“I’m a complete rationalist,” said Jesse Lebovics, manager of the Olympia and submarine Becuna for the Independence Seaport Museum. “I can explain most of it.

“But [the ship] certainly has a colorful enough history that I think if something were to be around, it makes sense it would be around the Olympia,” Lebovics said.

Sure, Jesse, nice “but” there. I’d think a few ghosts would be mighty convenient for you though.

I don’t necessarily blame the folks who run the Olympia for pitching this story. After all, we’ve seen Eastern State Penitentiary go from moldering historical curiosity to one of the most popular “haunted” places in America by embracing the ghost tourist industry. (By day a historic gem, by night a history-making cash cow.) And the Independence Seaport Museum is still reeling from the scandal left behind by its former president, who ran the place as his own personal cash/political favor machine.

Apparently, the ISM has already pimped out the ship to the ghost TV reality show industry, a necessary first step, I’m sure, before they partner with a ghost tour outfit. That is, if they can put it together in time. According to previous reports, they’re looking to sell it for $20 million or they’ve threatened to sink it off the coast of Cape May. My thinking is that it will join the SS United States and become another ghost ship of Philadelphia.

Um, not in the haunted sense, but the abandoned, looming over Ikea sense…although the Olympia doesn’t necessarily loom over anything.

You want to save the Olympia? Save the waterfront. May my father, a highway engineer since the 60′s, forgive me, but let’s get rid of I-95. The idea is so mad it might work.

UPDATE:

I can’t link it directly, but check out picture number four in the gallery. The caption says it all: “In recordings, Harry Burkhardt says, he has heard voices, including one that told him: ‘Save the ship!’”

Harry, are you certain Jesse wasn’t whispering in your ear?

Man, why couldn’t Parker Brothers make ‘em like this? That’s just gorgeous. And the name! Good gravy, its enough to cause pause for even the most lapsed Catholic parents. I have half a mind to buy one for my godson.

So, how do Ouija boards work? Evil spirits and the ideomotor effect. Learn more here. And this handy-dandy video, staring the Amazing One:

The reasons for this are obvious, chief among those are budgetary. CGI still costs money today, and these things were made in the late 90s. Beside, why spend the money on background dinosaurs? It would only confuse viewers anyway. It does, however, deprive viewers of the notion. Still, this isn’t a post to review a decade-old documentary, no matter how watchable it remains. (If updated, I’m sure it would simply feature more feathers, which seems to be the way our notions of dinosaurs are evolving.)

Besides, the kids love Dinosaur Train and we felt it was time to show them the truth about dinosaurs, that Laura the Giganotosaurus wouldn’t necessarily get along with little Ned the Brachiosaurus…and not just because they come from different ends of the Cretaceous.

Last night we watched the Cruel Sea episode, featuring gigantic liopleurodons — the big nasties of their day — and plesiousaur-like cryptoclidus. Certainly, the Jurassic seas would be teeming with more than just five or six species of beast. Most of which, I’m sure would kill you if you were there, much like I perceive anything off the coast of Australia, from salt water crocs (who would be at home in the Cretaceous) to great white sharks (ditto) to teeny cute little octopuses that will kill you if you accidentally step on them.

The truth is that it took a vast ecosystem to support apex predators like liopleurodons and smaller fish-eaters like cryptoclidus. That’s why I am always fascinated with people who claim that the various lake and river monsters around the world are plesiosaurs. And they never see small plesiousaurs either, like cryptoclidus, which measured in at about three meters. But even at three meters, a herd or pod or whatever the hell you call a group of these things would require a lot of fish to eat. And there would have to be more than one. Even if this particular lake monster was the last of its long-lived kind, one would think you’d find fossil evidence of recent critters of its kind around.

Take this story for example, the Hawkesbury River beastie. Now, color me a judgmental skeptic (which would be chartreuse, perhaps?), but I’m going to go off the bat with doubts that they have a dinosaur in their river.

Descriptions of the Hawkesbury River Monster liken it to the prehistoric plesiosaur, an aquatic dinosaur 70 million years extinct.

The Loch Ness monster is also said to be related to the same extinct creature. How the Nessie myth is similar to our own, HERE

Mr Jones said plesiosaurs did exist in Australia, but ther was no evidence of them inhabiting the Hawkesbury River.

However both Mr Gilroy and Mr Jones describe the aquatic dinosaur as grey and mottled in colour, with a large bulky body, two sets of paddle-like flippers, a long neck and serpent-like head and thick, eel-like tail.

Sighting reports describe it as about 24m long. Mr Jones said the plesiosaur grew up to 10m long.

Mr Gilroy said he and his field assistant Greg Foster may have sighted the creature last August, from a high bank near Wiseman’s Ferry.

They described seeing a dark, bulky shape with a long neck about a metre from the surface.

Its movements caused surface disturbance which appeared to suggest a marine creature with two sets of flippers and a tail, Mr Gilroy said.

The Mr. Jones quoted here Robert Jones, a paleontologist from the Australia Museum, and if you notice here that the reporter suggests that Jones and the cryptophile Gilroy are describing similar creatures, although at no point does he mention Gilroy seeing anything more than a long-neck. All of this sounds familiar. In fact, it sounds like Nessie and Champie, both lake creatures purported to be plesiosaurs and also purported to be among the legendary creatures of the local natives. I’m just going to through this out there and say that, perhaps, they are not seeing similar creatures but, instead, they are seeing similar phenomena, whether it is an animal or just a convincing mixture of logs and currents.

Ben Radford, editor of Skeptical Inquirer, wrote a great book with Joe Nickell about lake monsters, called Lake Monster Mysteries, in fact. In it, they investigate a number of the world’s great lake monsters and generally find sincere, thoughtful people, like Gilroy, who are absolutely convinced that they see a plesiosaur.

From their conclusion:

Although many sane and sincere people think they are seeing lake leviathans, in all likelihood they are encountering something they misperceive as such. We have given many examples in this book, including otters, eels, logs, and beavers. These eyewitnesses are not foolish; they are subject to the same psychological and perceptive errors that plague all of us from time to time.

I don’t doubt that these people think that they’re seeing something in Hawkesbury river. They’re not crazy, although their conclusions are more than a little premature. And I don’t doubt that Aborigines, Native Americans and ancient Celts all saw something similar in Hawkesbury, Lake Champlain and Loch Ness, respectively. (Of course, they interpreted these things as dragons and serpents and whatever a moolyewonk is, since they didn’t know about plesiosaurs.) Something like a 24 meter plesiosaur, however, would be awfully tough to hide. They’re air breathers, they need to eat a lot of fish, and they laid eggs on land.

Having one of these in your lake or river, no matter how well it hides, would have some affect on the local environment. It would be like having JD Salinger in your neighborhood. He may not be available for interviews and photographs, but the neighbors have seen him and he still gets mail delivery.

Paranormalists often point to the commonalities of near death and out-of-body experiences as evidence of the proof of an afterlife or astral projection. Turns out there is a more mundane — though fascinating — explanation. These experiences are common because that’s how we’re all wired in the noodle:

The doctors believe they are seeing the brain’s neurons discharge as they lose oxygen from lack of blood pressure.

“All the neurons are connected together and when they lose oxygen, their ability to maintain electrical potential goes away,” Chawla said. “I think when people lose all their blood flow, their neurons all fire in very close proximity and you get a big domino effect. We think this could explain the spike.”

It’s possible a cutoff of oxygen would trigger a similar but recoverable event that becomes seared into memory.

“Not everyone reports this light sort of business. What you hear most often reported (in near-death experiences) is just a vivid memory,” Chawla said.

Last night, I did the somewhat unthinkable (or at least, unreasonable) for a self-avowed skeptic: I bought a Powerball ticket. I lost, of course, as do the vast, vast majority of people who buy these tickets. It isn’t a good investment of even one measly greenback — but hey, it’s a vice.

And speaking of vices, I also realize I drink too much coffee. I’m going to try to quit — or at least drastically cut back — and I reckon I’d easily spend at leat $100 over a given four months for coffee and other caffeinated beverages.

Still, my loss is your gain — provided you have actual psychic powers. For this month only, if you can guess all six numbers — originally chosen by the Powerball machine — I will give your favorite charity $100. If nobody successfully guesses, I’ll donate the money to the James Randi Educational Foundation.

Here’s how Powerball works, from their site:

Powerball® is a combined large jackpot game and a cash game. Every Wednesday and Saturday night at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time, we draw five white balls out of a drum with 59 balls and one red ball out of a drum with 39 red balls.

I’ve been told that many psychics refrain from playing the lottery as it would be a crass abuse of their powers. Fortunately for you, I have a guilt-free method with which you can demonstrate your powers and be assured that a deserving charity gets the full total of the award in your name. In the very least, you’ll be able to keep that Randi guy from getting another benjamin.

I’m sorry that it couldn’t be more, but if I were rich — or good with money — I wouldn’t be buying lottery tickets.

Here are the rules:

1) You have until 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on October 31, 2009 to post your guess of six Powerball numbers to this blog entry.
2) You must provide your e-mail address. One guess per person. (I’ll check IPs/emails).
3) You must indicate a 501(c)(3) charity in your post. Otherwise, I’ll donate it to JREF in your name.
4) The lottery ticket will be kept in my wallet. If my wallet becomes lost/stolen over this month, the contest will end. Void. Kaput.
5) Your sole hint: the Powerball ticket was purchased September 30, 2009
6) If, for some reason, I lose my main source of income this month, i.e., “my freakin’ job,” the psychic challenge will stand, but I will hold off on donating to JREF. Sorry Randi, Phil.
7) Payments will be made in four monthly installments, since this is coming out of my coffee money.

UPDATE (30 seconds later): A few quick edits for typos.

UPDATE 2 (1.5 hrs later, or so): Just to be clear, I am in no way affiliated with the James Randi Educational Fund. They neither sponsor nor sanction this brutal test of paranormal abilities.

UPDATE 3: Damn. I lost the ticket. It must have slipped out of my wallet. We’ll try again later. Skeptifail!

In an article published in the April 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that teenagers who preferred popular songs with degrading sexual references were more likely to engage in intercourse or in pre-coital activities.

Already, with the euphemisms. What are pre-coital activities? Heavy petting? Badminton?

Writing in the article, Brian A. Primack, MD, EdM, MS, Center for Research on Health Care at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, states, “This study demonstrates that, among this sample of young adolescents, high exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music was independently associated with higher levels of sexual behavior. In fact, exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex was one of the strongest associations with sexual activity…These results provide further support for the need for additional research and educational intervention in this area.”

If I had known this then, I would have taken extra care in putting together mix tapes for the girls I fancied.

Surveys were completed by 711 ninth-grade students at three large urban high schools. These participants were exposed to over 14 hours each week of lyrics describing degrading sex. About one third had previously been sexually active. Compared to those with the least exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex, those with the most exposure were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse. The relationship between exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex and sexual experience held equally for both young men and women.

Similarly, among those who had not had sexual intercourse, those in the highest third of exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex were nearly twice as likely to have progressed along a noncoital sexual continuum compared to those in the lowest third. Finally, the relationships between exposure to lyrics describing non-degrading sex and sexual outcomes were not significant.

Students reported the number of hours per day that they listen to music and their favorite musical artists. Through a detailed content analysis, the percentage was calculated of each artist’s most popular songs containing lyrics describing degrading sex. An exposure score for lyrics describing degrading sex was then computed by multiplying each student’s hours of music exposure by the percentage of his or her favorite artists’ songs that contain lyrics describing degrading sex.

Oh, OK, I think I found the problem here. They surveyed “711 ninth-grade students at three large urban high schools”…now, I’m no expert on youth culture, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find a song popular among urban high schoolers that wasn’t about degrading sex. Of course kids listen to songs about sex.

When I was a kid, I’d hover over any material, in print, on video or sketched by a 17th c. Dutch Master in the often vain hopes that there would be some sort of sexual content in it. A kid would no sooner pass up a song about deviant sex than they would a Trader Joe’s Vanilla Joe-Joe (Crom, I love them). On the surface, there seems to be some correlation/causation confusion.

And that’s the danger of it. For all I know, this is probably good, legitimate science and there are factors here that just aren’t coming across in a press release. Mark my words, this press release will picked up unedited and regurgitated in news outlets across the land.

It doesn’t help to use phrases like “noncoital sexual continuum” as if that’s a normal everyday figure of speech. What does that mean? It sounds like the leading cause of blindness in teenage Borg. I’m assuming “noncoital sexual continuum” is how we round the bases in science-speak. Does that make it degrading? If so, I don’t know what’s normal.

How do you quantify degrading sexual lyrics, anyway?

“I’m sorry, son, that hip-hop song rates a 6.5 on the Ludacris scale and, well, that’s logarithmic and the logarithm is going to get you. Your mother and I don’t want that sort of thing in the house. You understand? Good, now here’s $20, go see American Pie 7 while your mother and I get our freak on…Gladys, where’s the butter and the Lil Wayne?”

Putting words in his mouth is a tricky proposition, and I think it might be helpful to feel out the borders of good taste for the Constitution Center people. You know, a touchstone they could test against for appropriateness.

So, some six word phrases that shouldn’t be in the inaugural address:

• I will devour your filthy souls
• Damn, its brisk out here, people!
• Hopeity, bopeity, shmopeity, blah blah blah
• Wait, women can vote for president?
• You get a car…and you…
• I will grow a Lincoln beard
• Can I get a wave going?
• Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, just kidding
• My new ranch in Crawford, Texas
• You get a bailout…and you…
• But first, hold hands and sing
• Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Obama R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn
• Everyone, hold hands and concentrate…LIFT!!!
• Pass the plate, please, the deficit…
• I really am a Secret Muslim
• It really isn’t a great job
• Build, build, build my golden idol

Please suggest some more. And I will immediately ask Obama not to include them in his speech.

“Alternative” medicine is by definition medicine that has not been scientifically proven and has not been accepted into mainstream scientific medicine. The question I keep hearing is, “But what about acupuncture? It’s been proven to work, it’s supported by lots of good research, more and more doctors are using it, and insurance companies even pay for it.”

It’s time the acupuncture myth was punctured – preferably with an acupuncture needle. Almost everything you’ve heard about acupuncture is wrong.

And he she goes on to say why. Worth reading.

UPDATE: Bad, lazy Greg. Sorry Harriet. In my defense, Science-Based Medicine looks so much like Steve’s NeuroLogica Blog, that I forgot where I was. Same colors and template. That’s what I get for trying to post a few bits while on the morning coffee break.

Another UPDATE: You can read more about (and from) Harriet Hall from her own site, SkepDoc.

I like the lede here, comparing how scientists view their own research versus, oh, say, Frankie Avalon shilling for vitamin supplements:

Then came three large, rigorous clinical trials that randomly assigned people to take beta carotene pills or a placebo. And the beta carotene hypothesis crumbled. The trials concluded that not only did beta carotene fail to protect against cancer and heart disease, but it might increase the risk of developing cancer.

It was “the biggest disappointment of my career,” said one of the study researchers, Dr. Charles Hennekens, then at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

But Frankie Avalon, a ’50s singer and actor turned supplement marketer, had another view. When the bad news was released, he appeared in an infomercial. On one side of him was a huge stack of papers. At his other side were a few lonely pages. What are you going to believe, he asked, all these studies saying beta carotene works or these saying it doesn’t?

Read the whole thing, it gives some great examples of how things that are reported in the media often fall apart in strong clinical trials. I wish it went a little deeper to provide casual readers with a few more tools on how to judge the strength of a study design. And It could use some graphics. Still, good stuff.

Here’s that point:

BHOPAL: A teenage girl in Madhya Pradesh herself on Wednesday after being traumatised by media reports that a “Big Bang” experiment in Europe could bring about the end of the world, her father said.

The 16-year old girl from Madhya Pradesh drank pesticide and was rushed to the hospital but later died, police said.

(via TierneyLab)

There. LHC hysteria, not funny.

UPDATE: On the other hand, keep checking here if you are a little worried.