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Kittery, Maine, is where the tax-exempt charity known as the “Gentle Wind Project” [GWP] makes its headquarters, from which they have been selling – mailing out – various “healing instruments” for the last 22 years. The Maine Attorney General’s Office took that long to discover that these devices, ranging from simple laminated cards to disks that are advertised to cure every known ailment – except naivety – were not real! True, the company flaunted all sorts of endorsements from “medical professionals,” but the AG was able to find “undisclosed financial relationships” between the company and those who endorsed its products and services. What a surprise!
Does this group actually make claims that their silly devices can cure anything? Examine these quotes from its website:
There are few people on this planet who cannot benefit from this healing... The Gentle Wind Healing Technology can help… This Healing Technology was designed to restore and regenerate a person's energetic structure when used one time in a person's life. Some very complex problems need more than one healing… Healing Instruments: Shown below are Healing Instruments available from The Gentle Wind Project.
To me, friends, these are direct, positive, statements that the Gentle Wind devices – if we can dignify them with such a name – will provide healing. What’s shown – at www.gentlewindproject.org – is a selection of colored cards and a couple of “pucks,” surely as ridiculous a set of gimmicks as I’ve ever seen. But, in the true spirit of quackery, all this is followed by their disclaimer (hello, Barb Mallon!) and it says:
Healing Instruments from The Gentle Wind Project are not intended as a cure for any physical or mental condition. As far as these conditions are concerned the Instruments are intended to complement proper medical and/or psychological treatment. Our instruments are not intended as treatment or cure for any illness.
So, after thinking about this scam since 1984, the Maine Attorney General’s Office has finally sued Gentle Wind for selling colored cards and round plastic disks – these containing nothing more than a spoonful of red sand – that they claimed were built on designs transmitted from the spirit world, an action which the AG’s office says violates the Unfair Trade Practices Act. Of course, GWP has already made millions of dollars by peddling these things for two decades, and I’m certain that their highly-paid lawyers are now expressing their dismay that anyone could possibly doubt that plastic cards and disks could cure deadly diseases.
Regardless, six members of the Gentle Wind board including president Mary Miller, John “Tubby” Miller, and their treasurer/bookkeeper have been charged with violating laws regulating charitable organizations. They could be fined as well as forced to pay sales tax that they never collected on those millions of dollars worth of transactions. It’s been claimed that "Tubby" Miller “directed the manufacture” of the healing cards and wrote the descriptions of them in the group's literature. What’s involved in directing the manufacture of colored cards? “Here’s a colored card. Make us some more.” Granted, coming up with fanciful literature to attract the gullible requires some skill, just the kind that Hans Christian Andersen needed, but I doubt that Tubby has improved the state of American – or Danish – literature, in any way.
This won’t be the first legal involvement for GWP. They sued a Rick Ross for offending them, and in May, 2004, they indignantly sued former GWP members Judy Garvey and her husband Jim Bergin for defamation, after the two published autobiographical essays about their 17 years with the group, which they compared to a "mind-control cult." They claimed that they had been exploited financially and had let group leaders control their lives. And Judy said she was involved in "sexual rituals" that she was told were necessary – to create the healing instruments, yet. (visit www.windofchanges.org for more.) The mind boggles trying to image what rituals might have been used to make laminated cards become magical…
Said the lawyer representing Garvey and Bergin:
The state is alleging that Gentle Wind Project (officials) are acting deceptively regarding their healing instruments, and that's exactly the same claims that Bergin and Garvey have been making on their Web site.
Friends, what’s so difficult in ascertaining that colored cards and disks don’t heal anything? Years of arduous research? I could have told them that, and I’m no Einstein. Also, the fact that GWP was representing their products deceptively, was not a great revelation to me when it arrived on my computer screen. The State of Maine is seeking to stop Gentle Wind from making claims about their products, to pay the uncollected sales tax, and to permanently bar all the defendants from serving on the boards of any charitable organizations. It also seeks control of GWP’s property, including homes in New Hampshire and Florida, and to force it to pay restitution to any customer who purchased a “healing instrument.” Well, knowing that GWP has a huge bank account, and that they can buy the best available legal personnel, I’d say that the AG of Maine has a formidable task ahead. In this atmosphere of “faith-based” thinking, I’m expecting those ambitious goals not to be met. After all, if Sylvia Browne and John Edward can claim that they speak to dead people, and get away with it every day, why can’t some charlatans in Maine take money for nothing, too?
See www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Gentle-Wind for more on this subject. Interesting…
Reader Bruce Meinsen of Hamden, Connecticut, acted on the item we had last week about the summer camp in Vermont that offers children courses in woo-woo. He writes:
I read with interest your mention of the Double Dog Center of Brattleboro, VT in your latest Swift column and was emboldened to respond to Timothy and Diana Whitney with a plea to stop indoctrinating children in the "arts" of dowsing, alchemy, tarot, dreamwork, and astrology under the guise of "education." I made no mention of yoga, sports, or meditation as I feel stretching, running around, and quiet reflection, are healthy and reasonable activities. The response was predictable: A hatred/misunderstanding of science, and questions about my knowledge of dowsing, alchemy, tarot, astrology, etc. The real disappointment is the next to last statement about parents bringing their children to camp because the PARENTS are the ones truly interested in the material and wished they had been exposed as youths.
The poor kids don't have any real choice, do they? They suffer for the faults of their well-meaning but misguided parents. Tragic.
Enclosed is a copy of my original email with Whitney's response beneath. Thought you might like to see it/use it. Upon reflection, perhaps I was a bit rude and accusatory, but what the heck - is there a nice way to tell someone they're hurting children?
Thank you so much for what you do. Your work has been an inspiration to me and my quest to see the world more clearly.
Here’s Bruce’s letter to the camp proprietors:
Dear Timothy and Diana,
I just came across your website and am angered and disappointed by what I saw. Your mission statement partly reads:
We strongly believe that sport, yoga, meditation, and other esoteric and psycho-spiritual arts (such as dowsing, alchemy, tarot, dreamwork, and astrology) offer ways for humans to find internal joy and meaning in an increasingly complex world. These arts connect us with our deep potential and thus enable us to live healthier, happier and richer lives.
I believe you are doing a terrible disservice to any child who might attend your "educational organization" by teaching them the "art" of dowsing, alchemy, tarot, and astrology. I don't know under what category "dreamwork" is, but I suspect it falls within the same parameters as the former. Anybody with an ounce of education and critical thinking skills knows full well that all of these practices have been thoroughly discredited and have no place in our society other than to entertain. To represent these practices to vulnerable and trusting children as fact, displays a terrible recklessness with the developing minds of our future leaders and caretakers of society. I implore you to keep these practices unavailable to children under 18 so they may have the benefit of time to develop the reasoning skills to see them for what they are. Finding internal joy and meaning in a complex world is a personal matter not best served by waving sticks over the ground to find water or attempting to change base metals into gold.
An angry and affronted response came from Tim Whitney:
I am sorry you "think" this way about what we are doing.
Do you not know that sports and exercise are ways to stay healthy both physically and mentally? That our scientific society has the highest rates of obesity, cancer, and heart disease in the world.
Randi comments: interesting technique, long used in hopeless causes. Start with an obviously true statement and then drop in the crap, as follows:
Do you know that dowsers find ideal spots to drill clean water wells everyday all over the world and have for thousands of years?
Wrong. They haven’t been around for “thousands of years,” and since 94% of the surface of the Earth has water within drillable reach, not finding water is very unlikely…
Do you know that Alchemy is not about turning metals into gold (you claim you are educated?) but is really about the psychological process of developing our minds and spirits?
Wrong, Tim; are you educated? Webster’s Dictionary: al•che•my n. 1. a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy of the Middle Ages that attempted to discover an elixir of life and a method for transmuting base metals into gold. 2. any seemingly magical process of transmuting ordinary materials into something of true merit. Oxford English Dictionary: n. 1. The chemistry of the Middle Ages and 16th c.; now applied distinctively to the pursuit of the transmutation of baser metals into gold, which (with the search for the alkahest or universal solvent, and the panacea or universal remedy) constituted the chief practical object of early chemistry. 2. Magic or miraculous power of transmutation or extraction.
Do you know that your buddy Ronald Reagan followed an astrologer?
Right, and he was ridiculed around the world for that foolishness, much to the embarrassment of thinking persons. And he wasn’t Bruce’s “buddy.”
How do you "discredit" tarot, Yoga, and Astrology when it [sic] has been practiced happily for thousands of years?
Happily, yes, just as bloodletting and ingesting mercury was once popular. None of these farces need to be “discredited,” any more than Santa Claus needs it. And for thousands of years people sincerely thought that the Earth was flat; some still do. Hate to break the news to you, Tim: it ain’t.
In fact why are you even bothering to discredit it with scientific means when "science" has created all the worst ills of our life times including nuclear weapons, global warming and overpopulation?
Along with antibiotics, TV, indoor toilets, longer life expectancy, flight, Fig Newtons, and kitty litter. Overpopulation is entirely due to another factor, Tim. Ask your mom about the birds and bees…
Do you know parent [sic] bring themselves and their children to our camps because they are truly interested in the material and wish they had been exposed to this material as youth [sic]?
Oh, I’m sure you’ll find enough naifs to fill the camp with their kids, Tim. Now, about those birds and bees…
Do you ever have dreams Bruce?
I’ll bet that Bruce has the same sort of dreams I have, Tim, about kids’ minds being poisoned by the kind of nonsense you and Di put in their heads. Tell you what, why don’t you apply for the million-dollar prize that we offer here at the JREF? Surely someone who teaches dowsing, can dowse?
Hello? Tim? You out there, Tim…?
Reader/lawyer John Montaña of Landenberg, Pennsylvania, advises us:
Re flying baskets, I think you ought not to be so hard on Mr. Mararike [last week, at www.randi.org/jr/2006-07/071406vortex.html#i2]. After all, if he is indeed able to patent flying basket technology, it’ll be the first time in my experience that a supernatural phenomenon has actually proven to be useful for anything. Sure, Geller can bend spoons, but does that help you stir your coffee any better? Not a bit. And the Oregon vortex – does that get you a child’s admission price at the movies? I think not. Crop circles? Don’t even ask. No, siree, I think if Mararike’s got flying baskets, it could be the transportation boon humanity is looking for in these days of high oil prices. You ought to encourage him to enter the JREF challenge. He could just fly right in on a basket from Zimbabwe and win by acclaim.
On another note, I read the Barb Mallon disclaimer and your thoughts on it. I’m a lawyer, and I’m not sure what that last sentence intends to accomplish. It doesn’t protect against a sting, since “null and void” doesn’t equate to “not illegal,” though the first sentence of the paragraph clearly gives her an out if she smells a sting. Looks to me like the last sentence is just a sort of catch-all, so that if anybody ever sues her, she can claim false pretenses. If she got sued by a dissatisfied client and her lawyer looked hard enough, they’d surely be able to find some error or omission that could be characterized as “false pretenses.”
On the same subject – Zimbabwe – reader Alistair Graham adds:I live in South Africa, in Roodepoort in Gauteng province which is pretty close to Zimbabwe, relatively speaking. A lot of Zimbabweans have come here for work or live here to earn money then go home. I was told once that they believe that Mugabe is a witch and that anyone who challenges him he turns into a big snake, or a crocodile, or an incarnation of the two mixed, and eats them up. They believe he can’t die because of his powers and that’s why he is still in charge and keeps winning the elections.
This is a lot of Zimbabweans’ honest belief. It's really stupid. I just think he looks like a black Hitler with his moustache.
Then again these are the same people who think that having sex with a pure child will cure them of Aids, a belief that was brought on by there local Sangomas (witch doctors) which is now a legally recognized practice here. But wait, it gets better. Our health minister says that eating vegetables can cure Aids, and when people outcry and say it's insane, she stands her ground and says garlic has been proven to stop Aids.
The sad part is, half the people here and in Zimbabwe are rather intelligent and educated in tertiary education, it's the other half that are dumb beyond imagination.
Alistair, South Africa and the Central African Republic have equally ignorant Health Ministers, so you’re not alone…
Reader Chelsea tells us:
I've been a frequent reader of the JREF site for about two months, though I'd heard of your work before that. While I'm probably not somebody who would qualify as a frequent correspondent (I'm Christian and not planning on surrendering my faith anytime soon) I highly admire the work that you're doing through the JREF and the $1 million dollar prize.
A friend of mine showed me a three minute, badly filmed video of a man who claimed to be able to chat with aliens via a satellite connection he had modified (somehow, I read that as "broke on purpose"). His website was no more enlightening than the video was and much less entertaining – two pages of EXTREMELY simple, yet confusing information. As websites design is part of my hobby, I can say that the website is even more amateur than the video, as frightening as that sounds.
For about three seconds, I wondered why aliens would respond to a symbol-based message with a sound-based file, then wondered why aliens would respond at all, unless the average alien has more free time than I do. Then I remembered: this isn't supposed to make sense.
Hopefully, this is something brand, spanking new. If not, sorry for sending something for the nine millionth time. Isn't that how it always works? It's either unique or I'm the hundredth person to do it. And keep up the good work. You might not have cleared out those clingy religious beliefs (long, boring, uninteresting story in there) but you've definitely taught me the value of good critical thinking skills.
Do take a look at this site, www.etb3000.com. The guy can’t even point the camera, and the noises he picks up don’t sound like aliens to me…
Next week marks the 5th anniversary of the JREF forum going “live,” and Forum administrator “Darat” asks us to recognize that fact:
Five years is quite an achievement for an internet Forum and while it may have had its up and downs (and perhaps caused the JREF one or two unanticipated problems) overall I don't think anyone can deny that for helping form a vibrant community of (mostly) skeptics it has been an astonishing success. And it is certainly going from strength to strength. We recently had over 800 people accessing the Forum at the same time (that's a combination of people who haven't registered, and registered Members) and we also had over a thousand Members visit in a single day, and nearly half of them made a post!
Yes, I’m aware of the effect the Forum has on our efforts, David. Though I try to stay off it – due to heavy commitments – I do look in often enough to see its value.
Interested? See http://forums.randi.org.
At http://www.randi.org/jr/051404the.html#12 and a few other places, I dealt with “psychic” Carla Baron. You can go to http://www.iigwest.com/carla_report.html to see an in-depth treatment of her claims.
Well, she’s just re-surfaced. Now, back when witches were dunked, re-surfacing was a sure sign of guilt, and the bonfires were promptly ignited. According to a post made on June 27, 2006, the administrator for psychic profiler Carla Baron’s own personal website and message board forum at www.carlabaron.net/forum/showthread.php?t=525, wrote:
There has been considerable eyebrow-raising in regards to the integrity of the new Court TV series, Haunting Evidence.
How very true. This series from Departure Films involves a “psychic profiler,” a “medium,” and a paranormal investigator and their delving into cases which have gone “cold” for one reason or another. Lots of possibilities for hanky-panky here, obviously. Reader Tammie Kaltz is alarmed. She writes:
Apparently, the issue revolves around the show’s perhaps-false claim that the team of Baron and her companions know nothing about the victims or the cases when they arrive in town to do their work. A poster named “Linda” – the administrator of Carla Baron’s website – wrote that Carla “has never commented on this issue one way or the other” and passed the issue to the show’s producers, citing their “full autonomy” on how the material on the show is presented. Linda also stated that “Carla has never implied that she did not have previous contact with some of these families....” but that upon arriving in town for a show to be filmed, “this is the very first time she has met with any of these individuals or traveled to these crime scene locations.”
In watching last week’s episode on Tara Baker, I was alarmed at the specific details which Carla and John picked up on so vividly, especially after the introduction to the show stated they had never had any contact with the case or the people involved prior to their arrival. Upon further review of things, it seems that may not be the case.
In the upcoming show on Tara Grinstead, it is documented that Carla Baron and the show’s producers were in contact with the sister of Ms. Grinstead on several occasions prior to filming in late March 2006. As early as February 25, 2006, Ms. Grinstead’s sister was posting online that “I have had many conversations with Carla Baron, sometimes several times a day.” Messages are scattered throughout Ms. Baron’s website by Ms. Grinstead’s sister concerning the phone and email communications between herself and her family with Carla Baron and the show’s producers. Carla Baron was also quoted in a local Ocilla, Georgia, newspaper as saying, “Anita, Tara’s sister, invited me to help the family in the investigation, and I have had a preliminary evaluation with the family.”
Randi comments: Tammie suggests that you please go to http://tinyurl.com/zoekp, http://tinyurl.com/zawqf, and http://tinyurl.com/fkdf6 to see just how extensively Baron probed into the lives of the persons involved. She was in close contact with those about whom she was supposed to be obtaining only “psychic” information for the TV show, and yet her admirers see nothing at all suspicious in those inquiries! Tammie – her emphasis added – continues:
Interestingly, on February 12, 2005, Linda also posted the following concerning contact with family prior to arrival:
Carla wanted me to post here that her trip to Georgia to work on the investigation for Tara Grinstead's family may be postponed. She is not really happy with how CBS 48 Hours is trying to keep her from communicating properly with the family prior to any filming...
It seems that fans of Carla find nothing strange or even interesting about the fact that Baron is clearly admitting that she is in touch with those she’s going to exploit! What, we must ask, would seem suspicious to them, if anything? Tammie continues:
In light of these serious issues, I believe that Court-TV and Departure Films should provide a very lucid and explanatory disclaimer at the beginning of each episode of Haunting Evidence to explain the true nature of the background work done on each case prior to filming. The introduction to the show, as worded in the Tara Baker episode, is an utter falsehood and a misleading tool that creates the illusion that the psychic profiler and the medium somehow “feel” specific things associated with the case at “first impression” when that is obviously not the reason at all. In my opinion as a Court-TV viewer and fan of its programming, these cases should not be mere dramatic vehicles to advance the careers of Carla Baron and others at the price of misleading the public and lying to viewers.
Right on, Tammie! And thanks for the detective work in exposing Baron’s methods – which are expected.
Reader John C. Simpson of Kennesaw, Georgia:
Regarding the "Vortex" nonsense, I thought that you might want to offer a download on your website in order for folks to make their own demonstration of this effect.
Yes, John, excellent! Thank you!
Reader Sanat Kumar Jain of Gwalior, India, has written a book – in Hindi – dealing with the farce of astrology, a very powerful influence on Indian culture, politically, socially, and philosophically. Says Sanat:
Actually, predictive astrology is not a science at all. Only astronomy and psychology (discovered only in the last 200 years) was used unknowingly by our sages for some predictions and thus it seemed to be correct.
It is also of great concern that modern technologies like computers, TV, newspapers, etc., are being used to spread this myth in the cover-up of science through vested business interests.
I would like to associate myself with your foundation and it would be my pleasure if your foundation would help me in promoting awareness about the hollowness of astrological principles.
I hope that this author’s book enjoys great success and wide circulation. Such information is sorely needed in the Indian subcontinent.
Back in 1706, in Virginia, a woman named Grace Sherwood was convicted – at age 46 – of being a witch through “trial by water.” Her neighbors said she was a witch who ruined their crops, killed their livestock, caused miscarriages, and called up storms. She was hauled into court a dozen times, either to fight witchcraft charges or to sue her accusers for slander – so there was some justice being practiced.
Grace was, for that day, a little strange. She was very tall, a midwife who at times wore men's clothes and lived in the rural Pungo neighborhood, so she became known as "The Witch of Pungo." But, we’re happy to announce, she’s no longer a witch. You see, Governor Timothy M. Kaine has given an informal pardon to her. It’s 300 years late, but the courtesy is appreciated.
“Trial by water” is an interesting process indeed. Ms. Sherwood was tossed into the Lynnhaven River and when she floated, it was considered proof of guilt because the pure water cast out her evil spirit, you see. The theory was that if she sank, she was innocent, though unfortunately she would also drown. But Grace was rather fortunate; she was apparently only jailed for eight years, after which she managed to pay some back taxes – the colonists were pragmatic folk – and after she reclaimed her property, she lived on to age 80.
Humana Health Services, whose motto is, “Guidance When You Need It Most,” says through their spokesman that homeopathic medicine and acupuncture are legitimate medical treatments to consider, which will surprise those of us who don’t occupy such a lofty position. But this is stated very cautiously, using “may help,” “may be,” and “potentially helpful,” and we’re told that patients – who look to Humana for genuine help – “may want” to “consider” these forms of “harmless” unproven therapy they “suggest,” so Humana never actually said they should do it, and technically cannot be accused of quackery. On their web site, www.humana.com/eplanpro_2006_07/article3.asp, we read:
Consider complementary medicine – For sprains and strains, you may want to try Arnica Montana, a homeopathic remedy available as a cream or a tablet that dissolves in your mouth.
Dr. Samuel "Sam" Benjamin, Humana's corporate medical director of integrative health strategies, says, "This harmless and potentially helpful therapy can be purchased in many pharmacies and health food stores without a prescription."
Also, Dr. Sam suggests that acupuncture may help address pain, reduce swelling, and speed recovery. For both treatments, the sooner you use them, the more effective they may be.
Gee, it appears that Dr. Sam has latched on to a real panacea here. A “modern” homeopathic volume lists only 23 ailments for which arnica is suggested: physical trauma, blows and bruises, head injuries, concussion, arthritis after physical trauma, rheumatism, nose-bleed, vertigo, strains and sprains, pains associated with childbirth, post-surgical pain, dental procedures, recovery after heart attack or stroke, influenza, pneumonia, gastritis, headaches, eczema and boils, nightmares and emotional trauma. However, the original Hahnemann pharmacopeia lists a full ten pages of ailments and symptoms. A sample, only those under the sub-heading, “Mind” – just 2/3 of one of those pages – reads:
Unconscious; when spoken to answers correctly, but unconsciousness and
delirium at once return.
Stupefaction, loss of sight and hearing.
Concussion of brain.
Stupor, with involuntary discharge of feces. Typhus.
Forgetful; what he reads quickly escapes his memory, even the word he is
about speaking. Typhus.
Absent-minded, thoughts wander from their object and dwell on images and
fancies.
Confusion of head, changing to pressive right-sided headache.
Delirium, low murmuring.
Delirium tremens.
Sheds tears and makes exclamations. After rage.
Picks the bedclothes.
She does not speak a word; declines answering questions, dislikes sympathy.
Indisposed to think; after a walk in the open air.
Fears being touched or struck by persons coming toward him. Gout.
Fear of public places; agorophobia.
Hypochondriacal anxiety.
Hopelessness; indifference. After concussion.
Oversensitive mood, peevish, quarrelsome.
Frightened; unexpected trifles cause him to start.
Ailments from fright or anger.
Violent attacks of anguish. Angina pectoris.
Did they miss anything? Hangnail and baldness are the only two that occur to me. Does Dr. Sam honestly and professionally think that homeopathy – and these are the very words of the founder! – has any real value?
Well, Dr. Sam, your folksy approach might get you considered for a Norman Rockwell cover for the Saturday Evening Post, but it offends rational and informed people. Humana should be embarrassed for allowing these superstitious notions to be promoted on their website, a place many persons may visit to try to learn the facts of medical care and progress. But – I presume – you’re a “real” doctor, though obviously not well informed. Or perhaps you don’t care?
Finally, a note concerning the big media fuss being made about the University of Manchester coming up with a “virtual reality” computer program to test telepathy. The idea involves creating a scenario in which two subjects would – via goggles and an electronic glove – enter a computer-generated room in which a number of recognizable objects would be located, and the “sender” would concentrate on a randomly-selected item, attempting interact – electronically – with it and sending a message to the “receiver.” I see no real advantage whatsoever in the proposed protocol – except for the woo-woo fringe, who would enjoy two angles: first, as already demonstrated, it would attract much media attention: "Real science, with complicated computer involvement, is now being used!", and second, it provides the fuzzy "interpretation" variable that is so adored by scientists seeking continued financial support: "Results were only suggestive, but obviously more funding is called for." Testing for telepathic ability is a straightforward, logical, simple, matter. It doesn't require the bells-and-whistles that the Manchester protocol would provide. It's always the same story: make a simple process into a complex task, and to the layman it looks more like science...
I forgot to mention: Should the Manchester group move ahead with this hare-brained idea, conjurors from all over the world will descend on them to use the multitude of possible methods for defeating their security. Merely searching a participant’s person for electronic devices is not enough. There is no easily-available means for assuring that signals cannot be exchanged – just as in the classic picture of telepathy, "thoughts" can be "shared." This is an old and tested conjurors' scenario. We contacted Dr. Toby Howard at Manchester to ask him about his statement that
This system has been designed to overcome the many pitfalls evident in previous studies which could easily be manipulated by participants to produce an effect which looks like telepathy but is not.
We’re interested in the possible manipulations he suggests. By press time, we’d not heard back from him…
I seldom guffaw when seated before my computer, but I lost it last week when I was sent a photo of a T-shirt being worn by a physicist… Maybe I’m easily amused…?
Several readers told us that anyone interested in "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay – mentioned here last week – can read it for free online. Project Gutenberg has all three volumes available, and they can be found at www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/m#a516.
Reader David Rice comments, as several others did:
Regarding the "vortex" images in the latest SWIFT, surely the tree in the background on the right of the images very clearly shows the relative heights of the two men have not changed at all. The tree has a very distinctive bleached-out bright blotch from which the two people's height may be measured relative to each other.
In the film industry this "illusion" is called "forced perspective:" a fine example of the technique may be seen in reruns of "Xena Warrior Princess," where towering Cyclopes (I had to look up the plural for the word) carry around bonny buxom young women in bamboo cages.
Yes, and it was used in the Lord of the Rings movie many times, too. Those hobbits weren’t really all that small…
Next week: The McElroys get flustered, and a disaster is recalculated…