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Skeptic's Toolbox
The Skeptic's Toolbox is an annual four-day workshop devoted to scientific skepticism. It was formed by psychologist and now-retired University of Oregon professor Ray Hyman, has been held every August since 1992, and is sponsored by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. The workshop focuses on educating people to be better critical thinkers, and involves a central theme. The attendees are broken up into groups and given tasks that they must work on together and whose results they must present in front of the entire group on the last day. History Hyman created the Skeptic's Toolbox in 1989 to teach people how to be better skeptics. He tells James Underdown that "we were putting out more fires by skeptics than by believers... they were going overboard". The first toolbox was in Buffalo, NY with himself, James Alcock and Steve Shaw (now called Banachek). With the exception of one year when the toolbox was held in Boulder, Colorado, the toolbox has been held at the University o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Repressed Memory
Repressed memory is an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is defined as a protective mechanism that excludes memory of painful experiences from consciousness. Repressed memory is a controversial concept, particularly in legal contexts where it has been used to impugn individuals unfairly and inaccurately, leading to substantial harm. At the same time, an American Psychological Association working group indicated that while "most people who were sexually abused as children remember all or part of what happened to them, it is possible for memories of abuse that have been forgotten for a long time to be remembered". Although Sigmund Freud later revised his theory, he initially held that memories of childhood sexual trauma were often repressed (could not be recalled later in life) yet the traumas unconsciously influenced behavior and emotional responding. Des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientology
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a Scientology as a business, business, or a new religious movement. The most recent published census data indicate that there were about 25,000 followers in the United States (in 2008); around 1,800 followers in England (2021); 1,400 in Canada (2021); and about 1,600 in Australia (2016). Hubbard initially developed a set of ideas that he called Dianetics, which he represented as a form of therapy. This he promoted through various publications, as well as through the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation that he established in 1950. The foundation went bankrupt, and Hubbard lost the rights to his book ''Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Dianetics'' in 1952. He then recharacterized the subject as a religion and renamed it Scientology, retaining the terminology, doctrines, and the practice of "Auditing (Scientol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallace Sampson
Wallace Sampson (March 29, 1930 – May 25, 2015), also known as Wally, was an American medical doctor and consumer advocate against alternative medicine and other fraud schemes.Antiscience Trends in the Rise of the 'Alternative Medicine' Movement, Wallace Sampson, 17 DEC 2006, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences/ref>SFGate: Healthy Doubts, ''Wallace Sampson – Alternative medicine doesn't exist and acupuncture is useless, he says'', Reyhan Harmanci, SF Chronicle, August 31, 2006/ref>Closer to the Truth, ''Wallace Sampson, Physician, Consumer Health Advocate'', Public Broadcasting System/ref>Traditional Medicine and Pseudoscience in China: A Report of the Second CSICOP Delegation, Special Report, Barry L. Beyerstein and Wallace Sampson, Center for Inquiry, Volume 20.4, July / August 1996 He was an authority in numerous medical fields, including oncology, hematology, and pathology. He was Emeritus Professor of Clinical Medicine at Stanford University. He was the former He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Beyerstein
Barry L Beyerstein (May 19, 1947 – June 25, 2007) was a scientific skeptic and professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Beyerstein's research explored brain mechanisms of perception and consciousness, the effects of drugs on the brain and mind, sense of smell and its lesser-known contributions to human cognition and emotion. He was founder and chair of the BC Skeptics Society, a Fellow and member of the Executive Council of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Associate editor of the '' Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine'' Journal as well as a contributor to ''Skeptical Inquirer'', Beyerstein was one of the original faculty of CSICOP's Skeptic's Toolbox. Beyerstein was a co-founder of the Canadians for Rational Health Policy and a member of the advisory board of the Drug Policy Foundation of Washington D.C. He was a founding board me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Andrus
Jerry Andrus (January 28, 1918 – August 26, 2007) was an American magician and writer known internationally for his original close-up, sleight of hand tricks and optical illusions, such as the famous "Linking Pins". Early life Andrus was born January 28, 1918, in Sheridan, Wyoming. At the age of 10, he moved to Albany, Oregon, where he lived until his death in 2007. At 12, Andrus became interested in the art of illusion when he saw a performance of a reformed " spiritual medium". He joined the International Society of Junior Magicians when he was 16 and soon became known as a "magician’s magician". Career Magic A self-taught magician, Andrus preferred to develop his own style rather than learn the craft as traditionally handed down from other magicians, eventually becoming world renowned as one of the "best and most-influential 'close-up magic' performers ever." He was known to many accomplished contemporary magicians, such as Lance Burton, Doug Henning, and Penn & Tell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harriet A
Harriet(t) may refer to: * Harriet (name) Harriet is a female name. The name is an English version of the French '' Henriette'', a female form of ''Henri''. The male name Harry was formed in a similar way from Henry. All these names are derived from '' Henrik'', which is ultimately der ..., a female name ''(includes list of people with the name)'' Places * Harriet, Queensland, rural locality in Australia * Harriet, Arkansas, unincorporated community in the United States * Harriett, Texas, unincorporated community in the United States Ships * ''Harriet'' (1798 ship), built at Pictou Shipyard, Nova Scotia, Canada * ''Harriet'' (1802 EIC ship), East India Company ship * ''Harriet'' (1810 ship), American ship * ''Harriet'' (1813 ship), American ship * ''Harriet'' (1829 ship), British Royal Navy ship * ''Harriet'' (1836 ship), British ship * ''Harriet'' (fishing smack), 1893 British trawler preserved in Fleetwood Museum Other * Harriet (band), an alternative Americana band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loren Pankratz
Loren Pankratz (born February 27, 1940) is a consultation psychologist at the Portland VA Medical Center and professor in the department of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Following his retirement in 1995, he maintained a forensic practice until 2012. He testified nationally on cases of Münchausen syndrome by proxy (MBP), often defending mothers accused of harming their children. He has written and lectured on a wide variety of unusual topics such as dancing manias, spiritualism, Greek oracles, ghosts, plagues, historical enigmas, mesmerism, moral panics, con-games, self-deception, faith healing, self-surgery, miracles, ethical blunders, quackery, and renaissance science. He has also published magic history, magic tricks, and mentalism effects in magazines. Pankratz, along with Ray Hyman and Jerry Andrus, was a founding faculty member of the Skeptic's Toolbox in Eugene, Oregon. Pankratz is also a Fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mentalist
Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control, memory feats, deduction, and rapid mathematics. Mentalists perform a theatrical act that includes special effects that may appear to employ psychic or supernatural forces but that are actually achieved by "ordinary conjuring means", natural human abilities (i.e. reading body language, refined intuition, subliminal communication, emotional intelligence), and an in-depth understanding of key principles from human psychology or other behavioral sciences. Mentalism is commonly classified as a subcategory of magic and, when performed by a stage magician, may also be referred to as ''mental magic''. However, many professional mentalists today may generally distinguish themselves from magicians, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JREF
James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into paranormal claims in controlled scientific experimental conditions. The organization announced its change to a grant-making foundation in September 2015. The organization previously administered the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. JREF also maintains a legal defense fund to assist persons who are attacked as a result of investigating or criticizing those making paranormal claims. The organization has been funded through member contributions, grants, and conferences, though it ceased accepting memberships after 2015. For sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2012 Toolbox Faculty
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. In conventions of sign where zero is considered neither positive nor negative, 1 is the first and smallest positive integer. It is also sometimes considered the first of the infinite sequence of natural numbers, followed by 2, although by other definitions 1 is the second natural number, following 0. The fundamental mathematical property of 1 is to be a multiplicative identity, meaning that any number multiplied by 1 equals the same number. Most if not all properties of 1 can be deduced from this. In advanced mathematics, a multiplicative identity is often denoted 1, even if it is not a number. 1 is by convention not considered a prime number; this was not universally accepted until the mid-20th century. Additionally, 1 is the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
