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Controversial Psychic Ability Claim Doesn’t Hold up in New Experiments

Posted by Mason I. Bilderberg (MIB) on August 23, 2012
Posted in: Astrology, Hoax, Paranormal, Pseudoscientific, Psychics, Scams, Spirits, Superstition. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 3 comments

By Stephanie Pappas via LiveScience

Bad news for Miss Cleo and other alleged clairvoyants: A new study has failed to find evidence that psychic ability is real.

Skeptics may scoff at the finding as obvious, but the research is important because it refutes a study published in a psychological journal last year that claimed to find evidence of extrasensory perception. That research, conducted by Daryl Bem of Cornell University, triggered outrage in the psychological community when the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology announced in 2010 that the paper had been accepted for publication. Psychologists immediately leapt on Bem’s statistics and methods, finding reasons how he may have come up with the unbelievable results.

But the real key to a strong scientific finding is reproducibility. If no other researchers can replicate a particular result, it’s not likely that the result is real. So University of Edinburgh psychologist Stuart Ritchie and colleagues decided to mimic one of Bem’s experiments almost exactly to see if they would also find evidence of psychic powers.

Read More: Controversial Psychic Ability Claim Doesn’t Hold up in New Experiments | LiveScience.

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Indian rope trick

Posted by Mason I. Bilderberg (MIB) on August 16, 2012
Posted in: Fraud, Hoax, Optical Illusion, Scams, Story Telling, Superstition. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

via The Skeptic’s Dictionary – Skepdic.com

This alleged trick, reportedly witnessed by thousands of people, involves an Indian fakir who throws a rope to the sky, but the rope does not fall back to the ground. Instead it mysteriously rises until the top of it disappears into thin air, the darkness, the mist, whatever. Now, that would be trick enough for most people, but this one allegedly goes on. A young boy climbs the unsupported rope, which miraculously supports him until he disappears into thin air, the mist, the darkness, whatever. That, too, would be trick enough for most of us, but this one continues. The fakir then pulls out a knife, sword, scimitar, whatever and climbs the rope until he, too, disappears into thin air, mist, darkness, whatever. Again, this would a great trick even if it stopped here. But, no. It continues.

Body parts fall from the sky onto the ground, into a basket next to the base of the rope, whatever. Now, that’s quite common in some neighborhoods and would not count as much of a trick. But the fakir allegedly then slides down the rope and empties the basket, throws a cloth over the scattered body parts, whatever, and the boy miraculously reappears with all his parts in the right places. That would be a great trick, especially since it must be done in the open without the use of engineers, technicians, electronics, satellite feeds, television cameras, whatever.

Actually, the only thing needed for this trick is human gullibility. According to Peter Lamont, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh and a former president of the Magic Circle in Edinburgh, the Indian rope trick …

Read More: Indian rope trick – The Skeptic’s Dictionary – Skepdic.com.

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