December 5, 2003

Jim Thomas Still Silent, More Dowsing Puzzles, Lumps for Randi, Evolution Via Computer, Another Korean "Healer," FinnAir Quackery, Magnetized Wine, Scooby Doo Rules!, "Gothica" Bombed, Canfield Opts Out, Geller as Character Reference, Mount Shasta Moved to Florida, and Does Penta Water Come from a Tap in Miami.....?

I heard from Carl Moreland, who alerted me to that "TreasureScope" device being sold by a Jim Thomas of Fort Worth, Texas. I recently mentioned that Thomas had refused delivery of my certified letter that offered him our million-dollar prize, which didn't surprise us one bit.

Carl suggested that I could send a copy of the letter to Thomas' lawyer, a Randy Agnew, which I've now done. We'll wait and see whether his lawyer chooses to ignore this wonderful offer, as well. I'm now informed that a court date has been set for January 23rd, 2004, in the lawsuit that Thomas is bringing against Mr. Moreland. Carl's lawyer in Texas wrote for a "motion of special appearance," and repeatedly called Thomas' lawyer to set a court date, but got no response! We look forward to seeing what happens in this matter.


Reader Mike Lilley writes about a piece on dowsing that appeared in the Norwalk, Connecticut, Advocate Newspaper by "special correspondent" Stephanie Gaj. It contains no qualifying commentary or skeptical counterpart whatsoever. As Mike suggests, "Foolishness is just printed as is, since the truth of it is obviously so self-evident and uncontroversial to all."

The experts in this dowsers' society say you can successfully dowse anything at all. What food to eat, what road to take, answers to troubling emotional questions, etc., etc., yet they warn that dowsing "cannot be used to predict the future." Says Mike, "All in the same breath, dowse to choose what is right for future choices, but dowsing can't predict the future. Hmmmm, I's so confused. Must be my limited grasp of the quantum physics involved." Probably. Adds Mike:

Also amazing, you can dowse on the answers to questions, without the questions even being asked! Cool. The inquirer merely "thinks" about the question and you dowse the answer. It is unclear whether verbalizing the question somehow ruins the dowser effect. Perhaps again, more advanced Quantum Physicists could shed some light.

One note of caution in the article: dowsing on questions only works if there are no "unethical" motives involved. This is quite comforting as I was afraid dowsers would be divining the location for my stash of Gold Maple Leafs and/or my ATM access code, since merely thinking of these things could allow them to dowse my thoughts. Apparently the mysterious quantum force field that dowsers utilize has a moral conscience.

By the way, "anyone" can learn dowsing, but some flee in terror after their first try at it because it works so well - and that frightens them. They might locate the mother lode and not know how to spend the inevitable proceeds or something, I guess. Maybe that's why they don't take the "Million $$$ challenge," and perhaps also why they don't dowse over the outcomes to sports events and such.

Mike provides this link: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-dowsers3norandstamnov24,0,2264379.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines

But Mike has more on this subject:

I had quite an e-mail exchange with a quack who sells Dowsing equipment on the web, and accuses you of backing out of some challenge. His site, "Divining Mind" Dowsing supplies, provides for all your most critical dowsing equipment needs, even "medical radiaesthesia", (this must be a close relative to Neurological anesthesia, if you know what I mean). Did you know, Randi, that the "properly chosen" European Dowsing devices for the task at hand, tasks such as distant healing and such, will increase your accuracy as well as your professional image?

Take a look at: http://www.diviningmind.com/ to see what so intrigued Mike. Mike continues:

Anyway, after I sent the proprietor (Chris Gozdzik), scientific data and studies on dowsing including material from the JREF site archives, he told me I should be a "Flat Earth Society" member for believing in science! This was shortly after he changed the subject altogether by invoking gobbledegook about "Quantum Physics" a subject in which he no doubt holds a Ph.D. from a top University. In his previous e-mail he said, "If you treat seriously people like Randi - you are in BIG trouble."

Yes, quite true. I would require that he prove his claim - which he knows he can't do. I'd certainly call that, "BIG trouble." He continues:

He also accuses you of backing out of a challenge from some Dowser in India named Kirti Betai, " but he (Randi), "sleazed his way out of the deal." He says that if you had done this in North America you would be taken to court for "forgery and false advertising." Forgery?

I did point out to him that if this great dowser from India came to Florida to dowse successfully he could have the $1 Million, and I am wondering why Chris didn't put up the expense money for the trip and agree to split the million with Mr. Betai? Let's see, a Million minus $5,000 or so in expenses, uh, well it's way too complicated a quantum physics problem for me, but I'd guess there ought to be a few bucks profit in there somewhere.

I don't think Chris will be bankrolling Betai's trip and test process though, or working with Betai to set something alternatively up in India, or writing me back anymore to respond to that question for that matter. He'd rather make $10 or $15 profit apiece on coat hanger wires and spinning geegaws, (and rocks), than get a $ Million $ bux "dirty money" don'tcha know. So I guess JREF's Million remains "safe for Sylvia" for just a little while longer. It's a great insurance policy or retirement fund for her in case she ever runs out of people to "help."

I've no idea what this "Betai" is babbling about, but I'm sure that his followers have believed that I backed out of testing him. We could have easily found someone in India to do that, but these guys would rather complain than sit still and be tested. But you knew that....


Several readers referred me to this site: http://people.howstuffworks.com/esp.htm to see a rather strange and credulous account of "how ESP works." Here is an excerpt. The first paragraph is factual, and acceptable:

Most parapsychologists recognize that the skeptical viewpoint is largely beneficial to the public's understanding of ESP phenomena. High-profile skeptics, such as former magician James Randi, help steer the ESP discussion away from emotional responses and toward logical analysis by unmasking false psychics and providing other reasonable explanations for apparent paranormal phenomena. By explaining the statistics of coincidence and the tricks of the magic trade, these skeptics get the public thinking critically about its beliefs and assumptions.

And the second is okay....

But skeptics like Randi can also detract from the ESP discussion. Randi is widely known for his offer of one million dollars to anyone who can prove the existence of paranormal phenomena in a supervised demonstration. So far, nobody has been able to claim the prize, which Randi suggests is evidence that none of this stuff exists. Several high-profile professed psychics have accepted the challenge and then backed out, which certainly casts them in a bad light.

Then the writer turns for inspiration to those who circulate the ridiculous ideas dealing with the claim that no one without scientific credentials can possibly know anything about proper testing of paranormal matters. And, he repeats the bleats about how pure and dedicated scientists would never get into "showbiz," nor would they ever try for a prize such as the JREF award.

To many parapsychologists and ESP believers, Randi's challenge is just theatrics, like the psychic stage shows he exposes. Generally, legitimate scientists are not in the business of claiming prize money in publicized demonstrations, nor are they necessarily out to prove ESP's existence in the first place. The primary mission of science is to investigate truth - generally speaking, scientists are not out to profess their own beliefs, only their own findings. By lumping legitimate researchers in with entertainers, skeptics may confuse the issue.

Getting into stride, the writer next brings up the quite false notion that skeptics think they can disprove psychic claims by showing that some of the operators are fakes; I've never known any skeptic to make such a claim nor to hold such a belief, but this is a very handy canard for the scientists - and fakers - to use as grounds to dismiss our efforts. And, here he brings in the "theory" ploy; true skeptics have no interest at all in the multitude of theories of how mystical powers might work. That's a very obvious cart-before-the-horse attitude by the scientists, and they would do better to find out if there are such powers, rather than trying to explain something that hasn't been shown to happen. It's much like going about measuring chimneys to determine if a fat guy in a red suit can squeeze down them....

ESP believers mainly find fault with the implication that providing a logical explanation for apparent psychic phenomena and unmasking false psychics disproves the existence of ESP. It's an absolute certainty that many demonstrations of psychic power are fraudulent; it's also certain that experiments will be imperfect, and that data may turn out to be useless. But this has no bearing on the validity of the theory itself.

After all that, the writer admits the basic truth about all this brouhaha. He simply tells his readers:

When all is said and done, we simply don't know whether ESP exists. . . .

Yep. Just as I've said all along. Could have used just that thirteen words, and saved time, space, and labor.


Reader Jawaid Bazyar, of Denver, Colorado, comments on my recent piece that mentioned the basic process of evolution, and comes up with an interesting view plus some information of which I was unaware:

I have been remiss in not frequenting your web site in the past. It is a breath of fresh air in a world more and more full of the smog of unreason. In your July 11, 2003 SWIFT, you write about evolution:

Why is it that I don't have a "strain on [my] credulity" with this concept? Given a huge amount of time, and an almost infinite number of experiments - in which the bad results don't survive - the evolution of such features is inexorable.

Indeed, this concept is at the core of a great many facets of human existence. The growth of the body of knowledge we call science could be described as an evolutionary process, almost exactly according to your description above. Law, as well, develops by a similar process.

And there is a small but useful field of Computer Science called "genetic programming" which uses the processes of recombination and random mutation to evolve computer programs which solve a particular problem. Literally, computer programs are chopped up and randomly mutated or combined with each other and tested for the desired result by natural selection. As an example, this technique is used to routinely re-set parameters for the very successful E-mail spam filter "SpamAssassin" (www.spamassassin.org).

I can see how people might have been skeptical about evolution before the mechanics of genetics were understood. But now, there is no excuse. Evolution has been observed in the wild, it is being done on computers, and humans use the process in the pursuit of science and law. How can anyone not get it?

I've no good answer to that question, Jawaid. To many of us, the beauty of this concept is obvious and acceptable. But remember: those who have a philosophical framework to defend, despite whatever blatant fractures of common sense or logic they must accept in order to do so, will ignore anything that challenges or threatens the integrity of their world-view. Can you say, "Religion"?


Reader Richard Bartholomew, in Osaka, Japan, writes:

Your report on Swedish psychics failing to solve any murders connects with a report from England about a missing man. The story, reported by the BBC, tells how a psychic (why do reporters never say "supposed psychic" or "alleged psychic"?) has received a message that the man is dead and that his body is in a certain location, and how Manchester Police were so impressed by her knowledge (despite the report saying that she had met friends of the missing man) that they have decided to re-search an area. The BBC report was on 8 September. I am still waiting for the headlines "Psychic leads police to dead body," or "Psychic wastes police time, as hunt proves failure."

Randi: Richard, keep an eye on this for us, and report on any developments, will you? Inquiring minds want to know....

On a completely different matter, here's a link to a picture of a man "healed" by a faith healer in St. Petersburg. The man holds his crutch aloft: the fact that his leg is clearly still withered and that he is being supported by two other people seems not to concern the author of the piece at all.

Richard directs us to http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s03110045.htm for details. Dr. Lee Jae-Rock, senior pastor of the 80,000-member Manmin Joong-Ang Church in Seoul, South Korea, is the leader of this weird group. It's typical of those evangelical agencies that never follow up on their "healings," but are believed and supported by their naïve followers.


Reader Rami Koivunen, of Turku, Finland, notes some eccentricities of Finnair, the Finnish national airline. In the past, I've encountered a variety of quack practices while on Finnair, including "aromatherapy" and some "vibrational" hand-passing "cures" for the kinks that develop on long (9 hours!) flights. Rami says:

I was just traveling from Finland to Italy with Finnair and noticed a magazine in the front pocket of the flight seat. The magazine is the common type which I suppose most of the airlines have which contains all kinds of information about traveling locations etc., a magazine called "Lento" (translates to "Flight"). It also contained various ways (in Finnish) to relieve "Stress during the flight." Some claims: "If you feel pressure from any reason whatsoever it is worth while to do an exercise which brings down anxiety, relaxes irritated mind and gives new "kick" to your life." These exercises include "Energy eight exercise" (crossing your legs), "Energy yawning" (yawning with eyes closed), "Thinking cap" (rubbing ears), and "finding of positive points."

It also teaches the unwary reader where "the brain buttons are located." If you are interested to know, they are in the sides of your breastbone under your collar bone in the soft tissue.

And of course the final chapter: "Water, water, water! Nothing will happen in the brain or in the body which acts on the control of the brain if the paths inside the head are not in order. In order for communication to take place, water is necessary," Anja Valtonen tells us. I suppose that Anja Valtonen is some "consultant" type of person. She continues: "Brains are the part of human body containing the most water. Their water concentration is about 90%. Without water, the communication inside the brain can't happen. That's why consuming enough water is necessary." I agree that if the brains are dried out they would probably function a bit poorly.

I just wonder if Finnair (www.finnair.fi) uses similar "scientific" methods to maintain their airplanes. Hopefully not. Luckily there are only about 5 million of us Finnish-speaking people, so the brainwashing does not contaminate more people. The article also claims that

If you are embarrassed to make these movements in front of others, you can do the movements also in your mind. Amazingly enough, research results show that the effect is almost as good as when you make the actual exercises.

I'll bet they are.

Randi comments: I wrote this while preparing to go to Finland - on Finnair - and I'll report to you any new wrinkles they have developed to cure me of skepticism and/or doubt.... My visit will include Sweden, and I return on December 7th.


Reader Richard Killion is appalled by a device called the "Shooter Buddy," currently selling on the Internet. The text supporting the effects of this quack item, is hilarious. Better be seated to read this:

The Earth's magnetic field helps create the great taste of fresh fruits. During the long growing season, fruit is held in a relatively constant position in relation to the Earth's magnetic field, aligning the liquid particles much like tiny compass needles. This natural balance gives fresh picked fruit its smooth, natural flavor.

The delicate magnetic alignment of the liquid particles is destroyed during the crushing, straining, pasteurizing, fermenting, and distilling used to manufacture liquid beverages, and much of the smooth natural taste is lost. The traditional slow aging process of wine and distilled spirits allows the particles to once again become aligned by the earth's magnetic field, but this process takes years, and dramatically increases the cost of the finished product.

The Shooter Buddy quickly realigns the particles in your beverage by surrounding them with extremely powerful Neodymium (ne-o-dím-e-um) magnets. These are the strongest magnets currently known to man. They're made from a combination of rare earth elements that create an extremely powerful replica of the Earth's magnetic field.

In as little as ten seconds, Shooter Buddy restores the natural balance destroyed in the production process, recaptures the fresh taste of nature, and duplicates the smooth mellow flavor generated by years of traditional slow aging.

The commercial beverage industry has discovered the advantage of using a magnetic field to improve the flavor of its products. During the past ten years, numerous patents have been issued for products that apply a magnetic field during the processing of beverages. The designer of the Shooter Buddy product line has meticulously adapted and refined this concept to allow customers to improve the flavor of their favorite individual drinks.

No comments needed....


Reader Denis Giron offers us a review and a critique....

I am a huge fan of your site and books. I wanted to just run a rough idea by you about how mainstream entertainment possibly discourages critical thinking in America's youth. If you agree with my general points, I was hoping someone as eloquent and intelligent (not to mention popular) as you could cover the subject in a segment on your site. I am writing because last night I saw the movie "Gothica," starring Halle Berry, and I realized that this sort of movie may be playing a role in our country heading into a crisis period with regard to the youth's ability to think critically.

Before I begin my review of the movie, I want to bring up a cartoon from my youth: Scooby Doo. The old Scooby Doo cartoons always had aliens, ghosts, monsters and other assorted beings from the realm of the paranormal or cryptozoological. However (unlike recent remakes of the cartoon or the recent Scooby Doo movie), it always turned out that the various aliens and ghosts turned out to be frauds (sometimes the explanations were a bit humorous, like ghosts being simply made by flash lights and onion paper, et cetera). When I was a child, I never understood why the aliens, ghosts, monsters, et cetera, always turned out to be fake. However, now I understand that the minds behind Scooby Doo were geniuses. The moral of every single episode was that there is always a rational explanation. While it didn't sink into my brain until I was an adult, it was nonetheless noble of the creators/writers of this show to put forth a cartoon that, in a subtle way, encouraged critical thinking in children with regard to the paranormal.

These days, no such show exists. Filling in their place, shows like the X-Files have a constant theme over and over again, and it is one that is the opposite of that found in every Scooby Doo show. In shows like the X-Files, and countless other movies and television shows about the paranormal or the divine, there is always a character who plays "the skeptic" - who continues to disbelieve even after being faced with indisputable proof. The skeptic either converts at the end, or is killed as a result of their foolish disbelief. The moral is that skepticism and critical thinking are not only wrong and foolhardy, but often dangerous to your health (exempli gratia: telling oneself there is no such thing as monsters as the blood-thirsty monster is heading towards them).

I've often celebrated the fact that a widely-watched cartoon show for kids was being so logical, rational, and direct - without losing entertainment value. But now Denis goes after "Gothica":

In "Gothica," Halle Berry plays a psychologist who has high praise for "logic" and rational thinking. One of her patients in a ward (apparently) for the criminally insane tells her that she does not listen with her heart; rather she only listens with her brain (at the time this made no sense to me). As the movie goes on, Berry's character is possessed by a ghost that forces her to kill her husband, and she ends up being a patient in the very ward she used to work in!

While she is in her cell, she is tortured by ghosts (and there are hints that Satan himself may be coming to pay her a visit real soon), all the while trying to tell herself that she is a rational person, she believes in "logic," and she certainly does not believe in ghosts. Ultimately, she accepts that there are ghosts, and these ghosts go on to help set her free - and somehow vindicate her in the crime of killing her husband.

When she is finally converted (when she sees the light), another character asks her to "be logical" - to which she replies: "logic is overrated." That line encapsulated the entire movie. It is later explained that she has finally learned how to listen (i.e. with her "heart"). Thus the moral is painfully obvious: skepticism, logic and critical thinking will lead you only down the path to your own destruction. It is only when you stop using your "brain" to examine the evidence and start using your "heart," only when you stop using your "overrated" logic to attempt to make sense of a situation, will you be able to see the true nature of reality, and save yourself.

Of course, this is only a quick review off the top of my head, but it bothered me nonetheless. It seems to me that these days, people are demonstrating an ability to think critically less and less often in this country, though I may be wrong. I wonder if the fact that we live in a county where more people believe in angels than the theory of evolution, a country where one of our highest elected leaders cited "Jesus Christ" as his favorite philosopher, is in part due to the way mainstream entertainment shapes the minds of our youth. I'm curious what you think.

I think Scooby Doo rules! And "Gothica" is a typically vapid attempt at amateur philosophy.


Reader Barry Kendall tells us of this exchange:

When I read Wayne W. Urffer's letter about Jack Canfield endorsing Uri Geller (Commentary Nov. 7, 2003), I decided to contact Mr. Canfield himself to get his side of the story. I emailed him through his web site. I was courteous, non-judgmental and ready to give him every benefit of the doubt. Here is what I said:

In his weekly commentary here http://www.randi.org/jr/110703.html James Randi reproduces a letter to him (below). The writer, Wayne W. Urffer, is highly critical of Jack Canfield for allegedly saying Uri Geller really can bend spoons by the power of his mind and that children in Europe can do the same thing. It appears that Randi reproduced Urffer's letter without checking its accuracy with Mr. Canfield first.

Did Jack Canfield really make the statements Urffer attributes to him? If so, am I to conclude Mr. Canfield believes Geller - and European children - can bend spoons by mind power? If Urffer has misrepresented what Jack Canfield said, I think a communication to James Randi correcting the misconception would be in order.

I included a copy of Urffer's letter and your comments. This is the reply I got from Jack Canfield:

Dear Barry, I am in receipt of your email. I appreciate your taking the time to write. My comment about Uri Geller was an off-the-cuff remark I just threw into the Tech Prep talk as I just read the report about European children in a popular magazine.

I am aware that Uri Geller's work is controversial and many scientists have accused him of using misdirection and actually bending the spoons with physical force. I also know people who have taken workshops with him - Geller - and have personally told me they have bent spoons with their minds - people I trust. (I have never personally tried to do this, so I have no personal experience with it.)

Based on all the research on parapsychology and quantum physics, it certainly seems possible to me.

In the future I will find a better example to make my point as I realize this shut down one (probably more) of the participants in Nashville.

No need to get a retraction from Randi. We'll just let it stand as is and move on. Thanks again, Jack Canfield

Is Jack Canfield in the habit of getting information of a highly scientific and technical nature from popular publications? Knowing that Geller's "work" (Ha, Ha!) was controversial, could he not find somebody of greater credibility to cite? Have those whom he knows and who have taken Geller's workshops demonstrated their mental spoon-bending ability to him? If spoon bending by mind power is easy enough for children to do, why isn't everybody doing it all the time? Does Canfield not know that parapsychology has not produced a single replicable experiment in 150 years and that quantum physics in no way validates it?

This is off the subject of Uri Geller, but I suggest his next book be "Chicken Soup for the Spoon-Bending Soul" and that it be sold only to those who can demonstrate spoon bending by mental power under controlled scientific conditions. I won't hold my breath waiting for that.

Randi: I can't resist reporting a comment made by comedian Graham Morton on the BBC, regarding the sappy endorsements Geller has been offering on Michael Jackson:

Poor Michael Jackson! You know you're in trouble when your character witness is Uri Geller!


Here's the wrapper from a bottle of "Mt. Shasta Drinking Water" which my good friend Jim Gardner brought to my attention. He purchased it in South Florida for 99 cents. Being a curious sort, Jim wondered why Florida tap water wasn't good enough to consume, at about zero cents a pint. What he discovered should not surprise us a bit.

Mount Shasta is in northern California, near the Oregon border. This label tells the buyer/consumer:

Pristine Mt. ShastaTM Water has been a source of pure refreshment for well over a century. We believe that it is the finest water that you can find at any price.

Sounds good to me, and it did to Jim, too - until he noticed that the water was "Bottled by BCI, Miami." Of course, BCI ("Beverage Canners International") could have water shipped in from California, but that seems an expensive procedure, when it could have been bottled right there at the source. BCI says on the label that this water is treated by "reverse osmosis, carbon filtration, ultraviolet treatment, membrane filtration to 2 micron absolute, and ozonation [sic]." The real kicker here is the further notice right on the label that the source is actually the municipal water supply of Miami, Florida! This is tap water!

Now, that sure saves on shipping costs, just taking the water out of the tap, but what's the quality of water on a mountain on the far side of the continent got to do with this product? Don't tell me we've been hornswoggled again! Surely not! Mount Shasta is said to be the site of many UFO landings and mystical events, so maybe that accounts for the seeming discrepancy here?

No. That label-copy was written by an amateur who couldn't even spell, and who merely copied down the process that's regularly used by the South Florida Water Management District to treat their tap water. The same company, BCI, bottles "Appalachian Springs," "Fiji Water," "Hawaii Water," "Jordan Valley," "Keeper Springs," "Mt. McKinley," "Saratoga Springs," "Vitamin Water," "West Virginia's Pride of the Mountains," "Yellowstone Headwaters," and "Zephyrhills" water, as well. You don't suppose that they all come from the City of Miami taps too, do you?

But wait! I note that the infamous "Penta Water" - selling at $1.99 a bottle, is also proudly bottled by BCI! You mean, that's just plain Miami tap water, too? The Penta bottle gives no information about where it's bottled, and BCI lists Penta as one product it bottles.... Penta also lists "micro-filtration, de-ionization, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet" as the treatment afforded their water. However, at 99 cents a 16-ounce bottle, Mount Shasta water - from the Miami water taps - costs about half what Penta does, and is just as "magic." If you're going to invest in nonsense, save yourself half the money.

And whatever happened to Bill and Mike Holloway, the Penta gurus, who in July of 2001 agreed to put Penta water to the JREF test? We haven't heard from them since. Are they also under that rock with Sylvia Browne and Jim Thomas....?


I'll report on the state of skepticism in Finland and Sweden, next week....