Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@aol.com>]

Amherst, NY (August 1, 2002)-- Friday, August 2 Joe Nickell is
scheduled to appear on CNBC's "The News with Brian Williams" ( 7 - 8 p.m.
EST) in a taped interview on crop circles. The interview includes a
demonstration of crop circle making by Nickell and other CSICOP staff.

CNBC Schedule:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/Content/CNBCTV/TV_Info/Schedule.asp

Kevin Christopher
Public Relations Director
CSICOP & Skeptical Inquirer
P.O. Box 703
Amherst, NY 14226
Phone: (716) 636-1425 ext. 224
Fax: (716) 636-1733
E-mail: kchristopher@centerforinquiry.net


See also MSNBC at:  http://msnbc.com/news/787696.asp



Articles of Note

Note to readers - the first two items on this list are, I don't know what
else to say, simply horrific. If they didn't make me so angry, upset, and
plain scared, I'd probably cry. You may want to skip them.


1)  Killing for 'Mother' Kali
BY ALEX PERRY ATAPUR
TIME

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020729-322673,00.htm

l

"For the magic to work, the killing had to be done just right. If the
goddess were to grant Khudu Karmakar the awesome powers he expected from a
virgin's death, the victim had to be willing, had to know what was
happening, watch the knife, and not stop it. But even tranquilizers
couldn't lull 15-year-old Manju Kumari to her fate. In his police
confession, Karmakar says his wife, daughter and three accomplices had to
gag Manju and pin her down on the earthen floor before the shrine. In
ritual order, Karmakar wafted incense over her, tore off her blue skirt and
pink T shirt, shaved her, sprinkled her with holy water from the Ganges and
rubbed her with cooking fat. Then chanting mantras to the "mother" goddess
Kali, he sawed off Manju's hands, breasts and left foot, placing the body
parts in front of a photograph of a blood-soaked Kali idol. Police say the
arcs of blood on the walls suggest Manju bled to death in minutes."



Week-old girl raped in S. Africa
Reuters

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/07/30/safrica.rape.reut/index.html

"A week-old baby girl has been raped in South Africa, making her the
youngest victim in a spate of child rapes fuelled by the myth that sex with
a virgin cures AIDS, police say."



Monster hunters spot giant fish
BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news/072002/28/giant_fish.shtml

"A team of paranormal investigators from Exeter believe they may have
identified a giant creature being held responsible for attacks on swans in
Lancashire."


Seen a UFO? Seattle reporting center wants to know
Associated Press

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_072702WABufowebsite.30e8270b.html

"In Freehold, N.J., a woman reports seeing an enormous craft “right out of
ET” hover in the night sky for several minutes before it glides away over a
wooded area."


Canonization affirms faith of fervent Mexicans
By Michael Riley
Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E758891%257E,00.html

"The skeptics can have their say, but Alejandro Tavarez has no doubts about
the power of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the existence of Juan Diego, the
diminutive Indian man to whom the virgin is said to have appeared in 1531."


Tarot cards add zing to the corporate party
By MARIEE PILKINGTON
Columbia News Service

http://www.naplesnews.com/02/07/neapolitan/d793415a.htm

"At this year's corporate party, Angelica Taranto, a secretary at Cravath,
Swaine and Moore, made sure she got to the Rainbow Room early to beat the
line. She knew from last year's get-together at the swank penthouse
restaurant in midtown Manhattan that there would be a crowd — all for the
tarot card reader."


Staircase mystery may be solved, but the miracle remains
by Kate Nelson
Albuquerque Tribune

http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news02/072702_news_nelson.shtml

"Only here, in the City of Holy Faith, could the notion of a miracle
wrought by a mysterious angel thrive against evidence to the contrary."



Circles in bean field thought to be prank
Associated Press

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/top/a27cropcirc.htm

"Caution Naperville residents: a soybean destroying alien may be on the
loose."


China stakes out Shangri-La for tourists
BY TED ANTHONY
Associated Press

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-shangri26.html

"China declared Thursday that the mythical settlement of Shangri-La had, in
fact, been a full-fledged country, neatly settling a row among three
provinces trying to exploit the name's tourist potential."


US resolution angers Beijing
BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2153018.stm

"China has reacted angrily to a resolution passed by the US Congress on
Wednesday that calls for an end to persecution of members of the Falun Gong
spiritual sect."


F-16s Pursue Unknown Craft Over Region
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8131-2002Jul26.html

"For Renny Rogers, it was strange enough that military jets were flying low
over his home in Waldorf in the middle of the night. It was what he thinks
he saw when he headed outside to look early yesterday that floored him."


Harvesting a hoax
BY JAMI BERNARD
New York Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/story/6180p-5770c.html

"Here's all you need to make a crop circle: a plank, a knotted rope, the
light of the moon and perhaps a pint or two to get you in the mood."


Our Lady of Guadalupe chooses Indian to help evangelize New World
By Beth Pratt
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/072702/rel_0727020080.shtml

"With the vision of a 16th-century Indian named Juan Diego Cuauhtlataotzin,
Christianity became more than an Old World religion foisted upon the New
World by Spanish conquerors."


Does Body Chemistry Make You Gullible?
by Leon Jaroff
Time

http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,331956,00.html

"Over the years, as a confirmed skeptic, I've not been too charitable to
purveyors of the paranormal. Israeli "psychic" Uri Geller has felt the
sting of my columns, as has medium John Edward, who claims he is in touch
with our dearly departed. I've ridiculed believers in Therapeutic Touch and
Alien Abductions, and made light of those who insist that UFOs are visitors
from other worlds."


Got the Giggles? Join the Club
By ERIC TRUMP
New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/27/arts/27LAUG.html

"On Jan. 30, 1962, at Kashasha village near Lake Victoria in what is now
Tanzania, three schoolgirls got the giggles. Tears rolling down their
cheeks, they couldn't stop laughing or keep their contagion of chuckles
from spreading to almost half the other girls at their boarding school.
Some fits were lasting minutes, others hours, some up to 16 days, until
exasperated administrators closed the school five months later. Afflicted
girls were sent home to their villages around Lake Victoria, where they
duly infected more children and young adults with their "sickness." Before
the epidemic finally relented, in 1964, it forced the temporary closing of
more than 14 schools, all because of unstoppable laughter."


Light Behind the Knee Won't Fix Body Clock: Study
By Keith Mulvihill
Reuters Health

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020725/hl_nm/circadian_je
tlag_dc_1

"In 1998 it was widely reported that shining bright light on the back of
the knees may help re-set the body's internal clock, sparking hope not only
for jet-lagged travelers but also for those suffering wintertime blues."



Japan poison cult 'hounded' by police
By Richard Lloyd Parry
The Independent [UK]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=319111

"On paper at least, the life of Hiroshi Araki looks like something out of
Franz Kafka. Whenever he steps outside his flat, at any time of the day or
night, men with clipboards make a note of the time he leaves, who he is
with and which way he is going. They are there, rain or shine, 24 hours a
day, never fewer than three of them and sometimes a dozen."


Traditional Chinese medicines tap market
CHINA DAILY

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2002-07-29/79801.html

"The central government has allocated 550 million yuan (US$66 million)
towards the modernization of traditional Chinese medicines since 1999."


Ghosts, day camps among latest efforts to boost hotel stays
by Becky Toosya
South Florida Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2002/07/29/focus3.html

"The GulfStream Hotel's new management team, Stefanoah Hospitality Group,
has decided that promoting its resident ghost might not be bad for business."



Alert! Real hoaxes afoot!
By Jeffrey Shaffer
Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0726/p11s02-cojs.html

"I know that President Bush is depending on average Americans like me to be
on homeland security patrol every day, keeping our eyes and ears open for
signs of potential intrigue from the Evil Ones."


Magnetic mattress pad: Rude awakening
By Edgar Sanchez
Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/scam_alert/story/3779881p-4805352c.html

"Marguerite Gerling thought she was too smart to be defrauded."


Fundamentally unsound
By Michelle Goldberg
Salon

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2002/07/29/left_behind/index.html

"The most popular novel in America right now is one in which the world is
tyrannized by the former secretary general of the U.N., who operates from
Iraq, and his global force of storm troopers, called "peacekeepers."
Revered rabbis evangelize for Christ, repenting Israel's "specific national
sin" of "[r]ejecting the messiahship of Jesus." Much of the world is
deceived by a false prophet, part of the inner circle of the Antichrist,
who seems a lot like the pope -- he's a Catholic cardinal, "all robed and
hatted and vested in velvet and piping.""




Headmaster flees as hysteria grips school
Harare Daily News

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/daily/2002/July/July30/6119.html

"THE headmaster of St Mark’s Secondary School in Mhondoro has fled the
school following accusations by parents that he possesses goblins which
have sexually harassed female students and teachers."


Healing with touch
By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/07/29/TampaBay/Healing_with_touch.shtml

"Eileen Weber's hands scan the air above the hospital patient's body,
gently, rhythmically, like a metal detector over soft sand."