Table of Contents:
Two weeks ago, an applicant for the JREF million-dollar prize said that as proof of his powers he would heal disabled actor Christopher Reeve. Needless to say, that is now a moot point; Mr. Reeve, a hero of the stem-cell-research movement, has died. But in January of 2000, in The Toronto Sun, psychic/astrologer Anthony Carr had also predicted, in so many words, that Reeve would "rise from his chair and perambulate."
Reader Dillon Caplinger tells us one even better:
Listening to Howard Stern, I heard Ms. Fran Baskerville (www.singingpsychic.com) call in to offer her singing predictions, neither of which she does well, apparently. Howard asked her standard questions about who is gonna win the election, etc. However, the kicker was when he asked her if Christopher Reeve would ever walk again. This was the Monday after he died. She proceeded to say that she saw him walking on his own legs and happy. As you probably suspect, when informed that Mr. Reeve had died, she didn't skip a beat in stating that she was right, he was happy and walking in heaven. Needless to say, the Stern cast got a good laugh out of this.
Well, I'm not laughing. Reeve was a brave and caring person, personally plugging for stem-cell research to be permitted and financed so that cures for problems such as his would be closer to solution. Dillon, I understand how Stern and company could be laughing at the pretensions of this clown Baskerville, but that had to be tempered by the fact that Reeve had lost his battle for life and progress.
Reader David Patrick tells us of a sappy UK series that features a "psychic barber" who has found flummery pays better than cutting hair:
This is a very infuriating documentary series. Over the three parts they follow various "mediums." It's more a series about the people who are "mediums" rather than investigating their claims, despite the opening narration asking whether they really communicate with the dead or whether they're just preying on the bereaved and prolonging their suffering. The series isn't as bad as the paranormal dross that infests a lot of the satellite channels, but there is no criticism or discussion about whether it is real or not. The programs did allow the "mediums" and believers to make some outrageous statements without questioning them such as, "In my experience the most hard line skeptics have never done any research on the issue."I've been watching a three-part documentary series called "Mediums: Talking to the Dead" on BBC 2 here in the UK.
We also meet a couple who travel from one public performance to another of any medium in town hoping to get in contact with their dead son. It's clear that their bereavement process is totally stuck and each time they try to contact him they go back to square one. The one dissenting voice comes from the very skeptical husband of a woman who is attending a course on how to become a medium. Whether it's deliberate or not, the program makes this course look absolutely laughable. Several "mediums" are shown getting what look like good hits and others are shown failing to link anything to the audience. I do feel the show will have everyone leaving it thinking what they did before. Believers will see their faith confirmed and realists (like me) will have their suspicions confirmed.
I'm planning to write to the BBC with my complaints about the uncritical nature of the show. I doubt I'm going to get anywhere, mainly because the program was made by the religious department of the BBC and therefore it was never going to get a serious investigation into whether it's real or not. I'll give it a go though.
There's a small webpage on the program at www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/everyman/index.shtml
I'm going to suggest they do a show doing scientific experiments into the paranormal. I think it is past time for such a program. BBC2 were the ones partly behind a similar one-off investigation into homeopathy featuring your good self which did a fantastic job in showing up the whole idea to be without foundation.
At no point are the terms cold- or hot-reading even mentioned, though not all the readings shown are successful. At one point we see the blind Irish "medium" called Sharon Neill flailing quite badly trying to link anything to the audience despite their best help. Later on we see the same medium trying to help a young man who believes he's been possessed by an evil spirit. I doubt I'm the only one who is very worried about what effect this will have on this troubled man.
And..... Reader Sean Jordan reports on another UK TV offering:
This show is possibly the worst show dealing with the "paranormal" that I've ever seen. They claim to use "forensic science" to test paranormal events, and declare one an episode "proof positive."
The winners thus far? A "reincarnated painter," now a captain of police (scary thought, huh?) and a pair of "psychics" who can, apparently, conduct cold readings (yawn) and draw pictures of dead people connected with a subject.
The proof for these? For the reincarnated painter fellow, they had him take a lie-detector test. That's right, a polygraph. Of course, if he believed it to be true, even a dedicated proponent of polygraphs would admit that the results would be negative. But he's also a cop, apparently experienced. There are some people more likely to be good at lying, but not many.
For the psychics, they used a sample size of — count 'em, don't miss any — five, one of which failed to return. I'm serious; this is their idea of a scientific test. And the success rate? Well, the subjects of the cold reading rated it, which is bad enough, but only rated it at around 66% or so. I'm not positive, I think that's the figure they mentioned. And two of the four couldn't find anyone who matched the pictures drawn, no matter how hard they searched. Based on this, SciFi pronounced this "proof positive."
I think that you ought to publicly challenge any one of these people who are so positively (and so scientifically) determined to be evidence of the paranormal to take a whack at your prize. At the least, please inject some sanity into this nonsense.
Another show which might draw your attention — "Ghosthunters," a reality series with a bunch of people that, yep, hunt ghosts.
I realize this is SciFi, but they're straying into science, however poorly, and confusing a great many people. Just cruise around in the discussion boards, if you want to see some poor, deluded folks."Proof Positive"
Reader Claus Larsen writes:
On the JREF board (there is only one!), someone mentioned a book about the promises of cold fusion (OK, OK! Don't groan!). The book seems to have a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke, where he writes (emphasis mine):
In 1989, the cold fusion controversy fitted into the second category, Failures of Imagination, which comes into play when all the available facts are appreciated and marshaled correctly but when the really vital facts are still undiscovered and the possibility of their existence is not even admitted.
Today, the cold fusion controversy falls into the first category, Failures of Nerve; many vital facts have been discovered, yet skeptics lack the courage to acknowledge them or their immense implications.
"The Rebirth of Cold Fusion," by Steven B. Krivit and Nadine Winocur, takes a fresh look at this still unresolved debate. An unbiased reader finishing this book will sense that something strange and wonderful is happening at the "fringes" of science. Although hard-core physicists remain fond of intoning "pathological science" like a mantra, I cannot quite believe that hundreds of highly credentialed scientists working at laboratories around the world can all be deluding themselves for years.
The neglect of cold fusion is one of the biggest scandals in the history of science. As I wrote in Profiles of the Future (1962), "With monotonous regularity, apparently competent men have laid down the law about what is technically possible or impossible — and have been proved utterly wrong, sometimes while the ink was scarcely dry from their pens. On careful analysis, it appears that these debacles fall into two classes, which I will call Failures of Nerve and Failures of Imagination."
Oh boy. This has been something that I've not had the nerve to discuss with Arthur, I must admit. I'm of the opinion that he just cannot believe that people/scientists of the stature of Pons and Fleishmann can be, or would be, mistaken. "Cold fusion" was announced to the startled scientific world back on March 23, 1989, when physicists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann outlined their discovery in the most heavily-hyped science story of the decade. But that story is modified by the fact that the procedure has never been shown to work. This is — to me, as a layman — rather strong evidence that it's not a valid claim. The American Physical Society and all major organizations of that stature, agree with that assessment. Sir Arthur has chosen to accept that cold fusion has validity, which surprises me, in light of the otherwise sober views that he holds of the real world.
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent trying to get results from the Pons/Fleishmann claims, and the consequence has been nothing but "suggestive" and "interesting" reports. I could point out that Edison, Westinghouse, Steinmetz, Bell Labs — as a few examples — declared discoveries that were almost instantly put in production and remain with us as genuine advances, but I recognize that such a matter as cold fusion is a far more complex issue than a light bulb or a transistor, and must require more work and time to be developed. However, fifteen years and more than adequate funding should have by now produced positive evidence of the reality of this claim, in my opinion.
Where are the properly-observed, replicated, demonstrations of this claim? Until those can be shown, my amateur opinion is that we should withhold endorsements....
Reader George Seifert writes:
I'm furious. The seriousness of quackery doesn't quite hit you until it happens in your neighborhood. I work for a well respected company that relies heavily on science to make some excellent products. Today however, they had a presentation from a Qigong "master" who basically did a commercial for his local quack qigong spa (www.springforestqigong.com).
Then he gets into Feng Shui. He stands on stage and asks if we're comfortable with him standing there. Of course — what a nice, gentle man. He picks a subject and stands less than a foot away and asks if she's comfortable with him standing there. No! What a shock! There must really be something to this Feng Shui thing.
Then he says we can raise or lower or blood pressure by rubbing up or down on each finger. You guess which way you have to rub to get the desired result. I can't give all the secrets away. Furiously I start rubbing down on my fingers to lower my blood pressure which is sky high at this point. Rats, I just gave it away. Also, did you know that you can clear your allergies and runny nose just by putting your hands over your head for 5 minutes? Why did I suffer all these years? Sign me up Qigong master — I'm all yours. I really cracked up when he asked the audience if they could guess where you'd have to rub for sexual problems. Wrong, it's at the base of the hand.
Unfortunately, I watched the presentation from a remote site and wasn't able to ask questions. Probably just as well. I'm not sure I would have kept my composure. Instead I fired off a letter to the department head that sponsored the presentation begging them to present a balanced view of the subject of energy healing. To my delight she wrote back (see her response below) and said she would welcome other views. So Mr. Randi if you would consider giving a talk here it would be a real eye opener for some people. 
He started the presentation with a bit showing how he could send his energy to the audience. He told the audience to pick a spot on the heel of each hand and then put the palms together. Now see which hand has the shorter fingers. Hold up that hand. He waves his hands in an upward motion. Now put your hands together again. See how the fingers are all the same length now? Hmmm...didn't work for some of you? With a more determined look this time he waves his arms upward faster. Ah, now it worked, right? He repeats this several times — sometimes lengthening and sometimes shortening. Thank goodness he put everybody's fingers back where they were when we started.
George, I'm of course always available for such engagements, but judging from the department head's response — below — I would not be able to provide sufficient bona fides to satisfy her standards. I'm not a "Master," nor a "Dr." Here's the response that David received from her:
If you would like to forward information on the suggested presenter, James Randi, or have him contact me, I would be glad to consider his presentation. We are always looking for suggestions.
Please know that Master Chunyi Lin has also presented at Mayo Clinic on March 24 of this year as a part of their complementary and integrative medicine program and was given a good review. We also got a reference from University of Minnesota medical professor Dr. William Manahan. The results of a study done by a Dr. Gaik might be of interest to you and are available through Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago, IL. The study is titled, "A Preliminary Study Applying Spring Forest Qigong to Depression as an Alternative and Complementary Treatment."George: Thank you for your feedback.
We have supplied information to the company involved, and will hope that our point of view will be given an opportunity to be aired there.....
This episode just shows that scientists and technicians who are exposed to phenomena that are sufficiently far out of their fields, can be completely hornswoggled. And, this "expert" being invited by their management to speak to them, adds a spurious validity to his claims. After all, would the top people in this company allow a quack to lecture to them?
Apparently, yes.
Reader Paul Droop:
Well you certainly prompted me to pen an e-mail immediately, which I sent to the Director of Public Relations and copied to both the Board of Governors and the Academic Vice President. I never received any reply to my e-mail and I was thinking today about what might have happened to it. Into the virtual waste paper bin was my first reaction. But maybe not! I followed the original links back to the offending web site and I can no longer find any trace of the article — a classic 404. Did my letter work? How many other readers of your commentary complained as well? It doesn't really matter, the nonsense appears to have been banished into the ether. A small victory perhaps, but they all add up. It goes to show the value of your work, keep it up.Under the title "Help this man" you published the pleadings of Marten Lettinga, a teacher at a Canadian University who was troubled by some particularly unscientific work published on his university web site. Despite years of trying he had been unable to have it removed. You concluded by writing "Marten, maybe our readers will drop a few notes to the institution....! Let's see!"
Reader Jamie Mulcahy tells me that he sent this to his colleague, a member of a Veterinary Association chat list:
Belief in homeopathy is akin to belief in fairies at the bottom of the garden, ghosts, and mind readers. Here is a summary of what rational scientists think of homeopathy:
Homeopathic claims are paranormal claims, for these six reasons of similarity and the close parallels they illustrate:
2. The phenomena are said to "work" by means that are not possible, based on what we already know with great certainty, about the real world.
3. The evidence for the phenomena presented is anecdotal, not scientific, and none of the "scientific" findings made by supporters have been independently replicated.
4. When attempted independent replications of the phenomena fail, supporters invoke special conditions and exceptions for their claims, and often state that these cannot be tested by "ordinary" science.
5. Supporters of the claims invoke such words as, "vibrations," memory," "quantum," "spiritual," and "infinite," without knowledge of, nor respect for, the actual meanings of such terms.
6. The claimed discovery is of such a nature and scope, that if true, it would have radically changed the face of science, our way of life, and our perception of the real world: that has not happened.
So, homeopathic claims are paranormal claims, as are claims of "free energy" or perpetual motion.
(I would love to credit the person who authored this but I cannot remember from whence it came)
So I say to you Charissa, and any other Veterinarian who supports the notion of homeopathy, get out there and prove it. A one million US dollar pay out must be in the bag. You can't whinge about the costs as all you need is water and very little else. A simple protocol might be to prepare a homeopathic solution of diazepam and see if anyone falls asleep after they drink it. Or how about treating a Staph infection with a heavily diluted broth of cultured staph bacteria. Or you could grind up and diluted some ticks as use this to treat tick paralysis in animals. It would be great if this last one worked as your very patients come in with the remedy already on them. You could fly to America to do the test very simply if you applied the homeopathic skills to kerosene. 1ml of kerosene and the rest water and that plane will be able to fly around the world twice!!. Think of the savings in pollution.
In all seriousness, look at point 6. I will repeat it here for emphasis:
I repeat, it has not happened. Penicillin — developed (and really discovered) by an Australian named Howard Florey just before the end of World War II -changed the world. Suddenly, previously deadly infections were being effectively treated in a predictable manner with a scientifically proven basis and outcome in over 90% of patients treated. Homeopathy has been around since 1700, a 245-year head start on antibiotics. Where is the Earth-changing therapy? Which homeopathic remedy even comes close to penicillin in effectiveness?
The practice of scientific medicine is constantly evolving. Howard Florey would be astounded by the development of antibiotics if he were alive today. Samuel Hahnemann could put out his shingle and fit right in with the plethora of modern-day quacks as the art (it is not a science) of homeopathy has not evolved one iota. It cannot evolve, because to do so it would have to be tested rationally and scientifically rather than by anecdotes and placebo effects. It is a practice of smoke and mirrors only.
Someone clever once said "Faith is the antithesis of reason." This applies very much to homeopathy. It is a belief, not a science, and it has no place in the treatment of sick animals or people. So I say again, if you are a believer, get out there and prove it. Go here to apply www.randi.org/research/index.html. Make all of us skeptics eat our words. Take One Million US dollars from James Randi. Stop making excuses and show us how the magic works. Bet you can't. 
Dear Charissa Smith (and any other believers in homeopathy), do you understand the meaning of scientific proof? If so do you really believe you can prove your fantastic (I mean this in the sense that you are in fantasy land) claim re homeopathic remedies? If you can PROVE any homeopathic remedy has a measurable effect then you can claim US$1,000,000 in negotiable bearer bonds from the JREF. I will give you a hint, anecdotes are not evidence. Also you must beat the placebo effect. Also the test must be double-blind and placebo-controlled.
1. Supporters claim that the phenomena are real, but no real evidence exists to verify that claim.
The claimed discovery is of such a nature and scope, that if true, it would have radically changed the face of science, our way of life, and our perception of the real world: that has not happened.
Jamie, I'm the author of those six points you quote above. I made that statement in response to an inquiry on why I included homeopathy as being eligible for the JREF prize along with other claims such as ESP, precognition, and speaking-with-the-dead. Those six points have served to challenge the quacks and pseudoscientists for years now....
Let us know if Charissa ever answers you....
Reader Michael Ortmann, in Germany, writes:
I am sure you have encountered at least as much superstitions and outright fraud in Europe and my own home country of Germany in particular, as you do in other parts of the world. As much as I would enjoy the thought that we Europeans finally are on the way to more enlightenment and will be able to present a good example to the rest of the world for once, I am afraid the contrary is the case.
Nonetheless, there are examples that leave room for at least a bit of hope, and as someone who, by natural disposition, is quite unable to subscribe to a wholly pessimistic view of the world, I maybe put too much emphasis on them, even in the light of so many indicators of the final demise of rational thinking — or thinking in general. But I guess that was true in the Victorian era as well, and we still didn't retreat into our caves and cast hexes on each other before we sacrifice lambs and infants to the gods — well, at least not all of us....
In light of this you might be interested in the following news item a friend of mine found on a website for law professionals in one of our exchanges about pseudoscience (my friend is a physicist and works in the field of mobile telecommunications and so, naturally, is under a constant barrage of "bullshit" as Penn & Teller would doubtlessly phrase it):
www.lawchannel.de/index2_full.php?feed=11073
Since it is in German, I took the freedom of translating the item into English:I hope you have enjoyed your time in Europe. Sadly I wasn't able to attend any of your appearances here, but I'm looking forward to do so in the future — maybe even at the Amazing Meeting III, if time permits.
Ineffective chips against "electrical smog" sold — six years detention.
Because he sold ineffective aluminum chips allegedly useful against electrical smog and "Cell phone radiation," a 56-year-old man from Feldatal near Alsfeld (District of Vogelberg) was sent to prison for six years. The regional court in Giessen today found the man, previously convicted for similar crimes, guilty of professional fraud in a total of 28 cases. Because of a concern that the convicted man might try to evade detainment, the Economic Crimes Court immediately issued a warrant of arrest, so that he had to leave the courtroom in handcuffs.
The judges followed the request of the public prosecutor's office. The defense had demanded acquittal. The judges found particularly despicable the fact that the accused had begun with the selling of the so-called "field processors" only shortly after his release from custody in the year 2000: he had served five years in prison already, because he had sold ineffective medicinal drops to people with severe cases of cancer.
While still on probation, the accused had developed, with "substantial criminal energy" as stated in the opinion of the court, a sales network for the thumb-nail-large aluminum dies which he sold all over Germany for approximately 300 Euros apiece. "Like a fisherman, you went fishing with a net and consciously selected unstable and psychologically ill humans for your prey," said the chairman of the court, Frank Oehm.
According to an expert opinion sought by the court, the field processors are however absolutely ineffective and consist only of aluminum- and copper-colored foil. Defense counsel Elfi Zinn and the accused rejected the reproaches, saying that the 56-year-old had developed the chips only after many years of research. Public prosecutor Lars Streiberger disagreed, saying in his closing speech, "The accused impressed people with his pseudoscientific gobbledygook and took their money."13.10.2004
Herr Ortmann closes with:
Wouldn't it be nice to think that the likes of Geller and Browne would be next? But alas, even this optimist can't quite go this far in his hopes. After all, a skeptic is hardly entitled to believe in wonders....
Reader Edwardson Tan tells us:
I heard on the radio that the Thai government will now be requiring psychics and faith healers to register. Here's what the BBC says: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3740830.stm
Thailand says it will begin registering faith healers and launch a campaign to educate people on the rights and wrongs of supernatural beliefs.
Certainly laudable to have the government teach the people about the wrongs of supernatural beliefs. It's the part about "rights...of supernatural beliefs" that worries me.
What worries me more, Mr. Tan, is that this is something the "psychics and faith healers" probably sought, themselves. If there will be no definitive tests of their abilities, and the authorities will depend on naïve testimonials — as they usually do — these swindlers will be allowed to continue in business, but will have the added imprimatur provided by the government. They'll eagerly add "licensed" to their titles, and take in even more suckers. The Attorney General of the State of Florida has declared in his wisdom that there's no way that psychics can be tested — even though we here at the JREF do it regularly — and he has been considering licensing the fakers officially....
However, the BBC report also says that the government "also plans to educate the Thai public about the dangers of supernatural worship and the possibility of being misled by psychics." Let's hope that it's a well-organized plan of operation....
Reader Stacey Cooley of Asheville, North Carolina, sends us this welcome news and compliment:
I used to be a believer in supernatural claims, and it took me many years to realize it all for what it was — wishful thinking and self-delusion. I am not proud of what I have believed so fervently in the past, but I am very proud indeed to have become a critical thinker and skeptic through research and experimentation. Your work has helped me immensely in this arena.
I will not say I disbelieve, but that I'll believe it when I see it.
Thank you very much, and please know that your work is truly a great benefit to society.I wanted to take a moment to say thank you, both for your much-needed educational foundation and for your dedicated work debunking scam artists and frauds.
It's the second-last paragraph there that really gets me. Stacey isn't going to have anyone else doing her thinking for her. No wine-clips, horoscopes, or super-diluted water for her!
From a recent Bob Park "What's New" entry:
I challenged him to a simple international double-blind test in which he would be asked to identify which of several flasks had been activated. The challenge was carried in a Time magazine article by Leon Jaroff (Time, 17 May '99). I met with Benveniste that June. A pleasant man, he agreed to everything, but said he needed time to get ready (www.aps.org/WN/WN99/wn051499.cfm.) Weeks became months. Years passed, trees fell, but to the end Jacques Benveniste needed more time. We all do.[Dr.] Jacques Benveniste, 69, died last week after a heart operation. The French biologist claimed in 1988 that biological effects of a dissolved substance persist, even after the dilution limit is exceeded. A decade later he discovered that infinitely dilute solutions emit an electronic signature that can be captured by a coil, digitized, and transmitted over the internet to transfer homeopathic properties to flasks of water anywhere in the world.
What Bob doesn't mention here is that the challenge was posed by Nobel Laureate Brian Josephson, that the APS also offered to pay all the costs of a properly-designed test — cost being one of the thorny problems with getting such a test under way, and the JREF offered to put up its million-dollar prize, as well. Benveniste still refused to respond.
Readers Allan & Alma Richardson inform me that parapsychologist Richard Wiseman has resigned from the Society for Psychical Research. I'll have to ask him about that. He and I spent much valuable time together recently in Italy, and he will be participating at our Amaz!ng Meeting 3, in January.
And, they also tell me that Victor Zammit, the strange religious fanatic lawyer in Australia, is now talking about suing Dr. Wiseman and Dr. Ray Hyman for their comments about the Russian girl Natasha Demkina, and is preparing the case now. Shudder! Hyman isn't too worried. Zammit has made threats like this before, one involving criticisms Hyman had about Dr. Gary Schwartz, the University of Arizona's contribution to irrationality in research. Nothing happened then, either.
I hope my American readers caught last week's note about visiting a voting station on November 2nd to express an important opinion. It's a right and a duty. A lot depends on the outcome, so let's not make excuses and stay home....
