Get 1 million $ the easy way

The Bad Astronomer links to an article on Wired Magazine that gives 10 tips on how to get James Randi's million.

Tip No. 10. Do have paranormal powers.

:)

7 Thinking Errors People Probably Make

The brain isn’t a flawless piece of machinery. Although it is powerful and comes in an easy to carry container, it has it’s weaknesses. A field in psychology which studies these errors, known as biases. Although you can’t upgrade your mental hardware, noticing these biases can clue you into possible mistakes.

The common thinking errors are:

1) Confirmation Bias
2) Hindsight Bias
3) Clustering Illusion
4) Recency Effect
5) Anchoring Bias
6) Overconfidence Effect
7) Fundamental Attribution Error

read more | digg story

Conspiracy Theories

from xkcd via denialism blog


The Moon Landing Conspiracy, in case you have not read it before. From Bad Astronomy

The Doggerel Index & Suggestions

A resource for people who debate against nonsense.

The Bronze Blog: Doggerel Index & Suggestions

How do you prove photography to a blind man?

via Bad Astronomy Blog

Skeptico: How do you prove photography to a blind man?

I knew what he was getting at. We had been discussing psychics. He was a firm believer in psychic powers, had had psychic experiences, and regularly visited a psychic. His point was, since I had not experienced psychic powers, I would never be able to believe in what he “knew” to be true. You could never prove to a blind man that photography exists, and likewise no one would ever be able to demonstrate to me that psychic powers were real.

Read the post to learn how.

Amazing

The last few weeks of the year was hectic. I am just beginning to catch up with my reading and I came upon this post from stepping on poop. It seemed that Jaime Licauco wrote a column where he referenced James Randi.

For those who does not yet know, James Randi is a magician who heads the James Randi Educational Foundation. The Foundation offers a prize of one million dollars

"to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event."

Anyway, SOP demolishes a lot of Mr. Licaucos claims and James Randi himself wrote a letter to the editor to the inquirer to refute Mr. Licauco's claims.

What I really found amazing is that James Randi actually lived in the Philippines and performed here. I sure wish he'd come back so I can see him perform.

Saturday the 14th

It's still Friday the 13th in the US and the Washington Times has this article (via slashdot)

"...It's double-13 Friday. All the numbers in the numerical notation -- 10/13/2006 -- add up to 13 as well, giving great pause to the superstitious.

The phenomenon hasn't happened in 476 years, said Heinrich Hemme, a physicist at Germany's University of Aachen who crunched the numbers to find that the double-whammy last occurred Jan. 13, 1520. "

I really like Philadelphia's haunted express where they

"...ask riders to walk under a ladder, break a mirror, step on a sidewalk crack and confront a black cat before embarking tonight, spokeswoman Leslie Bari said.

"Guests will have the opportunity to challenge superstition," she said."

Nothing unlucky happened to me yesterday, and I was waiting in anticipation. :)