Skeptic news Archives • Page 21 of 21 • Skeptical Science

Why I am going to TAM

January 13, 2018June 8, 2012 by Dave

Seeing the title, I bet you thought I was going to join the fray and stick my finger into the current hot topic … but no, I’ll leave that to others. Well OK yes, I’m skating around the edges of it here, but it is not “that” that I wish to get into in detail, … Read more

Magic Pill Awareness week

March 4, 2024April 18, 2012 by Dave

Apparently April 10-16 was World Homeopathy Awareness Week. Hey, I’m all for that, I just love the idea of folks become more aware of Homeopathy and what it is “really” all about. Now, before we get into the latest news, let me be blunt and direct … it does not work. Homeopathy’s efficacy is unsupported … Read more

Psychics in Court: Is it “Religion” or “Fraud”?

July 14, 2024April 12, 2012 by Dave

The trial has been on the cards for quite some time now. A family of supposed psychics in South Florida have been defrauding grieving folks out of millions (I blogged about them back in last August here) … and so they have been finally put in the dock. (Yep, that’s four of them in the … Read more

Famous Psychics and the $1 Million challenge

May 31, 2020September 6, 2011 by Dave

Not too long ago, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) appeared on ABC’s Primetime Nightline where some famous psychics put their trickery up on display. It was obvious to most what was going on, the psychics knew before the show who they were doing a reading on, and … gasp … came back with information readily available via google, yet when asked to do a reading for others, declined with some excuse.

Sai Baba

February 27, 2024April 26, 2011 by Dave

The Times of India reports that Sai Baba, one of India’s most famous Godmen, died last Sunday.

Now, to put this in context, he was listed by the Watkins Review as one of the 100 most spiritually influential people in the world (yea, I’m also bothered by that meaningless word “spiritually”, but worry not, the review itself does not mean very much, its just a bookshop review). OK, lets try a few more numbers. There is a claim that he had about around 6 million adherents, and his organization, the Sathya Sai Organisation, reports that there are an estimated 1,200 Sathya Sai Baba Centers in 114 countries worldwide. I’ll not quibble about these numbers, not because I think they are right, (I suspect not), but rather … I simply don’t care to quibble about such numbers. The fact that I don’t dispute is that he had quite a following, and apparently that included presidents and prime ministers from India and beyond.

OK, so lets put our skeptical hats on and take a quick tour.