Will the world end on December 21, 2012?

No. No. NO. A thousand times NO.

I find myself frustrated with those who would even entertain the truth of such a thing. Seriously, it does not take much to figure out that this is just nonsensical ravings that the media has taken to new heights of pervasiveness.

Sigh.

This happens so frequently. Yet, I’m even sadder that I have to listen to this for another 3 years. I worry that the 3 years will allow for more people or certain unstable people to really internalize this idea and take drastic action against themselves, their family or the larger community.

For the astronomical reasons why 2012 is insignificant, see here

Now, I step back, take a breath and try to understand the other POV.

It’s hard not to see a world in chaos, right now. I see it. It’s tough to look it. It’s hard to get up most mornings. What happens to people as the climate changes? What if the flu bug mutates and threatens to kill us all? What if the U.S. dollar becomes meaningless? What if Sarah Palin becomes a nationally elected leader? (Shudders) Eww. I feel sick. I have little control over these things. I WANT to run away to some obscure place and disappear but that’s not feasible. Plus, I doubt that running away will help me feel better. I live in the world of today. I use the technology. I move in modern circles. I can’t entirely pull up and leave that. I must face reality of a changing world.

I’m pretty OK about resigning myself to “Shit happens”. I’ll just live my life and hope for the best. When we die, we die. I have no control over that. Why worry? But, some people can not accept the “Meh”.

They want two things: certainty and distraction. They want guarantees that things will happen at certain times, the way they expect them to. It’s a nice sense of control. But it’s false. Over our history, there have been countless predictions of the end of the world, the second coming, alien invasions, global catastrophe, etc. Still waiting. If the past is the key to the present, then, all these doomsayers should just shut up because they are wrong.

These apocalyptic scenarios are handy distraction from the rest of the world’s events. I suspect that is primarily the cause for the 2012 popularity. It is a convenient (if not pleasant) thought that we do not have to worry about global economic, climate change, running out of oil, overpopulation, pandemic and all those things if the world is GOING TO END!

Yeah…No. That’s a juvenile way of thinking about it. I chose to be the adult here and base my judgements on reason.

There is NO reason to think that the world will end in 2012. Now, stop worrying and enjoy your life.

In February 2009, I organized Harrisburg’s outlet for Drinking Skeptically – a casual, social meetup for those who value science and critical thinking. Drinking Skeptically has meetups all over the country (including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh) with the numbers growing every month. Originally begun in the UK as Skeptics in the Pub, it served as a new way to get like-minded individuals together in a comfortable setting. It’s been a great success as part of what I view as a growing skeptical movement.

There is plenty of overlapping territory between skepticism and atheism. Several PA Nonbelievers members attend Drinking Skeptically – Harrisburg.

PAN members are skeptical of not only god(s) but also spirits, angels, faith healing, miracles and special creation/intelligent design. We reject the religious claims that a “sky father” affects us humans partially because no good evidence has been presented for this while considerable evidence exists to support reasonable, alternative explanations for nature. Skepticism is a method by which we can look for confirming or disconfirming evidence in other aspects of life.

I’ve been a skeptic since about age 20 when my science-prone mind, curiosity about the truth and intellectual influences poked gaping holes in the validity of claims about ghosts, Bigfoot, UFOs and lake monsters. Ultimately, this epiphany led me to discard organized religion altogether. I’m now a secular humanist – agnostic.

Skepticism and non-theism are closely aligned but not mutually inclusive. There are nontheistic people who believe in an inordinate amount of new age goofiness. And, there are great scientists and skeptics who are people of faith. Harry Houdini is an example of someone who exemplified one who can be against fraud without being against God. He was a masterful debunker of psychics and spiritualist mediums while remaining respectful of his Jewish heritage.

I would be glad to ‘drink skeptically’ with other skeptics who accept religion. I think we all should be open to this for several reasons: Not all religious people are irrational – many are downright moderate and value science. We shouldn’t exclude via stereotype since we don’t like it when people do that to us. Exchange of ideas is good for everyone. Most importantly, we need allies to fight against teaching nonsense in schools, fraudulent health therapies, scams and magical thinking. If people wish to compartmentalize their faith in a separate area of the brain than the one that criticizes astrology, alien abductions and homeopathy, we can stand on some common ground. So, when you join us for Drinking Skeptically, don’t assume the entire group is of nonbelievers. It may be a diverse crowd in attendance enjoying some common doubt.

To pass on ideas or to get info on Drinking Skeptically events email idoubtit00(at)gmail.com (those are double zeros in the address) or visit the Facebook page for Drinking Skeptically – Harrisburg.

*This was originally published on the PA Nonbelievers blog and in PANViews.

Oh, dear. Out of the news loop for a day or two and another Bigfoot sighting comes along.

This time, it was reported very close to me. I don’t know exactly where because the location is not revealed except to generally say “Appalachian Trail”. The Appalachian Trail cuts through the center of Dauphin county along the mountains north of Harrisburg. It’s quite beautiful and wooded with an overabundance of white-tailed deer and a healthy supply of black bear (maybe even a stray mountain lion or two but odds are long for that). Most of the PA Bigfoot sightings have been in the southwest portion of the state, more than 100 miles away from the capital area, beyond the mighty Susquehanna.

This particular sighting has more than one giant red flag fluttering around it that crossed my arms, raised my eyebrow and sent my doubt soaring. Hmmp. 1. Biscardi; 2. Biscardi; 3. Biscardi; 4. the photo/video is just another blobsquatch, and 5. Come on, another anecdote with no supporting evidence! Puh-leeze.

Sure, sure, the eyewitness was scared. But I will bet you the video does not show anything of value.

Bigfoot video/photos are not worthy evidence. They have been hoaxed and misinterpreted so many times (one could argue ALL the time) they are not reliable. New animals get identified by type specimens which means physical remains have been recovered and studied. Trace evidence exists for Bigfoot – hair, foot prints, hand prints – but none is very convincing. Pictures, even video is practically useless unless you are the gullible media.

As we saw from Biscardi’s last episode (Georgia Bigfoot hoax), he might be convinced by a hairy suit with dentures stuffed in a freezer with roadkill guts. I can not take him seriously. How can he say this is “the real deal” when all there is is grainy footage of a blob? This guy is an undying optimist. He is not a scientist. He acts like a salesman. Therefore, when he steps in, walk away. Walk away quickly, before the whole thing starts to smell.

There’s not been much discussion about this particular incident at this time. It is only showing up on one local news channel and they did a rather credulous job, although they did get a chuckle out of it. I get the impression that since the Halloween ghost stories are over, they are looking for some new “human interest” tales to get opinions flying around their site. They admit as much. But, they simply gave too much air time to a story so insubstantial.

I enjoyed the photo analysis put up by the Bigfoot Lunch Club here.

Fakety fake fake, once again. After all the time spent looking for this poor, forelorn creature, we can’t do better than this? A clump of moss hanging from a tree? Well, whatever it is, it’s rather pathetic and it’s not science. It’s hardly even worth a laugh.

Last night was the Concert for Darwin – a special event presented by Jefferson Pepper, Lauri Lebo and folks from the Central PA ACLU. PA Nonbelievers helped with ticket sales. It was held at the incredible Midtown Scholar bookstore in Harrisburg. It was quite amazing that such an intelligent and unique event took place inside a new venue for a successful, independent bookstore. If you ever pass through downtown Harrisburg, you will notice blight, crime, garbage and poverty. Yet, in midtown, around the Broad Street Market, there is occuring a revitalization. Thanks to the Harrisburg Community College’s downtown campus and other investments, this place is shaping up. I’ll be visiting the bookstore again and again for books (of course) and what will certainly be more outstanding events such as this.

It would be hard to top this. Lauri Lebo was jumping around, getting stuff ready, saying ‘hi’ and signing autographs of her book. She began the night by introducing a very special guest, Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education. Genie is a hero to so many of us. I was so, so pleased to meet her and have her back in Harrisburg for such a positive event. Genie played a pivotal role in the Kitzmiller v Dover trial. Many of the plantiffs, including some of the kids, were in the audience this evening. Smiles were all around.

Lauri then introduced Jefferson Pepper who played solo and with his band folk and americana tunes that expressed the raw feelings many in the audience had about the state of American culture. I DO NOT like country music but the lyrics and themes felt very personal to me. Plus, I’m partial to a fiddle (being a violin player a while ago). The sound was excellent and I enjoyed every minute. Find out more about Jeff’s music here.

Next, was the remarkable and unmatched Dr. Ken Miller. I’ve seen him speak before and would so love to have him as a teacher. Well, he is a teacher every time I listen to him. Dr. Miller sat in the front row to watch the incomparable Baba Brinkman – evolutionary rapper. I have never heard anything like this. I only wish I had such an exceptional grasp of language and rhyme. I was blown away.

If you missed it, YOU MISSED SOMETHING. I think everyone had an outstanding time. We should all do this more often.

That creepy picture of JesusJayZombie is freaking me out so I needed a post to bump it down.

I should be reading some papers for school but I’m not. They are BOR-ING. Why is academic writing so boring? I can read some long-haired stuff but, man, this crap puts me to sleep.

I’m in the process of starting yet another blog. But, it’s not very bloggy just yet. I am constructing a web site for kids (middle readers) about monsters and spooky stuff. I would have loved the Internet as a kid. Books were my only source of monster and ghost tales but the web provides endless pages and forums related to ghost hunting and cryptozoology. Yet, most of it is credulous and misleading. It took me 7 pages into Google to get a skeptical POV for “ghost”, Bob Carroll’s Skeptic Dictionary. How many kids are going to go 7 pages in? No way, they’ll be distracted by TAPS right off the first page.

How about “Is Bigfoot Real?” On page 3, there is an “.edu” site that attempts to answer the question by linking to the Unmuseum site – a skeptical, rational location. Yet, the prof there adds “take it with a grain of salt”. Umm, take what? Lee Krystek’s great info or the legend itself. Hard to tell. Kids won’t pick up that nuance. Prior to that, there are lots of “answer” sites that rehash the same old stuff I read when I was 10. The answer is still “we don’t know, but some people think it’s real”. Yah, that’s not good enough considering it has been decades and no outstanding evidence has surfaced. And we still dispute the Patterson Gimlin film.

Sigh.

I hope I can provide kids with a fresher perspective than that. We’ll see.

Now that the veil between the worlds of the living and dead are thin this Hallows Eve, I ponder the surging popularity of zombies, ghosts and werewolves – the walking dead, the persistent dead and the wished-they-were-dead.

As you might guess, I’m quite doubtful of all three categories but what fun they are!

Zombies used to be found slouching around in horror movies, the Thriller video and old Scooby Doo episodes. Now, they are prevalent in video games, comedy horror movies, and modern twists on expired copyright classic fiction. If you wish to get your scientific research noticed, model the zombie apocalypse. Jesus is also now referred to as a zombie in some circles as a joke. (Get it? The dead resurrected. Makes sense.) This year featured record breaking Zombie walks all over the world. These events are sometimes and quite appropriately staged to raise awareness and donations for hunger charities. Eww. Experience suggests that these socially conscious zombies prefer beer to human flesh, thank goodness.

We also had the opportunity to broadcast the Thriller video over and over in tribute to its fallen creator. A new generation was introduced to dancers whose parts periodically fall off. It’s definitely the year of the walking undead.

Zombies still retain the totally fictional designation. That is, we don’t take claims of sighting actual zombies seriously. This is becoming less true of the next monstrous critter, the werewolf. Werewolves are HOT. Watch for them to overtake vampires as the next big thing. I’m SOOOooo sick of vampires, aren’t you? Bor-ing.

I can’t take werewolves seriously because their origin is very magical. For a great discussion on how werewolves were made less credible, listen to Monster Talk episode #6 where Brian Regal discusses how Darwin’s Origin of Species made it quite silly to believe that a being of one species could suddenly change into another sans the involvement of natural selection.

But, never underestimate the power of human imagination, especially on a dark and lonely road. The legends of the Beast of Bray Road (now called the “American Werewolf) and the Michigan dogman are spreading via books, the internet and YouTube. People claim to see a Bigfoot-sized creature that differs by having a snout instead of flat face and dog-like legs. Most drawings depict an aggressive animal, just like the fictionalization of werewolves in film. See recent sighting descriptions here.  With new films planned, watch for werewolf mania to ensue.

Finally, we have the plethora of ghost-themed attractions and media. There are a gazillion ghost tours, “World’s Most Haunted Places”, local tales wrapped up into paperbacks at gift shops in every tourist city. You can’t walk a block in Gettysburg, PA without encountering an advertisement or solicitation for a ghost tour. Off the top of my head, I count six current TV offerings dedicated just to ghost hunters and spook seekers – Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, Ghost Adventures, Ghost Lab, The Othersiders and Extreme Paranormal. Check out this review and rundown of unreality TV. Discovery.com calls the grand-daddy show, Ghost Hunters, “deeply stupid” and “preposterous”.  I can’t really watch these shows because the are pretty dull. The misuse of science irks me. They seem to spark spontaneous yelling at the TV (which is ridiculous and a waste of energy). So, why is there a new, more absurd show every month featuring more goobers uttering the ghost hunter mantra “Did you hear THAT!”. Yea, it was the sound of [sham] inquiry and [wannabe] science. UR doin it wrong.

What is most astounding is that the “ghosts” being “hunted” in these shows are taken for granted. They are assumed to be real. The skepticism is too shallow to be of any value.

Why are these three supernatural entities so popular these days? Ok, zombies = fun, werewolves = cool and exciting, ghosts = adventure and playing pretend. But, come on. Let’s keep the fiction in the fiction section. We’re getting carried away by the ghosties. That is NOT some Lycan in the cornfield and give that zombi a beer, he looks parched.

I came across this story about “haunted” Lafayette, Indiana.

It’s a typical soft news story about local authors and their new book of collected yarns. It also provided a little Fortean kick since, according to Mysterious America by Loren Coleman, place names that include “Fayette” or “Lafayette” have unusual activity or bad luck associated with them. I won’t go into depth about how that is totally selective cherry-picking and uninteresting. But, it is both.

In Lafayette, the authors rightly thought that a combination of interesting stories and local history would be winner. “I thought people would read about history if a ghost story was attached.” The article notes that the authors are “not ghost hunters, but writers who decided to document people’s stories about supernatural folklore.” They use the usual disclaimer, “We leave it up to the reader to decide whether they believe it or not.”

There’s a problem with that idea. These stories aren’t categorized outright as fiction. They get shelved under “local interest” or “travel”. The concept of ghosts as genuine entities lacks scientific validity. The stories, however, can fall nicely into folklore as suggested. So, file ghost stories under “fiction” or “folklore” and quit treating them as “true stories”.

I notice that pop culture products tend to make a giant leap from a personal experience to explaining what caused that experience. I’m not going to deny that people have had awful, terrifying experiences but I will not leap to the conclusion that something supernatural is the root cause. Ghost stories do this. It’s their template – otherwise they would not be “ghost stories” but just “stories” and that wouldn’t make the merchandise move. Or help with local tourism dollars.

The “Weird US” books are popular and highly entertaining reads. I own the “Weird Pennsylvania” and enjoy recalling the stories as I pass through a featured town. But, it’s a story. Stories are embellished to be ultra-interesting, to evoke an emotional response, to get you to remember. I’m not one for making a pilgrimage to one of the locations. Yet, many do.

This is big business. Ghost tours are springing up in many tourist towns. Advertisements always including a teaser that you might experience the ghost yourself or capture an anomaly in a photo. Nonsense. The tour guests are primed to have an experience. If the wind gusts after the guide speaks, they will call that a sign from the spirit world.

Haunted America Tours presents stories about America’s scariest places, the very best ghost tours and searching for ghosts in airports. I won’t even click on a link to Haunted American Tours (not gonna link to it…) because that page burns my eyes with its high-contrast amateurish layout, advertisements and fictionality. Their content is just plain silly.

Thanks to Tonya K for this most excellent new skeptics vocabulary word: hauntrepreneur.  It’s perfect to describe the rather obvious goal of ghost-themed establishments, books, tours and events around the US – making money. These books and events suggest to folks that ghosts are real and verifiable as long as you convincingly tell a good story. Tonya did a review of a Gettysburg ghost tour.

I was FLABBERGASTED at the number of ghost tours offered for Gettysburg. I’m still not sure why they have proliferated but I think it may have something to do with the human need to hold sacred the area where so many dramatically died. Oh, and money from tourists. Gettysburg is a classic example of using history as a legitimate front for a hauntrepreneurship.

I reviewed a ghost tour in Cape May, New Jersey.  You can read that here.

The act of drawing tourists with claims of the paranormal also is common at lake resorts. Check out this story about the profitable lake monster business plan. Your story needs no evidence whatsoever to back it up. It just needs promotion. Design a stylized creature (cute or scary works), the merch to sell at the visitors center, the fancy sign and then start up an annual festival.

I’m OK with the fiction as long as it isn’t presented as fact. Who doesn’t love a good tale. Yet, the line is crossed in many cases. The people visit these places anticipating an experience because they are led to believe others have had such experiences. They may outwardly admit it might be fiction but still lay their money down and count on being impressed. I say they want to believe the ghosts and monsters are real. All the hype makes it feel real. It makes the place even more “special”. If this draws tourists and causes them to spend more money, the locals think that’s OK. I just think it’s a sham.

Penn State’s Harrisburg campus hosted a presentation by Paranormal State’s Ryan Buell (with Sergey along) on October 2. The event attracted over 60 people of all ages. Primarily, the crowd was students, some with their parents. There were obviously several fans of the show.

I have never seen the show. I can’t be bothered with watching another ghost hunter show when there are already so many that have a similar formula – set up techie stuff, go into scary places, look all green and creepy on night vision camera and freak yourself out. I can’t see the value in shows about hauntings. It becomes formulaic, same old stuff.

I had several objectives in attending Ryan’s talk: to find out what makes his show different (if it is different at all), to see how the show and investigator group related to my alma mater PSU (if at all), and to see a presentation of evidence.

I got a lot of stories, some sound and video clips, pictures and more stories. To his credit, Ryan made clear that his idea of legitimate evidence is something that convinces them. That does not mean that it convinces you. “Nothing [he has] proves ghosts exists.” It comes down to a matter of trust – do you trust the person showing you the evidence has been truthful and interpreted it correctly – and belief in what you think caused it.

He began with some background on the paranormal. I suspect it bored the giggly girls sitting in front of me who wanted (foremost, to hookup with Ryan after the session and) to be scared. I was not impressed by his knowledge, actually. He flubbed up the famous photo of the “back seat passenger” by telling us the man in the front seat had been dead for a while without mentioning the dead lady appearing in the back seat at the time the photo was taken. See the photo and story here.

In describing why parapsychological research fizzled out after the boom times in the 60s and 70s, he related a quote from a researcher that concluded “We just didn’t know what our purpose was”. That’s lame. It’s more than that they were at a loss for purpose, they were at a loss for making progress. They did little to add credibility to their field or knowledge to our worldview and it died as a science. I felt he didn’t look into the history enough to really understand but, perhaps he just didn’t get to express that since we were off to more interesting topics.

Talking about the signs of a haunting (pets acting strange, knocking noises, seeing things out of the corners of your eyes, objects moved, etc.), I noticed that all the signs could more easily be explained by normal reasoning. Ryan clarified that some, but not all, so-called paranormal phenomenon have scientific explanations. As yet, there were no explanation for events like levitation. Here he clearly jumped several steps in the process. Paranormal advocates tend to do this all the time. We do not have clear evidence that levitation actually occurs (sans trickery) so why seek an explanation at all. Establish some facts first. Much of what was presented throughout failed to qualify in the strict definition of ‘fact’. Even if it is a fact, one should not jump to an interesting interpretation just for kicks (or attention). You should exclude common ones first. Ghost hunters fail to do this.

There were a few instances where Ryan revealed his motivation. First, he said “We’re not debunkers, cause what fun is that?” Also, he suggested we watch The Exorcist. [I'm not going to comment on that except to say you can see where he gets his inspiration.] Forget theory and foundation, he was eager to get to the fun/cool stuff that they recorded. Very well.

The demonic haunting tales got the giggly girls all nervous and exchanging big-eyed glances and “Oh, shit” comments. Ryan tells a story about his own childhood haunting and of a client that was possessed. The imagery he creates is downright chilling but also perfect fodder for horror movie scenes – evil grins that paralyze one with fear. Yikes. If I even think about that stuff, I get chills.

If demonic possession is real, it COMPLETELY destroys my current world view that there is no god vs devil battle going on and demons and angels are fictional tales that serve to enhance people’s perception about morality in life. Stories are just stories, however, and I couldn’t help but think these might be embellished or remembered with exaggerated effect – the way people typically tell stories.

Ryan makes an stunning but unsubstantiated religious assertion that, even in non-Christian cultures, a possessed individual will react to holy water and the name “Jesus Christ”. I do not believe this is true in comparison to use of some other important sounding name and the sprinkling of regular water.

The audience found his stories riveting. I enjoyed them too. They encouraged me to think about things; they got others to believe or enforced their already established beliefs.

Because the event went on for longer than I expected, I did not stay to ask questions. The information presented did not leave a wide opening for skeptical questioning. Also, I think I’d seen enough. I knew what made their show sort of unique. I saw the tenuous link to PSU but, for legal reasons, I would suggest they cut all ties. I was not certain I could phrase a question that Ryan would be able to answer in a clear way. There were no scientific minded folks here. What they presented was in no way scientific evidence. So, for me, it was not legitimate evidence. I did not trust them.

As I left, one lady remarked how the TAPS folks never seem to get the kind of stuff that these kids do.  [Hmm, I wonder if there is some competition going on there.] If these things really happen so frequently, why can’t they be documented better, by objective researchers, rather than ones with a vested interest in finding “cool” stuff? If the haunting reoccurs every event anniversary or ever day at the same time, why aren’t they drawing crowds who all experience it? What is the mechanism of hauntings?

What is the hypothesis they are trying to test? They aren’t. It’s not objective or structured as they lead you to believe.

What are the ghost hunting groups actually achieving besides entertainment? Nothing.

Color me still skeptical of ghost hunting.

For more on Sham Inquiry and ghost hunting, see here.

This past week, a link to an article from Skeptical Inquirer was making its way around Twitter. The article from 2004 was by Karla McLaren, a New Age author who had stepped away from that community to take an objective look at it. She shared her unique viewpoint with skeptical readers providing insight as to why skeptics make no inroads communicating with New Age folks and advice on how we might be able to do that someday.

Link to Skeptical Inquirer article

Since the article was several years old and Ms. McLaren left an open ending as to what life’s path held for her, I Googled her name and found her web page that conveniently give me an update.

While she explains she got great feedback from her SkepInq article, she did not feel comfortable involved so directly with the skeptical community. She went on to pursue a degree in Sociology. Today, she says she identifies not with skeptics or believers but more with the great researchers – those that “do the work required to question the universe, and [are] humble enough to listen to the answers they get.”

Still curious about some things, I contacted her through a social network and asked her a few followup questions. She allowed me to post the answers.

What were the circumstances that led up to writing for Skeptical Inquirer back in 2004?

It’s a detailed story! I wrote about the entire transition in a book called Missing the Solstice. It is unpublished, but excerpts of some of the chapters are up at my website: http://www.karlamclaren.com/missingsolstice.html

Do you feel that you belong to any group now?

No, I don’t belong deeply to any group except my family and my singing group. This micro belonging is excellent. As for larger groups, I have been a peripheral person all of my life. Even when I was in the New Age, I wasn’t in the center of it. I was on the margins, engaging in dissent.

Do you think it’s a privileged view to have experienced both sides of a worldview? Is it the BEST choice or is it easier to live totally immersed and fully ignorant of the opposite view?

I think it is privileged, but it is also isolating. People seem to prefer to join groups that define themselves by whom they exclude. But sometime during adolescence, I began to find that kind of “us vs. them” behavior offensive. When I discovered the psychological framework of the shadow, I felt, finally, able to articulate my distaste for belonging at the expense of my compassion for others.

However, in today’s miserable political climate, many groups have become so excruciatingly polarized that it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate my compassion. I understand the fear and anger people feel, but it’s getting completely out of hand.

I don’t know if avoiding closed-minded, us-vs.them groups is the best choice for everyone, but it’s the best choice for me.

What aspects of each worldview did you find useful in your recent studies?

I actually didn’t take either of them with me, because neither is particularly effective. I tried to strip myself of identity as much as I could, so that I could actually learn instead of just lacquering education on top of preconceived notions of how the world worked. It was strangely perfect for me to have chosen a sociological degree, because stripping oneself of socially-created expectations and standpoints is one of the most important prerequisites for sociological research. Talk about mind-expanding!

Are you involved at all in the skeptical community anymore? How about the New Age community?

I’m a free range skeptic, and I’m sort of feeling my way into being available as a safe, loving, reliable, and sensitive source of information for people who still need to believe in magic or the paranormal. Many of my friends now send me e-mails or show me things they’ve gotten in the mail, and they sort of check in with me to see if things are legit. That’s fun — presenting critical thinking and research as an engaging activity that fosters community and social networking. Of course, I’ve also got people I rely on for their skepticism and their insider’s information as well.

And yes, I’m involved in the New Age community second-hand, because the lion’s share of my friends and family are involved in it, in one way or another. I’ve also been asked to rewrite one of my previous books from the perspective I have now. That’s humbling … to have a second chance, to maybe be able to get things right. We’ll see how I do.

Is New Age a religion?

I call it “the Pick and Pull lot of the soul.” It’s filled with people who often hate organized religion for its many flaws, yet it borrows from pretty much all of them.

I think a main thrust that I see in the new age, and it was certainly one of the reasons I was there, is that people want to reduce the awfulness of religion while keeping what people see as the good parts, like the love, the community support, the belief in spirits and the afterlife, and all that.

But in a sociological definition, the new age is a religion. It’s a new religious movement, it’s a splinter religion, it’s a part of the millenialist movement … it’s all kinds of things. It’s like a handful of salamanders, trying to nail down what it is, because there are more offshoots every 6 months or so, but, yeah, it’s a religion (with pretty bad gospel music).

Finally, Ms. McLaren also related to me an interesting perspective about viewing media in terms of a paranormal belief system:

I remember the excitement that would arise in my friends and I when something inexplicable would show up in the news or something. It would help us reinforce, reframe, and add to the sense we had of the paranormal.

And it is not unlike the excitement scientists have when some random fact appears and leads them to a further understanding of their particular research interest.

I think that’s one of the biggest myths about interest in the paranormal – that it is inherently unscientific or nonrational. All of us were using our brains, our intellects, our rationality, and our science muscles. We were just working with information that wasn’t worthy of the attention we were giving it.

Ms. McLaren said she wrote the SkepInq article as “a thank you letter to the skeptical community”. Many of us feel the same knowing that the skeptical viewpoint has allowed us to fully embrace reality and appreciate the natural world.

Her discussion can spin-off hours or days worth of worthy conversation among rationalists. But, there is specific take home lesson here. As the skeptical movement grows, the old guard gives way to a younger contingent eager to use new social tools and fresh approaches, we can find a lot to chew on from Ms. McLaren’s admissions. Sure, there are still those who call people “stupid” and lose patience with those who have invested their lives in false science and mystical fiction. Yet, I see a more tolerant, friendly, flexible community that can help a lot of people make some life decisions correctly, if not every one. That’s a start.

I’m appreciative that she shared her conclusions, giving us the seed to sprout better habits and communication skills we should practice every day.

The skeptical movement is blossoming. This is good and bad. It used to be sort of easy to keep up with things. Now, there are so many new blogs and interesting forums to follow, one can’t possibly participate in all of them. I can just about keep up on all the podcasts!

I’m a mother of 2, I work full-time as a geologically-trained bureaucrat, I have a family life, work life, and skeptical social network life. On top of that, I’m taking six credits a semester online towards a EdM degree in Science and the Public. Multi-tasking isn’t just a handy skill, it’s the sole means of survival. Now, we have research that shows that no one is truly multi-tasking well. Each task is being cheated of attention. When I’m at work, listening to a podcast and trying to read articles or emails, I can feel my brain jumping back and forth between the two tasks. I’m not focusing completely on either. I get a headache too.

Time management is a necessary duty. I have my free time to explore my own interests or do school work. It’s a chore to put away the Twitter and Facebook but I’m starting to buckle down and do it. The problem is, I’m interesting in so many things! I want to research, I want to read it all. I don’t want to be left out of the loop on the next big topic of discussion or blowup so I lurk. A while ago, I gave up on the blog for a while. Now, I’ve let go of a volunteer project thanks to someone else very competent taking the lead. Everyone has to make those choices.

I don’t know how many of my on-the-ball friends do it. I suspect they have no gardens to weed or 4 person dinners to fix every night. At times, I feel like old Bilbo Baggins “…like butter scraped over too much bread”.

I’m constantly thinking about a thesis topic, which I need to decide on fairly soon. It should be something interesting but, of course, serves multi-purposes. I’m drawn in by so many different topics, I can stop to focus on one in depth!

I am amazed at how much clearer I can think when I am away from home (or my co-residents are away from me) for a few days. The pressure to jump into action is off and my mind clears. Still, there is something new on the internet I have to check out.

While I was busy keeping up appearances at work, at home and online this year, I learned more than I have since probably my first year of life – about people, the world and myself. Too bad I’ve forgotten half of it. At least I wrote some down. (Now where did I put that?) I’ve stepped forward and made lots of mistakes but lots of valuable connections too. I can’t stop taking advantage of opportunities to try even if they mean more work. Is that bad?

So, everyone, stop doing such amazing things for a while. I need a moment to catch up.