Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[SkeptInq@aol.com]

Visit the CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer Magazine website at
 http://www.csicop.org. Receiving over 200,000 hits per year, the CSICOP site
 was rated one of the top ten science sites by HOMEPC magazine. Send comments
 regarding SI DIGEST to editors Matt Nisbet at mcn23@cornell.edu and Barry
 Karr at skeptinq@aol.com.

 --CSICOP: Skeptiseum is On-Line!
 --NY TIMES: A Voice from the Other Side.
 --CORNELL: Newspapers, not television, motivate people to vote.
 --NY TIMES: Fraudulent marketers capitalize on sweat-free diets.
 --NY TIMES: Brits wrongly lulled people on Mad Cow, Report says.

 --CSICOP: SKEPTISEUM IS ON-LINE!

 PRESS RELEASE
  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

  The Skeptiseum Is Online!

 AMHERST, NY (October 27, 2000)--If you've ever wondered where you can find
 photos and information on a Bigfoot track cast, a Congo "nail fetish," a key
 from Houdini's personal collection, or 19th century homeopathic remedies,
 you
 should visit's CSICOP's new "Skeptiseum" at www.csicop.org/skeptiseum.

 CSICOP has brought an amazing collection of paranormal and pseudoscience
 artifacts to the Internet with the debut of the Skeptiseum--the Committee's
 new virtual museum of paranormal artifacts and curios for skeptics. This
 one-of-a-kind site features seven exhibits: UFOs and Aliens, Miracles,
 Ghosts
 and Spirits, Cryptozoology, Alternative Medicine, Superstitions, Psychic
 Phenomena--and a special Feature Exhibit which will be changed periodically.
 All exhibits include informative discussions of their respective topics and
 photographs of exhibit items with interpretive captions.

 Initially, the Skeptiseum will display 50 artifacts or groupings of
 artifacts. Every item featured on the site represents an actual artifact or
 curio in Joe Nickell's paranormal collection at the Center for Inquiry,
 CSICOP's headquarters. The site will be revised regularly with photos and
 information on new acquisitions, growing into a valuable resource for
 skeptics, students, and the curious.

  Kevin Christopher
  Public Relations Director
  CSICOP/Skeptical Inquirer
  P.O. Box 703
  Amherst, NY 14226
  Tel (Direct): (716) 636-1425 ext. 224
  Tel (Alternate): (716) 636-1426
  Fax: (716) 636-1733
  E-mail: SIKevinC@aol.com

 --NY TIMES: A VOICE FROM THE OTHER SIDE

 STYLES
 A Voice From the Other Side
 By RUTH LA FERLA
 For the full text of the article, go to
 <http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/29/living/29DEAD.html>

 In recent years the number of people who believe it is possible for the dead
 to contact the living has swollen, spilling from the Birkenstock-and-crystal
 set into the culture at large.

 --CORNELL: NEWSPAPERS, NOT TELEVISION, MOTIVATE PEOPLE TO VOTE

 During this election season, skeptics may be especially aware of the
 influence of the media on the campaign perceptions and political
 participation.  The following is a press release on recent research at
 Cornell University of related interest.

 Newspapers -- not television -- motivate highly educated people into civic
 action, say Cornell and Ohio State University researchers

 For the full text of the release, go to
 <http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Oct00/NewsGap.bpf.html>

 ITHACA, N.Y. -- [You are what you read. In our culture of mass media and
 information bombardment, it is the daily newspapers -- and not the nightly
 television news programs -- that motivate highly educated people into civic
 participation, according to researchers at Cornell University and Ohio State
 University. And this is creating a civic-participation gap between people
 with high and low education levels.

 "People with a higher education not only tend to read newspapers but they
 can process the information more carefully," says Dietram Scheufele, Cornell
 assistant professor of communication. "The highly educated know where to
 look to find information, and they have the skills to read a newspaper more
 effectively. As a result, mass media has a stronger influence on their civic
 participation. Less educated people participate less in the first place, but
 they also benefit less from information presented in newspapers and a
 participation gap is being created."...]

 --NY TIMES: FRAUDULENT MARKETERS CAPITALIZE ON SWEAT-FREE DIETS

 Fraudulent Marketers Capitalize on Demand for Sweat-Free Diets
 By GREG WINTER
 For the full text of the article, go to
 <http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/29/science/29DIET.html>

 In their search for replacements after the removal of the diet drug
 fen-phen, consumers have turned quick-fix, over-the-counter weight loss
 products from a tiny sliver of the diet industry into its fastest-growing
 segment.

 --NY TIMES: BRITS WRONGLY LULLED PEOPLE ON 'MAD COW,' REPORT FINDS

 British Wrongly Lulled People on 'Mad Cow,' Report Finds
 By SARAH LYALL
 For the full text of the article, go to
 <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html>

 An official report released Thursday severely criticized the British
 government's "culture of secrecy" that deliberately played down the
 possibility that mad-cow disease could be transmitted to humans.

 --------------------------------

 SI Electronic Digest is the biweekly e-mail news update of the Committee for
 the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.)

 Visit http://www.csicop.org/. Rated one of the Top Ten Science sites on the
 Web by
 HOMEPC magazine.

 The Digest is written and edited by Matt Nisbet and Barry
 Karr. SI Digest is distributed directly via e-mail to over 4000 readers
 worldwide, and is sent from CSICOP headquarters at the Center for
 Inquiry-International, Amherst NY, USA.

 To subscribe for free to the SI DIGEST, go to: http://www.csicop.org/list/

 PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO REPRINT OR REPOST ON THE WEB. WE ENCOURAGE
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 Direct media inquiries regarding Skeptical Inquirer and CSICOP to Kevin
 Christopher at 716-636-1425 or SIKevinc@aol.com. CSICOP publishes the
 bimonthly SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, The Magazine for Science and Reason.

 To subscribe at the $18.95 introductory Internet price, go to:
 http://www.csicop.org/si/subscribe/

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