Skepticblog

Okay. We all see the potential of this blog. We know there are dozens of skeptical groups of all shapes and sizes scattered in every country all over the planet. We should also know that united we will stand and divided we will, …well, let’s face it,  .. fall.  Or if we don’t fall , we will likely stay in the background and continue our perceived roles as another of society’s disparate fringe groups composed of unorganized pessimistic naysayers and intellectual wet blankets. Call me impatient, impudent and if you must even insouciant. Without naming names or outing the Big Boys (and Girls) out there who are in positions to actually do something about our fragmented condition, I’m calling for all out solidarity among skeptics. We need to ORGANIZE!  If not on a global scale, at least let’s start with a national front. We need to stop all the infighting and all the political squaring off and get down to brass tacks. Otherwise we are going to be swallowed up by the gathering legions of scam artists poised to pounce like vultures on a wayward society desperately seeking answers in these troubled times. (continue reading…)

Here in Hollywood, we are experiencing a huge growth in the business of ghost walks. Anyone can do it. Pick a Hollywood star, a lurid death scene or just set up a hike to Hollywood Forever Cemetery “The Resting Place of Hollywood’s Immortals” and hang around the tombstones of luminaries from Cecil B. DeMille to more recent unfortunate arrivals like Lana Clarkson. I suppose celebs like these wouldn’t be quite so “immortal” if they had just been cremated and tossed over the side of some Poseidon Society boat, would they? But then that’s a whole other scam we won’t go into right now. (continue reading…)

“A technology now exists that will allow you to communicate directly with the dead. Gone are the days of psychics passing along messages from beyond. Now we have the ability to hear the voices of those who have passed and communicate, in real time, through a highly specialized device. The results speak for themselves.”

Uh huh. Yeah right. (continue reading…)

“Is it possible that man can achieve immortality – to live forever? That is the startling claim of a historical figure known as Count de Saint Germain. Records date his birth to the late 1600’s, although some believe that his lengthy longevity reaches back to the time of Christ. He has appeared many times throughout history – even as recently as 1970 – always appearing to be about 45 years old. He was known by many of the most famous figures of European history, including Casanova, Madame de Pompadour, King Louis XV, Catherine the Great, Anton Mesmer and others.”

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What ever happened to eye contact? This morning on my way into the office, I made some mental notes about how many people would studiously avoid making even fleeting eye contact with me. Perhaps it was my clothing, body language or choice of hat? While seated on the train the odds were almost down to zero. I know from the experience of riding the subway in New York this is tantamount to putting your life on the line and an urban superstition of some power, but even in laid back Los Angeles it’s becoming just as bad. At a time when we should be joining together, smiling into each others eyes and reaching out, it’s becoming a progressively bleak picture. Why? The superstition that someone staring at you and thereby giving you “The Evil Eye” goes back thousands of years and I suppose even further if you want to include the kind of thing that happens between primates if they stare at each other. Try going to the zoo and having eye contact a male baboon in their cage – they go berserk . (continue reading…)

The tag line is: “What Happens When the Numbers Run Out?”  It should have been: “What Happens when Hollywood Writers Run Out of Numbers Ideas?” The latest psychic-supernatural thriller to come out of Hollywood has been met with good critical reviews and I must admit that despite my avowed skepticism and a few quibbles, I really enjoyed this intense romp into the darkest realms of woo. (continue reading…)

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Skepticblog call to arms for an all out assault on the media is receiving renewed impetus. My last post encouraged some good ideas. If you haven’t read it and are as fed up as I am, please read it and take heart. Our situation is nowhere near hopeless. There are ways to get involved that can make a difference. One at a time, in whatever ways we can, we will eventually reach a saturation point when the tide will turn. The world wants change and new directions. Let’s give it to them and face the fact that we can’t sit around crying in our beer waiting  for the very media that brings us yet another episode of “Dancing with the Stars” to wake up and smell “The Skeptologists.”  (continue reading…)

In a continuation of my previous blog on Guerilla Skepticism and what I believe will be necessary to blast the lid off the dumb-down media and throw some light on rational thinking:

It was great to read in Michael Shermer’s eSkeptic that the wheels are in motion for people fed up with the deceptions we are living through actually taking concrete steps to get the skeptical word out. People are setting traps. Junior Skeptic Editor Daniel Loxton has called for a renewed focus on classical skeptical activism. I’m still not sure whether “classical” is going to get the job done, but I applaud the suggested transition from staying in the background and stepping up to the plate. We need to spend less time bemoaning the past and concentrate on taking it all to the next level.

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The concept of automatic writing is nothing new. Steam of consciousness styles of prose were big with the Surrealists, who tore up pieces of paper with text on it and reassembled those pieces in random order, never searching for meaning, but content to let it just be read as it was: Dada. The Beat Generation and later writers and composers like John Cage would make art out of nonsense. Writers like James Joyce wrote;  “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.”

Yeah right. Sounds a bit like Donny Rumsfeld doublespeak pre-dated by a few decades. And that’s the point. We connect the dots to get what we want out of nonsense, whether it be sold as art, literature, politics  – or a psychic reading. We will alawys retain only what we want to read or hear. The Spiritualists helped loosen up the tongues of their adherents and because of their belief in the power of the unconscious, mediums were very popular with the Surrealists. They shared a common dictum: Just sit down and let it rip. For many people automatic writing is a fun parlour game, while for others of a more serious inclination, it’s a solemn pursuit into the paranormal unconscious that opens the floodgates of precognition and clairvoyance.

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After braving the darkest pathways and sunlit beaches of Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, I have returned to Los Angeles refreshed, but alas without the shred of a Chupcabra specimen to show for the arduous hours spent trailing my elusive quarry. We spotted a few mangy feral dogs skulking through the underbrush and begging in the streets, but nothing that looked like it could suck blood except for the occasional purse held chihuahua. (continue reading…)