it. This is the true scientific attitude. It would have been interesting to know what he'd have done, had he performed the experiment and found the theory wrong. I expect that he would have learned from that failure, and would have provided us with yet more evidence of his thinking process. Jeff, perhaps unkindly, refers to this idea as, "loopy," but it wasn't at all bad for the day in which he wrote. Leonardo Da Vinci had only been dead six decades....

About reader Don Reid's quotation from atheist websites, in which a surprising difference was indicated between atheists and religious types in the prison population, we hear from reader Troy Hall that before accepting this assertion, we should take a look at http://www.adherents.com/misc/adh_prison.html. He says:

. . . apparently the statistics quoted in the articles generally come from a report from 1925, and the data supporting the statistics may not have been collected and analyzed in a manner sufficient to support the reasoning attached to it. [Or may not still apply!]

What worries me more, however, is not so much that this article is found on many websites, but that many of these sites do not acknowledge how outdated the data is, and in doing so (out of ignorance, laziness, or deceit) indicate a willingness to accept unsupported or invalid facts with precisely the same faithful fervor that so perverts the viewpoints of the population that believes everything from miraculous birth to bending spoons.

Right on, Troy. Glad to have this critique. On that site, I note the statement that "Gallup polls which include questions about religion have consistently shown that between 93 and 96% of Americans believe in God." I suggest that this might be more accurately stated as, "Gallup polls which include questions about religion have consistently shown that between 93 and 96% of Americans say that they believe in God."

But do take a look, and share your observations with us. Thanks, Troy.

The Houdini postage stamp is now on sale, as I announced last week. But there's "magic" to it. You see, the US Postal Service uses a process known as "Scrambled Indicia" to encode certain information into certain stamps. High-value ones are hard to counterfeit, that way. But you can buy a $5 Stamp Decoder from your local post office and see Harry in trouble — in chains! The decoder, a piece of clear plastic about the size of a playing card, when placed over Harry's image, reveals this secret. I've not the foggiest notion how it's done, but it's somehow hidden in the printing, and brought out by the decoder. I'll find out more about this. Sounds almost supernatural, to me!

Reader Ed Sanville writes:

I just wanted to relate to you a somewhat unpleasant experience I once had as an undergraduate studying in chemistry at my old university. We were working in the inorganic chemistry laboratory, crystallizing our samples out of solution, when I overheard some students discussing "magnetic healing bracelets" which apparently are supposed to kill pain. I listened more intently, expecting to hear someone comment about the complete lack of evidence backing up these claims. But, to my amazement, the students and the TA (teaching assistant, who is often a graduate student supervisor in the science lab), were debating "just how the magnetic field works." No discussion about whether they do work, they simply jumped straight to explaining the supposed "effect!"

This occurrence has led me to a difficult conclusion. There may be more students studying the sciences nowadays than ever before, which is a good thing. However, we have a long way to go before the fundamentals of the Scientific Method are embraced by the people calling themselves scientists, never mind the general public. I believe that every human is born with at least a hint of what skepticism and the Scientific Method is all about. Despite this, in the end a scientific mind really has to be trained, and that's what may be missing from today's standard scientific curriculum. In some ways skepticism is truly a learned behavior, and I thank you for your wonderful public contribution in this area!

I'm scolded for errors in "angelology"......

As a point of correction regarding your discussion of Angels. The whole cherubim-are-babies thing was an invention of Renaissance painters like Raphael. It's not located anywhere either in traditional angelology nor the scriptures. Instead, cherubim are described as sphinx-like creatures with animal bodies, three heads, and four wings, i.e. the cherubim that guard the tree of life in Eden.

A person might easily think that as all these religions independently have come to a belief in angels, then they must exist. The error in the statement is that Islam, Judaism and Christianity all have their root in Judaism — which believes in celestial beings.

A little late, I referred to my Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Cherub, plural cherubim, in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literature, celestial winged being with human, animal, or birdlike characteristics; a throne bearer of the deity. Derived from ancient Near Eastern mythology and iconography, these celestial beings serve important liturgical and intercessory functions in the hierarchy of angels.

The term most likely derives from the Akkadian [an extinct Assyrian/Babylonian language] meaning "to pray," or "to bless." In Christianity the cherubim are ranked among the higher orders of angels and, as celestial attendants of God, [and] continually praise him. . . . in Islam, the cherubim continuously praise God by repeating . . . "Glory to Allah" and dwell in peace in an area of the heavens that is inaccessible to attacks from . . . the devil.

Actually, the cherubim that I read about are supposed to have four wings and four faces — of a man, a lion, an eagle, and a bull (that last part I can believe) — all presumably on one head. Just who came up with all this ridiculous anthropogenic mishmash?

And what is this business about having to constantly praise, appease, flatter and cajole this deity? Is it insecure, insanely jealous, or just capricious and very full of itself? I think I'd go nuts, having angels that look like fat little kids, flitting about and singing to me, day and night, about what a swell guy I am, and please don't hurt us. It'd be even worse with the four-faced, four-winged one. All that blinking and flapping.....!

Seriously, though, just how much of this — the varieties of cherubim, demons, wine-to-water miracles, raising the dead, omnipotence, Hell — do religious people really believe? And since so much of this seems to derive from pre-Christian notions, how can the faithful Christians just blithely adopt and accept it as their own?

Reader Dan Garvin shares this story with us. It illustrates, perhaps better than I can manage, the purpose of the JREF. As I've said before, there are moments when my resolve is all the more reinforced, and Dan's account has done that, decidedly. We know, having these experiences related to us, that we've only begun.

Read this piece, then click in on the sites listed. It's powerful, it's heavy, and it's scary, and the Church of Scientology has been trying desperately to close it down; that, in itself, means it's important. And please let me know your opinions on both the story and the material you find on the site.

When I was young, I was interested in magic and read a book about some of the better-known magicians, living and dead. I don't remember if you [James Randi] were one of the ones in that book (which I no longer have), but either from the book or from my general interest in the subject, I have at least known who you are, for as long as I can remember.

In 1974, when I was 17, I got interested in Scientology as a "scientific" way to attain mystical super-powers, which I had already believed in before that. I swallowed it, hook line, sinker, rod, and reel. Within two years I had joined their "Sea Organization," the elite group of top Scientologists. "Sea Org" members have to sign a billion-year contract in order to join. Since Scientologists believe in past lives extending for more than 76 trillion years, and the ability to recall these lives fully, there is nothing symbolic about this contract. They really mean a billion years, and their motto is, "We come back."

Scientology includes and encompasses the correct ("standard") "technology" for everything, from turning a miserable human into a powerful genius superman, to watering plants and washing a car. And every bit of it is from the "discoveries" of L. Ron Hubbard, the greatest philosopher, scientist, humanitarian, aviator, explorer, engineer, nuclear physicist, author, musician, poet, and all-around swell guy the universe has ever known. Scientology's many blatant inaccuracies and inconsistencies — not to say outright lies and delusions — are quite easily disposed of by a proper understanding of Hubbard's writings and lectures — if you've already bought into the basic premises.

Sea Org members are the most dedicated Scientologists of all. In addition to their long-term commitment, they live and eat in communal quarters, have almost no freedoms, or time off in which to exercise freedoms if they had some, or money to enable them to afford those freedoms. They work and study the works of Hubbard, and occasionally are rewarded with bits of "auditing," the Scientology technology for making people better, happier, healthier, more powerful, and ultimately giving them TOTAL SPIRITUAL FREEDOM!! So they say, and so every Scientologist believes, even the ones running things, now that Hubbard's dead. I think a very tiny handful at the top know it's a crock, but the rest — including some very big bigwigs in the Scientology world — utterly believe in it, and are sincere.

Well, I signed my billion-year contract and was in there with the best of them. It's far too long a story for this account, but I remained wholly convinced of Scientology's effectiveness for almost the entire twenty-five years I remained in the Sea Org. I was a trooper. I never rose to dizzying heights in the leadership of Scientology, nor did I get very far along their path to spiritual freedom — and I am so glad I didn't, now that I know the secrets of what that path consists of at the upper levels. It's not just a wacko science fiction rip-off, it's based on practices that, in my opinion, could mentally unhinge a significant percentage of the people who engage in them. At best, these practices create — they actually require — a delusional approach to increasingly large sections of the world and of life in it.

In about 1999 or 2000, I was still a believer and still a Sea Org member, but I was gradually growing more disgusted with the way the church and the Sea Org were run. That's also another and a somewhat long story, but I was in that frame of mind when I heard you [James Randi] as a guest on Al Rantell's talk show in LA. You were advocating mandatory licensing for people claiming psychic abilities — they would have to demonstrate their abilities to a licensing board, which of course none of them would be able to do. Now, I'm not in agreement with requiring that, but I also disagree with the vast majority of other governmental regulation, and none of that is related to my point here.

My point here is that in this radio show I first heard about your million-dollar challenge. I was already starting to think, but it got me thinking just that little bit more: How come some Scientologist doesn't claim this prize? After all, we are the ones who really can do these things. There are prohibitions against showing off in public — don't frighten the natives, you know — but that came from back when New Age wasn't cool. In today's world, Scientology is actively promoting their wares to New Age adherents of all stripes — what a surprise! — and a demonstrated proof of mystical powers would give us a great big whomping mojo and get tons of people and money pouring in. Even if no official Scientology church would allow it, there's a tremendous body of people who've left the church but still believe in the tech; many of these have gone as far as one can go in Scientology.

You'd think at least one of those would claim the prize, not being encumbered by the church's regulations. You know, Ingo Swann [a "psychic" artist who was actually scientifically validated by Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff!] was once a Scientologist before he was cast out and demonized — somebody like that, or even Ingo himself. They could spend the dough on their next levels of Scientology advancement, you know. The unauthorized organizations outside the church are much cheaper, and the winner might even end up with something left over.

Randi comments: Targ and Puthoff were the "Laurel and Hardy of Psi" who discovered and brought us Uri Geller. Interestingly enough, Puthoff himself became a "Thetan Eighth Class" in Scientology. Why am I less than astonished? Dan continues:

Well, I didn't leave right away, or even want to leave right away, but one wicked thought leads to another, and that one never strayed too far from my consciousness. It took a year or two, but I finally had to decide that the reason nobody claimed the prize was probably that nobody could, not even top Scientologists. There was plenty of other missing evidence to support that conclusion. I certainly had never observed any paranormal phenomena that couldn't be explained conventionally. Of course, when you're truly on the inside, you aren't buying any conventional explanations....

My heretical thinking eventually reached critical mass. (Remember from your e-meter show: thoughts have mass!) It was a controlled fission, not a nuclear explosion, but it generated enough energy for me to leave the Sea Org. I didn't leave Scientology yet, but I knew that before I invested any more of my life into it, I was going to have to see some actual evidence, not just more glowing success stories or PR from the church itself. Sea Org members are utterly forbidden to access the internet, and all Scientologists are forbidden to look at information critical of Scientology, though that's impossible to enforce outside the Sea Org. So at that point I didn't know much.

One of the first places I looked, after I got out, was the JREF website. There wasn't much about Scientology, but it was clear that no Scientologist had won or even tried to win the challenge money. Within a couple weeks I got up the resolve to look at Scientology's secret upper- level materials, posted in part on www.xenu.net. They're supposed to kill you if you read them without the proper preliminary Scientology levels, but they've been out there for quite a few years and nobody has died, so I looked.

It wasn't really any more outré than a lot of the non-secret stuff in Scientology. The difference was, it made specific claims about Earth's history that could be disproven — thoroughly, with no wiggle room, no maybes, just plain wrong. And since it was wrong, it meant all of Scientology's top levels, where you get your magical superpowers, were based on a lie, a mistake, or a delusion. Whatever effect they do have on people, it's definitely not what Hubbard says is happening.

That was what took me from doubter to full-blown ex-Scientologist. Once I was out from under the spell, I learned a tremendous amount that had never made it past Scientology's censors: criminal behavior, horrible abuses, vicious reprisals against critics and especially against plaintiffs — once again, beyond the scope of this article, but well documented on www.xenu.net and a number of other excellent sites.

Randi comments: Please go to the Paulette Cooper story at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/krasel/cooper/index.html and learn about a very brave woman who escaped from Scientology, but not without much pain and reprisals. She's one of the heroes of this fight. Dan continues:

Scientology's lies and practices cost me my marriage and well over half my life. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have escaped with my mind intact. Others have been driven to acute or permanent mental illness, and some to suicide.

To be fair, there are thousands of them who will tell you it's the best thing since even before sliced bread, and it saved their lives or their marriages, or whatever. They really mean it, and believe it. It's all subjective and anecdotal, but that's fine with them. It had better be, because Scientology will never allow its procedures to be tested by outsiders. Hmm, I wonder why that would be.

And thank you, Mr. Randi, for being there when I needed you.

But wait! There's more! Are you ready folks? The JREF conference — now officially titled, "The Amazing Meeting," on January 31st — February 2nd, will have the author of the above piece, Dan Garvin, as a featured speaker! The title of his talk is still to be announced. And you can count on it: there will be Scientologist infiltrators there hungering to hear Dan slip up and say something slanderous. They're creatures of habit. Ring the bell, and.....

I'm really grateful to Dan for agreeing to join us at the conference. He's our kind of guy, someone who made a mistake, saw it, and changed direction. He'll be answering your questions and giving the real lowdown on just what happens behind those closed doors of the Sea Org.

Yes, the 2003 conference is attracting quite welcome attention, and we now also have a promise from the one-and-only Jerry Andrus that he will edify us with his talents. Jerry is a "magician's magician" who has a very deep — almost supernatural! — understanding of how humans perceive the world, and his illusions are just so strong and captivating, that his audiences often change their whole view of reality after seeing him at work. I've discussed him in these pages before. Look at the February 9th and 16th, 2001, pages. This is a major, unique, and fascinating artist who will prove beyond any doubt that you, too, can be deceived by your perceptions. We're excited to have him coming to meet you. Just look at that face; how can you resist?

And our good friend Michael Shermer, of "Skeptic Magazine" fame, the very well-known figure in the battle against crackpottery and fraud, will address us. Michael is one of the most prolific people in this business, with a number of books and a huge number of lectures behind him. His conferences have always been very well-attended, and we're proud to have him as a featured speaker. As usual, he'll be mixing with the attendees, and being generally available for conversation and discussion. He's one of our princes, and we welcome him with affection and delight.

There'll be magicians all over the place. A couple of the young lions of the business will show you the limits of credibility, the far reaches of imagination, and the ease with which the less skeptical can be hornswoggled. And I myself may shake off the mothballs and stumble through a few "moves"for you, if Andrus will only stand back for a moment.....!

And here's something very special. Scurrilous rumors, I'm sure you've heard, have it that Alexander Hamilton was killed in 1804 in a duel with one Aaron Burr. A gross canard, sirs! Lieutenant Colonel Hal Bidlack, currently assigned as Deputy Director of the United States Air Force Institute for National Security Studies located at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, proves the case against this dastardly rumor. He will be with us to give his "Hamilton Lives" re-creation, as well as a talk about his experiences with the US Department of State. Look in at www.hamiltonlives.com and get a preview! As I mentioned previously, Hal is the only US Air Force officer who has official permission to wear silk stockings, garters, and a wig, in public....

The absolutely unique Jack Horkheimer, the PBS-TV "Star Gazer" and good friend of the JREF, will be charming us with his fascinating lecture on "The Star of Cleopatra,"dealing with how that ancient queen used the advent of a comet to get some very heavy political and religious mileage. You won't want to miss this, an original with Jack, who we've admired for so long with his breathless accounts on TV of what's currently happening in the cosmos, and his admonition to "Keep Looking Up!!!" And I'm told that telescopes will be available to us so we can see Heavenly Bodies of the Distant Kind.

Celestial trumpets, please! Astronomer Phil Plait, the author of that remarkable book "Bad Astronomy," will address us and answer questions on a most interesting current delusion — Planet X, which we’re told by the doom-artists will sweep by the Earth next May and kill us all. Phil wisely suggests that we should finalize our business before then. His web site is www.badastronomy.com and if you ever had any doubt that Neil Armstrong really set foot on the Moon, he’s the guy to set you straight. We’re very fortunate to have astronomer Plait joining us, and I can’t wait to see him and Horkheimer comparing notes. A meeting of giants!

I'm sure there'll be specialty discussion groups far into the night, if previous conferences are any indication, and I'll be scurrying around to every one I can reach. My faithful colleague Andrew Harter will be there, to tell you about the weird and wonderful applicants we're getting for the million-dollar prize. And — we're trying to get one of those applicants to actually appear before us and perform the preliminary test for the prize. More on that, later.

So set aside that weekend — January 31st to February 2nd — for attending the conference. As we firm up more speakers and events, we'll keep you informed.

This is going to be an adventure, I assure you. You can express your intentions to Linda at linda@randi.org. Yes, there'll be a registration fee, in return for which you'll be getting much more than the usual goodies — including an exclusive videotape item! — and all the benefits of the discussions and meetings. Final facts and figures are yet to be arrived at. The end of January is ideal for being in South Florida, and I wouldn't bring those skis or fur coats....

Okay, the US Patent Office, incredibly, has done it again. Just when we're sure that they can't get any sillier or more juvenile, they come along with a stunning new innovation that shows us what we're paying them to do.

United States Patent # 6,205,589, issued to a chap named Epps, is for a "Meditation Enhancing Device." Here's the abstract, from the papers filed.....

A meditation enhancing apparatus is provided. The apparatus is a head covering which is made of a highly conductive metal such as copper. The head covering or helmet has several ports which are adapted to hold crystals, the ports being connected to conduits. The conduits serve to hold the crystals in position directly in front of the user's eyes and temples, as well as to conduct electromagnetic and other energy to the user's brain. The user may select crystals which have been effective in enhancing previous meditation sessions for placement in the device.

No evidence whatsoever exists, or was submitted to the US Patent Office, that crystals are anything but pretty rocks, nor that there's any "electromagnetic and other energy" coming from them, particularly to the brain of the victim, nor that any "enhancement" of any mystical power takes place or even can occur, and yet this federal agency issues a US patent to the applicant? Is there any crackpot notion that the United States Patent Office will not patent? I'm serious, is there?

Gee, how have I managed without one of these wonderful hats? I'm looking them up on E-Bay right now. Can't wait.....!

From The Reader's Digest, May 2002 —

We were listening to a lecture on psychic phenomena in our Comparative Religions course. Our instructor told us about a woman who contacted police working on a missing-persons case. "She gave then eerily detailed instructions on where to find the body," the teacher said. "In fact, the detectives did find the body just as she had described. Now, what would you call this kind of person?"

While the rest of us pondered the question, a sheriff's officer taking the course raised his hand and replied, "A suspect."

Brian Leibowitz, of San Ramon, California, came upon a 1976 issue of Daredevil Comics, in which Daredevil meets the one-and-only Uri Geller! (Did you realize that a full 18 out of the 36 pages of that comic-book were ads?) I was interested in the cover illustration, which announced Geller's debut as a comic-book super-hero; the two adjectives used were certainly, inarguably, correct.

Inside the comic-book, Uri's epiphany-in-the-garden-as-a-child is given, and with the phrase, "Perhaps you've seen him on the talk shows... He's been on 'em all — Carson, Griffin — the works," he is introduced to Daredevil. Without even shaking hands, he is of course affronted by being mistaken by Daredevil for a lowly "magician," a slander he quickly corrects. Conveniently, Geller happens to be carrying a piece of iron pipe in his hand at that very moment, and he bends it supernaturally as a quick demo. I understand that now he now only does keys and spoons, his powers having waned in the last quarter-century.

Hey, we'd settle for his bending a pin with his mind power, and we'd hand over the JREF million-dollar prize, too. What say, Uri? (Crickets are heard)

Talk about precognition! Compare the comic strip with "reality" in these two illustrations!

It's interesting that all through the comic-book, Uri addresses Daredevil as "my friend," and Daredevil mis-remembers the bent piece of pipe as a crowbar. Now, that I'd like to see bent....!

Several readers reminded me that Sylvia "The Elusive" Browne is scheduled to appear on the Larry King Live show at the end of this month. It was suggested that I should send a letter to King asking him to face her with the challenge — it's now 312+ days into that matter, and by the time of the King show, I'll be 327 days.

Well, King gets dozens of certified/registered letters every day from all over the world. He wouldn't ever sign for one, personally, so he could simply say he didn't see it, and that would probably be very true. And, I'm not going to panic getting Sylvia cornered. I'll just let her do it by herself. This far into the JREF challenge, she's proven my point nicely. I can hear it now: "I just have so many people who need my help," and "There's no time to deal with silly challenges, when I've already proven myself," and "You know, Randi has no intention of paying me that money, Larry" — just a few responses that will close down the discussion right away.

No, I'll just let Sylvia bury herself. Here's the shovel.....

We need the help of readers. We've been informed that the JREF web site has been blocked from several school and library computer systems. This, if true, is a serious breach of our right to freedom of speech. We're an educational foundation, and one of our major purposes is to reach schools and libraries. We take this threat very seriously.

Please, if you have access to any school or library Internet systems, look in for www.randi.org and whether you can or can't see the page, report to us. We intend to take action against those who might have blocked us.

In closing, I got much reaction to the "In Allah We Trust" dollar bill, but none to the "Thor" version. A suggestion was sent in for the bill shown here, a result of "faith-based" government.....