Congratulations go out to President Elect Obama! Now we can have much more faith in our country. We will not take the same old crap anymore!
November 5th, 2008
Welcome to SkeptiCoder
Congratulations are in order
Smudging the Smears
So there’s an email still (somehow) circulating around regarding Obama’s citizenship status, despire the matter practically being put to bed. I have a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to people spreading around scares, without even attempting to verify anything other than their own self bias. This is an article I wrote in response to, more specifically, this video:
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Not sure where to start with this. I would choose the obvious, but it’s a topic worth some elaboration. This Molotov Mitchell asks for my full consideration, so here we go.
First of all, I’d suppose it’s worth mentioning that this is a case very much in progress. So much that it was ordered dismissed by the court on October 24, 2008 on the grounds of Lack of Subject Matter. At this point I could leave it at that and call it a day, but Mr. Berg has rights too and can and surely will appeal this decision.
But how does that hold up when he hasn’t even made a legitimate request for records?
Count Six of the Court’s dismissal states that Berg alleges he “attempted to secure documents proving the citizenship of Obama from Obama, the FEC, DNC, Feinstein, and the U.S. Senate, Commission on Rules and Administration, but has been refused.” Problem is, this doesn’t hold any weight under the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act), which only applies to government agencies. However all but one of the defendants in question aren’t even considered government agencies as defined by Congress. Quote “They are not independent regulatory agencies. Indeed, they are not even in the executive branch. Accordingly, plaintiff cannot state a claim against them under FOIA.”
Even if we assume that a lawyer of his supposed stature was unaware of this “legalism” Obama is “hiding behind”, his case couldn’t be described as anything but frivolous if he’s making a request that doesn’t even constitute as one.
But what about the issue itself?
At the very beginning of the video, Berg starts by saying Obama should be arrested and deported. In the off chance that documents were forged, sure, Obama should be tried and given his fair punishment. But having him deported?
“Further, since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, the Attorney General (Department of Justice) would no longer be empowered to bar a former U.S. citizen from entering the United States.”
Man, we’ve found a loophole already. He later mentions that Obama and his family moved to Kenya, then to Indonesia where he attended school. Yep, that’s true. What Berg fails to mention is the relevant case of Afroyim v. Rusk, which took place the VERY SAME YEAR a young Mr. Obama left for Kenya. Why is this important? The case set a legal precedent which states that a US Citizen cannot be revoked of citizenship involuntarily, which would mean that Obama never forfeited his citizenship, having the decision to move obviously left up to his parents. Strike 1.
Being a lawyer, Berg should fully understand that his decision to speak about it grants the general public as much right to contest him as he has to say his piece. So with that said, one would be wise to structure his argument well. Not even 2 minutes into the linked video, he practically opens saying Obama is trying to destroy the US Constitution. Sure, he claims Obama, allegedly not being a natural born citizen, is in violation of the document. Fair enough. But if I wanted to be taken seriously, I certainly wouldn’t make my headline argument come across as a baseless conspiracy theory without any evidence. A point being made can be likened to a transaction; the item has to be sold to the buyer to change hands. I’d like to think that most sentient beings with any sense of objectivity would consider his or her options when buying goods from say, a business supplier, before dropping bags of cash on the salesman’s desk the very same day. But before I get off topic, in this scenario, Berg is the salesman and his argument is the product. He essentially says “Buy it” before he’s even made his pitch. Anyone trained in negotiation (Ahem) should expect to be sent home and thanked for their time. It’s about carrying weight, and so far we’re as light a feather.
Then in court he goes on to site such sources as “Inside Edition”, a television/internet tabloid that covers stories ranging from alleged dog kidnappings and America’s Best Kept Secret: two for one pasta sauces. Seriously? Also, the “Rainbow Edition Newsletter” which seems to have little presence anywhere. Going by the name I’d say it sounds like your average LGBT publishing, but I’m not going to make any assumptions.
Speaking of assumptions, so far we’ve been presented reasons along the lines of “he probably doesn’t have the documents”. “Maybe” doesn’t hold up in court, and as I already covered, neither did his request for the documents. As far as his sources go, he seems content to pick and choose pieces of the puzzle and put them together as he sees fit. Based on what he’s chosen to say and how he’s presented himself thus far, we have an assumption, details that which were ignored in making said assumption, unreliable sources and unreliable information coming from a seemingly unreliable person. I don’t think I even need to mention the middle eastern Sitar music clearly playing in the background, because at that point it’s moved from ridiculous to downright cliche. For a film made by an “independent”, this sure reeks of a typical overblown republican conspiracy targeted at those quick to buy into propaganda. It’s pretty evident when it becomes one big domino effect of conflation: What’s that you say? Democrat? Black? (well…) Hussein? Middle East? TERRORIST? ILLEGAL?! SITARS?!?!
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Heh. I may be a registered Republican, but I give credit when credit is due, and there’s none to give here. The man was born in Hawaii. Give me an actual issue, not cleverly masked manipulation.
November 4th, 2008
Witch Doctor
Sure, the right can deny Palin’s involvement in militant christian beliefs, but check this out. This witch doctor christian, who “blesses” Palin after he speaks, wants Christians to infultrate the government. I’m sure, though, that Palin believes none of this, and that she’s just trying to score a few points, right? right?
right.
October 6th, 2008
Review: LaSpirits (Part 1 of Who Knows)
I heard about LaSpirits while browsing the September 26th edition of SWIFT on the JREF website. The article discussing LaSpirits written by Alison Smith, titled “LSU Ghost Hunters?”, mainly focused on the leisure course run by LaSpirits founder Brad Duplechein. I’m not going to get into the specifics of the course here, as I was not able to attend it, which is rather unfortunate in itself. I was, in fact, in Louisiana visiting family during the weekend in which the first section of the class was being run.
What this article will be focusing on is the fact that LaSpirits claims to be a skeptical group of ghost hunters. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, but I’ve heard people make the claim to be a skeptical group before, and that didn’t turn out so well.
LaSpirits Website, Part 1
The website for LaSpirits is quite typical, I have to say. The whole thing is designed like a ghost house, from the font to the images and flash decoration, it is designed to set a mood. This, I have to say, is a warning sign. They have a disclaimer at the bottom of the main page that says despite their non-tranditional site, they do not condone the use of ouija boards nor do they practice black magic (as if such a thing were practicible). They then go on to say, that “We approach every investigation in a skeptical and analytical fashion.” Good, I love to see people being analytical and skeptical, and having a group of people who are scientific about ghost hunting would be a breath of fresh air.
There is a problem, however. If you check practically every other inch of their site, you’ll see just about every bit of garbage in the ghost hunting world represented. TAPS is represented aplenty in their links area to the right on the main page, their photo gallery is filled with pictures of “orbs” and other cruft. I’ll get to that later on in this article. I would love it if just once, I would be wrong about my assumption that all ghost hunters are ignorant of the facts, but I am less convinced that I am wrong the more ghost hunters I read about.
Photo Gallery > Apparitions
The first link available in their photo gallery is a list of apparition photographs. This is where we start going full force into the woo. For a group that claims to be skeptical and scientific, there is very little explanation of each photograph. For example, where was this taken? What time of day was it taken? What was the lighting like in each photograph? Was the photograph taken with a digital or film camera? What were the aperature settings of the camera for the photograph?
These questions are necessary to discern whether or not these images are legitimate. I can’t even make out whether or not the owners and operators of the LaSpirits website even took all of the images themselves. Judging by the aparent age of some of them, I would think they are not all original, but I could be wrong. The thing is, I just don’t know, as they have no information. Two of them are attributed (as of this writing) to a first name only (Mark, Michelle). If you want to see how unbelievably poor the quality of these pictures are, don’t take my word for it: check for yourself.
For one, we have this ghostly apparition that looks like muck on a window, with an orb thrown in for good measure. Then there’s the ever convincing picture of a face behind a mirror that’s not really a mirror (hint, look at the wall behind the “mirror” on the right side. This is glass. More than likely there is a portrait behind the glass that wasn’t noticible before the flash). And who could forget the three figures in this excellent and clear image. And surely, this very bad double image couldn’t possibly be because of lens flare, no way. It’s just got to be a ghost, it’s just got to. Who cares if the hat is damn near identical to the man in the middle of the photo, and that the features mimic the man in every way. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, I know it’s hard to see. Check the guy in the middle. Don’t squint too hard, though.
Photo Gallery > Vortexes
There are comparatively fewer images on this page than in the Apparitions page, but the quality has not gone up at all. There is actually less wording introducing these images than for apparitions. I am beginning to wonder if they even look into any possible explanations for what is going on, as off the top of my head I can think of several.
For the “Bright Vortex” in the bottom right, it is quite obviously a lens flare. The “Very bright and active vortex” on the top left looks almost like a doodle in paint, but I imagine it is a comparatively long exposure capturing the movement of an LED based light source, as they tend to flash quickly, vs being steadily on. Actually, now the more I think about it, the more it looks like a fake. Try taking a picture in the dark and see if it is ever that clean. There is absolutely no noise in that photograph whatsoever.
Photo Gallery > Orbs
I don’t even know where to begin with these. The LaSpirits site says that orbs can often be re-created with dust. Well of course, they then have many examples of orbs, which are all completely indistinguishable from dust being inside the focal point of the camera, with only a few exceptions. They even have an orb picture that has a spot in it that looks like a face! Obviously, these people have never heard of the term Pareidolia (or they are not paying attention).
There is not a single picture on the orbs page that should be mistaken for anything other than dust or reflective objects reflecting the flash back to the camera. Ignorance is not evidence.
Photo Gallery > Extoplasm
At this point, I am trying very hard to stop myself from laughing at the juvenile nature of these photos. This page has mist forming at grave sites and by a fence as examples of ectoplasm. Other pictures look like smudges on the lends, or in the case of the second image on the page, smoke, possibly from a cigarette.
Photo Gallery > False Positives
They actually have a section dedicated to false positive images, as if the rest of the images were prime examples. If you are a skeptical organization, this is not how you would organize your site. Everything leading up to this point is trying to make it seem like they have captured real paranormal images, and these are just the rejects; evidence of their skepticism and scientific nature.
Let me be absolutely clear, what these imges should be telling you is that 1) the human brain loves to find patterns in things, and classify them. 2) Images should never be proof of anything, because in many cases they don’t tell the full story (they are only a snapshot), and can be faked. Photos used as evidence are quite laughable.
When it comes down to it, it is absolutely rediculous to think that cameras are special enough to be able to see things the human eye cannot discern when they are so obvious. The main difference here is that you can do a ton of interpretation after the fact. I’m sure if you stare at any picture for long enough, you can find something.
EVPs
On the page for EVPs, LaSpirits claim that EVPs are “one of the only paranormal events that have been acknowledged and verified by scientists.” I would wonder which scientists they are talking about. Surely, things can be caught on tape that sound like voices, but humans are so suggestive that if you stare at a TV that is out of tune for long enough you will find a pattern, and that is almost truly random.
The EVPs that are contained on the LaSpirits website are anything but clear. These sounds could be made by anything from the wind, to a person walking by. It’s quite laughable to think you can try recording soft voices when people are walking around and in conversation (many of the EVPs have people talking and moving around in them). And as with the images, there is no information whatsoever about the circumstances of the recording. In this case, the number of people present, the location of everyone, just in case someone had said something out of the range of most peoples’ hearing, whether or not people were moving around, wind conditions, etc.
These are not evidence, they are trash.
Videos
This is even more silly than the photos or EVPs, simply because you get a much better picture of what is going on, as well as the setting. Among the handfull of videos, you will find:
cellphone interference - This is a pattern that is easily identifyable as a cellphone. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been on my computer, or listening to the radio, when all of a sudden, this exact pattern of interference came over my headphones or the speaker. Usually, it preceeds a call, but I’ve had it happen when there was no call accompanying it, if the cellphone was checking in with the network or somesuch.
Even if it wasn’t a cellphone, we are literally in a sea of EMF. Not all of it is even terrestrial like the dozens of radio stations, cellphone towers and radar stations; stars produce x-rays, microwaves, gamma rays, and everything in between.
creative editing - There is a gap between various parts of this video. Who knows how many questions were asked where there was no spike afterwards. This is exactly like psychics - if you remember the hits and forget the misses, of course you think they’re psychic. In this sea of radiation that we live in, if you ask enough questions, you will of course find an EMF spike afterwards.
wind/air currents - I mean come on, the bottle didn’t move all that much. I can also hear something mechanical in the background. A fan, maybe? I can see someone defending them, saying “well they were feeling around the bottle for air currents.” For an empty sprite bottle, I doubt you could feel the tiny air current it would take to preturb it like in the video. As a matter of fact, you could create such a current yourself just by moving around.
bugs - They say this is too “planned” to be a bug, whatever that means. The first thing I thought when I saw this was “moth”, and even after watching it several times, that’s what it looks like. Notice, too, that the video quality is a quarter that of even youtube. Nice evidence, guys.
more dust - Just because you don’t think it looks like dust doesn’t mean that it isn’t. It’s clear that whatever it is, it’s well inside the camera’s focus, so it most likely isn’t moving that fast. Again, horrible video quality makes it almost impossible to speculate, although the video quality is a good bit better than the bugs entry.
In Closing (for now)
There is a lot more on this site than I could cover even if I had enough time. Just browsing through their paranormal 101 section, I see a number of occultist listings from psychic phenomnena, to cryptozoology (of the bigfoot, loch ness monster, etc type), to demonology. Just to give you another glimpse into the mind of these people, I will leave you with a quote from their page “What is a ghost.”
When a person dies their individual systems shut down independently, your kidneys fail, then your respitory system shuts down, then your heart stops beating and finally your brain stops functioning. Since all these systems are controlled by electrical impulses the electricity has to go somewhere. It is a general law of physics thatenergy can not be destroyed, so where does the energy go when your body shuts down? It is released into the atmosphere!
This was copied word for word from here. This paragraph requires such a lack of understanding of how the body and physics works that I’m surprised the person who wrote it even graduated high school. Scientific, indeed. They’re doing a good job hiding it. This website proports to be scientific, when it is more of the same drivel-laced woo that we’re used to seeing from ghost hunters.
October 5th, 2008
Superstition Kills
Don’t believe me, then ask this indian girl. Oh, you can’t, because she killed herself because of the fearmongering media in India spreading doomsday cruft about the LHC. Learn to think, question everything, or else what better are we today than we were yesterday?
September 12th, 2008
Diabetic Child Dies of Faith Healing
For Kara
March 23, 2008, 11 year old Madeline Kara Neumann died of diabetic ketoacidosis, a fate that could have been prevented had her parents decided to seek medical treatment for the girl. According to experts, Madeline “had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.” This is the sort of pain and agony that one might not wish on their worst enemy, yet it was voluntarily placed on an innocent young girl by those that she trusted most with her care.
In her final hours, the family decided that prayer would be the better course of action, instead of a hospital trip. This sort of thing was completely preventable, but being blinded by an unwavering, irrational faith in prayer, the family did nothing. After the event occurred, Kara’s father said that given the opportunity, he would do the same thing with his other children.
Prosecuting the Neumanns would have gotten a bit tricky because of a Wisconsin law protecting parents from prosecution for treating their children by purely spiritual means. However, in June, a judge ordered Kara’s parents to stand trial on Reckless Homicide charges for failing to do anything for their daughter. They could face up to 25 years in prison.
Let this be a lesson to all of you would-be faith healers. Prayer does not work. If you deny the power of advances in medical science, and instead turn to ancient superstition to treat your children, you will suffer the consequences. Be comforted, however, in the fact that you will not suffer as greatly as your children.
Sources: The Daily Page, JS Online, CNN, CBC News Canada, Religion News Blog.
July 28th, 2008
Food Crisis
I tend to listen to NPR on my way to and from work. I think NPR has excellent programming overall, and a damn sight better than most programs with their coverage. Even their fluff pieces tend to be informative.
However, I was upset today by something I heard on the local segment of our NPR station, Milwaukee Public Radio. The reporter in question referred to a problem that I know for a fact isn’t just happening in Milwaukee - food supplies running low for those who can’t afford food. This is definately something to be concerned about in our country, when fellow citizens cannot afford food. However, this is not by any means a food crisis. What is going on in the cyclone ravaged areas of Myanmar is a food crisis.
Yes, ours is still a problem, but we should not neuter the English language by using hyperbole where suitable words exist to describe a situation. Let’s not make a situation where everything is described as a “crisis”, because then crisis will lose its meaning.
June 24th, 2008
It’s Religulous
Now that the neo-creationists have had their say with Expelled, we should relax and look forward to a (hopefully comedy-filled) documentary on the ridiculousness of religion. It’s religion, it’s ridiculous, it’s religulous.
June 12th, 2008
Respect My Belief
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “It’s my belief, and you’re just going to have to respect that.” It typically comes right after the description of some supernatural force or practice, whether it be psychic readings, energy/faith healing, chakras or any other idea that has been relegated to the trash bin of progress. This is what should be called the “ultimate defense” of wacky ideas, in that typically the person in question has run out of excuses for said practice.
So, should we respect that belief? Should we say that because it is something you believe in, it’s okay? I mean it is just a belief, right?
Nonsense. If a friend came up to you, told you to your face that every time a person wasn’t looking, a leprechaun jumped out of a hole and tweaked his nose at that person, you would be inclined to say that friend was a nutter, or hopefully just being facetious. Why? Because the very idea of a leprechaun jumping out of holes is the bread and butter of fairy tales. To this day, we have not observed a single shred of proof for the existence of leprechauns. The claim by an acquaintance that they jump out of holes to insult unsuspecting humans is therefore quite silly.
Why should we elevate beliefs over facts? In the entire history of the human race, what has a belief based on a lack of any evidence gained us compared to the gains of science? Science has, in the space of just the last half century: gotten us to the moon and able to land surveyors on Mars, helped to lower the cancer mortality rate, raised not only our standard of living but also our life expectancy, helped protect us from mother nature, and many other things that would take up an entire encyclopedia to fill. Belief has given us wars, genocide, and hate. Yes, religion has given some people hope, but there is so much that one can grasp onto in the real world that can give just as much hope without sacrificing reality.
People believed that the earth was the center of the solar system. People believed the earth was flat. To this day, people still believe in energy healing and karma, people still believe in psychics, ghosts and fate. Perhaps one of these days, people will realize that their beliefs don’t line up with reality. I for one chose reality, and I’m tired of the fairy tale.
Edit: Let me be clear: I do not think the government should be able to say that you can’t believe this or that. The government should stay out of peoples’ personal lives, as long as they are not harming others. I am just saying that a belief should not be elevated above fact. A person is not a bigot for telling you something you believe is stupid. A racist is a bigot, a person who seeks truth and detests untruth is not.
June 12th, 2008