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.