A news story that was printed in the New Humanist back in May/June 2008 has been revived in The Times today.
It’s not exactly a ‘catching up’, but I’d say it’s a revisit to how rationalists in India continue to challenge superstitious and claims by gurus.
Sanal Edamaruku wrote about Death on air -- the night a guru tried to kill him live on Indian TV:
Even if you don’t live in India it is possible you have seen my encounter with supreme tantrik “power” in March. Since it was broadcast it has been posted on YouTube and has had a good many views. “More than the candidates of the presidential election,” joked the reporter from US National Public Radio when I was interviewed the other day.
The YouTube video that was originally linked no longer features. You can, however, watch a differently hosted version of the film where Edamaruku faces down Pandit Surendra Sharma.
Today, Jeremy Page of Dehli, reported Sceptic challenges guru to kill him live on TV and discussed the ongoing efforts to raise the profile of rationalism in India. It’s a lousy headline, implying that the above video is new. It isn’t, but some of the following items are:
This week India’s most popular yoga master, Baba Ramdev, announced plans to launch a political party, promising to cleanse India of corruption and introduce the death penalty for slaughtering cows. Then, on Wednesday, police arrested a couple in Maharashtra state on suspicion of killing five boys on the advice of a tantric master who said their sacrifice would help the childless couple to conceive.
“The immediate goal I have is to stop these fraudulent babas and gurus,” says Mr Edamaruku, 55, a part-time journalist and publisher from the southern state of Kerala. “I want people to make their own decisions. They should not be guided by ignorance, but by knowledge.
Speaking of education, Science Daily reports on A Magical Way to Move Kids: Researcher Uses Magic Tricks to Treat Children With Locomotor Disabilities:
Dr. Dido Green of Tel Aviv University’s School of Health Professionals developed an innovative yet remarkably simple series of therapeutic exercises for children and young adults based on sleight-of-hand tricks used by professional magicians. Dr. Green and her magicians used sponge balls, elastics and paper clips to teach the children how to perform the challenging, fun and engaging exercises.
I was challenged myself by the sound of thirsty trees! From BoingBoing (and thanks to @TribalScientist for the find):
Bioacoustician Bernie Krause has recorded the amazingly rhythmic vascular systems of thirsty trees!
He discovered that the cells in the xylem and phloem of the tree fill with air to try to maintain the osmotic pressure that’s usually produced by the sucking of water up through the roots. At a certain point the cells burst. Krause adds “When they pop, they make a noise: we can’t hear it, but insects can. And when insects hear multiple cells popping, they’re drawn to the tree because certain ones are programmed to expect sap. And when the insects are drawn to the tree, the birds are drawn to the tree to eat. it’s all a microhabitat formed by sound: The sound of popping cells.”
Oh -- and feminists and Richard Dawkins strident? Jane Caro laughs about it at “A Badge of Courage” over at Online Opnion.
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Jane Caro is wonderful, isn’t she.
I remember the guru story from way back. Or rather I remember every skeptical podcast mocking the guru, and deservedly so. It’s a great attention grabber for a serious problem.
Richard Saunders mentioned it on the ‘Global Skepticism’ panel at Dragon*Con, which I believe is episode #7? http://skepticzone.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=409931&comments=on
Oh, wow. That story about motivating the kids using magic tricks is simply brilliant. It’ll be interesting to see what comes of it.
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