http://www.dbskeptic.com Skepticism. Critical thinking. Podcast. Community. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:54:54 +0000 en-us hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Digital Bits Skeptic brings skepticism and critical thinking to a world of new age, religion and credulous pop culture. Andy Kaiser clean Andy Kaiser skeptic@dbskeptic.com skeptic@dbskeptic.com (Andy Kaiser) 2009 Skepticism and critical thinking in a world of new age, religion and credulous pop culture skeptic, skepticism, critical thinking, new age, religion, pop culture, skeptical articles, critical thinking articles, philosophy http://www.dbskeptic.com/images/dbskeptic-logo-144.jpg http://www.dbskeptic.com/category/mysteries/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2010/03/28/the-league-of-scientists-officially-knows-a-famous-person/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2010/03/28/the-league-of-scientists-officially-knows-a-famous-person/#comments Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:59:02 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=1938 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2010/03/28/the-league-of-scientists-officially-knows-a-famous-person/feed/ 8 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 149 - You remember the book I'm writing, right? It's "The League of Scientists", about a group of science geeks who investigate supposedly supernatural mysteries. Well, the book publication process is moving along - we're now... By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 149 You remember the book I'm writing, right? It's "The League of Scientists", about a group of science geeks who investigate supposedly supernatural mysteries. Well, the book publication process is moving along - we're now in the final stages of proofing, finalizing the internal artwork, planning advertising, and I've also started writing book #2. You'll be able to buy it soon - the release countdown is less than a year away. That's all fine, and it's old news to some of you. But I didn't want to write this article without giving you some other important information. I told you before that "The League of Scientists" book #1 will have a "skeptic celebrity" endorsement, a mini-review we could perhaps put on the book cover, website and other advertising copy. I've finally got it. It's in my hands. I have my book review from a Skeptic Celebrity. You wanna know who it is? Take a guess. My original clues: it is a man, he's appeared on TV (cable and nationally-broadcast), he has written books and has been interviewed by most high-profile skeptical podcasts. This person is not John Stossel, though this person and John share multiple weird similarities. I told you that the Digital Bits Skeptic audience would be the first to know, and I meant it. I'm putting this here, even before I update LeagueOfScientists.com! The skeptical celebrity for The League of Scientists is Joe Nickell. For those of you who don't know who Joe Nickell is, there's a lot to learn. Here's a portion of his bio: "Joe Nickell, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) - an international scientific organization - and an investigative columnist for Skeptical Inquirer magazine. He was formerly a professional stage magician and private investigator for a world-famous detective agency. Presently, he appears to be the world's only full-time, salaried professional paranormal investigator. Utilizing his varied background, Nickell has become widely known as an investigator of myths and mysteries, frauds, forgeries, and hoaxes. He has been called 'the modern Sherlock Holmes', 'the original ghost buster', and 'the real-life Scully' (from 'The X-Files' ). He has investigated scores of haunted-house cases, including the Amityville Horror and the Mackenzie House in Toronto, Canada. Nickell is the author (co-author or editor) of more than twenty books. He has appeared on numerous national TV shows, including CNBC's 'News with Brian Williams', 'Dateline NBC', 'TLC's Best Kept Secrets', 'Larry King Live', 'Oprah', 'Ricki Lake', 'Jerry Springer Show', 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe', 'Unsolved Mysteries', 'Politically Incorrect', '20/20', A&E's 'The Unexplained', '48 Hours', and 'Exploring the Unknown', in addition to several documentaries on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, and many others. Nickell has been profiled in the New Yorker magazine and on the Today show." That's just a small sampling from a very large data set. The man is smart, he knows his stuff, and he has helped change the world for the better. And yes - the reason for this article - he did read and review "The League of Scientists and the Ghost in the Water". Here's a portion of what he wrote: "This adventure of The League of Scientists is... a wonderful introduction to scientific detective work and critical thinking skills - all wrapped up in a delicious mystery! Although the exploits are shared with young readers, this seasoned detective looks forward to the League's next adventure." Joe Nickell Forensic, Historical, and Paranormal Investigator One of the reasons I specifically picked Joe to review my book was that, frankly, I really respect the guy and think he does an incredible job in a unique profession. Another reason was just as important: Joe Nickell is a real-life adult equivalent of the stars of my book. Like The League of Scientists, Andy Kaiser clean 7:34 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/28/spontaneous-human-combustion-and-the-wick-effect/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/28/spontaneous-human-combustion-and-the-wick-effect/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:42:55 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=761 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/28/spontaneous-human-combustion-and-the-wick-effect/feed/ 11 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1310 - Imagine you're sitting at home on your favorite overstuffed armchair. You sink down in the stuffing and relax. You've got a cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other. - You smoke and drink. You're sleepy, By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1310 Imagine you're sitting at home on your favorite overstuffed armchair. You sink down in the stuffing and relax. You've got a cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other. You smoke and drink. You're sleepy, and the lazy trail of cigarette smoke is a gentle hypnosis. It lulls you into closing your eyes. Your brain decides it would rather be dreaming, and the rest of your body agrees. You go to sleep. You never again wake up. After your hysterical neighbor calls emergency services, the police break in to your home and find a gruesome and unbelievable sight. Your body is burned. Clothing, flesh and bones. It's gone. All that's left of you is a foot still wearing a slipper. Your chair is nothing but black cinders. But what's so perplexing, so frightening, is that there is no other damage to the room. Your body and your chair were destroyed, incinerated. But despite the horrible heat and flame needed to accomplish this, the fire never spread beyond, well, you. This wasn't caused by an electrical problem, and there was no highly-combustible fuel like gasoline. The fire was brutally hot, and burned fast, so couldn't have been caused by a dropped cigarette. And in either case, the pain of being burned would have woken you up before killing you. This is the mystery of spontaneous human combustion. While I've used a little poetic license in the story above, it really did happen. These were the facts of what could be the most famous case of spontaneous human combustion, that of Mary Reeser, who died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1951. Proponents of spontaneous human combustion point to several possible explanations. Humans can suddenly explode into flame, they say, because of things like excessive static electricity build-up. Get a big enough zap, and you'll spark a fire. There are indeed people who get more than the average amount of static shocks. And every human gut carries around a quantity of methane gas. This highly flammable gas is one of the byproducts of digestion. Perhaps certain unlucky people - those with more than average methane and a higher incidence of static shocks - are more likely to burst into flame without warning. If you were looking for a reason to stop smoking, I can't think of any better incentive. Luckily for those of us who haven't yet combusted, things make more sense when we look at spontaneous human combustion from a skeptical point of view. In order for a human body - or anything - to burst into flame, we need three things: 1) Fuel 2) Heat 3) Oxygen Let's examine the Mary Reeser case. We have oxygen, of course: The air we breathe is about 21% oxygen. We have heat: Reeser's lit cigarette. And we have a limited fuel source: Reeser's chair. What I haven't yet detailed beyond the opening story are a few additional facts about Mary Reeser: She was overweight. At the time of the accident, she was wearing flammable nightclothes. She had also just taken multiple doses of sleeping pills. The floors and walls of her apartment were made of concrete. The wick effect I said the chair is a "limited" fuel source because stuffing and wood are probably not enough to produce a bone-incinerating heat all on their own. To achieve this, we consider "the wick effect". This is where the fat in a body contributes to a fire. As the fire heats a body, the fat will melt and begin to burn. Just as a cotton wick will pull molten wax from a candle and burn it, cotton stuffing in a chair will do the same thing with human body fat of a person sitting in that chair. Like Mary Reeser. With the addition of these facts, the sequence of events becomes ever clearer: Mary Reeser fell asleep in her chair. Her lit cigarette dropped and ignited her nightgown or her chair. The material burned, and Reeser did not wake in time (or at all) because of her recently-ingested sleeping pills. The fat in her body liquefied and burned, Andy Kaiser clean 8:21 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/01/05/a-fire-officers-guide-to-disaster-control-an-expert-works-outside-his-expertise-and-is-attacked-by-ufos/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/01/05/a-fire-officers-guide-to-disaster-control-an-expert-works-outside-his-expertise-and-is-attacked-by-ufos/#comments Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:27:12 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=593 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/01/05/a-fire-officers-guide-to-disaster-control-an-expert-works-outside-his-expertise-and-is-attacked-by-ufos/feed/ 9 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 131 - The Fire Officer's Guide to Disaster Control is a massive, 600-plus page book detailing various emergency scenarios and how to respond to them. As the Fire Department is the first service to arrive at many emergency sit... By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 131 The Fire Officer's Guide to Disaster Control is a massive, 600-plus page book detailing various emergency scenarios and how to respond to them. As the Fire Department is the first service to arrive at many emergency situations, the book is a quality guide for crisis response and management. It's co-authored by William Kramer and Charles Bahme. Both authors have a short bio, and each is the resume of a superhero. Each man has dedicated his life to fire and disaster management, both in training others and by direct field experience, which, I assume, involved lots of physically dangerous situations. Between the two authors, we have active duties in World War II and the Korean War, college and professional-level instruction, and appearances for national and international audiences. They've worked with high-level United States agencies like the U.S. Supreme Court and the Department of Defense. In essence, they've done more to help people and have saved more lives than many of us could ever hope to achieve. These men are true real-world heroes. There's something strange, however, about the book's second edition, published in 1992. As you browse through it, you'll be impressed with the scope and detail, with chapter headings like "Organizational Structure and Incident Command", "Communications and Information Management", "Catastrophic Fires", "Civil Disorders and Riots", "Weather-Related Natural Disasters", "Transportation Disasters", "Mass Casualties and Mass Evacuation" and "Aftermath and Recovery". And then you come to Chapter 13. It's titled "Enemy Attack and UFO Potential". I'm going to guess that UFOs are generally not associated with nationally-used emergency training materials. Maybe the Fire Officer's Guide just chose poorly for the chapter heading. That's the way it looks at first: the chapter begins with a brief analysis of warfare, and mentions the United States' entry into World War II, with the attack on Pearl Harbor. There are logical definitions of war, mentions of Grenada, Lebanon, the Persian Gulf, and the United States' "cold war" with the Soviet Union. Next we have causes of war with plenty of sobering examples. These include chemical warfare, biological warfare, bombs both conventional and nuclear, and detail of perceived and probable effects of a nuclear attack. Then, almost twenty pages through the chapter, we get to the good stuff with a heading that reads, "The UFO Threat - A Fact". You might say this chapter is meant to teach proper response to human behaviors, and is not about alien attack remediation. Or you may say it's meant to react to Earthly UFOs, like stealth technologies from another nation visiting our airspace. Nope. The authors are talking about aliens: green-skinned, big-headed, silver-jumpsuit-wearing aliens. Or at least that's what I assume. And my assumption of the alien's appearance is as valid as the book's claim we need to watch out for an alien attack. That is, there is no evidence to justify either statement. Why did the authors pick aliens and UFO attacks? Why stop there? Why didn't they have another section for Biblical Armageddon and the final battle between good and evil? You know, something like "In the event of the heavens raining from the sky and most everyone being killed, the most important thing is to first establish a sense of calm and order." You don't think Armageddon is appropriate? I should keep things realistic? Then what about other Earth-changing disasters, like the Large Hadron Collider creating deadly black holes? Or what if the Sun decides to vomit out a planet-destroying solar flare? Why not plan for these? They're just as applicable as a UFO attack. Granted, the LHC is an unfair example, having been created years after this edition of the Fire Officer's Guide. But you get my point. The results of an actual UFO attack - wake up and smell the humans Now consider logistics. Andy Kaiser clean 11:58 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/11/10/the-god-confusion/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/11/10/the-god-confusion/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:35:53 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=466 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/11/10/the-god-confusion/feed/ 13 Science Reason & Rationality by Science, Reason & Rationality Article ID: 1259 "It is said that men may not be the dreams of the Gods, but rather that the Gods are the dreams of men." ~ Carl Sagan - Hello. My name is God, and I am an atheist. by Science, Reason & Rationality Article ID: 1259 "It is said that men may not be the dreams of the Gods, but rather that the Gods are the dreams of men." ~ Carl Sagan Hello. My name is God, and I am an atheist. I don't believe in gods because there are no gods who created me and there's no one else here to compare myself to. I just have always existed. I didn't evolve from anything. I am now just as I always have been, and will always be that it in the future. Messes with your head, doesn't it? Think of how I feel! But, what if there is a god who created me? I don't see any other gods here except me, so why should I believe in another god? How about faith? Can faith establish that there is another god? No way! That's just being silly. Even if I do have a creator, who created that god? No, that's a faulty line of reasoning. I am the one and only. There is no other god but me. Right? Before I could know of another god, there must first be hard evidence and genuine scientific proof. That's not going to happen, because I am God, I'd know of such things. Okay, just me then. Now that I've got that question solved, what am I going to do now? There's a lot of black empty space out here and I'm getting really bored! I gotta do something. Maybe I should create a "Big Boom" or a "Big Bam" or some kind of huge explosion and see what happens. [A gigantic, mind-numbing, multiverse-shaking explosion ensues...] ...Okay, so I guess that was more of a "Big Bang". Not bad, not bad at all. I'm an instant artist! Look at these beautiful stars, planets, and galaxies. I'm impressed. I'm the greatest thing in this whole universe. But then, I'm the only one here, so I'm greatest by default. I suppose I could create other gods, and challenge them so that I can see for myself if I am indeed the greatest. On second thought, that may be a bad idea. What if they beat me? Or form evil alliances against me and revolt? That'll be embarrassing. And what if they ask me who created me? Since I am the one who created them, they might think there must be some other god who created me. They'll stop worshipping me, and look for other gods. Not acceptable. Moreover, they're not gonna believe me if I said I just came into being out of nothing. Still, I could force them to believe whatever I want them to believe. Or I could punish the non-believers. I'll have to give this some thought. [Some time later...] I'm bored. I've created everything I wanted to create. Am I going to be the only one admiring my own work?  That would be lame. ...I know! What if, instead of creating new gods, I create some tiny little creatures on one or more of these planets? They won't be as powerful as a god, so they won't be a threat to me. I'll design them unable to see me, but they can see all my genius works. They can admire my work and praise me for it. It'll be fun seeing them trying to figure out what the heck is going on. I can see it now: some will claim that they know me and have spoken to me or I have spoken to them, and they'll use my name to start a religion. Soon, there will be a whole bunch of them and they'll be killing each other to prove which Me is the one and only "true" Me. And I'll never speak to any one of them. Anything they think is my voice will be misinterpretation or self-delusion. This will be good entertainment. Should keep my boredom away. I get to be movie director. Producer too. And the whole special effects production crew. To paraphrase someone I'm about to create, "it's good to be the god!" Okay, got a little sidetracked there. Back to the plan. Those "religion" businessmen will use really effective marketing strategies in order to control others, making people behave with a predetermined right and wrong. All in my name, of course. That'll cause problems, but those are their problems, not mine. I just want an audience. Now, what will my creatures look like? I can't make them all look exactly like me. Andy Kaiser clean 10:31 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/09/13/the-loch-ness-monster-versus-the-lake-michigan-monster-a-mythical-battle/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/09/13/the-loch-ness-monster-versus-the-lake-michigan-monster-a-mythical-battle/#comments Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:00:58 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=163 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/09/13/the-loch-ness-monster-versus-the-lake-michigan-monster-a-mythical-battle/feed/ 7 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1248 - What follows is an analysis of the Lake Michigan Monster. But before jumping into this amazing tale, let's start with a better-known legend, that of the Loch Ness Monster. I'm not sure how popular it is in other parts ... By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1248 What follows is an analysis of the Lake Michigan Monster. But before jumping into this amazing tale, let's start with a better-known legend, that of the Loch Ness Monster. I'm not sure how popular it is in other parts of the world, but in the United States the Loch Ness Monster is a permanent part of our culture. Existing solely in folklore and a few grainy pictures, the Loch Ness Monster is an animal of unknown species, hiding somewhere in the dark waters of Loch Ness, a deep lake in Scotland. Nicknamed "Nessie" by people with too much time on their hands, it exists in pop culture as one of the most well-known and entertaining legends of mythical creatures. For me, its popularity lies somewhere between Bigfoot and Scooby Doo: You know, where if you saw it on TV, you'd probably watch it for a while before getting lunch. The Loch Ness Monster has never been proven to exist, and is most likely a tale that grew exponentially in its telling. Photos abound. The most popular photo (usually called the "Surgeon's photo") was taken in 1934. In 1994, the image was revealed as a hoax. The picture of the monster's head, long neck and body rising majestically out of the water was found to be a toy submarine attached to a sculpted neck and head. In addition, researchers uncovered an uncropped version of the original image: When you look at that version, you get a better idea of the size of the "monster". Analysis reveals it to be only a couple feet long. Also interesting is the new view you get, compared to the greatly zoomed-in original. Cropping so close removes detail that normally gives measurable perspective and size. Okay, you argue, fine. One picture of the Loch Ness Monster was probably faked. But there's a mountain of data out there! What about eyewitness accounts? What about the sonar readings showing that something's down there? How can we discount everything? I'll tell you why: because none of that evidence is conclusive. Eyewitness accounts are nice. But they don't prove anything. How do we know those eyewitnesses weren't lying or exaggerating? Or, let's give those people the benefit of the doubt. Say they're all perfectly honest and well-intentioned. How do we know they weren't simply mistaking what they saw? Supposed "evidence" like sonar readings or grainy photos and film falls into this same category. The probability of a hoax or misidentification is far higher than finding a previously unknown species doing the backstroke around a lake. So what does it take to convince the stereotypical skeptic? To that I say: "Poop". That's right, "poop". There should be plenty, available either in analysis of the lake water, or hundreds of feet down, just outside the monster's bedroom. But whatever you're looking for, your goal is to produce physical evidence. Yes, animal spoor. A corpse, or any bit of the monster itself, with a little DNA attached. Something that would allow for scientific analysis and classification in the animal kingdom. The Loch Ness Monster does exist, but only in imagination and myth. Like Bigfoot, a lack of any verifiable physical evidence is a madly waving red flag. With this in mind, let's switch focus to Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is a huge freshwater lake on the west coast of the state of Michigan, in the north-northeast United States. Its maximum depth is over 900 feet. It covers over 22,000 square miles. For comparison, Loch Ness's maximum depth is over 700 feet, and covers over 21 square miles. Yes, that's right - Lake Michigan kicks cryptozoological butt. In there, you could hide almost anything. Case in point: I'd like to introduce you to the Lake Michigan Monster. Or, as we'll affectionately call her, "Mishy". There I was, admiring the beautiful Michigan coastline, when I saw something far out in the water. It was indeed the Lake Michigan Monster! "Mishy" surfaced with a rush of water streaming off her body. Andy Kaiser clean 8:05 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/07/15/tunguska-mystery-almost-solved/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/07/15/tunguska-mystery-almost-solved/#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:30:14 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=101 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/07/15/tunguska-mystery-almost-solved/feed/ 2 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1240 - It was a quiet morning on June 30, 1908. The event occurred in a remote location of heavily-forested Siberia, in the Russian Federation. - Instead of leaping ahead to the finale and just saying "kaboom", By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1240 It was a quiet morning on June 30, 1908. The event occurred in a remote location of heavily-forested Siberia, in the Russian Federation. Instead of leaping ahead to the finale and just saying "kaboom", we'll make this a little more dramatic. So get ready. A rustling is heard as a brown bear lumbers forward and stops. It drops its head and sniffs, poking its thick snout through green leafy undergrowth. It smells an appetizer. The bear stops, and lifts its massive head. It again sniffs the air, confused. The bear has good eyesight, but trusts its nose over any other sense. It smells nothing out of the ordinary, though, yet knows something is wrong. What is it? The bear shuffles, and swings its head to scan around. It catches a glimmer of something, something bright and shining far above the trees. Massive muscles flex, and the bear hoists itself up a tree for a better view. A blue light shines far above, like a second sun. The bear snorts, and drops heavily to earth. It doesn't care about what's up in the air. It's more concerned with stuff on the ground, and what part of that stuff is edible. Then the world explodes. A roaring wall of noise slams into the bear. All surrounding trees lean away, as if flinching in unison against a terrifying power. In the next moment, everything bursts into flames. The bear spends his last living moments roaring at this new enemy, this massive invader from the sky. It takes only a few more seconds to raze 80 million trees over 800 square miles. Everything is destroyed. Everything burns. This overly-dramatic-yet-plausible story is about the Tunguska explosion. No one positively knows what happened that day, and what caused such devastation. The Tunguska event was so destructive and so complete, it made later analysis difficult. Here are some known facts about the Tunguska explosion: The blast analysis tells us the explosion occurred a few miles above the earth - perhaps between three and six miles. The blast force was ten to fifteen megatons - that's roughly a thousand times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb. To put this in a better perspective, some scientists think that a similar meteor impact 66 million years ago was the cosmic sledgehammer that wiped out the dinosaurs. What happened here? Many theories have been raised over the years. These include an antimatter explosion, a miniature black hole tearing through the Earth, a natural gas explosion, and the accidental crash of an alien spacecraft. According to RIA Novosti, a Russian-language news site, researchers have found evidence of acid rain in the epicenter of the explosion. This acid was presumably formed by the ill-fated meteorite screaming through the Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric oxygen combined with nitrogen. Mix in some incredibly high temperatures, and you get nitrogen oxides. These oxides are found where the explosion is thought to have occurred. Diamond-graphite rock formations have been found at the scene. These tiny, super-hard granules are created by taking a bunch of carbon, and subjecting it to massive pressure, like, for example, what you might get from the detonation of a thousand atomic bombs. Almost twenty years after the Tunguska explosion, witnesses were interviewed (note that the time delay was due to arguably more important things, like an impending World War I and the Russian Revolution). Their testimonies include descriptions of what you would expect from a huge explosion, like violent earthquakes, massive heat and blinding light. One interviewee seems to have seen the meteor itself, saying: "...the peasants saw to the North-West, rather high above the horizon, some strangely bright (impossible to look at) bluish-white heavenly body, which for 10 minutes moved downwards. The body appeared as a "pipe", i.e. a cylinder. The sky was cloudless, only a small dark cloud was observed in the general direction of the bright body. Andy Kaiser clean http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/29/psychic-stagecraft-how-to-change-from-magician-to-miracle-worker/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/29/psychic-stagecraft-how-to-change-from-magician-to-miracle-worker/#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:23:40 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=95 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/06/29/psychic-stagecraft-how-to-change-from-magician-to-miracle-worker/feed/ 3 Peter Booth By Peter Booth Article ID: 1235 - Mentalism is a form of performance magic that simulates the paranormal, most commonly mind-reading, predicting the future and psychokinesis.  Magicians get involved in skepticism because much of the time the so-called ... By Peter Booth Article ID: 1235 Mentalism is a form of performance magic that simulates the paranormal, most commonly mind-reading, predicting the future and psychokinesis.  Magicians get involved in skepticism because much of the time the so-calle... Andy Kaiser clean http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/03/08/the-dyatlov-pass-accident-and-the-fatal-unknown-compelling-force/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/03/08/the-dyatlov-pass-accident-and-the-fatal-unknown-compelling-force/#comments Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:43:51 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/03/08/the-dyatlov-pass-accident-and-the-fatal-unknown-compelling-force/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/03/08/the-dyatlov-pass-accident-and-the-fatal-unknown-compelling-force/feed/ 200 Andy Kaiser by Andy Kaiser Article ID: 127 - What was the Dyatlov pass accident? - On January 28, 1959, ten experienced cross-country skiers left for a skiing expedition. They headed for the Otorten Mountain range in the northern Urals. by Andy Kaiser Article ID: 127 What was the Dyatlov pass accident? On January 28, 1959, ten experienced cross-country skiers left for a skiing expedition. They headed for the Otorten Mountain range in the northern Urals. One skier fell ill and had to turn back. The remaining nine skiers left him behind and continued their journey. They were led by Igor Dyatlov, 23, from whom the accident and location were named: What happened next is partially conjecture, partially reconstructed from search party evidence, and photos and journals from the deceased. The skiers never returned from their trip. On February 26, 1959, searchers found the group's tent "half torn and covered with snow". While no one was in the tent, the group's belongings, including shoes and clothing, had been left behind. Footprints were in the snow around the tent, indicating people wearing socks, one shoe or no footwear at all. Below is a picture of the tent as it was found by the search party: Two bodies were found almost two kilometers down the mountainous slope, near a forest. Both were barefoot and dressed only in underwear. The remains of a fire were nearby. Branches on a nearby tree were broken up to five meters high, and some branches remained in the snow. Three more bodies were found between the first two bodies and the tent. The positioning of these three was such that it seemed they'd been trying to return to the tent when they were overcome by the cold. While these five died of hypothermia, one had a fractured skull (this was considered not fatal). Four more bodies were found in a nearby ravine. Buried in snow, they seem to have suffered traumatic deaths: one suffered a crushed skull. Two others, multiple broken ribs. A fourth was missing her tongue. Adding to this, these bodies showed "no external wounds", as would be seen from a physical attack by human or animal. These latter four were dressed warmly. The first five were not, and some were wearing parts of the others' clothes. It seems that those who died last removed clothes from those who died first. The clothes all contained high levels of radiation. A source for this contamination was not found. After the funerals, relatives said the victims' skin had a "strange orange tan", and that they were completely grey-haired. Reconstructions of the victims' behavior indicated that they may have been blinded. An example is that the victims broke wet tree branches to start their campfire, though there was good dry kindling nearby. While treated as a crime scene, the investigation ceased officially in May 1959 due to the absence of a guilty party. The group was deemed to have died from an "unknown compelling force". During the night of this tragedy, another group of hikers 50 kilometers south reported they saw "strange orange spheres" in the northern sky. Similar spheres were seen in nearby cities during February through March of 1959. Witnesses included a weather service and the military. On February 2, 2008 six of the rescuers and over 30 independent experts gathered together to examine the facts and look for answers. They concluded that the deaths were caused accidentally by military testing. That's a horribly mundane end to a frightening, confusing and exciting story. Other theories as to what happened at the Dyatlov pass accident include encounters with UFOs, Yeti, "mountain madness" or a group of murderous natives in the area. One of the points of this article is to illustrate that, while the above pseudo-scientific explanations may sound better or make a better movie, scientific analysis can and does prove them wrong, or far less probable. In addition, there are many explanations as to the "unexplainable" facts from the Dyatlov pass accident. These make far more sense than assuming the Dyatlov pass accident was supernatural. Summarized, here's a list of the Dyatlov pass accident facts: The victims' tent was "cut from the inside". Andy Kaiser clean http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:39:21 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/12/12/photo-evidence-of-ectoplasm-and-ghost-orbs-explained/feed/ 12 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/28/sleep-paralysis-a-personal-account-and-analysis/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/28/sleep-paralysis-a-personal-account-and-analysis/#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2007 03:05:11 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/28/sleep-paralysis-a-personal-account-and-analysis/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/10/28/sleep-paralysis-a-personal-account-and-analysis/feed/ 14 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 115 - I've had at least two episodes of sleep paralysis. - No, I wasn't captured by aliens. I wasn't exposed to something supernatural or super-scary. This was nothing more than a misunderstood function of the human brain. By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 115 I've had at least two episodes of sleep paralysis. No, I wasn't captured by aliens. I wasn't exposed to something supernatural or super-scary. This was nothing more than a misunderstood function of the human brain. This was sleep paralysis. First, let me describe what the symptoms of sleep paralysis felt like to me. Sleep paralysis episode one: Aliens! Even if you looked, you'd have a hard time finding a more stereotypical alien abduction story. I remember waking up in bed, or at least my eyes and brain turned on and started processing. But my body was frozen. I couldn't move. I wasn't being restrained by anything. It was like the on/off switch that gave me control over my body had been flipped to "off". I had no physical control over my body. I remember seeing aliens. Yep, just like from the 1950s: Big heads, big eyes, grey skin, and short. Several were clustered over me, doing something. And (as in often the case in dreams) I knew with a flash of insight that they were operating on my memories: They had abducted me, and were erasing my memory of that very abduction! Very sneaky, aliens. During this time, I couldn't move. I was also very scared. Like that feeling you get in your chest when the roller-coaster is screaming towards the ground at top speed, or when you're about to have a horrible car accident, but the only thing you can do is press as hard as you can on that brake pedal, frozen in wasted effort. After being extremely scared, I woke up. I don't remember much beyond the terror, the frozen body, and the aliens-erasing-my-memory plan. Sleep paralysis episode two: Defrosting! Years after the first episode, I woke up in bed, again frozen, again terrified. This time I was more mentally active, and wasn't dreaming. I was simply in bed, lying there, unable to move, and (for no particular reason) scared out of my mind. I remember staring at the ceiling, being too terrified to even look around. When my sleep paralysis started to wear off, it did so slowly. I experimented with wiggling a finger. This physical action scared me too, for some reason, but I kept on wiggling a finger because it was the only part of me I could actually move. Then I was able to move my hand. Then my eyes. Then my arm. Then my head. Then I was back to normal. The terror had passed. I was just lying in bed at night. Everything was fine. The one thing sticking in my mind about this experience was my movement being linked to the fear. It was as if I was truly "frozen in terror". For a while, I was simply too scared to move. Sleep paralysis explanation and information I have vague memories of this happening at other times in my life (nothing beyond memories of waking up, being scared and unable to move), but not with the detail of the two more emotional experiences above. The frequency is perhaps one episode every two or three years. Each time I had these, I simply thought I'd had some really odd nightmares, and left it at that. Only until researching did I discover sleep paralysis is a known condition. Sleep paralysis is also a more logical explanation for a host of nighttime "frozen in terror" dreamlike occurrences. Here's what happens during sleep paralysis: when your body sleeps, you are paralyzed already - this is why you rarely physically act out your dreams. Your body lets your mind have fun in REM sleep while your body is turned off. But sometimes the body gets confused (see below), and your dreaming mind partially wakes up while your body is still in its natural (paralyzed) sleeping state. Common symptoms of sleep paralysis are a full-body paralysis, terror and hallucinating while partially conscious. What causes sleep paralysis? Known triggers include sleeping on your back, having odd sleep schedules, stress, a lucid dream immediately before the sleep paralysis occurs, and drugs (specifically ADD medications, antihistamines, and hallucinogenics). Andy Kaiser clean