Sure, it’s snarky and resorts to ad hominems, but Sylvia Brown is a bad, bad person, so Rebecca’s narrative of a trip to see this scammer is a great read. It has some NSFW language, however. I think Rebecca is in many ways NSFW.
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About Bad Astronomy
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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November 30th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I read her entry on Sylvia yesterday and had to stifle my laughter (I was in my cube at work). Of course it’s snarky and full ad homs, that’s Rebecca. It also clearly states the way a lot of people feel about this .
You’re not the only one who loves Rebecca!!
November 30th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
NSFW? Maybe if you work for Focus on the Family, but everyone else should be OK.
November 30th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
If you need to convince anyone that Sylvia Browne is no psychic, then just direct them to a recording I have archived in my blog here:
http://www.shanekillian.com/blog/index.php?/archives/53-Why-Sylvia-Browne-Is-No-Psychic.html
(And if that doesn’t work:)
http://tinyurl.com/yzg8vu
November 30th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Shane, that link from your blog is dead. Maybe Sylvia can resurrect it.
November 30th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Rebecca’s not safe for work? Somebody call OSHA!
November 30th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Sylvia can’t resurrect it but I can… Use http://www.shanekillian.org/files/sylviabrowne.mp3
I notice the link said .m3u and figured it was a typo…
I have to admit it is very tempting to make an easy living getting a Peter Popoff earpiece and do psychic readings for $75 for a butt in the seat. Then I could retire writing a tell all book about how there’s one born every minute.
Really shame should go to Larry King for having this fraud on. I guess people prefer it to war and strife. I gives people hope, which is actually the last demon to come out of Pandora’s box. Hopefully, they had a skeptic on there to give her a bit of hell and give the whole thing a reality check. It doesn’t seem like this time they did.
November 30th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Hate to be pedantic, but in the majority of versions of the Pandora’s tale hope was not a demon at all. More of an antidote to the demons. I grant you, though, that there are versions where hope is regarded as bad.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
In the past when I heard the story of Pandora’s Box, it was that the box was slamed shut before Hoplessness was released.
*shrug*
Of course, you can always go with Lao Tzu and say that “Hope is the same illusion as Fear”
November 30th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Did Lao Tzu say that? Sounds more like Buddha…I am genuinely curious!
December 1st, 2006 at 12:51 pm
You know I love you, too, Phil, but I’ll post it anyway!
December 1st, 2006 at 1:50 pm
SO, where does compassion fit into all this? As in , Buddah, the Compassionate One.
Hope is not an illusion. It’s the realization that, come what may, things COULD get better, because they sometimes do.
Good times, bad times, we just try to roll with the punches. People do at times, deserve to be reminded we have survived bad times, therefore we can probably survive whatever we’re experiencing now. That’s just what it takes to keep on trucking. I have no problem with the Santa Clause myth, because it reminds people there ARE good people in the world and therefore good reason to keep on, keeping on. However, when someone tries to take advantage of our desire to be convinced that there is something more to life than the pain and turmoil we see,,,well, then I take umbrage. Sylvia Brown appears ro be one of those making profit from that simple desire to believe in something greater than ourselves. I am a great fan of the Delai LAma, a man oft described as the Living Buddah. He describes himself however, as “Just a man,,,” Jerry Garcia was well aware of the all to human tendency to worship the exceptional and took great pains to let people know he was,”,,,just a musician.” Yet still, there were many who literally worshipped him, a fat, hairy old white guy, heroin/cocaine user who happened to have the ability to make people feel REAL GOOD with his skill and passion for music.
This is the human condition. We are all to willing to suspend our judgement to the whim of another. Those who are truely ethically evolved will bend over backwards to avoid being lionized by the masses. Those with less ethicality will rush to embrace godhood. I guess they’re just too damn lazy to work for a living. It’s SOOOO much easier to have people throw money at you, for making them feel hopeful,,,
Ah well, at least we have Rebecca and Phil, trying to encourage useful thinking. I still have hope the species will continue to grow. It HAS accomplished marvels in the past,,,
GAry 7
December 1st, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Most reading the Pandora myth believe hope was the one good thing to come out, but I think the Greeks may have held hope in less esteem. At any rate I wasn’t citing any particular mythological source, just my own feeling that “hope” was in good company along with the other world’s ills in the Pandora myth.
July 13th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Here is some of my own forecasting. Sylvia will make a big error exposing her fraud, and in the end result will be the doom of the Montel Williams show. Then Sylvia, and Rosie O’Donell will start their own show called “Intuitive Thought From a Big Mouth”. Here is a poll if you believe in Sylvia or not: http://www.apopularitycontest.com/display_poll.php?ID=157
December 16th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
I do, but she is dangerous…