In the coming weeks, we’re going to try giving Swift a serious overhaul. We’d like to see our frontpage brimming with original reportage, controversial commentary, intelligent critiques of critical thought (or its conspicuous absence) in popular media, profiles of skeptics and woo-woos, book reviews, and thought-provoking essays.
The media is abuzz about an apparent discovery by two doctors, Jack Gallant and Sinji Nishimoto, who have invented a "psychic computer." The computer can read a person's thoughts, and display them on a screen as a video. Sounds far-fetched? Well, it is, and it's too early to tell what exactly these two have invented.
As the Times UK reports, the study has not been peer reviewed, so we can't be sure what they're doing, but it appears that using an fMRI, a machine that can read brain activity, and a computer with a custom algorithm, they can reproduce people's thoughts on a screen.
If I understand it correctly, it works like this: when you think of a color or a shape, certain areas in the brain activate. The fMRI can read these activations, and through the algorithm, reproduce the conditions necessary for that to happen. A green square would produce a distinct pattern, the fMRI would pick it up, report it to the computer, who then decodes the pattern back into a green square. This all happens real time, so the image appears as a video.
The video shown here is from 2007, but it's been making the rounds again. It shows a skateboarder attempting what I assume is a moderately difficult move, and failing a few times before finally suceeding. Uri Geller is on scene, and it's hard to tell if he's helping the lad or merely getting in the way.
From this clip, we've learned that Geller believes he has a magic Sharpie, the ability to lubricate wheels, and the power to remove negative influences from concrete. Apparently, these powers aren't working all that well, because it takes him several tries.
Watch the skater in the clip... especially his eyes. What are they saying? It looks to me like they're saying "Who is this clown, and how can I get rid of him?" He seems relieved when Geller finally walks away with another "success" under his belt.
This Halloween, The James Randi Educational Foundation and WeirdThings.com present a never-before-attempted experiment. In front of a live internet audience, a group of prominent skeptics and magicians will try to make contact with the spirit of Harry Houdini, the world's most famous magician and challenger of the supernatural.
What makes this attempt unique is that it's being conducted by skeptics and magicians in the hopes that if contact from beyond the grave is possible, Houdini would prefer to make it with skeptics and magicians like himself.
World famous magician and skeptic James Randi will oversee the seance and will help supervise the attempt to communicate.
The seance will be conducted by magician and publisher of WeirdThings.com Andrew Mayne, WeirdThings.com editor-in-chief Justin Robert Young and magician and Scam School star Brian Brushwood.
The seance will consist of several tests for attempted communication. Words and images provided by prominent magicians and skeptics and held by James Randi will be attempted to be divined through various supernatural means including Ouija boards, automatic writing and spirit photography.
Rehearsals for the event will be held on Friday October 30th at 1 PM and Saturday at 2 PM at the Isaac Asimov Memorial Library. For press access contact Justin at 954-892-5665
James Randi and a spokesperson for the James Randi Educational Foundation are available for interview upon request. Phone: 954-467-1112 Email: Brandon@Randi.org
A long-time friend of the JREF who, for the purposes of this article shall remain nameless, recently went to Paris to visit the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery, eternal resting place of luminaries such as Jim Morisson, Chopin, and Oscar Wilde. During this visit, our friend visited the grave of Samuel Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy.
The grave, though elaborate and well-kept, was missing a certain something. It seemed... lonely somehow, and our friend thought she could fix that right up. I can't help but imagine Wilde chortling in his coffin. Could it be that they landed in search of water, and nothing else?
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This Halloween, The James Randi Educational Foundation and 