SKEPTICAL INQUIRER DIGEST 4-16-99
SkeptInq@aol.com
Fri, 16 Apr 1999 13:02:52 EDT
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER ELECTRONIC DIGEST
April 16, 1999
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In this week's SIDIGEST:
--Latest SI Tackles Bigfoot, Organ-Harvests, Snuff Films, Urine Analysis....
--More on the Discovery Channel "Science Mysteries" Series
--Audiotapes of "Science Meets Alternative Medicine" Conference Now Available
--Susan Blackmore's "The Meme Machine"
--CFI West-Los Angeles: "The Future of the Book" w/ Paul Kurtz and Steve
Allen
LATEST SKEPTICAL INQUIRER TACKLES BIGFOOT, ORGAN-HARVESTS, SNUFF FILMS,
URINE ANALYSIS, AND PARANORMAL LINCOLN
The May/June 1999 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, due to North American
subscribers and bookstores in the next ten days, places Bigfoot on the cover
with articles that focus on the famous 1967 film of "bigfoot", and the
strange culture of bigfoot belief that has developed in cyberspace. Other
topics featured:
--SPECIAL SECTION: Urban Legends
With an introduction by urban legend expert emeritus Jan Harold Brunvand
The Snuff Film: The Making of an Urban Legend
Scott Aaron Stine
One of the most enduring, and little-recognized, urban legends about cinema
is the "snuff film," in which actresses are supposedly actually killed
onscreen. Over the course of nearly a quarter century, the snuff film has
transformed from grade-Z slasher film to hoax to anti-pornographers' straw
man to urban legend, and shows no sign of slowing down.
Bitter Harvest: The Organ-Snatching Urban Legends
Ben Radford
Many urban legends are harmless, such as stories of microwaved poodles and
giant alligators lurking in sewers. Others, however, can have serious
consequences. The organ-snatching urban legend and its variants have been
taken seriously in some places and caused real harm.
ARTICLES
Bigfoot's Screen Test
David J. Daegling and Daniel Schmitt
Recent analyses propose that the 1967 film of "bigfoot" documents a large,
feral nonhuman primate unknown to modern science. Known sources of
measurement error and existing data on human locomotion suggest a more
cautious conclusion.
Tracking Bigfoot on the Internet
David Matthew Zuefle
Two years of "hunting" Bigfoot in cyberspace tells you little about the
never-confirmed giant bipedal creature but a lot about those who hunt for it.
Some are sincere searchers; for others, the idea is a complex and flexible
belief system that serves multiple needs and roles.
Statement Analysis: SCAN or Scam?
Robert A. Shearer
Thousands of law enforcement and security personnel have been trained in
"statement analysis" or "content analysis" for supposedly detecting
deception. Theoretical and research support for the advertised "scientific"
techniques is practically non-existent.
NAGPRA, Science, and the Demon-Haunted World
Geoffrey Clark
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) has
ramifications that extend far beyond how archeology is conductged in the
United States. It throws into sharp relief the conflict between science-like
views of the world, and those of the various anti- and pseudo-science
constituencies arrayed against them.
COLUMNS
NOTES OF A FRINGE WATCHER: Urine Therapy
Martin Gardner
Noted author and science writer Gardner tackles the history and reputed
healing powers of urine therapy.
INVESTIGATIVE FILES: Paranormal Lincoln
Joe Nickell
Well-known paranormal investigator Joe Nickell reproduces the alleged early
mirror-vision of Abraham Lincoln, just one of many paranormal powers
attributed to the former president.
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_______________
MORE ON THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL "SCIENCE MYSTERY" SERIES
In April, May, and June, the Discovery Channel will be running an excellent
series of documentaries on the paranormal that will feature several CSICOP
fellows including Robert Baker, Premanand, Joe Nickell, and Richard Wiseman.
Nickell was a special consultant to the BBC on several of the episodes.
Unlike recent documentaries to hit Discovery, the Learning Channel, and the
major networks, in the couple advance episodes we've seen, the series shows
science and scientists unraveling the mysteries of the unknown while staying
away from hyping the extraordinary.
The cooperation and collaboration with producers of several of the Discovery
Channel episodes is just the most recent example of CSICOP's twenty-three
year history of working with the world media to bring science-based
examinations of the paranormal to television. Whether its Discovery, ABC,
NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, the Learning Channel, the BBC, or HBO (look for a major
two-hour documentary in the fall on communication with the dead and
near-death experience), CSICOP continues to be the media's best resource and
clearing house of information for scientific and expert analysis of the
paranormal and the pseudoscientific.
Here's the upcoming Discovery schedule.
Check with your local listings.
April 17 5pmESt Previous Lives (Featuring Indian skeptic Premanand.)
May 13 9pmEST Levitation
(Featuring CSICOP Fellows Joe Nickell, Premanand, and Richard Wiseman)
May 15 5pmEST Levitation
May 20 9pmEST Open to Suggestion
May 22 5pmEST Open to Suggestion
June 10 9pmEST ESP (Featuring Wiseman.)
June 12 5pmEST ESP
June 24 9pmEST Physical Feats
June 26 5pmEST Physical Feats
Unscheduled episodes that will air over the summer include "Miracles" (with
Joe Nickell), "Electric Hands" (with James Randi), "Bermuda Triangle",
"Atlantis Found", "Lake Monsters", and "Buried Alive" (voodoo and suspended
animation in Haiti.) We'll let you know more details when they become
available.
Also...
On April 28, Discovery Channel will air a Discover magazine television
special called "A Skeptics Guide" that will tackle the topics of ghosts,
therapeutic touch, UFOs, magic and belief in the paranormal. Advance word is
that James Randi is featured. Check your local listings.
______________
AUDIOTAPES OF "SCIENCE MEETS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE"
Audiotapes of the landmark CSICOP/Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine
conference "Science Meets Alternative Medicine" are now available. Hear the
entire conference, including all concurrent sessions, on seventeen 90-minute
audio cassettes, or order the sessions you wish to hear. Order the full
conference set of tapes for a 10% discount. A summary of the tapes available
can be found on page 53 of the May/June 1999 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, due
to arrive in the next 10 days.
Call 1800-634-1610 for more information. A report on the conference is
available at http://www.csicop.org and on page 5 of the May/June 1999
Skeptical Inquirer.
________________
SUSAN BLACKMORE'S "THE MEME MACHINE"
Psychologist and CSICOP Fellow Susan Blackmore builds on Richard Dawkins
meme thesis in her latest book "The Meme Machine" (Oxford University Press.)
First introduced by Dawkins in his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene", memes are
discrete units of knowledge, gossip, and jokes that catch like viruses from
one mind to another. In her book, Blackmore describes the mind as a
collection of memes.
It seems that the idea of memes is catching on. TIME magazine highlights
Blackmore's book in the April 19, 1999 issue. TIME runs a page-and-a-half
adaptation of Dawkins' introduction to "The Meme Machine" complimented by a
half-page feature on the book with input from Daniel Dennett, Stephen Jay
Gould, and Steven Pinker.
You can check out Blackmore's book at your local bookstore, at
http://www.amazon.com, or at http://www.barnesandnoble.com. We'll keep you
posted on further follow-up news regarding this fascinating and very
important book.
For more on memes, go to: http://www.memes.org.uk/
Here's a write-up from Oxford University Press:
The Meme Machine
Susan Blackmore, Lecturer in Psychology, University of the West of England
Foreword by Richard Dawkins
"Any theory deserves to be given its best shot, and that is what Susan
Blackmore has given the theory of the meme I am delighted to recommend her
book."
- Richard Dawkins
`Anyone who hopes -- or fears -- that memetics will become a science of
culture will find this surefooted exploration of the prospects a major
eye-opener.'
- Daniel C. Dennett
Memes are ideas, behaviours, or skills that are transferred from one person
to another by imitation. The term was coined by Richard Dawkins in his
bestselling The Selfish Gene (OUP 1976), in which he described how biological
design arises as genes compete selfishly to replicate themselves. In his
final chapter Dawkins
suggested that memes are also `replicators', and that they compete to get
themselves copied into as many brians as possible. Examples include tunes,
catch-phrases, clothes fashions, and new ways of building arches. If memes
are true replicators, then our minds are fashioned by memes just as our
bodies are fashioned by genes. After twenty years the word `meme' is to be
included in the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. However, most
academics avoid the word, and a true science of memetics has not yet
developed. This book will lay the foundations for such a science, starting
with a clear definition of the meme and applying the principles of general
evolutionary theory to understanding memetic
selection. This approach provides new theories of memetic altruism, the
development of language and the origins of the enormous human brain.
__________________
CFI-WEST LOS ANGELES--"THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK" W/ PAUL KURTZ
The Center for Inquiry-West in Los Angeles is the West Coast bureau and
programming center for CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer magazine. The Center is
located at 5519 Grosvenor Boulevard, Marina Del Ray, Los Angeles, off of
Jefferson Blvd., between Centinela and Lincoln. All Events are FREE and there
is FREE PARKING. Contact Matt Cherry at 310-306-2847 for more information.
"The Future of the Book: Celebrating Thirty Years of Publishing."
May 1, Saturday, 7pm.
Join Paul Kurtz, Steve Allen, and a myriad of authors from Prometheus Books,
the world's leading publisher of books on science and skepticism. In a
lecture, CSICOP founding chair and Prometheus publisher Kurtz will explore
whether the printed page has a future, and what bibliophiles can do to
maintain the diversity of the publishing industry. FREE admission, drinks,
and food.
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