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Finally - some skeptical reporting at CNN

Cleon

King of the Pod People
Cleon
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- It may be the season for vampires, ghosts and zombies. Just remember, they're not real, warns physicist Costas Efthimiou.
Obviously, you might say.


But Efthimiou, a professor at the University of Central Florida, points to surveys that show American gullibility for the supernatural.


Using science and math, Efthimiou explains why it is ghosts can't walk among us while also gliding through walls, like Patrick Swayze in the movie "Ghost." That violates Newton's law of action and reaction. If ghosts walk, their feet apply force to the floor, but if they go through walls they are without substance, the professor says.


"So which is it? Are ghosts material or material-less?" he asks.

. . .

All this may seem obvious, but to Efthimiou and other scientists, the public often isn't as skeptical as you might think. Efthimiou points to National Science Foundation reports showing widespread belief in pseudosciences -- such as vampires, astrology and ESP.

More than 1 in 3 Americans believe houses can be haunted, a 2005 Gallup poll showed. More than 20 percent of Americans believe in witches and that people can communicate with the dead. TV shows such as "Medium" and "Ghost Whisperer" are popular.


"We're talking about a large fraction of the public that believes in subjects that scientists believe are out of the question," said Efthimiou. His paper is in an archive awaiting publication either in the journal Physics Education or the magazine Skeptical Inquirer, he said.
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Best line from the article:

"There are things that we need to point out that are crap." - Bob Park
 
That article is a great example of debunkery by association. Mostly about vampires, then he drops in ESP. As if ESP has anything to do with vampires. Pretty empty article.
 
CNN said:
Just remember, they're not real, warns physicist Costas Efthimiou.

Obviously, you might say.
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WTF?

Do these people not watch their own news? They report daily on psychic/religious nonsense, and then they try to pretend that it's "obvious" that these things aren't real?

"Yes, we know we ran a dozen pieces on faith-healing, ghosts, and psychics, but here in the Offbeat News section, we're going to pretend that everyone knew we were joking about all that stuff."
 
Quote from the article:
Using science and math, Efthimiou explains why it is ghosts can't walk among us while also gliding through walls, like Patrick Swayze in the movie "Ghost." That violates Newton's law of action and reaction. If ghosts walk, their feet apply force to the floor, but if they go through walls they are without substance, the professor says.

Oh, come ON! Don't they remember how hard Patrick Swayze's ghost had to work to learn to be able to apply force? :D
 
davidsmith73 said:
That article is a great example of debunkery by association. Mostly about vampires, then he drops in ESP. As if ESP has anything to do with vampires.
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Well, they do have one thing in common: there is no evidence for either of them.


...Actually, there just might be more evidence of vampires.
 
JLam said:
Dare I say it?

EVIDENCE?
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There's plenty of places to find papers on the internet. They've been linked on this forum many times. It's not my fault if people continue to ignore them. I'm tired of posting the links.
 
davidsmith73 said:
There's plenty of places to find papers on the internet. They've been linked on this forum many times. It's not my fault if people continue to ignore them. I'm tired of posting the links.
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I don't know what you're trying to say here David Smith. Are you literally claiming there is evidence for real Vampires or ESP?
 
Dustin said:
I don't know what you're trying to say here David Smith. Are you literally claiming there is evidence for real Vampires or ESP?
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He's an ESP proponent. He'd like to think that PEAR didn't screw up their statistical analysis.
 
davidsmith73 said:
Have you got any arguments against what I've been saying in that thread?
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Do *you* have any evidence for what you´ve been saying in that thread? Evidence that hasn´t been proven wrong again and again?
 
Sorry. I didn't mean to drag that thread in here.

David Smith, to answer your question, I do not have any rebuttals that have not already been presented in the aforementioned thread by other JREFers.
 
I'm surprised that only 1 in 3 Americans believe houses can be haunted and 20+ percent believe in witches and communicating with the dead. Technically wouldn't anyone that prayed to Jesus or their Granny believe we could communicate with the dead?
 
Zygar said:
Sorry. I didn't mean to drag that thread in here.

David Smith, to answer your question, I do not have any rebuttals that have not already been presented in the aforementioned thread by other JREFers.
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You see Zygar, this is where we non believers fall down. Someone who believed, could type;

"Oh God not this sh.. again", in a response and feel much better.

Whereas all we can do is shout profuse amounts of profanities about parentage and procreation at the screen (can't put them on the forum) and nobody gets to hear/see our frustration. sigh.
 
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