Karen Stollznow
Karen Stollznow is an author and skeptical investigator with a doctorate in linguistics and a background in history and anthropology. She is an associate researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and a director of the San Francisco Bay Area Skeptics. A prolific skeptical writer for many sites and publications, she is the “Good Word” Web columnist for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, the “Bad Language” columnist for Skeptic magazine, a frequent contributor to Skeptical Inquirer, and managing editor of CSI’s Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice. Dr. Stollznow is a host of the Monster Talk podcast and writer for the Skepbitch and Skepchick blogs, as well as for the James Randi Educational Foundation’s Swift. She can be reached via email at kstollznow[at]centerforinquiry.net.
CSICon New Orleans 2011 - Critical Thinking in the Crescent City
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 36.2, March/April 2012
Conference Report
A Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) conference has been long-awaited since the last event held in 2003. The inaugural CSICon, the conference dedicated to scientific inquiry and critical thinking, was held October 27–30, 2011.
The Winchester Mystery House
The Good Word
December 29, 2011
This is another of the “Most Haunted Houses in America,” but this isn’t so much a paranormal story as one about a woman whose life was reputedly ruled and ruined by belief in the paranormal.
(No) Escape from Alcatraz
The Good Word
December 5, 2011
Yet another claimant to the title of America’s “most haunted” place, Alcatraz certainly reigns as one of the world’s most notorious jails.
“Psychic medium” Ezio de Angelis
The Good Word
October 28, 2011
I attended Communicating with Spirit, a live performance by De Angelis, unaided by editing.
Running Hot and Cold: “Psychic Medium” Rebecca Rosen
The Good Word
September 26, 2011
Like James van Praagh, John Edward, Sylvia Browne, and many others before her, Rebecca Rosen has her own techniques for cold reading, and possibly hot reading.
Days of Our Lives
The Good Word
September 7, 2011
I attended "Past Life Recall," a presentation by "certified" past-life regression therapists Greg McHugh and Paula Robbins.
Dark Side of the Sun
The Good Word
August 2, 2011
Our best protection against skin cancer is sunscreen, but this important defense is often demonized by pseudoscientific sources.
Hard (Pseudo) Science: The Second Coming of the VIBE Machine
The Good Word
March 29, 2011
According to anecdotes, the machine has been used to treat a wide variety of conditions, including pancreatic cancer, intestinal parasites, anxiety...
MythBusters’s Adam Savage
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 34.6, November/December 2010
Karen Stollznow, a host of the Center for Inquiry's Point of Inquiry podcast, recently spoke with him.
The Belief with No Name
The Good Word
December 21, 2010
Share International comprises an eclectic set of paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs and practices, and endeavors to appeal to people of all faiths
Hoaxes: For Better or for Worse
The Good Word
November 19, 2010
Skeptics expose the hoaxes, but should skeptics ever be the hoaxers?
A Close Encounter with Jeff Peckman
The Good Word
October 20, 2010
If the conspiracy theorists are to be believed, the United States government has been suppressing proof of the existence of UFOs and aliens for many decades...
Frog Boy: Death of an Urban Legend
The Good Word
September 20, 2010
Leaping to Conclusions about Cryptid Frogs
Skepticism and the Singularity
The Good Word
August 20, 2010
The futurist concept of "the singularity" is far from Aldous Huxley's early futurist ideas of subliminal learning and reproductive technology in Brave New World
The Amaz!ng Meeting
The Good Word
July 23, 2010
Those who self-identify as skeptics know that TAM is an acronym for The Amaz!ng Meeting, hosted by James "The Amaz!ng" Randi
Football Gazing: Sports and Superstitions in South Africa
The Good Word
June 22, 2010
Sometimes a lucky t-shirt isn’t enough to win the game…
A Psychometry Reading
The Good Word
April 12, 2010
Metaphysical Fairs are places where immortality and the end of the world are compatible…
Skepticism: Going out of Business?
The Good Word
March 2, 2010
To Be or Not to Be—Is That the Question?
Frank’s Box: The Broken Radio
The Good Word
January 28, 2010
One person’s broken radio is another’s groundbreaking invention that enables human contact with aliens, angels, and the dead.
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Coral Castle: Fact and Folklore
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 34.1, January / February 2010
Article
How a diminutive, frail, uneducated, unskilled man built Coral Castle without modern machinery has supposedly "baffled scientists, engineers, and scholars."
The Stanley Hotel: An Investigation
The Good Word
December 21, 2009
Located at Rocky Mountain National Park, the Stanley Hotel--the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining...
The ‘Ethics’ of Ghost Hunting?
The Good Word
November 16, 2009
If a doctor engages in malpractice, the practitioner is accountable to professional organizations...
Available in the Print Edition. Subscribe Here.
Skepticism and Blogging
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 33.6, November / December 2009
Article
Blogs first appeared in the late 1990s as "web logs," In the form of journals or diaries. Blog has become a generic...
New Age Spiritualism: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
The Good Word
October 12, 2009
A friend who owns a bookstore once told me, "Customers drawn to the New Age section seem to buy every book but never find...
