ISSUE #4
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The Newsletter of Science and Reason in Hampton Roads
Issue 4 (October 2001)
Editor: John Robinson
Admin Notes: This month's SRHR meeting will be Thursday, 11, October, in Room 130 of the ODU Mills Godwin Building.
Editorial Blather: Your humble editor has gone on shift work to support the current military operations in Asia. Thus, my available time for tracking down amusing factoids about skepticism-vs-gullibility is reduced sharply (including night duty during our October meeting, regrettably - maybe next time). However, one good source for skeptics in these uncertain times is the Urban Legends Reference Pages, at www.snopes2.com. No end of rumors and hearsay are exposed on this superb site, including the many stories swirling around the rubble of the World Trade Center.
Select "Rumors of War" at the top of the Urban Legends Reference Page for items regarding the 11 September attacks. It's got my favorite, some way-cool pictures of Satan's face emerging from the smoke billowing out of the burning towers! (Of note, the image most closely resembles the shaggy, horned visage displayed in several past issues of the Weekly World News, suggesting that of all the tabloids, WWN probably has the most reliable inside dope on the First of the Fallen.) See the page for a quick paragraph on "pareidol", the term for our ability/tendency to recognize images or other common patterns inside a set of random data (such as a smoke cloud). So THAT'S where that perfect profile of Jesus on the marble wall of my father's shower at home came from!
Hold the Burn Cream, Hold the Bandage: A 6 October Associated Press story reported that about a dozen Burger King marketing executives suffered painful burns to their feet while walking over hot coals at a company retreat in Miami. Robert Kallen, president of The Achievement Group, which ran the event, told reporters, "You're walking over hot coals, and something can happen." See the story online at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/aponline/20011006/aponline153411_000.htm
(End of Issue 4)
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Comments/Questions/Suggestions/Threats? E-mail them to
me at tympani@att.net -- John A. Robinson, editor