Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@aol.com>]

CSICOP Chairman Paul Kurtz will be on the radio discussing his new book
"Skeptical Odysseys."  Check him out on the following stations:

There are several more pending/to be scheduled, but these are booked so far:

-KTSA-AM/San Antonio TX
"Cybercity" Sat. Sept,. 1 10:05-10:50 PM

-"The Source with Paul Anderson"/Amarillo, TX
Christian Radio show w/ 3 state coverage & internet audience.  Sun. Sept. 2,
9:15-10 PM

-"Louisiana Live" out of Baton Rouge
Airs on 15 stations Sept. 4, 4-4:30 PM

-WDWS/Champaign, IL Sept. 4 5:10-5:50 PM

-KFIZ-AM/Fond du Lac, WI "Backstage Live" Sept. 12 11:10-11:50 AM


Skeptical Inquirer superstition bash photo essay featured on the Comdey
Channel website: http://www.comedycentral.com/timewasters/kc/bash01.jhtml

Articles of Note
Thanks to David Vanderschel, Joe Littrell, Eric Krieg

Psychic show's past makes its future easy to see
By Jennifer Weiner
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/08/23/magazine/cross23.htm

John Edward paces the stage, words tumbling out of his mouth, eyes squinched
shut. "There's a 'J,' a 'J' name. Jim, James, Jack . . .."


The Times
Suicide, sex and the guru
BY DOMINIC KENNEDY
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,7-2001295208,00.html

The reputation of Sai Baba, a holy man to the rich and famous, has been
tarnished by mysterious deaths and allegations of sexual abuse


Sometimes, scientists' overexcited imaginations supersede the facts
Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer    Monday, August 27, 2001
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/27/MN134760.DTL&type=

science

Now you see them, now you don't: subatomic "particles" and "forces" that
mysteriously appear in scientific experiments, then disappear.
The frequent reason: They never existed in the first place. Like sightings of
spooks, UFOs and the Loch Ness monster, they're often the product of a bright
but overexcited physicist's imagination.


Spokane WA Spokesman-Review Tuesday, August 28, 2001

Judge blocks 'free electricity' offer
Attorney general says man seeking investors is charlatan
Kevin Blocker - Staff writer
http://spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=082801&ID=s1014397&cat=section.

spokane

A judge has stopped Spokane investments into a device being touted as a
source of free electricity.


Hypnosis: No Truth Serum
By Jeff Carpenter
ABC NEWS
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20010829/hl/hypnosis010827_1.html

"Hypnosis that attempts to retrieve the truth may actually help convince
you of something false, a new study says."


Children seduced by forces of Satanism on the Internet
BY DANIEL MCGRORY
The Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001296151,00.html

"INCREASING numbers of children are spending hours alone browsing the
Internet in search of satanic websites."


Teenagers jump to their deaths
by ALLAN HALL
The Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-2001296523,00.html

"THE suicides of three teenagers who leapt together to their death from a
bridge, their bodies daubed with pentangle symbols, have increased concern
among officials in Germany about the spread of Devil-worship among
disaffected, often unemployed, young people."


Carloads hunted monster in Grant County
by Jim Reis
Kentucky Post
http://www.kypost.com/2001/aug/27/reis082701.html

"Not all the monsters are four-legged."


Entering a new dimension in the channeling of spirits
By David O'Reilly
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
http://inq.philly.com:80/content/inquirer/2001/08/27/front_page/PCHANNEL27.htm

"As church suppers go, the potluck at Pebble Hill Church in Doylestown was
thoroughly traditional: Folks at picnic tables ate chicken, barbecued ribs,
baked beans, and peach-blueberry pie."


The Rael World Comes to New York
by Rebecca Segall
Village Voice
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0135/segall1.php
(Sidebars to this story include
Close Encounter of the Raelian Kind -
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0135/segall2.php and
The Raelian Account of Creation -
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0135/segall3.php )

"The first Raelian has just moved to Manhattan, and she's on a mission to
multiply. She is hosting her first "sensual meditation" class next week,
spreading the extraterrestrial good news on the Upper West Side—and
bringing the group's controversial stance on cloning to New York."


Dream Academy
by DAVID SHAFER
Willamette Week
http://www.wweek.com/flatfiles/News1927.html

"Even over the phone, Arnold Mindell is beguiling. Though we've never met,
never even spoken before, he calls me by my first name 20 times in as many
minutes. He sounds as though he's in the middle of many important and
exciting projects, but has managed to put me at the top of his list. Quick
to laugh, he is impressed by my questions, by the depth of understanding
they convey; before hanging up, he tells me that he feels very encouraging
toward me, that I should probably be writing books. And though I suspect
that Arny would rather I were writing books than asking indelicate
questions about his curious graduate school on Northwest Hoyt Street, I
can't help but feel flattered."


Ghost Bust
by David Jasper
Weekly Planet
http://www.weeklyplanet.com/current/cover.html

""This house is protective," says Bernie Middendorf, sitting in the
bungalow he and former girlfriend Tara Schroeder share in the Seminole
Heights area of Tampa. "There's no other way to describe it. This house is
very protective.""


It's spooky, but all our ghosts are vanishing
by BEN MACINTYRE
The Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,248-2001294370,00.html

"The ospreys are coming back to the West Highlands, along with the otters.
The beaver is being reintroduced and the salmon may b recovering slowly.
But there is one local species, amazingly numerous until quite recently,
that seems to have gone for ever: Scotland’s ghosts are all but extinct."


Astrology School
All Things Considered
NPR
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/20010828.atc.15.ram

"The Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology
has granted accreditation to the Arizona-based Astrological Institute.
Students following their stars and hoping for a career in astrology will
now be eligible for federal grants -- and a little respect. Astrological
Institute founder and president Joyce Jensen joins Robert Siegel to discuss
what the accreditation means to the school and its field of study."