Agent13
3rd December 2003, 09:22 PM
How do you like your fantasy life? Scrambled or fried?
By Bill McClellan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/Bill+McClellan/05696AA4EFFB015E86256DE5003E392D
"Bill is a little ragged-looking, which is not surprising because he is homeless. But he is polite and soft-spoken, articulate in a rough way, and he was befriended by a downtown merchant. She called me. This guy has an incredible story, she said. He's a Vietnam veteran, and he's been living in the woods."
Air quality control experts dispel dirty snow myth
By Jill Harrison
BYU NewsNet
http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/47007
"Mothers and elementary teachers no longer have to worry about telling kids not to eat snow as long as the snow is fresh, according to specialist in air and water quality."
Uncle Sam Denies Red Thread Trademark
The Smoking Gun
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/kabbalah1.html
"Seems that you can't pick up a magazine these days without seeing a starlet--from Paris Hilton to Madonna--wearing one of those sporty red string Kabbalah bracelets. If you believe the Jewish mysticism-loving kabbalists, the item wards off the dreaded "Evil Eye.""
Knick Knack Paddy Hack
by Paul Clerkin and Mick Cunningham
The Yoke
http://www.theyoke.net/articles/knick_knack.shtml
"MOST newspapers have a tradition of attempting to dupe their readers on April Fools Day with a far-fetched ‘news story’ buried at the bottom of an ordinary news page. Oh how the hacks laugh when the phones start hopping with anxious callers wondering if David Beckham really will be conducting a coaching session in the Phoenix Park next Saturday or whether David Norris is set to marry an Irish-American poetess. It’s a day when the news professionals poke fun at the rigorous scrutiny and fact-checking they allegedly apply to ‘real’ news stories. The only problem with all this nonsense is that the Irish media jokers are becoming the duped with embarrassing frequency."
China's first spaceman breaks the Great Wall fallacy
China Daily
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/26/content_284781.htm
"Elementary school teacher Xiao Chunlan is puzzled by a sudden jolt to her long-held belief that she thought was as rock solid as the Great Wall."
How to scare a US marine
by Brendan O’Neill
The Spectator
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-11-29&id=3783
"Whatever happened to America’s military intervention in Liberia? On 14 August, around 200 helicopter-borne marines flew into the war-torn West African state as part of a ‘quick-reaction force’ to be deployed if African peacekeepers got into trouble."
Gay acts should be illegal: Alliance MP
by Peter O'Neil
CanWest News Service
http://www.nationalpost.com/utilities/story.html?id=259859B0-BE50-4A1A-9C4E-0AA613E4D6A0
"Citing a "well-orchestrated" conspiracy that began in the 1960s and led to recent successes in the gay-rights movement, a Canadian Alliance MP says he would support any initiative to outlaw homosexuality."
Spencer sounds remarkably like gay satirist
by Francine Dubé
National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/utilities/story.html?id=FF6ACECD-EAD6-4266-8F65-5E22CF0E41FF
"To members of the gay community, the quotations used by Larry Spencer -- now the former family issues critic for the Canadian Alliance -- to back his belief that gays have for 40 years engaged in a "well-orchestrated" conspiracy to promote homosexuality were laughably familiar."
1st AD unit battling Iraqi rumor mill
By Franklin Fisher
Stars and Stripes
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18242&archive=true
"Around midnight, the lights went out in Baghdad. A power outage."
Pictures on eggs not imprints of celestial bodies
China Daily
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/29/content_285859.htm
"Pictures of certain astronomical phenomena on eggs that were found in northeast China were not imprints of remote celestial bodies on the earth, said a scientist."
Superstitious thief returns stolen Thai temple glass
Agence France Presse
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1000317.htm
"A German tourist has returned a sliver of glass he filched from a revered Thai temple in the hope of ending a run of bad luck that has plagued him since taking it."
Jelly bracelets may be coupons for sex
By Aimee Heckel
Boulder Daily Camera
http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_2467352,00.html
"The skinny plastic bracelets Madonna wore in the 1980s may now reflect the seductive singer in more ways than her fashion sense."
Dead meat?
by Roy Greenslade
The Guardian
http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1096634,00.html
"Popular newspapers tell lies, ignore rules and refuse to apologise for their sins. They duck and weave to avoid self-regulatory censures. They abuse the concept of press freedom day after day."
Underground mystery
By Gary Dorsey
Baltimore Sun
http://www.sunspot.net/features/bal-to.tunnel01dec01,0,5711961.story
"An effort to collect fresh tales for this year's "Ye Haunted History of Olde Ellicott City" ghost tours recently unearthed a tantalizing mystery that left tongues clucking up and down Main Street."
Historians expose quotes wrongly attributed to Lincoln
Associated Press
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/11/30/lincoln.quotes.ap/
(See also <http://www.illinoishistory.gov/facsimiles.htm>)
"When it comes to Abraham Lincoln, some of the people are fooled all of the time."
Nonprofits Can Learn From Urban Legends, Says Article in Stanford Social Innovation Review
Press Release
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20031202005980&newsLang=en
"Disappearing hitchhikers, stolen kidneys, death by pop rocks. Urban legends like these have a mysterious power to spread and endure with zero marketing dollars behind them. Too often important social messages get lost because, unlike oft-repeated urban legends, they are bland and cliched and fail to galvanize supporters. So how can nonprofit organizations unlock the secrets of urban legends to craft standout messages that take wing and soar?"
Promise of Eternal Youth Dashed
By Michelle Delio
Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/roadtrip/0,2640,61355,00.html
"Damn it, I don't feel even one minute younger."
Secret Energy Haunts Coral Castle
By Michelle Delio
Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/roadtrip/0,2640,61421,00.html
"This morning I shoved a nine-ton block of coral out of my way with just the slightest push of my pinky."
THE ZERO FILES
by Matthew B. Stannard
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/30/BAGTO3D4VH1.DTL
"What I am about to write will sound like a total paranoid fantasy, I had even come to believe that myself and was about to take steps to get an evaluation for myself as I was frightened I was going mad. ... I ask you to help in any way you can."
CBS 11 Investigates Poison Gas Plot
KTVT
http://cbs11tv.com/localnews/local_story_330180036.html
"Federal authorities this year mounted one of the most extensive investigations of domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing, CBS 11 has learned."
Trust me, I'm a witch doctor
By Rachel Harvey
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3247290.stm
"Indonesia is home to more Muslims than any other country in the world. But some Indonesians retain a belief in traditional mysticism."
Jersey Devil legend continues to fascinate in Pine Barrens
By KRISTA LARSON
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--jerseydevilhunts1129nov29,0,4910933.story
"As Russ Juelg guides groups through the Pine Barrens by the light of the moon, he always instructs them to keep their eyes up in the trees. They're watchful for a strange form crouching from a tree limb or a pair of glowing eyes emerging from the shadows."
Interest Surges in Voodoo
By STEPHEN KINZER
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/national/30VOOD.html
"Last year, doctors told a 41-year-old New York woman who had been bedridden with meningitis and other ailments that she should prepare for the worst. Rather than resign herself to her fate, she boarded a train to New Orleans — her illness does not permit her to fly — and made an offering at the tomb of Marie Laveau, the "voodoo queen" who died in 1881 but has re-emerged as the center of a far-reaching religious movement."
Stars and signs forever
By Jascha Hoffman
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/11/30/stars_and_signs_forever/
"EVERY DAY, tens of millions of Americans read their horoscopes."
People Hearing Persistent, Mysterious Hum Aren't Alone
By MINDY SINK
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/health/02HUM.html?
"No one else in Phil Ciofalo's neighborhood in northeast Albuquerque by the foothills of the Sandia Mountains is bothered by the humming sound that irritates him constantly. They can't even hear it."
André Kole's million-dollar challenge
By Mark Dawes
Jamaica Gleaner
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20031202/mind/mind1.html
"VISITING MAGICIAN André Kole is offering US$1million to the Rev. Dr. Donald Stewart if he can prove his statement that Satan gives supernatural powers. Such evidence, he said, should be verified by an independent group of people. "If he can't he needs to shut up and quit causing all this problem and superstition about something that is totally unBiblical," said Mr. Kole."
Astrologers trigger wedding fever
By Geeta Pandey
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3243288.stm
"If you are in the Indian capital, Delhi, the odds are that you will be attending one or possibly several weddings before Sunday."
Looking for Fremont
by TOM HALLMAN JR.
The Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1070111100179080.xml
"Doug Baker settled into a chair at the head of the dining room table and added up the figures. He could hardly believe the search had set him back $15,000."
Circles messages from beyond: expert
by Mark Taylor
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/story.asp?id=F0722C9D-E19A-4FEB-A957-BACE8AD9F3CC
"Although she's a crop circle researcher, it was Saskatoon resident Beata Van Berkom's attempts to interpret dreams that resulted in her representing Canada last week at a crop-circle conference in Phoenix."
So Who Created The Solano Crop Circles?
KTVU
http://www.ktvu.com/news/2679194/detail.html
"A five-month study has concluded that the mysterious crop circles that appeared in a Solano County wheat field in June were not the work of four teenage boys who claimed they made them as a hoax."
Because you're worth it
by Ben Goldacre
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1093634,00.html
"Reader Helen Porter writes in to tell me about the Ion-Conditioning Hairdryer, which uses "Patented Trionic Action" to "micronize" water molecules and, impressively for a hairdryer, magically hydrate your hair. The Journal of Trionic Physics, for those of you who thought they made those long words up, was the name of a Jefferson Airplane fanzine."
Army Honors Man Who Exposed Fake Records
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-fake-war-records,0,4681052.story
"A financial adviser who exposed more than 1,200 people trying to capitalize on bogus or inflated Vietnam war records has been saluted with a military honor."
Twisted Experience
By Gary Singh
Silicon Valley Metro
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/11.27.03/spoonbending-0348.html
"DEFORMED SPOONS and forks lie strewn across a wooden table at the side of the auditorium in the O'Connor Hospital Medical Office Building when I walk in. The utensils are twisted into every imaginable configuration: spoons with their handles twirled into spirals and bowls buckled over, forks with their tines bent down to the handle or wrapped around each other like strands of ivy. There are hundreds of them--some stainless steel and some silver-plated. The mass of mangled cutlery looks like a reject pile from some perverted science experiment."
Believe!
By Joe Schoenmann
Las Vegas Weekly
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/2003/11/27/feature2.html
"There's an underground network in this country, and a good handful of its members are aboveground on this day, walking around Sunset Station clutching a 58-page pamphlet with "TOP SECRET/MAJIC EYES ONLY" stamped on the cover."
The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics
By Edwin Black
History News Network
http://hnn.us/articles/1796.html
"Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a co-called "Master Race.""
Mother who faked boy's genius gets jail time
By Christine Reid
Broomfield Enterprise
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/broomfield_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2495_2473309,00.html
"The mother of a boy once thought to be a genius will spend four days in jail for faking his IQ test scores, a jury ruled Monday."
Jail for mom who faked boy's genius
By Julie Poppen
Rocky Mountain News
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2473858,00.html
"Elizabeth Chapman, who faked test scores so that her son would be portrayed as one of the smartest boys in the world, will spend two weekends in jail."
Beliefs on the line
By KARL J. MOGEL
California Aggie
http://www.californiaaggie.com/?a_id=992
"Everyone has an idea or two as to how the world works. Some ideas are taught, others are learned by experience, and sometimes literally random events in the human mind help generate new ones. And science may be the best and, I would argue, our only way to reliably narrow down our ideas to find out the real truth in nature."
The Wing Nut's Revenge
By Dahlia Lithwick
Slate
http://slate.msn.com/id/2091931/
"I was prepared to witness the worst oral argument in history today. Allan J. Favish—an obsessive California conspiracy theorist who's been trying to get his hands on death-scene photographs of former Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster for almost a decade—is like every other zealot intent on arguing his own case before the high court: He's more interested in hogging the spotlight than in his legal claims. I'd practically written the " … fool for a client" concluding paragraph for this dispatch before I took my seat this morning."
Hollywood May Joke, But Elves Are Serious
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031202/nytu149_1.html
"As the Will Ferrell comedy film, Elf, continues to attract moviegoers this holiday season, for the country of Iceland, elves are no laughing matter. Over 10 percent of the population of 283,000 believes in them, including Icelandic rocker Bjork. Roads are designed around the homes of elves, and in some instances, building plans have been redesigned or abandoned to avoid disturbing rocks where elves are said to live."
Peering into the future
By VINCE LUECKE
Perry County News
http://www.perrycountynews.com/PERRYCOUNTYNEWS/myarticles.asp?P=570389&S=501&PubID=11286
"People come to Tina Stanton with their hands out all the time. She doesn’t mind, though. To the 43-year-old, an outstretched palm is a summons to work."
Boy, 7, raising cash to save Morley’s Dog
By KIRK SWAUGER
JOHNSTOWN TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10560751&BRD=2332&PAG=461&dept_id=484742&rfi=6
"Seven-year-old James Miller is adopting Morley’s Dog as his pet project."
Health Center Joins Conventional and Alternative Medicine
KSL-TV
http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=60304
"For years, many conventional medical doctors have been at odds with those who promise alternative health care --- things like chiropractic care, herbal supplements or acupunture."
State Drops Case Against Alternative Medicine Doctor
WISC
http://www.channel3000.com/health/2661190/detail.html
"The Wisconsin Medical Examining Board unanimously voted by phone Friday to put an end to the state's nine-year-old case against a Green Bay doctor."
Dowsers let swinging devices call the shots
By Stephanie Gaj
Stamford Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-dowsers3norandstamnov24,0,2264379.story
"Images of dowsers searching for underground water with forked branches and other devices are depicted in folklore, writings and art."
Stamps to picture history, arts
By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/0,1406,KNS_348_2452042,00.html
"Legends from entertainment and sports including a Tennessee Olympian, heroes of the battlefield and explorers who traveled the uncharted West will have the honor of appearing on postage stamps next year."
Historian Tells Scientists Celtic Cross Was More Than Religious;
Was Used In Building Pyramids, Stone Henge, Maybe Discovery of America
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031124/lnmfns1_1.html
"A noted historian has told a respected scientific organization that the Celtic cross was more than a religious symbol. Crichton E.M. Miller said it was a device for navigation, astronomy, mathematics and surveying. His research shows it was used in building the pyramids, the henges and possibly the discovery of America."
Protect Arizona Now needs a better urban legend
by Richard Ruelas
Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1203ruelas1203Z7.html
"The story goes that former Gov. Jane Hull was at a citizenship ceremony. After the oath, she handed out voter registration forms to the newly minted citizens. But half of them returned the forms, saying they were already registered to vote."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skepticsearch/
-------
If you'd like to support the Skeptic NewsSearch, please consider making a donation via PayPal - <http://tinyurl.com/x81m>
By Bill McClellan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/Bill+McClellan/05696AA4EFFB015E86256DE5003E392D
"Bill is a little ragged-looking, which is not surprising because he is homeless. But he is polite and soft-spoken, articulate in a rough way, and he was befriended by a downtown merchant. She called me. This guy has an incredible story, she said. He's a Vietnam veteran, and he's been living in the woods."
Air quality control experts dispel dirty snow myth
By Jill Harrison
BYU NewsNet
http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/47007
"Mothers and elementary teachers no longer have to worry about telling kids not to eat snow as long as the snow is fresh, according to specialist in air and water quality."
Uncle Sam Denies Red Thread Trademark
The Smoking Gun
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/kabbalah1.html
"Seems that you can't pick up a magazine these days without seeing a starlet--from Paris Hilton to Madonna--wearing one of those sporty red string Kabbalah bracelets. If you believe the Jewish mysticism-loving kabbalists, the item wards off the dreaded "Evil Eye.""
Knick Knack Paddy Hack
by Paul Clerkin and Mick Cunningham
The Yoke
http://www.theyoke.net/articles/knick_knack.shtml
"MOST newspapers have a tradition of attempting to dupe their readers on April Fools Day with a far-fetched ‘news story’ buried at the bottom of an ordinary news page. Oh how the hacks laugh when the phones start hopping with anxious callers wondering if David Beckham really will be conducting a coaching session in the Phoenix Park next Saturday or whether David Norris is set to marry an Irish-American poetess. It’s a day when the news professionals poke fun at the rigorous scrutiny and fact-checking they allegedly apply to ‘real’ news stories. The only problem with all this nonsense is that the Irish media jokers are becoming the duped with embarrassing frequency."
China's first spaceman breaks the Great Wall fallacy
China Daily
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/26/content_284781.htm
"Elementary school teacher Xiao Chunlan is puzzled by a sudden jolt to her long-held belief that she thought was as rock solid as the Great Wall."
How to scare a US marine
by Brendan O’Neill
The Spectator
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-11-29&id=3783
"Whatever happened to America’s military intervention in Liberia? On 14 August, around 200 helicopter-borne marines flew into the war-torn West African state as part of a ‘quick-reaction force’ to be deployed if African peacekeepers got into trouble."
Gay acts should be illegal: Alliance MP
by Peter O'Neil
CanWest News Service
http://www.nationalpost.com/utilities/story.html?id=259859B0-BE50-4A1A-9C4E-0AA613E4D6A0
"Citing a "well-orchestrated" conspiracy that began in the 1960s and led to recent successes in the gay-rights movement, a Canadian Alliance MP says he would support any initiative to outlaw homosexuality."
Spencer sounds remarkably like gay satirist
by Francine Dubé
National Post
http://www.nationalpost.com/utilities/story.html?id=FF6ACECD-EAD6-4266-8F65-5E22CF0E41FF
"To members of the gay community, the quotations used by Larry Spencer -- now the former family issues critic for the Canadian Alliance -- to back his belief that gays have for 40 years engaged in a "well-orchestrated" conspiracy to promote homosexuality were laughably familiar."
1st AD unit battling Iraqi rumor mill
By Franklin Fisher
Stars and Stripes
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18242&archive=true
"Around midnight, the lights went out in Baghdad. A power outage."
Pictures on eggs not imprints of celestial bodies
China Daily
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/29/content_285859.htm
"Pictures of certain astronomical phenomena on eggs that were found in northeast China were not imprints of remote celestial bodies on the earth, said a scientist."
Superstitious thief returns stolen Thai temple glass
Agence France Presse
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1000317.htm
"A German tourist has returned a sliver of glass he filched from a revered Thai temple in the hope of ending a run of bad luck that has plagued him since taking it."
Jelly bracelets may be coupons for sex
By Aimee Heckel
Boulder Daily Camera
http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_2467352,00.html
"The skinny plastic bracelets Madonna wore in the 1980s may now reflect the seductive singer in more ways than her fashion sense."
Dead meat?
by Roy Greenslade
The Guardian
http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1096634,00.html
"Popular newspapers tell lies, ignore rules and refuse to apologise for their sins. They duck and weave to avoid self-regulatory censures. They abuse the concept of press freedom day after day."
Underground mystery
By Gary Dorsey
Baltimore Sun
http://www.sunspot.net/features/bal-to.tunnel01dec01,0,5711961.story
"An effort to collect fresh tales for this year's "Ye Haunted History of Olde Ellicott City" ghost tours recently unearthed a tantalizing mystery that left tongues clucking up and down Main Street."
Historians expose quotes wrongly attributed to Lincoln
Associated Press
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/11/30/lincoln.quotes.ap/
(See also <http://www.illinoishistory.gov/facsimiles.htm>)
"When it comes to Abraham Lincoln, some of the people are fooled all of the time."
Nonprofits Can Learn From Urban Legends, Says Article in Stanford Social Innovation Review
Press Release
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20031202005980&newsLang=en
"Disappearing hitchhikers, stolen kidneys, death by pop rocks. Urban legends like these have a mysterious power to spread and endure with zero marketing dollars behind them. Too often important social messages get lost because, unlike oft-repeated urban legends, they are bland and cliched and fail to galvanize supporters. So how can nonprofit organizations unlock the secrets of urban legends to craft standout messages that take wing and soar?"
Promise of Eternal Youth Dashed
By Michelle Delio
Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/roadtrip/0,2640,61355,00.html
"Damn it, I don't feel even one minute younger."
Secret Energy Haunts Coral Castle
By Michelle Delio
Wired
http://www.wired.com/news/roadtrip/0,2640,61421,00.html
"This morning I shoved a nine-ton block of coral out of my way with just the slightest push of my pinky."
THE ZERO FILES
by Matthew B. Stannard
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/30/BAGTO3D4VH1.DTL
"What I am about to write will sound like a total paranoid fantasy, I had even come to believe that myself and was about to take steps to get an evaluation for myself as I was frightened I was going mad. ... I ask you to help in any way you can."
CBS 11 Investigates Poison Gas Plot
KTVT
http://cbs11tv.com/localnews/local_story_330180036.html
"Federal authorities this year mounted one of the most extensive investigations of domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing, CBS 11 has learned."
Trust me, I'm a witch doctor
By Rachel Harvey
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3247290.stm
"Indonesia is home to more Muslims than any other country in the world. But some Indonesians retain a belief in traditional mysticism."
Jersey Devil legend continues to fascinate in Pine Barrens
By KRISTA LARSON
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--jerseydevilhunts1129nov29,0,4910933.story
"As Russ Juelg guides groups through the Pine Barrens by the light of the moon, he always instructs them to keep their eyes up in the trees. They're watchful for a strange form crouching from a tree limb or a pair of glowing eyes emerging from the shadows."
Interest Surges in Voodoo
By STEPHEN KINZER
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/national/30VOOD.html
"Last year, doctors told a 41-year-old New York woman who had been bedridden with meningitis and other ailments that she should prepare for the worst. Rather than resign herself to her fate, she boarded a train to New Orleans — her illness does not permit her to fly — and made an offering at the tomb of Marie Laveau, the "voodoo queen" who died in 1881 but has re-emerged as the center of a far-reaching religious movement."
Stars and signs forever
By Jascha Hoffman
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/11/30/stars_and_signs_forever/
"EVERY DAY, tens of millions of Americans read their horoscopes."
People Hearing Persistent, Mysterious Hum Aren't Alone
By MINDY SINK
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/health/02HUM.html?
"No one else in Phil Ciofalo's neighborhood in northeast Albuquerque by the foothills of the Sandia Mountains is bothered by the humming sound that irritates him constantly. They can't even hear it."
André Kole's million-dollar challenge
By Mark Dawes
Jamaica Gleaner
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20031202/mind/mind1.html
"VISITING MAGICIAN André Kole is offering US$1million to the Rev. Dr. Donald Stewart if he can prove his statement that Satan gives supernatural powers. Such evidence, he said, should be verified by an independent group of people. "If he can't he needs to shut up and quit causing all this problem and superstition about something that is totally unBiblical," said Mr. Kole."
Astrologers trigger wedding fever
By Geeta Pandey
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3243288.stm
"If you are in the Indian capital, Delhi, the odds are that you will be attending one or possibly several weddings before Sunday."
Looking for Fremont
by TOM HALLMAN JR.
The Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1070111100179080.xml
"Doug Baker settled into a chair at the head of the dining room table and added up the figures. He could hardly believe the search had set him back $15,000."
Circles messages from beyond: expert
by Mark Taylor
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/story.asp?id=F0722C9D-E19A-4FEB-A957-BACE8AD9F3CC
"Although she's a crop circle researcher, it was Saskatoon resident Beata Van Berkom's attempts to interpret dreams that resulted in her representing Canada last week at a crop-circle conference in Phoenix."
So Who Created The Solano Crop Circles?
KTVU
http://www.ktvu.com/news/2679194/detail.html
"A five-month study has concluded that the mysterious crop circles that appeared in a Solano County wheat field in June were not the work of four teenage boys who claimed they made them as a hoax."
Because you're worth it
by Ben Goldacre
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1093634,00.html
"Reader Helen Porter writes in to tell me about the Ion-Conditioning Hairdryer, which uses "Patented Trionic Action" to "micronize" water molecules and, impressively for a hairdryer, magically hydrate your hair. The Journal of Trionic Physics, for those of you who thought they made those long words up, was the name of a Jefferson Airplane fanzine."
Army Honors Man Who Exposed Fake Records
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-fake-war-records,0,4681052.story
"A financial adviser who exposed more than 1,200 people trying to capitalize on bogus or inflated Vietnam war records has been saluted with a military honor."
Twisted Experience
By Gary Singh
Silicon Valley Metro
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/11.27.03/spoonbending-0348.html
"DEFORMED SPOONS and forks lie strewn across a wooden table at the side of the auditorium in the O'Connor Hospital Medical Office Building when I walk in. The utensils are twisted into every imaginable configuration: spoons with their handles twirled into spirals and bowls buckled over, forks with their tines bent down to the handle or wrapped around each other like strands of ivy. There are hundreds of them--some stainless steel and some silver-plated. The mass of mangled cutlery looks like a reject pile from some perverted science experiment."
Believe!
By Joe Schoenmann
Las Vegas Weekly
http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/2003/11/27/feature2.html
"There's an underground network in this country, and a good handful of its members are aboveground on this day, walking around Sunset Station clutching a 58-page pamphlet with "TOP SECRET/MAJIC EYES ONLY" stamped on the cover."
The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics
By Edwin Black
History News Network
http://hnn.us/articles/1796.html
"Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a co-called "Master Race.""
Mother who faked boy's genius gets jail time
By Christine Reid
Broomfield Enterprise
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/broomfield_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2495_2473309,00.html
"The mother of a boy once thought to be a genius will spend four days in jail for faking his IQ test scores, a jury ruled Monday."
Jail for mom who faked boy's genius
By Julie Poppen
Rocky Mountain News
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2473858,00.html
"Elizabeth Chapman, who faked test scores so that her son would be portrayed as one of the smartest boys in the world, will spend two weekends in jail."
Beliefs on the line
By KARL J. MOGEL
California Aggie
http://www.californiaaggie.com/?a_id=992
"Everyone has an idea or two as to how the world works. Some ideas are taught, others are learned by experience, and sometimes literally random events in the human mind help generate new ones. And science may be the best and, I would argue, our only way to reliably narrow down our ideas to find out the real truth in nature."
The Wing Nut's Revenge
By Dahlia Lithwick
Slate
http://slate.msn.com/id/2091931/
"I was prepared to witness the worst oral argument in history today. Allan J. Favish—an obsessive California conspiracy theorist who's been trying to get his hands on death-scene photographs of former Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster for almost a decade—is like every other zealot intent on arguing his own case before the high court: He's more interested in hogging the spotlight than in his legal claims. I'd practically written the " … fool for a client" concluding paragraph for this dispatch before I took my seat this morning."
Hollywood May Joke, But Elves Are Serious
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031202/nytu149_1.html
"As the Will Ferrell comedy film, Elf, continues to attract moviegoers this holiday season, for the country of Iceland, elves are no laughing matter. Over 10 percent of the population of 283,000 believes in them, including Icelandic rocker Bjork. Roads are designed around the homes of elves, and in some instances, building plans have been redesigned or abandoned to avoid disturbing rocks where elves are said to live."
Peering into the future
By VINCE LUECKE
Perry County News
http://www.perrycountynews.com/PERRYCOUNTYNEWS/myarticles.asp?P=570389&S=501&PubID=11286
"People come to Tina Stanton with their hands out all the time. She doesn’t mind, though. To the 43-year-old, an outstretched palm is a summons to work."
Boy, 7, raising cash to save Morley’s Dog
By KIRK SWAUGER
JOHNSTOWN TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10560751&BRD=2332&PAG=461&dept_id=484742&rfi=6
"Seven-year-old James Miller is adopting Morley’s Dog as his pet project."
Health Center Joins Conventional and Alternative Medicine
KSL-TV
http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=60304
"For years, many conventional medical doctors have been at odds with those who promise alternative health care --- things like chiropractic care, herbal supplements or acupunture."
State Drops Case Against Alternative Medicine Doctor
WISC
http://www.channel3000.com/health/2661190/detail.html
"The Wisconsin Medical Examining Board unanimously voted by phone Friday to put an end to the state's nine-year-old case against a Green Bay doctor."
Dowsers let swinging devices call the shots
By Stephanie Gaj
Stamford Advocate
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-dowsers3norandstamnov24,0,2264379.story
"Images of dowsers searching for underground water with forked branches and other devices are depicted in folklore, writings and art."
Stamps to picture history, arts
By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/0,1406,KNS_348_2452042,00.html
"Legends from entertainment and sports including a Tennessee Olympian, heroes of the battlefield and explorers who traveled the uncharted West will have the honor of appearing on postage stamps next year."
Historian Tells Scientists Celtic Cross Was More Than Religious;
Was Used In Building Pyramids, Stone Henge, Maybe Discovery of America
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031124/lnmfns1_1.html
"A noted historian has told a respected scientific organization that the Celtic cross was more than a religious symbol. Crichton E.M. Miller said it was a device for navigation, astronomy, mathematics and surveying. His research shows it was used in building the pyramids, the henges and possibly the discovery of America."
Protect Arizona Now needs a better urban legend
by Richard Ruelas
Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1203ruelas1203Z7.html
"The story goes that former Gov. Jane Hull was at a citizenship ceremony. After the oath, she handed out voter registration forms to the newly minted citizens. But half of them returned the forms, saying they were already registered to vote."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skepticsearch/
-------
If you'd like to support the Skeptic NewsSearch, please consider making a donation via PayPal - <http://tinyurl.com/x81m>