We received this from a reader who is concerned about the use of the so-called electronic dowsing rods in his country, Thailand…
My name is Tuang Cheevatadavirut. I'm a freshly graduated student in MBA/MSIS (Master of Science in Information Systems) at Iowa State University. I saw your blog comment on the arrest of James McCormick, so I’d like to tell you about GT200 use in Thailand. This is a device similar to the ADE 651, Quadro Tracker, M.O.L.E., HEDD1, Sniffex (Plus), Alpha 6, PSD-22, and H3Tec, etc. I want to give you all the possible names of the device, given that government agencies in many countries – Pakistan, Iraq, UK, Mexico, Dubai, Kenya, Tanzania, Philippines, Lebanon, Jordan, China, Afghanistan, and possibly India – have been employing this kind of bogus device. Not only does it put innocent citizens at risk, but also the security forces’ personnel, be it militia men or police.
Randi: Tuang, there are many more than the eight you list, believe me. These fake devices are on sale all over the world, and those who sell them are doing very well, I can assure you!
These days there are many insurgencies that occur in southern Thailand daily. Innocent citizens as well as security forces’ personnel are losing their lives. To counter such incidents, many government agencies have ordered the GT200. Even though in the past weeks there have been claims that the device is bogus, the Thai Central Forensic Science Institute, the Provincial Electricity Authority and military agencies such as the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Air Force's Directorate of Armaments, the Naval Ordnance Department, and the Royal Thai Navy, have defended their use and the effectiveness of such devices.
Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine.
D.J. Grothe, host of the weekly radio show and podcast Point of Inquiry for the last four years, has launched a new podcast in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation. Each episode of the new show will feature long-form interviews with leading thinkers on issues at the intersection of skepticism and belief. For Good Reason will also feature regular audio essays by acclaimed magician and skeptic Jamy Ian Swiss, The Honest Liar. Grothe's podcast compliments the format of the popular Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, which is also produced in association with the JREF.
Oregon City teenager Neil Beagley died in June 2008 following complications from an untreated congenital urinary tract blockage that flooded his system with urea, causing renal failure, heart attack, and death.
Neil Beagley didn't die in a hospital. He didn't die surrounded by doctors who were stumped regarding his next stage of treatment. Sixteen-year-old Neil Beagley didn't die peacefully with an IV in his arm pumping in morphine to lessen what must have been excruciating pain. He died in his grandmother's bed, without having received any medical treatment of any kind. Doctors say that Neil's illness was treatable right up until the day he died.
Jeff and Marci Beagley, Neil's parents, are members of Followers of Christ Church of Oregon City - a fundamentalist organization that teaches a literalist interpretation of scripture, and relies heavily on faith healing. The cemetery behind the church contains graves belonging to seventy-eight minors. It is estimated that at least twenty-one of these children's lives could have been saved with medical treatment.
RSS Feed 
