Skeptic

Patricia Putts, a psychic claiming to be able to determine personal information about a person simply by being near them has been tested by the James Randi Foundation in hope of winning the one million dollar prize, but failed to pass."Patricia Putts, who claims to be psychic, had agreed to be tested in order to qualify for the one million dollar prize awarded by the James Randi Educational Foundation.

Putts took the failure well and she did not blame the test, nor thetesters."

View: Full Article | Source: Digital Journal

Dancing at a party, at dinner or even a faint figure outside a window, the unexpected additions to family pictures have puzzled many photographers. Now the images posted on a site created by psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, will be examined to see if any defy explanation.Visitors to the site have been invited to vote on whether they think the ghost is "genuine" or "fake" or "uncertain"Prof Wiseman, who is leading theexperiment, said the site had 60,000 hits on the first day and 40,000 the following day."I'm surprised that it's really taken off," he told the Daily Telegraph, "I've already had 250 pictures sent to me and I've posted the best 30 online". The 42 year old said it had launched a national debate between sceptics and believers. "Ten per cent of the population have had a ghostly experience, but no-one yet has carried out a survey of what kind of experiences they have," said Prof Wiseman.

"We know ghosts tend to be seen as solid figures, which only reveal themselves as ghosts when they do something like walking through a wall." "I have had some fairly good ghost photo where it's not immediately obvious what's going on," he said. "Oftenyou might see what looks like a face in semidarkness but it's just a trick of the light. The human brain is hard-wired to see faces, for instance in clouds. That's because faces are the most important thing we can see around us. "I'm pretty sceptical, and usually there's a rational explanation, but it could be that someone out there is sitting on something really interesting." "Some of the pictures are genuinely quite creepy and they are the ones that have started to go viral." A number of ghost pictures can already be seen on the site http://scienceofghosts.wordpress.com. The results of the study will be announced during the Edinburgh International Science Festival. One of the strangest appears to be the faceof a li......

A long tussle concerning the validity of Homeopathy between the world`s most famous homeopath and probably the world`s most well known `quackbuster` appears to have come to head in December 2008 after 5 years of to-ing and fro-ing.On the one side is Homeopath George Vithoulkas, whose International Academy for Classical Homeopathy is based on the island of Alonissos in Greece. On the other is American magician and skeptic, James Randi who heads what he calls The James Randi Educational Foundation, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Vithoulkas and Randi are equally passionate in their diametrically opposed views and an easy meeting of minds was never very likely.For several yearsJames Randi has had one million dollars on offer to anyone that can demonstrate paranormal or supernatural powers or events.

Understandably he has very strict criteria and rules to the challenge, and to date nobody has passed even the preliminary stages of the application process. Various psychics, astrologers, clairvoyants and dowsers have applied over the years. Also listed as failed applicants on his website are practitioners of arts that could redefine the meaning of the word esoteric, such as, `paranormal urination` and `internet sex dowsing` and someone called a `metal visionary`. Like all members of the skeptic fraternity, Randi is anti alternative medicine. He considers homeopathy to be bogus and classes it as supernatural because homeopaths use remedies diluted beyond Avogadro`s constant. These remedies therefore should not, according to conventionalscience, have any biological effect. Randi has been involved in a few attempts at debunking homeopathy over the years, and is one of it`s fiercest critics. A group of homeopaths led by the renowned Greek homeopath George Vithoulkas began the process of attempting to win Randi`s one million dollars in 2003. Vithoulkas was largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in classical homeopathy in the 1970s and 1980s . He had been upset by what he considered to be badly constructed experiments previously carried out in the hope of demonstrating the validity of Homeopathy. One of these failed experiments, involving James Randi, was broadcast on BBC television in 2003. It was one of the main impetuses behind Vithoulkas` decision to devote his 40 years of Homeopathic experience to putting the record straight. A team of skeptics was set up to representRand......

A long tussle concerning the validity of Homeopathy between the world`s most famous homeopath and probably the world`s most well known `quackbuster` appears to have come to head in December 2008 after 5 years of to-ing and fro-ing. On the one side is Homeopath George Vithoulkas, whose International Academy for Classical Homeopathy is based on the island of Alonissos in Greece. On the other is American magician and skeptic, James Randi who heads what he calls The James Randi Educational Foundation, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Vithoulkas and Randi are equally passionate in their diametrically opposed views and an easy meeting of minds was never very likely. For several years James Randi has had one million dollars on offer to anyone that can demonstrate paranormal or supernatural powers or events. Understandably he has very strict criteria and rules to the challenge, and to date nobody has passed even the preliminary stages of the application process. Various psychics, astrologers, clairvoyants and dowsers have applied over the years. Also listed as failed applicants on his website are practitioners of arts that could redefine the meaning of the word esoteric, such as, `paranormal urination` and `internet sex dowsing` and someone called a `metal visionary`. Like all members of the skeptic fraternity, Randi is anti alternative medicine. He considers homeopathy to be bogus and classes it as supernatural because homeopaths use remedies diluted beyond Avogadro`s constant. These remedies therefore should not, according to conventional science, have any biological effect. Randi has been involved in a few attempts at debunking homeopathy over the years, and is one of it`s fiercest critics. A group of homeopaths led by the renowned Greek homeopath George Vithoulkas began the process of attempting to win Randi`s one million dollars in 2003. Vithoulkas was largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in classical homeopathy in the 1970s and 1980s . He had been upset by what he considered to be badly constructed experiments previously carried out in the hope of demonstrating the validity of Homeopathy. One of these.