GOODBYE, MARTIN
from CBSnews.com:
May. 23, 2010
Scientific American Columnist Martin Gardner, Prolific Math And Science Writer, Dies At 95
(AP) NORMAN, Okla. (AP) – Prolific mathematics and science writer Martin Gardner, known for popularizing recreational mathematics and debunking paranormal claims, died Saturday. He was 95.
Gardner died Saturday after a brief illness at Norman Regional Hospital, said his son James Gardner. He had been living at an assisted living facility in Norman.
Martin Gardner was born in 1914 in Tulsa, Okla., and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the University of Chicago.
He became a freelance writer, and in the 1950s wrote features and stories for several children’s magazines. His creation of paper-folding puzzles led to his publication in Scientific American magazine, where he wrote his “Mathematical Games” column for 25 years.
The column introduced the public to puzzles and concepts such as fractals and Chinese tangram puzzles, as well as the work of artist M.C. Escher.
Allyn Jackson, deputy editor of Notices, a journal of the American Mathematical Society, wrote in 2005 that Gardner “opened the eyes of the general public to the beauty and fascination of mathematics and inspired many to go on to make the subject their life’s work.”
Jackson said Gardner’s “crystalline prose, always enlightening, never pedantic, set a new standard for high quality mathematical popularization.”
The mathematics society awarded him its Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition in 1987 for his work on math, particularly his Scientific American column.
“He was a renaissance man who built new ideas through words, numbers and puzzles,” his son, a professor of special education at the University of Oklahoma, told The Associated Press.
Gardner also became known as a skeptic of the paranormal and wrote columns for Skeptical Inquirer magazine. He wrote works debunking public figures such as psychic Uri Geller, who gained fame for claiming to bend spoons with his mind.
Most recently he wrote a feature published in Skeptical Inquirer’s March/April on Oprah Winfrey’s New Age interests.
Former magician James Randi, now a writer and investigator of paranormal claims, paid tribute to Gardner on his website Saturday, calling his colleague and longtime friend “a very bright spot in my firmament.”
He ended his Scientific American column in 1981 and retired to Hendersonville, N.C. Gardner continued to write, and in 2002 moved to Norman, where his son lives.
Gardner wrote more than 50 books.
Gardner was preceded in death by his wife, Charlotte. Besides James Gardner, he is survived by another son, Tom, of Asheville, N.C.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
[I'm glad my nephew, Cole, was able to meet this amazing person] – thank you, Amy…..
TRIBUTE TO MARTIN IN SKEPTICAL INQUIRER
ASTROLOGY: THE PROBLEM OF TIME
WATCH BILL NYE “THE SCIENCE GUY” EXPLAIN
CHIROPRACTIC: An OKC M.D.’s Warning
NECK ADJUSTMENT & STROKE? A WARNING FROM BILL KINSINGER, M.D.
The birth of chiropractic occurred in Davenport Iowa in 1895. Daniel David Palmer was an uneducated grocer who longed to find a cure for all disease. He reportedly cured a deaf man by manipulating his neck and convinced himself that he had indeed found the cure for all ailments. Palmer claimed that 95% of all illness could be eliminated by manipulating the spine, a procedure he called an “adjustment.” The Palmer School of Chiropractic is still considered the “fountainhead” of chiropractic and the theories and practices that are taught there in the 21st century are virtually unchanged from the ideas that D.D. Palmer put forth just over 100 years ago.
That Palmer’s theories have no merit and no scientific basis is troubling enough. Our health care system is struggling with skyrocketing costs and wasting those dollars on quackery seems to be totally illogical. Making the matter worse, chiropractic is not without significant hazards. Chiropractors believe that part of the spine in most need of “adjustment” is the upper neck. Unfortunately, a small number of patients who have their upper necks twisted will suffer a stroke. Most of these patients are woman between the age of twenty and forty-five. Some of them will recover; others will die or suffer permanent and profound neurological injury such as quadriplegia. The benefits of chiropractic treatment are minimal or non-existent. The risks are tremendous.
……. Bill Kinsinger, M.D. [invited blogger]
CLICK HERE TO WATCH DR. KINSINGER EXPLAIN
CLICK HERE TO VIEW CNN REPORT (SANJAY GUPTA, M.D.)
PSYCHIC SURGERY: Without Knives?
WATCH PSYCHIC SURGERY DEMONSTRATION BY MAGICIAN JAMES RANDI
REMOTE VIEWING: “Seeing” from Afar?
WATCH THE SCIENCE CHANNEL EXPLAIN
HOMEOPATHY: Placebo or Legit?
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SCIENCE CHANNEL EXPLAIN HOMEOPATHY
WEIRD THINGS EXPLAINED
Michael Shermer
Is this man really levitating? What are some logical explanations for this apparent defiance of gravity? No trick photography is involved. Submit a comment to answer.
WATCH DR. SHERMER’S ”WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS” (must see)
PHYSICAL AND NONPHYSICAL; SCIENTIFIC AND NONSCIENTIFIC
Physical and Nonphysical; Scientific and Nonscientific
by John Nail, Ph.D.
This is the season in which ‘paranormal researchers’ spend time in old buildings (often charging people to accompany them) with various ‘scientific equipment’ for the purposes of ‘studying’ paranormal phenomena such as ghosts. Presumably, their goal is to photograph visual images of the disembodied spirits or record sounds made by them. However, there is one problem with this: it isn’t possible.
Vision and photography are possible due to physical existence. When you see your friend, it is because light being reflected from your friend is entering your eyes; when you photograph your friend, light reflected from your friend enters the lens and is recorded.
Presumably, ghosts / spirits are disembodied entities and do not have a physical existence, in terms of having a physical entity that could reflect light; if so, they could not be photographed.
Sound is produced by vibrations. Sound waves are produced by motions; once again, this involves physical entities, Not only would disembodied spirits be invisible and impossible to photograph, they would also be silent and would not produce recordable or audible sounds or other vibrations.
Of course, none of this is meaningful to the true believer in the paranormal. Studies have shown that people ignore evidence that conflicts with their beliefs and are unable to critically analyze evidence that appears to support their beliefs. Paranormal believers defend poor quality evidence that they claim that supports their beliefs and reject arguments that show that their beliefs are physically impossible.
It is sadly ironic when people try to use science to verify their antiscientific beliefs.
[John Nail is Chair of the Chemistry Department at Oklahoma City University]
WATCH GHOSTS EXPLAINED ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TV
PSYCHIC DETECTIVE FAKE IN OK?
PSYCHIC JEFF BAKER–CHARGES $450 PER HOUR
[Oklahoma is Not "OK" for Psychic]
Denver’s alleged psychic Jeff Baker claims to have found every one of the approximately 100 missing bodies he’s telepathically searched for. Baker, a top-four-contestant on Lifetime’s “America’s Psychic Challenge,” volunteered his services to the Woodward, Oklahoma, Sheriff’s Department to assist in finding the presumed-dead body of 6-year old Logan Tucker – for the purpose of family closure. As usual, I went on local TV to call his antics immoral. Baker led authorities to six areas where he thought the body could be buried. Despite his playing the numbers game – success rate increases for each additional area searched – Baker failed to find the body. So now his record is 100 out of 101, apparently.
But he didn’t leave Oklahoma. He next traveled to Tulsa to find a 13-year old girl named Cori Baker, no relation and also presumably dead. Baker, at a news conference, announced that he had contacted the dead girl from beyond the grave and that he was “very, very confident” he would find her. In fact, he said it might take a few hours or all day to find her. He began this search on February 13. On February 29, I contacted the Tulsa Police Department, who told me the girl had not been found. Surprise, surprise. I guess Oklahoma is a difficult place for Baker. Oh, well – I suppose 100 out of 102 isn’t bad, huh?
CHAKRA CRAPOLA?
Chakra
According to kundalini yoga, a chakra (pronounced chuckrah and meaning wheel or circle in Sanskrit) is a center of prana or energy. It is said that there are several of these that begin at the base of the spine and end at the top of the head. Kundalini yoga uses physical postures and concentration to increase and focus prana to make union with the Absolute.
In theosophy, the chakras are said to reside in the astral body.
New Age gurus think chakras have colors and give rise to auras that reveal one’s spiritual and physical health, as well as one’s karma. The “third eye,” or chakra known as ajna, is thought to be the way to ESP.
The alleged energy of the chakras is not scientifically measurable, though some have tried to connect the chakras with physical organs such as the pineal gland and the thymus.
[from "The Skeptic's Dictionary"]
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Because of the lack of research to support the claims of chakra proponents, I put this in the category of “feel good” stuff. It makes supporters feel good to talk in new wavy language and be diagnosed by new wavy “experts.” Smoke & Mirrors……
