Table of Contents:
ANOTHER SHOTGUN APPOACH TO PROPHECY
Canadian reader Tristan Lall is appalled at the Toronto Star newspaper:
Note, Tristan, that her post-predictions are exact and detailed, while those yet to occur are fuzzy .?
Randi comments: and note that "in Canada" covers 3,700,000 square miles, and is declared twice. Does that cover 7,400,000 square miles? I dunno how to figure these mysterious matters . Then Ms. Pezaro gets even more mystical, saying:
Hold on. That's another rather widespread guess, this one covering 9,400,000 square miles! Is there no safe place where we can hide, Ms. Pezaro? Tristan continues:
Agreed. But it was just too vapid and effortless a subject for Toronto Star reporter Rita Zekas to pass up. And she probably got a free reading from this astonishing psychic, with the same pin-point accuracy as seen above. If so, I imagine that she heard something like this:
Currently "on a roll," UK astrologer Jonathan Cainer is raking in the money and laughing at his dupes. But Richard Dawkins, professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University, has an opinion on this, and being not at all shy about making his thoughts known, recently said:
We'll be hearing Dawkins giving more such opinions when he addresses us on "From Eve to Newton, the Apple of Knowledge" at The Amaz!ng Meeting 3, in January . Are you registered yet .?
FOOT-PROBING REVISITED
Reader Julian Jensen comments:
I've improved on last week's reflexology diagram, making this ancient art more available to the general public. See the accompanying chart...
Reader Bert Whetstone:
It had to happen. Those marvelous "free energy" contraptions assembled by inventor Joseph Newman are once again being touted on the Internet. Multiple identical copies of badly cobbled-together ads have arrived in our e-mailbox; that's a sure sign of a paranoid personality. They're headed:
Well, I'd be just as entranced if Joe could show us a 5% output-over-input result for any of his contraptions, and I'd pay out the million-dollar prize, too. But how can I doubt this wonder, when Dr. Roger Hastings, Principal Physicist, UNISYS Corporation, is quoted as stating that:
Oh, Hastings, consult with a high-school science teacher, and get educated! Guys, until you get it working to my very simple standards, as stated above, I think I'll keep this skeptical attitude that I've adopted for such matters. I've already traveled to Mississippi to witness two Newman machines refusing to budge, and I've little incentive to do that again; it's boring. But if you want the JREF million dollars, let's go!
Alas! After demanding all sorts of exceptions to the JREF Challenge, and refusing one of the basic rules, outright, Mr. Newman — who does not deign to respond in person to any correspondence — has now instructed his lackeys to run from any possible test of his creation. Drat! I just love seeing them trying to get those pocketa-pocketa machines running, and then hearing the excuses .!
As you suspected, there's more: Newman now tells us that
Typically, this "inventor" is"improving" something he hasn't even been able to make work, in the first place!
But now, along much the same line, we've heard from Mr. Theodore Karavassilis, in Athens Greece. Basic language adjustments have been made:
Randi comments: Now, that shows some common sense — aside from the fact that none of these machines can or will work, that is. If Mr. Karavassilis sticks with that goal, we'll see no more of him, and any damage to his investors will be minimized. He himself will persist in believing that his idea will work, and something as simple as a poorly-taken readout on an unfamiliar oscilloscope — Newman's folly — will continue to mislead and deceive this man, as happened — and continues to happen — to Newman. Mr. Karavassilis continues:
Folks, I think you can see the big difference between Newman's gang and Mr. Karavassilis. Newman has been touting his "free energy" notions for years now, and has come to the point where he fears any real investigation, and must wriggle out of being put where his claims can actually be examined. Karavassilis appears to be — at least at this stage of his delusion — cautious and yet confident; that makes him a more sympathetic character, and I feel that he'll suffer more from his lack of sophistication than Newman possibly could. That's to be regretted.
I think that Mike Lilley has too harshly judged our Greek "inventor," though that attitude was no doubt brought about by his past disappointments and experiences with such individuals .
Reader Kevin Schaffer has an important observation for us:
That same thought has also occurred to me, Kevin .
The bizarre Korean billionaire and Unification Church founder Reverend Sun Myung Moon, 84, has actually been crowned as "The Messiah" — which I'm sure he believes himself to be — in the U.S. Capital! Last March 23rd, Moon was declared to be The Messiah as a bipartisan group of members of Congress looked on or participated. The coronation of the billionaire, pro-theocracy newspaper owner was performed with royal robes, a crown, the whole silly works, yet this stupendous, Earth-shaking event seems to have escaped the attention of the media in general! You'd think that the fact it took place, not in a makeshift basement church or at a remote backwoods campsite, but in a Senate office building, might have attracted considerable media frenzy.
Moon has much influence in Washington. He's both a religious leader and a media mogul, owning both the Washington Times newspaper and the wire service United Press International.
One congressman involved, Danny Davis from Illinois, even wore white gloves and carried a pillow holding one of two ornate gold crowns that were placed on the heads of The Messiah and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, at the ceremony. Mr. Davis says he was "a bit surprised'' at Moon's Messiah remarks, which said that emperors, kings and presidents had
Mr. Davis said he had attended meetings of the Moon "peace foundation," knowing of Mr. Moon's involvement, but of the crowning ceremony, he said:
Moon's Unification Church includes the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace-mentioned above — which held what it advertised as this "Ambassadors for Peace awards banquet" in the Dirksen Office Building. The initial invitation, sent to all members of Congress, stated that Mr. Moon and his wife would also be present and honored for their work. But follow-up letters mentioned only the peace foundation and simply told lawmakers who from their states was being honored. Representative Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland was there, too, and commented:
Oh. Well, listen more carefully next time, Roscoe. Some of the others, like Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota, insisted they were duped and had no idea that the organization holding the reception was connected to Mr. Moon. Mr. Dayton said he attended because he'd been told that a constituent of his state was being honored.
Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, an organization devoted to preserving the separation of church and state, said of this spectacle:
Wait a minute, Mr. Lynn. There are dozens of such declarations made every year — we even get some here at the JREF. Of course, not too many of the afflicted get crowned in the Capital, I admit. But the event attracted little notice, at the time it occurred. The uproar didn't occur until later, when a freelance writer published an account of the event in Salon, the Internet site that deals often with Washington peccadilloes. But Archbishop George A. Stallings, pastor of the Imani Temple, an independent African-American Catholic church in Washington, who helped coordinate the reception, does not see what all the fuss is about:
Very true, and now that he's officially a god, he'll be hanging around the place regularly, I'm sure. Deities have obligations, you know.
Moon's organization was required to find a senator to act as a sponsor, in order to hold this affair where they did, but the identity of the sponsor remains a secret; the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which approved the request, would not release the name. A spokesperson for Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the committee chairman, said staff members were examining the application, filed in the name of The Washington Times Foundation, to see if there were any violations of Senate rules. I'm sure that means we'll never hear another word about it.
Here's an interesting angle: our friend Bob Park, the outspoken curmudgeon, points out that there was a short-lived move a couple of weeks back, to re-name the Moon — yes, the Earth's natural satellite! — after Ronald Reagan. I kid you not. Re this coronation of The Messiah, Bob declared:
Bob has such a way of putting things .
A test: look at this photo, and guess which is the correct caption:
1. Costume party with the Pillsbury Doughboy.
2. The new sanitation team reports for duty.
3. Advertising Korean-made Chlorox Bleach.
4. The New Messiah is crowned in the Capital.
Surely, #4 is the least likely .?
Reader Jeff Thorne spotted something of interest written by Amy Sullivan athttp://gadflyer.com/politicalaims/index.php?Week=200425#410, concerning "prayer power":
Jeff comments:
Reader Paul Budzinski of Lake Forest, California:
They chose not to publish my letter.
Canadian reader Rob Bairos tells me:
Well, Rob, I got a "B," as well as an "R." Is it "Rob"? It is? Wow!
Readers Martin Rule of Coventry, UK, and John Atkinson of the Isle of Man, notify us that The Curse Of Uri Geller has claimed another victim, following Uri's disastrous recent involvements with Reading and Exeter football clubs. During Euro 2004, the football tournament then taking place in Portugal, Geller appeared on a popular Channel 4 daytime chat program — the "Richard & Judy Show," where he asked viewers to touch the TV screen images of England soccer players and to pass their "positive energy" to the team prior to Thursday (June 24) night's crucial quarter-final match against Portugal. Apparently it didn't matter whether the image on the screen was from videotape, or live. These fabulous powers work equally well either way, as we all know.
The result was predictable: England lost on penalties, having finished the match 2-2. The team is now out of the tournament. Thanks, Uri. Yours is a very special talent.
Unfortunately, the feng shui expert and a lady Anglican priest who were also in attendance didn't help either, with their own particular brands of superstitious nonsense. John and Martin are happy to report that the TV hosts, Richard Madely and Judy Finnegan, appeared to show a good amount of skepticism and made sure that the whole episode was treated as a light-heated diversion. I've been on with this team, via telephone, a few times — and I've found that they're not very tolerant of fakes .
MAYBE HE'S DOING IT THE HARD WAY
Several years ago, a correspondent sent me the following observations about the powers of Uri Geller, at a time when he was receiving much TV attention. Cleaning out some old files, I came upon the document once again. There's food for thought to be found here .
Next week, we'll show you another video clip from the RAI3-TV program you saw here recently, this time with Geller "psychically" bending a key that is so heavy, he appears to have to hold it in both hands .
Back in November of 1994, before this website existed, I ran a complaint on my "Hotline" about the embrace of quackery, superstition, and pseudoscience that the Public Broadcasting System in the USA always falls into, as soon as it's time to ask for financial support. It read:
Almost ten years later, this outrage has worsened. We've just been through a few weeks of vapid adulation over Wayne Dyer, the huckster who PBS has apparently permanently adopted to solicit money from viewers via his phony pop-psychology platitudes. What most viewers perhaps don't recognize is that Dyer is actually selling his CDs, books, and videos through PBS during these appearances, since contributors are sent items from his merchandise list as rewards for their contributions. He's not a volunteer tout for the network; he profits from all contributions — over a minimal amount — that are made to PBS. As just a taste of the nonsense Dyer offers PBS viewers:
This network also adores and employs the blatant pseudoscience of Gary Null — diploma-milled PhD. — who makes just as much sense as Wayne Dyer: none. Null, for just one example, touts strapping on magnets to cure and protect the human body:
Another popular icon PBS hoists and hosts is Deepak Chopra, M.D., who preaches a return to medieval notions of medicine, along with the varied "biles" (yellow, black), "humors," and other ancient notions of the alchemists. The bottom line here is that PBS sees proven dollar signs in pseudoscience, and finds nothing wrong with using it to fund their otherwise excellent fare. But this is what really alarms me: there had to be a point in time where the managers of the network met with their fund-raising advisors, listened to suggestions that they use acceptance and promotion of quackery and lies as a way to attract money, and agreed to do so at the expense of their integrity. They knew it was dishonest, and they didn't care. Is that the American way?
I used to support PBS annually. No more .
The "Hotline" files referred to above, recently rediscovered, will soon go up as an archive on this page, so you can look over ancient observations I've made. It comes to some 18,000 words, unedited, and there's more, yet undiscovered .!
