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[escepticos] EMILY ROSA y tt



-----Original Message-----
De: Skeptic Mag Hotline <skeptic-admin en lyris.net>
Para: Skeptics Society <skeptics en lyris.net>
Fecha: miércoles 1 de abril de 1998 23:57
Asunto: SHERMER ON 20/20, EMILY ROSA ON EVERYTHING


>Welcome to another edition of
>
>SKEPTIC MAG INTERNET HOTLINE
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>"Dumbth" columnist Randy Cassingham, has built his own "THIS IS TRUE"
internet
>column to an incredible 150,000 people in just a couple of years. AMAZING!
We
>can do this as well if you just tell your internet friends and neighbors.
>Thanks.
>
>Now, on with the latest:
>
>20/20 FRIDAY
>Watch ABC's 20/20 Friday night. My good buddy James Van Praagh will appear,
>along with yours truly debunking his every move. ABC filmed me for three
hours
>one afternoon two weeks ago, in which I was given the opportunity to
comment
>on every statement Van Praagh made, all on tape so we could play it back to
>see how his "hits" came about. Here is one revelation: his hit rate was an
>all-time low at 5-10%. I'll provide a complete report after the Friday
airing
>so you can hear about what was NOT shown. THE PRODUCER JUST CALLED TO TELL
ME
>THAT SKEPTICS ARE REALLY GOING TO LIKE THIS SHOW. HE SAID THEY LAY OUT VAN
>PRAAGH'S EVERY TRICK.
>
>YOU READ IT HERE FIRST
>Vol. 4, #4, 1996 (the Carl Sagan issue) on page 30, and Vol. 5, #2, 1997
>SKEPTIC magazine ("The God Question" issue), on page 27 features an article
by
>Emily Rosa showing the results of her 4th-grade science project testing
>Therapeutic Touch (Emily and her mom also made a presentation at the
Skeptics
>Society 1996 annual conference at Caltech). Her results showed that
>Therapeutic Touch practitioners did no better than chance in their attempt
to
>detect the so-called human-energy field.
>
>Well, now Emily Rosa is the media darling of science and skepticism as her
>study was published in the most prestigious medical journal in America--the
>Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)--the April 1 issue (no
joke
>intended). She appeared on the Tuesday night news on NPR, CBS, NBC, CNN,
and
>ABC, as well as a live appearance on THE TODAY SHOW Wednesday morning. Her
>conclusion in the JAMA article:
>
>"Twenty-one experienced TT practitioners were unable to detect the
>investigator's 'energy field.' Their failure to substantiate TT's most
>fundamental claim is unrefuted evidence that the claims of TT are goundless
>and that further professional use is unjustified."
>
>We are flying Emily Rosa out to Caltech at the end of May for our annual
>conference, to award her one of our annual awards, for her wonderful work.
>James Randi is also giving her an award. The JAMA editor called her study
>"brilliant." And he said their chief statistician said it was a great
study,
>as good as it gets. WAY TO GO EMILY. WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU. LISA SIMPSON
>WOULD BE PROUD.
>
>LISA SIMPSON CONTINUES READING JUNIOR SKEPTIC MAGAZINE
>Apparently one of our most inspired readers is no less a media star
>herself--Lisa Simpson, the skeptical daughter of Homer Simpson on the adult
>cartoon "The Simpsons." In last Sunday's episode, in the opening scene in
>which Homer was doing something stupid (he does this every episode of
course),
>Lisa was diligently reading "JUNIOR SKEPTIC MAGAZINE." Way cool Lisa. EMILY
>ROSA WOULD BE PROUD.
>
>EXTRA TONIGHT
>Check out NBC's EXTRA this evening. I was filmed several days ago for a
piece
>on the Garland, Texas end of the world sect, but I am not sure it will air
now
>that the story has dropped from the news when God did not appear last week
on
>Channel 18. The leader said with God as a no-show, his earlier prophecy
about
>the end of the world beginning on Tuesday, March 31, should be considered
>"nonsense."
>
>Here is an Op-Ed piece I wrote on the End of the World:
>
>Spin Doctoring The End of the World
>By Michael Shermer
>
>Once again the end of the world has come and gone, with neither a wimper
nor a
>bang. This time around it was the prophecy of one Heng-ming Chen, leader of
>God's Salvation Church presently based in Garland, Texas (a suburb of
Dallas),
>but originating from Taiwan (with a stopover in San Dimas, California).
Chen's
>original prophecy, published in his guidebook entitled God's Descending in
>Clouds (Flying Saucers) on Earth to Save People, stated: "At 10 a.m. on
March
>31, 1998, God shall make His appearance in the Holy Land of the Kingdom of
>God: 3513 Ridgedale Dr., Garland, TX 75041 U.S.A. I guarantee this on my
>life."
>
>What would God look like? Not surprisingly, he would look like Chen, only
he
>would be able to walk through walls, speak numerous languages, and clone
>himself into as many copies as necessary to greet anyone who comes into the
>home that day. Exactly one year later March 31, 1999, the chosen few will
>travel to a rendezvous point on the shores of Lake Michigan, from where
they
>will board flying saucers that will take them to heaven, with a brief stop
at
>Mars. Sound familiar?
>
>Like so many other New Age religions, God's Salvation Church grew out of a
>cultural milieu fascinated by UFOs. In fact, the Chinese characters for the
>group are best translated as "God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer
Association."
>Chen's additional claims that he fathered Christ and that his own two sons,
>Chi-Jen Lo and Che-Yu Chiang, are reincarnations of Jesus and Buddha, have
>made more than a few observers skeptical, but not his followers.
>
>As doomsday grew closer Chen predicted that God would appear in the
ultimate
>channeling experience on television Channel 18 to be exact at 12:01am on
>Wednesday, March 25. But when God failed to show, Chen recanted his
prophecy
>and said that his prediction that God would appear in Garland on the 31st
was
>"nonsense." This time Chen was right. But will members of this group recant
>their beliefs, admit they were wrong, and go home? Well, they may go home
>(their tourist visas are about to expire), but we can rest assured they
will
>not retract their beliefs. Why?
>
>In his marvelous new book, Questioning the Millennium, Harvard
paleontologist
>Stephen Jay Gould shows how we not only classify our world into dichotomous
>twos--good and evil, light and dark, gradual and cataclysmic change--we put
a
>positive spin on whatever the outcome: gradual alteration to sustain hope
that
>what we have built through struggle might persist versus the possibility of
>cataclysm, so that, when situations seem hopeless, and beyond the power of
any
>natural force to amend, we may still anticipate salvation from a messiah.
>Humans are not only story-telling animals, we have a remarkable ability to
>make the story come out hopeful.
>
>But what happens when prophecy fails, as it just did for the Garland group?
>Believers spin doctor the nonevent into a successful prophecy with such
>rationalizations as (all actually used by groups in the past): (1)
>miscalculation of the date; (2) the date was a loose prediction, not a
>specific prophecy; (3) the date was a warning, not a prophecy; (4) God
changed
>his mind; (5) predictions were just a test of members' faith; (6) the
prophecy
>was fulfilled physically, but not as expected; and (7) the prophecy was
>fulfilled spiritually. It would appear God's Salvation Church has chosen
the
>latter. One follower, Chin-Hung Chiang, when God did not appear, explained:
>The world of the spiritual is invisible. It's very difficult to explain
what
>is going on.
>
>We can expect more apocalyptic gatherings between now and the year 2000,
>because for most believers the millennium is not The End, but The
Beginning.
>It is a transition to a better life to come, either here or elsewhere. The
>Heaven's Gate folks couldn't wait to get the next level. Most Christians
look
>forward to the Second Coming. We all celebrate the new year and many of us
>will trumpet in the new millennium with great anticipation. Hope springs
>eternal.
>
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