"Rupert Sheldrake, whose research is funded by the respected Trinity College, Cambridge, said on Tuesday he had conducted experiments that proved that such precognition existed for telephone calls and even e-mails."

I guess he’ll be entering James Randi Educational Foundation’s Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge any day now. Or not.

Just a cursory reading of the article tosses up several problems. One, the test subjects got to choose what relatives would participate, so they already knew who could be calling. If phone telepathy works, then why not have them choose from a hundred random callers? Why would this only work with relatives and friends? Seems to me, having the ability to know what telemarketer is calling would be much more useful.

Also, since only a few of the subjects were apparently monitored, all the "evidence" becomes anecdote.

Technorati Tags: bullshit, pseudo-science, telepathy, skepticism

I’m often reminded of my favorite quote about atheism by Stephen Roberts:

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Here’s a nice list of more quotes about atheism.

I’m also reminded of a time when I was eavesdropping on a few women on the escalator in front of me, who were apparently teachers. One was mentioning that her class was learning about the Greek and Roman gods and one of the students had mentioned that "If all those people believed in Zeus, and now nobody does, won’t the same happen to God?" They all laughed, with the inference being "What a silly question." I chuckled, thinking "That’s a smart kid."

Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, skeptic, James Randi, Carl Sagan, Stephen Roberts, religion

"Test yourself on the following questions. In each case, it is 1991 and I have removed from you all knowledge of the past 15 years.

"You have to design a global computer network. One group of scientists describes a system that is fundamentally open – open protocols and systems so anyone could connect to it and offer information or products to the world. Another group – scholars, businessmen, bureaucrats – points out the problems. Anyone could connect to it. They could do anything. There would be porn, piracy, viruses and spam. Terrorists could put up videos glorifying themselves. Your activist neighbour could compete with The New York Times in documenting the Iraq war. Better to have a well-managed system, in which official approval is required to put up a site; where only a few actions are permitted; where most of us are merely recipients of information; where spam, viruses, piracy (and innovation and anonymous speech) are impossible. Which would you have picked?"

Let’s see, in 1991, I would not have had to pick, since the Internet already existed at that time. I hate it when people think that the Internet did not exist until the World Wide Web came around. Sorry to break it to you, Financial Times, but folks were FTPing, Gophering, Telneting and the like long before the Web. The Internet != World Wide Web.

Potpourri

• Rat outsmarts, eludes scientists: Perhaps the rat was running his own little experiment…
• Dinosaurs Never Had Feathers
• Tiny Humans Hunted Tiny Elephants? I have only one thing to say: Short people got no reason to live.
• Chimps Can Keep Quiet: That puts chimps a step ahead of human children.
• ‘Zombie worms’ found off Sweden: But do they shuffle aimlessly mumbling “Braaaaiiinnnnsss”?
• School defends intelligent design: Annoying. With witnesses that admit that by their own standards, astrology would be considered a science, you have to just laugh. Or cry.

• Tenth Planet’s Moon Named Gabrielle: Normally, scientists are somewhat boring with their naming. These guys are pretty funny, though.
• Dolphins Learn Batman Theme: Holy Porpoise, Batman!
• Protein Gives Bald Mice Luxurious Locks: Good news for all those bald mice out there.
• Gamma-Ray Burst Mystery Unraveled: Bruce Banner is elated!
• Chasing Zodiac: My favorite serial killer, coming soon to to theaters.
• Snake bursts after gobbling gator: Sounds like the Sci-Fi Channel’s next movie title: Python Vs. Gator: Stalemate.

Nature’s Little Oddities

• Armed and dangerous – Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina: Dolphins with guns. Sounds like something that will come back to bite us in some dystopian future time.
• Dog Flu Jumped From Horses: The flu jumped species, but we humans don’t have to worry. Yet.
• Holy Squid! Photos Offer First Glimpse of Live Deep-Sea Giant: The ocean is full of really neat stuff.
• Satellites to monitor panda sex: the better news, those satellites only need black and white cameras!

Man’s Inhumanity to Man

• ‘Intelligent design’ goes on trial: Time to take back the classrooms.
• Anna Nicole Smith Case Goes to the Supreme Court: Please please please please let Anna represent herself.
• Hospital Halts Organ Program: So, money can put you ahead on the transplant list. Is that surprising to anyone?

Odd Astronomy and Space News

• Supermassive Black Hole Confirmed: Man, that really sucks. Okay, easy joke.
• Mars getting warmer, orbiter data suggests: Mars Republicans claim “Mars not getting warmer, space is getting colder” and blames liberal Martian media.
• NASA Aims for Moon by 2018, Unveils New Ship: So, after all that Shuttle research, NASA is basing their next design off Apollo. That’s forward-thinking!

Strange Nature Stories

• Fish Tongue-Eating Parasite Spreading?: Gross, but cool.
• Bird Sings Complex Harmonies: That puts the birds ahead of Britney Spears and Mariah Carey.
• Ants Use Acid to Make “Gardens” in Amazon, Study Says: I need a colony of these ants for my garden.
• Rare White Giraffe Spotted in Africa: Apparently, it isn’t an albino giraffe, just a pigment-challenged one.
• Suicide Grasshoppers Brainwashed by Parasite Worms: Make sure to see the related video.
• Damselfly Mating Game Turns Some Males Gay: Sort of the damselfly equivalent of “I’ve got a headache.”
• Female Bat Relatives Share Mates: Do these bats live in Arkansas and Tennessee?

Finally, Bigfoot flips the bird.