User:Kazuba

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents 1 Greetings 2 The Value of Doubt in Science 3 The Supernatural 4 Extrasensory Perception 5 It's Magick 6 Parapsychology and Dean Radin 7 Dean Radin and the Indian Rope Trick 8 Conjurers, Scam, Fantasy and the Occult 9 Folie a deux, Telepathy, Dopplegangers, and Skepticism 10 Exorcism 11 Prophecy 12 Faith 13 Blockheads and Blind Obedience 14 Biblical Stuff 15 Dubious past methods of Western archaeology 16 Bible redux 17 Mid-Eastern Analogies 18 History 19 Imagination, Delight, Loss and Mystery 20 The Glamour 21 References 22 External links for men who stare at goats,remote viewing and more

[edit] Greetings

Final Revision 07 Jun 2008

POOF! Watch this one! If your broom fits ride it. BEWARE! You have been warned. Read the following with caution. I am like no other. (You too are unique.) Welcome. Books are one of my hobbies. I love to research things that have caught my fancy. I have genuine curiosity. I am so curious it often gets me in trouble with others who may share by interests. They are not THAT interested. My additions to the Wikipedia are VERY often removed. This is the reason for the following material. So there is a possibility that it may be read by anyone and avoid intolerant busy bodies. I play no favorites, except relentless critical inquiry outside of the common boundaries that comes from skimming over material too quickly to get a happy answer and create a conviction. I am fascinated by the obscure, the unknown, minute details, and deception, especially self-deception. I have a gift for pushing the buttons of others by supplying skipped or unknown information. Information someone may not want to know, causing Cognitive dissonance. I am not insensitive to others. The only explanation I can offer is that these topics, sometimes excitable to others, honestly intriqued me. (After all, these are only puzzles. Cut me some slack.) Because I am extremely curious it is very difficult for me to relate to the boundaries of others. Why not seek a reasonable mundane answer that best fits the clues from the evidence already available? Evidence that has been over-looked. (You will find this here, as you will also in my Wikipedia entries.) I have been taught by magicians a lapse in information assures an incomplete equation and a flawed evaluation of reality. ^[1] My innocent inquiries were frequently distorted into attacks and threats. My statements, that I thought were quite calm, honest and hopefully sensible, became irrational rantings and axe grinding, my sincerity mistaken for sarcasm because I am no master of words. A wise Enchantress (You think there are no such persons? You have much to learn.) told me it was probably an encounter with insecurity and perhaps a fear of the unknown. I was totally naive and stupid. I was deeply hurt and felt and still feel remorse for being so ignorant. But I desired to know more, to carefully examine the pieces, to work the puzzles. I find myself more interested in WHY and HOW people believe things and create a comfort zone, than what people believe within their comfort zones-the importance and quest for validity. I make lots of mistakes, but I do try to correct them, and learn from them. I do NOT define myself as a skeptic, but rather a genuinely curious, amateur historian, puzzler and observer of social psychology. To fully grasp the understanding and significance of the now, you must be aware of the ideas from the past. Genuine curiousity, investigative research, interpretation of the evidence, and disclosure is the process of the critical historian. That this material will result in neutrality is not known until summation. Though it may be be politically correct is there really such an animal as neutral history? There are no errors, injustice, irrationality, villians, horror, reason, heroes, goodness, truth, lies, good or evil in the real world? The goal of a critical historian is objectivity. I try. I am a husband, father, grandpa and conjuror. It was Milbourne Christopher, one of the world's great magicians, who taught me to always read a book with a pencil nearby (I have lost many reference sources because I didn't listen.) and encouraged me to write. My materials on "Ancient Magicians were they Conjurors?" were shared with the late Robert Lund and are somewhere in The American Museum of Magic ^[2][3] and also with my friend, Dr. Edwin A. Dawes, one of magic's great historians and member of the London Magic Circle. My mentor was Martin Gardner, the dean of American puzzlers. What floats on the ocean? is my favorite riddle. (Can you guess the one correct answer?) I am a member of the Order of Merlin (for 25 years I have been a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians) and a member of the Association of Ancient Historians. I am not a professional magician or historian, but I listen closely to the pros and masters and study the discipline of these arts. I'm just a grunt and certainly no genius, only average intelligence. Often I use street language to express myself. I am very comfortable there. (Or maybe for fun I just like to rub my reader's face in it.) I am most definitely a philogynist and a misandronist! Love the ladies! I ain't no computer whiz. Lately I have been asked about my credentials by Dean Radin and his fans and probably others. Radin now prefers to bad mouth the Wikipedia,^[4] Saying I have genuine curiousity just doesn't seem to satisfy them. This just seems to go over their heads. I don't worry about it. I'm used to it. "Motive? I ain't got no stinkin' motive". So let me try these: I honestly seek knowledge and enjoy learning. And, perhaps my words, collected here, will communicate ideas and inspire contemplation. "But why, Grandpa?" Like Popeye says, "I yam what I yam." My school was, and still is, the school of hard knocks.

[edit] The Value of Doubt in Science

Doubt is commonly portrayed as a flaw. Though doubt brings anxiety and calls for the comfort of resolution; doubt it is a most valuable tool. For doubt may motivate the actions of testing and looking deeper. Contrary to popular belief, good scientists do not seek to prove a hypothesis true. They make every effort to prove it wrong by subjecting it to the most withering attacks they can dream up. Some scientists find this to be great fun. The refusal to accept an idea until it has run a gauntlet of testing is the very reason scientific truth has value. It is popular for people to seek support of their own hypothesis. Seek proof that obliterates your hypothesis too and welcome the complications that will lead to new questions. Expect complexity. This is the real world.

[edit] The Supernatural

The blues is the truth. Eric Clapton says one can secure a faith in the blues. It is the world of the black musician containing wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. It is the music and voice of the soul in women and men who have experienced and seen the ways of the world. Enlightenment can come from true sadness, a feeling of affinity and relief. ^[5] The blues preaches the faith that you are not alone. And man, Mother blues tells it like it tea eye es is. "C'mon over, baby. There's a whole lotta shakin goin on!" is poetry. (I also want to thank Alvin Lee.) That each person creates their own meaning for life is obvious. This is why they are different for each person. The human will to survive is the product of meaning, and finding individual value. Like Martin Gardner,^[6] James Randi, Thomas Edison, Joseph Jastrow ^[7] and Albert Einstein^{[8] [9]} I do not believe in an ancient supernatural God. (I prefer to hold out until this out-dated, superstitious, unlikely and mistaken version of God appears and speaks on CNN and is put on trial for crimes against humanity), or any other supernatural entities or critters. How can I break it to you gently? The supernatural is an adjective, a very ancient and popular delusion. Perhaps a result of those in places of authority with Schizotypal personality disorder and an underestimating of social forces or apophenia? Yet, I wouldn't be surprised if there was something else we cannot even imagine at work. Something entirely OTHER, a creation of different contemporary human desires changing through out time, natural laws that create natural laws, a spooky non-logical universe?! Check out Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe by Martin Rees, Basic Books, 2000 and Our Cosmic Habitat by Martin Rees, Princeton Unversity Press, 2001 (Quick satisfying answers are preferred over deeper inquiry). Those who argue there is "proof" of God, or intelligent design, use selective material. They are very mischievous! Check out the Permian-Triassic extinction event.^[10] Wow! Review the surviving written records about the victims of the Black Plague and other epidemics. Today, count the tombstones in the children's graveyards, six million a year. Eight million people die each year because they are too poor to stay alive. Their's is a desperate attempt to convince themselves and others the "authority of science" proves and preserves the existence of (a friendly)? out-dated supernatural being God of the past. There is a lack of faith and reason. The cruelty of natural selection is a fact, Jack.

When someone we love dies there is a desire for something good to come out of this tragedy, to soothe the heartache. What could be better than to be with that deceased loved one forever in paradise? We desire a reason for things, divine justice. I do not believe in a surviving consciousness after death, or an after life, but again I wouldn't be surprised if there was one. My wife thinks there is. Martin has stated, the universe is stranger than any thing we can imagine. The more I learn, the more I observe, the natural is so bizarre there may not be room for the supernatural.^[11] Supernatural phenomena have diminished to be replaced by a steady growing number of natural phenomena. Why? There has been inaccuracy due to errors in judgement by our ancestors, people of the past with a smaller and more limited knowlege of how things worked. This process is unlikely to change or end with our generation or with other "wonderers" that live throughout the universe. When a conjuror creates the illusion of magic he or she uses natural law and secret somethings. I am not so sure that existence and all this stuff around us is an illusion of our, the conjuror's, brand of magic. "[To an atheist] the universe is the most exquisite masterpiece ever constructed by nobody", from G. K. Chesterton, is one of Martin's favorite quotes and mine. But I wonder if it is nobody then what is the answer? SOMETHING ELSE? Why is there an objective reality of mathematical theorems independent of human culture? I have a suspicion during, or after, our life is over we never find out. How can a person become unconscious? It adds to the mystery. I think all extremists should have lights shining out of their butts and fart nasty green clouds that come out of their ears when they get excited. They should also be followed, and unable to escape hordes of angry flying monkeys who throw shit at them. Love the Simpsons!

I know there are real monsters and heroes. I think all babies are born innocent and people are made. I know children should be loved and cared for. The world is not fair. What goes around does NOT come around. There are innocent victims. Dire circumstances and abuse are often beyond one's own control. Their affects can be life long and devastating.

[edit] Extrasensory Perception

Before proceeding into extrasensory perception, ESP, one must ask why paranormal abilities especially healing, psychic detecting, seeing into the future, etc. are so popular? According to master mentalist Richard Osterlind, and he ought to know if anyone does, it is because people desire these powers for themselves. Why take the time to study medicine, when "bang" you can be transformed and elevated into a miraculous doctor? (Being a romantic I think it is because people deeply want to help not only themselves, but also others with these paranormal abilities.) The problem of personal interpretation, subjectivity and objectivity needs to be approached and coldly evaluated in paranormal studies. This is the FLAW in the free response Ganzfeld studies and remote viewing^{[12] [13]}experiments that is being avoided. Where are the direct transcripts? Why aren't there exact minute details? Where are all the sketches? Where are all the photos? What is in the Star Gate archive collection? Will a number of judges reach the same result as one judge? And if not why? The addition of BLANK targets would bring about some interesting results.

When one makes their way through the literature of remote viewers and their intimate supporters one comes across a variety of things, altered states of mind, traveling through time, a disreguard for distance, sending one's mind to the planets and across the universe, E.Ts, UFOs, dowsing, matricies, psychic abilities, contacting the dead, etc. Even though delusions and hallucinations are an absolute fact, they are rarely ever mentioned by remote viewers about themselves or their intimate supporters. I find this utterly astonishing. Can they possibly be that naive? Do they think delusions and hallucinations only happen in the minds of other people but not themselves? Joseph McMoneagle writes," I had learned early on that a large percentage of people who begin to play in the paranormal field lose track of reality."^[14]The doubt Keith Harary had about his own popularised psychic abilities is exceptional, and worth exploration.^[15]

Oh, one more VERY IMPORTANT thing, stories about people with psychic or supernatural abilities GROW due to missing pieces ( which are not easy to find ) and selectivity, poor inquiry, and just bad, to lousy reporting and history. Check out the Father of remote viewing, Ingo Swann, who calls himself "the Man who has Astounded Physicists and Parapsychologists Throughout the World," (there is no modesty here!) and "the most renowned remote viewer in the United States," Joseph McMoneagle.^[16] You decide. Was the Stargate Project worth 20 million dollars? Is a close critical examination of the Stargate Project data really possible? Paul H. Smith wrote me,"The best one could do would be to go through all the sessions for which target ground-truth is known, and compare results with the actual state-of-affairs on the ground at the time of the viewing. You could then draw an accuracy rating from just the known targets, and then extrapolate for the ones with unknown results. However, even that level of work would take months, if not years, and I doubt anyone has had the gumption, resources, or free time to do it. (There's also the issue of deciding what counts as a "direct hit," and so on. The terminology is pretty much at the mercy of the individual who is doing the estimating.)"

Here is an odd example: When describing Operational Remote Viewing(Semipalatinsk, USSR) Harold Puthoff goes into quite a bit of detail, (though there seem to be some very important points missing about the goings on of the experiment itself. See if you can find out a few of them. You gotta love this stuff.) to impress the reader with this experiment, but introduced this test by saying, "Again this is not a "best ever" example from a series of such viewings, but rather the very first operational Soviet target concerning which we were officiall task." This set of experiments, Puthoff tells the reader, lasts for a period of about one and half years (July 1974 to the end of 1975) and strangely Puthoff NEVER does describe the "best ever example." ^[17] What's with that?

This is just the way the game is played. Psychiatry, accuracy and detail just does not seem to matter to those who accept, or finally accept these marvels. "What you FEEL to be true matters." BIG MISTAKE! I had a good lady friend who just bragged about her husband working as a deejay at weddings and party functions to make extra money. He was so tired on the week ends. He was regularly cheating on her. On HER BIRTHDAY one her best friends caught her hubby with another gal. It broke her heart. "I used to believe so-and-so before until I saw the evidence." What evidence? Baby, was it especially honed by you? Due to your own bias, selectivity, desire and the materials you decided to get your hands on? Did you happily get what you wanted? How deep in YOUR research did you really go? Enough to make you feel uncomfortable? Unsure? Did you question the answers you were given? The things you saw? Make fair comparisons? Did you look for any physical proof, something you could see or hold in your hand? Seek out and read early primary sources to see if you might have missed something of value? Check out primary reports to see if details vary? Does information become distorted later in a retelling? (Stories tend to grow). These things happen A LOT!

Supposedly it was Thomas Edison who said, "I failed my way to success." For about 45 years I have followed the past history and minimal progress of Parapsychology.^[18] In the old days it used to be called psychical research. Parapsychologists have a habit of bringing up old foundations from psychical research, the skills of Daniel Dunglas Home and his testing by Sir William Crookes are a favorite. Therefore I claim they are very closely related, the only difference has been the addition of numbers. Professional parapsychologists, and there are few; the Parapsychological Association lists less than 300 members, prefer to say statistics. The public is baffled by statistics and probabilities; what is correct and what is not correct can be expertly ill defined and misleading. Parapsychology is not at all controversial in psychology or psychiatry. They don't think much of it. It has yet to prove itself.^[19] In parapsychology delusions and the quality of an experiment and experimenters' statements are rarely critically examined within its own school. The use of trickery on subjects which is often used in psychology and psychiatry experiments is looked upon as being unfair in parapsychology. ^[20][21]( Joseph Banks Rhine refused to use blank cards, as suggested by Houdini's close friend Joseph Rinn.)^[22] The skeptical comments and criticisms by master magicians are not welcome in parapsychology and are rarely heeded by the big wigs.^[23][24] Within psychology and psychiatry textbooks the discoveries by master magicians are highly valued.^[25] As mentioned previously one has to wonder what would have been the results if blanks were used in the Ganzfeld and Remote viewing experiments. I guess no one ever thought of doing that for verification. Why, on earth, would any fair person want to do that?

Long time psychical researcher Eric Dingwall had this to say,"In the issue of the American Psychologist for May 1969 R. A. McConnell, in an admirable summary of some difficult questions, asks why psychologists are not interested in ESP. Has it ever struck him that their lack of interest is because they do not want to be associated with the parapsychologists whose reputation for the pursuit of truth is not of the highest and who are linked with a crowd of dubious and half-baked seekers after marvels. Were it to rid itself of these people instead of suffering them and appointing them to positions of prestige and authority, it might have a great future". Leading critics conclude parapsychology is not a serious study of the paranormal and it is unlikely to change.^[26][27] They point out very peculiar articles and experiments. There have been many in The Journal of Parapsychology and other psychical literature. See, that's why they have never gotten anywhere.

Recently one of the hot topics is the claim persons can tell when they are being stared at. Military and law enforcement snipers have not been consulted, nor private detectives, or other professional snoops. Their input would seem to be quite valuable because this is what they do regularly in their professions. Or is this considered just observing? A victim always knows when they are being stalked? What happens in complete darkness as compared to light? What happens when night vison goggles are used? Or if a barrier is added and removed, or a subject is blindfolded? Where do you draw the line? Shouldn't a scientific experiment be throughly examined, even for flaws, before results appear in a professional journal? Or is it a fringe journal? Is the reader well informed and willing enough to examine and recognize the difference?

Soon after Joseph Banks Rhine and his wife were impressed by a lecture given by Arthur Conan Doyle exulting the scientific proof of communication with the dead, (Rhine later wrote, "This mere possibility was the most exhilarating thought I had had in years.") ^{[28] [29]} Rhine began his study of parapsychology. The positive results of PSI experiments by the late pioneer Rhine have never been replicated and are suspicious. ^[30] Since this is the foundation of parapsychology it is odd this is not widely discussed or known to the public. Shouldn't books by parapsychologists reveal this problem in their introductions to PSI history and assessments of Rhine's work?

Parapsychology is not like other sciences. Only it has an odd history involving the unusual benefical consul, advice and criticisms from the experts of deception, master magicians. A few examples are Project Alpha, Eusapia Palladino, Mina Crandon, Arthur Ford, Upton Sinclair, Ted Serios, Nina Kulagina, Uri Geller, Ingo Swann, Courtney Brown and John Edward ($175 a gallery seat in 2008!). The catchy buzz phrase of denied failure, the absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence, is very popular in parapsycholgy findings. (Noah's ark lies buried beneath my garage!). A lack of positive evidence in parapsychology means nothing and is shrugged off. As in the not-so-long-ago trials of alleged witches; the absence of evidence spills over with the confidence of conviction. Curiously again, even the belief in God enters the PSI picture. This should turn on a warning light, ( Yes witches, yes dangerous spells, yes God; yes PSI, yes benevolent spells, yes God), but it doesn't. It goes right by, unnoticed by the faithful. (Let me set the record straight here. Witch-hunters BELIEVED in the wicked occult power of witches. They were NOT doubters or skeptics.) So it goes. They fail to see the continuing belief in Magick is likely to be the controlling factor.

[edit] It's Magick

Magick has been around for millions of years. Don't expect it to just roll over and die. It ain't gonna happen. Magick is very, very, powerful. That is why it has lasted. Magick presents an immediate (sometimes disguised as mystic or spiritual) solution to the mystery of the unknown that requires little or no critical research. ^[31] Magick was used to empower humanity with improvement and to achieve a clearer picture of humanity's place in the cosmos, LONG BEFORE the concept of critical science. A controlled repeated experiment that yields the same results to everyone, believers and non-believers, is not necessary and has no place or value in Magick. Magick only has to work and baffle human emotions sometimes, or even only once, to appear real and true. One does not test Magick. It is felt. It is experienced. It is revealed. You know. You are among the chosen. You are one of the "special people." If one closely observes the past history of psychical research and parapsychology there is strong evidence sloppy and poorly constructed parapsychology observations and experiments are dangerous, for they create a fertile ground for the irrational and the occult, besides being bad science. A simple mundane natural explanation does not present or preserve the mystical quality of Magick, mind over matter, a sense of spirituality. Sometimes a night invading entity is due to the proximity of an electric clock or an improper ground.^[32] The johnny-come-lately world of science will never defeat Magick. Magick may take on new forms: supernaturalism, remote healing, PSI, PK, spiritualism, remote viewing, etc. but it will never die. The scientific intellectuals of the 19th and 20th century were very wrong. They did not realize the experience of Magick happens, and probably will always happen, within the malleable theater of the human mind. Throughout history, in times of uncertainty and crisis astrologers, psychics and other practitioners of the esoteric flourish. Here's a good one for you. Sometimes very creative magic entertainers wonder how can they mimic something that does not really exist? Think about it.

[edit] Parapsychology and Dean Radin

Do not distort the following information as an ATTACK on Dean Radin or anyone else. I have nothing against Mr. Radin. I absolutely wish him nor anyone else harm or injury. This is just the skinny, Minny. These are assorted things I found interesting. I attempt to list my sources. I did not invent these things, nor have I attempted to pull things out of context, but these are items are things that interested ME. (Possibly not you) Remember at the beginning I warned and informed you, dear reader, what I find interesting is often off the beaten path, expect new evidence and observations. Information that was always available, but never sought. If you find the following upsetting you are blowing things out of proportion. When I speak about the mental health of another it is a search for a scientific explanation. Nothing more. Not name calling. I am fascinated by the thinking of myself and others that piece by piece slowly creates our own conclusions. Many times it is the magnetism of a conclusion that attracts not the force of the evidence. Evidence regarding the truth or error of this conclusion is secondary and will remain insignificant. When I name call, which I will do here later on, with the word DORK, I am not sure it has any thing to do with mental health. I suspect it has to do with much more.

Dean Radin is a charismatic, celebrity, researcher and popular author in parapsychology, and his work has been criticized accordingly. In particular, Radin has often been the target of Skeptical Organizations who reject his work as being hastily constructed, questionable and evasive. ^{[33] [34]} Radin, and his supporters, have responded to skeptical criticisms with their conclusions based on research findings from remote viewing findings and other government projects.^{[35] [36] [37]} For some strange reason only Radin's work in his latest book has any importance to his fans. His earlier work and things he says in odd comments during interviews while plugging his books, if they appear flawed, are irrevelent and blanked out by his fans. This is only a natural cognitive process of human nature and selectivity. We all experience bias. One does not remember everything. Our memory remembers and files away things we prefer and are significant to us individually. Other things are just forgotten. Sometimes what we have found, we dislike, find insignificant or no longer desire, just disappears, being entirely erased from our memory.

Radin, with his "gentle touched" bent spoon,^{[38] [39]} has conducted research on, among other things, how significant events which capture the attention of many people may affect random number generators. Such events include the September 11 terrorist attacks, an O.J. Simpson broadcast, a Super Bowl, and the American Academy Awards presentations,^[40] how lunar cycles affect PSI and winning at ONE gambling casino,^[41] and the positive influence of the mind controlling the falling of dice ^[42] Many theories have been proposed by others to explain the anomalies which appear within these experiments, but so far only one has been favored by Radin, a paranormal ability, or PSI. As with much of Radin's work, these experiments, O.J. Simpson's broadcast, September 11th terrorist attacks, American Academy Awards, Super Bowl, were never attempted or duplicated by anyone else.^{[43] [44]} Which makes Radin's work, the first and usually the only (I have not come across these experiments attempted by others for duplication.) to appear in print, mistakenly as the last word.

Other experiments in which Radin has been involved:

• REMOTE HEALING: Subjects constructed clay dolls of themselves. His research showed that the subjects' blood and nerve activity increases when a "healer" 100 yards away massaged the dolls.^[45]Radin also tested Umbanda mediums in Brazil, who attempted to send healing thoughts to American subjects at UNLV. These healing thoughts were not only sent to specific individuals but also back in time.^[46]

• KINESIOlOGY: Radin ran double-blind and triple-blind trials with 58 adults using vials of sugar and sand and a dynamometer, which measures a hand's grip strength. The results startled him, and he noted in a report he published that they seemed "preposterous". But the data showed that people's muscle strength decreased significantly when they held vials of sugar.[27]

• PSYCHOKINESIS:In 2000 Radin attended a spoon bending party. To his surprise the spoon he was holding started to bend. The bowl momentarily felt like putty. Using one finger and thumb he easily pinched the end of the bowl over, nearly bending the bowl to half its length. Dean had decided in advance that the only bend he might find interesting would be of the bowl of a spoon, because to do this without tools and/or leverage is beyond the capability of most people, including himself. The silver-plated soup spoon he held bent as he had previously desired. ^[47]

• ROBOTICS: Subjects attempt to manipulate a robotic arm to pick up an M & M. Unobserved, the robotic arm can complete the job in 25 steps. With a human's mental attention to the task, the job can be done in two steps.[28]

• REMOTE VIEWING: Radin worked on a remote viewing project with former military remote viewer Joseph McMoneagle in 1996.^[48] Radin wrote that the probable reality of remote viewing was scientifically established by the US government's Stargate Project.^[49]

• PSYCHICS: The best psychic averages about 3 in 10, like the best baseball hitters .300," says Radin. The rest of us bat about 1 or 2 in 10." ^[50]

• FUTURE MACHINES: While Dean Radin was at the Conscious Research Laboratory, University of Nevada, Las Vegas working with remote viewer Joseph McMoneagle. Radin conceptualized a future machine that as yet did not exist. McMoneagle used his remote viewing into the future in an effort to obtain information concerning this machine to produce patentable ideas.^[51]

Radin has stated his experiments are not proof orientated. They are process orientated. He is certain that PSI has already been proven to exist. ^[52] Radin stated,"In any case, repeatable results have been achieved, as clearly demonstrated in meta-analyses of several different categories of psi experiments, so I believe we are well beyond the question of whether psi is amenable to scientific methods. We are limited in this realm, as in any other, only by our imagination." [29] PSI is his explanation of the anomalies appearing in his own experiments and in the Ganzfeld and remote viewing experiments. There is no reason to try and prove PSI anymore. Now is the time to see how it is reliable and useful. ^[53][54] Harvey J. Irwin, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, University of New England, Australia, and a member of the Parapsychological Association writes this can be an error, for concluding PSI is THE anomaly, rules out all other possibilities, such as the short comings of our understandings of random and independence,[30] Experimenter effect, Apophenia, Forer effect, selective validation, faulty proceedures or equiptment, unconscious judgement,^[55] etc. ^[56] These mundane alternative anomalies have not yet been throughly explored. They are not as attractive or earth shaking? as PSI. Often critical history (and good science) must wait for the excitement of the moment to die down. Desire, excitement, exuberance and lack of experience can affect critical judgement.(I have read this is often associated with one's age.)^[57] From what I have observed this is often the case, when it comes to newly discovered art and archaeological forgeries, etc.^[58][59]

When confronted with the question of fraud in parapsychology, Radin says there has only been one case of admitting fraud in parapsycholgy and that was in the 1970's, and two or three only suspected.^[60] Since parapsychology was psychical research, it seems evident by looking into the past, and some of its more modern charlatans, this is a very calculated statement. I like the part suggesting you are only guilty of fraud if you admit it. Since Joseph Banks Rhine [31] and Samuel Soal ^[61] are dead, I don't suppose they will be admitting anything. Do you? Having scientific credentials does not guarantee honesty or accuracy. There are shades and grades of people in all careers.

The following information: [ In September 1997, Radin was axed from his (two year) research job at UNLV less than three weeks after the publication of The Conscious Universe. (I prefer the term "axed" because this is a real life, street language, term from my trade. And this is how I talk.) Radin was also initially granted approval to teach ONE class at UNLV, but shortly after publication of The Conscious Universe the class he had planned to teach, "The History and Scientific Study of Psychic Phenomena" was canceled without explanation. Radin was surprised by his dismissal, insisting that university pressure to leave had been tied to the attention he had received from the media.] ^[62] has been deleted from the Dean Radin entry. This information was considered to have no historical value. Radin fans called this info a smear. It is not a part of his biography. Sure is. I'll bet Radin remembers getting broomed and having his ONE opportunity to teach at UNLV taken away from him. It was not NPOV! I see this as a suppression of knowledge. I have been taught by my elders "acquaintance with fact is better that ignorance". ^[63]

According to Radin in a later interview, the reason for his dismissal was to change the perception of UNLV from (to quote Radin) "a laughing stock" to being taken seriously. [32] Radin's last experiment at UNLV consisted of Umbanda mediums, basically spiritualistic healers, in Brazil, attempting to send healing thoughts to American subjects six thousand miles away at UNLV.[33] If I understand it correctly, these healing thoughts were to be sent not only to specific individuals, but also back in time. On 5 Sept 1997, Don Baepler, who oversees the Reid Center of Environmental Studies at the UNLV, presented 2 options to Radin either sign a letter of seperation which would allow Radin 60 days to pack his bags, or refuse to sign it and be terminated immediately. ^[64]

Radin offers another explanation. He was not dismissed. He left. UNLV vice president of academic affairs, Douglas Ferraro, said the unviversity won't renew its contract with Radin because of dwindling grants and a personnel matter regarding Radin's conduct. "Let me assure you this is not an academic freedom issue." Ferraro said. "This has nothing do do with his history of research." ^[65] The study of parapsychology was not eliminated at UNLV. ^[66] Charles Tart^[67] was hired in the fall of 1997 and given Radin's former position.^[68][69]

Parapsychology was, and is, I suspect, an attempt to give a "scientific authority" to claims of psychic or transcendental powers and after-life. ^[70] Amateur magician, paranormal investigator, and author, George Hansen,^[71] is correct and I certainly agree. Due to the carelessness and over exuberance involved surrounding psi investigations (both pro and con. Where are ALL the details of this experiment?) parapsychology will forever be doomed to a marginal existence. Today PSI is linked with quantum physics. During the time when X-rays and radio were popular it was linked with waves. Again, it may be due to a lack of faith and reason. It seems unlikely that humans possess the magic mental or transcendental powers they have always desired and imagined. In the celebrated Ganzfeld and Stargate Project Remote viewing experiments it was claimed gifted subjects scored 5% to 15% OVER chance. In some government experiments, vaguely mentioned, and rarely remembered, Jessica Utts and Brian Josephson, members of the Parapsychological Association, reported this dropped to only 2% OVER chance. ^[72] These percentages are often only called significant and not clearly written in figures that are easily understood. (Significant is a buzz word in parapsychology.) With no telepathy, if chance is one out of four, 25%. 15% OVER chance is more often presented, by parapsychologists that strongly support psi, as being correct 40% of the time; excluding any mention of chance, at all. Thus, 2% OVER chance becomes being correct 27% of the time. This is a wee bit deceptive. Perhaps I have a distorted view. It won't be the first or last time. Now Dean Radin and some other parapsychologists have another way to look at numbers. Any deviation under or over chance, is significant evidence for PSI. "It has been demonstrated that psi can operate just as effectively in a negative direction as it does in the positive, i.e. some subjects consistently score significantly below chance." [34] When there are negative results in experiments these results show "significant psi-missing rather than nonsignificance". [35]^[73]How can you lose with those?

Today James Randi offers the million dollar challenge to anyone who claims they can demonstrate psychic or supernatural powers in a controlled environment. Dean Radin counters with the argument it would cost over a million dollars to construct such a demonstration. (Though one gets the impression the cost of the demonstrations or experiments that have convinced Radin, himself, of the reality of PSI may have cost less and 20 million was spent on the cancelled Stargate Project.) Hell, all Radin has to do is bend about a dozen or so spoons with his famous gentle touch. Those spoons don't have to be made out of platinum. Easy money, scientific fame, and maybe even a Nobel prize! But then if Radin's gentle touch does not work it may indicate he suffers from delusions of grandeur. If one cannot really bend a spoon with a gentle touch, or demonstrate other powers of PK he claims to possess, (mental control of falling dice) ^[74] why else would you claim you can? Look I have special powers! This spoon bending stuff is a fact! Gotcha, keep those donations and grant money comin' in? Radin never presents the names of others at the spoon bending party to verify his claim. I find this extremely odd. If I told you I bent a spoon with a "gentle touch" at a spoon bending party and showed you a photo ^[75] without question would you believe me? ( Oh I hear ya, but Dean Radin is a well educated hi-tech scientist. So what? Where did you grow up, on the friggin' moon? Academics are first of all people. And people can do strange things.) [36] Didn't Uri Geller's admirer, (you go with the money), Marcello Truzzi, coin the term, "Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence?" ^[76] Wouldn't it be wise to ask for more than ONLY Radin's statement and a couple photos of a bent spoon? [37] Perhaps his delusions of grandeur are the reason HE is making all these GREAT discoveries in parapsychology that will change the world of science he continues to write about, using his OWN personal brand of statistics that not everyone else uses. Radin's says HIS statistics are more accurate. (Did he really say he picks the statistics that best support his experiments? What does that mean?)^[77] Hey, what the hell do I know? I can't tell if a meta-analysis is correct or incorrect. I'm just a grunt. I'm no mathematician. How about you? (I understand meta-analysis does not examine the quality of each individual experiment. If this is true something is lacking. You can begin to learn about Meta-analysis and the problems it presents here:^{[78] [79] [80]} Don't be in a hurry. Read all comments. Also take a look at Power analysis.) ^[81] But I do have a pretty fair knowlege about spoons. Bent spoons similar to Radin's, and even slicker ones, can be seen at [38]. Check out the E-cards and wallpaper. Radin uses the excuse persons lose their psychic abilities when they are tested? ^[82] Beat that one!

[edit] Dean Radin and the Indian Rope Trick

When it comes to the famous Indian rope trick Radin, a four-times elected president of the Parapsychological Association, says," There are all these classic cases of the fakirs throwing the rope in the air and the little boy climbs up to the top and disappears and all kinds of magical things happen. All the Easterners see it and will swear up and down that they saw it, whereas the Westerners see nothing. They were watching the fakir just stand there with his arms folded and the little boy standing there and the rope is on the ground and nothing happened." Radin's explanation is the fakir melted minds.^[83] He is completely unaware, or refuses to accept, that this famous trick has been explained by magicians, magic historians, and a parapsychologist as a hoax, not melted minds. ^[84] Is this the way Radin solves other mysteries, and reaches other PSI conclusions with hasty uninformed guessing? It has been remarked this generation of scholars is different. You publish as quickly as possible, create a sensation and get known (academically) that way.^[85] Is it true we are trusting and tend to believe the first things we are taught and only question them later? And then to achieve comfort and eliminate dissonance we come to a conclusion?

[edit] Conjurers, Scam, Fantasy and the Occult

Presently not one gifted psychic or participant in remote viewing, the Ganzfeld, or any other celebrated parapsychology experiment has come forward to substantiate their so-called scientifically valid skills to Randi, or any other master conjuror. Where's Ingo Swann ^[86] who claims he is correct in his remote viewing 95% of the time, his students 85% of the time?^[87] Should I throw in George McMullen,^[88]the psychic, now intuitive archaeologist, or any of these other RV teaching masters that are coming out of the woodwork?

How come? In the past challenges were given by the famous John Nevil Maskelyne, Houdini, other conjurors and Scientific American magazine. No one ever won the prize money. These examples from today and the past suggest unusual and transcendent powers are solely imaginary, and are the products of human error and sloppy science, a sustaining belief in magic, superstition, mysticism, and a continual ignorance of mental tricks, abnormal psychology, psychiatry and the erroneous analysis of mundane experiences that have caused bewilderment throughout human history. Mundus Vult Deipi Decipiatur.

I know there are lots of phonies and spook crooks. The smartest phonies and spook crooks do not look like the masterful schemers they really are. It is not unusual for a creative impostor to present officially sounding credentials and a false past history with college degrees. People tend to believe charismatic scholastic people. Some are authors and very smart smooth talkers. (When I was a kid I was taught these cats were "City Slickers." They still are.) Many people think these educated talkers are much smarter than themselves. (This does not mean they can fix a faucet, do a card trick, have harmony in their own home, or tell the WHOLE truth.) That is how you are conned. Their sole interest is making money and being successful ANY WAY they can. If others believe them and become deluded fools, possibly like themselves, IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER. They gain a larger following. Because they are amoral scumbags with promises of giving you spiritual and psychic skills they are difficult to recognize, because the suckers (good hearted trusting souls) who have had "experiences" think others are basically honest and good. This type of deception is outside their world.^[89] The charlatan, the quack, and even the borderline quack are not outside the world and watchful eyes of master magicians. ^[90] A professional hustler's deception, the pseudo-science of the quack, and close-up magic are very powerful, few people can recognize them when they see them. You mistakenly put your confidence in the confidence artist. That's how they got their name. Be cautious. Here a few popular hooks to watchout for:

1. I don't have to prove anything to you. I am too busy helping people. (This is a gem!)

2. The idea of everyone possessing the ability to be trained to (whatever), is difficult to believe. We have found that for most diehard skeptics, firsthand experience is the only proof that is valid. Only when you learn how to do this yourself, are you ever truly convinced that it is real. (You can convince yourself about things being true and false. Just read ONE book and become an expert!)

3....learning to do something that few other people as yet know how to do; or acquiring a skill deemed impossible under the currently ruling scientific paradigm; or because it provides convincing and satisfying proof that we are, indeed, much more than our physical bodies.

(Must we be more than just temporary unique mortal critters? Living in a one time environment, surrounded by people, events, technologies that will unlikely ever be exactly repeated again? Must we be more than just one-way, one trip, time travelers in an extraordinary universe where our lives and deaths remain mysteries to us? This is just the way the cookie crumbles. It seems pretty wondrous and fulfilling to me. Just before my mother died she said, "There must be more than this." Mom, THIS is completely astonishing! To me THIS has always been outside the limits of human imagination.)

4. I believe in God or a Divine power. Sometimes it is the One or the universal mind, or the Great I AM. I am not an atheist! I am not a materialist! I believe in the survival of human consciousness after death. A favorite example: "Finally, in despair, X turned his eyes heavenward and in a true psychic's prayer said, "Dear God, help me move this shit." Can you guess who says that? ^[91]Wow! How in the world could a dishonest person say that? Aren't they afraid they will be struck down by lightning. "Struck by lightning, struck by lightning, struck by lightning!"^[92]

5. Watchout for the quoting of the Gospel of John 14:12. Using the Bible or religious writings, in one way or another, is always a great hook. The religious approach is a masterful way of gaining trust. Often I have noticed, for some strange reason, the death and resurrection of Jesus and his miracles are brought up and revised from a point outside the Gospels and the critical modern studies of early Christianity and Paganism. (Don't ask me why. I never figured this one out at all!) It is as if the critical modern studies of ancient history, anthropology, primitive and ancient magick and modern Biblical scholarship don't even exist. I find this very weird. It is as if somehow you come face to face with a pride of ignorance and the occult. Like I said weird.

7. The Delta mind, biomind, Blavatsky, Akashic records, the Matrix, Ascended masters. If it sounds like mumbo jumbo and double talk, there's a good chance it is mumbo jumbo and double talk. Genius shows itself in simplicity. Sometimes, when someone is hard to understand, it is simply because they aren't making much sense. (Noted magic historian S.H. Sharpe^{[93] [94]}praised Blavatsky. When I brought up her history of charlantry and condemnation by the magicians of her time, Sharpe wrote me, "It happened so long ago, I had thought everyone had forgotten about that." I sincerely hope not. There are lessons to be learned by studying Blavatsky's wiles, forgery and propaganda. Also see the forgotten Famous Biblical Hoaxes orginally titled Modern Apocrypha by Goodspeed, Edgar J., Beacon Press, 1956, Power of the Charlatan by Francesco, Grete De, Yale University Press, 1939 and Spirits, Stars, and Spells: The Profits and Perils of Magic by De Camp, L. Sprague and Catherine C., Canaveral Press, 1966.)

8. I am an academic. I have a degree.(There is no possible way I can be a DORK!) He or she is a sophisticated talker therefore I trust him or her.

9. You need to clean your colon to stay in good health. There is no need for the Food and Drug Admistration. After all what has the history of medicine got to do with prevention and healing? Say Small Pox and Polio. Listen to the quacks and snake doctors: John Harvey Kellogg, Kevin Trudeau, Gary Null, Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra.

Perhaps this does not belong here but I think it is important. No one likes to admit they have been taken, fooled, swindled, or been out in deep space. Usually after a mundane, but unlikeable, explanation is given to the naive they will switch to a new problem and a, "Well what about this?" in order to save face and protect their ego and belief. A critical historian knows their interpretation is limited to the data one has collected. If you know nothing, say you know nothing. Be patient. Collect the data. Sometimes, but not always, the picture becomes clearer and one may uncover tantalizing surprises.

REMEMBER THIS: Fantasy can take on the form of reality to the careless and will feel authetic to the person who experiences it.This differs with each person and at times one can be more susceptible than others. The events in your life influence your thinking and reason. I know the occult and believing in the supernatural, psychic phenomena and trying to talk to the dead can make one's reason deteriorate. ^[95] Not everyone can critically evaluate unfamilar experiences. The foreign and strange can be very seductive. Check out James Pike and Arthur Conan Doyle, (notice the death of a loved one),Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, ^[96]William James, Martin Luther,^[97] Gary Schwartz, Rupert Sheldrake, Ormond McGill, Jane Roberts, Joseph McMoneagle, Steve McQueen, Andy Kaufman, Magician Doug Henning,^[98] Coretta Scott King, Emanuel Swedenborg^[99] and Edgar Cayce. Also objectively and cautiously read this stuff when they are primary materials from the other past generations, if you have to. Take a look at Malleus Maleficarum and Saducismus Triumphatus. It's scary. Where are their heads at? They never would have recognized Queen Mab if they had tripped over her. BE CAREFUL.

[edit] Folie a deux, Telepathy, Dopplegangers, and Skepticism

I do not think psychic abilities, if they exist, I am very doubtful, can be controlled or ever proved, and if proved have any value. My wife and I have experienced Folie a deux and shared 2 visual hallucinations. It knocked us for a loop. Things like that aren't supposed to occur. Big surprise! I played dumb and had her describe them to me. Yep, same things. She was positive these things were real. Possibly a transference of thought, here a visual hallucination, a delusion, as a result of severe depression and emotional ties between two close persons. It was a BAD, BAD time. Albert Ellis' school of enchantresses and the meds helped me survive. If that is the state of mind one must be in for telepathy to occur you can have it...terrible, terrible, terrible. James Randi and other skeptics prefer to skip Folie a deux. Outside of the unpredictable directions of psychotic anxiety, it doesn't look like you can MAKE IT happen naturally. (Try to create your own Doppleganger. These really do exist, they have been duplicated in the lab, and you will see what I mean.) Still, perhaps this altered state can be artifically created by the use of incapacitating agent, BZ, 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate for chemical warfare, Ayahuasca, etc. It's no big deal! I don't think a shared visual hallucination, most likely transferred through emotional contagion, has much value. Psychologist and author, Carol Tavris wrote me this may be a possibility. I suspect psychosis and an uncalled for paranormal ability, if and when it exists, are linked. Since psychosis and delusional beliefs are most definitely linked; a genuine, uncalled for paranormal ability will be very difficult to identify and exhibit in a controlled, repeative, experiment.

I found the following very interesting. Robert Todd Carrol, who is not a psychologist or psychiatrist, e-mailed me that he would not allow Folie a deux in his Skeptic's Dictionary. His reason was the transference I claimed was totally impossible. Delusions in the form of visual hallucinations cannot be shared. That is NOT what was told to me by mind expert and author Ronald K. Siegel[39] and the medical literature I was kindly given by William Beaumont Hospital. After a little push and shove, noted skeptic James E. Alcock[40] finally admitted to me, he had been involved with two cases of Folie a deux. He did not elaborate. Michael Shermer, science writer, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor of the magazine the Skeptic wrote me he knew nothing about Folie a deux. He was not a psychiatrist. Shermer has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in experimental psychology. Folie a deux appears in abnormal psychology text books. It doesn't take long to look this stuff up and do a little investigating. [(Search: MEDLINE folie a deux) There are only about 12,600 entries] Shermer wrote a book entitled Why People Believe Weird Things. How? One well known mentalist, who has written the book on a specialty in mentalism and lectures for skeptical groups, told me he knows nothing about folie a deux and he does NOT want to know anything about folie a deux. (Well, that keeps things simple. If you haven't noticed it yet, the minds and emotions of people are a bit complex.) James Randi prefers to say nothing. So it goes..... The will to inquire and critically examine yourself and the things you prefer to believe, just for the fun of it, is rare.

In January 1993 I received a kind reply from the noted Oliver Sacks, M.D. He informed me he had gotten to his 60th year "without ever encountering the slightest hint of any paranormal abilities or phenomena in anyone." He said he was sorry. I said I was not surprised. If this situation has changed I am positive parapsychologists would have shouted it out. In parapsychology there seems to be an outstanding favoritism of possibility over probability, and speculation rather than confirmation, leaving practicality and discipline behind. Even though Houdini's diaries reveal he never lost hope in his heart, one does not communicate with the dead. These are delusions of grief, grandeur, fear of the unknown, separation and mortality. Stories and rumors grow in a minute, a lot, even in print. I have personally questioned on the spot crime reporters, and detectives.

[edit] Exorcism

Around 1968 I was doing some research for a fiction story. (Trust me you do not want to read it). I was interested in collecting authetic information on the exorcism rites of the Catholic Church. John Cardinal Dearden was kind enough to hook me up with the offical exorcist for the Detroit area. He resided at St. Bonaventure Monastery. In the course of our conversation, being as curious as I am, I just had to ask,"In all the years you have been an exorcist how many exorcisms have you performed?" The answer was none. I was a bit surprised. "How do you explain this?" I asked. The priest told me exorcisms are very rare in the United States. Evil spirits prefer to make their homes within less civilized societies. I was stunned!

[edit] Prophecy

Prophecy and predicting the future has always been, and is, bunk. Fascinating games are played with selective words and meanings, phrases are pulled out of context; not before, but after events have occurred. They are written about as prophecies. These are impressive hooks in the Bible, Nostradamus, etc. This arcane art continues and is popular till this day. If you're obscure and symbolic and cryptic enough, what ever happens is bound to fit in some place with your prophecy. ^[100] The naive public, always wanting to believe in the mysterious drivle of oracles and strange powers, happily gobbles them up, basically without question or inquiry into their construction. It is amazing! The Latin phrase vaticinium ex eventu is the professional Biblical scholar's term for [Literally: Foretelling after the event]. How does one gently explain this to the uninformed? Professional Biblical scholars are taught it is wrong to endanger a person's faith. A religious faith is precious to many people. A loss of belief can lead to a broken sense of self. I have seen university students cursing their teacher in religious studies classes and stomping out the door because they were shocked, unprepared, and refused to critically learn the ways and customs of ancient writers. Biblical literature must magically, Divinely foretell the future or it is fraudulent. It does not and it is not. This literature is a selective product of its time, when hexes, spells, magic, sorcerers, witches, divination and omens were everyday things. This can easily be observed by reading many ancient writers, not just the ones in the Bible, and a study of ancient history.

[edit] Faith

I know people want to be with their loved ones forever and desire happiness, not only for themselves but for others. I know my teachers are right; faith is caused by a leap, and only kept by determination. It takes power to maintain optimism and happiness. Prayer, even if it is just self-talk and wishful thinking can give you hope and strength. Despair and a feeling of being powerless are deadly.^[101] Martin thinks people who have faith are happier than those without. I have a suspicion this may be true.

In the 21st century we live in a world where children’s hands are hacked off with machetes and bombs are detonated in marketplaces, and where women are burned alive as punishments for affairs of the heart. Here civilization remains a work in progress. Our aspirations are shadowed by the stubborn brutality of the human animal which it seems cannot be tamed and can only be kept at bay. ^[102] Tales of heroism, goodness and faith endure and easily become sacred within the human heart. Morality has been taught through stories. According to the popular historian Will Durant, "There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion." (The Durant quote DID NOT say religion was necessary for morality. It stated religion was an AID to morality. There is a difference.) The Durants could not decide if religion was necessary for morality. And perhaps it is true: a woman without religion is like a flower without perfume. Hmmm, I'll have to ask an enchantress about that one. I finally did. The Wise One replied, "All people without religion are like flowers without perfume."

Like it or not, humans believe things whether it is about themselves or others, and have faith that their picture of reality is true, even if that picture of reality is distorted. This possible error is something they are in no hurry to discover. Unless they are as curious as myself. Are you? When the Berlin wall fell I heard a fellow say, "Without communism I have nothing to live for." If one wants to survive and enjoy life, one can find other things to live for. I suggest your mental and physical health for a couple of starters.

[edit] Blockheads and Blind Obedience

Don't confuse faith with the BLIND OBEDIENCE of the true believer. Having faith is no excuse for being gullible and stupid. Don't be a chump. Question authority. Be skeptical. Don't be in a rush to create convictions. Be cautious. Examine the fine details. Do not accept the judgement of the crowd. Be ready to evaluate new evidence as fair and as well as the old. Strive for objectivity, not for what you prefer. Keep the ability for changing your mind. Let the foolish big talkers show their bravery and throw their own meaningless lives away. If they are not at the front, in harm's way, (and they rarely are) they are cowards. They value their own lives more than the lives of others. Just think how many innocent lives could have been saved if in the beginning Osama bin Laden had the faith and courage to martyr himself by surrendering to U.S. authorities, instead of asking others to to hide him and kill for him. I'll bet you bin Laden doesn't wear a bomb. Millionaires don't do those kind of things. They prefer to excite and entice the less fortunate into horror. The less fortunate are those who are maimed and killed in the wars of the rich and their obsession to control more and more people to think only their way.

Maybe Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the mastermind? of the September 11 attacks and other terrorist crimes that kill innocent men, women and children. He certainly wasn't stupid enough to put himself in danger. Mohammed had others who listened and planned with him and threw away THEIR lives. He never a got scratch. He was in no hurry to get to paradise. He wasn't that big of a blockhead. Did he confess to save his own miserable life? Or did he find happiness in murder? If water boarding was the method of getting his confession it probably means he, himself, was afraid to die. Is it possible Mohammed's responsibilty for the death of others, friend and foe alike, gave him a feelng of false bravado and courage?

It is easy to see in the month of August, 2006 Hassan Nasrallah is an egomanic who is incapable of admitting he makes serious blunders that result in the deaths of innocent people. Out of kindness, he should be stopped and examined by psychiatrists before he does any more harm. According to Time magazine, 11 Dec 2006, more than 1,200 Lebanese died, 3,700 were wounded, another 974,184 were left homeless and the damage to Lebanon was $3.6 billion. This destruction brought about by Nasrallah's blunder made him a hero. Go figure. I'll bet you he is not living out on the street. I will never understand why it is so difficult for one to recognize their own mental illness and distortions of reality and decide to do something positive about curing them. There is no doubt Ayman al-Zawahiri who stated, "There are no innocent victims," is a fanatic liar.

It was interesting to see big time terrorist Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi's propaganda video. He could not properly fire his weapon without assistance. It is said the coward disguised himself as a woman and bravely traveled surrounded by innocent women and children. I wonder if any of these innocents were blown to pieces while saying their prayers in a holy mosque because of his paranoid insanity. Fanaticism and prejudice are learned behaviors. There are wiser and more benefical things to learn in your life time than hate. Terrorists talk loudly about their love of Allah and the Prophet. They are liars. Their actions show they worship weapons, violence, and death. They organize to destroy not to construct. To them life has lost its beauty and value. They are wrong. Happiness may be achieved in this life. Nope. It ain't easy. There are no guaranties. Life is a struggle and there is a good chance this is a one time deal, regardless of what you have been told. Stop and think.

[edit] Biblical Stuff

As every informed professional ancient historian knows, "the ancient world can be observed only through chinks and chances." ^[103] I know history, the surviving records of things said and done, especially ancient history, is a mess, and the best you can do is try to be objective. Even though this is impossible it is worth the effort. Reading good ancient history, Ramsay MacMullen is my favorite historian, is like eating candy. The historical Jesus (what really happened) is lost and is unlikely to be found in this ancient world where miracle is taken for granted. Not to believe in them makes you seem simply irrational. Wondrous stories are stretched to the boundaries of incredulity. Records of events are naively mistaken for the events themselves. Theology affects the translation and meaning of earlier ancient texts. What a waste of time! The best you can do is see him emerging from earlier mysterious dim oral traditions as a magician, wonder-worker, a Divine man, hero and an itinerant teacher using riddles or parables before he becomes the Messiah in the Gospel of Mark. Check out the earliest mysterious two different Images of Jesus from the late 3rd and early 4th century. Most people seem to know and prefer only the surviving bearded image and have gone no farther. They have missed something. It takes a while, hundreds of years, before this son of God becomes the one "begotten" and only God of Christianity by the power struggles and democratic votes of the early Church. A remarkable story all in itself. ^[104] Talk about unruly religious fervor. Wow! The rest is endless conjecture. I'll call it like I see it: "mental masturbation", and the inability to accept the dead ends of the remote, ill-documented past. Rudolf Bultmann was correct. E.P. Sanders has said John Dominic Crossan's books about the "historical" Jesus contain nice pictures. (Titus Livy's History of Rome is contained in 142 books; only 35 still survive.)

(Hang on, Sloopy! This is pretty much the stand of the sharpest professional Biblical scholars, which few people read because they have a chip on their shoulder. Hmmm they did copy all that ancient secular science and religious literature by hand for centuries or else it wouldn't be here. Burned some too! Why did their old school save any of the secular? Easy reader, not all people are alike, kiddo! Watch out for those distorted generalizations! Check out Joseph Fitzmyer's accounts about the historical Jesus defined at Vatican 2) J.C. is not the only Divine hero whose body disappears and is supposed to return. (See Resurrection: Bodily disappearances). Don't hold your breath. How can a grown rational adult buy the weirdness of the "rapture"? A kid is smarter than that. The early Christians expected the end of the world in their lifetime. (Sound familiar?) They friggin blew it! Never liked St. Paul; what an extremist corn ball; blah, blah, blah. Some broad should have kicked his ass.

Think everyone should know there are 2 sets of ten commandments and that the last set (Exodus 34:17-26), not the popular one, is the set carried in the ark. Just follow the story sequence. Don't let these scaredy cats con you! There is good Biblical Scholarship, but most people are afraid of it. They're happy with what they've got. Why be uncomfortable with something new if it is unnecessary? I repeat, genuine curiosity is very rare. The curious and the incurious are worlds apart.

[edit] Dubious past methods of Western archaeology

It was quite common in the 19th and 20th centuries for archaeologists from Western countries, especially Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the USA, to conduct excavations in other countries with little regard for local concerns.

These foreign expeditions would remove, and sometimes smuggle, valuable artifacts to their own countries, and often relied on the local populace as a source of cheap labour to accomplish the less glamourous heavy work.

As an example, in Biblical Archaeology Review Cyrus H. Gordon, noted to be a scholar of enormous range, informed Hershel Shanks that William Foxwell Albright, Ovid Sellers, and other educated people, including himself, found soiling their own hands by digging beneath their dignity. Arab laborers were supervised by taskmasters that used whips. They used to beat the workers. Gordon explained,"That's the only communication they understood. You didn't have working men's rights, human rights, things like that." ^[105] It would seem from Gordon's disclosure when they were away from home, so called heroic Western archaeologists and scholars failed to exhibit admirable charity. They were uncaring lazy snobs who had no qualms about being brutal to their working crews.

The image of archaeology in the Middle East has changed in recent decades as local rule has replaced imperial control and colonization. Countries such as Israel have developed strong archaeological expertise and conduct operations according to local laws and customs.

Biblical archaeology is not archaeology for its own sake. It has been sadly corrupted by nationalism, religious and secular cliques, personal unscholarly agendas and profiteering. Controversy gets the money and sells. Too bad! (No forger could be that smart! Wanna bet? Just study the past. Give em' what they want and they'll fall for it every time. If they don't, make them want it. Be cautious! The REAL house where THIS Biblical person lived is where the tourist bus stops and you can buy cold drinks, post cards, Bibles, souvenirs and take some pictures. If its ancient Joe Blow's, not in the Bible, village or house, few people give a damn. You cannot finance an archaeological dig using the name of Joe Blow. Charles Leonard Woolley's financing of the excavation of Ur, as the actual home city of the Biblical Abraham, was a slick hustle. Even mystery writer Agatha Christie was supposedly impressed when Woolley enthusiastically pointed out "Abraham's house!" from about 3,000 B.C.E. ^[106]

Tell es-Safi, Goliath's home town is the latest big thing. Well, what do you know? A shard was just discovered with Goliath's name on it. Why does that not surprise me? "As long as there is poverty there wil be Gods."^[107] Some people, always have and always will, require physical proof, miracles, mysticism or an emotional experience as a foundation for their faith. That is just the way they are. Be careful. This can get you into trouble. Faith is a faint small whisper, only a maybe. It lives in your heart, revealed and kept by the charity and kindness of your deeds. Other people see it, not yourself.

[edit] Bible redux

The Bible is a very out dated museum piece and should be looked at as a past product of ancient pre-scientific people (objectivity is without value) in a very savage and superstitious time who taught their barbaric primitive religion (magic) in various forms. When reading the Bible you are seeing the ancient world through the eyes of its contemporary peoples. Be careful of becoming confused and brain washed by their primitive thoughts and behaviors. Their's is not your's, or the real world. There have been, and will be more, countless revisions and changes.) The ancient way of teaching theology in story form, using the language of myth, (Yep, that's what they do.) is used a lot; not what really happened. Its purpose is to modify human behavior. I do not agree with censoring Biblical literature. The "street language" and ancient meanings of the text have their balls cut off to please and not offend the reader. To me this is out and out deception to make it look purer, " goody two shoes", than was originally intended. The changing of Cherubim: beasts, with human heads and wings by reinterpretation into the popular forms of angels without informing the reader of new knowledge concerning the ancient world, and the attempt to hide Adam's first wife, an ancient 9th century B.C. demon, Lilith, (Isaiah 34:14) is low and dishonest. My wife said, "If you are going to change it, why translate it all?" It should come as no surprise that the authors of their own Biblical books see themselves as special. It is unlikely to be someone else; say the Hawaiians for example.

I heard an interesting comment from a talent agent and public relations fellow. He said it was common knowledge in his profession that when a person becomes a mega-star they get a big head, and become solidly convinced their fame and success was brought about by divine intervention and they must be one of the "special people." Did Elvis Presley really try to raise the dead?

[edit] Mid-Eastern Analogies

Bible stories such as the Creation story, Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, Joseph and his brothern, Moses, Daniel in the lions' den, etc. have traditionally been regarded as historical fact for centuries. However, recent research has suggested a number of possible origins in earlier middle-eastern mythologies, particularly Sumerian mythology, which contains several narratives that have similarities to a couple of the earliest Biblical stories, in the Book of Genesis, that preceed the introduction of the patriarch, Abraham.

The stories from the 8th century adult collection, The Arabian Nights, have always been regarded as fictional fantasies. Some of these stories also have curious similarities to stories in the Bible. Both make use of the names of real people and places. Both contain frequent declarations of faith to the Divine and devoted persons that perform healing miracles. Both contain elements of the marvelous: talking animals, demons, witches, prophetic dreams, magic, etc. and the mundane that make them memorable. Both use the number forty repeatedly. Both, supposedly, began as the products of oral storytellers. Both make use of the interesting practice of word plays. (These are lost in translations). Both teach a great lesson; intelligent, non-aggressive, role models can end madness and bring about restraint and rationality. Both have virtually become part of the cultural heritage of the West. Both contain stories that have remained unrivaled and have stood the test of time. ^[108] The Jewish Encyclopedia states that Michael Jan de Goeje suggested the story of queen Shahrazad's evading death preserves a more original form of the Biblical Book of Esther.

The Shaykhs and "white beards" of the tribe gravely take their places, sitting with outspread skirts like hillocks on the plain, as the Arabs say, around the camp fire, whilst I reward their hospitality and secure its continuance by reading or reciting a few pages of their favourite tales. The women and children stand motionless as silhouettes outside the ring; and all are breathless with attention; they seem to drink in the words with eyes and mouths as well as with ears. The most fantastic flights of fancy, the wildest improbabilities, the most impossible of impossibilities, appear to them utterly natural, mere matters of every day occurrence. Excerpt from THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT, Volume 1, translator's foreward by Sir Richard F. Burton

[edit] History

I know the abuse of history is too oftenly used for selfish reasons and propaganda and very, very, popular for the validity of movements. I know one studies history, or anything else, best if it is your passion. Not to prove you and your clique are right. It is said those who do not study history remain children. [41] (It is wise to find out what critical history is and get professional help before you begin.) Social psychology should be included in that too! (Look around. You'll be able to find a cheap used text book). Certainly they are naive and are what conjurors know as "shut eyes". Though it is a bit dated and not the easiest book to read,The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant, 1968 is a fine brief summary of history and society. A critical study of the past reveals the construction and validity of the present. At times there is a denial of the past, if it reflects on a matter of shame. Pain and humiliation are not something people want to relive. A sense of accomplishment is preferable. Above all things people desire happiness and comfort.

[edit] Imagination, Delight, Loss and Mystery

I try to read at least one or two World Fantasy Award Winning novels a year. They can travel in any direction. It is difficult to pick a favorite. Like to share them with my friends. Imagination grabs me. Love a good thriller and action story. Always laugh when reading Carl Hiaasen, James Morrow, Mark Twain, (was surprised there is more than one version of Twain's Mysterious Stranger) and ancient satire. Robert E. Howard's Conan is my favorite hero because no matter what the odds he never gives up. Some would say he is just too stupid.

I know love and sex are a wonderful combination that should not be missed in your life time. Norman Lindsay, Gil Elvgren, George Petty, John Kelly, Jeff Dunas, Jean-Francois Jonvelle,^[109] and Olivia De Berardinis know how to portray the beauty and sensuality of women. Andrew Blake is an erotic artist. Where does he shoot those films? Hedy Lamarr, Jeanne Crain, Diane Webber, Ali Landry, Cindy Crawford, Stacey Williams, Druuna, Paula Price, Racquel Darrian and Chrissy Moran (Hang in there Chrissy!) are hot; but not as hot as my wife. Like to see em' all dancing naked under the moonlight. Love a good belly dancer; eastern and the new flamenco guitar. Wish they danced to jazzy blues as do strippers and exotic dancers. They are not to be confused! Nice to share their ecstacy and energy when they are in the zone of their art. (What is the color of my darlin's hair?) Gene Elzy of WDET has a great taste in some of the best music in the country. Discovered B.B. King in 1957? and Maria Muldaur and Tad Robinson only recently. Independent record labels are still the best. I still get chills listening to Little Richard, early Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Doggett. Can't forget Harry James, Ben Webster, Gene Harris, James Carter, Hank Crawford, "Fathead", Ronnie Earl, Howard Roberts, Wes Montgomery with Jimmy Smith, Louis Jordan, Johnny Adams, and Satchmo.

I know that having fun, helping and just being with the ones you love makes life worth while. Like to watch TV on the sofa next to my wonderful wife. We watch lots of movies because she can no longer read for any length of time without getting a headache. She never listens to her favorite music anymore. I read to her. She has terminal cancer and is very weak and tired. She is now in a hospice. She is beyond treatment. All they can do is keep her comfortable. I am watching my darling wife slowly die. It hurts and keeps me up at night. Still can't figure out how she put up with me and all my weird stuff; married 42 years. Still nuts about her. Glad we learned how to dance (Lady in Red, Blues Power, You Look Wonderful Tonight, Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground, What'd I Say) and share things. Sometimes we sat and cuddled in the dark and listen to Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, and very, very, soft country love songs, etc. I recently read Robert R. McCammon's Boy's Life to her. She didn't want me to stop. Don't miss it! What a wonderful book. It is filled with real magic!

In a dream, I recorded in my journal around Christmas 1998, I saw myself appearing in a blue room. I was very surprised because I had just died. My wife was at a white framed window. She had been waiting for me. She was nude in a yellow see through garment. (The first time I ever saw her she wore a yellow dress.) I was naked. We were both in the prime of our youth. Our hair was short. She waved at me to come and join her at the window. As I drew closer to her I could see a bright beautiful garden outside the window. (If one immediately records their dreams upon waking, you may discover what you later rememember is different.) An enchantress told me the the chance of a wife dying before her husband was very slim. On 7 Oct 2005 the doctors informed my wife she had about six months to two years to live before breast cancer took her life. On 2 May 2008 at 11:45 AM my darling died. I was not ready. You are never ready for the loss of those you love. The hurt makes me numb. NEVERMORE. I am not a believer in prophetic dreams. But, I am curious about this dream that stood out in my mind, was recorded, and I now share with you, dear reader. What does it mean? Too much of Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld? Martin Gardner says,"If there is an afterlife there is a loving God." I tend to agree with this statement. As Mentalist, Max Maven and all true objective historians agree, "There will be things you will never know." What is the power of faith, love, and trust?

[edit] The Glamour

I know time is precious and life whizzes by. [(You begin to see it plainly after 50) That was a while back.] I know there is only the now and you should invest in it. Be with, and care for the ones you love and enjoy your life. I know the horror of the empty and the void of depression, moments when the dark chasm of your soul collapses into deeper darkness. The powers of hate and madness are very close and very real. Always be wary of getting excited and creating cognitive distortions. Watch out for that world of hype and SPIN. I am a true student of the Glamour, the power our own personal beliefs and convictions have over each one of us. We all tend to be influenced by the last experience we had or something that made a deep impression on us. What ever has made us happy we enthusiastically want to share with others; but not all people are the same, nor do they want to be. The native Americans were not happy to have their languages and religions banned. Dutch missionaries tried to put an end to the Polynesian's art of dance and story telling. Though it is difficult to imagine there may be readers who would prefer to skip Nina Zero, [42] Jane Whitefield, [43] Amelia Sachs,^[110] Bob Lee Swagger, Ender Wiggin and the Prestige.

Though test results suggest people rely on each other to define reality, people prefer to believe they think for themselves, and they do not like their freedom to think being threatened. It is difficult for people to change their minds especially if they have made a verbal or written commitment. People do not want the anxiety that comes when they are wrong. This mentally and physically hurts. People prefer to have good feelings, to feel happy, always. I like to pick things apart to see what makes them tick. We see the world through the science of the present, and a contemporary social cause or event has, and still does, affect the direction and progress of curiosity and science. "Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory. How much of total reality can such apparatus let through?" ^[111] How much do humans invent? This is unlikely to change in the future. Global warming is real. I know I'm scary. Real scary. Hell, I'm a magician! It is my joy to awaken surprise and wonder and make you gasp! I desire to make life enjoyable for others and myself. How about you?

If you have enjoyed this bizarre, long winded, entertainment say hello. I am not selling books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, cassettes, t-shirts, caps or asking for financial support, no non-profit organization. Perhaps I am just a rogue wizard and this stuff is an expression of my art. By reading this, I HAVE CAST MY SPELL and you have given ME brief control over your mind. I was stirring the pot, in this case my cauldron. I had my mojo workin'. Did you feel the WHAMMY? (You were kindly warned at the beginning. Remember?) Did I produce an emotional response? Piss you off? Make you happy? Stimulate your imagination? Did I shock you, electrify and rock you? Intrigue you in some way? Give you something memorable? Perhaps even original? The most dangerous thing in the world is a new idea. A new idea can bring about change. Perhaps I have fostered one in your head. With knowledge comes responsibility. Try to be understanding and helpful. I grew up among the crippled and blind. Some people only know living hand to mouth. Many poor people still starve and are without medical aid. More frequently opportunities are offered to those who are attractive and know someone. A tragedy can turn your world upside down. Cecy, my flying broom, is calling me. Gotta go. The daughters of the night are gonna party and get down in the Wizard's Garden.^[112] Swann, the Lady, the Bright Girl and the Shadow Woman will be there. Can one really recognize truth without studying deception? Master conjurers know in deception the rules are there are no rules. Don't cry. People are allowed to disagree. Tolerance means respecting and learning from others, valuing differences, bridging cultural gaps, rejecting unfair stereotypes, discovering common ground, and creating new bonds. Thus speaks the nightbird,"The worst it can be is reality!" Shazam! Man, me and my darlin' are outta here.

[edit] References

1. ^ John Carney's Carneycopia by Stephen Minch, L & L Publishing, 1991
2. ^ http://www.americanmuseumofmagic.org/
3. ^ http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/MIMARmagic.html
4. ^ [http://deanradin.blogspot.com/ The Trouble with Wiki, Saturday, 07 Apr 2007
5. ^ The artist formerly known as God, An interview with Eric Clapton, Guitar World, May 1998
6. ^ The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener by Martin Gardner, St. Martin's Griffin, 1999, and personal communication
7. ^ The Psychology of Conviction: A Study of Beliefs and Attitudes by Joseph Jastrow, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918
8. ^ See Albert Einstein's Foreword to Man and His Gods by Homer Smith, Little Brown and Co., 1952
9. ^ The World As I See It by Albert Einstein
10. ^ When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time by Michael J. Benton, James and Hudson, 2005
11. ^ Keith Richards, the 63-year-old Rolling Stone guitarist who has looked like he's on death's door for a decade, admitted in a bizarre interview in the British music magazine NME 3 Apr 2007 that he snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine. "He was cremated, and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little blow. My dad wouldn't have cared...It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive." Aww it was only a joke.
12. ^ [1] Enhancing Human Performance: Remote Viewing
13. ^ See: External Links- Remote Viewing practice and methods used in private industry. This is not a plug. This is to inform.
14. ^ Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time, and Space Through Remote Viewing by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads, Publishing Co., Inc., 1997, Page 141
15. ^ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lbG6UtKMu60J:psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20051018-000003.html+richard+queen+remote+viewing&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
16. ^ Reader's Digest, Mysteries of the Unexplained, Back cover of Mind Trek: Exploring Conconsciousness, Time, and Space Through Remote Viewing by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co.,Inc., 1997 revised edition
17. ^ [2] CIA-Initiated Remote Viewing AT Stanford Research Institute by H.E. Puthoff, Ph.D.
18. ^ [3] A Compendium of the Evidence for PSI by Adrian Parker, Department of Psychology, Goteburg University and Goran Brusewitz, Swedish Society for Psychical Research, European Journal of Parapsychology, 2003, 18, 35-51
19. ^ Positive and negative experimental psi results in psychology and parapsychology journals by M. Billig, Journal of the Society of Psychical Research 46, 1972
20. ^ Reflections of "Project Alpha": Scientific Experiment or conjuror's illusion? by Marcello Truzzi, Zetetic Scholar 12/13, 1987
21. ^ Parpsychology: The Controversial Science by Richard Boughton, Ballatine Books, 1991,Chapter 5:Contemporary Psychokenesis Research
22. ^ Sixty Years of Psychical Research : Houdini and I Among the Spirits, by Joseph Rinn, Truth Seeker, 1950
23. ^ Magician's Effort to Foil Scientists Raises Questions by William J. Broad, New York Times, 15 Feb, 1983
24. ^ Project Alpha: Science vs. Science, by Loyd M. Auerbach, ASPR Newsletter April, 1983
25. ^ Psychology by Carole Wade and Carol Tavris, Harper Collins Publishers
26. ^ [4]
27. ^ [5]
28. ^ ESP, Seers & Para psychology: What the Occult Really Is by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1970
29. ^ Sixty Years of Psychical Research : Houdini and I Among the Spirits, by Joseph Rinn, Truth Seeker, 1950
30. ^ Skeptical Odysseys edited by Paul Kurtz, Prometheus Books, 2001 , Chapter 31: Confessions of a Skeptic by Martin Gardner
31. ^ See: Lynn Thorndike's classic study,The History of Magic and Experimental Science, Tarbell Course in Magic, vol 1- Harlan Tarbell, forward and epilogue to Greater Magic- John Northern Hilliard, The Discoverie of Witchcraft- Reginald Scot and the vanishing works of Henry Ridgely Evans, The Old and New Magic, The Spirit World Unmasked, and Hours with Ghosts or 19th Century Witchcraft
32. ^ [http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/13/4/515
33. ^ http://www.skepticreport.com/pseudoscience/radinbook.htm Skeptic Report A detailed skeptical review of Dean Radin's The Conscious Universe by Morten Monrad Pedersen
34. ^ http://skepticreport.com/pseudoscience/radin2002.htm An Evening with Dean Radin by Claus Larsen, a critical examination of Radin's research methodology
35. ^ http://anson.ucdavis.edu/%7Eutts/air2.html An Assessment for the Evidence For Psychic Functioning by Jessica Utts, 1995
36. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_2_63/ai_58517910/pg_1 The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena, book review by Richard Broughton , The Journal of Parapsychology, June, 1999
37. ^ http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/psi/tucson.html The Paranormal: The Evidence and its Implications for Consciousness by Jessica Utts and Brian D. Josephson, 1996
38. ^ http://www.deanradin.com/spoon.htm Annotated photos of the bent spoon on Dean Radin's website retrieved on August 23, 2006
39. ^ http://www.skeptiko.com/index.php?id=9 Dean Radin interview on the perils of psi research and his spoon bending experience - 1/28/2007
40. ^ The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean Radin, 1997
41. ^ Seeking PSI in the casino. Radin, C.I. & Rebman, J. M. (1998), Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 62 (850), 193-219
42. ^ Parapsychology: The Controversial Science by Richard S. Broughton, Ballantine books, 1991, See the paper: Effects of Concsiousness on the Fall of Dice: A Meta-Analysis by Dean I. Radin and Diane C. Ferrari, presented at the 33rrd Annual Convention of the Parapsychologhical Association, Chevy Chase,MD., August 16-20, 1990
43. ^ Parapsychology: The Conversial Science by Richard S. Broughton, Ballantine Books, 1991
44. ^ http://www.skeptiko.com/index.php?id=9 Dean Radin interview on the perils of psi research and his spoon bending experience - 1/28/2007
45. ^ [6] The scientific edge, UNLV professor explores the link between mind and matter by Mary Manning, LAS VEGAS SUN, 14 Sep 1996.
46. ^ [7] David Jay Brown Interviews Dean Radin
47. ^ [8]www.deanradin.com
48. ^ http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/hambone/people1.html
49. ^ Weird Science. A post on Radin's blog on 12 Jun 2006
50. ^ The scientific edge, UNLV professor explores the link between mind and matter by Mary Manning, LAS VEGAS SUN, 14 Sep 1996, [http.//www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/1996/sep/14/505088006.html]
51. ^ The Ulitimate Time Machine: A Remote Viewer's Perception of Time and Predictions for the New Millennium by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads, Publishing Co., Inc., 1998, p.109
52. ^ [9]Replication and Meta-Analysis in Parapsychology by Jessica Utts, Statistical Science, 1991, Vol. 6, No. 44, pp 363-403
53. ^ Parapsychology: The Conversial Science by Richard S. Broughton, Ballantine Books, 1991
54. ^ [10]Enlightment Interview with Dean Radin see the last part, Addedium: The File Drawer Effect Revisited
55. ^ Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Co.,2005
56. ^ An Introduction to Parapsychology by H.J. Irwin, McFarland & Co. Inc., 1989 [College Text Book]
57. ^ Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Co.
58. ^ False impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes by Thomas Hoving, Touchstone Books, 1997
59. ^ Fake?: The Art of Deception edited by Mark Jones with Paul Craddock and Nicolas Barker, University of California press, 1990
60. ^ [11]Debunking the Debunkers by Dean Radin, deanradin. blogspot. com, 3 Feb 2007
61. ^ The Establishment of Data Manipulation in the Soal-Shacketon Experiments by Betty Markwick, The Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology edited by Paul Kurtz, Prometheus Press, 1985, pp. 287-311
62. ^ Las Vegas Sun, September 16, 1997 "UNLV researcher baffled over his recent dismissal" by Debra Brass [12] retrieved on August 14, 2006
63. ^ The Psychology of Conviction: A Study of Beliefs and Attitudes by Joseph Jastrow, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918
64. ^ Las Vegas Sun, September 16, 1997 "UNLV researcher baffled over his recent dismissal" by Debra Brass [13] retrieved on August 14, 2006
65. ^ [14]Las Vegas Review Journal,Scientist kicked off UNLV team, Thursday 18 Sept 1997
66. ^ [15] An Enlightenment Interview with Dean Radin, Ph.D: It Ain't Rocket Science
67. ^ [16]
68. ^ [17] UNLV Recuits Authority in ESP by Natalie Patton Review-Journal, 10 Jul 1997
69. ^ [18] David Jay Brown Interview with Dean Radin
70. ^ Search for the Soul by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1979
71. ^ [19]
72. ^ The Paranormal: The Evidence and its Implications for Consciousness by Jessica Utts and Brian Josephson, 1996 [20]
73. ^ MENTAL INFLUENCE ON MACHINE-GENERATED RANDOM EVENTS: SIX EXPERIMENT by Dean I. Radin, Originally published in Research in Parapsychology 1983
74. ^ Parapsychology: The Controversial Science by Richard S. Broughton, Ballantine books, 1991, See the paper: Effects of Concsiousness on the Fall of Dice: A Meta-Analysis by Dean I. Radin and Diane C. Ferrari, presented at the 33rrd Annual Convention of the Parapsychologhical Association, Chevy Chase,MD., August 16-20, 1990
75. ^ [21]
76. ^ Marcello Truzzi obituary, Broken Wand, The Linking Ring, Offical Publication of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Mar 2003, pp 126-27
77. ^ http://www.skeptiko.com/index.php?id=9 Dean Radin interview on the perils of psi research and his spoon bending experience - 1/28/2007
78. ^ [22]Replication and Meta-Analysis in Parapsychology by Jessica Utts, Statistical Science, 1991, Vol. 6, No. 44, pp 363-403
79. ^ "A Proposal and Challenge for Proponents and Skeptics of Psi", Kennedy, J.E., Journal of Parapsychology, 2004, vol 68, pp 157-167
80. ^ The promise and problems of meta-analysis", Bailar, J.C., 1997, New England Journal of Medicine, 337, 559-561, cited in Kennedy, 2004, JoP 68
81. ^ [23] Power Analysis
82. ^ [24] Radin's At It Again-Again
83. ^ [25]Enlightenment Interview with Dean Radin See: The Weight of Credulity
84. ^ The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick: How a Spectacular Hoax Became History by Peter Lamont, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005
85. ^ Time magazine, 12 Mar 2007
86. ^ In a 1983 interview magician Milbourne Christopher remarked Swann is "one of the cleverest in the field." A Final Interview with Milbourne Christopher, The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol 9, No 2 / winter 1984-85, p 165
87. ^ http://www.psitech.net/training.htm See video History of PSI TECH to hear Swann's own statements.
88. ^ [http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/topics/divination-georgemcmullen.php
89. ^ See:The Power of the Charlatan by Grete De Francesco, Yale University Press, 1939
90. ^ See: Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner, the classic work
91. ^ Mind -Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, Delta book 1977
92. ^ This one is for Bilbo.
93. ^ http://www.miraclefactory.net/neopreface.htm
94. ^ http://magicutopia.blogspot.com/2006/06/book-review-neo-magic-artistry-art-and.html
95. ^ http://michaelprescott.net/darkside.htm The Dark Side of the Paranormal by Michael Prescott
96. ^ Playboy Interview with Elizabeth Kubler-Ross Playboy Magazine, May, 1981
97. ^ http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=631&letter=L&search=martin%20luther
98. ^ Henning died in Los Angeles in 2000 five months after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Fellow stage magician and well-known skeptic James Randi commented that Henning "dedicated himself to the Transcendental Meditation notion so deeply that he abandoned regular medical treatment" for the disease, instead continuing to "pursue his diet of nuts and berries".
99. ^ Read for YOURSELF: Swedenborg's very weird Life on Other Planets, 1758
100. ^ The Compleat Boucher: The Complete Short Science Fiction and Fantasy of Anthony Boucher, edited by James A. Mann, NESFA Press, 1998, Pelagic Spark, p. 203
101. ^ Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy by Viktor Frankl
102. ^ Briefing by David Von Drehele, ‘’Time’’ magazine , page 15, 3 Sept 2007
103. ^ Voting About God in Early Church Councils by Ramsay MacMullen, Yale University Press, 2006
104. ^ Voting About God in Early Church Councils by Ramsay MacMullen, Yale University Press, 2006
105. ^ Shanks, Hershel (Nov/Sept 2000). "Against the Tide: An interview with Maverick Scholar Cyrus Gordon". Biblical Archaeology Review 26, No 6: 52. 
106. ^ Wooley of Ur: The Life of Sir Leonard Woolley by H.V.F. Winstone, William Heinemann Ltd., 1992
107. ^ Mansions of Philosophy by Will Durant, Simon and Schuster, 1929, p.568
108. ^ Tales from the Arabian Nights: Retold from the orginal Arabic by N. J. Dawood, Illustrated by Ed Young, Doubleday & Co., Inc, 1978, censored for non-adults, Sir Richard Burton's translation contains the sexual nitty-gritty, but is not the easiest to read. Burton was an extraordinary man! Check him out.
109. ^ [26] Jean-Francois Jonvelle Gallery
110. ^ The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver and his other books in the Lincoln Rhyme series
111. ^ C.S. Lewis
112. ^ http://www.mcdmag.com/beaumontgardens.pdf.

[edit] External links for men who stare at goats,remote viewing and more

• [44] Documentary tv show. Crazy rulers of the world: Men who stare at goats (military wackos)
• Here's the skinny, Minny. Try to read it all. Learn something new.An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications prepared by The American Institutes for Research 29 Sept 1995
• Freedom of Information Act - Study of Remote Viewing for U.K. Ministry of Defence 2001-2002[45]
• http://www.trvnews.com/tmn/021502/trvwinning.html Here one can see the winning results of the 2001 Technical Remote Viewing contest for PSI TECH. 15 pages from the winning entry containing drawings and verbal responses. The physical evidence indicates selectivity was used by the judges to match the target, which is known as the free response method (see Ingo Swann). The total number of contestants is unknown.
• Edited video of a remote viewing Selective material is chosen from a group of people after the event. One only sees a small part of what really went on.
• http://remoteviewed.com/files/PrudenceTDS%20methods.pdf An example of Remote Viewing Lessons, 39 pages
• http://www.remoteviewed.com/files/open%20source_v2.0.pdf Guide to using Remote Viewing Manual, 42 pages
• http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=paranormal&cdn=newsissues&tm=11&gps=31_3_779_426&f=00&su=p284.8.150.ip_&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.firedocs.com/remoteviewing/answers/crvmanual/ The Controlled Remote Viewing Manual
• Compare the narrative data from McMoneagles's RV experiment. [46] and

the last three paragraphs of [47] Notice the selectivity.

• Failed Remote Viewing Search for Missing Girl Video [48]
• Michael Shermer looks at Remote Viewing Part 1 [49] & 2 [50]

The two experiments illustrate that Shermer is unprepared and not qualified to investigate remote viewing. This is why he looks foolish. It never dawned on him there could be a hit, or two? He never does count the misses. But then do the misses, even if there were a thousand, really matter at all? Only the hits and the personal attachment of the viewer to their OWN writing and drawing are important to the viewer. Did Shermer collect all the papers before he revealed the targets?

• [51] Dean Radin Lecture: The Stupidity Hypothesis Part 1 of 3
• [52] Dean Radin Lecture: Science and the Taboo of PSI (95 min)
• Check out the master, Max Maven, at FISM, 1988,[53] and the Evasons [54][55]
• Real comedy magic[56]
• Anthony Owen's Oil & Water[57]
• David Berglas' Any card at any number[58]
• An Amazing Little Lady[59]
• It is recorded Harry Houdini learned to untie knots with his toes. Those interested in this claim may find the following lovely lady with a bow of interest.[60]
• Thea Alba, billed as "The Woman with Ten Brains", could write simultaneously four different words using her feet and hands. See: Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women by Ricky Jay, Villard books, 1986, pages 4-5,
• Ricky Jay Bonus [61]
• Kevin James [62]