Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[SkeptInq@aol.com]

 Skeptical Inquirer Electronic Digest 11-3-99

 Visit the CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer Magazine website at
http://www.csicop.org. Receiving over 200,000 hits per year, the CSICOP site
was recently rated one of the top ten science sites by HOMEPC magazine.

 In this week's SI DIGEST:

 --JAMA Reviews Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine
 --Quackwatch.com Response to Intercessory Prayer Study
 --John Allen Paulos on Bible Code/New Omega Code Movie
 --USA Today Features Philadelphia Skeptic/Dennis Lee's Energy Claims
 --NPR Science Friday on Science in the Coutroom
 --NPR Science Friday and Newsweek on 100th Anniversary of Freud
 --NY Times Book Review on John Horgan's _The Undiscovered Mind_

 JAMA REVIEWS SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

 The November 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association
includes a very favorable review of the Scientific Review of Alternative
Medicine (SRAM).

 To read the review, go to
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v282n17/full/jbk1103-3.html

 To order SRAM, call Prometheus Books at 1800-421-0351.

 Visit the SRAM website at http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990226-altmed/.

 Last February, CSICOP and SRAM sponsored "Science Meets Alternative
Medicine," a two day conference held in Philadelphia that included
presentations by former NEJM editor Marcia Angell and former JAMA editor
George Lundberg.  To read a summary of the conference, go to
http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990226-altmed/.



 QUACKWATCH.COM RESPONSE TO INTERCESSORY PRAYER STUDY

 A new study claims to show support for the use of intercessory prayer in
healing:

 A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Effects of
 Remote, Intercessory Prayer on
 Outcomes in Patients Admitted to the Coronary Care Unit
      William S. Harris, PhD; Manohar Gowda, MD;
      Jerry W. KoJames H. O'Keefe, MD;
      Ben D. McCallister, MD

 Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 159 No. 19, October 25, 1999.

 http://archinte.ama-assn.org/issues/v159n19/full/ioi90043.html

 It concludes:

     Remote, intercessory prayer was associated with lower CCU course
     scores. This result suggests that prayer may be an effective
     adjunct to standard medical care.

 Stephen Barrett, M.D., long time consumer health advocate and watchdog,
responds to the article in an update to his Faith Healing section on
www.quackwatch.com.   Go to
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/faith.html.

 He also recently added an excellent article titled "Handling Challenges to
Skepticism."  Go to
http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/challenges.html.

 And for fellow work-out aficionados who have heard claim after claim about
the supplement creatine, go to
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/creatine.html.

 JOHN ALLEN PAULOS ON THE BIBLE CODE/NEW MOVIE 'OMEGA CODE"

 There's a fascinating article on the Bible Code by mathematician John Allen
Paulos,
 posted at the ABC News website, at
 http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/WhosCounting/whoscounting.html

 This article should be up for the whole month of November.  It features
 CSICOP consultant Dave Thomas' amazing find of "ROSWELL" in the King James
 version of Genesis.  (Those 'in the know' will realize that the Bible Code
 couldn't *possibly* have survived the translation from Hebrew, and that
 finding messages in the King James text amounts to the same thing as
 finding codes in the Yellow Pages.)  There are some nice graphics with
 'ROSWELL' emerging from the Bible text.

 There is also mention of the solid refutation of the 1994 Statistical
 Science paper promoting the codes by Witztum, Rips, and Rosenberg.  This
 rebuttal, by Australian mathematician Brendan McKay and Israeli
 mathematicians Dror Bar-Natan, Maya Bar-Hillel and Gil Kalai, should be the
 final word in the lengthy "Bible Code" saga.  It was published in the May
 1999 edition of Statistical Science.

 A new movie with a Bible Code theme, _The Omega Code_ (with Michael York)
 opened recently, and had a good first weekend ($2.4 million, $7,700 per
 screen average) at the box office.  But the initial excitement has faded,
 as detailed by "Mr. Showbiz" at
 http://mrshowbiz.go.com/news/Todays_Stories/991028/omegacode102899.html

 USA TODAY FEATURES PHILLY SKEPTIC ON DENNIS LEE&FREE ENERGY

 From Eric Krieg of the Philadelphia-area skeptic group PHACT
 Eric@phact.org

 People,


   Check out USA Today - page 8D (Nov. 2).  It includes a good plug for the
 Philadelphia Skeptics group and my web page (which is getting plenty
 of extra hits).  The story is the first major media coverage of
 Dennis Lee's 12 year history of raising money for free electricity
 machines (always promised in about 2 months).
  I would like to thank a number of other skeptics and local
 skeptics groups who helped work with local press all across the
 country to air the story.  A network of people in cyber space has
 investigated Dennis's traveling show and been very successful
 getting local press to pick it up.  Journalists seem to really
 appreciate people who can fast track them on a story
 and offer the scientific point of view.  The story has some
 great quotes from Bob Park, a few "recovered" former associates
  of Dennis and an attorney general.  Anita Manning (copied) gave a
 well rounded accurate account.
    I encourage my fellow skeptics to trade story ideas with other
 local skeptics groups and to feel free to do the media a favor
 by pointing out stories of interest.  You easily get email addresses
 of TV stations by city and state from:
 http://www.gebbieinc.com/tv/
 And you can find most local newspapers from:
 http://inkpot.com/news/usstate.html
   I believe Good Morning America will do the story on Friday.

   Again, I appreciate the many people who have helped out on this.



 Check out the website at:

 http://www.phact.org/e/dennis.html

 NPR SCIENCE FRIDAY: SCIENCE IN THE COURTROOM

 From October 8, 1999
 To listen to the Real Audio, go to
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=10/08/1999&PrgID=5

 From silicone breast implants to the O.J. Simpson murder trial, judges and
juries are being asked to sift their way through some pretty sophisticated
science--often presented by hired scientists who might lack objectivity. When
juries get junk science is justice being served? In this hour, we'll take a
look at the role of science in the courtroom.

 Guests:

 David Faigman
 Author, Legal Alchemy: The Use and Misuse of Science in the Law
 (1999, W.H. Freeman and Company)
 Professor of Law
 University of California-Hastings College of Law
 San Francisco, California

 Deborah Runkle
 Project Manager
 Court Appointed Scientific Experts Project
 American Association for the Advancement of Science
 Washington, D.C.

 William Schwarzer
 Senior U.S. District Judge
 Northern District--California
 Professor of Law
 University of California-Hastings College of Law
 San Francisco, California

 NPR AND NEWSWEEK: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF FREUD'S "...DREAMS..."

 From the Friday, Oct. 29 NPR Science Friday.  To listen to the real audio,
go to http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=10/29/1999&PrgID=5

 Guests:

 Leon Hoffman, M.D.
 Adult and Child Psychoanalyst
 Co-director, Parent-Child Center
 New York Psychoanalytic Society
 New York, New York

 Mark Solms
 Lecturer, Neurosurgery
 Saint Bartholomew's and Royal London School of Medicine
 London, England

 Robert Stickgold
 Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
 Harvard Medical School
 Boston, Massachusetts

 One hundred years ago next week, on November 4th, 1899, Sigmund Freud
published The Interpretation of Dreams, which outlined his theory that dreams
represent our unconscious drives and desires. In this hour, we'll take a look
back at Freud's ideas about dreams and dreaming, and talk about whether
today's brain science backs up those ideas, or calls them into question.

 NEWSWEEK also covers the anniversary.  Read the article at
http://newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/so/a59714-1999oct31.htm.

 NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW: JOHN HORGAN'S _UNDISCOVERED MIND_

 The NY Times Book Review, Sunday, Oct. 31, contained a review of John
Horgan's _The Undiscovered Mind_.  Go to
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/10/31/reviews/991031.31churcht.html.

 You can read comments on Horgan's end of science suggestions as well as post
your own on the SKEPTICS DEBATE 1999 feature of www.csicop.org.  Go to
http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990830-debate/.

 ____________________

 SI Electronic Digest is the biweekly e-mail news update of the Committee
 for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP.)

 Visit http://www.csicop.org/.

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 The Digest is written and edited by Matthew Nisbet and Barry Karr. SI Digest
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