Skeptic back issues from January 1999:
Dumbth news: From this is true
Jan 01, 1999; ... SCARLET LETTER Delaware has passed a new law requiring sex offenders to get a special mark on their driver's licenses. People convicted of sex offenses will get a 'Y' designation on the front of their license upon release from prison. On the back, in the area where it shows regular ...
Faith-medicine connection challenged
Jan 01, 1999; ... TIDES OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS have reported that people who believe in God,who are religious,who pray, or who hold strong "spiritual" affinities, have lower blood pressure, recover from diseases and surgery faster, and in general show many indicators of superior general health In other ...
Millennial fever growing
Jan 01, 1999; ... Later this year SKc magazine will feature a special issue on the millennium since virtually everyone is planning on the 20th century and the 2nd millennium coming to an end as 1999 turns into 2000. Technically this is incorrect. When the B.C.-A.D. system was established in the 7th century the ...
Scientific analysis of Kennewick man to begin
Jan 01, 1999; ... According to an AP wire story dated February 25, 1999, following a heated controversy over what should be done with the remains of Kennewick Man, considered the oldest and most complete human skeleton found in the Northwest and one of the oldest in North America, a team of six anthropologists ...
New cult-watch group
Jan 01, 1999; ... Since the demise of the Cult Awareness Network because of bankruptcy brought on by numerous lawsuits filed against it by the Church of Scientology (it has since been purchased by, and is currently run by a Scientologist), skeptics have had few places to turn for expert advice on cults and their ...
Scinetology's problems in Russia, Europe, and America
Jan 01, 1999; ... According to a Reuters News Service release dated February 25, 1999, Russian authorities raided at least two offices of the Church of Scientology in Moscow. A government police officer explained: "We're conducting a comprehensive inspection. There is no repression going on here" Church officials ...
Bigfoot busted by buffs
Jan 01, 1999; ... In a January 11,1999,AP wire story,the famed Bigfoot "Patterson film," that has always struck skeptics as nothing more than a big guy in an ape suit, has now been confirmed to be just that, by no less than former Bigfootbelieving buffs. According to Cliff Crook, a longtime Bigfoot tracker who ...
Crop circle hoaxes
Jan 01, 1999; ... THE WASHINGTON TIMES reported (January 3,1999) that some of the most famous crop circles in England, presented by some as evidence of extraterrestrial visitations, are nothing more than clever hoaxes. Tim Reid reports that Doug Bower, 74, confessed that he was the original crop circle creator, ...
Psychic scam busted
Jan 01, 1999; ... The Washington Post reported on November 17,1998, that a company called Creative Publications of Herndon, VA, grossed $5.8 million over three years by selling canned psychic readings for $20.00 each. A judge in U.S. District Court in Alexandria ordered the company to pay a $40,000 fine and to ...
Drug dealer says psychic told him he would not get caught
Jan 01, 1999; ... MODESTO, Calif-A drug dealer who rejected a plea bargain because a psychic predicted he'd never be convicted could face a nasty future-at least 10 years in prison. Federal prosecutors had offered Bernardo Arroyo, 26, a deal that would have resulted in a two-year prison sentence for being ...
"When scholars know sin" forum debate / Clarifying contentious issues
Jan 01, 1999; ... MEA CULPA! MEA CULPA! J. GORDON MELTON RESPONDS Regular readers of SKEPTIC scanning the article by Steven A. Kent and Theresa Krebs, "When Scholars Know Sin" (Vol. 6, No.3, 1998), may have felt as if they were stepping into the middle of a debate without being aware of the stakes behind ...
Psychotherapy forum debate / There is no baby in the psychotherapy bathwater: Dineen Responds
Jan 01, 1999; ... PSYCHOTHERAPY FORUM DEBATE CONFUSED BY DINES I'll admit to being a bit confused by Tana Dineen's "Psychotherapy: The Snake Oil Of The '90s?" I've been a therapist for several decades and though I can relate to her frustration regarding the clinical incompetents and money-makers ...
Facilitated communication defended: Rosemary Crossley responds to Brian Gorman
Jan 01, 1999; ... ROSEMARY CROSSLEY RESPONDS TO BRIAN GORMAN I write in regard to "Facilitated Communication in America: Eight Years and Counting," by Brian J. Gorman (Vol. 6, No. 3, 1998). Gorman's article purported to be about facilitated communication, a technique sometimes used to enable ...
Waco skepticism and counterskepticism: Gifford responds to Jeffries
Jan 01, 1999; ... "Why do you Americans demand justice when foreign governments commit mass murder in their country but not when your own government commits mass murder in your own country?" That question was posed by a student following a recent joint UCLAAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screening of ...
'Twas brillig...Observations on a bizarre world
Jan 01, 1999; ... AN ADDRESS TO CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AT THE RAYBURN BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 18TH, 1999 GOOD AFTERNOON. I am gratified that Congresspersons Brown, Sensenbrenner, Holt, and Ehlers, have invited me here today to address you. I am far from unaccustomed to ...
Selection for credulity
Jan 01, 1999; ... A Biologists View of Belief LIKE OTHER PERSONALITY TRAITS, the tendency in some humans to believe in the paranormal ("credulity") is subject to natural selection, which varies in its intensity from time to time and place to place. As we approach the millennium, are we now experiencing ...
Legitimatizing psychology's prodigal son
Jan 01, 1999; ... CONSIDERING HYPNOSIS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY LOOK INTO MY EYES. You ARE GETTING SLEEPY, VEEERRRRY SLEEPY," This familiar phrase, or something like it, has been uttered endlessly in film and popular literature to convey the controlling power of a hypnotic trance. And, ...
Public relations: Blue smoke, mirrors, and designer science
Jan 01, 1999; ... How the Public Relations Industry Compromises Democracy "Where are the data?" "What do you mean, where are the data? It's The New England Journal of Medicine It's all data,for Crissake:' "This was a double-blind study?" Sure Fatal hesitation Attack! 'And how big was ...
The game of influence: Understanding the hidden dynamics of communication
Jan 01, 1999; ... IN JOURNEY TO IXTLAN, author Carlos Casteneda recounts his fictional mentor Don Juan's advice about influencing a friend's unruly child (1972, 11): "Your friend is not a warrior,' he said. "If he were, he would know that the worst thing one can do is to confront human beings bluntly?' ...
The knowledge filter
Jan 01, 1999; ... REALITY MUST TAKE PRECEDENCE IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH Martha: Truth and illusion George you don't know the difference. George: No; but we must carry on as though we did Martha. Amen. -Edward Ale Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Within hours of the ...
The measure of a woman
Jan 01, 1999; ... AN INTERVIEW WITH SOCIAL SCIENTIST CAROL TAVRIS SKEPTICS, HUMANIST, AND FREE THINKERS OF all stripes, she is known for her unbending stand against pseudoscience and fuzzy-headed thinking.. To feminists she is known for her social activism and efforts to show that women are ...
Fraud and science: Reflections on the Baltimore case
Jan 01, 1999; ... THE BALTIMORE CASE FIRST SURFACED PUBLICLY IN 1988, but it had been simmering in part of the biomedical research community for almost two years. The case originated in May, 1986, with a young scientist named Margot O'Toole. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Thereza ...
Christian science and the perversion of quantum physics
Jan 01, 1999; ... THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE RELIGION has long suffered membership losses and criticism for its stance on refusal of medical treatment. In recent years, however, the Christian Science Church has gained new momentum from its interpretation of quantum physics, a point of view supported by some physicists ...
Complementary alternative medicine boon or boondoggle?
Jan 01, 1999; ... CAN THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TRADITIONAL ALLOPATHIC MEDICAL CARE (TAM) SYSTEM AND COMPLEMENTARY ALTERNATIVE MEDICAL CARE (CAM) SYSTEM BE RESOLVED? OR THE PAST FOUR DECADES I HAVE BEEN PRACTICING what is known as allopathic medicine, also called traditional or conventional medicine. For the ...
Rust on the higes of history
Jan 01, 1999; ... A review of Thomas Cahill's books: How the Irish Saved Civilization, 1995, 246 pages, $12.95 paperback, ISBN 0-385-41849-3, New York: Nan A. Talese. The Gifts of the Jews, 1998, 291 pages, $23.50 hardback ISBN 0-385-4-8248-5; New York: Doubleday. IN CASE ANY OF YOU WHO HAPPEN to be ...
How to misuse Darwin
Jan 01, 1999; ... And (Almost) Get Away With It Review of Darwinian Myths: The Legends and Misuses of a Theory by Edward Caudill. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-87049-984-X CHARLES DARWiN, the author of the momentous On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural ...
How have people tried to predict the future?
Jan 01, 1999; ... FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS people have tried to forecast the future by studying patterns created by almost anything you can name. Whole books have been filled just listing the hundreds of fortunetelling systems that people have thought up. What do all these systems to predict the future ...
Patterns in science and patterns in superstition
Jan 01, 1999; ... WHAT MAKES A MEANINGFUL PATTERN? Will it rain tomorrow? Will I fall in love? Will I be rich? Will I pass the history test? Will a bear attack me when I go camping? We all want to know the future. Both fortunetelling and science are inventions by people to predict the future ....
When is fortunetelling a bad thing?
Jan 01, 1999; ... How Criminal Fortunetellers Work Sergeant Rick Louk is a Torrance, California, police officer who investigates crooks. But the thieves he deals with don't use guns or sneak into people's houses. The odd thing is that people happily give these robbers money, sometimes tens of thousands ...
How fortunetelling really works
Jan 01, 1999; ... There are many different kinds of people who claim to be able to predict the future. Skilled magicians present mind reading acts for purposes of entertainment. Other people suppose that their ability is real (more about that later), and still others are professional criminals out to cheat their ...
Texas students test astrology predictions
Jan 01, 1999; ... One of the most popular forms of fortunetelling is astrology, and almost every newspaper has an astrology column. How accurate are these astrological predictions for any given day? Could you pick the prediction for your sign after you already know what kind of day you've had? To answer this ...
Mad magical science
Jan 01, 1999; ... MAD MAGICAL SCIENCE JR. SKEPTIC magazine is proud to present the weird and wacky world of Bob Friedhoffer, "the madman of magic," as he explores the magic behind science, and the science behind magic. In January, 1999, Bob performed live for hundreds of Jr. Skeptics at Caltech ...
Magic and perception
Jan 01, 1999; ... When I first started doing magic tricks, I thought it was awesome that I could fool people. Being the nosy kind of guy I am, I wanted to know how and why people get fooled. If I knew that, I thought, maybe I'd become a better magician. It dawned on me, after a while, that there are many ...
What is a skeptic?
Jan 01, 1999; ... What does it mean to be a skeptic? Some people believe that skepticism is rejection of new ideas, or worse, they confuse "skeptic" with "cynic" and think that skeptics are a bunch of grumpy curmudgeons unwilling to accept any claim that challenges the status quo. This is wrong. Skepticism is a ...
'Twas brillig: Pigasus flies again
Jan 01, 1999; ... THE THIRD ANNUAL PIGASUS AWARDS FROM THE JAMES RANDI EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ON APRIL IST OF EACH YEAR, WE AWARD THE COVETED PIGASUS AWARDS IN FOUR CATEGORIES for accomplishments in the year previous. The awards are of course announced via telepathy, the winners are allowed to prophesy ...
The Skeptics Society annual Dumbth Awards
Jan 01, 1999; ... THE 1999 SKEPTICS SOCIETY CONFERENCE was about "Reinventing Darwin." Is "The Survival of the Fittest" a valid theory? I have to say yes, because I see examples in the newspaper every day Shard Tappan, 28, was escaping the heat in an apartment swimming pool when he and his friends decided to have ...
The Skeptics Society's 1999 convention: Reinventing evolution
Jan 01, 1999; ... WHAT DO 450 SKEPTICS LOOK LIKE? THE FRIDAY NIGHT PARTY GAVE CONVENTION GOERS A CHANCE TO HAVE A LITTLE FUN GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER. A YEAR'S WORTH OF ANTICIPATION CAME TO A CLIMAX AS I PICKED UP MY BADGE FOR THE SKEPTICS SOCIETY 1999 CONFERENCE. My outfit was stunning, my Evolve fish ...
From Moses to Memes
Jan 01, 1999; ... CALTECH SKEPTICS LECTURES DRAW HUGE AUDIENCES SKEPTICS SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP is burgeoning, as is attendance at the monthly lecture series at the California Institute of Technology. The Spring, 1999, roster of speakers filled the 300-seat Baxter Lecture Hall to standing room only. From ...
World War III to start in July says Nostradamus
Jan 01, 1999; ... CAPE TOWN, April 26 (Reuters)-World War Three will start in July in the Balkans, last seven months and end in victory for the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to a new analysis of 16th century French seer Nostradamus. "He is clear it will start before the end of the century ...
Professors' predictions (and excuses) as bad as psychics
Jan 01, 1999; ... COLUMBUS, OH. How do political experts react when their predictions-about election results, the fate of countries or other important issues-turn out to be completely wrong? They don't worry about it. A new study found that most experts shrug off their errors, claiming that they were "almost" ...
Laundry balls outlawed
Jan 01, 1999; ... On April 22, 1999, New York and 10 other states barred the sale of plastic balls marketed as a laundry detergent alternative. The states claim two Dunedin, FL, companies involved in the sale and marketing of "The Laundry Solution" and "The Super Globe" failed to substantiate claims their product ...
Illinois cracks down on satanic ritual abuse psychiatrist
Jan 01, 1999; ... THE CLAIMS WERE STARTLING, if not unbelievable: psychiatric patients who had ritually abused family members had eaten them in the name of Satan. Could psychiatrist Bennett Braun-who first assembled his colleagues in Chicago nearly 15 years ago to discuss the matter-be onto an alarming trend? ...
Cult update
Jan 01, 1999; ... SCIENTOLOGY. If you communicated with CAN in any way over the years-if you ever called, sent a letter or a check, or received their newsletter-Scientology may now have your name or other personal information. Judge Thomas Quinn recently ordered that all CAN records be turned over to the Cook ...
Evolution "just a theory" in Nebraska
Jan 01, 1999; ... According to the Omaha World-Herald, April 28,1999, the Nebraska state Department of Education has made minor changes in language to make it clear that evolution is to be taught as theory rather than as fact in Nebraska schools, said State Education Commissioner Doug Christensen. The department ...
Skeptics are powerful
Jan 01, 1999; ... I wanted to tell you that Slc helped decimate the numbers of members in the ISSD (International Association for the Study of Dissociative Disorders) about three years ago. You published our daughter's retraction letter after she was hoodwinked and brainwashed by ISSD psychologists into believing ...
In defense of philosophy
Jan 01, 1999; ... I was very dissatisfied with the article in SKEPTIC (Vol. 6, #4: 14) on the World Congress of Philosophy that took place last August.You describe a plenary session of the Congress at which five or six of the big names in philosophy were asked "What have we learned from philosophy in the 20th ...
The skeptical approach
Jan 01, 1999; ... As skeptics,we are often focused upon getting people to engage in critical thinking skills when confronted with everything from advertising to miraculous claims of the paranormal. Although we have made strides in a few areas,the skeptical approach is not yet a major force in society. The ...
Sociobiology (-=) evolutionary psychology
Jan 01, 1999; ... SOCIOBIOLOGY =EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY Brian Siano's review of Edward 0. Wilson's book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (SKEPTIC V. 6, #1) made me very skeptical. For example, Siano totally ignores what Wilson says about genes, minds and culture when claiming that natural ...
Great Pyramid was a power plant
Jan 01, 1999; ... I am an open-minded skeptic who enjoys reading SKEPTIC and applying critical thinking towards pseudoscience and the paranormal. However, there is a category of the unexplained which ought not to be lumped together with the nonsense of the supernatural. I am referring to the extremely compelling ...
Cold fusion still hot
Jan 01, 1999; ... Vol. 6, No. 3,1998, included articles criticizing cold fusion by Park (p. 16) and Gorman (p. 65). Both claimed that the effect was not reproduced. This is incorrect. Excess heat and tritium from cold fusion have been widely reproduced at many world-class laboratories, including several U. S ....
Gould v. Huxley agnosticism
Jan 01, 1999; ... It was nice to see the Thomas Huxley observation at the end of Massimo Pigliucci's excellent article,"A Case Against God" in Vol. 6 No. 2, 1998, of SKEPTIC, because of his discussion of Stephen Jay Gould's article on "Nonoverlapping Magisteria" (NOMA) in Natural History Gould calls himself an ...
Authors defend evolution teaching
Jan 01, 1999; ... AUTHORS DEFEND EVOLUTION TEACHING Responding to a growing assault on the teaching of Darwin's theories, a group of textbook authors is campaigning in defense of evolution education. A joint statement, released at the 20,000-member National Science Teachers Association convention, came ...
FLAT Earths & POSH theories
Jan 01, 1999; ... FLAT EARTHS & POSH THEORIES GROUP OF LAWRENCE, KN, CITIZENS concerned that the local publicschool curriculum contradicts biblical teachings has formed an organization to promote the teaching of traditional theories in science and history. Adrian Melott, a spokesman for the Families ...
Deconstructing JKF: the assassination debate continues
Jan 01, 1999; ... DECONSTRUCTING JFK: THE ASSASSINATION DEBATE CONTINUES GERLICH's JFK MIND Is CLOSED Congratulations for publishing Art Snyder's excellent article "Case Still Open: Skepticism and the Assassination of JFK"As Snyder correctly points out, Gerald Posner's dishonest book, Case ...
The great psychotherapy debate continues / Tana Dineen responds
Jan 01, 1999; ... IN DEFENSE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY In"Psychotherapy: The Snake Oil of the 90s?" (Vol. 6, #3, SKEPTIC), Dr. Tana Dineen makes the following broad-based claims: 1) psychotherapy is no more effective than talking to a friend; 2) short term therapy is just as effective as long term therapy; 3) ...
Skeptics respond to Creationists
Jan 01, 1999; ... IN the Vol. 6, 1998 issue of SKEPTIC, Barry Williams recounted an interview in which Richard Dawkins was set up by creationists ("Dawkins Set Up by Australian Creationists," 15-19). Creationist Gillian Brown responded to Williams, asking the same question they asked Dawkins in the interview: ...
Is anybody out there?
Jan 01, 1999; ... AT FIRST, I DIDN'T PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO THE NEWS that astronomers had discovered another solar system in our galaxy. I suppose I was vaguely aware that this was an Earth-shaking revelation, but-frankly-I had a lot of other stuff on my mind. The announcement came on April 15, and I was ...
They never said it!
Jan 01, 1999; ... FREETHINKERS, FUNDAMENTALISTS, AND FAKE QUOTES IT SEEMS A TRUISM THAT LECTURERS AND WRITERS would be lost if they could not quote famous persons. This rings especially true for the clergy, but perhaps even more so for those (whether Christian, Jew, or Muslim) who read their holy book ...
How to evaluate new medical discoveries
Jan 01, 1999; ... OF LATE, THE IE has become one of the greatest potential transmitters of medical misinformation to an unwary public. Use of the internet has increased geometrically, and Web surfers intent on learning the most up to date information on disease treatment are exposed to a vast array of unproved ...
De-population myths
Jan 01, 1999; ... How MANY PEOPLE REALLY IN THE AMERICAS BEFORE THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST? "Supposing is good, but finding out is better."-Mark Twain "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast" -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass SOME 20 YEARs AGO ...
How close are we to cloning time?
Jan 01, 1999; ... AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF HUMAN CLONING "The Commission concludes that at this time it is morally unacceptable for anyone in the public or private sector, whether in a research or clinical setting to attempt to create a child using somatic nuclear transfer cloning." ...
The man who would be cloned
Jan 01, 1999; ... AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. RICHARD SEED, DIRECTOR OF THE HUMAN CLONING FOUNDATION HOW DID PHYSICIST RICHARD SEED BECOME THE POINT MAN IN THE RACE TO PRODUCE THE FIRST HUMAN CLONE? Back in 1978, science writer David Rorvik published In His Image: The Cloning of a Man, in which he claimed to ...
Only God can do that?
Jan 01, 1999; ... CLONING AND GENETIC ENGINEERING TEST THE MORAL LIMITS OF SCIENCE WHERE SCIENTISTS TAKE VOLUMES TO EXPRESS COMPLEX IDEAS, poets can often say more in a few couplets, such as T.S. Eliot's summary of the human career: Birth, and copulation, and death That's all the facts ...
The "information challenge"
Jan 01, 1999; ... HOW EVOLUTION INCREASES INFORMATON IN THE GENOME IN SEPTEMBER, 1997, I allowed an Australian film crew into my house in Oxford without realizing that their purpose was creationist propaganda. In the course of a suspiciously amateurish interview, they issued a truculent challenge to me ...
Group selection & the origins of evil
Jan 01, 1999; ... IN THE SPECIAL ISSUES of SKEPTIC on evolutionary psychology and ethics a few years back (Vol. 3, No. 4, 1995 and Vol. 4, No. 1, 1996), John Hartung argued that the world's most enduring religions are essentially xenophobic. By this he meant that these religions are designed to promote harmonious ...