Last week we promised to tell you more about the remarkable show offered by Todd Robbins — "Carnival Knowledge" — at the Soho Playhouse in lower Manhattan, New York. Todd does just about every major stunt that you've ever seen featured at a carnival — and a few you haven't. He literally eats a light-bulb, with the exception of the metal base. He does fire-eating equal to any I've ever seen, and demonstrates, with Madame Electra, a formidable Electric Chair effect in which light-tubes held by Madame light up in her hands, and she delivers a few thousand volts to an audience volunteer, which smartens him up a lot, and quick. He hammers a 6-inch spike up his nose — yes, really! — and does a number with a balloon that is best not described...

But what got me, particularly, was his effective speech on the nature of those people we call, "freaks." These are the folks who, either by accident of birth or mischance, are sufficiently different from the rest of us to attract attention. I'll invite you to see the Soho show to learn more about that matter.

I'll share with you here a part of Todd's speech — "pitch," in carnival language — in which he gives some of his well-worked-out philosophy, at the end of his show. He explains it this way:

I've tried to show you some things that you didn't know were possible. And that idea, that the impossible might be possible, is a powerful one. The desire to find out what is possible in life is what makes people go on and do great things with their lives. And it all begins with amazement, because when you are amazed you begin to wonder: How is it possible to eat glass? What goes into walking over broken bottles? Where does that nail go? And that means you are thinking. That's the greatest thing of all, for we have too much fear and not enough rational thought in our world today. So, if you have been amazed here tonight, then my job is done and yours is just beginning. And with this revelation, you are challenged to expand your perceptions of what is possible and discover for yourself how far you can stretch the boundaries of what is doable within your own life.

Yes, that's the secret ingredient that takes Todd's performance far beyond just a very entertaining act and makes it a joyously motivating experience. When you witness his work, you're not only being entertained, but you're also experiencing wonders beyond what you've previously imagined. Don't miss this show. If you're in New York City, or preparing to go there, first go to www.CarnivalKnowledge.com and reserve your tickets. And then, ladies and gentlemen, step right up...!

Reader Dave Kay tells us:

As an avid fan of pseudo-science, pseudo-intellectualism, and general claptrap I thought I would share a priceless quote. Apparently this quote comes from a "complex" text called the "Keys of Enoch" by Dr. J.J. Hurtak (Dr.?):

The valency of transfiguration takes place when the biogravitational energies which control the positive centropy of the DNA coding of intelligence are centered within a new spectrum of star energy controlling molecular-magnethydrodynamic fields.

Wow! I guess I need more "book learnin'." I found the quote at the following page:

www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2003/11/13.html#keys

There are so many things wrong with this I don't know where to begin.

Thanks for a great site.

And thanks for the heads-up, Dave. This nonsense is described thus, by an obvious dupe of such transparent trash:

Interestingly, Hurtak doesn't view his text as channeled information, because as he writes on his website, it was given directly to him in a "face-to-face experience with two beings of Higher Superluminal Intelligence."

Ah, that clears it up, right? Though this isn't by any means the worst of the pseudoscientific statements I've seen "out there," it's an hilarious-yet-sad example of what passes for erudition in the never-never world these folks inhabit. Language can be invented, subverted, skewed, and slanted to make it look good, yet say nothing. The Bard of Avon had it down, in Macbeth, Act 5, scene 5:

Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale — told by an idiot — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Well, a bit cynical, but not far off, in some cases...

Reader "EL" comments on the Dennis Lee reference of last week:

Re Lee's energy machine: this reminds me of something Arthur C. Clarke said decades ago: if someone claimed to have invented a bottle from which wine, say, could be poured indefinitely, people would ask "Where does it come from?" But in the case of energy, the question seems to arise less frequently.

And he/she also observes:

Concerning the "science" of parapsychology, something occurred to me. I haven't come across this in my reading, but maybe others have thought of it. Real sciences are distinguished as much by their mistakes as by their successes. Biologists used to believe in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, chemists in phlogiston, physicists in absolute (pre-relativity) time. But which parapsychological concepts have that fraternity abandoned? Telepathy? Psychokinesis? Precognition? Communication with the dead?

More importantly, I think, we should ask why not one of the "discoveries" of parapsychology — the reality of mental spoon-bending, survival-after-death, ESP, etc., has made one iota of change in our lives, in science, in philosophy, or in any disciplines — except for the field of fraud and swindle, of course.

Reader Michael Ward of Bellevue, Washington, alerts us to a very interesting site:

I was looking at a website about optical illusions, and they had a great example of how natural rock formations can look like a face. They make a reference to the face on Mars. Check this out...

www.optillusions.com/dp/1-46.htm

It is a good illustration of how the human mind seeks to find order and familiarity in the world around us.

And, Michael, that need to find order and patterns is a basic system of survival, quite hard-wired into all animals. Even human babies a few weeks old respond to such phenomena as being exposed to illusions of height, immediately reacting by appropriate retreat from a perceived danger. Ain't nature grand?

Mike Breuer, who describes himself as a "Disgusted Green Bay Resident," gives his reasons for dismay:

This morning as I flipped through my daily copy of the Green Bay Press Gazette (see links below), I paused at the Lifestyle section and sighed. The lead story's headline proclaims "Talk to an Angel... Lost someone special? She'll deliver a message from their afterlife." The article goes on to give a highly slanted account of the practices of one Trish Poole who operates in downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin. Poole is presented as a genuine seer, and no dissenting opinions are offered, other than the obligatory "I was skeptical at first" variety. The accounts of readings are presented as fact; a very shabby job of "reporting." What's worse is that on page 7 of the same section, another reporter has written a short article about the "haunted" hair salon in which Poole has set up shop.

Links to the articles:
www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/life_13141216.shtml
www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/life_13169618.shtml

I'm at a loss as to how to counter such ignorance, but I'm planning at the very least to send a letter of complaint to the newspaper. There are forums on their website for discussing the articles, which I am considering utilizing as well. What more can one person do?

Mike, as I've suggested before, that proposed letter of complaint can be effective, if done often enough. Any media source has to respond to criticism to stay in business, and I'm sure that you're not looking to censor such material, but to merely have a fairer and more critical point of view expressed. You're doing just what should be done. Please keep us informed of any reaction from the Green Bay Press Gazette...

I heard from a number of readers who suggested what Jim Moore does here, a site that handles a matter discussed here last week. Jim writes:

There's a terrific web site which has, among its many treasures, several articles dealing scientifically with the various claims of Afrocentrism, including the notion that Africans visited the Americas before mainstream European contact. To me the saddest thing about the subject is that there are plenty of things that Africans have done that have largely been ignored, and this bogus "science," largely designed to make African-Americans feel better about themselves, not only teaches them falsehoods but ultimately discredits legitimate research about the real African past that shows Africa to be far more than the benighted savages our histories have often made them. People should sweep away the nonsense and go for reality. Despite Homer Simpson's view: "Stupid reality!", reality really is amazing.

The site is The Hall of Maat (http://www.thehallofmaat.com) and the link to an article specifically on early Africans and America is http://www.thehallofmaat.com/maat/article.php?sid=73&page=1. It deals with the Olmec carved heads and other issues. The Hall of Maat deals with critiquing "alternative history" with a heavy, but not exclusive emphasis on ancient Egypt.

I must admit that one of the very few places I've never visited is the site of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. I'm sure that I would be brought to tears — as I was at the walls of Sacsahuamán outside of Cuzco, Peru — by witnessing yet another example of the wonders of which our species is capable, in denial of the Von Däniken bigotry against any variety of homo sapiens that does not have blue eyes or "white" skin. I can still remember that sunrise when I first walked up to those massive blocks of granite and laid my hands on them. Knowing that one of those fashioned stones weighs over 360 tons, and that they were shaped without the use of steel tools, has to bring one to a state of admiration.

Egypt's Great Pyramid is only one of so many proofs that Africa produced prodigious works made by remarkable, clever, industrious members of our species. Why some should choose to falsely amplify the real wonders that early Africans produced to astonish observers today, is difficult for me to understand...

On the same subject, reader Trish Randall comments re last week's piece on Africans-Discovered-America:

Just one question: If Africans did reach the Americas, why didn't they bring the wheel?

This matter of the wheel being "unknown" in America is something I've had opinions on for many years now. It was not exactly unknown, and shows up, for example, on ancient Peruvian wooden toys. But a wheel, all by itself, is not much use for transportation; it needs both an axel and an appropriate surface on which to travel. In early Peru, the Incas, the Mochica and the Chimu peoples — among others — occupied territories that were largely steep mountains and desert, both unsuited for the wheel. In the desert kingdoms, wood was scarce and difficult to work, so an axel was a major technical problem.

But Trish has a good point: it seems inescapable that other than in early Ecuador, Chile, and Peru, the wheel just had to show up, one would think...

You may remember Montague Keen, the Mr. Naïve of the UK who performed his antics for us a few weeks back in the middle of September. Our friend Tony Youens (www.tonyyouens.com) writes us to ask: "Is there nothing this man won't believe?"

Tony describes Keen's recent declarations re a séance that he attended and at which one William Charles Cadwell appeared to the sitters, though we're told that the chap died in 1897; such trifles are not important when you're already a nut case, so Keen accepted all this as true. Adds Tony, at this séance:

Amongst those spirits who came through was one Louis Armstrong. Wild! In case you've wondered about why such things can't be filmed using infra-red techniques, Montague asked the long-dead William Charles Cadwell, on our behalf...

Keen: May I ask another question: this anticipates some of the inevitable queries by my more skeptical colleagues who are always insistent that, despite the elaborate precautions taken to avoid any form of deception, they would still like to have infra-red photography through a video: we have never quite understood what the technical objections are to this. Would you be prepared to elaborate?

Cadwell's spirit: I understand: any form of electrical equipment that is used for infra-red photographic images of any sort does exude a type of ray, I believe the right word is, but of what consistency I do not know, but this type of ray that is exuded from the photographical equipment has a burning sensation upon the ectoplasm. It is a little like placing the hand in sulfuric acid. But as mediumship progresses in time there will be no need for infra-red photography because all will be seen in spirit-induced light or that of red light if possible so that, as skeptical as your colleagues may be, they cannot be skeptical when the medium is firmly strapped in the chair and a materialized form is seen to be standing in the room.

Keen: If I may say so, with great respect, you'd be surprised how far skepticism is sometimes taken.

Cadwell's spirit: Of course, there will always be those whom you cannot prove to them [sic] no matter what you do. Within your field you will always have those who believe or wish to believe, and those who do not. This is a fact of life. Unfortunately this is too true.

Tony suggests that we look at www.survivalafterdeath.org/articles/keen/thompson.htm for the whole magnificent account. But be sure to be seated; you may fall down laughing. To get you started, here's a photo that Montague describes as "An ectoplasmic face . . . seen extruding from the neck of the materialization medium Eva C, who, according to her, belonged to an entity named Estelle." Gee, Montague, to me this looks like an unfolded piece of a photo surrounded by cheesecloth that Eva had stuck down her blouse. But then, these miracles are beyond my comprehension...

Reader Annette Paulsen writes:

My son's school (he's in the third grade) recently held a Scholastic Book fair. This consists of Scholastic [publisher] sending out a selection of books and products for the children to buy. The school keeps a cut of the sales and then gets a percentage back that can be used to purchase books for the library. Now, I think this is a worthy cause and my family always participates. I love reading and books and want my boys to understand that the whole world is right there for them to pick up and read about.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this book on the shelf: "The Kids Guide to Fortune Telling" by Louise Dickson. I picked the book up and was shocked to see that it was presented as a nonfiction teaching tool. Now, understand that if this book was called "The Kids Guide to Fortune Telling for Fun," I would not have had a problem with it. I'm all for fun and games. I asked the Librarian if she thought that this was an appropriate book for children, thinking that perhaps she had not really looked at the book. Of course, she looked at me as if I had two heads. She stated that she hadn't really looked at it and asked if I also had a problem with Harry Potter? I told her, "Of course not. Harry Potter is a novel and clearly identified as such, and everyone knows that it is fiction. But when a book is categorized as nonfiction, and we all know that fortune telling is not real, I think we have an obligation to the children of our school to remove it from the shelves, until it is categorized appropriately, as fiction."

By then several other mothers were coming closer to see what the fuss was about. The librarian then leafed through the book and stated, "But these are just fun games to play." To which I replied, "Yes, they are. But the book is not labeled 'fun and games.' It's labeled 'Kids Guide to Fortune Telling,' thereby implying that it is nonfiction and letting children infer that they could learn fortune telling from it." By this point everybody was looking at me as if I were crazy.

I then tried to explain to the Librarian and other parents that this is how we start our children off on a slippery slope of accepting fiction for truth and that it's not a far slide from fortune telling to perpetual motion machines, spoon bending, and alien abductions. I then asked her if she would remove the book from the sale as I thought that it was inappropriate. She refused. She stated she saw no problem with the book. I then asked if this was the only copy that she had. She replied that it was the only one that Scholastic had sent her. I asked if she would order another if this one was purchased, and she said "No."

So, that's how I ended up with a copy of "The Kids Guide to Fortune Telling." I hated to give my money to the author of such garbage, but I just felt that it is wrong to present this book as nonfiction. I think I have also sealed my fate at my son's school. Oh well.

Keep up the good work. I am diligently trying to do my part to raise boys who will grow into men with the ability to think critically and never stop questioning the world around them.

Kudos, Annette! Way to go! And, if that silly book offends you, we would certainly give it shelf space in the JREF library, right next to "The Tarot for Your Self" (?) and "I Ching and You."

Trevor Hamilton, in Toronto, Canada, informed me of an extensive avowal of dowsing and a detailed description of it which is too long to include here, made by a John Living, in Canada. It sounded so confident, that I sent this message to jliving@direct.ca I do not expect an answer, though I'm prepared for surprises...

Sir: I would like to make you aware of this Foundation's million-dollar prize for anyone who can demonstrate dowsing. It can be seen at www.randi.org

Every dowsing organization, or dowser, that we have contacted, has ignored this offer. Have you any interest? It would only take an hour of your time, and if your claim is true, you would be one million dollars (US) richer. This offer applies to all Canadian dowsers. Please let us know if you are interested. Thank you.

Reader Jamie Mulcahy notes, re the myriad of homeopathy claims that he sees:

If even half of the claims that are made about many of these treatments were true, then these concoctions should have two things in common with penicillin:

1. The course of history would be changed.

2. Pfizer, Bayer, Smith-Klein, Novartis et al should be falling over themselves trying to market and produce these remedies.

Penicillin changed the course of history and has saved thousands of lives. St John's wort has hardly raised a blip expect to line the coffers of some unscrupulous and shoddy (e.g. Pan Pharmaceuticals [Australia]) companies. Sadly, as with all such comments, it goes in one ear and out the other for the true believer. Ignorance must be bliss.

Reader Tom Ecker and his friend Bob Arnold reported to me about a "graphologist" lecturer on their cruise ship, and in answering his question — ahead — I discovered a misapprehension on my part. Bob was asked to:

. . . check with Randi and find out about graphologists? We have one onboard, giving "lectures" and Tom wants to know what Randi thinks of them.

Well, he did, and I replied:

Graphology is bunk when it claims to denote character, the future, or mate possibilities. Graphoanalysis is, however, legit.

Tom then did some basic research of his own, then wrote me again:

I'm Bob Arnold's friend from Cedar Rapids. I spend about half my time cruising in various parts of the world, lecturing on the Olympic Games. At the moment, we're really rocking as we head for Sydney. As Bob told you, we have a graphologist on board who gives terrible presentations. She had big audiences at first, but they are getting smaller by the day. Today's topic is "How to select your mate through handwriting." Another was "Change your handwriting and change your life." I know this is bunk, but I am trying to figure out the difference between graphology and graphoanalysis. We were in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday, where I went through a number of dictionaries at a downtown bookstore. There were brief definitions of graphology, but nothing about graphoanalysis. Can you help me?

Well, I went to all of my dictionaries, and to Google.com to see what the problem might be. I'd always believed that "graphoanalysis" referred to the scientific process of identifying handwriting samples as being genuine or faked, as document collectors do with items they come upon that are ascribed to specific individuals. I was quite wrong in that assumption. As a result, I had to answer Tom:

I'm publishing a retraction.... I was of the opinion — for years — that graphoanalysis was the term used to describe handwriting identification. It's not, and as a matter of fact doesn't show up anywhere in word references, and even my spell checker doesn't recognize it! That term has been adopted by the "graphologists," who think they can identify character and personality traits — and MUCH more — from handwriting. Nonsense, of course, as you opined.

Ah, but there's more. Reader Marco Scheurer of Lausanne, Switzerland, had a comment about last week's piece on mass-killer Ridgway and his passing a polygraph test:

Nineteen years ago, [Ridgway] sent a letter to the Seattle Post Intelligencer. This letter was forwarded to law enforcement. What happened is reported here:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/147324_ridgewaypenpal07.html

[...] "Court documents now say the task force was misled after an FBI "expert" examined the letter and proclaimed that the killer had not written it.

Yesterday, sources close to the task force said investigators did a slow burn after Ridgway told them the letter was from him. Sources said the FBI expert, a psychological profiler, essentially had blown off the letter, dismissing it as the work of "someone inside the task force seeking undue attention." [...]

I've always been skeptical of this FBI profiling art.

Marco, another of those notions that sounds pretty good, and might even have limited value as a working tool, but which is over-fluffed and too easily accepted as "new technology" that seems to be in the same league as, for example, fingerprint science, but isn't. In the same category as polygraphy.

Reader Peter Illi reports from Sweden that the new season of TV's "Sensing Murder" (Fornemmelse av mord) has started, but the Aftonbladet (Evening Post) newspaper has described it as:

COMPLETE FAILURE — NO MURDERS SOLVED. Severe criticism of broadcasting spirit-aided murder chases.

It turns out that the "clairvoyant psychics" of Sweden's Channel 5 haven't given the police a single valid clue in unsolved murder cases, though they talked a lot and gave all sorts of hints and guesses. Jerzy Sarnecki, a professor of criminology who was consulted, has suggested that "The series should be terminated as soon as possible." It all started last spring, when the program producers employed five of Sweden's "most capable clairvoyant psychics" to find new clues in ten unsolved disappearances and murders. By the end of September, the "psychic's" contacts with the dead during that season were far from successful.

A survey has been conducted among the police superintendents in charge of the ten murder cases, and they said that the information given by the clairvoyants had not resulted in a single clue leading to any progress in any of the ten cases. "That was exactly what we expected from the beginning," the report said. "This is just nonsense. It hasn't helped us in any way." One superintendent from Orebro, a town 100 miles west of Stockholm, said, "The show only has entertainment value, nothing else," and a superintendent from Kalmar (200 miles south of Stockholm) agrees: "We only hoped that the attention the broadcast brought, would cause people with actual knowledge of the cases, who have not yet come forward, to contact us. But we haven't received any valid tips," he said.

Professor Sarnecki totally rejects the methods used by the show. "It's cynical, deeply unethical and aimed only at making money. It could be compared to quacks exploiting cancer patients who are unable to benefit from further help from health care," he says.

But Johan Westman, the program manager at Channel 5, explained, "The show is based on the relatives' absolute concurrence. Everybody knows what they're getting into. I believe in the method in the sense that there are many real details regarding the crimes that the psychics could not have known about beforehand, but which they do reveal." Here we have, I believe, the usual and expected data-searching that appears to give validity to such matters. Consider what Aftonbadet's research showed about the ten cases that so impressed Johan, and according to him, also were meaningful to the relatives involved:

Inger Stark, 43: Murdered 29th of November 1990 in Karlstad on her way home from a night out with coworkers. Results from the show: none.

Annelie Ojonen, 25: Failed to turn up for work at Kalmar Airport on the 19th of September 1997. Her dairy notes revealed she was pregnant and happy. Her body has not been found. Results from the show: none.

Pernilla Hellgren, 31: Murdered in Framby outside of Falun shortly after having said goodbye to her sister one summer night in 2000. She was found stripped naked in a forest the following morning. Results from the show: none.

Olle Hogbom, 18: Disappeared without a trace 7th of September 1983 after a party in Sundsvall. Results from the show: none.

Maria Andersson, 34: Murdered in the laundry of her apartment house on the night of May the 4th, 1995. Stabbed to death with a sharp object. Results from the show: none.

Rolf Valentin Larsson, 57: Was the rock'n'roll king of Malmoe in the fifties. Found murdered in the Magistrate Park in Malmoe on the night of October the 8th, 1994. His head had been subject to violence. Results from the show: none.

Torbjorn Andersson, 37: Stabbed to death in front of his door in central Stockholm on the night of December 12th, 1999, after visiting a nightclub. Results from the show: none.

Mikael Ek, 29: Found murdered in a cave in Huddinge June 15th, 1991. He was naked and severely beaten. Results from the show: none.

Malin Olsson, 16: Left her friends after an argument at midnight at a Shell gas-station by Ullevi in Gothenburg on the night of 24th of July, 1994. She was later found dead in the Eastern Cemetery a couple of kilometers away. Results from the show: none.

Eva Soderstrom, 27: Found murdered 150 meters from her home in Kramfors, 1987. Results from the show: none.

Summary: Total percentage of crimes solved: 0

So much for the opinions of the Channel 5 executives....

We just got back the signed receipt from the Larry King office, so he’s received the request to serve as administrator of the JREF million-dollar prize offered Sylvia Browne. Now we’ll wait to see whether he accepts... I can hardly wait!

A closing note: not at all to our surprise, Mr. Jim Thomas, the man who sells the fake dowsing rods, has refused delivery of our certified letter sent out October 20th. He's very happy to make loud suing noises, and he rattles his legal saber loudly, but runs for the woods when he finds his bluff is being called. Over there! That looks like Thomas crouched under that rock with Sylvia Browne...!