Make a ton of money working from home! Lose weight by taking some fruit extract pills! Clear your debt today, guaranteed! Most of us know to give a wide berth to websites making promises like these. But the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation has decided the best way to educate the consumers is for the state to create its own slate of bogus sites that look eerily like real scam sites.

The repository for these pages, at topmassachusettsdeals.com, itself sounds a bit like something scammy. But that’s where you can find pages for products and services like Flabkiller, Envelope Elf, and ModExperts.

Clicking on any of the links on these bogus scam pages will take readers to a page providing more information on how to identify and avoid similar ruses.

Source: The Consumerist

The main site is here:

This is an effort by the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation to educate consumers about the scams and false claims that exist in today’s marketplace. Each button below is a link to a fake service or product. If you attempt to purchase the product or apply for the service being advertised, you will be directed to a second page that provides information regarding the truth behind such claims. The webpage will also provide you with tips on how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of similar scams, and direct you to additional useful consumer resources.

Try it out, the ads look just like the real fake thing!

The Federal Trade Commission announced that Skechers USA, Inc. has agreed to pay $40 million to settle charges that the company deceived consumers by making unfounded claims that Shape-ups would help people lose weight, and strengthen and tone their buttocks, legs and abdominal muscles.

Besides Shape-ups, Skechers also made deceptive claims about its Resistance Runner, Toners, and Tone-ups shoes, the FTC alleged.

“Skechers’ unfounded claims went beyond stronger and more toned muscles. The company even made claims about weight loss and cardiovascular health,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC’s message, for Skechers and other national advertisers, is to shape up your substantiation or tone down your claims.”

Tip: The Consumerist

But WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Not only did various celebrities endorse the shoes but so did a chiropractor. But, he was a little bit biased (as were the rest who got paid for their endorsements):

Shape-ups ads with an endorsement from a chiropractor named Dr. Steven Gautreau, who recommended the product based on the results of an “independent” clinical study he conducted that tested the shoes’ benefits compared to those provided by regular fitness shoes. The FTC alleges that this study did not produce the results claimed in the ad, that Skechers failed to disclose that Dr. Gautreau is married to a Skechers marketing executive, and that Skechers paid Dr. Gautreau to conduct the study.

These shoes were ugly and useless. Reebok also settled with the FTC for similar deception. There is no quick fix, put on any decent shoes and get moving.

The two skulls, of a 10-year-old boy and older man, date to 1200 to 1400, and show signs of being from Peru or South America, thousands of miles and a millenium from Winter Garden, Fla.

“The mystery is how they ended up there,” medical examiner Jan Garavaglia said today. “We don’t have any way of finding out.”

The skulls were discovered in January when a plumber installing an in-ground pool came upon a piece of bone and reported it to the police.

The bones, it turned out, had a lengthier history than the 30 years or so since they were buried in Florida. When x-rayed by the medical examiner’s office, it was clear that the bones were hundreds of years old, and that the human tissue on the cheek of the skull had been mummified. The skulls featured an “Inca bone,” a telltale sign of a human from the Incan culture of Peru, Garavaglia said.

Tip: Strange Times

Archaeologists and anthropologists from the University of Central Florida and Yale were consulted to try and trace the origins of the skulls. It’s possible that the bones were brought from South America into Florida when transporting such things was not against the law, as it now is. But is remains a mystery how they ended up there. It was quite a surprise to find the relics and, then, to realize their antiquity and point of origin.

Iceland Review Online: Daily News from Iceland.

MP for the Independence Party Árni Johnsen arranged for the relocation of a 30-ton boulder, which he believes is home to three generations of elves, from Sandskeið on Hellisheiði in southwest Iceland to his home Höfðaból in the Westman Islands today.

Árni first encountered the elves’ dwelling when he was in a serious car accident in January 2010. His car overturned and landed beside the boulder 40 meters away from the highway, Morgunblaðið reports.

His SUV was damaged beyond repair but Árni escaped the accident unharmed. He considered whether the boulder might be a dwelling for hidden people and had it saved from landing underneath the south Iceland Ring Road when the highway was widened.

“Ragnhildur [a specialist in the affairs of elves] said it was my protecting spirit, because my time hadn’t come,” he concluded.

Tip: Fortean Times

Umm. I kind of have no comment on this. I thought this was a joke but it seems to be a real news site. Anyone? Cause it’s really weird. I suppose it’s no weirder than some belief in angels or ghosts or witches, etc. but elves seems odd to those of us that don’t live near enchanted woodlands. They obviously have those in Iceland. I want to GO THERE!

Mystery object nearly causes mid-air collision | wtsp.com.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a mystery in the sky. A mysterious object flying over Denver nearly caused a mid-air collision Monday evening, 9Wants to Know has learned.

As far as investigators know, the mystery object did not show up on radar Monday.

Investigators believe this object, whatever it is, could pose a serious safety hazard to planes.

Radio transmissions from LiveATC.com confirm a nervous-sounding pilot reported a strange object at 5:17 p.m. Monday.

The pilot is heard telling air traffic control: “A remote controlled aircraft, or what? Something just went by the other way … About 20 to 30 seconds ago. It was like a large remote-controlled aircraft.

Tip: Google News

Authorities think it is one of the following: a military or law enforcement drone, a remote controlled aircraft, or a large bird. Of course this will be recorded as a UFO sighting.

The thing is,there are A LOT of things in the sky these days. Just from the past year, we have seen stories where people have mistaken data collection balloons, chinese lanterns, remote controlled objects (some specifically made to fool people), and hoaxes in the air. We have also seen the prevalence of drones grow.

Could this be a alien spacecraft or something not of this world. The odds are not likely since there are so many odd but terrestrial explanations that would fit.

‘Beast of Bont returns’ as 20 sheep found massacred – Telegraph.
Fears a savage big cat could be roaming across a remote mountain range have been reignited after 20 sheep were found “massacred” in their fields.

The mutilated carcasses were torn to shreds and scattered across moorland near to the Devil’s Bridge in the Cambrian Mountains near Aberystwyth, west Wales.

The area has long been linked to the so-called “Beast of Bont”, a big cat believed by some to have been on the loose for decades.

Locals have reported sighting of an unknown creature since the 1970s, and now fear the predator could have struck again.

“As we walked further we saw several more sheep scattered closely together, again as though some large animal had attacked them.

They found two big groups of mutilated sheep and lambs in fields about two miles apart. Most had been stripped bare – leaving just mounds of wool and bones.

Tip: Fortean Times

This article contained hardly any details about the attacks. Who owns the sheep? How long were they there? What was examined? Was a vet called it? Way too many questions. I could hardly tell what was happening in present time and what was past allegations. Very confusing. I will look for additional information so watch for an update. But for now, all this did was sensationalize an event and leave us left holding a wad of wool, no substance.

Add on: I have found a video done by Mark Davey, filmed 6th May 2012, who discovered the carnage.

Notice that the sheep are mostly LONG dead. I suspect it would be hard to tell at this point what they died of because predators have certainly been at them.

Here is another piece by Wales Online. The Beast of Bont is said to be the most feared cat in Wales. Allegedly a puma, it is credited to have mutilated 50 sheep in Pontrhydfendigaid, near Aberystwyth, since 1995. Ref.

In this week’s eSkeptic:

• Our Next Lecture at Caltech : Dr. Art Benjamin
• Feature Article: Mind Matters
• The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012: July 12–15 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Our Next Lecture at Caltech:
Dr. Art Benjamin

The Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician’s Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012 AT 2 PM
Baxter Lecture Hall

Teachers and parents, bring your students and kids to see the famous lightning calculator and mathemagician Art Benjamin demonstrate simple math secrets and tricks that will forever change how you look at the world of numbers. Get ready to amaze your friends—and yourself—with incredible calculations you never thought you could master, and learn how to do math in your head faster than you ever thought possible, dramatically improve your memory for numbers, and—maybe for the first time—make mathematics fun. Dr. Benjamin will teach you how to quickly multiply and divide triple digits, compute with fractions, and determine squares, cubes, and roots without blinking an eye. No matter what your age or current math ability, Dr. Benjamin will teach you how to perform fantastic feats of the mind effortlessly. This is the math they never taught you in school.

Admission policy for Baxter Lecture Hall

Due to security concerns, Baxter Hall will be locked and the audience will be admitted only through the doors on the South side of the building by the lily ponds. If, for medical reasons, you cannot climb the stairs to the hall on the 2nd floor, someone at the main entrance (located in the middle of the West side of the building) will escort you to the elevator.

Tickets

First come, first served at the door. Seating is limited. $8 for Skeptics Society members and the JPL/Caltech community, $10 for nonmembers. Your admission fee is a donation that pays for our lecture expenses.

BUY PAST LECTURES ON DVD

About this week’s eSkeptic

In this week’s eSkeptic, Sam Mackintosh reviews Terrence Deacon’s book, Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged From Matter (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011, ISBN-13: 978-0393049916).

Sam Mackintosh is a veteran teacher with degrees from Wesleyan University and New York Theological Seminary. He has a life-long interest in exploring the unfinished business of science in connection with quaternary-sapiential consciousness and ritual’s Paleolithic roots. This blog-post contains a more extensive introduction to Deacon’s book.

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Subscribe to Skeptic magazine for more great articles like this one.

Mind Matters

by Sam Mackintosh

Terrence Deacon is author of the well-received 1998 book The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain and is Professor of Biological Anthropology and Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. In Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged From Matter, Deacon attends to what he calls “the unfinished business of science”: understanding life and mind from a strictly scientific perspective. As such he identifies what he considers to be two impediments to this task: scientific reductionism and philosophical dualism.

Scientific reductionism aims to explain biological and human life entirely by the underlying physical and chemical processes of inanimate matter. The subjective, lived experience of meaning and value are not only ignored but regarded as mere ephemera—indeed, unworthy of scientific investigation. Although few live as if this were an accurate assessment of human experience, reductionism is nonetheless a widespread view. Indeed, it is commonly misunderstood to be the scientific understanding of reality. Dualism is the opposite of reductionism. It is a philosophical (and often religious) perspective that insists not only that life and consciousness are something more than mere matter but that the “more” has been inserted into matter by a source external to the material world. Deacon disagrees with both perspectives. He laments, “Our best science excludes us.” The point of his extended argument is that it need not.

Absential Influences

The human mind and heart are fascinated by the order perceived in the world: recurring patterns in the night sky, the cycles of the seasons, the six-pointed shapes of snowflakes. Deacon notes that such patterns necessarily were explained in pre-scientific times by what he calls “absential influences”—magic, supernatural powers, divine intervention. In science, says Deacon, these “absential accounts” came into question beginning around the year 1850. No longer is “divine design” acceptable as a scientific explanation for anything. Instead, the modern mechanistic view ascended, reaching a zenith in the mid-20th century with the birth of ideas about “self-organizing processes.”

Deacon avers that while self-organization is a misleading term (since there is no “self” involved in the formation of these natural patterns), it is in such common use now that he, too, employs the term. As well, while “self-organizing” concepts do help us better understand patterns in nature, they do not account for key thresholds in the origins of complexity. Notably, the “unfinished business of science” is to comprehend the processes by which the physical world gives rise to the living and, in a later step, to consciousness. Deacon stresses that in everyday life we act as if we have goals for what we do. We presume that some outcomes are better than others, and thus we engage in specific tasks. In ordinary life, therefore, purpose, value, and function are central concerns. Yet science ignores them.

Deacon wants to bring them into the scientific fold through what he calls “ententional phenomena,” which encompass these and other aspects of living systems for which ends or goals (telos, in Greek) are distinguishing features. Scientifically, one takes a wrong path by assuming that ententional phenomena are embodied in physical things or static material objects. Rather, life and mind emerge “from the dynamic processes which generate them.” To ignore the ententional phenomena, cautions Deacon, would consign humans to the status of mere automatons, like the golems of Medieval stories or the zombies of contemporary science fiction films. Yes, there is human-like behavior in the purported actions of golems and zombies. But, as Deacon puts it, “nobody’s home.” As he observes: “There would be no caring, no cared for, no kindness, no sharing of beauty and discovery and sorrow, no value to our pains and pleasures.” Indeed, for each of us, there would be no “me” at all. Reductionist materialism, says Deacon, “is impotent to explain the mystery of ourselves.”

If, on the other hand, we accept the dualistic view that life and mind are real because of an intervention from outside the material realm, this would just make us aliens to this world. Many people do experience this kind of alienation today, and Deacon holds that this is the root cause of our ecological problems. “We don’t owe the Earth much if we don’t belong here,” he notes, and thus a sense of “belonging in the universe” is humanity’s single greatest need.

Denial of the reality of “ententional phenomena” has divided the natural sciences from the human sciences, says Deacon, and has divided all of science from the humanities. It has alienated scientific knowledge from human experience, and that denial makes science appear to be the enemy of human values—hence, the rebirth of religious fundamentalism with its deep distrust of non-religious explanations for the genesis of human values.

Deacon contends that to move beyond the impasse of rationalist reductionism and religious dualism, we need in science something akin to what zero is in math. Historically, any attempt to reify the concept of nothing was long shunned and feared. Once accepted, zero revolutionized calculations and made modern science possible. In our day, ententional phenomena are likewise waiting in the wings for their turn on stage. Deacon attempts to demonstrate the wonders of discovery and explanation that their admission will bring forth.

The Energy of Life

To bring ententional phenomena fully into the purview of science Deacon begins by categorizing three distinct levels of energy processes, which he labels homeo-dynamics, morpho-dynamics and teleo-dynamics. In homeo-dynamics, the bits and pieces of matter move spontaneously from a higher energy state to a lower energy state. The shift goes from more to less orderly. We all know this process from personal experience: life is messy and things all too easily fall into disrepair. In physics, this process is described by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, but it’s not really a law so much as a way of accounting for the relentless and inevitable increase toward disorder in the world.

Both morpho and teleo processes, however, work against this general thermodynamic flow. Both depend on an influx of energy from outside themselves and both result, thereby, in a spontaneous increase in order, regularity, and (sometimes) complexity. Morpho-dynamic processes yield regularly shaped but still-inanimate objects, such as snowflake crystals and convection columns in a pot of boiling water. Teleo-dynamic processes emerge from and sustain life and mind. At minimum, living things have a purpose (an end or goal): their own persistence. Overall, it is probing into how these teleo processes actually work that can help us understand the origins of life and mind.

Deacon lists four major ways in which life-forms differ from the inanimate shapes born of morpho-dynamics. While morph-forms result from the surrounding environment, life-forms interact with it. Living things are also able to initiate changes within themselves in response to external changes in their environment, to “assess or evaluate various gradients in their surroundings” and to “move so as to anticipate and avoid depleted conditions and seek more optimal ones.” Even at the level of one-celled organisms, living things have an inner agency, an authentic acting “self.” They are not reducible to their components: they show different properties—and thus have a certain freedom—from what they are constructed. And even the most elementary kinds of living things reproduce themselves, resulting in lineages which (just as do individual organisms) adapt within and without to environmental changes. Lineages unable to adapt go extinct, while those that do adapt sometimes evolve greater thresholds of complexity.

Order the book from Amazon

That life forms adapt and evolve is by no means an explanation for the origins of life and mind. The question of origins is thus “the great question for 21st-century science.” How indeed did life and mind emerge during Earth’s long evolutionary development? “We need to construct an understanding of emergence based on the dynamic cosmic processes,” says Deacon. The idea of emergence is quite new; it does not date back to the time of Galileo or Newton, or even Darwin. Rather, emergence “began to take on meaning only in the last years of the 20th century,” and that, in turn, owes to the advent of high-speed computers.

Modern computers can run hundreds of thousands of iterations in a relatively short time, and this allows the pathways of physical, chemical, biological, and even social changes to be modeled and studied. Deacon points out that the concept of emergence is now used not just in computation and the physical sciences but also in economics, social studies, and business applications. To a great extent, then, the fundamental philosophical transition of our time—the shift from stasis to dynamis in our cosmology—owes to computer technology. Given the challenges confronting cultures globally, this dynamic, emergent worldview is an essential frame for getting on with “the unfinished business of science.”

Key to this new perspective is that emergence “does not mean new physics and chemistry laws but new cause-and-effect laws.” And for that we need to examine more than the dynamic processes involving matter and energy. Deacon urges us to turn our attention to relationships. One aspect of relationship on which processes of emergence depend is constraint. When energy infuses a dynamic molecular system, something new will emerge only if the lower level homeo-dynamic and morpho-dynamic processes are constrained, are channeled. For example, the energy released in an internal combustion engine performs useful work only because the cylinder constrains the piston to move in but one direction.

Now here is the twist: Morpho and teleo processes are no less a norm in the natural world than are homeo processes. They will occur wherever they can; they emerge whenever the higher levels of energy are available and transition to the lower levels is restricted/constrained. Deacon offers an analogy from the ancient craft of silk weaving. When threads of silk are woven together, all other random ways in which those threads might have been aggregated are prevented (excluded, constrained). While it is obvious that the resulting fabric isn’t made of anything other than thread, it is also obvious that the fabric is much more than mere thread. We can do very little with heaps of thread compared to what we can do with woven fabric.

Just as the resulting fabric is “thread in relationship,” so too are living things and human consciousness “matter and energy in relationship.” By examining the growth of complexity and the genesis of telos in this way, Deacon notes, “The emergence of these attributes can be understood without attributing them to an external source or denying that a real threshold has been crossed.” Thus, the unique characteristics of the fabric of life and mind are woven from the same matter and energy that constitute the rest of the world. There is complete continuity between the realm of physics and chemistry and the realm of life. Deacon proclaims, “After 500 years of modern science we can stop saying to ourselves, ‘Maybe I don’t belong here.’”

Meaning, purpose, value and the other “ententionals” expressive of human life are no less real and natural than are atoms and molecules. Ententional phenomena are fully accessible to scientific inquiry. In Deacon’s view, they are poised to become the ‘zero’ that will transform modern science and implant our selves and subjectivity gracefully within the continuum of natural and understandable processes.

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Skeptical perspectives on brains, minds, and consciousness…

The Origin of Life
Skeptic magazine volume 16, number 2

Topics in this issue include: How Did Life Begin: A Perspective on the Nature and Origin of Life; An Incomprehensible Universe: Why the Human Brain is Ill-Equipped to Grasp the True Nature of Nature; Broadcasting from the Great Beyond: A review of Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience; How Close Are We to Creating Life in the Lab?; Who Still Believes in 9/11 Conspiracies?; What is Naturopathy?; Was Hypatia of Alexandria a Scientist?; Stradivarius Pseudoscience; Lying About Placebos… Order the back issue.

The Quest for Consciousness
by Dr. Christof Koch

Caltech neuroscientist, Dr. Koch asks: what are the biophysical and neurophysiological operations that give rise to specific conscious perceptions? How can the brain, a physical system, express subjective states such as emotions? How can neural activity give rise to sensations like pain? What is consciousness? Koch presents the best scientific answers to these questions. Order the lecture on DVD.

Origins & The Big Questions:
Conference 2008. Part 1
with Dr. Christof Koch

Dr. Christof Koch delivers one of the most entertaining and laugh-filled lectures of the day, while simultaneously bringing the audience up to speed on the cutting edge research on the origins of consciousness through a bottom-up approach of analyzing how single neurons process stimulation and information, and then convert that into visual images in the visual cortex, and how this process somehow results in conscious thought, emotions, reason, and aesthetic appreciation. Koch presents the case that our consciousness may be unique in the universe. Order the conference DVD.

Origins & The Big Questions
Conference 2008 (5 Part Set)
with Donald Prothero, Leonard Susskind, Paul Davies, Sean Carroll, Christof Koch, Kenneth miller, Nancey Murphy, & Michael Shermer

Today, there is arguably no hotter topic in culture than science and religion, and so much of the debate turns on the “Big Questions” that involve “origins ”: the origin of the universe, the origin of the “fine-tuned” laws of nature, the origin of time and time’s arrow, the origin of life and complex life, and the origin of brains, minds, and consciousness. Now, science is making significant headway into providing natural explanations for these ultimate questions, which leaves us with the biggest question of all: “Does science make belief in God obsolete?” we have assembled some of the world’s greatest minds to discuss some of the world’s greatest questions. In 2008, the Skeptics Society held a conference wherein we assembled some of the world’s greatest minds to discuss some of the world’s greatest questions…

READ more about this conference and order the 5-part DVD set.

OR, order single DVDs: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

Brain, Mind, Consciousness:
Conference 2005
with Dr. Christof Koch

A three DVD set of the Skeptic Society’s “Brain, Mind & Consciousness” conference held at Caltech in May 2005. Includes 30–50 minute talks by Michael Shermer, Roger Bingham, Christof Koch, Alison Gopnik, Richard McNally, Terry Sejnowski, Susan Blackmore, John Allman, Paul Zak, Hank Schlinger and Ursula Goodenough. Order the conference DVD.

Announcing The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012
Southpoint Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
July 12–15, 2012

THE AMAZ!NG MEETING (TAM) is an annual celebration of science, skepticism and critical thinking. People from all over the world come to TAM each year to share learning, laughs and the skeptical perspective with their fellow skeptics and a host of distinguished guest speakers and panelists.

The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has hosted its annual Amaz!ng Meeting since 2003 as a way to promote science, skepticism and critical thinking about paranormal and supernatural claims to the broader public. TAM has been held in Las Vegas, NV since 2004 and has become the world’s largest gathering of like-minded science-advocates and skeptics.

With yet another incredible lineup of speakers, hands-on workshops, and entertainment, this is sure to be an Amaz!ng Meeting you won’t want to miss! Check out the entire program, and follow @jref on Twitter for the latest #TAM2012 news and announcements.

LEARN MORE, and REGISTER

We previously covered a story from Congo about an accused teen of witchcraft also being beaten to death.

A faith-healing Washington couple accused of being criminally responsible for their teenage son’s death for failing to call a doctor have been acquitted of second-degree murder charges.

Zachery Swezey was 17 when he died at his Carlton home of a ruptured appendix in March 2009.

Jurors were told the couple belong to the Church of the First Born, which believes in faith healing. The Swezeys told investigators they thought their son had the flu. They also said the boy chose not to see a doctor.

Tip: @blue_wode via Twitter

This teenager could have lived had he gotten medical attention right away. Faith did not heal or save him.

But at least “The couple did call church elders to pray for him and anoint him with olive oil.” Cause we know that ALWAYS works. It’s difficult not to be disgusted at such ignorance.

The jury had trouble with making a decision. Because the boy was old enough to choose? Is this a fair choice?

An 11-year-old girl, alleged to have the power to transmit intense heat, has set fire to furniture in her family’s apartment in Ho Chi Minh City without using matches or a lighter, her father claims.

In a description of the phenomena, reminiscent of Stephen King’s book The Fire Starter, the father, who asked not to be named, said the family had noticed recently that the girl had the ability to make things burn without actually touching them.

Du Quang Chau, director of the research centre of Radiesthesia Energy, in HCM City said the child had been sent to the centre for checking after the fire. (The concept of radiesthesia is based on the fact that objects carry energy and radiate at a specific frequency, much like the theory of vibrational frequencies described in homeopathy.)

Chau said that during tests on the child, energy coming from her body made the surface of sockets and electric cables burn.

Tip: @Blue_wode via Twitter

A highly questionable claim! What is Radiesthesia Energy? Oh, radiesthesia is related to dowsing? You can see we’re off down a dubious pseudoscience path here.

We have no published results of such tests. It’s all anecdotal, which in terms of science and credibility means next to nothing.

File under physics fiction for now.

When Sydney Winkler encountered one of the biggest adjustments of parenthood, she brought 2-month-old Lily to the chiropractor.

“She was really colicky, crying, fussy, we had a couple days there where she was screaming and not settled,” said the mother from Bloomington.

Dr. Anne Spicer, a pediatric chiropractor at the Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, specializes in pregnant women and babies.

Dr. Spicer said fussy babies often have a misalignment at the top of the neck, which appears to the case for Lily. She said misalignments put pressure on the nerves that cause symptoms elsewhere. It can often be the result of trauma often during birth.

The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association points to two studies that show estimates of growth in children visiting chiropractors.

The organization says a 2000 survey found around 30 million pediatric visits to chiropractors (by Lee et al. in the Archives of Diseases in Children). A study published in 2009 showed more than twice that, with around 68 million pediatric visits to chiropractors, according to Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing.

Tip: @Blue_wode via Twitter

Should chiropractors treat children?

High-velocity, low-amplitude thrusting, commonly used by chiropractors, is usually the type of manipulation that injures a child’s spine. Most chiropractors who manipulate an infant’s spine may simply use light thumb pressure to “adjust” an allegedly misaligned vertebra, thus reducing possibility of injury. Although such treatment may be harmless, it has no known beneficial effect other than the calming effect of human touch. Some chiropractors may use a spring-loaded stylus or an electrically powered mallet in an attempt to tap vertebrae into alignment.

Of all the claims made by chiropractors, I regard the claims made by those who treat children to be the most problematic. I have always advised against manipulating the spine of a small child or a newborn baby for any reason.

How about this?:

Most of a newborn’s bones aren’t even bone yet – they’re partly cartilage. One chiropractor tried to tell me a newborn’s neck is stretched up to 2 1/2 times normal length during the birth process, which is anatomically impossible. There is NO credible evidence that the birth process harms babies’ spines or that chiropractic benefits children in any way.

Ask your pediatrician if they would recommend a chiropractor. Pediatricians are medically trained to understand children’s health. Chiropractors? Have trouble with science.

Long reputed to be one of Glastonbury’s most haunted places, one of the ghosts of the George and Pilgrim has apparently been captured by camera.

It was taken by a customer at the pub, snapping two of his friends, and it was not until they examined the photograph a few moments later that they spotted the shape in the image.

“We have been here for 12 weeks and we have heard and seen things in the cellar,” said Cathy Breakwell, who runs the pub and hotel with her partner AndyWhite.

“At night you can clearly see orbs on the CCTV in the bar, and I have had things put into a glass of water when there was nobody in the room – but we couldn’t believe it when we saw the photograph – it was amazing.

Tip: Fortean Times

Here’s the picture:

thisissomerset.co.uk

Smudge? Hoax? Witch King of Angmar? What’s your guess?

Vitamins, minerals, and supplements, which are supposed to strengthen your bones, boost your memory, protect your heart, and help you stay healthy, are popular—more than 50 percent of U.S. adults take these widely sold over-the-counter products.

But evidence shows that excessive vitamin and supplement consumption is unnecessary, and many products could be a waste of money. What’s more, some are potentially harmful.

Tip: @EdzardErnst on Twitter

The article notes the following examples:

A large study of men who took vitamin E every other day and 500 mg of vitamin C daily showed the vitamins didn’t reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events, and vitamin E was linked to an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke, caused by a burst blood vessel.

A large study of men published last fall in the JAMA, found that high-dose selenium had little effect on prostate-cancer risk. Supplemental vitamin E increased the risk of prostate cancer by 17 percent.

A large long-term study published last fall found that women who took multivitamins, vitamin B6, folic acid, iron, magnesium, zinc, or copper had a slightly higher risk of death than those who did not. The risk was especially pronounced for those who took iron.

Yet, consumers believe that the U.S. FDA has some jurisdiction over supplements – their efficacy, quality and safety.

That’s not the case. The FDA doesn’t generally verify claims made by supplement manufacturers before products reach the market, and federal law doesn’t require dietary supplements to be tested for content, safety, or efficacy.

The article goes on to give sound consumer advice about supplements such as — don’t rely on information from some retailers, don’t substitute pills for a good diet, don’t assume you need vitamins, don’t take more than suggested and tell your doctor what you are taking.

Your doctor can recommend what you need to supplement in your diet based on an individual assessment. It’s NOT a good idea just to purchase a product in a “health food” store because of the promises that are made in advertisements or that you think you need it. Also, remember that while some may be good, more is not necessarily better. What’s the harm? It MAY hurt you.

There’s a small psychic shop on Southwest Fourth Avenue…in Fort Lauderdale. If you drove by on Sunday, you may have seen a banner across the front door, reading:

ATTENTION
Persons who have given this psychic money, before March 2012, you have been defrauded. Would you like your money back?
Call 713-256-3867

“The lady was doing fraud over here, and so we put up a sign,” said Dewey Evans…

What kind of fraud? Well, Evans says that the previous owner sold the business to him and his nephew Mitchell for $10,000, to continue running it as a psychic shop. He says he later found out three months’ rent was owed on the space, and that the building was in foreclosure.

Source: Google News

So, he was defrauded. He’s not claiming the psychic was a fraud because of her services. The previous occupant,”Psychic Ava,” appears to still be doing business online and by phone. So if she did not disclose the foreclosure, what does that say about her credibilty? Well, here’s a funny bit – look what Mr. Evans says about psychics:

Some might argue that all psychics are kind of… frauds. Evans says no. “They’re supposed to be a counselor for people who have problems. To calm them down, like a psychologist.”

Oh, more than one reality check is needed for Mr. Evans. Why pick a psychic when you need a professional counselor? Why buy a business without checking its legal status?

The owner of a pizza shop in Bloomfield believes the security camera outside his store picked up the image of an angel.

Bob Usner, from Adrian’s Pizza on Pearl Street, was checking video from overnight when he found the shot of the parking lot taken around 6 a.m. Friday. In the upper part of the screen is a white image with a distinctive shape.

“You can see a face up at the very top and you can see the hands and you can see the wings,” said Usner.

Usner believes it’s a sign from his dad.

Tip: The Consumerist

The shop owner has been having some tough financial times and is thinking about closing the shop. He sees this as a sign. Other people see it as a bird. Commentators on the story chastise others for shooting down this guy’s positive vibe.

Is it really an angel? No. Why didn’t they claim it was a ghost or alien? Just as plausible. Because, to him, it’s a sign and because of this belief, it will help him with his decision. We tend to look for signs when we feel we need them.

I can bet, though, this “sign” will be good for business for a while. Sadly, not sure why the news is reporting it other than as a feel good story.

The medium, who has allegedly “sickened” the McCann family with his predictions, said the little girl would soon be reincarnated after joining the “spirit world”.

Mr Acorah, 62, said: “I know her parents are convinced Maddie is alive and I’m really sorry – but the little one has been over in the spirit world for some time.”

In a bizarre interview, based on information Mr Acorah claimed he had received from a spirit guide, he told the Sun newspaper: “I don’t think it’ll be long before she reincarnates.

;

Tip: @blue_wode and @PaulZenon on Twitter

In The Sun interview (sorry, hate to link to this tabloid but…)

Millionaire medium Acorah, ex-host of TV’s Most Haunted, claimed a messenger from the spirit world named Sam told him Madeleine was dead — shortly after she vanished in Praia da Luz, Portugal, five years ago.

But the Sun did provide this bit of info under their exploitative article:

[…] in 2005 [Acorah] was allegedly outed as a fraud by Most Haunted’s psychologist Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe.

While shooting at a haunted prison in Cornwall, O’Keeffe secretly invented a long-dead jailer called Kreed Kafer — and talked about him while Acorah was in earshot.

Acorah was later filmed becoming “possessed” by the fictional character.

O’Keeffe then revealed the name Kreed Kafer was an anagram of “Derek Faker.” Acorah was later sacked from the show.

Acorah has disavowed the Sun article:

I totally refute the article that had appeared in a newspaper today. I am not so sad that I have to cash in on somebody else's misery!

— Derek Acorah (@derek_acorah) May 15, 2012

Too late, damage done.

Psychics? Awful. Anyone who says this “helps” people cope with loss is delusional. Psychics don’t help. Spirit guides are nonsense. And this is all disgusting, anyway you look at it.

Add on: This guy, however, says she’s alive and will be found.

Medium Alan Thomas, known as ‘the sleeping prophet’, believes that the youngster will be reunited with her parents by the end of the year.

“I believe that Madeleine will be found this year, I always believed that she would be found by the time she is nine,” Mr Thomas said.

“I think she was kidnapped and sold on but she is still alive. She will be found.”

Blog tracks ‘sightings’ of Jessie, a mysterious monster beneath Jamaica Pond

State officials released some 1,150 fish into Jamaica Pond last month, saying the bounty would feed the imaginations of local anglers as winter gives way to spring.

However, some speculate that the annual hefty stock of trout and salmon could feed a different hunger: a mysterious monster that lurks beneath Boston’s largest body of freshwater.

But pretending is fun, according to three neighborhood residents who dreamed up and run a recently-created blog and Twitter page dedicated to the make-believe sea creature, whose name is inspired by the “Nessie” nickname given to the reputed Loch Ness Monster.

Sightings of “Jessie,” as the pretend beast below Jamaica Pond is called, were first reported around the 1850′s, and possibly even before then, according to Jamaica Plain residents Sydney Hardin, Scott Roche* and Michael Hensley.

Together they lead the “Jamaica Pond Monster Observation Society.”

Source: Boston.com

What is Jessie? Well, a giant burping beaver, they suppose.

Jamaica pond is a water-filled glacial depression which covers about 68-acres with a maximum depth of 53 feet deep near the center. Sure, something mysterious could live there.

Yes, this is all a fable made up for fun but it’s not too far off from what happens when real monster legends arise. One little mistaken identification can lead others to see the same interpretation. Then, looking back on historical records, people may find anomalies that they will then attribute to the same monster. Legends grow.

Jessie’s official blog says they have received “several thousand reports of sightings” over the past century and a half, but admit, “Many of [the sightings] are in the ‘unverifiable/drunk at 1 in the afternoon’ variety…” It’s very hard to tell what is in the blurry photos they have.

The bloggers admit to concocting the story saying,

“Everyone wants a little magic and mystery in life…”

“In this day and age, we are asked to believe so many improbable tales – that Elvis is dead, that ke$ha can sing, that we are not ruled by a race of alien lizard overlords – why NOT believe in a giant, prehistoric pond-dwelling beaver?!?”

It’s nice to see it made plain that myths are just for fun and NOT true. But, in a time where fictional characters are said to haunt real life places and contacted by psychics, the line between truth and fiction is not only blurred, its happily crossed without hesitation. Wonder how long it will take for Jessie to make the list of mysterious monsters?

Check out their blog and Twitter feed – it’s really cute.

A Venezuelan crossword compiler has been questioned by intelligence agents after being accused of hiding a coded assassination message in a puzzle.

Neptali Segovia denies using his crossword in the Ultimas Noticias newspaper to incite the murder of President Hugo Chavez’s brother, Adan.

The accusation against him was made earlier this week by television pundit Miguel Angel Perez Pirela, who presents a programme on the state channel VTV.

He said a team of psychologists and mathematicians had concluded that the Spanish-language crossword contained a coded assassination plot against President Chavez’s brother Adan.

Tip: Fortean Times

Seems rather silly hiding an assassination plot in a public newspaper crossword puzzle. It would be laughable if the consequences didn’t seem so dire.

However Mr. Segovia did add:

“These sorts of messages were used a lot during World War II,” he said, comparing it to secret codes used by the French Resistance.

But it seems rather outdated today. It’s concerning that if he did NOT do such a thing, apparently professionals are finding it. We all can be fooled. Is this a case of finding what you seek? (Chavez is a paranoid kinda guy.) Is it a joke gone wrong? Or is it real?

The rock samples were collected by the dozen American astronauts who walked on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. U.S. states, territories, the United Nations and foreign governments received them as gifts. The samples, which also were loaned to museums and given to scientists for research, range from dust particles to tiny pebbles.

“A lot of them are in storage. And we need to put them in an inventory control system. And that’s what’s really lacking,” said [Joe] Gutheinz, a Houston lawyer who also teaches college classes in investigative techniques.

At the Pitt Grill in Buffalo, Texas, Gutheinz was meeting a former toy manufacturer from Colombia who contends his piece of the moon is from the more than 48 pounds of material collected in 1969 by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the first manned lunar landing mission.

Rafael Navarro’s asking price on eBay for dust scraped from his rock is $300,000. The dust weighs 0.03 grams, roughly the same as a grain of rice.

“Bottom line is, from a common sense perspective, this is a train wreck waiting to happen for him and he’s inviting it,” Gutheinz said. “He’s opening the jail cell door and walking through it. I wish him well but he’s really defying everybody by doing this.”

Navarro, 67, said he didn’t fear possible fallout from illegally possessing what could be federal government property or risking fraud charges for selling something as a moon rock when it may not be.

Source: Idaho Statesman

Turns out that NASA may not be able to prove the rock was once theirs. It could have been from one of the gifted and loaned rocks, the location of many are unknown.

NASA’s collection of rocks at Johnson Space Center in Houston and a facility in New Mexico lacks oversight. The controls and inventory of the rocks needs tightening.

So, that moon rock guy on Ebay may be telling the truth. That could be actual moon dust for sale. Hard to know if it is and if it was stolen or rightfully obtained.

See more about the missing moon rocks. About 500 are lost in storage.

A postal worker says a mysterious leaking package from Yemen has left him seriously ill, and while some of his colleagues confirm his account of what happened at an Orlando sorting facility 15 months ago, the U.S. Postal Service denies the package ever existed.

The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, in a story printed in Sunday’s Miami Herald and The Ledger of Lakeland, reported that Jeffrey A. Lill suffers from extreme fatigue, tremors, and liver and neurological problems consistent with toxic exposure, problems that he says began after he handled the leaking package on Feb. 4, 2011.

The center tracked down co-workers who say they saw and smelled the package and that Lill, now 44, acted to protect them. The missing package has created a mystery — and finding it, if it existed, could be the key to curing Lill and determining whether it contained a chemical weapon.

USPS denies that Lill was exposed to a potentially toxic package.

Tip: Strange Times

It began with a reports of an odor, one woman who said “I can’t breathe,” then Lill experienced the same.

The USPS denies a spill was reported but the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting obtained a time-stamped email Lill sent to his supervisor, Cynthia Hickman, reporting the exposure to a potentially toxic substance that day. Something is definitely weird here.

While this has some characteristics of a collective behavior response (mass psychogenic response), there is some evidence to suggest something happened. Also, there should be some documentation — Wouldn’t there be a customs receipt? Would a bomb necessarily leak? Why would you not post a more serious alarm other than calling supervisors? What was related upon finding the package does not seem to be a proper response to a perceived bomb.

Regarding his illness – what possible chemicals COULD make him sick if he did receive exposure. Is this some stress response? Many mysteries.