IIG Public Update #21
July 2009
The IIG has a new claim to be skeptical of – the claim that there is any sort of efficacy to dropping off flowers at our neighbor – Michael Jackson's star on Hollywood Boulevard. We can test the claim because we have a legitimate clinical control – the star for the other Michael Jackson who has a star on the walk of fame. About a quarter of the flowers, candles, teddy bears, and candy (candy?) were left for the (for lack of a better word) wrong Michael Jackson.
The subject may seem irrelevant to a skeptical web site, but we suspect that new pseudo-medical claims are coming our way:
Anyway, in spite of news helicopters circling our neighborhood to get a glimpse of Jackson's funeral the IIG continued with its investigations.
CALIFORNIA NURSES
It has been three and a half months, and the California Board of Registered Nurses still refuses to offer our nurses their CEU's for having taken part in our inaugural nursing class, which was held on April 5th. Don't forget, they revoked our license without cause, and without an explanation! Okay, we taught nurses how to read the entrails of a recently sacrificed human being in order to heal their patients, but according to their own rules and regulations, that does not constitute grounds for withdrawal.
Well, the CBRN investigation took a stunning turn, when more than half of the executives either resigned or were terminated (no pun intended) by Governor Schwarzenegger. No, the IIG doesn't suddenly have a lot of pull with the California State Government, this decision was entirely unrelated to pseudo-science. Read the details here.
What this means for IIG is unclear but we are doing two things, contacting people in the Governor's office to let them know about our complaints of malfeasance, and preparing to re-petition to new board with our grievances. Maybe the new guys will be more friendly to science. Even skeptics have to have some optimism.
CAMPUS QUACKERY
The investigations of therapeutic touch continue. On Tuesday, May 19, 2009 UCLA Medical Center offered a lecture entitled "Evidence for Healing Energy: Healing Touch" presented by Deborah Caswell, RN, ACNP, Nurse Practitioner. "Healing Touch," is another name for therapeutic touch, laying-on-of-hands, energetic medicine, energy healing, and whatever other terms the flim-flam men are devising. A video of "healing touch" can be seen here.
After a quick tête-à-tête with UCLA's own Bruin Alliance of Skeptics and Secularists (BASS) we conceived a crafty scheme to gain entrance into the event – show up. Apparently you don't need a reservation or medical credentials to get in. In fact, we were able to videotape the presentation (yes, the video is coming to our website).
Some of the "highlights" of the presentation include: demonstrating how to
use a pendulum in medical diagnosis, and
information on chakras, and a comparison of Newtonian and Quantum physics,
and the "SQUID" machine.
Enter Dr. William Newman, the BASS Faculty Advisor. Dr. Newman was appalled
and plans to pursue a remedy. We will keep you up to date.
IIG AWARDS
Couldn't make it to last May's posh awards ceremony. Never fear, as we are preparing a DVD of the event for sale. In the meantime, a report on the event will be published in a certain magazine that appeals to those who may be skeptical inquirers.
Joe Nickell commented on his award at his blog. Always good to hear from Joe.
CONNIE SONNE
Ms. Sonne, a former applicant for the IIG $50,000, has leapfrogged over us, and was scheduled to be tested for the JREF $1,000,000 prize live at The Amazing Meeting 7 in Las Vegas on July 12th. She was been informed that if she wins the million, she can bypass our usual preliminary test, and directly test for the $50,000.
Well, the test is complete, and Connie receive a score equal to what some statisticians call "the big goose egg." Already, Ms. Sonne has cried foul, claiming that the test was unfair. Judge for yourself! Ten members of the IIG were present to watch the proceedings, and feel the test was conducted fairly.
VISION FROM FEELING
North Carolina's FACT has reported back on their study of IIG Challenge Applicant Anita Ikonen, whose "Vision From Feeling" (VFF) is an alleged paranormal ability to make medical diagnoses.
On April 4, 2009, Anita conducted a study with five members of FACT. On May 14, 2009 Dr. Eric Carlson wrote online saying that Anita did not perform very well in their study. Anita was one of four potential readers and she came in third. The other three people were members of the FACT group and claimed to have no abilities whatsoever. Dr. Carlson wrote, "It is clear that if one were to rely on VFF's diagnoses for medical decisions, based on this test, you could do as well by picking random people off the street and asking them what they think is wrong with a patient. It is clear from this study that VFF has not yet found any ability which is worthy of devising a full-scale test."
We are in talks with Anita to develop a new protocol that she has suggested. We will keep you posted on the progress.
THAT'S ALL
Don't forget, August is national inventor's month.
- IIG
