A walk down King St. in Newtown, Sydney, is a must for any skeptic looking to increase their private library. I found hundreds of books on the paranormal and supernatural, many of them rare indeed.

AUSTRALIA'S BEST! 24.Jan.05

A quick search on Google finally answers that great question,
Who is Australia's best ?

All these people have been billed as....

• 'Daniel' Australia's Leading Psychic Medium.
• Amanda De Warren Australia's Foremost Psychic Medium.
• Bridget is known as Australia's best loved psychic.
• Garry Wiseman Australia's leading psychic all-rounder.
• Michael Wheeler Australia's most accurate psychic.
• Michael Wheeler Australia's Leading Psychic Medium.
• Tahillia The best, most accurate Psychic in the world!
• Scott Russell Hill The World's Most Accurate Psychic.
• Scott Russell Hill Australia's most accurate psychic.
• Scott Russell Hill Australia's leading authority on the paranormal.
• Scott Russell Hill is Australia's most renowned psychic.
• Gabrielle was acknowledged as Australia's most Incredible clairvoyant.
• Jacquelene Close Moore is Australia's leading psychic.
• Rhondda Stewart-Garfield Australia's leading psychic.
• Mitchell Coombes Australia's Leading Psychic Witch!
• Milton Black Australia's most respected astrologer.
• Milton Black Australia's leading Astrologer.
• Alison Moroney is Australia's most renowned Astrologist.
• Pia Shannon Forbes Australia's best astrologer.
• Judith Collins is recognised as Australia's leading authority on the human aura.
• Margaret Dent (now deceased) is Australia's most gifted medium.
• Margaret Dent is Australia's most renowned psychic.
• Margaret Dent is Australia's most re-knowned psychic.
• Kerry Kulkens (now deceased) Australia's most famous psychic.
• Kerry Kulkens Australia's most respected psychic.
• Kerry Kulkens Australia's Leading Psychic Astrologer.
• Athena Starwoman (now deceased) Australia's most famous astrologer.
• Athena Starwoman is Australia's most popular astrologer.
• Fiona McCallum (now deceased) Australia's favourite and most accurate clairvoyant.

HOMOEOPATHIC STUDIES? 24.Jan.05

I have just heard that Victoria University is offering a
bachelor's degree in homoeopathy. It's good to see a modern university embracing the 'newage' with such enthusiasm. So I looked into a crystal ball and had a vision of what Victoria University will look like in the future.

See for yourself:

"PSYCHICS" FAIL US AGAIN 15.Jan.05

It seems that ‘Psychics’ are very good at using terms such as;

“I feel that there could be…”
“There is a sense that things may change…”
“Saturn is in the 3rd house of Virgo which is a sign of great change in the world..”

These are all well and good and every once in a while they get a lucky hit with something like;

“This year will be a year of change for you with a new job…”
“Your daughter’s baby will be a boy.."

and so on.

OK, but why wasn’t there something like,

“There will be a devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean in late December 2004…”

Why? Because no ‘psychic’, not one, or for that matter not one ‘clairvoyant’, astrologer, tarot card reader, numerologist, sooth-sayer, angel channeler and so on, predicted the tsunami.

Was it because no ‘psychic’ etc. foresaw this? Or was it that thousands of ‘psychics’ etc. did in fact foresee it but didn’t tell anyone?

Whatever answer is correct, in this case ‘psychics’ and their ilk have shown themselves to be utterly worthless.

How many of the 175,000 plus people who died could have been saved by even a little warning of what was to come?

I quote from the web site of the .

…a British schoolgirl named Tilly Smith saved the lives of hundreds of people in the area by warning them that a wall of water — a tsunami — was about to strike. She'd learned about the phenomenon in geography class, and obviously took benefit from that lesson. Tilly was holidaying with her family on the Thai island when she suddenly realized what was taking place and alerted her mother. Her intuition was enough to raise the alarm and prompt the evacuation of Maikhao beach and a neighbouring hotel before the water came crashing in.

This schoolgirl, armed with a dash of scientific knowledge, saved more lives than every ‘psychic’ on the planet put together.

RECENT TALKS 15.Jan.05

Last year was a busy one for Skeptics and Mystery Investigators. In November I took part, (performing, speaking and organising) in the 2004 Australian Skeptics National Convention held in Sydney. It was a great success with many speakers covering topics from Quackery to Creationism, Education to Magic Pool Filters!

A trip to San Francisco in October gave me the chance to talk to the Bay Area Sketpics. I must thank them all for a warm welcome and to coming to my talk! Particular thanks to Prof. Eugenie Scott from the who has my undying respect for the work she does in fighting the Creationism and Intelligent Design movement.

In September I, as part of the Mystery Investigators (also known as ‘MI’), performed in Christchurch New Zealand with my MI partner Alynda. The occasion was the New Zealand Skeptics National Convention and we had a wonderful time.