This week in Doubtful News:

There were three big mysteries making news this week. First, a package makes a postal worker ill. But what really happened is a story that is messy in many aspects.

A pilot has a close encounter over Denver that has UFO theorists intrigued.

Rocks collected on the beach gave us a genuine case of spontaneous combustion, resulting in a woman with burns and a question about where the reactive material came from.

Some consumer issues also made the news this week. U.S. trade officials declared a $40 million settlement over deceptive claims about toning shoes.

• Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2012
  TLC renews 'Long Island Medium'
  Last month, respected skeptic group the James Randi Educational Foundation awarded Caputo one of its 2012 Pigasus Awards, "bestowed on the most deserving charlatans, swindlers, psychics, pseudo-scientists, and faith healers" and gave a media Pigasus to TLC for airing her show, which Randi called "utter nonsense."
• Scientific American, May 14, 2012
  How Neuroscientists and Magicians are Conjuring Brain Insights
  “I’m turned on by this collaboration,” said D.J. Grothe, president of the James Randi Educational Foundation and a past magician, even though it is one that is not always comfortable in a world where secrecy is prized.
• The Guardian, May 11, 2012
  How rational is America?
  Through reading Sagan I also discovered the work of James Randi and the idea of organised scepticism.
  
• Boing Boing, May 11, 2012
  Science Tales: short comic stories about science, skepticism, evidence and woo
  If you're a Mythbusters fan, admire James Randi, enjoyed Ben Goldacre's Bad Science, and care about climate change, you'll enjoy this one.
• Variety, May 6, 2012
  Hot Docs wraps with awards and sales
  MipDoc international pitch competish winner "An Honest Liar," co-helmer-producers Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein's doc on 83-year-old magician and famed debunker James Randi, saw BBC, PBS and several Euro pubcasters keen to partner.
• Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, May 5, 2012
  Featuring Seth Shostak and James Randi
• The Humanist, May/June 2012
  Getting Real: A Look at the New Skepticism
  The Las Vegas convention is the latest installment of The Amaz!ng Meeting. First held in 2003 and colloquially referred to as TAM, it’s the annual mecca for skeptics around the world.
• Broadway.com, April 24, 2012
  Are You Ready for a Miracle? How 'Leap of Faith' Jumped from the Movie Screen to Boradway
  Popoff’s only real talent was his ability to scam people by using a hidden microphone. His deceitful ways were eventually exposed on the medium that made him famous when professional magician and skeptic James Randi snuck a radio scanner into one of Popoff's revivals and publicly outed him on The Johnny Carson Show in 1986.
• Montreal Gazette, May 4, 2012
  Joe Schwarcz: Homeopathy relies on extreme dilution
  The James Randi Educational Foundation offers $1 million to anyone who can, by any means, identify an unlabelled homeopathic remedy.
• Ann Arbor Skeptics, May 2, 2012
  James Randi Q&A
• Strange Frequencies Radio, April 30, 2012
  Featuring James Randi
• Ohlone Monitor, April 19, 2012
  James Randi impresses Ohlone with his tricks
  “To say James Randi is accomplished is an understatement. By the 1970s, Randi was a household name. Randi has an unshakeable commitment to reason,” said Helms.
• The Space Cinema Milano, May 16, 2012
  Interview with James Randi
• AtheismTV Profile, May 9, 2012
  Featuring James Randi
• Wired, May 7, 2012
  The James Randi Educational Foundation Gives Teachers a Hand
  The aim is not to promote an agenda but to teach methods and allow the students to explore the results on their terms.

“There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know.” 
― Ambrose Bierce

Science and discovery - expanding the limits of our concepts of reality - takes real imagination. Pseudoscience (or the cheap imitation, as Sagan called it), not so much. Perhaps that is why old ideas are recycled over and over again as if they were new with the world of pseudoscience. Alternatively, new ideas are stolen from real science and then twisted into the latest scam.

In my previous post for Swift I covered the common features of the "quack clinic" - clinics or practitioners making dubious claims that are not based upon science and evidence. In this article I will cover the different categories of unscientific medical claims.

While there is an endless parade of new unscientific health products and services, they are largely a repackaging of the same basic themes. Understanding these themes is helpful in dealing with the flood of nonsense. Being able to say, "Oh, that's just another version of X," is a huge time saver. Here are some of the most common "flavors" of medical pseudoscience you are likely to encounter.

With The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012 just around the corner, now is a great time to look back at some of the remarkable talks delivered by skeptical luminaries at TAM 2011. Just as it is again this July, last year's schedule was packed with fascinating and entertaining speakers from all corners of our community. We've made many of their presentations available for free on our YouTube channel.

Below, we've embedded just some of these talks: Michael Shermer on the "believing brain", Eugenie Scott on evolution and climate change denialism, Carol Tavris on the lessons of social psychology, and PZ Myers on alien life. We'll be posting more in the days and weeks ahead.

Now is the perfect time for past TAM attendees to reminisce about seeing these talks in person. And hopefully those of you who have never been to a TAM will get some idea of the educational and inspirational time in store at TAM 2012.