Q-Link

Here we go again.
You thought we were rid of the Power Balance Bracelet.
We now have Q-Link.
The next big pseudoscientific, scamming bullshit to hit our shores.
Q-Link
With testimonials from numerous well known Australians.
Bart Cummings, Mario Fenech, Tim Sheens etc, etc, etc.
The number of Q-Link products is only limited by your lack of imagination.

Q-Link Mini   Stick this on your mobile phone and protect you against electro magnetic radiation.
Q-Link Pendants   For improved physical and mental performance. Wear one to bed and literally spring out of bed in the morning.
Q-Link Bracelets   The same as the pendant but worn on the wrist.
Q-Link Home/Office USB   Increase your productivity whilst banging on the keyboard, has a 10 metres radius so anyone in that radius will receive the same benefit.
Q-Link Performance Clothing   Helps your bodies energy system to function more efficiently in sport.
What gullible fools would believe this garbage?
It never ceases to amaze me the gullibility of seemingly intelligent, educated people.

It's Official----Power Balance is a scam

Well it took them long enough.
It was not rocket science that this was a scam.
Power Balance Scam
If anyone wants to buy one, well go for it, but with your eyes fully open of course.
But what is sad is that a lot of high profile sportsman wear these scam bands and it impresses the gullible and young fans. And of course they want one.
How many parents have been pressured into buying one of these scam bands? Pressured by their young impressionable child who is only following their sporting hero.
I blogged on this months ago about it being a scam. It has taken this long for the ACCC to come to the same conclusion.
My previous blog
A look at the power balance site, and, surprise, surprise they are still scamming.
Power Balance site
These scamming merchants should have the book thrown at them.

Queen endorses Ethics Classes

Well, that is my spin on it.
Here is what she is alleged to have said according to the Guardian newspaper.
"People of faith do not have a monopoly on virtue as British society was now "more diverse and secular", the queen told the Church of England today in an address to its governing body.
Speaking at Church House, central London, she told members of General Synod that believers and atheists were equally able to contribute to the prosperity and wellbeing of the country".
Queens address to Synod
There we have it.
And up yours, you increasingly becoming unimportant and irrelevant  Anglican leaders here in N.S.W..

White Wine In The Sun by Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin the well known comic singer, songwriter, atheist and sceptic, has a Christmas song out.
Called "White wine in the Sun".  Here is the song on YouTube.
It is basically a Christmas song about the family. It does say a few things that don't support religion, but it does not disrespect it I feel.
The Christian lobby has apparently come out against the song and saying things like, "It's not quite in the spirit of Christmas", sick joke, and disrespectful".
I feel they are just too precious.
Some of the best lines in the song that don't support religion are,
"I would rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tu Tu Tu be honest"
"I get freaked out by churches. Some of the hymns that they sing have nice chords, but the lyrics are dodgy".
This is a good family orientated Christmas song.

Woman claims ownership of Sun

A Spanish woman has claimed ownership of the sun.
SMH article
The woman from the region of Galicia has registered her ownership with a local 'notary public".
She claims that there is an international agreement that a country cannot lay claim to any celestial body, but no agreement about an individual claiming ownership.
She wants to put a fee on everyone that uses the Sun.
I wonder if everyone that has got a melanoma from the Sun can sue her for damages that her property has caused.

Arguments that creationists should not use

       This article is on the Creation Ministries International (CMI) website.
The article lists the bad arguments that Creationists should not use to bash Evolution over the head with.
Obviously these arguments are old and tired arguments that Creationists once used, and have been successfully countered by good rational argument.
Here is the URL for the "Bad Arguments" article.
       This is what the Creationists have to say. "The primary authority for Creation Ministries International is the infallible Word of God, the Bible. All theories of science are fallible, and new data often overturn previously held theories. Evolutionists continually revise their theories because of new data, so it should not be surprising or distressing that some creationist scientific theories need to be revised too".
Are their Creationist scientific theories?
How many Creation Science papers are published in reputable scientific journals?

I will list the bad arguments below.
Arguments that Creationists should not use

• Darwin recanted on his deathbed
• Moon-Dust thickness proves a young moon
• Long day  NASA computers, in calculating the positions of planets, found a missing day and 40 minutes, proving Joshua’s long day and Hezekiah’s sundial movement of Joshua 10 and 2 Kings 20.
• Woolly mammoths were snap frozen during the Flood catastrophe
• NASA faked the moon landings
• The Castenedolo and Calaveras human remains in “old” strata invalidate the geologic column
• Dubois renounced Java man as a “missing link” and claimed it was just a giant gibbon
• The Japanese trawler Zuiyo Maru caught a dead plesiosaur near New Zealand
• The 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics began at the Fall
• If we evolved from apes, why are there still apes today?
• Women have one more rib than men
• Archaeopteryx is a fraud
• There are no beneficial mutations
• No new species have been produced
• Earth’s axis was vertical before the Flood
•  Paluxy tracks prove that humans and dinosaurs co-existed
• Darwin’s quote about the absurdity of eye evolution from Origin of Species
• Earth’s division in the days of Peleg (Gen. 10:25) refers to catastrophic splitting of the continents
• The Septuagint records the correct Genesis chronology
• There are gaps in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 so the Earth may be 10,000 years old or even more
• Jesus cannot have inherited genetic material from Mary, otherwise He would have inherited original sin
• Light was created in transit
• The phrase “science falsely so called” in 1 Timothy 6:20 (KJV) refers to evolution
• Geocentrism (in the classical sense of taking the Earth as an absolute reference frame) is taught by Scripture and Heliocentrism is anti-Scriptural
• Ron Wyatt has found Noah’s Ark
• Ron Wyatt has found much archaeological proof of the Bible
• Many of Carl Baugh’s creation ‘evidences’
• Missing solar neutrinos prove that the sun shines by gravitational collapse, and is proof of a young sun
• Einstein held unswervingly, against enormous peer pressure, to belief in a Creator

The following are arguments that Creationists feel are doubtful and advise against using.

• Canopy theory
• There was no rain before the Flood
• Natural selection as tautology
• Evolution is just a theory
• There is amazing modern scientific insight in the Bible
• Laminin: an amazing look at how Jesus is holding each of us together
• The speed of light has decreased over time
• There are no transitional forms
• Gold chains have been found in coal
• Plate tectonics is fallacious
• Creationists believe in microevolution but not macroevolution
• The Gospel is in the stars

Well there it is. I am not a scientist, so erudite scientific argument from me will not happen. 
 It is an interesting article for all people that are interested in the Creation V Evolution argument.           
                   

School Ethics Classes

I see that the current Labor State Parliament are bringing in Ethics classes next year.

The classes are for children that don't attend scripture classes.

I think this is a good idea.

The classes are not competing with scripture, but something constructive that the children that don't go to scripture classes can do.

I also see that the Liberal State opposition, if they attain government in March 2011, are going to cancel the Ethics classes.

The opposition education spokesman, Adrian Piccoli is reported to have said in the Sydney Morning Herald.
''While the NSW Liberals and Nationals understand the importance of ethics we do not believe it should be positioned as an alternative to special religious education. We don't think that students should have to choose between special religious education … and ethics classes.'' SMH Article
Well, really, I don't agree. The students or their parents are not choosing between scripture and ethics classes. The ethics classes are for the children that don't go to scripture classes, pretty simple I would think.

Ethicist and political commentator as well as NSW Council of Churches representative Rev Rod Benson has this to say.  

"For more than a century, a small minority in our community has clamoured for the suppression of religious voices and the privileging of secular humanism in our schools, universities and media. The trial ethics curriculum is merely the latest tool to achieve that goal."  

Rev. Rod Benson's views

I would also disagree with this. Sure there are some that want religion banned from secular education. I feel the same way except if religion was taught as a comparative study of all religions. This is a poor argument against ethics classes in NSW state schools for children that don't attend scripture classes.

Archbishop Peter Jensen had this to say.

"A bad decision, made under political pressure, which will impoverish the education of many NSW public schoolchildren. Philosophical ethics is not a real alternative to the study of religion and it is unfair to confront parents with the dilemma of having them both taught at the same time."

Sydney Anglicans
I disagree again. What will and is impoverishing school children is the wasted time for the children that are not attending scripture, with nothing constructive to do.
It seems to me the religious organisations are feeling threatened by these ethics classes. They should not, surely any god fearing parents would send their children to scripture and not secular ethics classes. 

Nuclear Explosions, 1945-1998

Nuclear explosions 1948 to 1998. An interesting YouTube video.
Nuclear Explosions 1945-1998.

Psychometry

What is Psychometry.
From the Skeptic's Dictionary, It is an alleged psychic power that enables one to divine facts by handling objects.  
From Wikipedia, It is a form of extra sensory perception characterised by the claimed ability to make relevant associations from an object of unknown history by making physical contact with that object.
Well, you may ask, why I am bringing this up?
I have just returned from the U.S.A.. Last Saturday night I was in Las Vegas and saw a show in the Planet Hollywood Hotel/Casino. This show was a Mentalist act by a Gerry McCambridge.
The show was very good I enjoyed it immensely. He claimed that he would mess with our minds during the show, which I suppose in a way he did. He did some Mentalist/Magician tricks which were very well carried out, no idea how he did them.
Before the show started we were all handed some paper and pencil and asked to write our full names and some facts concerning ourselves. We then placed them in a box on the stage.
As he was doing his "tricks" he explained how he did them. 
He then got to a part of the show where he did some readings of some of the pieces of paper in the box, also a pea and thimble trick with a difference. He claimed he used psychometry in this part of his act. An alarm immediately went off in my head, my bullshit detector had detected something.
This part of the act he was well and truly blindfolded. He got some pieces of paper from the box and crunched them up then proceeded to call out the initials of the person he was getting vibrations about from the pieces of paper. This person or persons where then instructed to stand up and he then told them their full name plus other information about them that is on the paper.
The pea and thimble trick was a row of I think 6 foam cups, one of them had a large 4 inch nail pointing up into the cup which covered the nail. The Mentalist then eliminated each cup by smashing his palm onto the cups. He claimed he was using psychometry to detect the presence of the nail. He of course smashed all of the cups and the last cup contained the nail.
To me the claim of having the ability to use psychometry put a damper on the otherwise very entertaining, humorous show.
I wonder if he would try for the JREF million dollar challenge. A man of his claimed abilities I am sure would have no problems winning the million dollars, don't you think!

Creation and Evolution Further Update

A further update on the Creation Ministries International (CMI) seminar.
On their website CMI they say that their seminar,  (CREATION AND EVOLUTION, Scientific evidence, myths and challenges), has been moved to the Fraser Coast Baptist Church.
They claim  that a scare campaign by the Griffith University Society of Skeptics and Freethinkers was responsible for the cancelling of the event. They claim that the skeptics and freethinkers group browbeat the university into dropping the seminar.
I quote from their first line of their stop press about the seminar.

The Fraser Coast campus of The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) had asked for this seminar as a community event. When the plans became public ‘all hell broke loose’. A journalism student at Griffith University mounted a scare campaign, which seemed intended to browbeat the university into dropping the seminar.

Wow, this Journalism student must have some power.
They claim from this quote that the University had asked that this seminar come about as a community event.
The University say, quoting from the ABC Southern Queensland website from a audio clip of an interview on that radio station from Dr. Aidan Burke that, The community approached the University to have a forum on that topic.
This is the opposite to what CMI are quoting, so who is telling the truth.
CMI also state that when the plans became public all hell broke loose.   Well I wonder why!!
Why should a University host a religious propaganda seminar claiming that evolution is wrong. 
Evolution, that has mountains and mountains of unbiased scientific evidence backing it up.
Why should a small band of religious fundamentalists push their beliefs from the University in an attempt to show falsely that the University backs these beliefs in some way. Why should they have their beliefs pushed ahead of any other religions creation beliefs, what is so special about their beliefs. Why not the Hindus have a creation seminar, the Australian Aboriginals have a dream time seminar, what makes them so special.
It seems to me that the seminar is now in the right setting, Fraser Coast Baptist Church. 
Maybe a forum or debate by CMI and University Biologists etc. would be a more appropriate forum if it is to be held at the University. Here both sides can air their thoughts.   

Creation and Evolution Update

It seems that the Creation Ministries International Seminar has been removed from the University of Southern Queensland.
It looks like the CMI had some misleading advertising about the support of the University.
Here is the new advertisement from the CMI, New Advertisement.
I have also received a email from the University.
Email below.

Dear Bruce,

        Your enquiry regarding the creationist ministries event scheduled for 13 November at Hervey Bay has passed on to me. As part of the USQ Fraser Coast’s community engagement activities the campus has always been available to provide facilities whereby various community groups and members of the public might meet around various discussion points. 

         In this case however in making our facilities available it may be perceived that USQ is giving tacit approval to the Creative Ministries discussion titled, Creation and Evolution - scientific evidence, myths and challenges. This is not true and the University has moved quickly to withdraw whatever assistance it was giving with room bookings and that the organisers make alternative arrangements through other community groups better represented to promote and support such activities. The Vice Chancellor of USQ Professor Bill Lovegrove has sent an email to all Fraser Coast staff advising of this decision.

         As you can appreciate while the University supports its role as a leader in community debate which will at times confront contentious issues it does so in the belief that any consideration and deliberation of issues are balanced, impartial and unbiased. In its efforts to encourage community engagement USQ will continue to consider requests from all sections of the public to engage in dialogue on issues of mutual interest. In doing so however all requests will be considered on merit and where equitable, balanced and unprejudiced comment can be given.

Sincerely

Dr Aidan J Burke|Director Corporate Communication
University of Southern Queensland|Toowoomba 4350 |AUSTRALIA

Australasian Skeptics forum

A new sceptic forum is now up and running.
Called the Australasian Skeptics Forum.
Do drop in and have a geek.
Australasian Skeptics Forum

Creation and Evolution

Creation and Evolution, Scientific evidence, myths and challenges.
This is an alleged university sponsored creation seminar.
The seminar will be at the University of Southern Queensland, Fraser Coast campus Hervey Bay, on Saturday 13th November 2010.
This seminar will have as there only speakers Creation so called scientists.
 They are from the Creation Ministries International, (CMI)
It worries me that the University is sponsoring such a seminar and appearing to promote the fundamentalist Christian view of Creation equally with Evolution.
Evolution is a scientific theory.
Creation or what the Creation Ministries call Creation Science is a religious belief.
I have no problem with a seminar like this, but surely have the other sides views as well.
The CMI of course wants the fundamentalist Christian view of creation taught alongside Evolution in schools and universities.
I have sent an email to the university voicing my concern.
This advertising could be misrepresenting the universities position on this.
I have no problem at all in having such a seminar at a university. But this seminar is only having speakers from CMI.
A balanced debate by creationist and evolution scientists would be a better way for the university to go I would have thought.
But where is the alternative evidence based view. Assuming they are a evidence based university.
They obviously see some money to be made from this venture,
Coming from Queensland, the loony Christian capital of Australia, maybe some creationist at the university has got it going.
We hope not.
I have emailed the Queensland sceptics and the Gold Coast sceptics regarding this seminar. Maybe they can attend and offer a balanced view.

Decision Repurcussions

Well the decision has been made.
Bob Katter went Coalition.
Rob Oakeshot went Labor.
Tony Windsor went Labor.
The conservatives are frothing at the mouth. They feel they have been robbed. They feel because of the primary vote or the two party preferential vote should decide the winner in a hung parliament. They obviously don't realise it is the numbers on the floor that decides government.
I have been listening to radio station 2GB here in Sydney this afternoon and reading the articles and letters in the Daily Telegraph (Terror). The venom towards the independents, Labor and the communist Greens is spilling out copiously. Some people that ring in have no idea. One asked could an appeal to the Governor General be made. Others think that the sky will shortly fall in and all is lost. They don't seem to understand that this can be a very fruitful time for democracy in this country. Maybe for the first time we can overcome the control by the political parties.
What I cannot work out is Bob Katter.
He has made the statements on Q&A on Monday night that the Coalition under John Howard did absolutely nothing for the rural areas. Labor under Kevin Rudd was doing some good work in his electorate of Kennedy. He then went and supported the coalition that has done nothing. He also made the statement when he made known his selection of the coalition, that he would have supported Labor if Kevin Rudd was still PM. Does he mean the policies mean nothing without Kevin. Can't figure that one out.
The Broadband is also taking a hiding to nothing by the conservatives with their scare tactics of big, big debt because of it.
The Conservatives need to accept the decision and get on with life.
The independents obviously have their reasons for going to Labor. I know Tony Windsor was mainly swayed by the Broadband. Not sure what swayed Rob Oakeshot. It was obviously a very close call.
I think Oakeshot and Windsor will get a very hostile reception in their electorates. I hope they have some very good arguments to explain what they have done. To me it was very brave indeed.

Decision has been made

Well finally after over two weeks we have a minority government.
Labor with Julia Gillard as P.M.
I personally think it was a good decision.
Because of
NBN
Price for carbon
Reforms to parliamentary practices
Less power to political parties, they are not there for the countries benefit but for their own short term benefits.
More money for regional and rural areas, long overdue.
Not another 3 or 6 years of conservative sit on their hands inactivity.
What this should sheet home very clearly to the Nats. is that they should leave the coalition. Then after each election they should negotiate with the two major parties for their rural electorates. Unless all they want is a few ministries and the deputy prime minister position. If that is all they want they deserve the irrelevance they have now. They should be fighting hard for their people, in coalition, they are not.

Update on Ezio De Angelis

Here is an alleged reading from Ezio De Angelis from a woman I think from New Zealand.
Her partner died in a motorcycle accident.
About 12 months later she had a couple of psychic readings to try and connect with the spirit of her dead loved one.
I cannot verify if this is true, but makes interesting reading on how psychics operate.
Psychic Reading

Who should the Independents support?

The three independents, Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott face an unenviable task in choosing who to support to govern Australia Federally for hopefully the next three years.
They essentially represent possibly conservative electorates.
They have to, as far as I am concerned, make a decision for Australia, not just their own electorates. They will be under great pressure from all factions, and if what is reported is correct have been under immense pressure from the conservatives to go for the conservatives. Particularly since the other independent, Wilkie has gone Labor and the Greens have supported Labor as well.
They have at their disposal much more information to make an informed decision than any independent has ever had before. This type of transparency should be available to all voters before the election happens, but then again "pigs may fly".
          I will point out who I think they should support and why.
          Philosophically I lean more to Labor. I am not a conservative. So I do have a bias.
          I think the Independents should go for Labor.
          Labor has a good record recently in saving Australia from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). There is much contention that they spent too much. The conservatives say they would have spent about half of what Labor spent in Stimulus Packages. I am not an Economist so I do not know who is right. I have heard many financial people here and overseas applaud Labor for their stimulus package. But of course some have criticised it as well. In fact I have heard more praise than criticism.
          Labor have a National Broadband Network already started. This network will have integration nationwide. I feel this very fast fibre optic network will thrust the whole of Australia into the 21st century.
The Conservatives plan seems to rely too much on the private sector and is possibly too fragmented. The private sector will not service the sparse rural areas. I do not trust the conservatives to deliver on this.
          Their track record with infrastructure and nation building is woeful. John Howard had eleven years of inactivity, presiding over massive surpluses, and only giving tax cuts back. He wasted this massive surplus just so he could say, "look how good a financial manager I am." He should have not given the tax cuts. He should have started some much needed infrastructure building instead and he would still have had a surplus.
          I am afraid that Tony Abbott is going to be just as inactive as his hero was. We cannot have another eleven years of conservative inertia.
          This now leads me to Tony Abbott and what has happened since the elections.
          Of course first off is the up to eleven billion dollars of black hole in his costings for his policies. No wonder he would not give them to Treasury for costing. He only did this because if he did not the independents would not have supported him. How does this sit with his own tag of being a much better economic manager of the country.
           Then there was the one billion dollar (what Tony thought) clincher of promising Wilkie a brand new Teaching Hospital in Hobart. How did he cost this? How reckless was this? Luckily Wilkie saw through this and rejected it.
          I think Labor will form a more stable government, particularly after July next year when the Greens will have the balance of power in the senate.
          They will also get a carbon price and set up a carbon tax or emission's trading scheme that will get through the senate.
          How the independents will go I do not know. They have taken their time and talked to and looked at a lot of documentation so hopefully will make the best decision for this country.

Federal Elections

I thought I may throw my two cents worth about the elections right at the end.
First off I think the Coalition will win because of the swing in the marginals in NSW and QLD.
Labor has been running scared from the issues of "Climate Change" and "Asylum Seekers".
If they had a real carbon policy, plus not running with the scared hysterics that the Coalition has regarding asylum seekers they may be in a better position.
The wild card in all of this is the Greens. They have what looks like a 13-14% vote. This may help Labor over the line. If the Green voters in the marginals are 13-14% and they second preference Labour it may be very interesting on Saturday night.
I cannot at all see anything separating the two parties except the NBN. The NBN for me is the big thing that is very important for the future. I cannot see how the coalitions broadband policy will deliver much at all.
It will not be up to me who wins, my electorate is a safe Labor seat. The senate will hold more power to me.
Look forward to Saturday night.

Derren Brown Investigates---The Ghost Hunter

 This is the third and last show in the Derren Brown series "Derren Brown Investigates."
In this show Derren travels to the USA to investigate ghosts, spirits and possession.
He follows a man, a very committed man, Lou Gentile. He has studied and put together a massive array of photos, videos and recordings of what he believes is the paranormal over 20+ years. 
This man makes no money from what he does, just raw dedication in what he believes in.
Everything shown on these five videos cannot be interpreted in any way as paranormal as far as I am concerned. It is in fact sad to me that he cannot see the obvious flaws in all of his work. He thought that what he had to show Derren Brown, a committed sceptic, would change his mind and he would believe, sadly Derren did not.
Watch, and please comment if you wish on what you have seen.
I was saddened at the end of this, and it does have a somewhat sad ending.
First Video
Second Video
Third Video
Fourth Video
Fifth Video

Macarthur is going off

What's going on in Macarthur!
Yes, the outer south west of Sydney.
Has it gone completely loopy.
In the local newspaper "Campbelltown Macarthur Advertiser" there was an article on a Psychic, Debbie Malone. The article below.
Psychic Debbie Malone.
This article, or should I say advertisement, I wonder if she paid for it? Made some startling claims.
The Psychic, Debbie, claimed that she was strangled by a ghost in a near death experience. She also claims she has a particular gift for catching spiritual entities on camera, wow. Do you mean she has control of the camera in a metaphysical way and only she can make the camera see and take spiritual entities, something us mere mortals cannot do.
The punchline in this incredulous article is of course the advertising of her upcoming workshop at Picton where she will share her fantastic knowledge at a miserly cost of only $350 for the day. Picton of course is the logical location being the famous, most haunted town in Australia.
She also carries on and says she is a bit sceptical, and wants proof, this is why I do it she says. I doubt if she knows what scepticism means. Oh, and she also photographs Orbs and talks to them. What a woman.
Well if you want to part with your hard earned on this, well go for it, but I think you would have to be very gullible.
This Debbie Malone I assume is the same psychic that was part of that fantastic psychic trio at the "Psychic Taskforce event" at Burswood Casino on September 27 2008, which featured psychics Scott Russell Hill, Anthony Grzelka and Deb Malone, who presented a raft of claims regarding the unsolved murders and the supposed killer in the Claremont serial killings. Non of these murders have been solved. Maybe the police are deliberately ignoring their startling findings?
But there's more, from the Advertiser.
Festival of Light.
On the same weekend as Deb Malone.
What a paranormal weekend that will be in Macarthur.
At West's Leagues Club, Leumeah, running from Friday to Sunday.
Featuring of course, "The One" star Ezio De Angelis.
This festival has, Natural Therapies, Mediums, Animal Connections, New Age Products, Psychic Readings, Seminars and Kids Workshop Age 7+.
The Kids Workshop is a worry. Why inflict this superstitious nonsense on the young and impressionable. Give me a child at 7 and I will shape him into anything, I think the old saying goes.
But then again, organised religion does the same with Sunday school. Teaching impressionable minds mindless drivel from 2000+ years ago.
Fortunately, all of this superstitious nonsense is in the Entertainment section of the newspaper, just a small saving grace. But I don't think the gullible will particularly notice what part of the paper it is in, it is all fair dinkum to them.

Derren Brown Investigates--The Man with X-Ray Eyes

This is the second show in the Derren Brown series "Derren Brown Investigates."
In this show Derren travels to Holland to investigate a Russian method of allegedly teaching blind people to see, plus other amazing abilities.
This method is called the "Bronnikov method". This has been developed by a Russian man  Vyacheslav M. Bronnikov. Here is his website.
The method is taught by practitioners trained by Bronnikov, one of which is his son.
This man has allegedly obtained this knowledge from Tibetan Monks whilst he was asleep from 3 years of age.
It is all falling into place, is it not. Do you smell a scam?
This show was aired on British Channel 4 on Monday. Below are the links to the YouTube videos. The show is in five parts.

First Video

Second Video

Third Video
Fourth Video
Fifth Video

Derren Brown Investigates--The Man Who Contacts The Dead

Derren Brown, well known English Mentalist/Magician.
He has a TV show currently running on Channel 4 in Britain called "Derren Brown Investigates".
In this show Derren investigates a medium, a ghost hunter and a psychic expert who claims to make the blind see.
The first show was televised early last week and it was on Joe Power a so called Medium from Liverpool, England.
The show is now on YouTube in a 5 part video.

First Video
Second Video
Third Video
Fourth Video
Fifth Video

Look at the five videos and tell us what you think.

Believers and scepticism

Danish researchers from the Uffe Schjoedt Aarhus University Denmark have found that certain parts of the brain that control scepticism and vigilance seem to deactivate in some people in the presence of a speaker who they believe has divine healing powers.
The researchers obtained 36 male and female participants, half of which were Christian of the Pentecostal Church faith and the other half non religious.
They assembled three speakers and the participants were told that the speakers were a Christian, a non Christian and a Christian with known healing powers. In reality all three speakers were Christians with no alleged healing powers. 
 The participants listened to 18 different prayers whilst undergoing brain scans (not sure of what type of scan, the article did not state).
They were looking at the prefrontal cortex that allegedly controls scepticism.
The Christians had decreased activity in this region when listening to the claimed Christian with healing powers. Their brain activity in the prefrontal cortex was increased when the claimed non religious speaker was speaking.
The non religious participants had no change in brain activity across all three speakers.

SMH Article
I suppose this is not surprising. Believers of anything seem to loose their rational thinking when in contact with people they believe in having some type of supernatural powers, or possess extraordinary things to improve you, such as miracle wrist bands, crystal bracelets, longer dongers it is never ending for the charlatans. These  could be religious preachers, Psychics, purveyors of miracle substances such as, Body Flow Machines, Power Balance Wrist bands. By the way Benji's power balance wrist band must be letting him down going on the Tigers performance over the last two weeks, I would want my money back.
To me this sums up a need to be forever vigilant to all sorts of claims, religious, health, sex life (longer dongers etc), spiritual and new age claims.
Scepticism for me is a never ending vigilance.

Another perspective

Here is another perspective to the scandal in the Catholic Church.
The current leaders of this church blame secularism and progressive times for the paedophilia in the church by the priests. Watch this video for a different perspective.
Catholic Church a different look.

Body Flow machine

I was reading The Sun Herald  this morning and came across an article that headlined.
Revealed: how Storm get an edge in recovery.
To read article on line click here
The article went on to talk about a "BodyFlow" machine that Melbourne Storm are using in aid of quicker recovery from injury and training by flushing out toxins and by-products of exercise. The Storm allegedly bought 25 of these units at $4000 each. 
The machine allegedly stimulates muscles with electrical impulses. Of course the article goes on to talk of other high profile athletes that use this scam, um, um I mean fantastic machine.
I don't know if it is a scam or does really work. The body gets rid of toxins in the muscles by the lymphatic system. I assume the makers and promoters of this machine are saying is that it increases the lymphatic flow of these toxins out of the body. Below is a web site promoting and selling these machines.
Body Flow Machine
This site uses the word believe a lot when talking of this machine, a little worrying I would think. They do say this on that site.     It has been demonstrated in clinical trials, however, that Body Flow can help manage Lymphoedema by flushing away the excess fluid with a mild electro-stimulant.
They mention clinical trials which is good, but they do not show any link to those trials or if they were blinded etc.  A clinical trial can mean anything. Maybe the manufacturers did the trial or a unscientific body, they don't say, which is very worrying.

Lymphoedema is a retention of these excess fluids, that causes swelling. There are two types:
1. Primary, caused by the underdevelopment of the Lymphatic System, and
2. Secondary, the result of surgery or major trauma.
The usual treatment for this is massage and compression bandages. Does electrical stimulation work as well as or better than massage or compression bandages? I do not know. Does electrical stimulation work at all? It seems a lot of money to pay when a massage could be as good or better.
It smells to me of a scam. Taken hook line and sinker by the Storm and whoever else is using them. I could be wrong. But I remain very sceptical. I can be convinced with good credible evidence though.

Power Balance wrist band

I saw this in today's Sunday Telegraph saying that Benji Marshall is wearing one.
What is a "Power Balance wrist band you may ask.
This is from their website
Power Balance is performance technology that uses holograms embedded with frequencies that react positively with your body’s natural energy field.
Balance • Strength • Flexibility.
Most everything has a frequency inherent to it.  Some frequencies react positively with your body and others negatively. When the hologram comes in contact with your body’s energy field, it allows your body to interact with the natural, beneficial frequency stored within the hologram. This results in improved energy flow throughout your body.
Well my "bullshit detector" was going crazy after reading this. There is no evidence that the body has a frequency or a flow of energy. This sounds like a heap of steaming bullshit. Pseudo-science at it's best.
Of course there is the old saying that there is one born every minute. Well I think Benji Marshall, Brett Kimmorley etc were born on that minute. Where are their critical thinking skills. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, too good to be true.
 But as always, I could change my mind, if I receive good credible evidence that this wrist band works. Until then I remain very sceptical 
Here is a video reporting on this.
Unbelievable, what do you all think.