Table of Contents:
Reader Steve Peoria of Arizona shares an event with us:
I work for a good friend of mine as a designer/fabricator in his custom metal working shop. We build or modify high performance vehicles of all kinds and make all kinds of things out of metal.
My friend (Mike) has been feeling the pressures of being a small business owner and has striven to make things at work as efficient as possible. I was at the shop today (Saturday) working on a personal project when Mike and his girlfriend showed up with a woman that they were obviously friends with. He said she was here to help out with making the business more efficient and introduced me to her. I was finishing up on the PC when I overheard what she was there to do: rid the building, business, and all persons present, of any negative energy and replace it with good energy.
I'd heard Mike talk about his Mom's psychic friend in the past and this was her. Mike had shared info with her about me being a friend who had previously owned his own business and had recently come to work for him. She started by telling me how she could see my aura was full of negative energy and that she could rid me of it. I grinned and said "great" and then excused myself. Moments later, Mike's girlfriend came into the shop to get me to come back into the office and be part of the cleansing, so I did. The woman then offered more information about how I've had difficult times lately, etc. etc. etc. This info was easily gleaned from stories Mike had previously told her about me. She used her hands to perform some sort of "scan" of my head and body, with the most time concentrated on my head, heart, stomach and genitals, all the while mumbling to herself and offering suggestions of what "sensations I may or may not be feeling."
The whole time she was there she was swinging an amber colored amulet on a small chain. I thought she just had a nervous habit but I figured out later she wasn't just swinging it around. This was her answering machine for the spirits she was asking for info.
After I checked out okay, she went to work with her dowsing part of the show. She started by the front door and moved quickly, tracing several paths and asking questions to "someone" and telling us what they thought was wrong. Out came the swinging gem and the mumbling resumed. This time she started counting numbers aloud and came to the conclusion that 300 or more native Indian spirits — the shop is in Tempe Arizona — are trapped here and are disrupting the energy.
She asked the angels to gather these lost souls together and show them to the light. I couldn't stop grinning and thinking to myself how ridiculous this was. So the angels did their job and she rescanned the area with her bent-knitting-needle-looking dowsing rods. Oops! There was still something left! She found that there was an underground stream that had been filled with poisons. Mike acknowledged that a past industry in the area was found to be poisoning the ground water over the years. This time she called up the fairies and gnomes to help out the angels. She put this situation in sort of a "self regulating quarantine" so it wouldn't cause any more problems. I have an experience I'd like to share with you, and a question. I've enjoyed your site and the info it provides. It has helped me to become a more informed skeptic and to be more critical in my thinking. Here's what I experienced today:
The whole time this woman did her show, Mike and his girlfriend would ooh and aah at the findings and the fix-its. Unbelievable, that two grown, college-educated humans would fall for this crap.
I found a business card the woman left for Mike's girlfriend. It reads: "The Angel Store, Certified Spiritual Counseling, Angel Classes and Angel Readings, (with address and Suite #) Phoenix, AZ., www.Theangelstore.net. Attached to the card was a note that gave the name of Tyler the Pet Psychic and a half-price special on Dowsing!
So, Mr. Randi, my question is this: Should I give my friends a backhand slap of reality or respect their ignorance? All others get a sharp dose of the truth from me and a suggestion to visit your archives. I just had to share that story with you. 
As if all of that wasn't enough, she placed a "vortex" in the office chair to ensure that good energy would accompany the chair's occupant. It was self-monitoring so it knew who was sitting there and what was needed at the proper time. And she placed a "black bag check" at all entrances so if people were to bring in negative energy, it would be left at the door with an option to pick it up on the way out if so desired.
Steve, I suspect that I'd just shake both of them really hard and tell them to get real. Yes, try to reason with them, but if that doesn't work, just abandon further attempts. A confirmed and dedicated believer will always be just that, and wheel-spinning in the form of logic and reason by you won't help a bit....
Reader Gary Heayes in the UK writes:
As a regular reader and avid fan of your site, I thought you might be interested in a recent article on the power of expectations on the brain and its influence on taste perceptions. It seems timely, given your recent coverage of the "magnetic wine clip." The article is from the UK's Independent newspaper, showing just how powerful the mere expectation of a taste difference can be.
At the same time the researchers found that the Coke label stimulated a huge increase in activity in parts of the brain associated with cultural knowledge, memory and self-image — so much that the scientists could use brain scans to predict which soft drink an individual was likely to prefer. The Pepsi label produced no such increase.When (test subjects were) asked to taste blind, they showed no preference. However, when the participants were shown company logos before they drank, the Coke label, the more famous of the two, had a dramatic impact: three-quarters of the tasters declared that they preferred Coke.
Mind you, while the scientific research certainly pinpoints the processes in the brain, I suspect that the effect they are describing is one that has been known to skilled magicians for centuries.
As you have suggested, it seems very likely that when the taster can't see the magical clip on the bottle neck, the taste difference is going to disappear. Perhaps the wine clip guys would like to offer your readers some samples of their product so that we can conduct some independent double-blind tests? I personally have no objection to downing a few bottles of red in the interests of science.All this suggests that while the wine magnet may not be physically altering the wine, its presence is indirectly altering the brain chemistry of the drinkers by raising their expectations. I suspect that red "kabalah" string tied around the neck of the bottle would have similar effects for Madonna and her pals!
We can only admire Mr. Heayes dedication to scientific research, and the sacrifices he is willing to undergo for acquiring new knowledge. Reader William Rentfrow, Principal Consultant for StrataCom, has found an ever sillier (could that be?) version of this same claim, though by a different version of pseudoscience:
I travel for work and last week I was killing time during the flight reading the Sky Mall catalog. You're not going to be surprised to find that the "Wine Clip" nonsense is spreading. There's now a product called "The Vintage Express," which is basically another wine clip with a slightly different spin. The best part is that it comes with "The Shooter Buddy," which is supposedly able to re-create twenty years of aging for fine liquor. Just a note: people who enjoy fine 20-year old scotch, etc, generally do not refer to having a "shooter." To quote:
Vintage Express Aging Accelerator ages beverages 10 years in 10 Seconds! The Earth's magnetic field aligns liquid particles much like tiny compass needles. This alignment is destroyed during the manufacturing process. Traditional slow aging realigns the particles, but is an expensive, time consuming process. Vintage Express uses sixteen Neodymium magnets to accelerate the natural aging process by exposing beverages to a powerful replication of the Earth's magnetic field. Vintage Express "opens" the flavor of a bottle of wine in only five minutes, and dramatically improves the flavor of Scotch, Whisky, Bourbon, Tequila, Vodka or any liquor in as little as ten seconds! The longer the beverage remains in the Vintage Express, the greater the effect.
Purchase now through SkyMall and receive a free Shooter Buddy! In just ten seconds the Shooter Buddy duplicates the taste of ten years of slow aging. In only four minutes the Shooter Buddy duplicates the taste of twenty years of slow aging.
On the same subject, reader Andy Quintana:
However, I did read and was somewhat startled by the comments attributed to reader Paul Armel, who scoffed at the notion that the shape of a glass and a wine's interaction with the drinker's lips can affect the taste of the wine. You seemed to agree and said you were "saddened" by his story. Don't jump to conclusions without consulting the evidence.
I can state without hesitation that glass shape (including the rim) can have an enormous impact on the taste of a beverage. The variety of shapes commonly assigned to specific beverages is (for the most part) a matter of functionality rather than marketing.
The brandy snifter has a wide base to facilitate the warming of the brandy/cognac by the hand, as well as the concentrating of the aroma by the much narrower opening of the rim.
The champagne flute is tall and narrow to slow the loss of the CO2 bubbles, to keep it from going "flat" for as long as possible. This is why one should never drink champagne from those wide, flat glasses they make the towers with.
Stems on a wine glass allow the drinker to hold the glass without warming the wine with the hand. Various shapes increase or limit the surface area of the wine, and therefore the aeration, which dramatically alters the taste in a rapid fashion. Admittedly, the minor differences in some types of glasses are a result of marketing. Some glasses have a flared, flatter rim than others. This makes the beverage hit the tongue in a flatter stream and thus affects the taste. How a rim makes the drink hit the lips, the front, or the back of the tongue determines which tastebuds are hit and thus how the taste is perceived.
I would venture to guess that the "wine clip" you describe DOES dramatically affect the taste of wine, although for very different reasons than its sellers claim: aeration. Aerating a wine causes many of the compounds in it to oxygenate, and a rough, splashy pour only increases the amount of wine that comes in contact with air. Decanting does the same thing, and can impress your guests as well. I would bet that a double-blind test comparing wines poured through the "wine-clip" and wines poured normally from the bottle will show a dramatic difference. Here's the catch: remove the "magnets" or whatever junk they have in there, and compare wine poured using the unaltered "wine clip" to the "demagnetized" clips. I would bet a considerable sum that there is no difference between the two. It is not magic, it certainly is not magnets, it is simply air. In addition, red wine reacts more with air than whites, that's why they claim their product has more of an effect on reds.
My suggestion to potential customers: save the money and spend it on a cheap decanter instead.I am only a semi-regular reader of your commentaries as, unlike you it seems, I have for the most part given up fighting the crusade for logic and rational thinking. I'm not sure mankind as a whole is capable of it.
Hold on: the statement that the wine clip affects the taste of wine should more correctly be: "the use of the "wine clip," rather than the way it's shown here, "that the 'wine clip' you describe DOES dramatically affect the taste of wine." Any other procedure that requires a wine to be further aerated — if Mr. Quinana is correct, and I can't say — would produce the same effect. And, please note, I cannot address the subtleties that are suggested here about the shapes of glasses. They may be valid, but I sense a certain amount of overdone sophistication is being evoked. I have long been aware of the reasons for the brandy snifter shape, and the champagne glass, but other variations give me pause. Mr. Quintana resumes:
As I believe I can easily prove all I have stated above, and as I can certainly use the money, I would be more than willing to accept the million dollars. Just contact me for the address you can send the check to. Alternatively, I would be delighted to demonstrate the above phenomena with a bottle of wine or two the next time you are in the Washington, DC or Northern Virginia area.
Now, that's an alternative offer I might accept! Seriously, any test done of this quack device would involve a magnet-present and a magnet-absent comparison, of course. But we'll never know, because Mr. Lynch will not respond....
Reader Bob Carroll tells us:
And apparently, Trudeau is not the only one who thinks we've all been taking too much acid. See www.ph-health.com. Gabe Mirkin, M.D., has an antidote for this alkalinity notion written up in Acid/Alkaline Theory of Disease Is Nonsense. But I'm afraid the TV infomercial will reach millions to every viewer of Mirkin's article. Still, no reason to give up the fight!Kevin Trudeau — last week's page — may have been fined by the FTC but he hasn't been shut down. I saw him on a TV infomercial a couple of times last week hawking a book called Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know About! It's also on the Web at www.calcompnutrition.com/natural-cures-kevin-trudeau.html. He was telling his bogus interviewer that you can prevent and cure cancer (and any other disease) by transforming all your cells so that their pH is alkaline. Apparently, this can be accomplished by eating certain foods.
Yes, Bob, I saw that "interview" too, and Trudeau's constant reference to "the cancer industry" as the moving force behind suppression of his miracle cures, was simply criminal. These are the vultures of the age, preying on the vulnerable and weak.
Have you subscribed — free — to Bob's service? If not, hasten to sdsubscribe@skepdic.com and do so! He'll be at The Amaz!ng Meeting 3 in January, so you'll have a chance to meet and chat with him. You are already signed up for TAM3, aren't you....?
Reader Jan-Are K. Johnsen, a psychologist with the University Hospital of North Norway, writes:
Disturbing news from Norway, I'm afraid....
Almost as disturbing is the poll on the website of the newspaper that brought the news, in which approximately 80%(!) of the respondents are positive to the idea that psychics should "help out" in police investigations. Although I know well enough that the respondents do not constitute a representative sample of the Norwegian population, it is still enough to make any sane person's skin crawl.
This morning a Norwegian newspaper reported that a woman has been brought in for questioning regarding the tragic hit-and-run death of a young woman in October last year. This sounds like good news, right? Not really. It appears the only evidence against the woman detained has been brought forward by psychic Lena Ranehag in a — sad to say — quite popular TV-show called "Fornemmelse for mord," roughly translated: Premonition of Murder. In this parody of a show, psychics try to shed light on unsolved murder cases, but to my knowledge no glimmer of light has been detected yet. Now, in some sick twist, local police chose to trust information from one of the psychics, and brought someone in for questioning based solely on this information. Although, I do not think we are any closer to solving the case, the potential for personal tragedy is evident here. Also, given that a number of people are wrongly accused and convicted each year, often of even more serious crimes than this, this is a tragedy on several levels.
Reader Paul Hill tells us:
James Van Praagh was on Howard Stern this morning. Howard et al. don't believe in psychics and made it known. James didn't make any readings, but made himself sound silly. One highpoint was saying that he would do a reading for Howard and Artie Lang privately, off the air. The next was that he knows where Chandra Levy's body is, but he's not telling! Why? "It's not the right time."
Oh. I see. But just when, James, might the right time be....? Hello? James?
Reader John D. Jackson, Social Studies teacher and Football Coach at Plainfield Central High School, Plainfield, Illinois, is actively pursuing paranormal claims and researching the structure of belief....
This is not the first time I've mailed you. You referred me to some excellent info on "Cold reading" a number of years ago in regard to a question about the "Crossing Over" clown John Edward. I have since used a variation of the technique on my students and even fellow faculty members and then let them in on the gag. With students I use it in an effort to make them better thinkers and with my colleagues I do it to point out that they — as educators — should know better. I've also used the horoscope exercise I saw you do on Nova. I pretend I have an astrologer buddy who will do free horoscopes for my classes. The buddy is of course myself and one of my fellow social studies cynics. It is, of course, the same horoscope for all of them. Gosh, I have a lot of fun with that one.
And yes, I do let them in on the gag.
Sorry about that. My question is about these "nuclear physicists" like Stanton Friedman, who seems to rip the History channel for their suggestion that UFOs may have logical and terrestrial origins, yet he is so prominently featured as a commentator on their shows. In addition, he has a rather unimpressive resume as a Nuke Physicist. My source is his own web page — http://www.v-j-enterprises.com/sfbio.html. What is your position on this "scientific" lack of recognition of the possibility of the null hypothesis by many of these "researcher"/"experts"? Do you or your foundation deal with the "UFO question"? I have been following your work for at least 15 years now, and as a high school history teacher I find your approach to uncovering these "paranormal" or "psychic" profiteers rather refreshing. Yes, even after 15 years.
I'm amazed that despite the massive webpage archives we maintain, so few persons go there to answer their own questions. It's thoroughly archived, and at great expense and labor we keep answers up there for immediate reference.
By the way, what would it cost to bring a noted lecturer like yourself to a modest suburban Chicago High school?
That subject, too, is prominently described on the web page, John. Costs of a lecture are available by means of a simple phone call....
Reader Richard Schultz corrects me, as several others did, on the cold fusion credits of last week, then gives us his view of their delusion:
Of the two (P&F), Fleischmann was undoubtedly the bigger name in their field of electrochemistry, although to the best of my knowledge, Pons was also reasonably well-known. I think that their story is a rather tragic one in that they came up with an interesting idea (although their original line of reasoning was pretty clearly fallacious), fell in love with it, and then were unable to escape their own delusions. While the initial paper had its share of problems, their later papers in the field were simply pathetic.
At the time of their original announcement, Pons was quoted in the local newspaper (and pictured on the front page) as having already built a prototype cold fusion water heater, and that a commercial model would be available in about six months. It's been fifteen years, and we're still waiting to see that water heater....A minor correction to your "Commentary" — Pons and Fleischmann are chemists, not physicists. At the same time that they were doing their research at the University of Utah, Steven Jones, a physicist at Brigham Young University — how's that for a coincidence? — also investigated the possibility of cold fusion. His much more modest claims were taken more seriously at the time, but when he failed to reproduce them under more controlled conditions, he retracted them. I don't know what his current position is on the possibility of the phenomenon being real.
I'd invest in a regular water heater. If this promise is kept as well as the myriad of others on this subject, you'll be shuddering through cold showers for years and years and years and years....
Reader John Beattie is, I hope and believe, pulling our collective leg....
Well, you have to admit it makes as much sense as the other way around.I was thinking about astrology, and something occurred to me. Now, since astrology is based on the notion that the positions of the stars and the lives of the people born under them are inextricably linked, yes? Well, if this holds true, then shouldn't it work both ways? Just arrange for the right things to happen to people of the same sign. Arrange for a large number of Virgos to meet tall, dark strangers, or for Leos to receive small sums of money, and watch the stars fall into more manageable positions. Just think of the implications for astronomy! No more waiting for stars to come into view at their convenience; just smack every other Scorpio with a trout, and watch the stars zoom into place!
Reader Jeremy Tolsma:
Thought you might get a kick out of this one, though perhaps you're already aware of it. I was browsing the vinyl records in a used record store and came across a UK pressing of the flash-in-the-pan hit "Walk the Dinosaur" by the underground funk unit-cum-pop group "Was (Not Was)." One of the mixes of the track is called "The Debunking of Yuri Geller Mix" [sic]. Although I like the group, I absolutely hate that particular song as it brings back memories of 1988 and flunking out of high school, but I had to lay down two bucks for the record just to see what the deal was with this particular mix. Besides featuring a slightly different musical arrangement, the only difference between this mix and the other versions on the record is the inclusion of two samples, one of a man saying "How can you look at people and lie like that?"
As a musician, it's nice to come across skeptics in the industry. I wonder if you might investigate more celebrity musician skeptics and list them in your newsletter sometime. The only other one I'm aware of is the illustrious Mark Kramer, although his and Penn & Teller's long-time association with Jad Fair leads be to believe that he, too, might be of the skeptical persuasion. Anyway, I'd love to see you write about this sometime.
Well, Jeremy, Kramer sits at his desk down the hall and around the corner from me at the JREF as I write this. He's in charge of handling the applications for the JREF challenges....!
Reader Jonathan Latimer directs us to www.peer.org/press/524.html, where we read:
Washington, DC. The Bush Administration has decided that it will stand by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, according to internal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Despite telling members of Congress and the public that the legality and appropriateness of the National Park Service offering a creationist book for sale at Grand Canyon museums and bookstores was under review at the national level by several offices, no such review took place, according to materials obtained by PEER under the Freedom of Information Act. Instead, the real agency position was expressed by NPS spokesperson Elaine Sevy as quoted in the Baptist Press News: "Now that the book has become quite popular, we don't want to remove it."
PARK SERVICE STICKS WITH BIBLICAL EXPLANATION FOR GRAND CANYON. Promised Legal Review on Creationist Book Is Shelved.
Yes, folks, like it or not, we are now living in a theocracy — which need not consider any legalities, nor fulfill its agreements, because it's directed by God....
Reader Paul Power:
Regarding Edgar Mitchell's comment about the "negative dogmatic nonsense of 19th century science," perhaps someone should tell him the following: according to www.etymonline.com, the word "charlatan" appeared in English in 1611, "quack" in 1638, "mountebank" in 1577, "gyp" in 1889 and "con" also in 1889. Perhaps all we need is 19th-century science to expose "fraud" (1345)?
Reader Simon Nicholson (see www.randi.org/jr/082704gluton.html#12)
The fact is, there is so far nothing to update! I have not heard anything from the principalship nor from the faculty. Our college has just been awarded "beacon status" by the government in recognition of educational excellence, and I took the opportunity of e-mailing the principle pointing out the irony of this, in the context of the ludicrous offerings from certain faculties, but I have had no reply at all.
To be fair, this is moment of great changes in the management of the college, with several new heads of faculty still settling in, so I guess I will give them until the next term before resuming my pestering! However, there is one spot of brightness I feel might interest you; I have been appointed to deliver a big part of a new degree course in Business technology, and I have considerable autonomy in this, basically being able to design, write and teach my own modules. My manager has been very positive and supportive of my inclusion of a short course in critical thinking, as part of the data processing and argument mapping module. I am currently collating resources for this, and with your permission, a link to the JREF site will be included!This is a courtesy note to apologize for not contacting you with an update, as promised, on the situation at City of Bristol College regarding the teaching of wacky courses in Reiki, Crystal healing etc., ad nauseam.
In closing this week, I'll share this message in an application from a Korean reader. This is the sort of thing that Kramer has to handle several times a week, but this one is obviously due to a language-translator software package that purports to convert one language into another. Obviously, the Korean-to-English aspects need a bit of additional work....
It wants a truth close examination Proof do as a favor the truth which becomes accomplished with knowledge I report speak a secret intention soul everyday I when where it stands it probably is an inside soul, The inside soul probably is, all knowledges of outer space They probably are all memories of secret intention all characteristic whole thing all memory outer space, Globe knowledge it does to become accomplished probably is, and also it probably is a soul of former existence, I Korean and knowledge and great disaster directly The secret intention whole thing does as a favor truth is proof The James LAN D Sea sliced raw fish it will wear and it wants It seems with the knowledge which is visible in the eye and there is a drill possibility, Secret intention soul it becomes accomplished and the zeros which it does as a favor it seems and a drill possibility there is New dim!ension it seems and it wants giving
So there.
Registrations for TAM3 are still coming in, and regrettably the "Dinner with Randi & Richard" is completely sold out, as is the "Special Workshop." I just spoke with Sonny Fox of "Wonderama" fame, and he's looking forward to being there. I can't wait to see Julia Sweeney gracing our stage again, and meeting my old friend Fred Pohl, fearless science-fiction author, after so many years of our being parted. Lecturing in Europe last month, I met a number of people who said they'd be seeing me in Las Vegas, too. I hope you'll be there!
Click in on www.randi.org/tam3/index.html to get started on your registration for what promises to be a slam-bang encounter with reality — "From Eve to Newton — The Apple of Knowledge" — featuring Dr. Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, the author of so many definitive books — my personal favorite is "The Blind Watchmaker" — that enrich our lives and make the world so much more exciting!
Until next week....
