Swift, named for Jonathan Swift, is the JREF's daily blog, featuring content from James Randi, the JREF staff, and other featured authors.
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Swift
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Written by James Randi
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Back in March, I called attention to the farce known as “Airborne” – as well as the look-alike product that Walgreen Pharmacies offer the naïve, a deliberate ripoff to take advantage of Airborne’s heavy popularity and to get some share of that loot that might otherwise escape them. The Airborne manufacturer misrepresented its product as a cold remedy without – of course – offering any scientific evidence to back up that claim, and also implied that the product was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA]. Now, Airborne will pay $23,300,000 to settle allegations by state attorneys general that it made false claims about its product. As a part of the settlement, they had to agree to discontinue their ads about the effects, health benefits, and safety of Airborne.
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Swift
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Written by Richard Saunders
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 Inventing Origami Pigasus for Mr. Randi was a real pleasure. I promised him I would at least try to create the flying pig as we cruised around Alaska in 2007 on the Amaz!ng Adventure. I could never have known, (what am I a ‘psychic'?) that the little piggy would become so popular.
I am thrilled when other people fold Pigasus and well remember having my socks knocked off at TAM 6 upon seeing a table full of them as a result of the efforts of JREF Forum member ‘Kochanski'.
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Swift
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Written by James Randi
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As a 501(c)3 organization, the JREF is limited in what it may properly say in regard to political matters. However, the just-announced decision by President-Elect Obama that he will have fire-breathing “pastor” Rick Warren – of the huge evangelical Saddleback Church in Orange County – deliver his inaugural invocation, is alarming.
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Swift
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Written by Harriet Hall
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Superstition and nonsense have infiltrated military medicine. The military was never known for critical thinking; in fact, it is often said that "military intelligence" is an oxymoron. When I was in the Air Force we used to say that the difference between the Air Force and the Boy Scouts was that the Boy Scouts had adult leadership. But now they have outdone themselves: the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
Instead of getting narcotics for pain relief, wounded soldiers are being stuck in the ear with little needles.
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Swift
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Written by Alison Smith
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GNOME HUNTERS: A Demonstration
I was recently asked to write an article for a group of paranormal investigators about how skeptics view believers. I pointed out that, not being psychic, I cannot possibly know what all skeptics think of all believers. But I did come up with the following example, which I think helps demonstrate the skeptical position. Skeptics, you might find this example eerily familiar. I hope that you enjoy it, and that if you come across any Gnome Hunters in the future, you might be able to use it to illustrate why certain claims are difficult to believe.
One day, you are hanging out in a book store. You bump into a man who is buying some books, and wind up talking to him for a while. You find out that the man has a hobby – every time he visits a new place, he scans the area with a special Gnome Finder that he has designed himself. In reality, the Gnome Finder is a calculator. When the man finds out about a place that is rumored to be full of gnomes (which are, of course, invisible), the man takes his calculator/Gnome Finder to the location and puts in a simple math problem; like 2+2. Every time the man gets a wrong answer, he knows that gnomes are around because gnomes hate math and they block all right answers to illustrate that fact.
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