Law and Magic Blog

Astrology To the Rescue of the National Health Service?

From the Guardian: UK Conservative MP David Tredinnick says astrology could help National Health Service physicians out by assisting in diagnosis but says he knows that there would be enormous pushback from using it. He accuses those who refuse to see the value in astrology of being "racially prejudiced." I'm not sure exactly how being skeptical of astrological claims makes one "racially prejudiced." Is there a correlation between acceptance of astrological claims and membership in certain ethnic groups that I have somehow overlooked? I would be really interested in that data. 

(Not So) Happy Math?

Tom Bartlett blogs for the Chronicle of Higher Education on criticisms lobbed at a popular psychology book, Barbara Fredrickson's Positivity, which asserts that a "magic ratio" of positive to negative statements made to you is likely to explain how you feel about yourself. It has received a lot of positive reinforcement itself, through good reviews; its basis is a paper that appeared in a peer-reviewed journal. The criticisms started after a graduate student at the University of East London read the original paper and thought the mathematical ratio that Dr. Fredrickson relied on looked wonky. Bolstered by assistance from Alan Sokol (he of the "Social Research" hoax), Mr. Brown pursued the matter. The result:  a paper published in the journal American Psychologist, with a response from Dr. Fredrickson. More here from the Chronicle.

So, does all this mean other people's verbal pats on the back can't make you happy? Bummer.

Finding Terry

Pam Ragland says she helped police find the body of 11-year-old Terry Smith, who disappeared sometime on July 7. Ms. Ragland says she is not a psychic but an "intuitive." A local firefighter drove her to the scene she said she saw in her visions, and eventually she located the boy's body. A relative has been arrested for the crime. One detective working the case seems to have been impressed by Ms. Ragland's work, but local police are investigating whether she has any connections to the boy's disappearance.

Sgt. Lisa McConnell, a Riverside County sheriff's spokeswoman, confirmed that  Ragland called in the tip that led them to the body, but she would not comment  further. An investigation to rule out Ragland's possible involvement in the  crime was ongoing, McConnell said.

Here, a link to Ms. Ragland's website.

Oklahoma Nonbeliever Gets Support From Web Campaign

The Oklahoma atheist who politely informed CNN's Wolf Blitzer that she didn't thank the Lord for that split second decision to seek shelter with her young son as the tornado bore down on her family has gotten a lot of moral and financial support from other secularists as a result of her straight talk on national TV. A good many "nones" have come out to show that they appreciate Rebecca Vitsmun's honesty, and probably her good humor and courtesy as well. Given the dislike that some Americans continue to show for nonbelievers, Ms. Vitsmun showed a lot of courage in declaring her beliefs on camera.

The web campaign Atheists Unite has raised more than $101,000 of its $55,000 goal. I'm not awfully good at math, but I think that's twice as much as the amount organizer Doug Stanhope aimed at originally to help out the family.

I know intellectually that the Internet is tubes. But emotionally, I think it's magic. 

A New, Brain Teasing Show On the National Geographic Channel

Premiering tonight on the National Geographic Channel: Brain Games. Nine p.m., eight Central time. Looks like a very interesting show.

Like Magic, Ohio DA Abandons Case Against Punxsutanwney Phil

Punxsutawney Phil can go back to unencumbered sleep for another eleven months. That's assuming he actually woke up to read that indictment against him which emenated from neighboring Ohio. Butler County, Ohio, DA Mike Gmoser has dismissed the indictment against Phil for deliberately mis-forecasting spring, saying Phil has a defense--someone else is taking the rap. That someone would be Phil's buddy, Bill Deeley, who says he misread Phil's weather predictions. I maintain Phil made no predictions, and if he did, he didn't mean them, and if he did mean them, no one should have taken them seriously, and if someone did take them seriously, that is that person's choice. Move along, move along, nothing to see here. 

Somebody Get a Holy Book...Any One Will Do

NASA's answer if we see an asteroid, or presumably, another large-ish space object headed our way. "You gotta pray."

Or duck? Or pray for a duck?

Critical Thinking, Conspiracy Thinking, and Calling It In

In the Sunday New York Times, February 24, 2013, Justin Gillis discusses some academics who study conspiracy thinking on the 'net. Interesting reading, particularly since the academics he mentions suggest that conspiracy thinking is attractive to some because it offers a magical solution to what can be difficult questions. What causes climate change? Why did the Twin Towers fall? (Not necessarily just the physics of the fall, but why did some people decide that an attack needed to be mounted on the U.S. and its ways of thinking?) Did humans evolve or not? One could spend time and energy thinking about these questions, but if there's a one sentence answer that feels good, pouncing on that is so much easier. And often it comes with talking points to "defeat" the "other side" in debate in front of an audience that itself may want a definitive answer, not more questions.

Or maybe people would like to avoid thinking altogether, and just call it in. Well, we can't do that anymore, if we ever could The stakes, in my opinion, are too high. We have to do some critical thinking about some things. While I might sometimes wish for a Magic 8-Ball to run things in academia, or in politics, I really don't think that solution is a great idea. (Yes, I hear you saying you think people have been using it for years...).

Here's the link to Mr. Gillis's article, here's a link to one of the websites he mentions, and here's a link to one of the articles he mentions. Pounce away.

Man Quits Job After Seeing "666" On W-2

Walter Slonopas has gotten the number 666 on his work documents once too often. Or is that 1nce 2 often? Until late January, Mr. Slonopas worked for the Contech Casting company in Clarksville, Tennessee. But he received his W-2 form that week, and it has the number 666 on it. Mr. Slonopas had seen that number twice before on documents from Contech Casting, and had objected to them; after all, as a born-again Christian, he knows that 666 is the mark of the Beast. The third time was the charm. As he explained to the newspaper The Tennessean, he had to quit in order to save his soul.

The Contech Company farms out its payroll paperwork, including work on its W-2s, to another company, according to an officer of the company which owns Contech. The 666 means Mr. Slonopas's form was number 666 to be mailed. That's how Mr. Slonopas ended up with the offending 666s. The company says it would be happy to have Mr. Slonopas back as an employee. But that outcome seems unlikely at this point. Mr. Slonopas says he's had enough run-ins with the 666s. "God is worth more than money."

Law and Superstition

In time for Hallowe'en, and the day we received word on the guilty verdict and sentencing in the Italian earthquake trial, here's an article in which Vincenzo Zeno-Zencovich considers the relationship between law and superstition, published in the Comparative Law Review.