Bankrupt legal processes poson Noreen Rener bankruptcy rulng By Gary P. Posner A Dckens character once opned, "f the law supposes that, the law s a ass." To whch would add, "f bankruptcy law allows ths travesty, bankruptcy law s bankrupt." And, for good measure, "Justce can sometmes be not only blnd, but deaf and just plan dumb." A seres of dsturbng events has marred what a federal bankruptcy judge n Vrgna ntended to be the fmal chapter n the quarter-century-long legal wranglngs between "psychc detectve" Noreen Rener, a former longtme Florda resdent, and skeptc John Merrell, who co-founded the Northwest Skeptcs n 982. Among them: A blnd eye was turned to evdence offered by Merrell, a crucal subpoena was refused and returned unread, and the judge's June 2 fnal order refers repeatedly to an "agreement" that was never reached between the partes. To hopefully put an end to ther ltgaton once and for all, Judge Wllam E. Anderson ordered that "Rener and Merrell shall make no further publc comment about each other [nor so encourage others] from ths tme forward," the volator havng to pay $30,000 to the other party. And n an outrageous overreach, hs order further decreed that Merrell wll be declared gulty of breachng the "agreement" (though the followng was never agreed to), and wll have to pay Rener $30,000, f "any menton of Merrell's name" appears n a book that yours truly s n the process of wrtng - about the 984 "mssng arplane" case dscussed n our Sprng 200 ssue's lead artcle (more on ths later)! As reported n our Summer 2007 and Wnter 2007-08 ssues (avalable onlne), Rener, who had sgned a settlement agreement wth Merrell n 992 prohbtng ether party from ever agan publcly dsparagng the other, was found gulty n a U.S. Dstrct Court of beng n volaton by vrtue of the two dsparagng chapters n her 2005 memor, A Mnd for Murder. Owng Merrell more than $40,000 n attorneys fees and nterest as a consequence, Rener fled for Chapter 7 bankruptcy n August 2007. She clamed an nablty to pay the debt, whch, per her pleadng, almost exactly equaled her entre gross ncome over the prevous three years. But as Merrell nformed TBS Report at the tme, she faled to lst sgnfcant ncome sources such as her book and her assocaton wth Court TV's Psychc Detectves seres, on whch she had appeared numerous tmes n recent years. Durng the nearly three-year course of bankruptcy proceedngs, Merrell ncurred addtonal costs (addng to Rener's debt to hm) as he endeavored to uncover some of the assets that he beleved Rener to be hdng, whle the Court's trustees apparently dd lttle detectve work of ther own. Merrell would perodcally nform the Court of hs fndngs, ncludng nformaton obtaned va a prvate nvestgator about an undeclared bank account, and Rener would perodcally amend upward her declaratons of ncome, ultmately by more than $00,000. Merrell's sster, Roxe Cuellar, a former practcng attorney who defended her brother n the orgnal 986 Rener v. Merrell lbel tral (n whch Rener prevaled), told TBS Report that the trustees refused to follow up on Merrell's leads despte havng encouraged hm to ssue the subpoenas. But Merrell beleves that tens of thousands (or more) of addtonal dollars - earned from Rener's "psychc" phone sessons, TV appearances and book royaltes - reman secreted. And despte requestng, through the legal process, the names of her payng "psychc readng" clents and polce agences that she clamed to have worked wth durng the relevant tme perod, and the amount of money pad by them, he was dened that nformaton. Nor were her RS ncome declaratons (W2 and/or 099 forms) provded despte four formal requests, even though such nformaton s typcally made avalable to credtors, wth Merrell beng Rener's largest. Addtonally, the refusal of Story House Productons to respond to ts subpoena from Merrell, whch Rener had tred unsuccessfully to quash, aroused further (contnued on page 5) TBS s a Specal nterest Group of the (b CENTER FOR NQURY TAMPA BAY
PAGE 2 TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT VOL 23 NO.2 FALL 200 s.... TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS Statement of Purpose and "$,000 Challenge" : : Tampa Bay Skeptcs, nc., a Specal nterest Group of the Center For nqury Tampa Bay, s a nonproft educatonal and! scentfc organzaton devoted to : the crtcal examnaton of d f.. : paranorma an nnge-scence : : clams. TBS does not reject : clams on a pror grounds, but! rather s commtted to objectve : and crtcal nqury.! TBS's "$,000 Challenge" s : open to anyone clamng verfable! scentfc proof of the realty of ESP, UFOs, dowsng, astrology, : or any paranormal phenomenon. : Please contact us for detals. Tampa Bay Skeptcs Report s : : pu bl' shed quarterly. We welcome : news clppngs, and artcles and! letters for publcaton (subject to : edtng for length, clarty, and : taste), and solct opposng ponts : of vew. : letters are those of the author(s) :! and not necessarly those of Vews expressed n artcles and Tampa Bay Skeptcs or Center : F or nqury Tampa Bay. :.! TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT Snce 988 : c/o Center For nqury Tampa Bay : 304 N. Dale Mabry Hwy.! : Box 363 : Tampa, FL 3368-2808 : E-mal: tbs@centerfornqury.net : Web: www.tampabayskeptcs.org :! Founder and Edtor: Gary P. Posner! Cartoonst: Valere Grey : Cartoonst Memortus: Don Adds : : $5/yr. (4 ssues) : : 200 by : Tampa Bay Skeptcs and! Center For nqury Tampa Bay : : All rghts reserved. : : Publcatons may quote f : : approprate credt s gven. -- Charm.an's 0 r Martn Gardner (94-200) n The skeptcal communty took another bg ht ths summer when Martn Gardner ded at the age of 95. For those of us growng up n the 950s and '60s, Gardner was a constant presence. 'm old enough to recall the foldng paper puzzles n the Humpty Dumpty chldren's magazne n the early '50s, lttle knowng that the creator was a man whose works would contnue to educate me for another 60 years. n fact, when used to read each and every "Mathematcal Games" column n Scentfc Amercan from hgh school on, had no dea t was by the same man who used to create those foldng paper puzzles. Years before James Rand wrote hs nfluental work Flm Flam!, Gardner had wrtten about skeptcal matters and scence n Fads and e r Fallaces n the Name of Scence (957), followed later by Scence: Good, Bad and Bogus ( 98 ), takng on ssues such as ESP, UFOs, Scentology, and creatonsm. n 976, Gardner was a foundng member of the Commttee for the Scentfc nvestgaton of Clams of the Paranormal (CSCOP) - snce renamed Commttee for Skeptcal nqury (CS) - along wth such other nfluental proponents of scentfc skeptcsm as Rand, Phllp Klass, Carl Sagan and saac Asmov. Gardner contnued to stay actve wth CS, wrtng hs regular "Notes of a Frnge-Watcher" column for Skeptcal nqurer magazne. Gardner's love of mathematcal puzzles led hm to wrte hs most commercally successful book, The Annotated Alce, n whch he reproduces Lews Carroll's Alce n By Terry A. Smljanch Wonderland and Through the Lookng-Glass, wth the addton of volumnous margn notes contanng myrad fascnatng detals about the many logcal and mathematcal themes and Vctoran.n-jokes wth whch the author played around n these fary tales. nterestngly, and to the dscomfort of many of hs admrers, Gardne:t: also wrote extensvely about hs phlosophcal and relgous vews. He was no fan of Chrstanty or any other organzed relgon, but he was not an athest. He was a "fdest," belevng n God but admttng that ths was not based on any evdence for the exstence of a god. He wrote a sem-autobographcal novel, The Flght of Peter Fromm, about a young man lke hmself who attended the Unversty of Chcago ntendng to become a preacher, but nstead becomng doubtful about all organzed relgon, whle retanng hs own fath n a numnous god. Lke hs phlosophcal hero, Mguel de Unamuno, Gardner beleved n God because hs belef satsfed a deep-seated urge wthn hm. Carl Sagan once asked hm, "Essentally, you're sayng you beleve n God because t makes you feel good?" When Gardner agreed ths was so, Sagan just shook hs head n dsbelef. Readng hs phlosophcal essays, however, and vstng the works of Unamuno, one cannot readly dsmss such fdesm as llogcal, snce t seemngly les outsde the realm of reason. Gardner was fun to read, especally when he was pokng (contnued on page 6) w &
VOL. 23 NO. 2 FALL 200 TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT PAGE 3 Hubrs and the Supernormal By Valere Grey frst encountered the word "hubrs" n a hstory course on Ancent Greece. t meant "wanton volence arsng from the prde of strength, passon, etc.; despteful treatment, gross nsult, rotousness, nsolence, lewdness, lcentousness; law: aggravated personal assault." ts meanng has snce expanded to nclude ''wanton arrogance arsng from passon or recklessness; nsolent dsregard for moral laws or restrants." A lovely, contemptuous word, perfect for descrbng poltcans. Say t wth a cheerful barng of teeth. pcture a struttng Spartan, wth spear and sheld, bronzed musculature gleamng, haughtly prepared to vanqush everythng n hs path n a fght to the death. Hubrs was the word that came to mnd as repeatedly watched a vdeo, from Gary Posner's wonderful skeptcs collecton, of James Rand et al. 's 980 $40K challenge/test of Australan dowsers. Before the double-blnd test, the 0 dowsers were cockly confdent of ther abltes, albet n a charmng, offhandedly Ausse fashon (pcture Crocodle Dundee, sans hat and "knofe"). Asked how he thought he had just performed dvnng the $4,000 gold bar, one old gent repled, "Fve good quck runs, nae trouble at all. Just lke takn' a lolly out of a baby's mouth. t sn't far" - meanng to the poor sods who'd soon be forkng over the $40K! Pror to the unvelng of the results, the dowsers all sad they consdered the test to have been completely far and honest. Most predcted they would score ther usual 00% on dvnng the water, brass, and gold - rght up untl the test results (supervsed and announced by two well-respected manstream clercs) revealed that none had performed better than chance ( n 0 per try). There were only 4 hts out of 35 tres on the gold, and not a sngle ht out of 26 tres on the brass. hts out of 50 tres on the gravty-fed water runnng through specally bured PVC ppes was a lttle better, and lfted the total success rate to 3.5%, though hardly a sgnfcant statstcal devaton from the expected chance 0%. Nevertheless, the dowsers appeared n no way convnced that ther "powers" had been even remotely dsproved; a show of hands ndcated they all stll beleved. Upon learnng he'd scored 0% on the gold, one sad, "Well, we hope... but that's what happens." "But you were dead certan of t?" "Oh, of course 'm dead certan of t, yes" breezy present tense, as though such confdence were entrely justfed even n retrospect, n the face of hs abysmal falure. Rand sad that even after 35 years of challengng psychcs, he was stll surprsed at some of the creatve ratonalzatons put forward for falure: sunspots, astrologcal sgns, unfortunate aspects of the moon. My guess s most of the dowsers contnued to clam a 00% success rate. Snce they would lkely blame the stars or resdual magnetsm or bad vbes from skeptcs for ther falure, t wasn't really ther falure, so they really hadn't faled ths tme ether, had they? Success rate neatly ntact. The reporters coverng the test were smugly convnced that they could not be fooled by magcans' trcks. One young fellow had seen a Melbourne boy psychcally bend a spoon years before and was so mpressed he'd saved the spoon. The psychc bendng had looked real, so as far as he was concerned, t had to be real. Even after Rand not only "psychcally" bent, but broke, a spoon for hm - statng that the alternatve explanatons were ether ) the complete overthrow of centures of scence, the nverse-square law, conservaton of energy, etc., or 2) a smple trck such as the one he had just performed - the reporter was stll unwllng to beleve that he could prevously have been duped. On the other hand, he apparently had no problem wth the concept of the complete overthrow of all of scence! But the possblty of hs own gullblty? Persh the thought! Hubrs, pure and smple. There's no other word for t, for both vctms and vctmzers, and all stages n between. Hubrs nculcated from brth by hubrstc parents (lke mne) who scorn scence, eschew mathematcs and logc, worshp contradctons and supernormal claptrap, and gleefully ndoctrnate vulnerable toddlers wth the New Age (and Old Age, for that matter) mantra that the laws of scence can be, and routnely are, volated (from whch suppose t follows logcally that, f they can be and are regularly volated, what good are they, so why bother to study them?). Ths s the underlyng precept of all supernatural clams and all the bloody volence that ssues forth from them. The hubrst chants the certantes of hs lfe: " cannot be fooled, even under non-rgorous condtons - such as at (contnued on page 5) ''''... ;;: :; CHARMAN: Terry A. Smljanch, J.D., Tampa (James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smljanch, P.A.) VCE CHARMAN: Jack H. Robnson, Ed. D. (Professor emertus, Astronomy program, Unversty of South Florda, Tampa) EXEC. DR.: Gary P. Posner, M.D., Tampa (Scentfc consultant, Commttee for Skeptcal nqury [CS- formerly CSCOP]) : AT LARGE: James W. Lett, Ph.D. (Professor of Anthropology, ndan Rver Communty College, Fort Perce) : AT LARGE: Wllam W. Hall (Professor, Dept. of Communcatons, St. Petersburg College)! : BOARD OF DRECTORS: Gary P. Posner, Terry A. Smljanch, Jack H. Robnson :.....
TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT VOL 23 NO. 2 FALL 200 Stppets Durng ths year's World Cup competton, M. Munyappan, an astrologer n Sngapore's "Lttle nda" dstrct, saw hs clentele skyrocket from an average of 0/day to 0/hour. The reason: The amazng precson and accuracy of hs astrologcal forecasts - not! But close: The real reason: The amazng precson and accuracy of hs pet's forecasts, regardng the outcomes of the champonshp soccer matches. Man, hs "psychc" parakeet, had exhbted encyclopedc knowledge of each team, and was thus able to successfully predct the wnners of all four quarter-fnal matches. Ether that, or, just by dumb luck, ts beak happened to be attracted to the correct cards (each bearng a country's flag) when they were placed n front of what the local meda dubbed the "magcal brd." Regardless, hoards of gamblng-mad soccer fans boosted the busness to a clmax - and those who dd so wthn a few days of the fnal match departed wth an unfar advantage over the general bettng publc: the certan knowledge that Holland would defeat Span. (A FP va the nternet, July 9) Er, t seems that Span went on to defeat Holland. But would that cause any "pet psychc" afconados to queston ther belefs? Why should they? Haven't you ever heard of a psychc parakeet havng an "off' day? Happens to the best of us - though apparently not to an eght-armed freak of nature named Paul! Per ths newspaper artcle, "The psychc octopus has not made a mstake when predctng the outcome of a football match for two years." Would Paul prefer the mussel n the box marked "Span" over the one n the "Holland" box? You betcha! And for good measure, he found the Germany mussel more appealng than the one representng Uruguay, thus also successfully selectng the 3rd- and 4th-place fnshers. But before he chose Germany over Uruguay, he had pcked Span to whp Germany n an earler match-up. He was rght (as always), but that stll dd not st well wth the Germans, who have been known to carry a grudge a tad too far. Thus, Spansh envronment and fsheres mnster Elena Espnosa announced, "On Monday, shall be at the European Councl of Mnsters and shall be askng for a [fshng] ban on Paul the octopus so the Germans do not eat hm." (London Daly Telegraph, July 9) THE REAL WORlD tup W\NNE.R Doesn't t just drve you nuts when you thnk you're about to talk to your dead father, and the late Farrah Fawcett pcks up nstead and says hello? Well, not f you're actress Tor Spellng - and hawkng a new book. As she s reported to have told Out magazne: "f t had been some psychc that 'd walked n off the street for fve bucks, t would have been dfferent. But t came through [John Edward].... He offered to do a readng wth me and was hopng would talk to my dad.... And then, all of a sudden, [he sad] Farrah Fawcett's comng through. And we were neghbors for years. "She bascally wanted me to gve a message to [her famly].... 've actually wrtten a letter to Ryan O'Neal and explaned to hm... everythng that happened." (Huffng/on Post, June 24)- As we reported n a Summer 2008 Snppet, Radvoje Lajc's house n northern Bosna had been struck fve separate tmes by meteortes snce November 2007. " am obvously beng targeted by extraterrestrals," Lajc naturally concluded. Well, he says t's happened agan, and experts at Belgrade Unversty confrm that all sx rocks that he has shown them have ndeed been genune meteortes. Lajc says that he has sold one of them to a Dutch unversty to fnance hs home's new steel-grderrenforced roof. " have no doubt am beng targeted by alens," he reaffrmed. "[ don't know why] they are playng games wth me." (London Daly Mal, July 9) n a seres of letters wrtten to Brtan's Mnstry of Defence n 999, the grandson of one of Wnston Churchll's bodyguards nqured about an RAF flght crew's close encounter wth a "metallc" UFO durng WW. The documents, among 5,000 pages of UFOrelated fles newly released by Brtan's Natonal Archves, allege that the grandfather overheard a senstve dscusson between the Prme Mnster and General Esenhower durng whch Churchll allegedly sad somethng approxmatng, "Ths event should be mmedately classfed, snce t would create mass panc among the general populaton and destroy one's belef n the Church." The bodyguard allegedly told only hs young daughter at the tme, and dd not tell hs wfe untl on hs deathbed n 973. The daughter years later told the grandson, a physcst who stresses n the letters that he s not a "crackpot." But, alas, the MoD's response s that all "UFO fles from before 967 were destroyed after fve years" due to nsuffcent publc nterest. (London Daly Telegraph, August 5) "Snppets" are derved from the referenced sources and then rewrtten by TBS Reporfs edtor. Please submt your clppngs to TBS. ;a;;a &*&&
lvol. 23 NO. 2 FALL 200 TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT PAGE sl "Noreen Rener Bankruptcy Rulng" (from page ) suspcon. As Roxe Cuellar told TBS Report: Story House Productons featured Rener n so many epsodes of Psychc Detectves (and another of ther shows called Psychc nvestgators) that she must have receved substantal payments from them n the mmedate years precedng her bankruptcy. And gven how many tmes those shows were rerun, suspect she may have contnued to receve substantal undeclared royaltes from Story House even after she fled for bankruptcy. Both of the trustees knew full well that she had egregously understated her ncome n her petton to the court, and they had the power to ssue and enforce subpoenas, but they seemed more nterested n closng the books on ths case than n makng sure that the debtor was honest n her representatons and that debts owed to her credtors were satsfed to the fullest extent possble. n the end, Rener's allegedly hdden assets (f any) were never made avalable for payment of her debts. But the Court dd put the rghts to A Mnd for Murder up for aucton, and Rener was the hgh bdder at $9,000, 6 o/o of whch wll be pad to Merrell. n all, Merrell s to receve approxmately $7,500 from Rener's estate. He estmates that he remans approxmately $65,000 n the hole as a result of the Court's refusal, n hs opnon, to admnster justce n ths case. Further, Merrell was requred to take down hs extensve ant-rener www.amndformurder.com webste and to arrange for the rghts to that doman to be turned over to Rener. He was permtted to retan and make one fnal post to hs www.commentarybysherlock.com ste. Cuellar summarzed her reactons to the legal processes ths way: found the trustees' actons to be very frustratng and openly hostle towards John. They knew Rener had grossly understated her ncome by falng to declare most of her earnngs and royaltes, yet they showed no nterest n lookng for hdden assets, nstead leavng all the nvestgatve work to John. f only he were a "psychc detectve" lke Rener, maybe justce mght have been served. John dd what he was told he could do, ncludng ssung hs own subpoenas. But f the trustees had no ntenton of revewng the materal he dscovered, they shouldn't have advsed hm to ssue the subpoenas and to revew the materals and prepare a formal summary for them. That all cost John a lot of tme and money. And t was only because of John's persstence that about $,000 was eventually recovered for dstrbuton to the credtors. Havng watched n the courtroom how Rener nteracted wth one of the trustees durng the frst hearng, there was just such a dfference n the overt frendlness he exhbted toward Rener and the blatant rudeness he showed toward John. John, hs other sster Sally Penna (who also made the trp wth us), and were all shocked by t, frankly, because we had expected an atmosphere of farness and courtroom decorum. Cuellar had accompaned Merrell to the Vrgna courtroom for two of the crucal hearngs and negotatons. She tells TBS Report that at one pont, Rener whspered to her attorney that she would sue f there was even a menton of Merrell's name n the book am wrtng. However, Cuellar s adamant that the fmal verbal agreement was actually to the effect that John would be delsted as the book's author ( was orgnally to be hs co-author) and would not contrbute any dsparagng comments about Rener. That s also the clear recollecton of John and hs other sster. As for Judge Anderson's fmal order sanctfyng Rener's threat rather than the negotated settlement language, Cuellar beleves that the kndly southern jurst had been beguled by Rener's pleadngs of poverty and maltreatment (at the hand of Merrell). TBS charman Terry Smljanch, also an attorney, tells me that snce was not a party to the bankruptcy case, cannot fle a protest aganst the judge's order, even as t pertans to me. Yet, as Merrell was the prmary nvestgator nto the mssng-plane case and the one who ntervewed the quoted prncpals, there can be no book wthout menton of hs name throughout. So, am placed n the followng quandary: Should abandon the book? Or should proceed, and thus subject Merrell to beng lable for payng Rener $30,000 for hs havng breached (even though he has no control over my actons) hs "agreement" wth Rener (even though there was no such agreement)? (contnued on page 8) "Hubrs and the Supernormal" (from page 3) a dstance and n low lght. f t doesn't look lke a trck to me, t can't be a trck. f can't fgure out how t mght be a trck, t can't be a trck. f don't want t to be a trck, t can't be a trck. f don't understand the mathematcs of the probabltes, t doesn't matter and don't need to concern myself. don't need to rgorously test my own psychc abltes; t's enough that feel that 'm correct even when my psychc ntutons cannot be verfed. n fact, the less they're subject to verfcaton, the more confdent am, to the pont where f there's absolutely no opportunty for me to be proved wrong, 'm 00% certan." The Ancent Greek hubrsts merely bashed your skull n. The modem ones go n more for skullduggery.
PAGE 6 TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT VOL. 23 NO. 2 FALL 200 l CONSULTANTS t ; ;,7c ;-... Judth Becker Bryant, Ph.D. : Psychology Dept. Unv. of South Florda (USF) j Tampa Charles R. Mathews, M.D. : Former Asst. Sec. for Health Servces Florda Dept. of Correctons Tallahassee t.., Vncent E. Parr, Ph.D. s J Clncal psychologst Tampa James "The Amazng" Rand Magcan, author Plantaton Daryl L. Schrader Dept. of Mathematcs J St. Petersburg College Alan L. Sol, Ph.D. Dept. of Chemstry Eckerd College St. Petersburg...... Other Skeptcal Sources on the Paranormal Prometheus Books oo+ -page catalog (30% dscount f ordered va TBS) 59 John Glenn Dr. Amherst, NY 4228 (800) 42-035 www.prometheusbooks.com Skeptcal nqurer Publshed by CS (formerly CSCOP) Box 703 Amherst, NY 4226 (76) 636-425 www.cscop.org : Skeptc Publshed by the Skeptcs Socety Altadena, CA 900 (88) 794-39 www.skeptc.com P.O. Box 338 z... A New Vson for Scence Engagement wth the Publc From the www.aaas.org archves: Scentsts must seek a new, more energetc engagement wth Amercans f they are to overcome publc skeptcsm on ssues rangng from clmate change to stem cell research, Amercan Assocaton for the Advancement of Scence CEO Alan. Leshner wrtes n a commentary n The Chroncle of Hgher Educaton. Leshner' s opm0n pece, "Scence and Publc Engagement" ( 0 October 2006), cted a growng tenson between scence and socety, resultng n part from moral objectons to embryonc stem cell research or evoluton and lack of understandng of the nature of scence as an enterprse. But rather than wshng the publc understood and callng for more educaton, scentfc organzatons and ndvdual scentsts must take a more personal and proactve nterest n reachng out to the publc, he sad. "Smply lamentng the tenson or protestng attacks on the ntegrty of scence and scence educaton won't work," wrote Leshner, who also serves as executve publsher of Scence. "We've been dong those for decades, f not centures, and, as the sayng has t, nsanty s dong the same thng over and over and expectng a dfferent outcome. "nstead of smply ncreasng publc understandng of scence, scentsts need to have a real dalogue wth members of the publc, lstenng to ther concerns, ther prortes, and the questons they would lke us to help answer. We also need to fnd ways to move scence forward whle adaptng to ther legtmate concerns." Leshner lsted a number of mportant lessons for scence as t moves toward a more constructve publc engagement, ncludng: never pt scence aganst relgon, never debate a known deologue, be clear about the nature of scence, and lsten. "The most mportant - and most dffcult - lesson to learn," Leshner wrote, "s that publc engagement nvolves genune dalogue, whch means both partes must lsten and be wllng to modfy ther own postons." "Charman's Corner" ({romp. 2) gentle fun at the non-scentfc absurdtes of certan popular belefs. Whether you fmd hs phlosophcal musngs persuasve or not, there can be no doubt that he was a gant among skeptcs. Rand and others have wrtten movng trbutes to hm n the latest (Sept./ Oct.) ssue of Skeptcal nqurer. Among the cream of the current hearty crop of ntellgent and entertanng skeptcs are Mchael Shermer (the "Skeptc"), Phl Plat (the "Bad Astronomer"), Rebecca Watson (the "Skepchck"), and Adam Savage (the "Mythbuster"). Wth the lkes of Gardner, Klass, Sagan and Asmov now gone, t's up to the "new" faces to carry on the tradton, and do justce to the legacy, of those conc thnkers and wrters. : James Rand Educ. Foundaton 20 S.E. 2th St. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 3336-85 (954) 467-2 : www.rand.org : And check out the TBS webste's : full page of "Resource Lnks" Tampa Bay Skeptcs T -Shr ts TBS T-shrts (S, M, L, XXL and XXXL) are avalable for purchase from the TBS/CF offce. The shrts are 00% cotton, black, crew style, no pocket, wth TBS name/ logo emblazoned n whte across the chest. The cost s $0 each (plus $4 total per order f shppng s requred). Make check payable to "Tampa Bay Skeptcs." ' && me
lvol. 23 NO.2 FALL 200 TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT PAGE 7 Edtor: James Carron's "Goodbye Ufology, Hello Truth," reprnted n your Summer 200 ssue, s a fascnatng essay. The fact s that alen spaceshp UFOs would volate smple prncples of physcs and chemstry. The amount of energy requred to launch an nterstellar craft would be so huge, because of the vastness of space, that no cvlzaton could possbly get such a vehcle off the ground. The fgures are gven n my artcle ttled "Why Vstng Alen Spaceshps Are mpossble" (tnyurl.com/ 3ympc8) n CS' s June 2008 Skeptcal Brefs newsletter. From that artcle: "The dstances n outer space are so vast that the velocty of a space vehcle has to be [at least] one-tenth the speed of lght f t s expected to reach Earth n a reasonable perod of tme.... The entre capacty of the Unted States power system s one trllon watts.... f we could by some magc harness the entre output of the U.S. power system behnd a space vehcle, t would take x 0 8 seconds - three years - to get t up to speed!" t s unfortunate that honest nvestgators and skeptcs have spent so much tme chasng an mpossble dream (or nghtmare) that can be demolshed wth a few famlar and smple energy equatons. Sd Deutsch Sarasota sddeutsch@eee.org www.sddeutsch.org Edtor: am emalng you guys for some help. lve wth my wfe and fve kds, and we've been experencng some very strange thngs n our home. My seven-year-old stepdaughter "sees thngs," f you wll, startng back when she was three. Snce movng nto our apartment (whch s the sze of a small home) about eght months ago, she has often awakened to see "someone" movng the curtans attached to the top of her bed. The house had been quet for months untl three weeks ago, when my wfe and were home alone watchng a move, went nto the ktchen, and upon leavng the ktchen found a full water bottle just standng straght up n the mddle of the walkway. Fve days ago, my daughter came nto our room cryng, sayng she saw a black shadow wth long black har and no face, so we let her sleep n our room. Yesterday when my wfe and were alone wth my two young boys, we were watchng a move when suddenly there were two very loud knocks on the wall n my boys' room, but no one was there. A few hours later, my brother-n-law came over and we wat hed another move, my two boys now asleep n my room. Durng the move we all clearly heard my stepsons' room door open and close twce, followed by sounds of thngs n the room beng moved. My wfe then saw a shadow fgure (n the reflecton of our sldng glass door) leave the boys' room and walk down the hallway to my room. Later, my threeyear-old son woke up screamng "daddy" and lookng scared to death, pontng nto the dark hallway tryng to tell me what he saw and sad that all the stuff on hs bed had flown off. Angry, told ths "entty" to leave my home. We all then ended up leavng and stayng at my n-laws' house. cannot deal wth ths knd of crazness n my home and we don't know what to do. Any help or advce would be greatly apprecated. Rob Collett Brandon robcollett@gmal.com Edtor's reply: We nformed Mr. Collett that after dong some nternet searchng of hs address, one TBS Executve Councl member found that ten years ago a famly of fve moved out after a mlk bottle mysterously appeared n the bathtub. Another commented that conductng a thorough nvestgaton would probably requre us to set up audo and vdeo recorders and lve n the home for a week or so. We ultmately explaned that "poltergest" cases lke ths one are almost nvarably found to be caused by someone lvng n the home, usually an adolescent, and usually female. Readers are nvted to offer ther own comments/suggestons. ------------------------------------ MEMBERSHP SUBSCRPTON DONATON BACK-ORDER FORM Membershp Optons: D $5 for TBS membershp only D $60 for Center For nqury Tampa Bay membershp, ncludng TBS* D Ths s a renewal. D Donaton of $ enclosed. * For st-tme TBS membershp only Other optons: D $5 for Tampa Bay Skeptcs Report subscrpton only (not TBS or CF membershp) D Ths s a renewal. D $60 for Center For nqury Tampa Bay membershp only (not ncludng TBS) D Ths s a renewal. DThe followng back ssues of TBS Report are requested ($ each): Make TBS-only checks payable to "Tampa Bay Skeptcs" and CF checks payable to "Center For nqury Tampa Bay" and mal to: Center For nqury Tampa Bay 304 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., Box 363 Tampa, FL 3368-2808 ------------------------------------
PAGE 8 TAMPA BAY SKEPTCS REPORT VOL. 23 NO. 2 FALL 200 Arnrn unrn m Q Q Q Tampa Bay Skeptcs Quarterly Meetngs Press and Publc Welcome Last Saturday of every March, June, September, and December (barrng specal crcumstances) Our next meetng wll be: SATURDAY,SEPTEMBER25 :00 A.M. to :00 P.M. ROOM 08 JAN KAMAN S PLATT REGONAL LBRARY 390 S. MANHATTAN AVENUE, TAMPA (between Dale Mabry Hwy. and West Shore Blvd., one block south of W. Eucld Ave.) Featured: Patrck McGrk on "What really want my scence students to learn: Scence's remarkable methods for explorng the natural world." Followed by optonal lunch at a local restaurant "Noreen Rener Bankruptcy Rulng" ({romp. 5) have decded upon a thrd alternatve. Assumng the book ultmately proceeds to publcaton, wll use a pseudonym for Merrell, perhaps "Jack Monroe." Whle makng sure that there s not "any menton of Merrell's name" n the book tself, the pseudonym wll be accompaned each tme by an astersk, and there wll be notatons throughout referrng the reader to a page on my webste that wll explan the stuaton n full detal. n my own magnaton, whch by law s permtted to be as vvd as Judge Anderson's, hs honor and mutually came to ths pseudonym "agreement." f he professes to have a problem wth t, he can stck t where the moon don't shne. d\\\\)d d'j \)t\cs -- ;;;; :: ;::... www.tampabayskeptcs.org f for no other reasons, check out the Web versons of our TBS Report artcles for ther related lnks and for the : occasonal graphcs not present n our prnted newsletters : : due to space constrants. And send us your e-mal address f you would lke to be : added to our TBS Update Servce.... :... : TBS and JREF "Psychc" Chal enges Tampa Bay Skeptcs has a standng "$,000 Challenge" : for scentfc proof of any paranormal phenomenon. The James Rand Educatonal Foundaton wll award ts fully secured $,000,000 prze to the frst person able to suc- cessfully produce proof of paranormal powers for an ndepen-! dent authorty, n accordance wth the rules at www.rand.org. All UFOogsts, psychcs, astrologers, dowsers, and the : lke are encouraged to come forward, offer your proof, and make hstory. See the "$$$ Challenges" page on the TBS : webste or contact us for more detals. :... : : Center For nqury Tampa Bay As the openng paragraph of ts webste explans,...... Center for nqury Tampa Bay (of whch Tampa Bay Skeptcs s a Specal nterest Group) offers an opportunty to put your prncples nto practce by jonng other reasonng : people n workng for postve change n socety. CF Tampa Bay sponsors socal events for freethnkers as well as ntellectual programmng, and asssts wth campus outreach. : One ongong event, the lecture seres on the thrd Saturday of each month at :00 a.m., often covers topcs that may be of partcular nterest to TBS members. For more nformaton on upcomng CF Tampa Bay events, vst ther webste (www.centerforlnqury.net/ : Tampa) or contact them by U.S. mal (304 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., Box 363, Tampa, FL 3368) or e-mal (Tampa@ CenterForlnqury.net).... c/o Center For nqury Tampa Bay 304 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., Box 363 Tampa, Florda 3368-2808 A Specal nterest Group of the CENTER FOR NQURY TAMPA BAY FRST CLASS