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Debunker
A debunker is a person or organization that exposes or discredits claims believed to be false, exaggerated, or pretentious. "to expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated: to debunk advertising slogans." The term is often associated with skeptical investigation of controversial topics such as UFOs, claimed paranormal phenomena, cryptids, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine, religion, or exploratory or fringe areas of scientific or pseudoscientific research. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to "debunk" is defined as: "to expose the sham or falseness of." The ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' defines "debunk" as "expose the falseness or hollowness of (a myth, idea, or belief)". If debunkers are not careful, their communications may backfire – increasing an audience's long-term belief in myths. Backfire effects can occur if a message spends too much time on the negative case, if it is too co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientific Skepticism
Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (also spelled scepticism), sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence. In practice, the term most commonly references the examination of claims and theories that appear to be beyond mainstream science, rather than the routine discussions and challenges among scientists. Scientific skepticism differs from philosophical skepticism, which questions humans' ability to claim any knowledge about the nature of the world and how they perceive it, and the similar but distinct methodological skepticism, which is a systematic process of being skeptical about (or doubting) the truth of one's beliefs. in The skeptical movement (British spelling: sceptical movement) is a contemporary social movement based on the idea of scientific skepticism. The movement has the goal of investigating claims made on fringe topics and determining whether they are supported by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Barrett
Stephen Joel Barrett (; born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health fraud. He focuses on consumer protection, medical ethics, and scientific skepticism. Biography Barrett is a 1957 graduate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his psychiatry residency in 1961. In 1967 and 1968 he completed part of a correspondence course in American Law and Procedure at La Salle Extension University (Chicago). He was a practicing physician until retiring from active practice in 1993. , his medical license was listed as "Expired" in good standing: "No disciplinary actions were found for this license." A longtime resident of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Barrett now resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In addition to webmastering his websites, Barrett was a co-founder, vice-president and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Dietrich
Dorothy Dietrich (born October 31, 1969) is an American stage magician and escapology, escapologist, best known for performing the bullet catch in her mouth (although Adelaide Herrmann reputedly did this earlier) and the first woman to perform a straitjacket escape while suspended hundreds of feet in the air from a burning rope. She was the first woman to gain prominence as an escape artist since the days of Houdini, breaking the glass ceiling for women in the field of escapes and magic. The 2006 ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' included Dietrich among their "eight most noted magicians of the late 20th century", and entertainment writer Samantha Hart in ''Hollywood Walk of Fame: 2000 Sensational Stars, Star Makers and Legends'', called her a "world-class magician" and "one of the world's leading female magicians". Early on, as a teenager, she already was referred to as "The First Lady of Magic", a reference later copied by others. Dietrich, often called the female Houdini, has duplicated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptid
Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not believed to exist by mainstream science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by the scientific community. While biologists regularly identify new species following established scientific methodology, cryptozoologists focus on entities mentioned in the folklore record and rumor. Entities that may be considered cryptids by cryptozoologists include Bigfoot, Yeti, the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Mokele-mbembe. Scholars have noted that the cryptozoology subculture rejected mainstream approaches from an early date, and that adherents often express hostility to mainstream science. Scholars have studied cryptozoologists and their influence (including the pseudoscience's association with Young Earth creationism), noted parallels in cryptozoology and other pseudosciences such as ghost hunting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Times Leader
The ''Times Leader'' is a privately owned newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Founding Founded in 1879, it was locally owned until being purchased by Capital Cities in 1978. Early history On November 27, 1907, the ''Wilkes-Barre Times'' printed a notice that it and the ''Wilkes-Barre Leader'', both afternoon dailies, would merge, creating The ''Times Leader'' with the first newspaper to be dated Monday December 2, 1907. The ''Times Leader'', in the heart of coal country, was subject to a very bitter strike that began October 6, 1978. Over 200 union employees walked off the job in defiance of what they viewed as union busting tactics by the ''Times Leaders new corporate owner, Capital Cities. The four striking newspaper unions began to publish the ''Citizens' Voice'' as a strike paper. Eventually the four unions were decertified. The ''Voice'' continued publication. This in turn prompted competition and created the unusual environment where Wilkes-Barre, with its popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quackery
Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification or credentials they do not possess; a charlatan or snake oil salesman". The term ''quack'' is a clipped form of the archaic term ', from nl, kwakzalver a "hawker of salve". In the Middle Ages the term ''quack'' meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares on the market shouting in a loud voice. Common elements of general quackery include questionable diagnoses using questionable diagnostic tests, as well as untested or refuted treatments, especially for serious diseases such as cancer. Quackery is often described as "health fraud" with the salient characteristic of aggressive promotion. Definition Psychiatrist and author Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch defines quackery "as the promotion of unsubstanti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quackwatch
Quackwatch is a United States-based website, self-described as a "network of people" founded by Stephen Barrett, which aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and to focus on "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere". Since 1996 it has operated the alternative medicine watchdog website quackwatch.org, which advises the public on unproven or ineffective alternative medicine remedies. The site contains articles and other information criticizing many forms of alternative medicine. Quackwatch cites peer-reviewed journal articles and has received several awards. The site has been developed with the assistance of a worldwide network of volunteers and expert advisors. It has received positive recognition and recommendations from mainstream organizations and sources, although at times it has also received criticism for perceived bias in its coverage. It has been recognized in the media, which cite quackwatch.org a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to extrasensory perception (for example, telepathy), spiritualism and the pseudosciences of ghost hunting, cryptozoology, and ufology. Proposals regarding the paranormal are different from scientific hypotheses or speculations extrapolated from scientific evidence because scientific ideas are grounded in empirical observations and experimental data gained through the scientific method. In contrast, those who argue for the existence of the paranormal explicitly do not base their arguments on empirical evidence but rather on anecdote, testimony, and suspicion. The standard scientific models give the explanation that what appears to be paranormal phenomena is usually a misinterpretation, mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel (13 January 1737 – 16 May 1798) was an Austrian Jesuit priest and numismatist. Biography Eckhel was born at Enzersfeld, in Lower Austria. His father was farm-steward to Count Zinzendorf, and he received his early education at the Jesuits' College, Vienna, where at the age of fourteen he was admitted into the order. He devoted himself to antiquities and numismatics. After being engaged as professor of poetry and rhetoric, first at Steyr and afterwards at Vienna, he was appointed in 1772 keeper of the cabinet of coins at the Jesuits' College, and in the same year he went to Italy for the purpose of personal inspection and study of antiquities and coins. At Florence he was employed to arrange the collection of the grand duke of Tuscany; and the first-fruits of his study of this and other collections appeared in his ''Numi veteres anecdoti'', published in 1775. On the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, Eckhel was appointed by the empress Maria Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glycon
Glycon ( grc, Γλύκων ''Glýkōn'', : ''Glýkōnos''), also spelled Glykon, was an ancient snake god. He had a large and influential cult within the Roman Empire in the 2nd century, with contemporary satirist Lucian providing the primary literary reference to the deity. Lucian claimed Glycon was created in the mid-2nd century by the Greek prophet Alexander of Abonoteichos. Lucian was ill-disposed toward the cult, calling Alexander a false prophet and accusing the whole enterprise of being a hoax: Glycon himself was supposedly a hand puppet. Macedonian cultural roots The cult possibly originated in Macedonia, where similar snake cults had existed for centuries. The Macedonians believed snakes had magical powers relating to fertility and had a rich mythology on this subject, for example the story of Olympias's impregnation by Zeus disguised as a serpent. Early years At least initially, the cult did not worship an abstraction or a spirit of a snake but an actual, physical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Of Abonoteichus
Alexander of Abonoteichus ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀβωνοτειχίτης ''Aléxandros ho Abōnoteichítēs''), also called Alexander the Paphlagonian ( CE), was a Greek mystic and oracle, and the founder of the Glycon cult that briefly achieved wide popularity in the Roman world. The contemporary writer Lucian reports that he was an utter fraud – the god Glycon was supposedly made up of a live snake with an artificial head. The vivid narrative of his career given by Lucian might be taken as fictitious but for the corroboration of certain coins of the emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius and of a statue of Alexander, said by Athenagoras to have stood in the forum of Parium. This cites: * Lucian, *Samuel Dill, ''Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius'' (1904) * F. Gregorovius, ''The Emperor Hadrian'', trans. by M. E. Robinson (1898). There is further evidence from inscriptions. Lucian describes him as having swindled many people and engaged, through his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
