Scientists Decline to Defend Themselves

Scientists Decline to Defend Themselves, by Billy Cox. The Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science in Tallahassee, Florida, hosts a Roswell exhibit. Stanton Friedman spoke at the museum earlier this November, which, naturally,infuriated skeptoids everywhere. It sent Dr. Paul Cottle in Florida into paroxysms of frothing at the mouth fury. Equating UFO studies with astrology, palmistry and other so-called "pseudosciences" Cottle went berserk. Museum curator Chucha Barber commented that "getting people to think is what we're supposed to do."

For those skeptibunkies, debunkers, scofftoids and scientists who can't get their heads of the sand, Cox reminds them of Project Blue Book, where "roughly 20 percent of their UFO reports were legitimate unknowns by the mid-1950s." Or France's 1999 COMETA report, by scientists and a forward by the "former chair of the French National Center for Space Studies," or "The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence,” authored by a team of scientists assembled by Dr. Peter Sturrock, professor emeritus of applied physics at Stanford University." Or England's release of their MOD files on UFOs. Or Russia's. We could go on and on, for the data is there. All conclude one thing: something unknown and unexplainable is flying around up there.

The continued and by now, simply clown-like reactions of those who insist they're scientists -- be they amateur or professional -- who continue to ignore the facts and the data on UFOs has crossed the line from being frustrating to being ludicrous.

Woo TV: The Mentalist

I knew it! (Hey, I must be psychic. . .) The Mentalist is a show I like; I have to alternate watchomg one on iTunes and the other on TV because both are on at the same time. Fringe is my favorite program (but of course) but I really like The Mentalist as well. (Not too long ago I . wrote something about that for my Trickster's Realm column for Binnall of America.)

So, last week's episode had the main character, The Mentalist/Patrick Jane, be pretty much of an arrogant smug and rude little thing for most of the show. The cause of his uncivil behavior was a psychic, who, of course, Jane was convinced was full of shit. When it became obvious the program wasn't going to bash psychics, I said to myself "I bet this is going to tick off the skeptibunkies!" Sure enough: read it here.

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Woo TV: My Own Worst Enemy

I just found out that NBC canceled My Own Worst Enemy. If I were a conspiracy minded paranoid woo, I'd say it was because of global corporate military industrial complex Reptilians who forced the show's demise. Why would they do that? Because of the theme of the show and its too close to the truth plot lines, naturally, which involves brain implants that "wakes up" the character Edward/Henry when the secret shadow government agency turns on the switch. Slater's character-- one of them, "Edward" in wake up mode,-- is a government uber spy and assassin. In sleep mode, he's just a decent average guy named Henry who loves his wife and kids. Henry works in a white collar job that takes him on frequent, unexpected business trips which is a segue into the fact that the company he works for is a cover the government agency. All this unbeknownst to Henry of course. Some of Henry's co-workers are also agents like Henry/Edward.

But something has gone wrong with this top secret rogue plot and the implant experiment, and now Henry/Edward wake up when they're not supposed to; poor Henry finds himself being shot at in the middle of Russia, during Edward's wake up spy mode, and Edward wakes up during Henry's domestic life, like during sex with Henry's wife.

Slater does a very good job in both roles, there are some funny moments between the switching of characters and Alfre Woodward is, as always, very good as the top secret government boss of this operation.

I'm not sure why NBC decided to cancel the show; as we know, TV isn't like the good old days, when you could count on a season which was from Fall to late Spring, etc. I don't know what networks expect nowadays; oh well, that's foolish. It's all about the money the show brings, and brings in a hurry.

There is a petition here one can sign.

And you can view episodes and find out more about the program here on the Internet Movie Database.

"Debunklicans"

Debunklicans, Lesley's Grey Matters column for Binnall of America. I love it!

The debunkers remind me very much of the John McCain campaign. Rather than truly explain anything, they just slander the other side. Oh, they have their crazy theories like owls and swamp gas, but they never actually prove any of it and spend most of their time just pointing out how crazy the other side is. As though by just showing how wrong they think the other side is proves that they are right. In reality, it is just smoke and mirrors to hide the fact that they don't know anymore than anyone else.

It's a good piece, I also like what Lesley has to say about hope. While there at Binnall, be sure to read all the other great stuff there, and listen to the podcasts. As always, Tim Binnall brings all of this to us for free.

Woo TV: True Blood

I just started watching True Blood; apparently I've been living in a cave for much of the season. True Blood is extremely popular, and I now know why. It's great! Sure, it's a soap opera, but it's a woo, supernatural soap opera.

For those who don't know, True Blood is about vampires; the setting is Louisiana. Vampires have now come out and some are "mainstreaming" into society, others prefer to remain the evil nest dwelling blood suckers of humans they are. The vampires are accepted into society (legally, anyway) and so, we have humans, and we have vampires.

A lot of prejudice about vampires: there are good vampires, bad vampires, human-vampire sexual unions, human-vampire hatreds, etc. The usual. Throw in sex (lots of HBO cable television type sex), werewolves,telepathic humans, shapeshifters, and a serial killer, and you have a smacking good paranormal TV show.

Anna Pacquin is the main character Sookie Stackhouse, who does a very good job, as do all the other actors in the show. The show itself is based on a series of books by Charlaine Harris.


Actress Rutina Wesley on left (Tara), Anna Pacquin on right (Sookie)


I like all the characters, (even the the ones I can't stand, like Sookie's brother, who is "dumber than a sack of hair," as one character called him, but they're fun to hate) but my favorite is the character Tara Thornton,Sookie's best friend, played by actress Rutina Wesley. She's beautiful of course but I just love her character!

There are only two episodes left in this season! Thankfully I was able to catch up by watching the season's worth on HBO2. There will be a second season, fortunately.

Is That A Compliment? The ‘Happy Schizotype'

Uber-skeptics, debunkers, and the usual crowd of pathological skeptics like to accuse us woos of being mentally unhinged. Degrees vary, but we’re all nutcases in some way. If you’re naive enough to relate a story about your experiences in a haunted house you used to live in, strange mystical type experiences you’ve had, interactions with aliens,synchronicities, telepathy and OOBEs, it’s a trip to the doctor, little missy, to see if you’re not suffering from some malady. Reasons for your visions could be a brain tumor, epilepsy, depression, early stage of schizophrenia, migraines, -- all kinds of things. Anything, something, to explain it all. Anything, something, that is, except for the reality of paranormal,UFO, or anomalous phenomena.

Used to be, the likes of a Dr. Gary Posner ruled the day:

"[Believers in the paranormal may be] afflicted with a thought disorder that manifests in... a faulty sense of reality... [their] irrational behavior... may be more compatible with a diagnosis of ambulatory schizophrenia... than with mere naivete." ~ "Faulty Sense of Reality", published in "Skeptical Inquirer", 3(2), p. 79:
(in: Skeptics: What They Do and Why )

But there’s a new take on it all. In Investigating the 'Happy Schizotype' it's decided we’re all ‘schizotypes” and really, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Those of us that experience the anomalous more than once or twice in our lives are higher up on this scale, and still suspect, but, as long as we’re not causing trouble for anyone, no one need worry. We don’t need meds, don’t need to seek therapy, don’t need to be chastised or accused of madness. We’re still eccentric, don’t you know, and need to be watched, but over all, we’re good to go:

A profile has emerged of the “happy schizotype,” who appears to be prone to unusual experiences in the absence of psychopathology and evaluates these experiences as pleasant. Happy schizotypes also have higher levels of mental health and well-being than other schizotypal profiles.

Even though woos are perceived as having “higher levels of mental health” than others, we’re still fodder for uber-skeptics, it would seem.

JREF BF Thread Article, And An E-Mail From Randi!

About all those bigfoot threads on the JREF; I finally wrote a little article about it on American Chronicle: We Love Bigfoot, Even Though We Hate Him.

Randi himself e-mailed me:

Gee, we’ve never claimed that Bigfoot doesn’t exist! Where’d you get that idea? We also don’t claim that Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy don’t exist, and for the same reason…


James Randi.

No doubt they're going on about this over at JREF, but I think I'll stop. After all, it'd be ironic that I'd post so much about uber skeptics posting so much, wouldn't it?

Image: calendar from Cafe Press here.