Skepticblog

Out of exasperation back in 2009, I coined the term “Guerrilla Skepticism.” GS was an attempt to get armchair skeptics and those of us who really wanted to get out and do something organized and to stop singing and start swinging. Enough talk! Thanks to the tireless work of my girl Susan Gerbic, GS is now reaching worldwide proportions and seriously getting under the skin of some of the Big Woos. Guerrilla Skepticism has now been officially tagged a “conspiracy.”

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c5McMvdM5c

Poor taste you say? Making fun of the dead? (continue reading…)

Georges Seurat’s “The Side Show” 1888

The days of the two-headed chicken and Lola the Dog-Faced Girl have been for the most part cleaned -up in our world of political correctness and ADA accessibility. Freaks of nature are not what they used to be. Conjoined twins and those unfortunate people who have birth defects or stand out in society are now the stuff of reality television. The shock value is gone and we have grown accustomed to Siamese twins shopping at the local mall. Now prepare for the new wave on the modern midway… (continue reading…)

  Season of the Witch?

If you find yourself in L.A. over the next few weeks and a partial to things haunted, please make it over to Griffith Park for the annual “L.A. Haunted Hayride.” This will be my sixth year of involvement in what has become known as the most terrifying haunted experience in L.A.  It’s also an excellent  chance for any skeptic to drop by and see up close and personal exactly how it is indeed possible to give the public an entertaining positive  “psychic reading” experience while at the same time injecting a healthy dose of critical thinking and skepticism into the proceedings.  Sound impossible? Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Yes, I know there will be those reading this who will automatically balk at such a heretical concept, particularly the “Big S” skeptics who continually call for me to “choose a side.” (continue reading…)

What a utterly amazing weekend in Las Vegas! (continue reading…)

Jake The Numbers Guy

About three weeks ago I was contacted by “The Numbers Game,” a program sponsored by the National Geographic Channel. As in the usual cases these days, I was called upon by the show’s producers to speak on psychic readings and how they work.  At first I was delighted to be asked, but as you will see, what came out of this situation speaks volumes for where we are in the continuing battle to get critical thinking backed by scientific facts on television. (continue reading…)

I just finished reading an excellent blog by way of the BS Historian from Spooky Paradigm on current challenges to museums and other cultural institutions who fall prey to using pseudoscience, ghost hunts and other paranormal nonsense to get the public in their doors. They need financial support and social notoriety, but the perceived dry-as-bones reality of pure science apparently isn’t enough to hold the interest of their woo-hyped patrons. (continue reading…)

Amanda Berry

Grief Vampire Sylvia Browne has once again proven herself to be the worst possible psychic medium in known history. Skeptics should be happy she is back in the news this time for her “incorrectly predicting”(?) the outcome of the Amanda Berry disappearance. Chalk up another totally reprehensible miss to her worthless career. (continue reading…)

Tired of talking (or reading) about skepticism and want to take real action?

The Fabulously Busy Susan Gerbic & Myself

Join the Guerrilla Skepitcism movement and take a few minutes to really DO SOMETHING.

The quest for the ultimate in hydration has now reached a high-water mark in surrealchemy. After the hype of fog-drip, coconut water, charcoal water, smoked water, vitamin water, gogi water and even “black water,” America continues getting hosed with a steady stream of scientific claims and the height of medicine show quackery. Can you say “snake oil?”  (continue reading…)