Skeptical reporter @ 2013-08-02

Skeptical Reporter for August 2nd, 2013 Moscow police have once again entered the dark realms of the paranormal, busting a Russian “psychic” ring that has been lifting curses for money after scaring clients into thinking they were jinxed. The alleged psychics ran a parapsychology center called Sapphira, complete with a call center. The psychics also promoted their company through shows on cable television. Sapphira staff convinced callers they were cursed, and claimed to be performing “magical” rituals during their phone conversations. The staff convinced their potential clients they needed supernatural help – which the center then provided for payment. Six alleged psychics now face up to 10 years in prison on fraud charges. The case is not the first incidence of Russian police taking on self-styled psychics. Last summer, more than 20 people were detained in a crackdown on another parapsychology center in Moscow, which reportedly employed more than 500 workers at its call center and had a monthly turnover of 500 million rubles ($15 million). Authorities in southeastern Jiangxi province are investigating health techniques used by a qigong master who has ties with a long list of celebrities, including Jackie Chan and Jack Ma, and who has been accused of getting rich by defrauding believers of the supernatural. The inquiry comes after China Central Television aired two investigative news programmes, calling Wang Lin a phony and “a vulgar magician” living on “deluding celebrities and blinding the public”. The Luxi Health Bureau later explained that it was looking into Wang’s claims on qigong, a practice with roots in martial arts and Chinese medicine that emphasizes breathing and meditation to strengthen health. Wang has long been known at home as a “qigong master” who claims to be able to heal cancer and other complicated diseases with his supernatural abilities, which he allegedly acquired in the 1980s. He remained largely unknown to the general public until this month when photos of him with dozens of celebrities and senior officials emerged on the internet. A short video on Valeria Lukyanova, known on the internet as the girl who turned herself into a real-life Barbie doll, gives the viewers a glimpse into the beliefs that the young girl is promoting through her online appearances. In the video, Lukyanova claims she is not a real girl at all, but a time-traveling spiritual guru whose purpose is to save the world from the clutches of superficiality and negative energy. She believes physical perfection is the best medium through which she can deliver life-changing philosophy to the human race. She states: ”Only love and joy exist in the place where I come from. Beings in our dimension are sexless. We do not have such definitions as husband, wife or children. We are able to look inside any being and see ourselves. I hear voices all the time and see different beings”. One of her friends declared that they both come from the ”Pleiades” and remember lots of planets on which they reincarnated in the past. In England, another businessman has been found guilty of making and selling fake bomb detectors. Devices made by Gary Bolton, 47, were found to be nothing more than boxes with handles and antennae. The prosecution said he sold them for up to £10,000 each, claiming they could detect explosives. The trial heard the company had a £3m annual turnover selling the homemade devices. The prosecutor told the court that Bolton knew the devices - which were also alleged to be able to detect drugs, tobacco, ivory and cash - did not work but supplied them anyway to be sold to overseas businesses. They were made at Bolton's home and at the premises of his company Global Technology Ltd, near Ashford. One company X-rayed a device and found nothing inside the box. And now let’s look at some news in science. A team of astronomers from the University of Anitoquia, Colombia, have discovered a graveyard of comets.