Post by Admin on Aug 11, 2004 1:15:31 GMT -5
This periodical is the publication of CSICOP, the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal [pronounced Psi-Cop, as that is what they are].
www.csicop.org/
The organization counts some of the sharpest minds in modern science among its fellows -- :)science writer and puzzler Martin Gardner; :)comedian, author, and funny/smart man Steve Allen; :)Jan Harold Brunvand, the folklorist responsible for the term "urban legend"; :)cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter;
"recovered memory" critic psychologist Elizabeth Loftus; and :)Griffith Observatory [Los Angeles] director, astronomer Edwin Krupp, among others. A number of magicians are listed as fellows as well -- who would know more than they how easily the human eye and mind may be misled?
Carl Sagan, Francis Crick, and Stephen Jay Gould have all died, but while living they were CSICOP fellows too.
I brought home several stacks of the bimonthly publication for my and DH's perusal, so we've been reading about Bigfoot, snuff films, dowsing, astrology, millennium hysteria, and the Loch Ness Monster, among other topics.
Medical topics abound: mainstream "alternative" medicine therapies, such as chiropractic and acupuncture are analyzed, as are those more "out there" ideas -- urine therapy [topical application and internal ingestion], homeopathy, orgone boxes, and Rogerian nursing theory .
The writers don't just roll their eyes incredulously then savagely debunk these ideas. Most are concerned about the state of science and health education in this country. Many truly want to help people make sense of science in their daily lives: how does one evaluate a scientific study published in the popular media? How can the average American find credible sources of medical information on the Net? What do you do when you hear about yet another study that "proves" that your favorite food or occupation is unhealthy? Do you simply stop caring, concluding that everything is bad for you these days?
Do take a look at the website. One of my favorite articles is available in full text format: www.csicop.org/si/2004-05/skyhook.html -- The Cold War's Classified Skyhook Program.
The author spent some 35 years working for various government progams that conducted surveillance of the [then] Soviet Union using high-altitude, long-duration flights of huge Skyhook balloons, beginning in 1947 and continuing for several decades. He explains in compelling detail how this secret Cold War program was the likely progenitor of many key aspects of UFO mythology, including the famous alleged alien spaceship crash at Roswell, New Mexico.
Post your replies after you've read an article or two. Is this periodical one you'll be looking for at your local library?
www.csicop.org/
The organization counts some of the sharpest minds in modern science among its fellows -- :)science writer and puzzler Martin Gardner; :)comedian, author, and funny/smart man Steve Allen; :)Jan Harold Brunvand, the folklorist responsible for the term "urban legend"; :)cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter;
"recovered memory" critic psychologist Elizabeth Loftus; and :)Griffith Observatory [Los Angeles] director, astronomer Edwin Krupp, among others. A number of magicians are listed as fellows as well -- who would know more than they how easily the human eye and mind may be misled?Carl Sagan, Francis Crick, and Stephen Jay Gould have all died, but while living they were CSICOP fellows too.
I brought home several stacks of the bimonthly publication for my and DH's perusal, so we've been reading about Bigfoot, snuff films, dowsing, astrology, millennium hysteria, and the Loch Ness Monster, among other topics.
Medical topics abound: mainstream "alternative" medicine therapies, such as chiropractic and acupuncture are analyzed, as are those more "out there" ideas -- urine therapy [topical application and internal ingestion], homeopathy, orgone boxes, and Rogerian nursing theory .
The writers don't just roll their eyes incredulously then savagely debunk these ideas. Most are concerned about the state of science and health education in this country. Many truly want to help people make sense of science in their daily lives: how does one evaluate a scientific study published in the popular media? How can the average American find credible sources of medical information on the Net? What do you do when you hear about yet another study that "proves" that your favorite food or occupation is unhealthy? Do you simply stop caring, concluding that everything is bad for you these days?
Do take a look at the website. One of my favorite articles is available in full text format: www.csicop.org/si/2004-05/skyhook.html -- The Cold War's Classified Skyhook Program.
The author spent some 35 years working for various government progams that conducted surveillance of the [then] Soviet Union using high-altitude, long-duration flights of huge Skyhook balloons, beginning in 1947 and continuing for several decades. He explains in compelling detail how this secret Cold War program was the likely progenitor of many key aspects of UFO mythology, including the famous alleged alien spaceship crash at Roswell, New Mexico.
Post your replies after you've read an article or two. Is this periodical one you'll be looking for at your local library?
Cora Harvey Armstrong-