Crop circles called out of teens' league
by Joe Garofoli
San Francisco Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/04/BAGAJ3FJ931.DTL
"First came the dozen crop circles mysteriously cut into a Solano County farmer's wheat field in June. Then came the paranormal pilgrims, grabbing souvenir shafts of wheat as mementos of a possible visit from their friends in other galaxies."
UFO team reaches conclusion on crop circles
By Catherine Moy
Vallejo Times-Herald
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/articles/2003/12/05/news/news10.txt
"A Fairfield home-repair contractor who is also a UFO buff spent five months investigating whether four teenage boys could have made the Suisun Valley crop circles that popped up in June."
Crop Circle Debate Going Around In Solano County
Bay City News Service
http://www.benicianews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=156744&cp=53
"The ongoing debate about the true source of crop circles was revived in Fairfield this week when a team of investigators asserted that four teenagers who claimed they made the circles in a wheat field last June could not have pulled it off."
Well Red
BY MICHAEL ROBERTS
Denver Westword
http://www.westword.com/issues/2003-12-04/message.html/1/index.html
"Justin Mitchell's life in newspapering has taken more twists than Chubby Checker. His curriculum vitae includes a lengthy run as pop-music critic for the Rocky Mountain News and a briefer one spent impersonating fictional columnist Ed Anger, the bizarro conscience of the extraterrestrial-friendly Weekly World News. Yet his current gig as a copy editor at the Shenzhen Daily, which advertises itself as "South China's only English language newspaper," may be his oddest to date -- and perhaps the most satisfying. Working at the Daily and living as a Colorado Yankee in Chinese president Hu Jintao's court for the past several months has clearly revitalized Mitchell, and he pours all of his excitement into a Web log accessible at http://zenshenzhen.blogspot.com that features what is arguably the finest writing of his career."
Deadly rites spark Indian action
By Scott Baldauf
Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1203/p07s01-wosc.html
"Since the disappearance and death of his 6-year-old son Monu in October, Narendra Kumar has learned that he was kidnapped and killed in a ritual human sacrifice. The perpetrators were childless neighbors who were desperate to have a son of their own."
'Miracle' baby draws Bethlehem crowds
Reuters
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/02/mideast.baby/
"A baby born in Bethlehem is drawing crowds by the thousands."
Teacher sues over limits on history curriculum
Associated Press
http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/031204teachersues.shtml
"A seventh-grade social studies teacher in Presque Isle who said he was barred from teaching about non-Christian civilizations has sued his school district, claiming it violated his First Amendment right of free expression."
Two conmen in dollar bill hoax arrested
By Shadiah Abdullah
Gulf News
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=104237
"Police have arrested two of a three-member gang who attempted to trick money out of people with an elaborate hoax involving US banknotes and a chemical solution that would remove a special stamp on them."
Mars Express looks at its target
By Helen Briggs
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3287135.stm
"Europe's first solo mission to another planet, Mars Express, has taken its first image of the Red Planet."
The strange case of the magnetic wine
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1098932,00.html
"What is it about magnets that amazes the pseudoscientists so much? The good magnetic energy of my Magneto-Tex blanket will cure my back pain; but I need a Qlink pendant to protect me from the bad magnetism created by household devices."
'We can implant entirely false memories'
by Laura Spinney
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1098943,00.html
"Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened."
Fortune-teller's future involves a date in court
By Christine Schiavo
Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7417198.htm
"The future is hazy for psychic adviser Carol Stevens, who goes on trial today in Bucks County Court on a charge of fortune-telling."
Herbal Nightmare: Part One
WISH
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1540595&nav=0Ra7JL3J
"Alternative medicine is a popular way to treat just about any ailment. Each year, billions are spent in the United States on alternative treatments. News 8 has a warning for anyone who’s ever considered trying one."
Herbal Nightmare: Part Two
WISH
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1542281&nav=0RaAJMX9
"It's not often that someone who's had a horrible accident comes forward to tell their story. That's what Sue Gilliatt is doing, after purchasing a toxic salve that burned off her nose. News 8 investigated who is selling the toxic product and what is actually in it."
Looking to the East for health
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/medical/story/7880466p-8819183c.html
"Dr. Dennis Chu, a slender man in a wide white coat, bends his knees and curls his arms into a circle before his chest, as if clasping something invisible. Behind him are shelves jammed with medical files. Before him are three patients turned students, mimicking hesitantly as the doctor inhales and opens his arms wide, then exhales and slowly bends them inward, hands nearly touching."
West Union woman offers clients a little 'peace' of heaven
By Mary Avenanti-Engels
Fayette County Union
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1970&dept_id=388473&newsid=10601773&PAG=461&rfi=9
"In Merriam-Webster's dictionary, Shangri La is defined as a "remote, beautiful, imaginary place where life approaches perfection...""
Echinacea called ineffective remedy for kids' colds
By Warren King
Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001806092_echinacea03m0.html
"Echinacea, the popular herbal cold preparation taken by millions, probably doesn't work for children, Seattle scientists say."
Echinacea 'does not treat colds'
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3256026.stm
"The herbal remedy echinacea is not effective in treating children's colds, researchers have found."
Experts spar over echinacea use in kids
by Heather Catchpole
ABC Science Online
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1001581.htm
"Using the herbal remedy echinacea to treat kids' coughs or colds is in dispute after a U.S. study found it didn’t work and kids who took it were more likely to get a rash."
White supremacist returns to area
By Jeff Kart
Bay City Times
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1070466415325760.xml
"James P. Wickstrom, the white supremacist leader whose presence in the community stirred controversy earlier this year, has returned to living in the Hampton Township area."
Magician Shares His Skepticism In College Appearance
By Alan Gallagher
Oswego Daily News
http://www.oswegodailynews.com/homearticle.asp?id=36783§ion=home&network=oswego
"SUNY Oswego college students were mystified last Wednesday when author, international magician, and paranormal investigator James Randi did a presentation on modern skepticism and magic."
Science standards debate continues evolving in Ohio
by Scott Stephens
Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1069936295100340.xml
"Some scientists say Ohio is still monkeying around with how it teaches Darwin's theory of evolution."
Self-made Kucinich still going his own way
By David Whitney
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/7863660p-8803831c.html
"Dennis Kucinich was expounding on his proposals for a hasty exit from Iraq and a 15 percent cut in defense spending when a member of Central Ohioans for Peace asked about something far deeper."
Body-freezing firm puts permit fight on ice
by Dale M. King
Boca Raton News
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=6941&category=LOCAL NEWS
"A Boca Raton firm’s ardor to do cryonics research _ and maybe freeze a few dead bodies on the side _ has apparently died away."
Cryonics firm gives up effort to freeze bodies in Boca Raton
Associated Press
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-124cryonicsboca,0,5707833.story
"A company has given up on attempts to get city approval to build Florida's only cryonics facility for humans after officials repeatedly rejected the proposal."
Medium as Messenger
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Living/John_Edward_031205-1.html
"He's got the swagger of a rock star, and the marquee value of one as well. John Edward has become the hottest psychic in the country by tapping into America's fascination with the afterlife and bringing talking to the dead into the mainstream."
Scam lures women by promise of riches
By GRAHAM BRINK
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/30/Tampabay/Scam_lures_women_by_p.shtml
"The pitch comes cloaked in inspiring New Age lingo."
Pyramid scheme returns to town
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/3255818.stm
"A new "get rich quick" scheme is targeting a Welsh town where scores of people lost thousands of pounds in a similar gamble."
Trust no one
By Suzanne Blanchard
phillyBurbs.com
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/210-12042003-206796.html
"The Web is a dark scary alley that you visit at your peril."
White House Version of Mid-Air Exchange Disputed
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031201/us_nm/bush_iraq_pilot_dc_3
"British Airways said on Monday that none of its pilots made contact with President Bush's plane during its secret flight to Baghdad, contradicting White House reports of a mid-air exchange that nearly prompted Bush to call off his trip."
White House Changes Story on Bush Plane Incident
By Randall Mikkelsen
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031204/od_nm/bush_iraq_pilot_dc_4
"In another White House correction, the Bush administration on Wednesday changed its story of a British Airways pilot's spotting of Air Force One during the president's stealth trip to Iraq last week."
Another Course Change in the Air Force One Story
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36688-2003Dec4.html
"The White House yesterday made a third approach in its attempt to land the controversy about whether a plane spotted Air Force One on its secret flight to Baghdad on Thanksgiving Day."
The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner
By Mike Allen
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33090-2003Dec3.html
"President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating."
LaRouche files to run in Delaware's Democratic presidential primary
By RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/11/26larouchefilesto.html
"Perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party establishment, filed papers Tuesday for a spot in Delaware's Democratic presidential primary."
Polygraph remains credible tool (no lie)
By MIKE CRUZ
Victorville Daily Press
http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1070203987,71606,
"Polygraph equipment — also known as lie detectors — is gaining popularity on television as it points out unfaithful mates or finds out if a girl- or boyfriend is relationship-worthy."
Letting Those True Colors Glow
By David Haldane
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-peeled1dec01,1,380700.story
"Rich Powers was sitting on a folding chair with his eyes tightly shut when something brought him to full attention."
E-mail hoax targets Microsoft
By Matt Conn
Marshfield News-Herald
http://www.wisinfo.com/newsherald/mnhlocal/287029321269713.shtml
"They tell you Bill Gates is the man."
5 held over Pana Wave HQ death
Yomiuri Shimbun
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031206wo32.htm
"Police Friday arrested five members of the Pana Wave Laboratory group in Fukui on suspicion of repeatedly beating a university assistant professor, who was later declared dead at a hospital."
Cultists nabbed for beating 'electromagnetic waves' out of academic
Mainichi Shimbun
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20031205p2a00m0fp011000c.html
"Five members of the Panawave cult were arrested Friday for beating an academic with bamboo sticks to remove electromagnetic waves, police said."
Police: Pana Wave wrote manual on how to beat members
Yomiuri Shimbun
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031207wo23.htm
"The Pana Wave Laboratory group in Fukui, five of whose members were arrested Friday on suspicion of beating an associate professor of a Fukuoka university who died in the group's facility in August, compiled a manual giving instructions on how to administer punishment beatings to members, police said Friday."
Roanoke 'sheik' duped Richmond with hoax in 1978
By Matt Chittum
Roanoke Times
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story159249.html
"The sheik pulled up in a chauffeured, silver Rolls-Royce."
At St. Patrick's, a Fragment of an Aztec Saint's Cloak
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/06/n...00&en=a4562a96bb497885&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE>
"Two women in the pews of St. Patrick's Cathedral wept quietly. Several more knelt at the brass altar rail, their heads bowed before the half-inch-square bit of cloth. A volunteer handed out petals from the sprays of red roses behind her."
Devotion to Lady of Guadalupe grows
By GARY STERN
New York Journal News
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/newsroom/120603/a01p06juandiego.html
"Four years after Pope John Paul II declared Our Lady of Guadalupe to be the patroness of not only Mexico but the Americas, New York's diverse Catholic community is demonstrating the growing devotion to the indigenous Mexican vision of the Virgin Mary."
Do Real Haunted Mansions Hold Sway in Hollywood?
by Stefan Lovgren
National Geographic News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1204_031204_hauntedhollywood.html
"Whether they're floating through dark castles or hiding under kids' beds, ghosts have haunted Hollywood movies for decades, including the latest ghoul flick, The Haunted Mansion, based on the popular Disney theme park ride."
Urban legends
By Jenna Watts
Charleston Gazette
http://wvgazette.com/section/News/FlipSide/200312053
"A FAVORITE treat at Christmastime (or any time) is Jell-O, a tasty and fun way to play with dessert. But what is it made of?"
State pulls plug on exhibit
By John Chase
Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0312030123dec03,1,5876291.story
"The Blagojevich administration Tuesday ordered the removal from the Thompson Center of a controversial exhibit ridiculing psychiatry as a wicked profession with ties to Nazi Germany after officials learned that the group that erected the display was an offshoot of the Church of Scientology."
Illinois Orders Exhibit's Removal
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-exhibit-pulled,0,1484883.story
"The state of Illinois ordered a group that's an offshoot of the Church of Scientology to remove a display condemning psychiatry from a state office building."
Pilgrims Flock to See 'Weeping Statue'
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...7&e=3&u=/nm/20031204/od_nm/odd_italy_blood_dc
"Faithful and curious flocked to a town in southern Italy on Thursday after reports that a bronze statue of a saint was weeping blood."
Myths blunt Africa’s fight against AIDS
By Steve Swindells
Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/107036097535.htm
"Babalwa Tembani is proof that the myths surrounding AIDS can be as deadly as the epidemic itself. When she was 14, she was raped by an uncle who thought he could cure himself of the disease by having sex with a virgin."
Guilford dispels campus legends
By John Newsom
Greensboro News & Record
http://www.news-record.com/news/education/guilford_112903.htm
"You hear the rumor that Guilford College has banned the American flag from campus?"
Mystery of the Lost Patrol still lingers after 58 years
By Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-sbombers06dec06,0,1676684.story
"A bell rang 14 times on Friday to remember each man lost in Flight 19, the legendary squadron of five Navy torpedo bombers that took off from Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 5, 1945, never to return."
SCI FI Supports New Scientific Initiative to Investigate Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031204/nyth114_1.html
"Recognizing the need to establish the scientific legitimacy of investigating unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), SCI FI Channel today announced a new initiative that brings together the major organizations investigating this still mysterious phenomenon and establishes a multi-group effort to study the physical evidence associated with UAP reports."
Tarot School students tout program
By Alexandra Alter
Religion News Service
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-0/107069373139520.xml
"Class begins in a dark conference room with a meditation on the ring of a bell. The degree requirements include seminars in contemplation or visualization. Homework assignments often involve the difficult task of transforming one's life."
£200 call scam `an urban myth' says watchdog
By Andrew Hirst
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
<http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co....--an-urban-myth--says-watchdog-name_page.html>
"CLAIMS that a phone scam could leave people having to pay more than £200 for a single call have been dismissed as a myth."
Meditation now being used for health benefits
BY DANIELA LAMAS
Miami Herald
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/7414656.htm
"Five adults gathered in a Miami library one recent evening to learn a meditation technique that spans centuries and continents, from India to Florida, from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to the Beatles."
'Hiding the Elephant': Now You See It . . .
By TELLER
New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/07/b...00&en=9efe8e830b16f31d&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE>
"In 1918 Harry Houdini made an elephant named Jennie vanish from a circus wagon on the stage of the New York Hippodrome. How did he do it? That question is the looking glass through which Jim Steinmeyer transports us into the inverted universe of ''Hiding the Elephant,'' a loving celebration of the genius, glamour and gargantuan egos of stage magic from the mid-1800's to the 1920's, when the art was exploding with invention and tricks were so precious that conjuring spies crossed the Atlantic to steal secrets from their transoceanic brethren.
Psychic's tip prompts search of Elgin preserve
By ERIC R. OLSON
Shaw News Service
http://www.kcchronicle.com/today/KCC/news/286669818694655.html
"A tip called in by a psychic led to a police search of the Burnidge Forest Preserve."
Ex-San Mateo con artist gets 2 years in prison
By Christine Louie
San Mateo County Times
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~1813662,00.html
"A former San Mateo psychic who swindled more than $100,000 from two victims was sentenced to two years in state prison after a judge called her actions "despicable.""
Woman jailed in scam as psychic
VICTIM, 19, WAS PRESSED TO PAY TOTAL OF $15,000
By Jessie Seyfer
San Jose Mercury News
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7429522.htm
"A self-proclaimed psychic based in Half Moon Bay was sentenced to two years in state prison Friday for demanding that a 19-year-old woman pay her $15,000 to ward off predictions that the woman's family members would die."
Brazilian Court Acquits Alleged Satanic Cult Leader in Murder Trial
VOA News
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=9B19ADE6-4CC1-4E92-8116057ABD60BE3B
"A Brazilian court on Friday acquitted the alleged leader of a Satanic cult of charges that she planned and ordered the ritual mutilation and murder of boys in a remote Amazon town."
Christians cause chaos at psychic show
By Jeanne Viall
Cape Argus
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=139&art_id=vn20031126125710953C125320&set_id=1
"Fundamentalist Christian demonstrators caused chaos at the Baxter Theatre on Tuesday night as they hurled threats and anti-Semitic abuse at psychic Belinda Silbert."
Students Look to Superstition for Edge on Finals
By LINDSAY MEISEL
Daily Californian
http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=13754
"With the frenzy of final exams fast approaching, students across campus are crowding into cafes and libraries, setting up for days of studying."
Studying the Salem witch trials: Review of records yields new details
By Jay Lindsay
Associated Press
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestlife/2001801653_witchtrials28.html
"The little that was known about Ann Dolliver suggested an unhappy life during wicked times."
Poverty breeds 'witch' kids
South African Press Association
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Features/0,,2-11-37_1451461,00.html
"Ruth Tshidibi's step-father claimed she was a witch and threw her out of his house three months ago. The 17-year-old now sleeps behind a police station and makes her living selling mangoes and oranges."
Sci Fi Channel-backed researcher sues NASA over UFO files
by JOE MANDAK
Associated Press
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/7424441.htm
"A researcher backed by cable television's Sci Fi Channel plans to sue NASA for records she contends the agency has of a UFO that reportedly crash landed and was recovered by government workers in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1965."
Dwarf rumour squashed
Agence France Presse
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1004885.htm
"Officials in the central Iranian town of Khomein, where Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was born, have been forced to publicly quell a bizarre rumour apparently aimed at bringing down property prices."
'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims
by Tony Pipitone
WKMG
http://www.local6.com/money/2683654/detail.html
"A woman reported "trampled" last Friday by Wal-Mart shoppers desperate for $29.87 DVD players has a long history of claiming injuries from Wal-Marts and other businesses where she worked or shopped."
Trampled woman has history of claims against stores
Associated Press
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/South/12/05/trampled.shopper.ap/
"A woman who was reported trampled by Wal-Mart shoppers during a holiday sale on DVD players has filed numerous injury claims against stores since 1987, including nine against the world's largest retailer."
Breast-feeding driver says her rights violated
By Ed Meyer
Akron Beacon Journal
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/7417135.htm
"Citing U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Catherine Donkers argued Thursday that a judge had no authority to sentence her for three traffic violations on the Ohio Turnpike."
Breast-feeding driver is given house arrest
by Steve Luttner
Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/summit/1070627401219490.xml
"A woman who breast-fed her infant daughter while driving on the Ohio Turnpike was sentenced yesterday to three months of house arrest and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation."
64 Die in Congo From Anti-Sorcery Potion
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-congo-deadly-potion,0,4145415.story
"Congo health officials on Thursday were investigating the poison deaths of 64 people, allegedly from a potion used to ward off evil spirits."
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 Joe Garofoli
San Francisco Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/04/BAGAJ3FJ931.DTL
"First came the dozen crop circles mysteriously cut into a Solano County farmer's wheat field in June. Then came the paranormal pilgrims, grabbing souvenir shafts of wheat as mementos of a possible visit from their friends in other galaxies."
UFO team reaches conclusion on crop circles
By Catherine Moy
Vallejo Times-Herald
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/articles/2003/12/05/news/news10.txt
"A Fairfield home-repair contractor who is also a UFO buff spent five months investigating whether four teenage boys could have made the Suisun Valley crop circles that popped up in June."
Crop Circle Debate Going Around In Solano County
Bay City News Service
http://www.benicianews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=156744&cp=53
"The ongoing debate about the true source of crop circles was revived in Fairfield this week when a team of investigators asserted that four teenagers who claimed they made the circles in a wheat field last June could not have pulled it off."
Well Red
BY MICHAEL ROBERTS
Denver Westword
http://www.westword.com/issues/2003-12-04/message.html/1/index.html
"Justin Mitchell's life in newspapering has taken more twists than Chubby Checker. His curriculum vitae includes a lengthy run as pop-music critic for the Rocky Mountain News and a briefer one spent impersonating fictional columnist Ed Anger, the bizarro conscience of the extraterrestrial-friendly Weekly World News. Yet his current gig as a copy editor at the Shenzhen Daily, which advertises itself as "South China's only English language newspaper," may be his oddest to date -- and perhaps the most satisfying. Working at the Daily and living as a Colorado Yankee in Chinese president Hu Jintao's court for the past several months has clearly revitalized Mitchell, and he pours all of his excitement into a Web log accessible at http://zenshenzhen.blogspot.com that features what is arguably the finest writing of his career."
Deadly rites spark Indian action
By Scott Baldauf
Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1203/p07s01-wosc.html
"Since the disappearance and death of his 6-year-old son Monu in October, Narendra Kumar has learned that he was kidnapped and killed in a ritual human sacrifice. The perpetrators were childless neighbors who were desperate to have a son of their own."
'Miracle' baby draws Bethlehem crowds
Reuters
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/02/mideast.baby/
"A baby born in Bethlehem is drawing crowds by the thousands."
Teacher sues over limits on history curriculum
Associated Press
http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/031204teachersues.shtml
"A seventh-grade social studies teacher in Presque Isle who said he was barred from teaching about non-Christian civilizations has sued his school district, claiming it violated his First Amendment right of free expression."
Two conmen in dollar bill hoax arrested
By Shadiah Abdullah
Gulf News
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=104237
"Police have arrested two of a three-member gang who attempted to trick money out of people with an elaborate hoax involving US banknotes and a chemical solution that would remove a special stamp on them."
Mars Express looks at its target
By Helen Briggs
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3287135.stm
"Europe's first solo mission to another planet, Mars Express, has taken its first image of the Red Planet."
The strange case of the magnetic wine
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1098932,00.html
"What is it about magnets that amazes the pseudoscientists so much? The good magnetic energy of my Magneto-Tex blanket will cure my back pain; but I need a Qlink pendant to protect me from the bad magnetism created by household devices."
'We can implant entirely false memories'
by Laura Spinney
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1098943,00.html
"Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened."
Fortune-teller's future involves a date in court
By Christine Schiavo
Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7417198.htm
"The future is hazy for psychic adviser Carol Stevens, who goes on trial today in Bucks County Court on a charge of fortune-telling."
Herbal Nightmare: Part One
WISH
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1540595&nav=0Ra7JL3J
"Alternative medicine is a popular way to treat just about any ailment. Each year, billions are spent in the United States on alternative treatments. News 8 has a warning for anyone who’s ever considered trying one."
Herbal Nightmare: Part Two
WISH
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1542281&nav=0RaAJMX9
"It's not often that someone who's had a horrible accident comes forward to tell their story. That's what Sue Gilliatt is doing, after purchasing a toxic salve that burned off her nose. News 8 investigated who is selling the toxic product and what is actually in it."
Looking to the East for health
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/medical/story/7880466p-8819183c.html
"Dr. Dennis Chu, a slender man in a wide white coat, bends his knees and curls his arms into a circle before his chest, as if clasping something invisible. Behind him are shelves jammed with medical files. Before him are three patients turned students, mimicking hesitantly as the doctor inhales and opens his arms wide, then exhales and slowly bends them inward, hands nearly touching."
West Union woman offers clients a little 'peace' of heaven
By Mary Avenanti-Engels
Fayette County Union
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1970&dept_id=388473&newsid=10601773&PAG=461&rfi=9
"In Merriam-Webster's dictionary, Shangri La is defined as a "remote, beautiful, imaginary place where life approaches perfection...""
Echinacea called ineffective remedy for kids' colds
By Warren King
Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001806092_echinacea03m0.html
"Echinacea, the popular herbal cold preparation taken by millions, probably doesn't work for children, Seattle scientists say."
Echinacea 'does not treat colds'
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3256026.stm
"The herbal remedy echinacea is not effective in treating children's colds, researchers have found."
Experts spar over echinacea use in kids
by Heather Catchpole
ABC Science Online
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1001581.htm
"Using the herbal remedy echinacea to treat kids' coughs or colds is in dispute after a U.S. study found it didn’t work and kids who took it were more likely to get a rash."
White supremacist returns to area
By Jeff Kart
Bay City Times
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1070466415325760.xml
"James P. Wickstrom, the white supremacist leader whose presence in the community stirred controversy earlier this year, has returned to living in the Hampton Township area."
Magician Shares His Skepticism In College Appearance
By Alan Gallagher
Oswego Daily News
http://www.oswegodailynews.com/homearticle.asp?id=36783§ion=home&network=oswego
"SUNY Oswego college students were mystified last Wednesday when author, international magician, and paranormal investigator James Randi did a presentation on modern skepticism and magic."
Science standards debate continues evolving in Ohio
by Scott Stephens
Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1069936295100340.xml
"Some scientists say Ohio is still monkeying around with how it teaches Darwin's theory of evolution."
Self-made Kucinich still going his own way
By David Whitney
Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/7863660p-8803831c.html
"Dennis Kucinich was expounding on his proposals for a hasty exit from Iraq and a 15 percent cut in defense spending when a member of Central Ohioans for Peace asked about something far deeper."
Body-freezing firm puts permit fight on ice
by Dale M. King
Boca Raton News
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=6941&category=LOCAL NEWS
"A Boca Raton firm’s ardor to do cryonics research _ and maybe freeze a few dead bodies on the side _ has apparently died away."
Cryonics firm gives up effort to freeze bodies in Boca Raton
Associated Press
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-124cryonicsboca,0,5707833.story
"A company has given up on attempts to get city approval to build Florida's only cryonics facility for humans after officials repeatedly rejected the proposal."
Medium as Messenger
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Living/John_Edward_031205-1.html
"He's got the swagger of a rock star, and the marquee value of one as well. John Edward has become the hottest psychic in the country by tapping into America's fascination with the afterlife and bringing talking to the dead into the mainstream."
Scam lures women by promise of riches
By GRAHAM BRINK
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/30/Tampabay/Scam_lures_women_by_p.shtml
"The pitch comes cloaked in inspiring New Age lingo."
Pyramid scheme returns to town
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/3255818.stm
"A new "get rich quick" scheme is targeting a Welsh town where scores of people lost thousands of pounds in a similar gamble."
Trust no one
By Suzanne Blanchard
phillyBurbs.com
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/210-12042003-206796.html
"The Web is a dark scary alley that you visit at your peril."
White House Version of Mid-Air Exchange Disputed
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031201/us_nm/bush_iraq_pilot_dc_3
"British Airways said on Monday that none of its pilots made contact with President Bush's plane during its secret flight to Baghdad, contradicting White House reports of a mid-air exchange that nearly prompted Bush to call off his trip."
White House Changes Story on Bush Plane Incident
By Randall Mikkelsen
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031204/od_nm/bush_iraq_pilot_dc_4
"In another White House correction, the Bush administration on Wednesday changed its story of a British Airways pilot's spotting of Air Force One during the president's stealth trip to Iraq last week."
Another Course Change in the Air Force One Story
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36688-2003Dec4.html
"The White House yesterday made a third approach in its attempt to land the controversy about whether a plane spotted Air Force One on its secret flight to Baghdad on Thanksgiving Day."
The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner
By Mike Allen
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33090-2003Dec3.html
"President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating."
LaRouche files to run in Delaware's Democratic presidential primary
By RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/11/26larouchefilesto.html
"Perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party establishment, filed papers Tuesday for a spot in Delaware's Democratic presidential primary."
Polygraph remains credible tool (no lie)
By MIKE CRUZ
Victorville Daily Press
http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1070203987,71606,
"Polygraph equipment — also known as lie detectors — is gaining popularity on television as it points out unfaithful mates or finds out if a girl- or boyfriend is relationship-worthy."
Letting Those True Colors Glow
By David Haldane
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-peeled1dec01,1,380700.story
"Rich Powers was sitting on a folding chair with his eyes tightly shut when something brought him to full attention."
E-mail hoax targets Microsoft
By Matt Conn
Marshfield News-Herald
http://www.wisinfo.com/newsherald/mnhlocal/287029321269713.shtml
"They tell you Bill Gates is the man."
5 held over Pana Wave HQ death
Yomiuri Shimbun
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031206wo32.htm
"Police Friday arrested five members of the Pana Wave Laboratory group in Fukui on suspicion of repeatedly beating a university assistant professor, who was later declared dead at a hospital."
Cultists nabbed for beating 'electromagnetic waves' out of academic
Mainichi Shimbun
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20031205p2a00m0fp011000c.html
"Five members of the Panawave cult were arrested Friday for beating an academic with bamboo sticks to remove electromagnetic waves, police said."
Police: Pana Wave wrote manual on how to beat members
Yomiuri Shimbun
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031207wo23.htm
"The Pana Wave Laboratory group in Fukui, five of whose members were arrested Friday on suspicion of beating an associate professor of a Fukuoka university who died in the group's facility in August, compiled a manual giving instructions on how to administer punishment beatings to members, police said Friday."
Roanoke 'sheik' duped Richmond with hoax in 1978
By Matt Chittum
Roanoke Times
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story159249.html
"The sheik pulled up in a chauffeured, silver Rolls-Royce."
At St. Patrick's, a Fragment of an Aztec Saint's Cloak
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/06/n...00&en=a4562a96bb497885&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE>
"Two women in the pews of St. Patrick's Cathedral wept quietly. Several more knelt at the brass altar rail, their heads bowed before the half-inch-square bit of cloth. A volunteer handed out petals from the sprays of red roses behind her."
Devotion to Lady of Guadalupe grows
By GARY STERN
New York Journal News
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/newsroom/120603/a01p06juandiego.html
"Four years after Pope John Paul II declared Our Lady of Guadalupe to be the patroness of not only Mexico but the Americas, New York's diverse Catholic community is demonstrating the growing devotion to the indigenous Mexican vision of the Virgin Mary."
Do Real Haunted Mansions Hold Sway in Hollywood?
by Stefan Lovgren
National Geographic News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1204_031204_hauntedhollywood.html
"Whether they're floating through dark castles or hiding under kids' beds, ghosts have haunted Hollywood movies for decades, including the latest ghoul flick, The Haunted Mansion, based on the popular Disney theme park ride."
Urban legends
By Jenna Watts
Charleston Gazette
http://wvgazette.com/section/News/FlipSide/200312053
"A FAVORITE treat at Christmastime (or any time) is Jell-O, a tasty and fun way to play with dessert. But what is it made of?"
State pulls plug on exhibit
By John Chase
Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0312030123dec03,1,5876291.story
"The Blagojevich administration Tuesday ordered the removal from the Thompson Center of a controversial exhibit ridiculing psychiatry as a wicked profession with ties to Nazi Germany after officials learned that the group that erected the display was an offshoot of the Church of Scientology."
Illinois Orders Exhibit's Removal
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-exhibit-pulled,0,1484883.story
"The state of Illinois ordered a group that's an offshoot of the Church of Scientology to remove a display condemning psychiatry from a state office building."
Pilgrims Flock to See 'Weeping Statue'
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...7&e=3&u=/nm/20031204/od_nm/odd_italy_blood_dc
"Faithful and curious flocked to a town in southern Italy on Thursday after reports that a bronze statue of a saint was weeping blood."
Myths blunt Africa’s fight against AIDS
By Steve Swindells
Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/107036097535.htm
"Babalwa Tembani is proof that the myths surrounding AIDS can be as deadly as the epidemic itself. When she was 14, she was raped by an uncle who thought he could cure himself of the disease by having sex with a virgin."
Guilford dispels campus legends
By John Newsom
Greensboro News & Record
http://www.news-record.com/news/education/guilford_112903.htm
"You hear the rumor that Guilford College has banned the American flag from campus?"
Mystery of the Lost Patrol still lingers after 58 years
By Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-sbombers06dec06,0,1676684.story
"A bell rang 14 times on Friday to remember each man lost in Flight 19, the legendary squadron of five Navy torpedo bombers that took off from Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 5, 1945, never to return."
SCI FI Supports New Scientific Initiative to Investigate Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031204/nyth114_1.html
"Recognizing the need to establish the scientific legitimacy of investigating unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), SCI FI Channel today announced a new initiative that brings together the major organizations investigating this still mysterious phenomenon and establishes a multi-group effort to study the physical evidence associated with UAP reports."
Tarot School students tout program
By Alexandra Alter
Religion News Service
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-0/107069373139520.xml
"Class begins in a dark conference room with a meditation on the ring of a bell. The degree requirements include seminars in contemplation or visualization. Homework assignments often involve the difficult task of transforming one's life."
£200 call scam `an urban myth' says watchdog
By Andrew Hirst
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
<http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co....--an-urban-myth--says-watchdog-name_page.html>
"CLAIMS that a phone scam could leave people having to pay more than £200 for a single call have been dismissed as a myth."
Meditation now being used for health benefits
BY DANIELA LAMAS
Miami Herald
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/7414656.htm
"Five adults gathered in a Miami library one recent evening to learn a meditation technique that spans centuries and continents, from India to Florida, from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to the Beatles."
'Hiding the Elephant': Now You See It . . .
By TELLER
New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/07/b...00&en=9efe8e830b16f31d&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE>
"In 1918 Harry Houdini made an elephant named Jennie vanish from a circus wagon on the stage of the New York Hippodrome. How did he do it? That question is the looking glass through which Jim Steinmeyer transports us into the inverted universe of ''Hiding the Elephant,'' a loving celebration of the genius, glamour and gargantuan egos of stage magic from the mid-1800's to the 1920's, when the art was exploding with invention and tricks were so precious that conjuring spies crossed the Atlantic to steal secrets from their transoceanic brethren.
Psychic's tip prompts search of Elgin preserve
By ERIC R. OLSON
Shaw News Service
http://www.kcchronicle.com/today/KCC/news/286669818694655.html
"A tip called in by a psychic led to a police search of the Burnidge Forest Preserve."
Ex-San Mateo con artist gets 2 years in prison
By Christine Louie
San Mateo County Times
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~1813662,00.html
"A former San Mateo psychic who swindled more than $100,000 from two victims was sentenced to two years in state prison after a judge called her actions "despicable.""
Woman jailed in scam as psychic
VICTIM, 19, WAS PRESSED TO PAY TOTAL OF $15,000
By Jessie Seyfer
San Jose Mercury News
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7429522.htm
"A self-proclaimed psychic based in Half Moon Bay was sentenced to two years in state prison Friday for demanding that a 19-year-old woman pay her $15,000 to ward off predictions that the woman's family members would die."
Brazilian Court Acquits Alleged Satanic Cult Leader in Murder Trial
VOA News
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=9B19ADE6-4CC1-4E92-8116057ABD60BE3B
"A Brazilian court on Friday acquitted the alleged leader of a Satanic cult of charges that she planned and ordered the ritual mutilation and murder of boys in a remote Amazon town."
Christians cause chaos at psychic show
By Jeanne Viall
Cape Argus
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=139&art_id=vn20031126125710953C125320&set_id=1
"Fundamentalist Christian demonstrators caused chaos at the Baxter Theatre on Tuesday night as they hurled threats and anti-Semitic abuse at psychic Belinda Silbert."
Students Look to Superstition for Edge on Finals
By LINDSAY MEISEL
Daily Californian
http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=13754
"With the frenzy of final exams fast approaching, students across campus are crowding into cafes and libraries, setting up for days of studying."
Studying the Salem witch trials: Review of records yields new details
By Jay Lindsay
Associated Press
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestlife/2001801653_witchtrials28.html
"The little that was known about Ann Dolliver suggested an unhappy life during wicked times."
Poverty breeds 'witch' kids
South African Press Association
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Features/0,,2-11-37_1451461,00.html
"Ruth Tshidibi's step-father claimed she was a witch and threw her out of his house three months ago. The 17-year-old now sleeps behind a police station and makes her living selling mangoes and oranges."
Sci Fi Channel-backed researcher sues NASA over UFO files
by JOE MANDAK
Associated Press
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/local/7424441.htm
"A researcher backed by cable television's Sci Fi Channel plans to sue NASA for records she contends the agency has of a UFO that reportedly crash landed and was recovered by government workers in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1965."
Dwarf rumour squashed
Agence France Presse
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1004885.htm
"Officials in the central Iranian town of Khomein, where Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was born, have been forced to publicly quell a bizarre rumour apparently aimed at bringing down property prices."
'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims
by Tony Pipitone
WKMG
http://www.local6.com/money/2683654/detail.html
"A woman reported "trampled" last Friday by Wal-Mart shoppers desperate for $29.87 DVD players has a long history of claiming injuries from Wal-Marts and other businesses where she worked or shopped."
Trampled woman has history of claims against stores
Associated Press
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/South/12/05/trampled.shopper.ap/
"A woman who was reported trampled by Wal-Mart shoppers during a holiday sale on DVD players has filed numerous injury claims against stores since 1987, including nine against the world's largest retailer."
Breast-feeding driver says her rights violated
By Ed Meyer
Akron Beacon Journal
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/7417135.htm
"Citing U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Catherine Donkers argued Thursday that a judge had no authority to sentence her for three traffic violations on the Ohio Turnpike."
Breast-feeding driver is given house arrest
by Steve Luttner
Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/summit/1070627401219490.xml
"A woman who breast-fed her infant daughter while driving on the Ohio Turnpike was sentenced yesterday to three months of house arrest and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation."
64 Die in Congo From Anti-Sorcery Potion
Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-congo-deadly-potion,0,4145415.story
"Congo health officials on Thursday were investigating the poison deaths of 64 people, allegedly from a potion used to ward off evil spirits."
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