Skepticblog

How sad that yet another medium has been given press approval. I could write a post on a different medium or phony psychic every week and never run out of material. This week’s entry into the never-ending cycle of mediums I predicted would be coming (see my post “ESP Boot Camp” of 23 Feb. 2009) is Rebecca Rosen. I will hopefully not catch all the flack I caught two weeks ago when the Internet press release I quoted from was taken down, making the points I tried to make un-verifiable. This time, you can read all about Mrs. Rosen here: (continue reading…)

So it seems Bonnie Vent is more than a little bent out of shape about her claim to be able to talk to the deceased Michael Jackson.  The real question is not one of legality of freedom of speech as far as I’m concerned. (See Steve Novella’s follow-up blog written in response to Vent’s threat to sue myself, Steve, the Skepticblog, and the Skeptics Society if we did not remove my opinion of her claims).  It’s more about taking a stand against blatant exploitation of a deceased individual; namely, Michael Jackson.  (continue reading…)

Well is didn’t take long for the Michael Jackson channelers to crawl out of the woodwork as I predicted correctly back on my post “Dead Celebs Rock!” of September 19th. It didn’t take a psychic to see them coming either. I did the first seance for Jacko at TAM7 for Skeptics Guide to the Universe. What more do you media people want? Now we have a “well known psychic and paranormal researcher” getting all the press. It’s just not fair! Bonnie Vent even has a group called Genesis Creations Entertainment and wow can she entertain! As of January 15th, Bonnie has allegedly started charging Michael Jackson’s bereaved fans for private fifteen minute sessions. (The source on that has mysteriously disappeared, and Vent denies this claim, so I will do some further investigation and follow up.)  Isn’t that special? (continue reading…)

A person who I will call for purposes of anonymity “one of my students” sent me an interesting email the other day. She was upset. Apparently after I had shown her a few of the basic lines in the palm and how to “cold read” those lines to fit any person, she was suffering a strange sort of skeptical guilt:

“I’m not sure if I have gotten in over my head or not.  I’m not sure even how it happened.  I was talking with several people there and we all started talking, we were talking about Facebook Friends and somehow I said, ‘well I could find that out if I could read your palm’  And a friend stuck his hand out.  I haven’t ever done a palm reading but I’ve wondered if I could bluff it.  But I was awesome, at least in their eyes.  I just gave him a reading based on the things I already knew about him, and just general things that are common to most people like “you would love to travel more but just can’t seem the time to go” and I also told him things that I had heard as gossip about him.  He agreed to everything and was totally amazed.  I had told him that some of the things I was seeing are kinda personal and maybe I shouldn’t say them, he said, “no, tell me, I don’t care”

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Force One went into action at Sylvia Browne’s appearance at Universal Amphitheatre last night. Tagged as the Together Again tour, I sat through enough of this woman’s unutterable prattle until I just couldn’t stand it another moment. I knew before going in my conscience  would likely force me to act, but I wasn’t sure how things would transpire until after I had had a earful of some of the most trite and at times ugly rap I think I have ever heard in my life. This was nearly two hours of unbelievable arrogance matched with a crudity that was brazenly passed off as comedy relief. It wasn’t funny. (continue reading…)

Black Peter: The Anti-Claus

Just a quick wish for happiness from me to all of you. Is a skeptic allowed to dare make such a thing as a wish? Can happiness be a possibility in a world where there is such an overwhelming mess to be skeptical about? How can any of us sleep at night when huge masses of people say they talk to dead people or have x-ray vision? It’s almost unbearable. If you are like me, we have no other choice. The sand has no place for our kind to bury our heads. 

I don’t have a lot to say this week. It’s been over a year now since I started writing at this blog. It was October, 2008 when I began to put my thoughts down here. In some ways many things have happened and in other ways - many things have not happened. The Skeptologists which launched this project is still searching for the right foothold among the wilderness that is television. I still hold out hope.

When I see with my own eyes all the claims and counter-claims, all the cons and dodges and totality of what we have to face as incoming bullcrap from the world of woo, it seems like a never-ending uphill battle. Can a skeptic have such a thing as faith?

I don’t know what else to call it. Is is perseverance? Is it folly? Is it just a blind feeling that things will get better? The slope keeps getting more slippery with no light at the end of the tunnel. Find your own light in 2010 and let it shine brightly.

So while you are toasting in the New Year and sitting in front of a roaring fire with friends or family, please take a moment to stop, take a deep cleansing breath and be of good cheer.

We are growing. 
There is hope, whatever that may mean  to each of you.

Peace,

Mark Edward

If I woke up in the middle of the night and saw this outside my window, I would be inclined to think the worst and expect aliens at my door any minute. This caused quite a stir for a few hours. According to spaceweather.com, sky-watchers throughout northern Norway spotted this amazing phenomenon in the heavens on the night of Dec 8-9, 2009. The phenomenon appeared as a spinning spiral of white light, entered around a bright star-like object. A bright blue tail streamed from the center of the object down towards earth. The phenomenon was visible for over two minutes, could be seen for hundreds of miles, and was witnessed by thousands of individuals. It could have been another dimension crossing over into our world… (continue reading…)

Winchester House is a giant puzzle box waiting for a solution. If its original owner, Sarah Winchester had not taken the advice of a “respected” Boston medium by the name of Adam Coons, this strange monument to fear, superstition and spirits would never have been constructed. It is an amazing testament to the power of belief and guilt. (continue reading…)