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Reader M. Alice LeGrow offers this creepy story:
Seriously, it's always rewarding to hear about this sort of epiphany. Thanks, Alice. Now it's easier for you to understand how some folks experience something that sends them off on a paranormal tangent from which they never recover because the truth about it is never revealed to them. This is a leading source of all sorts of "ET" and "ghost" stories that are of course then snapped up by the media and amplified and metamorphosed out of recognition. When I asked Alice's permission to use this anecdote on the page, she kindly responded:
My kinda girl!
Readers will recall the name Malcolm Roe (atwww.randi.org/jr/090602.html) who, after being closed down by the FBI here in the USA, moved off to the U.K. and changed the name of his fake "locater" device from "Quadro" to "The Mole." The Quadro was a hi-tech-appearing dowsing rod that had non-functioning electronic parts epoxied into it, and could be "tuned" to the "DNA of bullets," among other fatuous claims. It appears that Roe invested the money he made selling this scam to the U.K. Royal Corps of Engineers (RCE), in a night club: The Club and Spa at Glynneath, in South Wales. The Mole sold to the RCE for £13,000 (US$24,000) a pop, and guess what, it didn't work! I offered the JREF million-dollar prize to any member of the RCE, knowing that they had received training to use it, but they ignored me. I wonder why?
The Glynneath club featured a floor show, and one artist who had played there, contacted me:
Needless to say, none of this surprises me one bit. People who are involved in these farces are usually believers in everything. The Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, leprechauns, elves, goblins, all owe their existence to the juvenile notions these people nurture. Man, I'd love to test Malcolm's conviction about gravity! Just show me the closest cliff .
I'd suggest to Ray Ronson that where he writes, "The pointer thing led me to the object," he might better have written, "I pointed the rod toward the place where I knew the object was located." This is the ideomotor reaction in place, the subconscious moving of a poorly-stabilized device. Seewww.randi.org/library/dowsing/
Next week, you'll see here another item on dowsing notions, showing that the genuine believers in this fallacy will not only dedicate their lives to following the chimera, and will refuse to do double-blind testing in case it destroys their delusion, but will gladly beggar themselves in the process .
Remember astrologer Jonathan Cainer who I mentioned two months back? (Look atwww.randi.org/jr/022004demons.html.) In case you were concerned that he's poverty-stricken, I thought I'd provide you with information on his current income. He's been bouncing around various UK newspapers who have vied for his incredible talents. In 1998, he was receiving a mere £75,000 ($140,000) annually, plus 50% of the earnings from the paper's "hotline" astrology service, to titillate the readers of the Daily Mail. That "bonus" amounted to some £100,000 ($185,000) extra, but Jonathan apparently still felt swindled. He quit the Mail and joined the Express, where he was given 75% of their hotline proceeds. We can only imagine his income, at that point. Next, the London Mirror wooed him with even more money, but too late to stop him from popping back to the Mail, for a cool million pounds ($1,850,000) a year.
People are always asking me if I've ever thought that maybe I was in the wrong end of this business. The thoughthas crossed my mind .
Do take a look athttp://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=877081 for a very entertaining discussion .
"Psychic" Sylvia Browne last year offered a grab-bag of her expected dizzy predictions, among which were her forecast of the death of Saddam Hussein by the end of that year, "a Democratic president" being elected in 2004 — un-named, possibly because Kerry had not by that time come out ahead of the pack of hopefuls — and the "possible eruption of a volcano at Yellowstone Park" before February 22nd of this year. "I think the whole thing is gonna blow," she said, brightly. Well, it didn't, Saddam is still alive, and Sylvia only has one stunning guess to go, for a perfect negative score: the election of John Kerry to the White House. Based upon her miserable rate of failure over the years so far with prophecy — she said that in 2000 Democrats would win the election with Bill Bradley, with close competition from the Reform Party — I think that Democrats should now abandon all hope
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Reader Andrew Schaur comments:
I suggest you may want to look in at:www.churchofcriticalthinking.com
Radio host Paul Harris, a good friend, writes to tell me (used with permission):
And, you know, Paul Harris still hasn't heard from George Noory about a requested retraction of the lies Sylvia Browne gave out on his program, "Coast To Coast," though Noory has now received copies of my clarifying data, so he knows the actual facts. George, who knows Paul very well, even went on air last week and repeated the outright fabrication that Sylvia Browne told about my refusal to put the JREF prize money in escrow. There may be a reason for Noory's special degree of muddlement on this occasion. He was interviewing Uri Geller the spoon-bender, so maybe he was star-struck and bewildered more than usual. I note that when Noory brought up my name in the interview, Geller very wisely declined to discuss that subject. He's a survivor!
Reader Richard P. Johnson, who describes himself as "an amateur astronomer and supervisor of a public observatory," sent me a long critique of last week's JREF prize applicant who was raving about Sedna. And he corrected me, as did several others. I'd written that 2,380,981 was a prime number. I hope that not too many of you tried to find factors of it, but you could have: 79 X 30,139 = 2,380,981. Richard is quite correct about that number not being prime, though both factors are primes . Mea culpa. It might have been 2,380,481 that deceived me, or even 2,380,951 — they're both primes, and pretty close .
Yeah, I know. "Close" doesn't count .
Where would I be without astute, observant readers ..?
Reader Matthew Gates has his own set of possible causes for the anomalies pointed out by astrologer Russell Grant as proof that you're haunted, ten points that we posted here last week. ("DIY" stands for "Do-It-Yourself"):
Well done, Matthew! Concerning #3, you perhaps know that elephants are known to be able to communicate by sound over very long distances — many miles — using the 20-hertz range, which is only a rumble to humans, just at the limit of our low-frequency sound perception. Do Danish buses communicate the same way, we must wonder?
Remember that remarkable dyspeptic tirade from Michael Horn — the Billy Meier UFO supporter — from last week? Well, he's been busy firing off huge postings to everyone in reach, not that I'm surprised, and he has dropped in small bits of data that show us where he's heading in response to my offer to pay him the million as soon as he provides the "otherworld metal" evidence he says he can produce. First, we discover that he doesn't actually "have" it. He won't say who does have it, but it's not he. What a pity! And we were so close! Ah, but even if he actuallyhad the evidence, and submitted it for examination, that would not mean anything, as he warns his buddies:
Yes, we see your problem, Michael; it's been clear all along. It's that you don't have the evidence you so vehemently claim you do, and you won't directly address that fact. I can't speak for the other skeptics, but as you well know, I always commit myself firmly in advance, leaving no possibility that I could evade paying up. Just how obtuse are you, Horn? Are you trying to establish a new standard for density?
Andrew Hunt of Toronto marvels over some facets of our story on Horn and Meier:
Good suggestions for our consideration, Andrew! Yes, Billy must be some special kind of guy! Mr. Horn continues on feverishly grinding out all sorts of complaints. We seem to have him pretty worried. But Im sure hell come up with the metal. Almost any minute, now .
I received at least 40 notices from readers about a news story that at the Fort Myers, Florida, airport last week, American Airlines Flight 1304 was cancelled at the word of a "psychic" who called authorities warning that a bomb was aboard. A search with bomb-sniffing dogs turned up nothing suspicious, but forced the cancellation of the flight because the delay caused some of the crew members to exceed their normally permitted work hours by the time the search was finished.
Doug Perkins, local administrator for the federal Transportation Security Administration agency, said, "In these times, we can't ignore anything. We want to take the appropriate measures." I agree. The move to abort the flight was sensible, unfortunately, but it does not in any way imply that the TSA has any belief in psychic forces or abilities. This might have been a genuine threat, not just a hoax. However, TSA officials wouldn't say who the call came from. I find that disturbing. I think we should know.
Reader Ben Warden has a decidedly pessimistic view of the event, and sees the action of the TSA rather differently than I do:
Reader Harry Schmidt, of the University of Chicago, is similarly concerned:
I needn't comment .
ANOTHER STRANGE PERSON APPLIES
Last week, I promised you another example of the bizarre claims that applicants send in for the JREF million-dollar prize. Be sure you're seated, and try to figure out what this man is trying to communicate to us. Here's his statement on which his claim is based, spelling intact, his name edited down to initials ETP to avoid identification:
These three predictions are — in turn — highly likely, possible but unspecific, and rather vague — to put it kindly. As for his "appearances" before me, no matter how hard I rack my poor brain, I cannot recall those visits, nor those numbers, strangely enough. And, the audience at OSU was probably large enough that I can't remember seeing him there.
Not at all close, and certainly no cigar .
This application was properly submitted, notarized, and clearly printed, which is in itself a refreshing element to find. The applicant, however, seems fuzzy about his evidence, and has not stated — as required — what he can do, under what circumstances, and with what accuracy. Folks, this is sometimes a frustrating job I've chosen, but I created this monster, and I have to feed and tend it .
My response to him was:
It is at this point that we might expect not to hear back from Mr. P again, judging from our extensive past experience. But we'll keep you informed if the matter goes forward .
I recently referred to a Mr. Montague Keen, and have just been informed that he very recently died. That must have occurred not too long ago, since we were in contact in early January. My ignorance of his demise may have caused offence, and I apologize for that. I must say, however, that Mr. Keen several times repeated and distributed a number of very derogatory and libelous canards in reference to myself, comments that he simply took from other sources without any attempt to validate them, then he refused to retract them even after he had seen the refutations. I think that was not a responsible attitude on his part. I regret that some might have been — inadvertently — offended, and I understand their dismay....
Last week, I received an inquiry about a supposed medical condition a "psychic" justknew I had. I informed him that I was not so afflicted, and he responded, in true pseudoscientific terms:
Oh, no, it doesn't. People like you can be wrong, consistently, for years, and will never abandon a favored theory. The excuse offered here is a resort to the metaphysical-sounding aspects of quantum physics, freely misused and abused by amateurs. This advanced concept is dragged in to account for failures of every sort, dangled before the public by persons who don't know a proton from a protein. It's one of the penalties that we pay for having an educational system that so often fails us.
There are many things that are difficult to write . Actor, writer, Oscar-winner, and freethinker Sir Peter Ustinov has died at age 82. Fluent in French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish, and also speaking Greek and Turkish, he is credited with a number ofbons mots that I certainly wish I'd originated. One was:
And, when asked if he had decided on the epitaph for his gravestone, he answered:
Sir Peter was one of a small — and getting smaller — group of persons that I wanted to someday meet in person. He was a delight, a fine gentleman who made us all a little richer for his being here.
This next, closing, item I just have to leave you with — emphasis mine. And remember where our President hails from .
Taken from the State of Texas Constitution, Article 1 — BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 4 — RELIGIOUS TESTS:
Wait a moment. Isn't an inquiry into whether one believes or does not believe the "Supreme Being" myth, a "religious test,"per se? Who wrote this .?
