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Hi Dien,

Reading my last post made me realise that I failed to put my point across properly.

I just wanted to respond to Michael Ross' post. He was quite outraged about a site that asked you to write in for forgiveness. He called it an abomination.

My point was that most rational people would laugh it off as stupid. I thought that most people would respond as Adam Katz did...a bit of light hearted fun. But Michael took it so seriously.

Hence my post which really didn't put that point across very well. I rambled on about psychic and so on...you were probably wondering what I was on about.

What I was trying to say was something along the lines of Carl Sagan who wrote in The Demon Haunted World....that we are reaching a new Dark Ages in superstition and gulliblity. "Bad" science dominates in current affairs and media.
Ex pop singer Ronnie Burns hosts a documentary on TV about the end of the world where a myriad of psychics are quoted. Almost no scientific backing is given--almost all the people quoted are "psychics".

Talk back radio has pyschic's because they rate highly, and astrology forecasts are more popular than ever. Homeopathy has been proven to be a scam, but no shortage of followers.

We are in a "new age" where "bad" science gets media. People want to believe. And the media give the people what they want.

Just a bit about hypnotism--I'm not an expert, but Kreskin in the USA uses it in his mindreading act (as he has for the last 40 years) and disputes that there is something like hypnotism--he calls it heightened awareness. He has $100 000 reward to anyone who can prove the existance of hypnotism.

http://www.hypnosisinmedia.com/People/

Can't find the reward he is posting, but a short bit about him. The Scientific American article was interesting. It also mentioned the jury was out for treatment of drinking problems and other behavioural problems.

Finally, just a note about Hal Puthoff. He is no doubt a fine scientist, but the biggest mistake in his career was endorsing and promoting Uri Geller the spoon bender as the real thing.

Uri has been proven fake many years ago and there is even film footage on the net of him bending a spoon in his hands when he thinks no one is watching.
I do spoon bending myself in my professional act.
As a professional magician, I know first hand that the more intelligent people are the easiest people to fool. Puthoff and colleague Russell Targ wrote a book in the 70's totally endorsing Uri Geller, something I'm sure they wished they never did.

Thanks again for your response to my rambling post ealier on, Dien.
You obviously have a lot of patience.

Cheers.
Thomas Berger