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This last weekend we saw some remarkable accounts of the 9/11 tragedy, on the 5th anniversary of this religious crime. Reader Larry Thornton reminded me of a statement by Richard Dawkins in his book, “A Devil’s Chaplain (2004):
My last vestige of "hands off religion" respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of September 11th 2001, followed by the "National Day of Prayer," when prelates and pastors did their tremulous Martin Luther King impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place.
On our local NBC-TV station we saw a brave statement from the teenage son of a police hero who died doing his duty at the 9/11 event. The kid was barely able, with breaking voice, to finish a tribute to his dad. The screen faded to black and then immediately came up with a glamour shot of a stunning models face. The announcer asked, brightly:
Have you ever been betrayed by your lip-gloss?
Only in America…!
Novelist Martin Amis has defined faith as “the desire for approval of supernatural beings.” Well said.
At www.randi.org/jr/2006-07/072106gentle.html#i1 we wrote about the farce known as the Gentle Wind Project. Well, the Maine Attorney General's office, in an Aug. 14 statement, said that Gentle Wind violated the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act with claims about its "healing instruments," which he said offer “no benefits,” and he added that the funds of the “fraudulent” charity with its “misleading business practices” were mismanaged. To me, the very fact that GWP was allowed to operate as a charity, is a shocker in itself.
We at JREF tend to hope that our campaign against this scam may have stimulated this action. GWP had claimed that the “instruments” – principally hand-held laminated cards and plastic pucks! – could improve emotional, mental, and physical functioning. The Maine AG argued that there was no scientific evidence supporting such claims, to no one’s surprise. And, the AG found that the “suggested donations” the group received for the instruments were spent wrongfully on personal property.
Now, the law firm for the Gentle Wind Project has refused to represent them any longer, citing nonpayment of legal fees – but not because they were scam artists or because their “instruments” were simple colored plastic cards. "The clients deliberately disregarded an agreement with, or obligation to, the lawyer as to expenses or fees," they said in their motion. However, GWP still has an ongoing lawsuit against former members Judy Garvey and Jim Bergin, of Blue Hill, Maine, alleging defamation. I ask you, how can such an officially-denounced and discredited group claim defamation?
The remaining assets of Gentle Wind – after civil penalties and costs – are to be distributed by the Maine Attorney General as restitution to their Maine consumers and to a Maine charity whose charitable mission is to provide services to those with mental health disabilities.
Ah, but the unsinkable Gentle Wind is already back in business with a new website and reorganized leadership. They now list an address in Sparks, Nevada, far from Maine, describing themselves as all-new, all-volunteer, not-for-profit, making no claims about any relief their instruments may provide, and they say they do not accept any donations for them. "We are a group of people who want to make the world a better, easier place," they piously say. And they still offer the "healing instruments" central to Maine's suit, but now from the protection of the state of Nevada.
Forty-nine states to go…
A federal judge has just ruled that a jewelry bracelet selling for $249.95 does not quell pain as advertised, not to the surprise of our readers, who already found out about the scam at www.randi.org/jr/112202.html. In November of 2002, it was revealed that a study by the Mayo Clinic had found no evidence that the "Q-Ray ionized bracelets," devices made of copper and zinc and widely sold over the Internet, work at all to relieve pain, which is their major advertised claim. Now, U.S. District Judge Morton Denlow has ordered QT Inc. of Mount Prospect, Illinois, and its owner, Que Te Park, to issue refunds to more than 100,000 buyers of the bracelets, and to forfeit profits of $22,600,000 they took in between 2000 and 2003.
(Let’s be realistic. Endless appeals, wimpy settlements, and legal arguments will reduce this penalty, and Mr. Park will retire with millions. We couldn’t hope for more than a slight hitch in his fortunes, and he’ll be on the lookout for another scam to work. And he’ll find one.)
The ruling took four years to be issued, following the Mayo Clinic finding, but that appears to be about as fast as a Federal declaration can be born. I would think that any agency could act faster, but inertia seems a part of the process. Hey, in my amateur fashion, if I sit down on a hot stove, I get off really fast, rather than sitting there for four years. But that just shows how old-fashioned I am…
Widely advertised in televised infomercials and on the Internet since 2000, the pain-relieving qualities of Q-Ray bracelets were more fiction than scientific fact, Judge Denlow ruled. Among previous products cited by this judge, where false advertising was punished by the courts, were the Helsinki Formula baldness cure and the Acu-Dot pain-relieving magnet.
A letter has arrived from Mr. Dwight Foster, in Canada:
My daughter Jessica Foster has been missing since April 3, 2006. The family is distraught, as you can imagine, as there has been absolutely no evidence of her existence on this Earth since that date. The helplessness one feels in a situation like this is only exacerbated when, after discussing this missing person case with the authorities in Las Vegas, you realize nobody is going to do anything about it until they find her body. The events preceding her disappearance are disturbing, risking gross understatement with that term. We've had some media giants express interest in her story, starting with a piece done on Jessie by Geraldo Rivera, ABC News, Fox News, and just recently calls from the producers of Maury and Montel. Perhaps not enough dirt – I mean, compelling drama or detail – for Maury. A collective sigh of relief when a more "respectable" show like Montel wants to do a piece.
I spoke with Mr. Foster, and alerted him to the fact that any interest Montel Williams’ people might have expressed would almost surely be connected with Montel’s love affair with Sylvia Browne; his producers are ever alert for any heart-rending case that Montel can present to Sylvia so that she can offer up her usual fatuous comments and guesses to titillate the viewers and satisfy the sponsors. Mr. Foster:
We await their decision – a plea from Jessie's mother with Jennifer from the Montel show gives her hope that we will have a session with the Amazing Sylvia Browne (don't worry James, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek) if or when they have us on their show. My respect for Montel wanes slightly after learning what a great supporter of Ms. Browne he is.
By telephone, I went over with Mr. Foster just a few of the dismal pronouncements we’ve garnered from the many Browne audio tapes that thoroughly dissatisfied readers have forwarded to us. Sylvia gives the victims the names of guardian angels that she “sees” watching over them, the names that they were formerly known by in previous incarnations – always as exotic princesses or fierce warlords – lucky numbers, and endless vague pap about diet items, medical advice, and time-consuming pop psychology – all of which eat up the $37.50-a-minute telephone conversation for which the victim has paid in advance via credit card. Mr. Foster was properly alarmed, particularly since his ex-girlfriend had been using donated money to pursue information about their missing daughter, and since she’d announced that she was on Sylvia’s waiting list, she’d probably already paid the $750 fee… Mr. Foster continues:
The revulsion over the circumstances of my daughter's disappearance is equally matched by the practices of these charlatans, or so-called "psychics" who prey on and profit from the pain of others, as usually the discussion revolves around the disappearance of a loved one. The desperation of my ex-girlfriend makes her any easy target; unfortunately for us, her fascination with Sylvia's "powers" existed long before this tragic event. You might want to ask Sylvia the next time you have a chance – as I may never get that privilege – that if money is not an issue with her (in reference to her statement that she does not want or need your million dollars) why she is OK with charging Jessie's mother, and everyone else for that matter, $750 US for a reading (apparently, she doesn't even need to be in the presence of the mark). Talk about a license to print money!
I pray you expose this fraud before we become her next prey. You see, if we don't get the free reading on the Montel Show, the money for this reading will be coming out of the trust fund we have set up to help with the expenses of her search such as private investigator fees and reward money, registered through Crimestoppers. I can't seem to be able to stop my ex-girlfriend from wasting this money donated by so many family members, friends and well wishers. Maybe we can stop Sylvia. Ms. Browne, take that challenge.
Sir, I can tell you that you’ll not be hearing from Browne. The paid-for “reading,” with the angels’ names, lucky numbers, and fake medical diagnoses, will go ahead as scheduled, nothing but the expected nonsense will be recited, and Jessie’s mother will be left with profound disappointment that she burned that money and had her hopes dashed. Browne is a vulture, she spotted a vulnerable, needy, victim, and she swooped down.
She doesn’t have those long nails just for show…
Speaking of which, reader Robert Lancaster has a website you should visit. The logo is shown here…
Reader Ross Viner suggests that we provide yet another video example of Sylvia Browne’s callous and cruel handling of the grief brought before her, aided and abetted by the very willing, shallow, and co-operative Montel Williams. It’s at www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFNKsmwgw8w&mode=related&search.
Ross adds, borrowing on the latest Rupert Sheldrake “discovery”:
How odd. I was just thinking of you! Is this (e) mail bonding?
Work on that one…
Several readers, including Paul G. Wenthold, wondered about the claims of the official Vatican exorcist (see www.randi.org/jr/2006-09/09806guess.html#i2) and remarked at how busy that cleric must be:
Father Amorth claims that he has performed more than 30,000 exorcisms in his career.
Holy smokes! 30,000 exorcisms? Does he have a drive through, or what?
Let's be generous and assume that he does two exorcisms a day. That would still take about 40 years to do to get to 30,000. Has this dude really been doing two exorcisms a day for 40 years?
Where does he find all the possessed people?
Paul, there are lots of folks out there who devoutly believe they’re possessed by beasties, and the Vatican gladly encourages them in their delusions. Demons have always been a popular item on the list of problems from which the priesthood can relieve you. Long-time reader Henrik Holde of Fredensborg, Denmark comments:
As always on Friday mornings, I go straight to the weekly newsletter of the JREF. I must say that this week I am hugely impressed with the efficiency of Father Amorth, having performed more than 30,000 exorcisms during his career. Assuming he has been doing this for some 30-40 years, it would mean that on the average, he has performed at least 3 exorcisms each and every day, perhaps even including Sundays (shiver)...
My main point of reference is of course "The Exorcist," and I always thought that such matters would take much longer. Very efficient guy and I am not at all surprised that they've put him in charge.
Yes, “The Exorcist” is looked upon by the faithful as a documentary film, Henrik. Would Hollywood lie? From reader Gary Mussar:
I was amazed at the fact that Father Amorth claims that he has performed more than 30,000 exorcisms in his career. Assuming this guy is less than 100 years old (not necessarily a good assumption with Vatican types), it sounds like he does close to one exorcism every day. Does he have a bulk discount? Family rates? Maybe two-for-one weekends? It sounds like he is a busy man or VERY efficient.
In a different section of the newsletter you talk about telephone telepathy. When I was a teenager, a good friend and I would call each other to figure out what we would do on the weekend. I was amazed one day when I picked up the phone to call him and there was no dial tone. My friend was already on the line having just called me, but my phone had not yet rung. This happened a number of times over the years. We joked about "telepathy" but the reality is not quite so fantastic. It is no coincidence that teenagers get restless/bored after school on a Friday and want to find something to do. The probability that we called each other at the same time is not insignificant. A woo-woo-oriented person would take this as proof of the supernatural. Some of us realize it is just proof of the pathetically boring lives of teenagers.
BTW, I loved the picture of you and your familiar. What an interesting looking critter. And the familiar is interesting, too.
I’ve dispatched Sam to teach Gary a lesson…
Mike Jenkins of St. Petersburg, Florida, comments:
Regarding the Vatican's chief exorcist: If he is 78 (as the article states) and has carried out over 70,000 exorcisms, that means he's done an average of more than two every day of his life.
Let's do the math! Assuming he had God-given powers since his birth, 70,000 divided by 79 (generous with his age) yields 886 exorcisms per year (average); divide that by 365.25 (accounting for leap years) and we get an average of 2.4 per day.
Busy fellow, indeed!
Of course, this does not account for any mass (in the numerical sense) exorcisms he may have performed...
I’m worried about that 2.4/day figure. Does that mean the third customer each day gets only 40% of the demons out? It’s too much for my poor brain…
I can hardly believe that I, a grown man, will sit here at my keyboard seriously discussing with other grownups the notion of demons inhabiting a human body, demons that can be banished by saying special words and sprinkling “holy” water… I have to look at the calendar on the wall and move back into the 21st century! And there is a vast, wealthy, flourishing organization headquartered in Rome, Italy, that supports this farce…?
Re our item last week at www.randi.org/jr/2006-09/09806guess.html#i1, reader John Williams in Lovelady, Texas, asks:
I have one question about the book (and the entire series for that matter):
If Jesus is all-powerful as the book implies, why can't he just annihilate the Anti-Christ and ALL of his followers with just his words?
My guess is because that would make for one very short book and not a lucrative (for the authors) series.
Maybe, John. And just think of all the innocent trees that would have been saved…!
Re last week’s item on the latest Rupert Sheldrake foray into foolishness, a reader dared to ask the Sheldrake site why they wouldn’t take the JREF million-dollar challenge. This is the answer received:
Thanks for your email. You might be interested to do a search on James Randi from www.skepticalinvestigations.org, which will explain why we haven't taken up this so called challenge. Best wishes Pam Smart (Researcher)
I ask you to go there. You’ll see there just about all of the silly canards about the JREF million-dollar prize that have been circulated on the Internet for the past 10 years, augmented and hyperbolized. I’d say, judging from her statement, that Pam isn’t very smart, and she’s no researcher. At www.randi.org/research/faq.html can be found responses to almost all of those mendacities. A simple search would have established that for Ms. Smart.
Reader and friend Tony Youens, UK, when I asked him if he recalled who Pam Smart was, wrote:
I remembered where I heard the name Pam Smart. Before she became Sheldrake's research assistant she was the owner of the dog who “knew” when she was coming home.
See: www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Papers/papers/animals/dogknows_abs.html.
Thank you, Tony. I knew that name was familiar. Ms. Smart is the person who – for some unknown reason? – refused me access to her “wonder dog,” who had been the subject of some earlier Sheldrake “experiments,” when I signified my willingness to see the work repeated under observation – and offered the JREF million-dollar prize if it worked. Why is it that everyone is so afraid of me?
You must remember that Ms. Smart wasn’t much interested in doing “research” for anything but that kind of rumors and mis-statements she preferred. As a researcher, I would refer to her as a police captain once referred to the late Dorothy Allison – “I don’t think she could find a bowling ball in a bathtub if the ball were on fire.”
I received an interesting letter from Renzo, a reader in Chile. I’ll share it with you here. Headed, “A little history from Chile,” it read:
Hello, I’m a new reader of your site, just turned Rationalist around 3 years ago. Before, I was a damn ignorant. I used to believe in things like astrology, ufos, reflexology, healing magnets and stuff like that. Hell, I even used a magnetic bracelet myself. Truth be told, I found it cool looking at the moment, never really felt any difference in my health, but of course no one would believe me now, hehe. I agree completely with your view: people need education to get out of the woo-woos, I just needed some guidelines to start thinking by myself and realize the importance of rational thinking and evidence-based claims, and guess who lighted my path to rationalism… the man himself, Carl Sagan. I read excellent reviews of "The Demon Haunted World" and decided to give it a try, that damn book changed my life…
I can’t begin to express how badly needed your site is. I’m from Chile and this country has a fair share of woo-woos, we have 70% of Catholics and just 8% of atheists. I started promoting your site and of course the million dollar challenge around my relatives, so maybe you'll get an applicant from Chile soon?
Well, I wanted to let you know a little history that happened to me. Some days ago I was passing by an old bookstore and decided to take a look just in case there was something interesting. In the entrance was a big stand full of pseudoscience books: feng shui, reflexology for newbies, astrology, advanced tarot reading, magic candles to summon angels, auras, chakras, you name it… tons of those books, most in prices around 15-20 US dollars. I was taking a look at those books and suddenly noticed a small one, kinda hidden between all of the others and I could barely notice the authors name on the side….Isaac Asimov. It was “Breakthroughs in Science” buried under a ton of nonsense books. I took it to the clerk and asked how much it cost, it went something like this – “Huh? That small used book? Err….. how about a buck?” In a tone of “I know it’s too much to ask for that useless book” I pulled out my wallet and immediately bought it. Then on my way out I noticed this – along with the title – printed in the cover: “REPUBLIC OF CHILE, EDUCATION MINISTRY”
Then it hit me… maybe this was a genuine attempt by my government to better educate children in science, a noble book thrown away, drowned beneath a truckload of stupid paranormal texts. It may sound silly but I really felt like I “rescued” the little science book from the nasty place where it was stored. Now it stands proudly in my bookshelf alongside some of Michael Shermer and Carl Sagan’s books.
Well, that’s about all for now, I have a few pseudoscience stories from my country that I expect to send you over the course of the weeks, hope you can use them on your SWIFT commentary. You have a new Chilean supporter for the JREF. Greetings from Chile and keep up the Great Work!!!
In a follow-up e-mail, Renzo wrote:
Here in Chile it’s REALLY hard to get skeptical material. When I wanted to get some Sagan and Shermer books I found zero in my local bookstores, the only one I found was "Pale Blue Dot" with a sweet price of 83 US dollars... too much, so I bought them online on Amazon.
Then one day I was in Google searching for more material from Michael Shermer and I found a webpage mentioning he appeared in an episode of a Show called "Penn And Teller – Bullshit!" What show is that? Penn and Teller? Who are those? The Showtime channel is not available here. I started investigating and became totally hooked on the show and a fan of Penn Jillette, hilarious guy hehe, then in one episode I heard him mention "James Randi" and the million-dollar paranormal challenge. Huh? What have I been missing? I did a little Google Search and found the JREF, and here I am. I finally found a good skeptic community.
My point is, how little (or zero) publicity the skeptical efforts have here in Chile, seems like no one knows our cause, so I’m trying to spread the message as much as I can.
I assure you that some material is now on its way to Renzo…
It appears that Australian Mike Willesee (see www.randi.org/jr/7-30-1999.html) is going even more off-track, and has established a permanent residence in Woowooland. In an interview last month with TV host Andrew Denton, he re-enforced his need to heedlessly embrace any and all “evidence” for the supernatural. After reciting the story about how he decided that he’d been rescued by prayer eight years previously in a small accident, he conquered reality when he described the event:
We knocked down a couple of hundred trees. We flew over it later that morning, it was quite sensational.
Really? A plane knocks down this many trees before crashing, and then delivers the passengers alive? Mike – miracles aside – that can’t happen! One or two trees, maybe, but…
Asked by Denton what he thought had made him such an icon to the Australian public when he landed his position as a prominent TV personality, Willesee explained:
Quite seriously, I think I did more research and preparation than any of the other guys… But, yes, I researched very heavily and I would anticipate the answers and what I would do, if I was in trouble. I don't think I was ever in a position that I couldn't get out of when they came back at you, and a lot of those guys did come back at you. But I don't think I was ever in a position where I couldn't justify the question or come back with a response because the homework was there.
Whatever happened to this laudable goal, Mike? Did you give up “homework”?
Asked about the reason for his retirement from active TV journalism, Willesee said:
…the money didn't really interest me, and then I suddenly had nothing to do. I had time to stop and think. Then I got around to thinking about, "Why are we here? Am I really just going to die and things stop? That would make everything so pointless." …The problem with being lost is not just being lost, but not knowing that you're lost. If you know you're lost you can do something about it. I didn't know I was lost because everything had worked for me. …I mean, maybe that plane crash, maybe that was a jolt. It wasn't a conversion, but maybe that really kicked me into saying, "Well wait a minute, are coincidences, coincidences?" The more I thought about God, the more, at the very least, I had something to think about.
I must say here that I’m seeing a man who had several very serious on-air problems, one of which was being drunk while before the live cameras, another one being a serious addiction to gambling. Now, I’m not being judgmental at all in this respect. All of our heroes have such problems. I cite these facts to give a fuller picture of Willesee’s state of mind when the miraculous survival in the plane crash occurred. He appears to have been vulnerable at that point, frantically searching for a philosophy that would satisfy his needs, and the eternal dangling carrot of religion was directly in front of him. He bit. He was a man continually “under the gun,” a man who was expected to produce results, to meet the expectations of a hungry public. This was, for him, a stressful situation – understandably.
In the Denton interview, Willesee again averred his doubt about the validity of genuine coincidences occurring. He seems to believe that coincidences just can’t happen, strangely enough. I don’t know his educational background, but if he was ever taught basic mathematics, he’d have an understanding of how coincidences just must happen. I’ve often said that if remarkable coincidences did not ever happen, that would be a genuine miracle. That’s just the way the world works, Mike.
Willesee said, when questioned by Denton about how he met his very attractive – and much younger – wife:
Again, this word “coincidence.” You know, why did I meet Gordana, who I'd known before, we'd worked together, but Gordana's much younger than me and when I first met her I thought she was fantastic but a little young for me. Oh, okay, me a little old for her. But we met again seven or eight years later and the difference didn't seem so much. She rescued me at a Logies party actually. Someone was harassing me and she came over and helped me out and I asked her of she'd like to have lunch the next day. Then I said, "Would you like to go out one night in Sydney?" I went to her flat, very small, tiny flat, and I remember there was a large picture of “The Last Supper” on the wall. Then on the other wall there was a picture of the Virgin Mary and a few other relics and holy pictures and so on. I said, "What do people say when they come into your flat and see all this religious stuff?" She said, "I don't care." I thought, "That's pretty good," you know? So at the time of my life when I was thinking about God and had had a bit of a wake-up call with the plane crash, I met Gordana, who had strong faith. Maybe it was about that time I started thinking about this word “coincidence” being a word that doesn't really apply.
Mike, there’s another factor here. It appears that you just can’t believe that the universe wasn’t designed with you specifically in mind. The attention you were receiving from the public, the enormous income you’d brought in, and your uncertainty about the future, just may have led you to the conclusion that you were receiving some sort of communication from “higher powers,” something you were attuned to at this critical time in your life, and which you easily accepted as being true. You pointedly rejected rationality and embraced superstition.
Willesee pretty much endorses my amateur analysis by this comment:
Well there is a God. He proved it that night because he stepped in and saved me. Because I'd got to the stage where I knew God was there, apart from having some rational reasons to believe it. I mean, you can't get faith rationally. You can't read the right books and think it through and say, "Therefore there is God and he's a God of love and mercy, therefore I will love him in return." That's it. It doesn't happen like that. Faith is a gift. I'd gone past that stage. I had the rational belief that God was there, by proving some supernatural things to be true, by reading the writings of this woman Katya Rivas, by seeing a stigmata, which was seeing the wounds of Christ re-enacted. I mean I had all the reasons you needed to believe in God, but somehow that wasn't my conversion.
The Rivas episode he mentions is incredible, but not for the reasons that Willesee thinks. This woman proved – at least by Willesee’s standards – that she could produce the “stigmata” wounds. I refer you to www.randi.org/jr/7-30-1999.html for that story. I think you’ll agree with me that Willesee’s naïveté is fully shown in that episode. This is typical of the way that he has rejected rationality and decided to accept any and all evidence – no matter how farcical it is – to support his belief structure. I find it pitiful to see such a strong character reduced to this state simply because of a preferred view of the world around him.
Willesee accepts everything that happens to him, as a miracle. As witness, read what he says about the Rivas woman just after he’d accepted to have his confession heard by a visiting priest:
Katya was leaning over the couch in the reception area praying. She stood up and she was crying and we were all crying. She reached into her dress and pulled out a holy card and gave it to me. It was perfectly crisp and fresh, not like you can put it in your pocket, let alone in your dress. It was a picture of Christ hugging the prodigal son, and she couldn't have known by any normal means that I was going to have confession that night, because if you had asked me if I was going to have confession that night, I would have given you a written guarantee and, being a betting man, offered you a shade of odds, there would be no confession tonight.
How can we deny this obvious wonder? The woman – known to be a very religious person – had a “holy card” in her bosom, and it wasn’t wrinkled! Wow! Mike seems to be an expert on the moisture index of Katya Rivas’ bosom! But then he got to the one claim for which he has zero evidence, but lots of anecdotal material – he claims that there is actual blood found on the Turin shroud, and even gives the blood type! Read:
We started thinking about the blood of Christ because there's the shroud which wrapped the body of Christ, which has blood on it. Parts of it have been examined – it's type AB. There's the Sudarium, which is a very little-known cloth which covered the face of Jesus, which also has blood on it. We found that in a place called Oviedo in Spain. That blood's been tested and it's AB also.
No, Mike. First of all, all the evidence says that’s not the shroud of Christ, though you prefer to believe it is. And that’s not blood; it’s paint, and it’s been thoroughly, forensically, tested. We know the exact ingredients, red ochre and vermilion as tempera paint, and there is no trace there of anything but paint. Yes, others have claimed that there’s blood there. You have chosen to accept their statements, as if your acceptance makes them true. The fact remains that the painted blood-spots are regular paint, put there by an artist in the 13th century.
When Denton quoted Nature Magazine to Willesee on the actual age of the Shroud of Turin, which revealed that it came from the 13th century, Willesee was ready. Said he, “Yes, that's been completely discounted.” That’s simply not true. He went on to deny that carbon dating worked, he scoffed at all the scientific findings that didn’t agree with his notions, and in general made a fool of himself.
Willesee ended the interview with a typically fuzzy statement:
I said earlier in the interview that you won't find faith simply through rational thinking. It is a gift. I also said that if you want faith, all you have to do is open your heart, at least recognize that God might be there. In the meantime, if you rely on your own rational thinking, then you're pretty well saying, "I can out-think God and I'll decide for myself if he's there or not," and you can't out-think God. And if there's no God, don't bother thinking about it. It's all a waste of time.
I think we now know who can “out-think” who, Mike….
Reader P.T. Quinn of Ann Arbor, Michigan, referring to last week's item at www.randi.org/jr/2006-09/09806guess.html#i12 writes:
The reason that the NY Times said of the terrorist "unless the man was found to be mentally unstable" is because the left-leaning PC movement in the media doesn't want to offend any of their own kind. I'm a non-partisan libertarian and consider myself a realist. I say this without political bias. A hard left friend of mine got offended by the term "Islamofacist" as if a religious wacko who'd like to behead you for not believing in Allah and his alleged tenets is somehow not as bad as the term might imply. The human race is delusional about a god and a lot of other things and largely has no clue of astrophysics or our true nature and place in the universe. Sadly, that will never change. People of all cultures and political leanings have a pathological need to believe in things they imagine, but consider reality.
Reader Carl, in Marychurch, Australia, tells us:
The story "Beware Capricorns" (SWIFT 8 September 2006) is not the first time an insurance company has issued a "press release" claiming a link between astrology and accident risk. Within Australia two examples come to mind:
February 2002 – Suncorp Metway, a major Australian financial service provider, announced that their studies showed Geminis were the worst drivers. So Capricorns are not to blame. www.suncorp.com.au/suncorp/news/2002/feb_10_2.html
June 2003 – AAMI, a major insurance company, announced Capricorns were the worst drivers. Oh dear, now Capricorns are to blame again. See www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s886146.htm. Both companies assured the public they would not be using this "information" to adjust premiums. We should be grateful for their benevolent sacrificing of profit to prevent astrological discrimination.
I’ll indulge myself a bit here. One corner of a desk drawer in my office is occupied by strange little souvenirs I’ve collected in my travels. I’ll share three of them with you, along with my complaints about the technology that appears not to have worked well…
You see illustrated here a United Airlines boarding pass that I used some months ago. I can barely make out my name at the top of it, and the rest of the details are quite lost simply because a printer at the United ticket desk was out of toner. Surely this fact should have been obvious to the clerk and I recall that I did bring it to her attention. Her reaction was that others took care of such problems, but not she. I can tell you, if that person had been in my employ I’d have terminated her association with me, tout de suite.
Recently, one of my doctors gave me a prescription to be filled, then promptly went away on vacation. When I presented the prescription, the pharmacist could not read it. I returned to the doctor's office, and found that none of his employees there could read it, either. I had to wait until the doctors vacation was over, so that I could get the prescription filled. When I commented on this to him, he seemed surprised. “Well, that’s the way I write!” he answered. I assure you that that doctor is no longer on the list of those I consult.
Third, I ask you to examine these two price-labels at my local Publix grocery store. I first saw this error almost three years ago, and promptly brought it to the attention of the local manager. (I’ll let you figure out what the error is.) He seemed to be amused, and said that he’d look into it. I stood on a weighing machine nearby, and saw by reflection that this man merely dropped both labels into his trashcan and went on with much more important matters. Over the next few years I regularly brought this matter to the attention of several different store managers at that same Publix store, but always with the same reaction. They simply didn’t care. The labels today read – wrongly – as they did years ago. I’m sure this will not be attended to – not that it’s an important matter at all, but it signifies an overall disinterest on the part of employees who should be far more interested in how their business operates.
In this same grocery store, last Thanksgiving, I picked up a twin-pack of wine at an advertised special price only to notice that I was being charged 40% more for this “special” than I would have spent buying two individual bottles. When I notified the Publix store-manager of this gaffe, he simply shrugged and said that this figure had been put on display without his knowledge – but he made no move to make any correction.
Okay, so I’m making a big fuss over minor matters. But this complacency on the part of minor employees can quickly erode the overall efficiency – and reputation – of any organization. Many of us have had such problems with government offices, and most of us simply grin and bear it. I don’t. I think that employers should be notified about such discrepancies, so that our social system doesn’t continue to go downhill.
End of tirade…
Two years ago, I issued a notice that Martin Gardner would be celebrating his 90th birthday, and I invited my readers to send in cards to this remarkable, still-active, philosopher, mathematician, genius and most excellent friend of the skeptical movement. The response was a huge success, a landslide of greetings that quite overwhelmed Martin. This October 21st will mark the 92nd revolution of the Earth around the sun since Martin’s debut on the world stage, and I’m asking all of our readers to once again act together and thrill this marvelous man with a collective recognition of his continued contributions to our knowledge.
Please send a birthday card – care of the JREF – with your thoughts inscribed, if you wish, so that we can package them up and arrange to have them personally delivered to Martin by his son Jim, who lives close to him in Oklahoma. I’ll leave to your imagination the delight and excitement that Martin will express when he is presented with your personal token of appreciation for his existence.
As an aside, I can tell you that during my recent serious illness, I was buoyed and most appreciative of the many cards and letters that came to me from all over the world. There is a sort of magic to this formality of recognizing situations that call for reaching out via a piece of paper. It certainly worked for me, and I still have the two cartons of get-well notes (and some 30 stuffed animals!) that were sent to me – many from persons I’d never heard of, from countries that I actually had to look up on a map! Please try this simple magic spell on Martin, will you? Send a card, note, or letter, to:
Martin Gardner
℅ JREF
201 S.E. 12th Street
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316-1815
USA
The sooner you send them, the better. We’ll lovingly assemble and package them up for delivery. And I thank you in advance…
Our Amaz!ng Bermuda Triangle Cruise was a resounding success, well applauded by all who attended. Due to impending bad weather, several course changes were called for, and one of our members – Pieter – took a fall and broke his hip. The ship had to make a slight detour toward Miami, so that Pieter could be taken off on a Coast Guard cutter and delivered to a Miami hospital. The ensuing operation was uneventful, and the gentleman flew off back to Sweden.
I must take this opportunity of thanking at least a few of the people who performed beyond the call of duty in order to make the JREF look good. The inimitable Banachek, and his sensational wife Heidi, turned out a show that the passengers will not soon forget. Scott Hurst and Susan Hurst proved themselves not only industrious, but willing to vacuum, dust, and clean up the JREF before and after the pre-cruise party, as well as awakening me early each morning so I could bicycle to nowhere in the ship’s gym. Hal Bidlack performed as only he can, and caterer Eric Vicaria served up refreshments with style. Scott Romanowski and Kathleen Nelson were very, very, helpful. And lastly, our thanks to the three Waggs, father mother and son; they were everywhere, all the time, making things just a little smoother for everyone and handling minor crises with style.
At risk of seeming out of character, I must be honest with you and report that an hour out of Fort Lauderdale, as we officially entered the Bermuda Triangle, my watch stopped at 11:11 – I assumed that the battery had gone bad. I put the instrument aside, and for the next day I consulted my cell phone to tell the time. Of course, when we went out of range of any land relays, the phone also failed me. However, I was amazed to see that on the second day out, my watch had begun running again! I’ll let my readers make whatever they can out of that event.
The accompanying map is only as I recall it…. It may not be accurate.
Thank you, everyone. We’ll be doing another Amaz!ng Cruise next year, I’m sure. Perhaps from the West Coast, this time.
Our next event, as you know, is TAM5 in Las Vegas. Registrations are coming in nicely, and since we may have less ability to accommodate a large crowd due to the change of venue, I urge you to give some attention to this matter if you intend to be with us in January.