December 2020 NCAS speaker Bob Nygaard, a private
detective who specializes in the investigation of
confidence crimes, most notably psychic fraud,
appeared on "Psychics," the March 17 episode of "The
Con," a weekly ABC-TV series narrated by Whoopi
Goldberg. Nielsen Media Research data indicate that
1.621 million people saw the program, which
portrayed Nygaard and his anti-psychic cause in a
completely supportive, essentially promotional way.
Longtime skeptics may be hard-pressed to recall a
skeptical person and cause receiving such a
prominent showcase, especially one so generously
provided by a national network news organization.
("The Con" is produced by ABC News.)
The director of the show was Starling ("Star")
Price, well-known among skeptics for Penn &
Teller's "Bull*hit," which ran on Showtime for many
years. That almost certainly explains why Nygaard
received a top-notch portrayal.
This will probably help Nygaard help others for
months or even years to come. He can share the
online link with any new clients and tell them,
"Here's what I can do to help you," and/or "Watch
this and warn your friends and family about what can
happen to them if they're vulnerable and a
self-proclaimed psychic takes advantage."
Conceivably this will be a major breakthrough in
protecting the public from con artists.
In the weeks since, Nygaard says he's been
"...inundated with phone calls, emails, twitter
messages, instant messages, etc. It’s going to take
me quite a while to sort through everything and get
back to the people who I can help."
One of the on-camera expert contributors to the
program was mentalist Mark Edward, who will be
giving an online talk on April 17 (see next item).
April PhACT Lecture
Our skeptical neighbors to the north, the
Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking
(PhACT), will host their next online event on
Saturday, April 17 at 2 PM ET. Professional mentalist
Mark Edward will discuss the new horizons of psychic
fraud and swindle that have emerged during the
pandemic. Event details at
http://www.phact.org/meetings.php.
Torn Too From Today's Headlines
By Scott Snell
The National Weather Service Publicizes a
Superstition for a Good Cause
On April 7th, the National Weather Service and its
"Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors" wanted Americans to
take a "selfie" in their extreme-weather safe places
(e.g., closets, basements, etc) and post it with the
hashtag #SafePlaceSelfie. All well and good, I think
most everyone would agree.
But then the NWS added a peculiar detail: to do so
at 11:11 AM local time. "What is the significance
of
11:11am local time? The exact time of 11:11 is often
associated with 'making a wish.' We chose that time
because wishing or hoping is not an effective
preparedness action. So instead of making a wish at
11:11, take the time to post your #SafePlaceSelfie.
Please also note, if you can’t post at that time in
your area, do not worry. We still want you to post at
any time of day. Since we will start with Eastern
Time, 11:11am will occur at each time zone every hour
until Hawaiian time."
I was unfamiliar with this superstition, and
perhaps many other people were as well. Should the
NWS publicize obscure superstitions, even for a good
cause?
Maybe if the superstition were already famous (such
as "Friday the 13th is a day of bad luck"), leveraging
it wouldn't be as questionable.
Speaking of Superstitions
March 24 marked the 20th anniversary of a fluke
event that the superstitious would likely consider a
harbinger of doom. During a Spring Training baseball
game in Tucson, pitcher Randy Johnson of the Arizona
Diamondbacks threw a pitch that killed a mourning dove
in flight:
Several years ago, Newsweek consulted experts who
confirmed that the hapless bird was a mourning dove:
Based on my (admittedly) inexpert knowledge of
superstitions, shouldn't we skeptics expect that
killing a dove, even accidentally, would bear grave
consequences for the perpetrator?
In fact it appears that quite the opposite
occurred. Johnson enjoyed a remarkable season that
culminated in a World Series title. In May he tied a
record (which still stands) for the most strikeouts
(20) over nine innings. In July he set the record
(still standing) for most strikeouts in a relief
appearance. In an August game, he struck out three
batters on three pitches each (a so-called "immaculate
inning"). Johnson earned three of the Diamondbacks'
four World Series game victories that year, including
Games 6 and 7, and shared (with teammate Curt
Schilling) the World Series Most Valuable Player
award. By any measure, including the other seasons of
his Hall of Fame career, it was an outstanding season.
So the "omen hypothesis" doesn't fit the facts in
this case. On the other hand, there is a history of
belief that animal sacrifice brings good fortune.
Seems that either a very good or very bad 2001
season for him would've been "explainable" by
superstition. Would a mediocre (for him) season have
been difficult for a superstitious person to explain?
Maybe not, for if a superstar has a mediocre season,
wouldn't that be considered bad? Conceivably any
outcome could've been found consistent with a
superstitious belief.
Torn From Yesterday's Headlines
By Scott Snell
The Pandemic, One Year Later
Have a look back at the April 2020 Shadow of a
Doubt:
NCAS Board Elections: Electronic Voting
The 2021 NCAS election is underway. In early April,
your e-mail inbox should've received a single-cast
secret ballot from "
elections@ncas.org via
SurveyMonkey
<member@surveymonkeyuser.com>".
(NCAS will receive information indicating who voted,
but nothing to indicate who cast each ballot.) Please
vote by April 30, 2021.
Note that voters will not be at risk for spamming as a
result of participating...SurveyMonkey has a
zero-tolerance spam policy:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/acceptable-uses-policy/
AmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are
supporting NCAS!
When holiday
shopping at
smile.amazon.com, you'll
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shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus
that a portion of the purchase price (0.5%) goes to
NCAS! It's simple and automatic, and it doesn't cost you
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AmazonSmile's disbursements to NCAS in the fourth
quarter of 2020 came to $34.53, meaning that $6900 of
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example of how NCAS can put that money to good use, it's
enough to cover more than 100 minutes of a Montgomery
County lecture room rental.)
Thanks again to our members who have chosen to support
NCAS!
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Following
his retirement in October of last year, Professor Chris
French will reflect on the work of the Anomalistic
Psychology Research Unit (APRU), founded in the year 2000.
His talk will describe his own journey from being a
believer in the paranormal to becoming a skeptic, as well
as his reasons for founding the APRU. He will give some
examples of its work in the areas of both anomalistic
psychology and parapsychology, as well as considering the
future prospects of both disciplines.
.