WGN Morning News Blog

It is Friday the thirteenth. My mom is actually getting a black cat today, from a friend, who lived next to the Witch museum in Salem, home of the infamous Salem witch trials. The Potashes are not a superstitious bunch.

But, strange and eerie things are happening around the world on this very day. A phone rings, and it is a person you were just talking about. You show up to a business meeting, and the client has the same tie. (Insert Twilight Zone music here.) Are the forces of darkness steering you to your doom? Are the spirits from the great beyond sending you a message?

The truth is, there is nothing magical here. Strange and eerie things happen everyday; we just tend to remember the weird ones. Let’s take September eleventh, for example. Perhaps you’ve seen those forwarded emails about the mysterious “connections” behind the nine-eleven tragedy.

*9/11: 9+1=11
*After September 11 there are 111 days left in the year
*The twin towers look like an “11.”
*The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11.
*State of NY was the eleventh state added to the Union
*Afghanistan has 11 letters.
*George W. Bush has 11 letters

(This is just a fraction of the list.)

Uri-Geller, who claims to be a psychic, posted something like this on his website and recommended everyone pray for 11 seconds. Dr. Robert Carroll of the Skeptic ‘s Dictionary, writes that this is an example of using selective thinking to make something seem designed or the result of a preordained pattern.

One of the 9/11 flights originated from Boston. John Kennedy and Conan O’Brien are from Boston and both have 11 letters. Is there a connection?

The only force at work here, is the one of coincidence and the only thing that’s mysterious about it is that it involves math, which, if you’ve seen my checkbook, can be very difficult to figure out.

Here’s an example. It seems unusual for us to run into someone with the same birthday. However, you might be surprised to learn that (according to math) in a random selection of 23 people, there is a 50-percent chance that at least two of them celebrate the same birthday.

Here’s a more disturbing example. How about a person dreaming of a plane crash, and the crash happening the next day? A million to one odds may sound large enough to rule out coincidence. But according to Dr. Carroll, “With six billion people on earth, having an average of 250 dream themes each per night, there should be about 1.5 million people a day who have dreams that seem clairvoyant.”

One needs to put coincidences back in context. With a big enough sample, you find that things are not so mysterious. Flipping a coin “heads” six times in a row might seem eerie. However, you would be less impressed if you flipped six consecutive “heads” during a thousand coin flips. You realize---this stuff just happens.

Wheaton native Jim Underdown of the Center for Inquiry West in Los Angeles explains that people are struck by coincidence because they don’t remember (and therefore disregard) the thousands of non-events that are also part of any set of statistics.

“Lottery boards never issue press releases about the 49 million people who lost this week,” Underdown said. “Slot machines don’t whisper ‘hey you won.’ It lights up like a Christmas tree.”

The September eleventh examples involve retrofitting significance. Underdown says look at the “connections” between Elvis and Jesus:

*wore white
*called “the King”
*frequented the desert (Jesus roamed the desert; Elvis often played Las Vegas.)

What does it mean? Nothing. Weirdness can be a piece of evidence worth exploring but in the end, statisticians have the ultimate proof in the numbers.

"One reason we attribute paranormal or supernatural causes to coincidences is because most of us are innumerate. That is, we don't have a clue about what the real odds are of things. When two events come together that seem uncanny or really weird it jolts us into thinking the coincidence is meaningful. But where is the meaning coming from? Not the natural world, because in the natural world, things happen according to whatever laws govern them. So we attribute the meaning to the paranormal or the supernatural. I guess it gives us some comfort and some sense that we're connected to something important, which makes us important, too," said Dr. Carroll.

Weirdness happens on Friday the thirteenth as well as Saturday the fourteenth. Science offers the best view of reality, even when reality is weird, and in nature, that’s not that uncommon. What would really be unusual, is if weirdness never happened. Now that would be creepy.

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In the 1970's we faced touch choices. Woodward and Bernstein had to decide whether to trust Deep Throat. President Gerald Ford had to reflect on whether to pardon Nixon. And Americans had to choose between Donnie and Marie, or Chico and the Man on Friday night.

Mike Toomey remembers growing up in Carol Stream, when the President interrupted "Happy Days" with a message, that Mike has long since forgotten.

"Is he an idiot---of all times!" Come on during Mannix or something! Doesn't he know what's on?!"

'Sit on it' Gerald Ford!

Toomey's performs his one-man show "TV and Me" at the Skokie Theater tonight and Saturday at 8pm. I saw it last weekend with Dean. It is hysterical. People laughted all the way through. You know Toomey from his appearances on WGN as Skip Parker and Lord of the Limerick. Capture the childhood magic through the comic's amazing impersonations of Adam West and Andy Griffith.

"I remember everything they said on the sitcoms but conversely I couldn't remember anything I was suppose to learn in school. I couldn't remember important dates, but I could remember everything Fonzie said. Every kid, now, when there's something wrong, they assign letters to them---a-d-d, and o-c-d; When I was a kid-they just said, 'well, he's an idiot.'"

Hey Robin Williams and Chris Rock didn't get to where they are now because they aced the history quiz. Schoolhouse Rock got me through the high school multiple-choice exams of my public school education. I remember '75 was a big year in American history----in the 18th century, colonists were inspired by 'Give me liberty or give me death;' and in the 20th century, "Up your nose with a rubber hose" marked the debut of ''Welcome Back Kotter'' on ABC.

The catch phrase was a 70's stabple: J-J Walker's "Dy-no-mite," and Arnold's "What'chu talkin' bout Willis." They seem so cheap now.

"They were so contrived," Toomey told me. "They'd do it and everyone would clap-like Pavlov's dog."

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One of my oldest possessions is a miniature Plymouth Rock that I got as a souvenier during a field trip in Kindergarten 1973 to Plimoth Plantation, where you can see the "real" rock. When you grow up in Boston, history is real. Some of the streets and structures still stand, or at least have been recreated, so you are surrounded by history. Of course, even in Boston, children got the sanitized version of everything: The Pilgrims enjoyed a lovely sail across the water and Squanto was at the shore with a gift-basket with wine and poutpourri. Oh sure, the Indians did teach the Pilgrims about planting corn -- it was all organic, without the thumb-rings and lip-piercings of the Whole Foods workforce. They all sat down at a very long table, with very tall buckled hats and the evening culminated with a "shirts and skins" two-hand touch game.

Once you get out of elementary shool, it seems Thanksgiving becomes a holiday without meaning or character. I always feel like that scene in The Simpsons, where Marge does her darnedest to prepare a lovely family meal, with candles, and all the trimmings. Then, Homer, Bart and Lisa fly down the stairs, gobble the grub in pandemonium, burp, spew a casual "thanks mom" and move on their merry way. So when I have young relatives at the holiday table, I take a page out of the Passover playbook, and have people around the table read a passage or two from the real Thanksgiving story, without the cornucopia of cartoonism.

I remember in third grade, making a Thanksgiving mural and my Pilgrims were proportionately about two feet taller than the Indians. They are bigger than life in our stories but that is not the complete picture. The Massachusetts Turnpike used to have signs with Pilgrim hats and an arrow through them. That tells you -- there's a little more to the story. They headed towards Massachusetts when they were blown 220 miles off course, and then they started to run out of beer (really--it was safer than water.) Before the Mayflower "hit Plymouth Rock" a scouting party stole some corn, and at least 30 Indians attacked them with arrows, according to Nathaniel Philbrick's book "Mayflower."

He writes that unlike the Founding Fathers, the Pilgrims believed they were guided more by God, than reason and as long as the Indians were loyal, there would be no problems. Religious tolerance wasn't in their playbook, but when they were starving, they were a little more willing to listen to native wisdom.

The farming lessons weren't free. Massasoit, had a secret agenda. What many people don't realize, is that the Pilgrims landed in the middle of a political power struggle among Indian tribes. To make a long story short, Philbrick writes that this led to violence that spread among various alliances that crossed racial lines and created mass confusion.

The first Pilgrims tried to live in peace among the tribes, but their children and grandchildren engaged in ethnic cleansing and slave trading. Ultimately, Philbrick writes, the New Englanders destroyed their forefathers' way of life. So you see, The Pilgrim chapter isn't just one hard winter of thanks and peace, but an epic story of surviving disease and warfare; something that's worth remembering before overindulging in big portions and small talk.

Copyright © 2007, WGN-TV

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Sometimes you have to get a different perspective to see the light. I recall an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies when Jed Clampett pondered a question about something that seemed very silly to him: "Why would anyone want to take a plant, roll it up in a piece of paper, stick it in their face, and set fire to it?"

Why indeed? A good question to ask as we approach The American Cancer Society's 31st anniversary of the Great American Smokeout on Thursday, November 15. When you listen to the common wisdom of Jed, it all seems silly. At one point, people didn't think it looked so silly---in fact, it looked cool. For decades, people have been influenced by powerful media images.

Some old cigarette ads from the 1940's included a variety of gimmicks, and people bought it.

For example…Philip Morris boasted that their cigarettes were less irritating.

"All smokers inhale--but your throat needn't know it."
(Until the cancer sets in, and then all your body parts will know.)

You think that's bad? Kool Cigarettes featured a penguin and promised that it would clear your head like Vicks Vapor Rub.

"They're mildly mentholated. Light up and feel that instant refreshment. Smoke long--your throat and tongue stay cool and smooth… your mouth clean and fresh."
(…your lungs coated in tar.)

Before the cute, cartoon Joe Camel was used, Camels' pitch-man was Santa Claus. His jolly image covered the carton to make gift-giving easy---no wrapping needed.

"There's an added pleasure in giving Camels at Christmas."
(Remember the nativity with nicotine. Nothing celebrates the lord's birth like rich tobacco flavor; and with all that second-hand smoke, it's the gift that keeps giving.)

Our parents will say that nobody knew the dangers. The best warning our moms ever got was when the obstetrician advised them to blow the smoke in the other direction while they were breast feeding us. But today, the American Cancer Society offers these facts: Cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined--that's 1,200 people every day. A hundreds of those are non-smokers who die from heart disease.

Smokers cry about their "rights." Yes, we all have rights and sometimes two rights come into conflict, and that's when the courts decide whose right is more important. How can anyone argue that the right to smoke is more vital than the right to breathing clean air? Would Samuel Adams' patriots have rallied behind the cause of the right to light up in ye olde public house?

Maybe Bogart or Bond made it look glamorous on the big screen---for some reason that's proven to be a powerful motivator for young people to inhale carcinogens. But, I'm sure the men who wore powdered wigs in Adams' day thought they looked pretty cool too. The statistics should help people's judgement evolve, before they become one of those stats. Remember this---who was more macho than the original Marlboro man himself? Of course, he ultimately died of, what else? Lung Cancer.

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Halloween, as a child, was magical -- the old, gnarled tree branches backlit against the moonlight; shuffling through the fallen colors to strange homes for Trick or Treat. In the days before Fright Night was a marketing bonanza, with fog machines and motion-activited skeletons, one of my neighbors back in 1974 had, in the driveway of his old house, under an old tree, a coffin with a seven foot Frankenstein that could react to my every move, and even talk to me. It was the most unbelievable thing I had ever seen, in all my seven years walking among the living.

It has become increasingly difficult to capture the eeriness of this ghostly night. As we go from high school, to college, to the adult singles scene,

The drinks may get slightly more sophisticated, but the spookish vibe and mystery of the hallowed night just isn't there.

“Paranormalists” recruit people around the world gather every Halloween to mark the death of Harry Houdini, and try and bring him back from the grave through a séance.

It all started 179 years ago, when Houdini died on Halloween of 1926. He set up a code with his wife Bess, so that if there were truly a way to contact her after death, he would do it. She attended séances for nine years and then on the tenth year, the séance was held on the roof of the Knickerbocker hotel in Los Angeles. There were clear skies but reportedly a storm rolled in and downpoured soley on the hotel, and then went away. Some saw this "weather phenomenon" as a sign from Harry. But it must not have been the code. Bess never showed up to another séance.

But if a rolling thunderstorm is considered "a sign" then how will we really know it's Houdini, short of his specter screaming 'boo.' People claiming to be paranormal experts says it's subjective. A "sign" could be a creeky floorboard, or a spider falling from the ceiling. But if it's subjective, than what validity does all this have beyond a piece of compelling theater? Better yet, if we're suspending the laws of science to say that someone can make contact from the grave, than why do we need an organized séance to communicate? Why not just shout out "Hey Harry -- you here?"

Because of Houdini's background as an illusionist, he recognized the techniques of mediums and became a crusader against charlatans who took advantage of grieving families, according to Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman of the book "Weird U.S." He frequently attended séances in disguise, in order to expose the mediums.

We all have intuitive abilities -- some people use them; others choose to ignore them. That's insightful. Because while the annual Houdini séance is a great way to experience the eeriness of Halloweens past, it also serves as a warning. As The Great Houdini knew, those who look to "spiritualists" for serious guidance may experience the greatest disappearing act of them all -- their money.

Larry Potash
Copyright © 2007, WGN-TV

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This month marks the 50th anniversary of the dawn of the space age. The Soviets’ launch of the Sputnik satellite started the space race in 1957.

But lately the space race seems to be stalling, with much at stake for our survival. Why?

The world is going to end. Don’t believe it because of some guy on the street corner screaming his Armageddon warnings through a bullhorn. Obviously, the world is going to end someday. We all learned in 8th grade science that at some point, in a number of years with a lot of zeroes at the end, the sun will burn out.

But others believe crisis is more imminent.

In July, New York Times columnist John Tierney wrote about Dr. J. Richard Gott and his conclusion that to ensure our long-term survival, we need to get a colony up and running on Mars within 46 years.

At first I pictured Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett Brown from "Back to the Future." But Gott is a professor of astrophysics at Princeton. He bases predictions about how long something will last based on how long something has lasted already, and also upon the Copernican Principal

In short, Gott points out that if we don’t colonize space soon, we may never do it and we’ll have nowhere to go when extinction looms.

In 2006, a group of scientists, including Stephen Hawking, got together for a TV production and predicted several ways the Earth could end.

* A gamma ray burst or black hole

* Artificial intelligence on the loose

* A super volcano

* An asteroid striking the Earth.

* Nuclear annihilation

* A natural or bioterrorist pandemic

* Global warming

So if not the Earth or Mars, where?

Dennis Hope is selling real estate on the moon; deeds go for $20. Laugh if you will, but Hope claims 4 million people have spent $9 million so far, including George Lucas and President G.W. Bush, according to Discover magazine. Hope exploited a loophole in a UN treaty that prohibits nations from owning the moon but says nothing about individual holders.

However, Discover quotes a professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University as saying Hope’s strategy won’t hold up in court. Of course, if these new lunar owners are leaving behind an Earth in ruins, having a deed might be better than not having one.

Perhaps in another corner of the universe, there is another planet colonizing other planets. Or, perhaps we are a colony of a previous planet, and some bumbling Dr. Smith fumbled the sacred history books, which are now ‘lost in space.’

Either way, the game here is "survival of the fittest."

Tragedies in the space program have made us gun-shy. But colonizing space will take bold ideas and risks—and a public with an appetite for failure.

So as we look to the next 50 years of space exploration, let’s steer our children away from iPods and X-boxes and toward understanding the universe.

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The Cubs in the World Series? I didn’t want to take a chance at waiting to write about it. Who knows how long the Cubs playoff push will last? While the dream is alive, I thought I would explore Cubs World Series story, albeit a brief one.

It seems spooky things happen in October between the white lines of a baseball diamond. While baseball purists love stats, I thought these vignettes might be more useful in helping more moderate fans sound like they just jumped on the band wagon. The Cubs appearances are easy enough to look up but I was surprised at how many different ways the Cubs have dramatically choked. Here are the odd stories you don’t get from simply glancing at the box score.

Let’s start out on a positive note, something the 1907 Cubs did not do. According to THE WORLD SERIES’ MOST WANTED by John Snyder, for unexplained reasons, the Cubs wore their gray “away” uniforms, so they looked just like the visiting Tigers. The only difference was the hat and socks. It’s unclear if having two teams dressed alike caused much confusion, but the matching grays of Chicago and Detroit finished with a matching score. Game one was called 3-3 because of darkness in the 12th. When the Cubs straighened out their wardrobe malfunction, they won four straight.

In 1918, The Cubs and Red Sox threatened to go on strike during the World Series.

Their share of the gate receipts had been cut. Part of the reason was that the nation was at war, so attendance was lower and ticket prices decreased. The players eventually backed off their threats, worried they would appear greedy, while other men were risking their lives.

What contributed to the Cubs failure in 1918 was not the tension over a strike threat, but baserunning. In game three, the Cubs were down 2-1 with two outs in the ninth. Cubs outfielder Charlie Pick tried to take third on a passed ball that was only 20 feet behind the plate. The third-baseman knocked down the catcher's poor throw into foul territory. Pick pressed his luck and tried for home and a perfect throw nailed him.

It gets worse. In game four of that series, Cubs outfielder Max Flack was picked off base twice in the game---the only time that’s ever happened in the World Series.

Here’s a bit of baserunning trivia. The only time the World Series ended on a botched stolen base attempt? Babe Ruth, who was not known for his fleet feet, decided on his own to steal second and was thrown out. I bring up the baserunning blunders, because it reminds me of Carlos Zambrano recently chugging around third, ignoring the coach’s stop sign, and getting thrown out at home. As they teach you in Little League, physical mistakes are inevitable; mental errors are unforgiveable.

OTHER NOT-SO-FUN FACTS from Snyder’s WORLD SERIES MOST WANTED

The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Cubs in the 1910 World Series using only two pitchers: Chief Bender and Jack Coombs.

In the 1918 Series, The Cubs’ Hippo Vaughn pitched three complete games, giving up only three runs, but he lost two of the games, including the opener 1-0. The opposing pitcher? Babe Ruth.

In the 1929 Series, Pat Malone took an 8-0 Cubs lead over the Athletics and gave up a record setting 10 runs. A couple of days later, he pitched game five, and took a two hitter into the ninth. With two outs away from a World Series ring, he fell apart and gave up three runs.

In 1932, game three was at Wrigley and the Yankees hit four home runs. Babe Ruth reportedly pointed his bat to the outfield to “call his shot” and hit a homer to center. It was the last of his 15 career World Series home runs.

A former Cub has the best all-time World Series batting average (minimum 75 appearances) but this won’t make you burst with pride. It involves the worst trade in Cubs history. Lou Brock hit .391 in three series. His 25 hits in consecutive World Series (1967-68) is a record.

In the back of my mind, I can’t help but wonder, what are the possible ways in which someone could blow it. There are physical errors (Bill Buckner letting a ball through his legs in ‘86) and mental errors (see examples above) and the intangibles (Bartman.) So here is a look back, in hopes of learning a lesson or two. Clip and send to your favorite Cub. Hopefully, October will spare us frightening nights until the 31st.

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At this risk of sounding like an old man, in my day, rap music meant something. I have to admit, I have shut it out for a long time. Every rap music video seems to be about cash, cars, guns and 'hoes'. Apologists argued it was just a reflection of their reality; critics complained the message offered no solution.

But I'm old school. Perhaps RUN DMC and Grand Master Flash would seem as innocent as listening to Hall&Oates or Englebert Humperdink, but at least those rap pioneers had a message.

RUN DMC:

One thing I know is that life is short

So listen up homeboy, give this a thought

The next time someone's teaching

why don't you get taught?

It's like that; and that's the way it is

GRAND MASTER FLASH:

Pay your toll, sell your soul

Pound for pound costs more than gold

The longer you stay, the more you pay

My white lines go a long way

Either up your nose or through your vein

With nothin to gain except killing your brain

John Clarke is a student of hip hop, and he has a message. When I say student, I don't mean that casually. He received his B.A. in Sociology and Music from Columbia University. Then he earned his Medical Degree from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He's combined his two passions by producing hip-hop music about health.

"My passion, first, was music. It was 1979 -- Kurtis Blow and the Sugar Hill Gang -- I was 8 and I was writing rap songs," Clarke told me. "As I got older I continued to write but my passion developed into medicine in high school. I pursued a career in medicine because it is more rewarding and more stable. It's a good 'day job' to have."

His songs are about asthma, allergies, HIV, and more.

The Rules:

A diabetic that regretted the truth,

That he really wasn't careful in the days of his youth.

Diagnosed at 18 he thought he was straight,

didn't care about he weight or the junk that he ate.

Was in denial for awhile; thought he felt great.

Got up at night five, six times to urinate.

The rap isn't just shtick. Dr. Clarke is serious about educating people about health. He notes that studies have shown the average teen listens to 40 hours of music per week and 10,500 hours of music between the 7th and 12th grade. This is slightly less than the cumulative hours spent in the classroom from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Rhythm and rhymes, key components in rap, help evoke memory. But he knows he can't get too cutesy. He needs to be authentic, or he'll lose credibility.

["The songs have a] story format and are based on real experiences with my patients," he told me. "If they perceive you are trying to preach to them, it turns them off."

It's more than just rhyming. Dr. Clarke has studied the best ways to reach people. For example, when it comes to smoking, teens care more about superficial issues like bad breath, while adults can grasp the concept of lung cancer.

Bad Breath-Brown Teeth

They can't stop the habit, reaching in their pocket, cash up in smoke, quicker than they got it.

Now I'm on the topic, how do they enjoy it?

Teeth look cheesey, breath smelling like a toilet.

30 years later, waiting for the answer, Doctors took tests, now he says it's cancer!

"I'm a physician who raps -- not a rapper who happens to be a physician," Clarke said. "They'll see athletes , rap artists as what society promotes as what you want to do. But I present myself as a doctor. I want to be a role model."

I showed the video to rap star, and Chicago native, Common for his reaction.

"I don't think he can make it on the Common album," he said with a laugh. "Man, anybody can rap nowadays!"

Are you kidding? Dr. Clarke's got skills. I'm no poet, but it's a lot easier to rhyme with "hoe" than with sinusitis.

He may never make the cover of VIBE, but Dr. Clarke is saving lives, and that's more than we can say for anyone on top of the Hip-Hop charts.

*note: Dr.Clarke makes his Chicago TV debut Thursday on WGN Morning News

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It seems a contradiction in terms to say that "psychics" could have their own "reality" shows, but this is the new niche that TV will explore in two shows coming out in October.

NBC’s "Phenomenon" looks for "the next great mentalist." You also can watch alleged psychics compete in Lifetime’s "America’s Psychic Challenge."

I can see it now. Psychic contestant No. 1 turns to the audience and says, "Is there a John here? There is? A-ha!"

It makes sense. Reality TV is inexpensive to produce, and there is no shortage of people trying to make a fortune reading your fortune.

You might think that with the cameras rolling, we’d finally find out once and for all whether this legendary power exists. But don’t be fooled.

I contacted paranormal investigator Jim Underdown of the Center for Inquiry West in Hollywood, who said all the lights, cameras and action of a TV production could interfere with making any psychic test fair and honest.

"A TV production is a bad testing environment. Unlike a science lab, TV sets have too many people to keep an eye on and too much activity to control. Who is making sure the psychic isn’t getting a hint from the makeup girl or audience member? Also, producers have to edit, and an editor can make a psychic look better."

Underdown knows this first-hand. His team of investigators did an expose of James Van Praagh’s and John Edward’s syndicated TV shows a few years ago.

"We recorded everything in studio and compared it to what aired. They were substantially different in the accuracy. They’re getting rid of the wrong guesses," Underdown said. "Once you pull back the curtain and see how it’s done, it’s not impressive at all."

While some psychics are clearly frauds, there are many others who believe they have some power—though they never have been tested under controlled conditions.

If self-proclaimed psychics have any real ability, they should contact Underdown. His organization will award $50,000 to anyone who can demonstrate psychic ability under scientific testing.

One person tried just that. John Douglas of Australia flew to Chicago last year to do his thing under scientific scrutiny. Douglas claimed he could detect gold, plastic, metals and other materials without looking or touching them; he boasted of a 90 percent accuracy rate. Underdown agreed to do the test, and a crew at a cable TV station in Evanston was going to record everything. On the way to the testing, Douglas called Underdown to cancel.

"He practiced the night before in his hotel room and got terrible scores," Underdown said. "He said he lost his power and maybe it had something to do with jet lag. But it was three days after he flew in." Underdown hasn’t heard from him since.

Psychics don’t seem to rely on their "powers" to detect their own cancer--they go to the doctor, like the rest of us. They don’t predict when the train will arrive--they look at the train schedule. And even psychics (along with everyone else) can guess correctly now and then. But under scientific scrutiny, and incorporating statistical probability, no psychic has met the test.

When producers see that psychics aren’t making the grade, I fear they may lower the bar in their testing methods or simply elevate the psychics’ performance through creative editing.

In the end, the psychic phenomenon you see on TV will only be an illusion, much like it is in real life.

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Seven days and counting---that’s how long John Gerard has until his mission ends: to become famous in 31 days. How? He doesn’t sing with monkeys or juggle hand-grenades. Gerard is trying to become famous in 31 days by simply trying to become famous in 31 days.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a noble goal, but it’s a self-serving goal Why do I want to be famous? Let me see if I can say this succinctly and concisely: because anonymity sucks! Are we all in agreement? Anonymity sucks. I think that pretty much sums it up,” Gerard told me.

Becoming famous should not be that hard. In the You-Tube age, people have become insta-celebreties for synchronized wedding dances, and songs about chocolate rain. But those people are really just a temporary curiosity. To become famouse you need real talent. I am not sure if Gerard has any. You can judge for yourself at www.famousin31days.com where you can see Gerard effort chronicled in an ongoing "documentary." He is essentially travelling across the country, in hopes that people will interview him.

I bought it. It is an incredibly uninteresting idea on the surface. But the former TV producer from New York is chasing a dream and taking big chances and when you put a deadline on it, there is some suspense to see if he’ll make it.

“I had a job. I quit my job…and I’m using the down payment on a house I purchased to finance this trip. So everything is on the line.”

How many of us can say we took big chances in life on a dream, instead of a safe job in a cubicle, for which you are now regretting, as you drop more change in the office vending machine for another package of ding-dongs to get you through the dull afternoon.

Typically, people who have lasting fame, have something to offer society—they’ve won a revolution (George Washington) or made great movies (Denzell Washington.) And yes, perhaps George and Denzell would get better tables at Spago then you. But,

then what? What is the bonus? It is certainly not the only measure of success. Just look at famous people in the news this week:

Britney Spears failed to live up to expectations, or on second thought, maybe she lived up to them, in her performance at the MTV awards. She was a punchline for the next 24 hours.

Kanye West whined like a bratty toddler about not getting his MTV awards because he’s black.

Kid Rock and Tommy Lee got into a shoving match.

Bengal receiver Chad Johnson made a fool of himself, by self-proclaiming his destiny with a yellow self-made Hall of Fame jacket on the sidelines during Monday Night Football.

Hey—these people are famous. Would you want to be them?

Gerard’s goal is to be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Day 31. If he fails the consequences are…well….probably nothing. He’ll go back to his non-famous life of normalcy--- back to his old profession as a tv producer, slumming with the people “behind the scenes.” The odd thing is, as he runs around the country with a camera to his face, and begging for face-time, what he is essentially doing is producing TV, the very thing he was trying to escape. Perhaps it’s not producing he hates, but what he was producing. Maybe Gerard inadvertently found his calling: the “John Gerard Show, starring John Gerard.” The question is---would anyone watch it?

Gerard’s gamble for passion over a paycheck is admirable. However, for those people like Gerard who measure success by their notoriety, returning to the secure 9-5 job would be a life-sentence of mediocrity….but it is a self-imposed punishment.

Posted by Larry Potash at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

For centuries, men have gathered in public places to ponder the great questions in life. At Le Procope coffeehouse in 18th century Paris, Voltaire asked the nature of God, and Benjamin Franklin pondered the issues of fair government. All well and good but, of course, that was before more exciting things---like football. At taverns in 21st century America, people debate whether the ’85 Bears could beat the 2004 Patriots, or whether Brian Urlacher is better than Dick Butkus.

As a philosopher might point out, those are unfair questions. But hold on---Diderot never had a laptop. A website called www.whatifsports.com gets to the bottom of such “what if” questions. By using lots of zeroes and ones in ways that most of us will never understand, you can now generate answers to some of the biggest questions in sports history: Is Bonds better than Ruth? Would the ‘96 Bulls beat the ‘86 Celtics?

Corey Lamb of Lake Forest, asked if the 1978 Steelers would beat the ’85 Bears. He simulated the match-up on www.whatifsports.com hundreds of times.

“It always comes out pretty close. You can match different years and eras on the computer that you can’t do in the corner bar,” Lamb said. “It allows you to have a printed piece of paper to say ‘this is what happened.’”

Why? Our passion for our team has been with us longer than even many of our closest friends.

“In our formative years we attach to them and we create heroes and we want them to be our heroes forever,” Lamb told me.

“So much of sports is the debate and camaraderie and attaching yourself to a team and community and group of other people,” said Paul Bessier of www.whatifsports.com. “It’s not just the team but the time period or the guy you appreciated more than others, the more you can associate with what you believe in, the better we feel about that.”

Bessier says the site has had 450,000 registered users in it’s simulated leagues since the site debuted in 2000.

Just for fun, I ran through each game of the Bears season to see how they would do. The simulation is based on 2006 stats but I figured it was close enough.

I matched the season projection from the folks of What-If and Sports Illustrated, with the Bears ending at 11-5.

The bad news: Rex Grossman’s projected ’07 stats were about what they were last year. They include 9 interceptions in the two Green Bay games.

The good news: While SI projected the Bears to lose in the playoffs, I had them in a thrilling come-from-behind victory in Superbowl XLII. The Bears suffer six sacks, but the defense holds Tomlinson to 75 yards and 0 touchdowns. The offense comes from a 16-0 half-point deficit with 16 fourth quarter points to win in overtime thanks to a Robbie Gould field goal from 48 yards out! Final score Bears 19 Chargers 16. Bears are Superbowl champs!

But that’s not really doing www.whatifsports.com justice. The experts are already doing their 2007 projections and they run each game 61 times to find an average.

So while I have the Bears beating San Diego Sunday 38-30 on my one simulation, What-If has San Diego winning by an average of 25-15. The Chargers won 53% of the simulated games. This means the Bears still have an even chance of winning, but if they win, it won’t be by much, which is important for people engaged in gambling (for fun.)

How can they pick for ’07 with so many unknowns---new coaches, rookies etc.?

They look at stats from college, and compare performances from players who have come out of similar college programs to see how they did in the NFL their rookie year.

Bessier says over the last two seasons, his staff has accurately projected the winner of NFL games 69% of the time straight up and 58% of the time against the spread.

But as the site attempts to end great sports debates of legend, its simulations also stimulate more debate. For those passionate fans who don’t like the results of 61 simulated games, they can always play dozens more, until their favorite team is finally a winner for the ages.

Continue reading "BEARS IN SUPERBOWL: WHAT IF...." »

Posted by Larry Potash at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

In their pursuit of liberty and happiness, the Founding Fathers knew what they were doing.

Their blueprint for freedom was built on a foundation of a free press.

Thomas Jefferson said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

But I doubt Jefferson ever envisioned the printing press churning out headlines like "SUICIDAL TWIN GETS CONFUSED — KILLS BROTHER BY MISTAKE."

You know the Weekly World News, that supermarket tabloid you were too embarrassed to buy — in fact, too embarrassed even to get caught sneaking a peak at while you stood in check-out line. The newspaper is printing its last paper a week from today.

Not to worry, freedom remains in tact. It is not such a sad day for journalism, but maybe for a few journalists.

Joe Berger worked as a journalist in Washington, covering Capitol Hill and the White House, for six years but quit his prestigious and influential job to cover news of the weird for Weekly World News in 1981.

"Washington is an exciting, heady place for a reporter, but there are only so many Senate toxic-waste hearings and White House press briefings you can take before it all begins to seem like a bad re-run," Berger said in an e-mail. "So when Weekly World News offered me a chance to move to Florida, shed my coat and tie, go to work in blue jeans and tennis shoes and write about haunted toilets and gay space aliens, it was too good a chance to pass up."

Berger told me the man who hired him had been an editor at the New York Times and had joined WWN for the same reason, because it’s fun working with creative people and having a few laughs at work.

Here is my official list of best WWN headlines that did not include aliens, presidents or Big Foot:

"DENVER LITTLE LEAGUE COACH RECRUITS FOREST ANIMALS TO BEAT ARCH RIVALS"

"AMERICA’S FIRST SUPERHERO: PILGRIM ACQUIRED INCREDIBLE POWERS FROM SMOKING TOBACCO AND DRINKING COFFEE"

"COWARDLY MATADOR ONLY FIGHTS RABBITS."

I always wondered how they came up with this stuff. I imagined writers sitting around pulling out words from a big hat: "LOCH-NESS," "MARRIES," "FARAH FAWCETT."

Actually, as someone who scans news wires and Web sites for hours, I notice the real world is sometimes not that different from the one those WWN writers fantasize about.

Three of the following headlines were in the news on the day I was writing this column; one was made up by the Weekly World News. Can you guess which one is vintage WWN?

a) "NORWEGIAN MOOSE CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL WARMING"

b) "FORENSIC EXPERT TESTS HUBBY’S PANTS"

c) "STUDENTS PLAY FRISBEE WITH LAND MINE"

d) "THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING DRAG QUEEN"

The WWN headline is ... D.

It just goes to show you that truth is often stranger than fiction.

But it is a complicated and serious world, and weeding through pages of documents, chasing politicians through marble halls can get to be a drag after awhile.

"Many days we laughed so hard we ached, and nobody in his right mind would want to leave a job like that," said Berger, who left the WWN in 2001. "It was worlds away from the urban renewal meetings and lame press conferences suffered by mainstream journalists."

"My fondest memories are of helping to report some of the great news stories of our time," he said, "including the saga of Bat Boy, the tale of the confused space alien who tried to mate with a Weed Eater, and the story of a preacher whose electronic penile implant caused him to get an erection every time the neighbor lady used a remote control to open her garage door."

They laughed writing it. We laughed reading it. Even if we were too embarrassed to admit it.

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Like the wrapper on a can of creamed corn, TV personalities are the identifying label on the product being made inside a TV station. You used to identify WGN with certain colorful characters: Ray Rayner, Garfield Goose, and Bozo. Rayner died a few years ago, Garfield Goose is in museum storage, and Bozo was forced into retirement from computer-generated kids shows on the cartoon network.

This leaves the well-coifed newscasters to be the face of a local TV station. There is no question that the most valuable is Tom Skilling, who celebrates his 29th anniversary with WGN this week. When my colleagues and I used to ride in the WGN parade float with Bozo, we’d be invisible. Now, we’re still invisible; only it’s Tom Skilling everyone wants to smell and squeeze. Wherever I go, everyone wants to know about Tom Skilling. What’s he really like?

I’ll get to his dark dirty secrets in a moment, but first, let me say (and I would say this to Tom right before he’d go on the air just to needle him) : 'What difference does all this weather information really make?' Skilling will note that there’s a relationship between El Nino, Nixon’s sale of grain to Russia, and the anchovy harvest in Peru. (I’m not making that up.)

However, I just think about Jason Bourne driving cars off roofs, stabbing villains with pens, and saving the world from evil bureaucrats -- and your biggest concern is if Saturday turns out to be eight degrees cooler than predicted, and you forgot a sweater. So what?

We’ve all bought into it -- bold colors fly across the screen like you are watching some chase scene in a Disney animation -- it’s just Skilling’s graphics -- everything from barometric pressure in Kankakee, to the average windspeed of the Chinook winds in October, to the 100 year history of precipitation on a given day at Palwaukee Airport. The staff once counted 40 elements (graphics satellite loops) in his weathercast. It is without a doubt, the most comprehensive weather report in the country.

I have seen him do weather hundreds of times and I still don’t understand half of it; especially why he gives the weather in Alaska, which is a pogo stick hop from RUSSIA. However, it’s still entertaining, like when he once referred to a weather system as a “panhandle hooker.” Now that is art.

Part of the appeal, is Skilling’s passion. He is as friendly off screen, as he is on screen. But don’t think this is some PR snow job. Here are the dark secrets of Tom Skilling:

* Tom worked with a puppet in Milwaukee called “Albert the Alley Cat,” which was inflicted upon him by management. They had promised to phase him out, but it wasn’t a moment too soon for a young Tom Skilling.

“This was the day of weather gimmicks,” Skilling said. “People would knit [the puppet] outfits and while I was talking about dew points he would promote church bazaars and read the weather statistics.”

* Beneath the aw shucks Midwestern demeanor, he can be wickedly funny with his dark sense of humor.

* Despite his attention to detail, his office looks like Fred Sanford’s living room, with week-old tuna sandwiches, a giant pencil, and printouts of the dew point history for Minooka. He is a pack rat.

* Everyone at WGN knows that whenever Tom goes on his vacation, there is some kind of weather crisis: blizzard, thunderstorms, heatwave. I don’t have the records to prove it, but you can bet Tom Skilling does.

As local programming has become extinct, local newscasters have become more valuable to their managers. I am not sure if anyone cares about the accumulative snowfall for Februarys since the Bay of Pigs invasion, but one thing is clear -- he is the guy you want to invite into your living room for a cup of coffee -- and in this media saturated culture-- that’s worth a million.

Posted by Larry Potash at 5:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Jewish history has a long line of distinguished people: Moses, Albert Einstein; and Elvis?
Thursday marks the 30th anniversary of Elvis’s death and people are still exploring his influence and trying to emulating his talent.

According to Max Wallace and Jonathan Goldstein, the authors of “Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley’s Jewish Roots,” Elvis grew up in a Jewish area of Memphis. He lived downstairs from a Rabbi, Alfred Fruchter. As a teenager, Elvis would often visit, and served as the “Shabbos Goy” who turned on lights, and other tasks that Jews were prohibited from doing on the Sabbath. The Presley’s would join them once a month for Sabbath dinner and he enjoyed Matzoh Ball soup. He even started carrying a yarmulke in his pocket.

“I remember when he cut his first record for his mother's birthday,” said the Rabbi’s widow. “When he got home with it, they couldn't play it because they were too poor to afford a record player. So my husband lent him ours. He was so thankful. They would play that first song over and over again. That's what started his career, you know, that recording."

This may be the environmental influence on Elvis’ “Jewishness” but there is more to the story. According to the book, Elvis Presley's maternal great-great-great-grandmother Nancy Burdine was Jewish, and probably came from a family that immigrated from Lithuania, probably around the time of the American Revolution.

The story of Elvis’ Jewish lineage was also reported in the 1985 biography, “Elvis and Gladys.” Elvis added a Jewish Star of David to his mom’s headstone, about ten years after she died. Throughout 1977 Elvis wore a "Chai" necklace. The "Chai" symbol is the Hebrew word for "Life." Maybe that was his problem---Elvis was bigger than life, and perhaps his addiction to pain-killers, women, and peanut-butter and banana sandwiches was rooted in something missing: a connection to something bigger than Elvis’ fame and fortune.

Wallace says Elvis’ dad, along with his manager Col. Tom Parker, encouraged Elvis to downplay his Jewish ancestry for fear of anti-Semitism in the south Elvis’ hairdresser and spiritual adviser, Larry Geller, reportedly told Wallace that if Elvis had understood that having a Jewish great-great-grandmother made him Jewish, “He would have become a full-fledged practicing Jew.”

I’d argue the point that you have to be part of some magical mysterious bloodline of antiquity to be Jewish. Judaism is a belief. If you believe, climb aboard. It’s not a country club where you can just gain admittance by knowing someone, or having some royal pedigree, or wearing a necklace with Jewish symbols. The concept of Tikkun Alum (“repair the world”) requires that you do something.

So what if Elvis had taken his “Jewishness” more seriously? We can only imagine how it might’ve impacted his life. Picture a jumpsuit with the rhinestones replaced by Stars of David. It’s JELVIS—The Jewish Elvis impersonator, featuring hits like “Don’t Step on My Blue Suede Yarmulke.”

Had Willard Morgan been accepted to Northwestern’s school of drama, he says he might’ve been playing O’Neill at the Goodman, instead of a Jewish Elvis at parties. Morgan says he’s not sure what it matters how Jewish Elvis was, but his music was definitely spiritual.

“My inspiration for the event and for doing an Elvis impersonation is that Elvis and his
music truly unite the world. In today's world, beyond religion and politics, there's only ...
Rock n Roll,” Morgan said. I believe there is 'divinity' in all of us. And it can be found in emulating a hero or high being, whomever it may be. For some , it's Jesus, Buddhah, Jehovah, or Allah. I'm really more of a Buddhist in the
sense that I think we can all experience a bit of grace within, in my case and for many millions, the grace of Elvis. His spirit is
a true 'uniter of people'. With either a snarling lip, a swiveling hip, a karate kick and 'thankyouveramuch' we're all Elvi.

Posted by Larry Potash at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Barry Bonds is just a couple of swings away from achieving the most cherished record in baseball and simultaneously triggering its greatest controversy in decades. Should their be an asterisk next to Bonds' home run record? This debate, unlike most about sports statistics, is not just about the fodder for future trivia games. Baseball has endured as the American pastime because it has been fairly consistent. Even with futuristic video games, i-pods, and MTV-style editing, this game of 18 men patiently trying to hit a ball for three hours is still thriving in the 21st century.

So how should we approach this landmark event? I spoke with Ken Burns, the man who produced the critically acclaimed 18 ½ hour baseball documentary more than a decade ago. His new World War II documentary airs September 23rd, and then he’ll start working on his “Tenth Inning,” an update on baseball since he ended production on his nine-part documentary in 1992.

Burns says he hopes by looking at the past, we can learn more about the future, and understand complicated issues. Whether alcohol or gambling---sports has always struggled with scandal. Burns hopes to put it all in perspective.

Larry: You say we shouldn’t be so quick to judge Bonds---why?

Ken: We have to be careful to place all our puritan outrage in Bonds corner. Something’s been going on---his body has changed; there are investigations swirling. But I know he’s not the only one. Pitchers may be doing it. I don’t mean to excuse it. If one person isn’t doing it—then it’s unfair to them.

Larry:But isn’t it about breaking the rules?

Ken: This game is about deception. A curve ball and change-up are deceptive. We allow the stealing of bases and signs. It’s symptomatic of our self-involved age that someone would take hormones to enhance their phsyique.

Larry: So that’s not cheating?

Ken: Michael Jordan---the greatest basketball player ever----couldn’t hit two bucks in baseball and that ought to be a cautionary tale. You still have to see it and hit it---so I’m still petty impressed.

Larry: So how should Bonds be judged in baseball history?

Ken: My solution is Barry Bonds stop today and retire today. It would be good for Aaron, good for (baseball commissioner) Selig’s ulcer, and good for the fans. Bonds will go from a goat to greatest of all time for giving up his position. Of course, he’d never do that.

He should go into Hall of Fame without any of this around him. But it should serve as a cautionary tale for those faced with that question to cheat or not to cheat.

Larry: Do you think part of this Aaron-Bonds controversy is that Aaron was a good guy and Bonds has a reputation of being a jerk?

Ken: I think a lot about that. We’re always looking to simplify complex human affairs. It’s easy to make Hank into a god on a pedestal and we’re reminded of the “less than stellar” personality that Bonds has. I talked to people who said he was a jerk when his dad brought him around [as a kid.].

We don’t pay these guys to be sterling examples---that’s the old “field of dreams.” It’s always been a business and complicated and interesting characters. Half the Hall of Fame would disappear if you applied sanctimonious standards to great players of the past.

Larry: Why is any of this even important?

Ken: We need these anchors. It’s the strap in the subway that keeps you standing up. We live in such a changing life and we have this game that’s accompanied the history of our country. A .300 hitter means the same to my daughter as it does to me…there’s that continuity.

Burns says America is more sentimental about Baseball. Our experience is more personal. Stories about other sports always start with a famous plays, like a Montana touchdown or last-second Michael Jordan shot. But, baseball always begins with a story about seeing your first ball game with Dad, or simply playing catch with him.

It is part of our national consciousness. In a time when we have everything from poker on ESPN to professional rock paper scissor tournaments, baseball is still setting attendance records. While Willie Mays’ over-the-shoulder basket catch in the World Series had been held up as the pinnacle of web gems for decades, you can now see five such catches a night on Sportscenter. The players keep getting better---and hitting a baseball is still one of the hardest things to do in sports.

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The Simpsons writers tread, where few have dared to go. The Love Boat always had guest stars like Charo and Dick Van Patten, but the producers never booked God, who has appeared in several Simpson episodes.

It is the creators’ hallmark to take shots at institutions and it would be easy to mock faith, religion and church. But despite the jokes at religion’s expense, there is an underlying spiritual message that we could all learn from.

One of my favorites is where Homer skips church, using the excuses that many viewers use. (Does God care I’m in a building on Sunday?) While the congregation is listening to a boring sermon, in a freezing church, Homer is home watching football and, he even wins a radio contest. He declares it the best day of his life. Then, his cigar sets the house on fire. He is saved by his evangelical neighbor, Ned Flanders; the Hindu clerk Apu and the Jewish clown, Krusty.

“[It] could be seen as divine retribution for his apostasy,” writes philosopher Julian Baggini in a BBC interview. “But what actually led to the fire was not God's wrath but Homer's hubris and arrogance. Sitting on his sofa thinking smugly, ‘Boy, everyone is stupid except me,’ he falls asleep, dropping his cigar. Homer's mistake was to think that he has nothing left to learn from others.”

As much as The Simpson’s were deemed apostles of the devil by early critics, including President George Bush I, the Simpson’s say grace, and go to church, which is more than we ever saw from the Cleavers.

Bart asks Homer what religion the family follows.

He answers, “You know, the one with all the well-meaning rules that don’t work in real life. Uh, Christianity.”

“One way the Simpsons handle religion is to reflect our cultural context,” said Pastor Mike Daly of St. John United Church of Christ in Naperville. “We are able to see how modernity corrupts religious beliefs and practices. Mr. Burns says, “I'll keep it short and sweet -- Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business,” suggesting complete allegiance to capitalism will give us a better chance at life.”

Sometimes, we identify more with the philosophical lessons of the modern Springfield Homer than the ancient Greek Homer. The former deals with everything from illegal cable TV hookup, to the temptation of committing adultery.

One of my favorite scenes is when Homer thanks God for his beautiful wife, two kids, and asks to keep everything as it is---perfect. He prays that if the Almighty agrees to keep everything exactly as it is, Homer won’t ask for anything more:

“Confirmation of the deal will come in the form of absolutely no sign. (pause)

There is no sign. In gratitude, I present an offering to God of cookies and milk. Should God want me to eat the cookies himself –show me no sign.”

After a pause, Homer utters the benediction, “Thy will be done.”

(As Homer might say---“sacrelicious.”)

Clearly Homer is confused by God’s nature.

“I feel this incredible surge of power---like God must feel when he’s holding a gun.”

But hey—who isn’t confused?

Even the experts are confounded to explain it. Reverend Lovejoy, in his preachy monotone: “People--I’m doing the best I can with the material I’m given.”

Mark Pinski has updated his popular book, The Gospel According to the Simpsons, in which he crystallizes more of these lessons about religious life.

LP: Have The Simpson's been able to accomplish something that organized religion or new age spirituality has not?

MP:Well, they haven't lost relevance, and they continue to appeal to a broad spectrum of Americans. That's no small accomplishment.

LP: Trinity, soul, the nature of God: theology can create confusion and controversy.

How has the show affected religion or how people believe?

MP: Whenever faith, spirituality or theology are discussed in a sanctuary or a lecture hall, a veil of skepticism often descends over [young people’s] brains. To some degree this is a good thing. But when they are sitting on their couches at home or in common rooms, watching an animated comedy, their minds may be open to such concepts. I think that this, too, is a good thing.

Homer probably isn’t that different from many of us. It’s somewhat refreshing in this day of political correctness, that what many people are thinking in the pews, Homer says out loud. The attitudes about religion may not always be pristine, but in this cartoon, they are very real.

Posted by Larry Potash at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In recent months, I've written about some strange ideas

*The UFO congress, with its lecture on "How to talk to a ball of light."

*A numerologist who believes the letters in your name can offer insight into how to improve your life by tapping into vibrations in the nervous system.

* A ghost hunter who believed he could detect the sounds of spirits in a downtown Chicago Hooters.

Most of this stuff is pretty laughable -- but that is not what makes it invalid.

After all, they laughed at Copernicus, Galileo and Darwin, too, but those three scientists got it right.

Each year, respected scientists on the faculties of major universities gather to discuss ideas that seem silly. The Society for Scientific Exploration held its annual meeting last month at Michigan State University. According to their Web site, they talked about:

*A fourth dimension of space

* Tracking the mysterious (alleged) Qi "energy force" of the body

* And a "Global Consciousness Project," which has something to do with proving that the entire planet has a consciousness that can be measured through major world events.

This meeting of the minds could solve some of the mysteries of the universe. But unlike the UFO congress, numerologist and ghost hunter, these conventioneers are held to rigorous standards of scientific evidence. The conference is a chance for scientists to put their ideas about a "wild theory" to scientific tests and the scientific scrutiny of their peers.

Roy Machal, a retired professor from the University of Chicago, has spoken at seminars during past conventions. In his presentations, he insists the Loch Ness Monster is real. He wrote a book "The Monsters of Loch Ness" in 1975. He says these animals are found in many lakes in the Northern Hemisphere.

"These animals are primitive whales, known from the fossil record known as zeuglodon cetoides. It ended approximately 19 to 20 million years ago, but is preserved at the Smithsonian They are NOT monsters, but perfectly normal animals that have survived over 75 million years," Mackal told me. "I worked in Lake Champlain two months ago and made contact with one of the animals on sonar, 45 feet in length."

But at this point, the evidence has been circumstantial. Nobody had a carcass or a skeleton to examine.

Forensic investigator, Steve Alten of Ohio, believes Nessie is a giant sea eel and he's making a documentary on the Loch Ness. He says that in March of 2005, two students from Wisconsin found a half-eaten deer carcass and a four-inch barbed palate tooth of a water predator that attacked it at Loch Ness.

But wait a minute, If the eel has to come out of the loch to hunt, wouldn't we have more sightings? I'm no scientist, so I'll leave the verdict to the experts.

"During the 26 years that the SSE has been in existence, none of the anomalous phenomena under study has made a transition from "fringe science" to mainstream science," said Marty Cawthon of the SSE. "That such research goes on with mostly ambiguous and unconvincing results is a form of progress," she claims.

Why is so much failure progress? Albert Einstein said that in his scientific pursuits, imagination was more important than knowledge. The attendees at the fringe scientist seminar seem to have a wonderful imagination, and it is important that they have an outlet to push the limits, but in a responsible way.

Copernicus and Darwin were on their own; two "wild and crazy ideas" separated by 300 years. It will be fun to see the next wild and crazy idea that turns out to be right, and that solves another mystery of the universe.

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My daughter, Kaylin, turns 3 tomorrow. One thing is for sure, children make you see the world a lot differently.

For example, the impact of watching TV. Some have suggested over the years

that the Teletubbies' Tinky Winky is gay because the purple character

carries a woman's purse. I'll reserve judgment on Tinky Winky's impact on

children, but the issue is certainly more complex, and yet more subtle than when I was a

kid watching Bugs Bunny drop anvils on Elmer Fudd. (And to this day I have

yet to drop an anvil on anyone.)

However I am sensitive to my daughter's TV viewing. When Cookie Monster

yells "Me so hungry!" I think, "Hey, that's horrible grammar!" Here are a

few other things I've noticed as a parent.

>> We now have 52 stuffed animals. I don't know what that means for the

number of dust mites; but I do know that she 80 percent of the various

dogs, bears and dolls are named Elmo in her mind.

>> The chances of a child letting go of her mylar balloon and the balloon

getting tangled in the ceiling fan that is six inches higher than the

tallest person on the tallest ladder is 98 percent. The advice here is to

tie all balloons to a stuffed animal. If the balloon gets away, that's one

stuffed dinosaur and 10 million dust mites along for the ride.

>>Don't stifle creativity by questioning logic. Her favorite game is "Daddy

impersonates Goofy acting like a dinosaur, with a horse hand-puppet and

wearing a pointy purple birthday hat." It all makes sense. H.R.

Puff-N-Stuff would be proud of the randomness.

>> Flossing is important. But using the string from a helium balloon that's

tied to the high-chair is considered bad table manners by some.

>> Children are smarter than we give them credit for. A visit from the

Easter Bunny would be a cherished memory, in theory; unless the Easter

Bunny is 6-foot-3. I have to say I'm quite proud of her for thinking

that's nuts and running for cover.

>> I admire her optimism. Kaylin tried to eat fried rice using one

chopstick, when most adults have difficulty eating it with two.

>>She insists on hearing stories about the Australian super-group The

Wiggles. The Wiggles go to the zoo; Wiggles play soccer; Wiggles go to the

store to buy a stick of butter. Yes, at some point, the well of ideas runs

dry, but you realize kids just want a little quantity time with their

quality time.

> She was quite amazed upon seeing her first rainbow, but perplexed that it

was not there the next day or the next. I explained that the rainbow may

not always be there, but her parents would be.

Posted by Larry Potash at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The folks at Red Eye did not print this column. They said Red Eye readers were not interested in history. For those of you who are....enjoy.
***

The upcoming Fourth of July celebration is as much a tribute to George Washington as it is to our independence.
Washington was hailed as a hero for his courage in battle, and even considered divine by some. But the question remained---would he be as courageous as a leader of a nation? This is where many turned on Washington. Here's the political battle that you never got to in your high school history class....and it is one that features storylines, parallel to the ones in today's headlines from the nation's capitol that bears his name.

What many people don’t realize is that by the end of his life, many people despised Washington. Just ten years from the end of the Revolution, war veterans were toasting to his speedy death. Why? There were some who wanted another war with Britain, to evict them from the new frontier (now the Midwest) where the Brits were teaming up with certain Native American tribes to attack settlers.

Washington knew his young nation was not ready to fight a sequel against the Red Coats, and wanted to cut a deal known as the Jay Treaty. The terms were very favorable to the British and Washington wanted to keep it secret . according to the book Presidential Courage, by presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

“ A lot of Americans found that treaty humiliating and they said they wanted Washington dead or impeached,” Beschloss said. “ But what Washington was trying to say of later presidents is, 'Your job is just not to be popular. You've got to make tough decisions the same as I do.'”

Word of the treaty leaked and people protested everywhere. When Alexander Hamilton tried to defend the treaty in front of New York City Hall, people threw rocks at him and bloodied his face.

Beschloss quotes Washington:

Washington found it embarrassing for Britain “to see the people of this country divided” with such “violent opposition” to “their own government.”

The showdown in Congress came in 1796. John Adams predicted that both sides would “bite like savages and tear like lions.”

And then, a Federalist named Fisher Ames would change history. He had been very sick, and presumed near death. People gasped as he limped onto the House floor. Without notes, he delivered a speech that has become one of the most powerful in American history. He acknowledged that this bit of diplomacy was far from perfect, but better than the alternative.

“You are a father? The blood of your sons shall fatten your cornfield! You are a mother? The war-whoop shall make the sleep of the cradle! While one hand is held up to reject this treaty, the other grasps a tomahawk…I listen to the yells of savage vengeance and the shrieks of torture.”

90 minutes later, he fell back in his chair. Both sides weeped.

(Beschloss notes that one Congressman told Ames he should’ve ended his speech by dropping dead. Never again would he have ‘an occasion so glorious.’ )

The House voted. It was a 49-49 tie. The tiebreaker would be Republican Frederick Mulenberg, a pastor from Pennsylvania. Republican opponents of the Jay treaty could taste victory. But Muhlenberg shocked everyone by supporting the Federalist treaty. He committed political suicide (and his brother-in-law nearly killed him when he stabbed him after the vote.)

Washington’s political courage paid off, and perhaps inspired lesser-known representatives to show courage as well.

“The old man had the thankless job of dispelling many Americans’ illusions that they had the strength to stand up to the British once again,” Beschloss wrote. “Like a prophet, he warned that the country must not prematurely embarrass itself in war.”

This is what made the founding fathers great---not simply spewing patriotic quotes to polish their image, but through their wisdom, they were able to persuade the masses that certain sacrifices would be better for all of us, in the long run.

It seems today, there is a vaccum of vision. Politicians can’t make a decision without consulting polls. Politicians want to be loved, and more importantly, reelected. But, in time, their names will be lost for the ages, and history will secure only those whose courage defends their convictions to advance America’s story of freedom and liberty.

Continue reading "WASHINGTON'S POLITICAL COURAGE" »

Posted by Larry Potash at 5:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Popes, presidents and other powerful people are surrounded by the finest trappings as they make important decisions that affect our lives. So we tend to think they live in a world much different than ours--more holy, more pristine, more worthy.

After all, no one is going to write a book about you or me. However, Karl Shaw’s book, "5 People Who Died During Sex: and 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists," lets you peek into the lives of the world’s greatest rulers, inventors and artists. Their bizarre behavior might make you and your dysfunctional family seem almost normal.

Shaw is a journalist-turned-freelance author who has written other books on history. This book contains dozens of lists, from "12 Celebrity Celibates" to "History’s 10 Least Appealing Dinner Dates." Here are some of my own lists, gleaned from Shaw’s book.

5 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT HITLER

> Who knows what made him tick, but we do learn that Hitler (like Napoleon and Mussolini) was afraid of cats.

> Hitler became a vegetarian in 1931 when his doctors put him on a meatless diet to cure him of flatulence and a chronic stomach disorder.

> He once tried to cure his chronic flatulence by drinking machine-gun oil

> The fuhrer suffered impaired virility, so his physician injected him with a compound containing hormones from crushed animal genitalia.

> His trusted commander, Erwin Rommel, decided on the eve of D-Day that it was so quiet he might as well go home and celebrate his wife’s birthday. As the allies closed in on his bunker, Hitler married Eva Braun, and the next day they celebrated the honeymoon by swallowing poison. That's the beginning of the end for the Nazis, Hitler's romance, and his flatulence.

4 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT THE CHURCH

> Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) had 10 illegitimate children.

> Pope John XII was bludgeoned to death in 964 with a hammer by an irate husband who caught His Holiness in bed with his wife.

> In 1100, the Dominican Church advised women to spit three times into the mouth of a frog, or to eat bees, immediately after intercourse to prevent conception.

> Some of the causes of the Black Death, according to the Church, included Jews poisoning the wells, going to the theater and olive oil.

3 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL SEX

> JFK enlisted staff to help organize nude swimming parties in the presidential pool.

> Lydon B. Johnson was aggrieved that JFK’s reputation as a stud was greater than his and reportedly complained to friends, "I’ve had more women by accident than he’s had on purpose."

> Grover Cleveland ignored his staff’s advice and admitted to fathering an illegitimate son. His enemies circulated a leaflet accusing him of bestiality and wife-beating, but he was re-elected with a healthy majority.

This book isn’t going to give you the perspective of a typical biography. You are not, for example, going to learn how a young Albert Einstein, who was slow to speak, became the great genius of the 20th Century.

However, this catalog of factoids may change your perspective on people of power.

Some seem more human, others are less deserving of that description. It shows that wearing a crown, or getting one’s name in a history book, is no true measure of greatness.

Posted by Larry Potash at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

These days it is not unusual to see a tornado through your windshield, or a dinosaur in your rear view mirror. On the big screen, we hardly give it a second thought---we have become so immune to computer generated graphics in our movies. But in 1977, when rebel lasers first blew up Imperial Fighters and lit the darkness of space with explosions, the spectacle stunned children and adults alike. As a death star was destroyed, a Jedi culture was born.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, which means many of those young “American-Jedi” are in the late 30’s and 40’s. Cris Macht of Gilberts Illinois debuts his documentary on Star Wars fans, titled: The Force Among Us. The DVD is available starting today at www.theforceamongus.com.

In it, he introduces several fans, including:

*For a Jedi couple, family planning means deciding whether "little Luke" will watch the three prequels before the original three films.

*Another man said he was able to fulfill his childhood dream when he joined an organization where everyone dresses as Darth Vader’s stormtroopers.

*A woman thinks about making the revealing chain-link Princess Leia slave costume to wear for her husband on their anniversary.

“It’d be hard to hide making it for him. It might backfire—he might want me to wear it all the time.”

But while the fans like the ones previously mentioned are included, Macht's goal was to break the stereotypes of the geeky and anti-social Star Wars fans, who often show up to premiers dressed as Darth Vader or Yoda.

The film is intensely personal to Macht. His dad passed away in 1982, and at age 7, Cris was the head of the household, which included his younger brother and sister. He says he had to grow up fast, and he felt like he missed much of his childhood. Then, he rediscovered Star Wars and started watching it differently.

“I wanted to go back to a better time—to childhood. [Star Wars] was like a time machine. I started watching the movie deeper,” Macht said.

He particularly identified with the storyline about Luke, and trying to know his father.

“These films can be used as a tool to get through the hard times that life throws you,” Macht said. “They show you that there is a new hope for tomorrow.”

One parent in the documentary explains how Star Wars films and action figures finally got his autistic son to “come out of his shell.” Finally, father and son had something fun they could do together.

John Tenuto, Professor of Sociology of the College of Lake County, conducted a study on Star Wars stereotypes and is featured in the film. He says part of the popularity, is the timing.

“They came out after Vietnam and Watergate, when there was a lot of confusion about heroes. The first three were basic: good was good; bad was bad. People needed that,” Tenuto said. “The newer films speak to that issue but it’s more complex. The evil guy is ‘understandably’ evil.

Tenuto says like any art, it fulfills a need. One fan in the documentary said the Star Wars storyline fulfilled a need for ethical guidance.

“I grew up in a rough family situation. Star Wars gave me values as a kid that I didn’t get from my parents. I learned about good and evil from Star Wars.”

“Star Wars is safer. In a diverse society, how do you speak to a Catholic and a Protestant?” Tenuto said. “Science Fiction is better at talking about social issues and current events because the audience has so much baggage. [In science fiction] it’s in a place far away. There’s this fairy tale element.”

News clips of popcorn-eating Yodas are always good for a laugh, but The Force Among Us shows there’s more to these fans underneath the rubber mask.

Posted by Larry Potash at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)