Did "Potemkin villages" really exist?
The Straight Dope
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/031114.html
"Did Grigory Potemkin, one of Russian empress Catherine the Great's ministers, actually have elaborate fake villages constructed for Catherine's tours of the Ukraine and the Crimea? He allegedly had these "Potemkin villages" done in order to give Catherine a false impression of peace and prosperity in regions that in actuality were in turmoil and great poverty. A great example of how advisers can snow a decision maker, but did it really happen?"
How come TV psychics seem so convincing?
The Straight Dope
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcoldreading.html
"How do the self-proclaimed psychics that you see on TV these days seem so convincing when they talk to people's deceased relatives? I understand the art of "cold reading," but some so-called "hits" seem too specific to be lucky guesses. Also, why hasn't a disgruntled ex-employee of these shows ever exposed these frauds? Surely they could make a buck."
Lab chief apologizes over online doctorate
By Lisa Kocian and Stephen Smith
Boston Globe Staff
http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...3/lab_chief_apologizes_over_online_doctorate/
"The chief of the state's infectious-disease laboratory apologized to colleagues yesterday "for any embarrassment or discomfort" he might have caused by representing himself as holding a doctorate, when the degree actually was bestowed by an online university that requires no dissertation and that grants diplomas in 72 hours for $499."
A Bright, Shining Myth
BY KEVIN HOFFMAN
Cleveland Scene
http://www.clevescene.com/issues/2003-11-12/news.html/1/index.html
"The misunderstanding started more than a year ago, when Clay Uzell, the commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 7536 in Lyndhurst, visited the newly opened Target in Mayfield and asked if veterans could sell poppies outside the store."
The Maharishi's Hotel of Emptiness
by Chris Harris
Hartford Advocate
http://hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:42389
"The Clarion Hotel closed in August of 1994, at what might have been downtown Hartford's economic rock bottom.
To some, he's considered a spiritual guide. To others, a cult leader. But to Hartford city officials, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has been a supreme pain in the ass. In 1994, the 92-year-old bearded populizer of transcendental meditation's enigmatic and faceless Maharishi Vedic Development Corporation purchased the Clarion Hotel building on Constitution Plaza, and there, in full view of the bustle of I-91, the dilapidated edifice has sat -- a vacant, untouched, neglected eyesore, and a billboard advertising Hartford's urban ruin."
UFO convention set for Sunset Station
Las Vegas City Life
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2003/11/13/local_news/shrapnel/shrapnel.txt
"Don't expect to find a lot of people claiming to have had close encounters of the third kind at the Majestic Documents/UFO Crash Retrieval Conference Nov. 14-16 at Sunset Station. The conference will focus on retrievals of craft crashes and alien bodies, as its title indicates, rather than abductions."
What's the Harm?
By Michael Shermer
Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=13&articleID=0006CEF5-07B8-1FA8-807883414B7F0000
"After being poked, scanned, drugged and radiated, your doc tells you nothing more can be done to cure what ails you. Why not try an alternative healing modality? What's the harm?"
SBOE Approves an Evolution in Texas Textbooks
BY MICHAEL KING
Austin Chronicle
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2003-11-14/pols_feature8.html
"In what turned out to be something of an anticlimax, the State Board of Education voted last week to approve adoption of all 11 of the high school biology textbooks recommended by Texas Education Agency staff, following professional and public review. After months of high-profile debates over the treatment of evolution in the various texts, both supporters and opponents had been expecting at least some debating fireworks. And because several newly elected members had joined the board this year, few observers cared to predict the final outcome."
Can’t See the Conspiracy?
by Jim Knipfel
New York Press
http://www.nypress.com/16/46/news&columns/slackjaw.cfm
"Not that long ago, I was on a little radio show that originated out of Urbana, IL. It was only a few days before the show that I was told it was going to be one of those "call-in" jobbies. Those always make me queasy, mostly because they inevitably turn into complete disasters. You can actually hear the show begin to collapse after the second or third call, and by the end, the English language itself has all but been jettisoned out the nearest window."
Herbal remedy is cold comfort
By Helen Tobler
The Australian
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7828237%5E421,00.html
"ECHINACEA is touted as an immune system booster and remedy for the common cold, but tablets bought off the shelf may contain far less of the herb than consumers expect."
Why we shouldn't believe our eyes
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3250277.stm
"People really shouldn't believe everything they see, say scientists."
Eating at night myth 'exploded'
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3263249.stm
"Eating late at night does not make you fat, according to a study."
Billy the Kid’s DNA sparks legal showdown
By Alan Boyle
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/news/989722.asp?0ql=c7p
"More than a century after Billy the Kid’s heyday, the Old West outlaw is still stirring up trouble. But this time, the showdown pits mayors against sheriffs, and forensic science against the uncertainties of the grave. Could DNA testing resolve once and for all who lies buried beneath the Kid’s New Mexico headstone, or would it merely cast fresh doubt on a 122-year-old legend?"
WRITER'S EDUCATION FROM MARS
New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11132003/gossip/pagesix.htm
"DR. John Gray - the best-selling author of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" - isn't really a doctor. In fact, there's scant evidence he ever went to college at all."
Cult finds 'eternal youth' formula
By James Langton
London Evening Standard
http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/7683425?source=Evening Standard
"The controversial cult which claims to have cloned five babies says it has discovered a way of reversing the ageing process."
Journey to the center of the Earth starts in Provo
By Jacqueline Lee
BYU NewsNet
http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/46735
"A belief that the earth is hollow and inhabited within has caused a Provo man to plan an expedition to the North Pole and possibly to the earth's interior."
Revealed: the solicitor who fooled science with fossils of 'ancient' Piltdown Man
By Steve Connor
The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=463224
(see also <http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1083411,00.html>)
"Fifty years after one of the great fossil frauds was exposed, two academics believe they may have answered a question which has intrigued science: who faked Piltdown Man?"
Fossil fools: Return to Piltdown
By Paul Rincon
BBC Science
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3264025.stm
"The fossil remains of early humans are exceptionally rare. Scientists trying to reconstruct the evolutionary history of our species often have to draw long, dotted lines between a few key fossils."
Village may play 'ghost-hotel busters' role
By ANGELA GREEN
Peoria Journal Star
http://www.pjstar.com/news/topnews/b1ale85l048.html
"A shuttered, crumbling Bartonville landmark may not be resurrected into a living piece of history unless money issues can be resolved."
Conspiracy theory
By Penny Cockerell
Associated Press
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/ap_conspiracymuseum11162003.htm
"The man behind the counter popped in a video in the Conspiracy Museum's darkened back room and pulled a chair in front of the TV."
On the trail of bigfoot
by Missy Votel
Durango Telegraph
http://www.durangotelegraph.com/03-10-30/cover_story.htm
"For centuries, a primordial man-beast standing 8 feet tall has allegedly stalked the woods of North America. Covered in matted black hair and reeking of sulphur, it has managed to eke out a solitary, primitive existence while eluding even the savviest of would-be captors. In fact, the only hard evidence of the creature, whose name meant “wild man” among ancient coastal Indians, is a grainy, 35-year-old, one-minute clip of black and white 16-mm film."
Does Bigfoot live in Pennsylvania's woods? Some think so
By Scott Westcott
Erie Times-News
http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031116/FRONTPAGE/111160283
"Bigfoot lives!"
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARDS: Man denies note to panel is threatening
BY JOHN WELBES
St. Paul Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/7266557.htm
"Members of Minnesota's science standards committee knew their work would include some debate on the questions of evolution vs. creationism."
The great plughole debate
by David Adam
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1083412,00.html
"In the gents toilets at Quito airport in Ecuador last month I had one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. The flight from London had been a long one, and feeling queasy over the last few hours all I wanted to do was get off the plane, head for the lavatory and hold my head over the sink. Yet when I finally got my wish, as the water gurgled down the plughole just a few inches from my face, I felt nothing but disillusionment and a desperate sense of anticlimax."
UW study examines possible benefits of Reiki
By MARY VUONG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/147775_reiki11.html
"Eyes shut, hands clasped on his chest, a fully clothed Chad Beck lay still on the massage table, his chest rising and falling as a clock ticked steadily."
Beating the breathalyser
by Guy Nolch
Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/11/1068329562465.html
"I'm not a rugby fan, but I've been converted after spending a few hours in a bar in front of the big screen with a horde of British backpackers and their friend Mr Guinness."
Alternative Medicine Agency Puts Health Claims to Test
BY ROBERT COHEN
Newhouse News Service
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/cohen111103.html
"Shark cartilage and mistletoe as possible cancer treatments? Ginkgo biloba as a means of preventing dementia? Milk thistle to cure chronic hepatitis? Prayer and positive energy to fight brain tumors?"
How do you smell relief?
BY BARBARA RUSSI SARNATARO
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_Style.php?storyid=47331
"In the back room of The Alchemy, an aromatherapy store and spa in downtown Hot Springs, a client is lying on a massage table as Gregorian chant fills the room. Tamarha Hess-Adams, the spa director and a massage therapist, rubs bergamot all over her hands and holds them above the client’s face, asking him to breathe deeply, taking the scent into his belly."
Two Charlotte-Area Doctors Among 5 In N.C. To Try Controversial Heart Disease Treatment
Associated Press
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/2638843/detail.html
"Two Charlotte area doctors plan to enroll patients in the first large-scale, nationwide clinical trial of chelation therapy, a controversial heart disease treatment."
Scientific organizations begin to recognize effects of energy treatments
By Katie Ford
Broomfield Enterprise
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/broomfield_home_life/article/0,1713,BDC_11938_2428336,00.html
"Debbie Canyok had tried everything."
Two oceans, and towns, collide
By John Murphy
Baltimore Sun
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.journal16nov16,0,7282875.column
"Every day thousands of tourists trek to this spit of land that hangs like an apostrophe from the southwestern tip of the African continent to witness the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean."
Women Lose Thousands In 'Gifting' Scam
WCVB
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/2637771/detail.html
"It promises a quick profit in the name of charity -- women helping women."
Political adviser has no link to 'Benson'
By James Hebert
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20031111-9999_1c11recall.html
"With one of Hollywood's most high-profile citizens about to step into the governor's office, it seems natural that everyone on Planet Sacramento might be feeling all show-biz fabulous."
Dumb Stunts, Smart Show
By Brad Stone
NEWSWEEK
http://www.msnbc.com/news/992873.asp
"Can soldiers crossing a bridge actually collapse it with shock waves resulting from synchronized marching? Mathematicians, ponder all the equations you want. On a recent breezy afternoon in San Francisco, a couple of garage gearheads actually tested out the tall tale that’s been around since the 1800s."
Sosa story just doesn't check out
by Phil Theobald
Peoria Journal Star
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/theobald/b1aip6mk083.html
"We're sitting at the table playing crazy rummy, one of those two-deck games with the outcome based purely on luck since I never win, when my youngest daughter asked, "Did you hear what happened?""
25 years afer the horror of Jonestown
By Jill Tucker and Jason Dearen
Oakland Tribune
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1770912,00.html
"THE WHITEWASHED chair is empty."
Tragic truths
By Sandi Dolbee
San Diego Union-Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20031116-9999_mz1c16jnestn.html
"There are no easy answers for what happened at Jonestown, says USD professor Rebecca Moore, who lost two sisters and a nephew there. She and her husband, Fielding McGehee III, have spent years collecting and disseminating information. They left California in search of a Promised Land of socialism, equality and fulfillment _ a utopia that they would carve out in a jungle wilderness in South America."
Militia vows to fight eviction
By JEN FISH
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/york/031113militia.shtml
"Members of an armed militia group said Wednesday they will respond with force if Biddeford police try to remove Dorothy Lafortune from her Graham Street home."
Militia or not, expect spectacle on moving day
by Bill Nemitz
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/nemitz/031114militia.shtml
"Deep down, you wonder if she's enjoying this."
Eviction prompts meeting with chief
By TED COHEN
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/york/031114house.shtml
"Police Chief Roger Beaupre met over coffee Thursday with a Graham Street woman to try to resolve a potential confrontation in her tax dispute with city officials. Dorothy Lafortune and her tenant and friend, former city Councilor Phil Castora, met with Beaupre to try to negotiate an end to Lafortune's imminent court-ordered eviction."
Nearby school closed because of militia threat
Associated Press
http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D7UQD9V01-317.shtml
"Authorities in Biddeford were taking no chances Friday about the threat of violence arising from the scheduled seizure of the home of a woman who owes the city $27,000 in back taxes."
Militia is a no-show as Biddeford woman awaits eviction
Associated Press
http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D7UQJPA00-317.shtml
"More than 100 people gathered Friday to watch the scheduled seizure of the home of a woman who owes the city $27,000 in back taxes. But the deadline passed with no police action."
Standoff endures over Biddeford eviction
By TED COHEN
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/york/031115house.shtml
"Dorothy Lafortune remained in a Graham Street home Friday as a court-ordered deadline for her eviction passed without incident. Police took no immediate moves to remove or arrest Lafortune, whose house the city sold last year for unpaid taxes."
Exiled Texas cleric faces new allegation, removal
By EVAN MOORE
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2223638
"An additional accuser has come forward to say that he was molested by expatriate Texas priest Father Alfredo Prado, now a member of a Costa Rican religious cult."
SALT may be victim of Internet 'hoax'
by Laura Adams
Belle Vista Weekly Vista
http://www.nwanews.com/weeklyvista/bucardkeys105l.php
"Internet misinformation may be to blame for apparently faulty information distributed by the Benton County Sheriff's Office and members of Seniors And Law Together (SALT) at their recent 5th annual Seniors Protection Academy."
Search for UFOs
By LIANNE HART
Los Angeles Times
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/science/article/0,1406,KNS_9116_2433720,00.html
"In 1967, as unmanned orbiters landed on the moon and Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first successful heart transplant, a $500,000 federally funded investigation of UFOs was well under way at the University of Colorado."
Heart Attack: Risky business
by Tracy Wheeler
Akron Beacon Journal
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/7233173.htm
"Conventional wisdom had always held that half of all heart attacks strike people who carry none of the traditional risk factors."
TV Pet Psychic Tunes In With Woofers And Tweeters
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43227-2003Nov14.html
"The science of telepathic communication with animals is murky, but it seems that it can be done without even meeting the animal in question. A photograph is all that's required for pet psychic Sonya Fitzpatrick to conjure the animal's medical history, psychology and aesthetic preferences, which is good, because hundreds of people showing up at the Warner Theatre with pets in tow would be pure chaos."
Fitzpatrick takes paws, chats up a cat
By PETER BOTHUM
York Daily Record
http://ydr.com/story/friday/15628/
"Sonya Fitzpatrick spoke to my cat."
Reading skills
By DAVID COSTA
New Bedford Standard-Times
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/11-03/11-16-03/c01li940.htm
"Sitting on a pile of pillows in Maureen Hancock's softly lit office, I realized that the moment of truth had arrived."
Spoof brand names snapped up for real
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3276945.stm
"A prank website set up to mock the trend for nonsense brand names has spectacularly backfired on its creators, after several of the spoof names have been registered for real."
Waterfront ghosts speak from beyond the grave
By Jeanne Viall
Cape Argus
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=139&art_id=vn20031111101426287C503332&set_id=1
"It was the ghosts' turn to have their say."
Officer testifies he believed children's abuse stories
Canadian Press
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031029.wsaks1029/BNStory/National/
"A police officer being sued for malicious prosecution testified Tuesday he believed three children when they made bizarre allegations of ritual child sex abuse — allegations that later turned out to be false."
Witness recalls she believed children's story
by Shauna Rempel
Saskatchewan News Network/Canwest News Service
http://www.canada.com/regina/news/story.asp?id=F01B71B2-C866-4761-8726-C0FCEEA41DA3
"Crown prosecutor Sonja Hansen still believed in the "gist" of the Ross children's sexual abuse allegations, even though she testified she had no confidence in several of the other child accusers."
Prosecutors, therapist not responsible for charges: lawyer
by Jason Warick
Saskatchewan News Network
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/story.asp?id=24BE23D9-4ACD-4BEE-A479-5D96CA2F65BC
"A therapist and two prosecutors named in a $10-million malicious prosecution lawsuit bear no responsibility for the dozens of sexual assault charges laid against 12 people in 1991, their lawyer said in his final arguments Thursday."
Malicious prosecution trial awaits verdict
CBC
http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=klassen_20031113
"It is now up to a judge to decide whether an early 1990s police investigation into alleged ritual satanic child abuse was overzealous. He hopes to have a ruling by Christmas."
Cruise Invokes Scientology for Making him a Great 'Samurai'
By Mike Szymanski
Zap2it.com
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/story/0,1259,---19469,00.html
"Tom Cruise credits Scientology for the inner peace and serenity he projects in his latest film "The Last Samurai.""
'Nigerian' Scam Robs Central Fla. Man Of $400,000
Associated Press
http://www.click10.com/news/2634467/detail.html
"A well-known e-mail scam has cost an elderly Ormond Beach man $400,000 -- his life savings."
Kecksburg Update Airing
Sci Fi Wire
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-sfc.html?2003-11/12/13.30.sfc
"SCI FI Channel will air an updated documentary special on the alleged UFO crash in Kecksburg, Pa., which will include exclusive new footage as well as the results of an online SCIFI.COM poll. The special-edition update, Kecksburg UFO: New Evidence, is hosted by Bryant Gumbel and will premiere Nov. 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT."
Do you believe?
By KELLY GRINSTEINNER
Hibbing Daily Tribune
http://www.hibbingmn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=157360
"Brian Leffler and Rhonda Nix are bona fide ghost busters — minus the nuclear accelerator backpacks and an ultra geeky sidekick named Egon."
Mystic dog statue is falling apart
Associated Press
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4207686.html
"A cast-iron statue of a dog that has a history steeped in urban lore is deteriorating so fast it may not last through another winter, experts say."
Full moon fever hits Union City
By Robert Airoldi
Tri-Valley Herald
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10671~1763526,00.html
"It's talked about in police stations and hospitals around the world and has been studied at length. Legend has it the full moon brings out the worst in people."
Officials dismiss rumors about new IDs
By Kori Kamradt
Purdue Exponent
http://www.purdueexponent.org/inter...2003/11/14§ion=campus&storyid=newIDupdate
"Some students have not picked up their new ID cards through the re-carding project, which ends today, because of a rumor that there is a locator chip inside the IDs so Purdue can track their whereabouts."
Hair-raising hoax
DPA
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/15/1068674439482.html
"At least 300 school girls in south India chopped off their well-oiled plaits to qualify for scholarships that turned out to be a hoax, reports said yesterday."
Laotians meet to share impact of girl's slaying
By Jack Chang
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/content_syndication/local_news/7275977.htm
"The rumors began spreading through the East Bay's Laotian community soon after 15-year-old Chan Boonkeut was shot to death at her family's front door last month."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skepticsearch/
-------
If you'd like to support the Skeptic NewsSearch, please consider making a small donation via PayPal - <http://www.paypal.com/xclick/busine...+NewsSearch&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD>
The Straight Dope
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/031114.html
"Did Grigory Potemkin, one of Russian empress Catherine the Great's ministers, actually have elaborate fake villages constructed for Catherine's tours of the Ukraine and the Crimea? He allegedly had these "Potemkin villages" done in order to give Catherine a false impression of peace and prosperity in regions that in actuality were in turmoil and great poverty. A great example of how advisers can snow a decision maker, but did it really happen?"
How come TV psychics seem so convincing?
The Straight Dope
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcoldreading.html
"How do the self-proclaimed psychics that you see on TV these days seem so convincing when they talk to people's deceased relatives? I understand the art of "cold reading," but some so-called "hits" seem too specific to be lucky guesses. Also, why hasn't a disgruntled ex-employee of these shows ever exposed these frauds? Surely they could make a buck."
Lab chief apologizes over online doctorate
By Lisa Kocian and Stephen Smith
Boston Globe Staff
http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...3/lab_chief_apologizes_over_online_doctorate/
"The chief of the state's infectious-disease laboratory apologized to colleagues yesterday "for any embarrassment or discomfort" he might have caused by representing himself as holding a doctorate, when the degree actually was bestowed by an online university that requires no dissertation and that grants diplomas in 72 hours for $499."
A Bright, Shining Myth
BY KEVIN HOFFMAN
Cleveland Scene
http://www.clevescene.com/issues/2003-11-12/news.html/1/index.html
"The misunderstanding started more than a year ago, when Clay Uzell, the commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 7536 in Lyndhurst, visited the newly opened Target in Mayfield and asked if veterans could sell poppies outside the store."
The Maharishi's Hotel of Emptiness
by Chris Harris
Hartford Advocate
http://hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:42389
"The Clarion Hotel closed in August of 1994, at what might have been downtown Hartford's economic rock bottom.
To some, he's considered a spiritual guide. To others, a cult leader. But to Hartford city officials, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has been a supreme pain in the ass. In 1994, the 92-year-old bearded populizer of transcendental meditation's enigmatic and faceless Maharishi Vedic Development Corporation purchased the Clarion Hotel building on Constitution Plaza, and there, in full view of the bustle of I-91, the dilapidated edifice has sat -- a vacant, untouched, neglected eyesore, and a billboard advertising Hartford's urban ruin."
UFO convention set for Sunset Station
Las Vegas City Life
http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2003/11/13/local_news/shrapnel/shrapnel.txt
"Don't expect to find a lot of people claiming to have had close encounters of the third kind at the Majestic Documents/UFO Crash Retrieval Conference Nov. 14-16 at Sunset Station. The conference will focus on retrievals of craft crashes and alien bodies, as its title indicates, rather than abductions."
What's the Harm?
By Michael Shermer
Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=13&articleID=0006CEF5-07B8-1FA8-807883414B7F0000
"After being poked, scanned, drugged and radiated, your doc tells you nothing more can be done to cure what ails you. Why not try an alternative healing modality? What's the harm?"
SBOE Approves an Evolution in Texas Textbooks
BY MICHAEL KING
Austin Chronicle
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2003-11-14/pols_feature8.html
"In what turned out to be something of an anticlimax, the State Board of Education voted last week to approve adoption of all 11 of the high school biology textbooks recommended by Texas Education Agency staff, following professional and public review. After months of high-profile debates over the treatment of evolution in the various texts, both supporters and opponents had been expecting at least some debating fireworks. And because several newly elected members had joined the board this year, few observers cared to predict the final outcome."
Can’t See the Conspiracy?
by Jim Knipfel
New York Press
http://www.nypress.com/16/46/news&columns/slackjaw.cfm
"Not that long ago, I was on a little radio show that originated out of Urbana, IL. It was only a few days before the show that I was told it was going to be one of those "call-in" jobbies. Those always make me queasy, mostly because they inevitably turn into complete disasters. You can actually hear the show begin to collapse after the second or third call, and by the end, the English language itself has all but been jettisoned out the nearest window."
Herbal remedy is cold comfort
By Helen Tobler
The Australian
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7828237%5E421,00.html
"ECHINACEA is touted as an immune system booster and remedy for the common cold, but tablets bought off the shelf may contain far less of the herb than consumers expect."
Why we shouldn't believe our eyes
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3250277.stm
"People really shouldn't believe everything they see, say scientists."
Eating at night myth 'exploded'
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3263249.stm
"Eating late at night does not make you fat, according to a study."
Billy the Kid’s DNA sparks legal showdown
By Alan Boyle
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/news/989722.asp?0ql=c7p
"More than a century after Billy the Kid’s heyday, the Old West outlaw is still stirring up trouble. But this time, the showdown pits mayors against sheriffs, and forensic science against the uncertainties of the grave. Could DNA testing resolve once and for all who lies buried beneath the Kid’s New Mexico headstone, or would it merely cast fresh doubt on a 122-year-old legend?"
WRITER'S EDUCATION FROM MARS
New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11132003/gossip/pagesix.htm
"DR. John Gray - the best-selling author of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" - isn't really a doctor. In fact, there's scant evidence he ever went to college at all."
Cult finds 'eternal youth' formula
By James Langton
London Evening Standard
http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/7683425?source=Evening Standard
"The controversial cult which claims to have cloned five babies says it has discovered a way of reversing the ageing process."
Journey to the center of the Earth starts in Provo
By Jacqueline Lee
BYU NewsNet
http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/46735
"A belief that the earth is hollow and inhabited within has caused a Provo man to plan an expedition to the North Pole and possibly to the earth's interior."
Revealed: the solicitor who fooled science with fossils of 'ancient' Piltdown Man
By Steve Connor
The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=463224
(see also <http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1083411,00.html>)
"Fifty years after one of the great fossil frauds was exposed, two academics believe they may have answered a question which has intrigued science: who faked Piltdown Man?"
Fossil fools: Return to Piltdown
By Paul Rincon
BBC Science
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3264025.stm
"The fossil remains of early humans are exceptionally rare. Scientists trying to reconstruct the evolutionary history of our species often have to draw long, dotted lines between a few key fossils."
Village may play 'ghost-hotel busters' role
By ANGELA GREEN
Peoria Journal Star
http://www.pjstar.com/news/topnews/b1ale85l048.html
"A shuttered, crumbling Bartonville landmark may not be resurrected into a living piece of history unless money issues can be resolved."
Conspiracy theory
By Penny Cockerell
Associated Press
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/ap_conspiracymuseum11162003.htm
"The man behind the counter popped in a video in the Conspiracy Museum's darkened back room and pulled a chair in front of the TV."
On the trail of bigfoot
by Missy Votel
Durango Telegraph
http://www.durangotelegraph.com/03-10-30/cover_story.htm
"For centuries, a primordial man-beast standing 8 feet tall has allegedly stalked the woods of North America. Covered in matted black hair and reeking of sulphur, it has managed to eke out a solitary, primitive existence while eluding even the savviest of would-be captors. In fact, the only hard evidence of the creature, whose name meant “wild man” among ancient coastal Indians, is a grainy, 35-year-old, one-minute clip of black and white 16-mm film."
Does Bigfoot live in Pennsylvania's woods? Some think so
By Scott Westcott
Erie Times-News
http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031116/FRONTPAGE/111160283
"Bigfoot lives!"
MINNESOTA SCIENCE STANDARDS: Man denies note to panel is threatening
BY JOHN WELBES
St. Paul Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/7266557.htm
"Members of Minnesota's science standards committee knew their work would include some debate on the questions of evolution vs. creationism."
The great plughole debate
by David Adam
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1083412,00.html
"In the gents toilets at Quito airport in Ecuador last month I had one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. The flight from London had been a long one, and feeling queasy over the last few hours all I wanted to do was get off the plane, head for the lavatory and hold my head over the sink. Yet when I finally got my wish, as the water gurgled down the plughole just a few inches from my face, I felt nothing but disillusionment and a desperate sense of anticlimax."
UW study examines possible benefits of Reiki
By MARY VUONG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/147775_reiki11.html
"Eyes shut, hands clasped on his chest, a fully clothed Chad Beck lay still on the massage table, his chest rising and falling as a clock ticked steadily."
Beating the breathalyser
by Guy Nolch
Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/11/1068329562465.html
"I'm not a rugby fan, but I've been converted after spending a few hours in a bar in front of the big screen with a horde of British backpackers and their friend Mr Guinness."
Alternative Medicine Agency Puts Health Claims to Test
BY ROBERT COHEN
Newhouse News Service
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/cohen111103.html
"Shark cartilage and mistletoe as possible cancer treatments? Ginkgo biloba as a means of preventing dementia? Milk thistle to cure chronic hepatitis? Prayer and positive energy to fight brain tumors?"
How do you smell relief?
BY BARBARA RUSSI SARNATARO
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_Style.php?storyid=47331
"In the back room of The Alchemy, an aromatherapy store and spa in downtown Hot Springs, a client is lying on a massage table as Gregorian chant fills the room. Tamarha Hess-Adams, the spa director and a massage therapist, rubs bergamot all over her hands and holds them above the client’s face, asking him to breathe deeply, taking the scent into his belly."
Two Charlotte-Area Doctors Among 5 In N.C. To Try Controversial Heart Disease Treatment
Associated Press
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/2638843/detail.html
"Two Charlotte area doctors plan to enroll patients in the first large-scale, nationwide clinical trial of chelation therapy, a controversial heart disease treatment."
Scientific organizations begin to recognize effects of energy treatments
By Katie Ford
Broomfield Enterprise
http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/broomfield_home_life/article/0,1713,BDC_11938_2428336,00.html
"Debbie Canyok had tried everything."
Two oceans, and towns, collide
By John Murphy
Baltimore Sun
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.journal16nov16,0,7282875.column
"Every day thousands of tourists trek to this spit of land that hangs like an apostrophe from the southwestern tip of the African continent to witness the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean."
Women Lose Thousands In 'Gifting' Scam
WCVB
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/2637771/detail.html
"It promises a quick profit in the name of charity -- women helping women."
Political adviser has no link to 'Benson'
By James Hebert
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20031111-9999_1c11recall.html
"With one of Hollywood's most high-profile citizens about to step into the governor's office, it seems natural that everyone on Planet Sacramento might be feeling all show-biz fabulous."
Dumb Stunts, Smart Show
By Brad Stone
NEWSWEEK
http://www.msnbc.com/news/992873.asp
"Can soldiers crossing a bridge actually collapse it with shock waves resulting from synchronized marching? Mathematicians, ponder all the equations you want. On a recent breezy afternoon in San Francisco, a couple of garage gearheads actually tested out the tall tale that’s been around since the 1800s."
Sosa story just doesn't check out
by Phil Theobald
Peoria Journal Star
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/theobald/b1aip6mk083.html
"We're sitting at the table playing crazy rummy, one of those two-deck games with the outcome based purely on luck since I never win, when my youngest daughter asked, "Did you hear what happened?""
25 years afer the horror of Jonestown
By Jill Tucker and Jason Dearen
Oakland Tribune
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1770912,00.html
"THE WHITEWASHED chair is empty."
Tragic truths
By Sandi Dolbee
San Diego Union-Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20031116-9999_mz1c16jnestn.html
"There are no easy answers for what happened at Jonestown, says USD professor Rebecca Moore, who lost two sisters and a nephew there. She and her husband, Fielding McGehee III, have spent years collecting and disseminating information. They left California in search of a Promised Land of socialism, equality and fulfillment _ a utopia that they would carve out in a jungle wilderness in South America."
Militia vows to fight eviction
By JEN FISH
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/york/031113militia.shtml
"Members of an armed militia group said Wednesday they will respond with force if Biddeford police try to remove Dorothy Lafortune from her Graham Street home."
Militia or not, expect spectacle on moving day
by Bill Nemitz
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/nemitz/031114militia.shtml
"Deep down, you wonder if she's enjoying this."
Eviction prompts meeting with chief
By TED COHEN
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/york/031114house.shtml
"Police Chief Roger Beaupre met over coffee Thursday with a Graham Street woman to try to resolve a potential confrontation in her tax dispute with city officials. Dorothy Lafortune and her tenant and friend, former city Councilor Phil Castora, met with Beaupre to try to negotiate an end to Lafortune's imminent court-ordered eviction."
Nearby school closed because of militia threat
Associated Press
http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D7UQD9V01-317.shtml
"Authorities in Biddeford were taking no chances Friday about the threat of violence arising from the scheduled seizure of the home of a woman who owes the city $27,000 in back taxes."
Militia is a no-show as Biddeford woman awaits eviction
Associated Press
http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D7UQJPA00-317.shtml
"More than 100 people gathered Friday to watch the scheduled seizure of the home of a woman who owes the city $27,000 in back taxes. But the deadline passed with no police action."
Standoff endures over Biddeford eviction
By TED COHEN
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/news/york/031115house.shtml
"Dorothy Lafortune remained in a Graham Street home Friday as a court-ordered deadline for her eviction passed without incident. Police took no immediate moves to remove or arrest Lafortune, whose house the city sold last year for unpaid taxes."
Exiled Texas cleric faces new allegation, removal
By EVAN MOORE
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2223638
"An additional accuser has come forward to say that he was molested by expatriate Texas priest Father Alfredo Prado, now a member of a Costa Rican religious cult."
SALT may be victim of Internet 'hoax'
by Laura Adams
Belle Vista Weekly Vista
http://www.nwanews.com/weeklyvista/bucardkeys105l.php
"Internet misinformation may be to blame for apparently faulty information distributed by the Benton County Sheriff's Office and members of Seniors And Law Together (SALT) at their recent 5th annual Seniors Protection Academy."
Search for UFOs
By LIANNE HART
Los Angeles Times
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/science/article/0,1406,KNS_9116_2433720,00.html
"In 1967, as unmanned orbiters landed on the moon and Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first successful heart transplant, a $500,000 federally funded investigation of UFOs was well under way at the University of Colorado."
Heart Attack: Risky business
by Tracy Wheeler
Akron Beacon Journal
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/7233173.htm
"Conventional wisdom had always held that half of all heart attacks strike people who carry none of the traditional risk factors."
TV Pet Psychic Tunes In With Woofers And Tweeters
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43227-2003Nov14.html
"The science of telepathic communication with animals is murky, but it seems that it can be done without even meeting the animal in question. A photograph is all that's required for pet psychic Sonya Fitzpatrick to conjure the animal's medical history, psychology and aesthetic preferences, which is good, because hundreds of people showing up at the Warner Theatre with pets in tow would be pure chaos."
Fitzpatrick takes paws, chats up a cat
By PETER BOTHUM
York Daily Record
http://ydr.com/story/friday/15628/
"Sonya Fitzpatrick spoke to my cat."
Reading skills
By DAVID COSTA
New Bedford Standard-Times
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/11-03/11-16-03/c01li940.htm
"Sitting on a pile of pillows in Maureen Hancock's softly lit office, I realized that the moment of truth had arrived."
Spoof brand names snapped up for real
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3276945.stm
"A prank website set up to mock the trend for nonsense brand names has spectacularly backfired on its creators, after several of the spoof names have been registered for real."
Waterfront ghosts speak from beyond the grave
By Jeanne Viall
Cape Argus
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=139&art_id=vn20031111101426287C503332&set_id=1
"It was the ghosts' turn to have their say."
Officer testifies he believed children's abuse stories
Canadian Press
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031029.wsaks1029/BNStory/National/
"A police officer being sued for malicious prosecution testified Tuesday he believed three children when they made bizarre allegations of ritual child sex abuse — allegations that later turned out to be false."
Witness recalls she believed children's story
by Shauna Rempel
Saskatchewan News Network/Canwest News Service
http://www.canada.com/regina/news/story.asp?id=F01B71B2-C866-4761-8726-C0FCEEA41DA3
"Crown prosecutor Sonja Hansen still believed in the "gist" of the Ross children's sexual abuse allegations, even though she testified she had no confidence in several of the other child accusers."
Prosecutors, therapist not responsible for charges: lawyer
by Jason Warick
Saskatchewan News Network
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/story.asp?id=24BE23D9-4ACD-4BEE-A479-5D96CA2F65BC
"A therapist and two prosecutors named in a $10-million malicious prosecution lawsuit bear no responsibility for the dozens of sexual assault charges laid against 12 people in 1991, their lawyer said in his final arguments Thursday."
Malicious prosecution trial awaits verdict
CBC
http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=klassen_20031113
"It is now up to a judge to decide whether an early 1990s police investigation into alleged ritual satanic child abuse was overzealous. He hopes to have a ruling by Christmas."
Cruise Invokes Scientology for Making him a Great 'Samurai'
By Mike Szymanski
Zap2it.com
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/story/0,1259,---19469,00.html
"Tom Cruise credits Scientology for the inner peace and serenity he projects in his latest film "The Last Samurai.""
'Nigerian' Scam Robs Central Fla. Man Of $400,000
Associated Press
http://www.click10.com/news/2634467/detail.html
"A well-known e-mail scam has cost an elderly Ormond Beach man $400,000 -- his life savings."
Kecksburg Update Airing
Sci Fi Wire
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-sfc.html?2003-11/12/13.30.sfc
"SCI FI Channel will air an updated documentary special on the alleged UFO crash in Kecksburg, Pa., which will include exclusive new footage as well as the results of an online SCIFI.COM poll. The special-edition update, Kecksburg UFO: New Evidence, is hosted by Bryant Gumbel and will premiere Nov. 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT."
Do you believe?
By KELLY GRINSTEINNER
Hibbing Daily Tribune
http://www.hibbingmn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=157360
"Brian Leffler and Rhonda Nix are bona fide ghost busters — minus the nuclear accelerator backpacks and an ultra geeky sidekick named Egon."
Mystic dog statue is falling apart
Associated Press
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4207686.html
"A cast-iron statue of a dog that has a history steeped in urban lore is deteriorating so fast it may not last through another winter, experts say."
Full moon fever hits Union City
By Robert Airoldi
Tri-Valley Herald
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10671~1763526,00.html
"It's talked about in police stations and hospitals around the world and has been studied at length. Legend has it the full moon brings out the worst in people."
Officials dismiss rumors about new IDs
By Kori Kamradt
Purdue Exponent
http://www.purdueexponent.org/inter...2003/11/14§ion=campus&storyid=newIDupdate
"Some students have not picked up their new ID cards through the re-carding project, which ends today, because of a rumor that there is a locator chip inside the IDs so Purdue can track their whereabouts."
Hair-raising hoax
DPA
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/15/1068674439482.html
"At least 300 school girls in south India chopped off their well-oiled plaits to qualify for scholarships that turned out to be a hoax, reports said yesterday."
Laotians meet to share impact of girl's slaying
By Jack Chang
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/content_syndication/local_news/7275977.htm
"The rumors began spreading through the East Bay's Laotian community soon after 15-year-old Chan Boonkeut was shot to death at her family's front door last month."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skepticsearch/
-------
If you'd like to support the Skeptic NewsSearch, please consider making a small donation via PayPal - <http://www.paypal.com/xclick/busine...+NewsSearch&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD>
