Monthly Archives: March 2002

Miss Cleo and the Suckers Who Call Her

Edward L. Hudgins wrote an interesting op-ed for the Tallahassee Democrat recently about fraud charges brought by Florida against television psychic/tarot reader Miss Cleo. It turns out, by the way, that of course Miss Cleo is really one Youree Dell … Continue reading

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Tuvalu Is Not Sinking

The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu made waves last year when it claimed that global warming was causing the gradual sinking of its land mass. Tuvalu, which is north of Fiji, wanted compensation from nations such as the United States … Continue reading

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The Peer Review Debate

The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a nice story this week about the role of peer review in distinguishing between scientific and pseudo-scientific claims. The story profiled two people who went around peer review to get their ideas out. Pierre-Marie Robitaille … Continue reading

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Climate Change During Medieval Warm Period Very Similar to 20th Century Rise in Temperature

Science published a study last week claiming that a tree ring analysis found striking similarities between 20th century increases in global temperature and the Medieval Warm Period — a period lasting from 1330 AD to 1600 AD which saw similar … Continue reading

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Global Warming Shatters Reporter’s Abilities to Do Simple Math

Reuters today released a hilarious account marking the collapse of the Antarctic shelf. According to Reuters, The Antarctic Peninsular has warmed by 36 degrees Fahrenheit over the past half century, far faster than elsewhere on the ice-bound continent or the … Continue reading

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U.S. Forest Service Fudged Its Vistior Numbers

Government agencies dealing with the nation’s wilderness just cannot catch a break these days as it is information keeps coming out about the agency engaging in some sort of chicanery or another. This time the error is a real whopper. … Continue reading

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Gulf War Syndrome and Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Back in December, the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments announced that it had finally(!) found a disease that seemed to be positively correlated with serving during the Persian Gulf War. As the headlines in newspapers across the country announced, soldiers … Continue reading

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CSCICOP on John Edward’s Fraud

Skeptical Inquirer, the publication of the Center for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, recently published an excellent, detailed takedown of everybody’s favorite psychic, John Edward. The article, John Edward: Hustling the Bereaved, is long and goes into … Continue reading

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Drunk on Bad Statistics

Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse made headlines across the country in February with its report claiming that under-age drinkers consumed 25 percent of the alcohol in the United States. That initial flourish of coverage turned into … Continue reading

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Is Magically Transformed Into a Disease in the UK

Michael Fitzpatrick wrote an excellent article For Spiked Online in January of attempts in the United Kingdom to transform Chronic Fatigue Syndrome into a bonafide disease, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Fitzpatrick is a general practitioner who occasionally treats people suffering from … Continue reading

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