Today's target is the website for the credulous Australian TV program, The One, which claims to be searching for someone with magical mind powers. The poll asks, "Are you a believer or a sceptic?"
70% of Australian voters in this poll are currently calling themselves believers. Let's embarrass them with a worldwide showing of skeptics. (This might be a tough one: I suspect many more people watch TV than will read this post.)
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Damn! When you said 70% are believers I thought there were probably only a few hundred votes, but when I voted (as a skeptic, just in case you guys and gals are wondering) there were almost 7300 votes!!
And PZ, while I'd agree that more people watch TV than read this post...I doubt that many of them would log onto their computers just to vote. It's much easier just to click your links (so to speak). ;)
Hey... it seems you can vote multiple times, though my several votes haven't registered a change in the percentage yet... Anyone else?
umm...so apparently i'm a molecular anthropologist with bad spelling :(
Randi's been covering this one week-by-week. They've got a good consultant from Australian Skeptics on the show, but, like any TV, they lean toward the sensational over the real.
Once again, I complain that you haven't crashed my poll. The complaints shall continue until you crash it! =P
Okay, I'll start it off. Current score is 70% Believers and 30% Sceptics [sic].
Skeptics: 31%
Skeptics 32%
Sceptics are now at 32%
I watched this the other night.
The challenge was for them to go to the seen of the 2001 murder of british tourist Peter Falconio. Bradley John Murdoch was conivicted of the murder in 2005, but the body has never been found.
The three contestants were set a task: to find the body.
They did lots of mumbo-jumboing and waving and saying "i feel he's definately here, he's crying out" etc etc.
Of course they didn't find anything.
I thought it was a bit sick actually.
Sceptics 33%
67 to 33 percent, believers
The challenge was for them to go to the seen of the 2001 murder
I can't believe I wrote "seen."
SCENE. Sorry....!!
I'm disappointed. I thought we aussies were smarter than this. I can only take comfort in the fact that aussie commercial TV is drivel of the first order and attracts an appropriate audience.
And speaking of comfort...tear him a new one PZ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liefTM7j2gI
They're just going to end up disproving themselves.
I guess they could start fixing the gameshow.
65-35
Alphageek, we Aussies are smarter than that. Just remember that the people that have voted prior to PZ's announcement are people that watch the show. I know that had I been still living in OZ neither me nor my most the people I know would watch, let alone visit the shows website.
I thought we aussies were smarter than this
So did I. Until I saw they're also now broadcasting an Australian version of that japanese tv-show where people have to try and fit themselves through impossibly-shaped holes which, like a tetris block, hurtle towards them and knock them into a swimming pool.
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2008/02/fox-wants-hole-in-wall.html
It's the beginning of the end.
Voted (sceptic).
I refused to vote. As a longtime member of the Skeptic Society, I will have nothing to do with the "sceptics." Splitters.
(Just kidding: I'm both skeptic AND sceptic.) ;)
Argh! They're using Yahoo polls. I can't break this one like I did with the Genius of Darwin TV Guide rating.
Sceptics are up to 39%!
40%!
URL to Vote:
http://post.polls.yahoo.com/quiz/quizresults.php?user_choice=2
Kobra, it isn't that hard to break this poll.
I have funny conversation with my cousin. She asked me if I believe in extra terrestrial visitations? I said there is no good evidence. ESP. No good evidence. Premonitions. No good evidence. Ghost. No good evidence. Alternative medicine. Some of it, but mostly there is no good evidence. Acupuncture. No good evidence.
In frustration, she exclaimed "You don't believe in anything, do you?!"
Sceptic [sic] is now at 40%.
Come on, really? How hard is it to use spellcheck before putting something online?
No, but I have no problem accepting reality.
There's also a current poll on CNN about whose energy plan is the best, Obama's, McCain's or Paris Hilton's.
http://www.cnn.com/
Eric at #26 - Nothing wrong with sceptic. Just because you lot in the US spell it skeptic, doesn't make it right.
According to my dictionary (Collins English) sceptic is correct, and skeptic is archaic (or US). Australians tend to follow UK spelling, rather than US.
I don't like the new format. Change is not good (unless it's very gradual over a very long period of time.
Is that how skeptic is spelled in the other hemisphere?
If alternative medicine worked it would just be called medicine. When proceeding the word "medicine", "alternative" means "does not work".
Are you equating Alternative Medicine to Alternative Spelling?
Eric: "Come on, really? How hard is it to use spellcheck before putting something online?"
Uh, you people who are ragging on the spelling of "sceptic" might want to look it up.
"sceptic" is the british english spelling, "skeptic" is the american english spelling.
It's one of those colour/aluminium/zed kind of things,
deal with it.
Oh, sceptics are up to 42%
"Skeptic" rings truer; "sceptic" looks like it should be pronounced "septic". (Think "scepter".)
USian, BTW.
I prefer to take a more latiny approach as much as possible, so skeptic, where k represents a strong c sound instead of sceptic, where you have two potentially soft s sounds, is my preferred spelling. But, if you Aussies want to spell like Norman patsies and sell out the English language, that's your right :p
43% when I voted; keep it coming folks!
PZ, I'm afraid you picked a lost cause with this one. I doubt this one can be pulled through into the glare of sunshine...I'd LOVE to be proven wrong.
Xander #28
Paris is ahead (oops, almost typed that as two words).
I'm peptic.
Dammit. Yahoo cut me off. I got an error: "Sorry, Unable to process request at this time -- error 999."
I opened the poll in a new window in Firefox and hit back-click-back-click about 30 times. I guess they thought I was a bot.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Sceptre (spelt like that!) is a different word from sceptic. And in any case, sceptre comes originally from the greek "skeptron" meaning staff - arguably sceptre should be pronounced "skepter".
And it's spelt, not spelled. Sigh. You Yanks just don't get it, do you?
Currently 45-55%, in favor of the opposition. Keep it up!
These poll crashings are like boss battles.
We yanks invented the English language. Why do you think it's called English?
46-54%. We are gaining!
"I prefer to take a more latiny approach as much as possible, so skeptic, "
Like I said people: look it up.
From the Online Etymological Dictionary:
... from Fr. sceptique, from L. scepticus, from Gk. skeptikos ...
Latin is "sc", greek is "sk".
Pull your arse over to the kerb, get the dictionary out of the boot and look it up.
Prescriptivist.
Do you really think you'll get us to change to the minority spelling rules just because the folks who live on the damp, dreary island that the language started on spell things that way? You might as well try to teach the French to spell phonetically.
The poll is now 53% believers and 47% skeptics.
"Do you really think you'll get us to change to the minority spelling rules just because the folks who live on the damp, dreary island that the language started on spell things that way? "
This poll comes from a different island.
You know, the one with the kangaroos.
They've got surfing too.
So, why didn't they bother to invent their own spellings like we did?
But, if you Aussies want to spell like Norman patsies and sell out the English language
What?
It was those sheep buggering Norman pigs that introduced the letter "k" to English orthogaphy. Real Saxons still use "c".
Actually, Australia isn't damp and dreary, and this argument started about the spelling of sceptic in Oz.
But yes, I'm a Brit. And yes, England can be damp and dreary. (Though it's a nice day today.) And I suppose, these days, arguably, the spelling rules we use are minority.
But they are right.
"This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle..."
Ah, the Brits, Yanks, and Aussies, all separated by a common language. :-)
51-49 to 'them'.
As for spelling-gate, I'm from the UK and prefer skeptic. That said, if we all just used what we preferred, women would all be called birds......
"So, why didn't they bother to invent their own spellings like we did?"
Don't spit the dummy, I don't speak Strine, ... strewth!
Hooroo!
We made it to 50%... Out of 10,255 total votes so far. Hopefully we can push them back!
50-50 at 11:47 EDT
50/50
50/50
50-50.
Booya.
Sorry about bum Email. Totally off the subject, it occurred to me recently that since the xian "god" created Eve well after Adam, that there is a really serious question for them to ask: Did Adam have nipples?
50:50 as of now.
Come on, you heathens! (or, as a cox was heard to exhort in the Oxford/Cambridge boat race, 'Row, you toilets!')
CD
Deuce. Mmmmm. Draw......Mmmm Empate!
49% believers.
PZ, I expect you to show more faith in us in the future.
(Kidding.)
51:49!
I'm so proud of us.
CD
There are a lot of people commenting on the sceptic/skeptic issue. Get over it. The English "language" is not one language, but instead is a variety of dialects that are close enough to each other to be mostly mutually intelligible. As the saying goes in linguistics, a language is a dialect with an army and a navy. Each country has tried to create its own standard English based on the specific dialects spoken in that region, so it goes without saying that there will be significant differences between the various versions of standard English. As for spelling, blame the people who write dictionaries, not the people who just happen to follow the conventions of their own country.
49% woo to 51% Skeptics!
You gotta believe in yourself and your readers PZ. We outgunned the large Australian TV audience!
49% believers 51% sceptics!
We're ahead!
(yay for the correct spelling of the word sceptic btw!)
Sorry Myers - I'm with the believers on this one
No need to apologize, Pingh; freedom of thought means any sort of thought, not just the freedom to be an atheist. =]
Ha! 10786 votes since Jul 1 2008 and sceptics have hit 52%...
This is highly amusing to me, as a brit we now have a law to make psychics put a disclaimer on their adverts to state "for entertainment purposes only" and, even better than that, "not experimentally proven".
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/public_law/article39…
53% for the sceptics! I spammed it for about a minute straight with maybe 15 votes, and we appear to have broken it!
"a believer or a sceptic"
Nice specific question!
I guess I'd have to say it depends on the proposition. I believe that I'm human, though I'm skeptical that anyone else is ...
The poll's now up to 53% "sceptics", great job everyone!
Believer in what? Psychics?
Why?
45% Believers - 11427 votes
Aussies are big into psychics and superstition,so the initial poll result before it was pharyngulated doesnt surprise me,but we dont make them put disclaimers up like in the UK yet!
As to this show,never heard of it,there is plenty of John Edwardsy stuff on TV tho.
Skeptic sounds right to me,btw....
Currently at:
Believer 45%
Sceptic 55%
Oddly enough there's a link on the page PZ links to for "Australian Skeptics". Click on it and it sends you to http://www.skeptics.com.au/
Still 55% Sceptic (11540 votes)
#28 Xander
Heh, this is the poll now.
John McCain's27% 34587
Barack Obama's33% 43481
Paris Hilton's 40% 52088
Total Votes: 130156
I didn't realise there was such contention over those minor spelling differences :)
Kyle, you think this is contentious? Try throwing away a cracker!
Huh, them Aussies write skeptics with a c instead of a k? Anyways, woo! We crashed the poll. ^_^
I am skeptik.
58% sceptics now (12386 votes)
Actually now it is 41% believers.
Go to "Stand up for Real Science" to take a survey on your understanding of evolution.
Heh, 60% skeptics now! Bet they didn't see that coming ... *boomtish*
FYI James Randi's JREF is keeping tabs on this show. Going by some of the reporting coming in from Aussie viewers it seems like a lot of Richard Saunders' good work in identifying the bollocks-peddlers may be ending up on the cutting room floor. But I guess woo-woo always rates better than a bloke saying "Mate, you're talking out of your ARSE" for an hour.
btw I'm an Aussie but I prefer "skeptic" with a "k". Just looks better :)
Why can't we spell it scheptic like the xians spell their savior? Also, no one has yet told me if Adam had nipples. Or why.
I laboured long and hard to get the Australian Labor Party elected into federal government in Australia last November.
Also, no one has yet told me if Adam had nipples. Or why.
Because they're awesome toys.
Aw come on. A sceptic tank sounds like something used to process waste! I would prefer 'Skeptic'!
I still think that these poll crashings are good humor! Thanks to all who cared and made a difference!
#75 - nothing odd about it; the vice-president of the Australian Sceptics Society is on the show, playing the role of judge and making sure the tests aren't _too_ blatantly rigged.
Because rigged they are, or at least the TV editing process is. So far, we've seen:
* "find the object" tests - where the object is in a likely place to go anyway (e.g. near the top of a hill which is a good lookout), or near the entrance with rough or muddy ground
* cold reading - where the reading goes for 15 minutes, and they show two minutes (with all the hits, none of the misses)
* "celebrity readings" - where the reader can say "I sense you're a TV star", get told no, then a few seconds later go "I'm getting a feeling you're in sports" (when Australian celebrities are nearly all either TV stars or sports stars). The funny one was where the celebrity in question was both - a TV star who also was a champion skier.
* (bad) diagnosis of medical conditions based on observation/"medical intuition" - resulting in such insights as "I think you've got a respiratory problem" to someone you've just spent a minute listening to them wheeze away. Also without mentioning the fact that modern doctors are taught to do diagnosis based on observation, and it's been a long part of Persian & Chinese medicine (which isn't all bad, despite being full of superstition).
Oh, and should I mention that none of the tests have any control groups?
The so-called psychics are doing slightly better than pure random chance would suggest, but giving the selective editing, this is hardly surprising. Importantly, none of them are breezing through - all of the psychics have had major stumbles.
The highlight of the show is when one of the contestants gets eliminated; they were asked at the start of the season to write down a list of who they expected to win, and each of the eliminated contestants has picked themselves so far. ;)
Woohoo! Skeptics win! Thanks Pzed!
I think polls showing the percentages of people believing in silly myths and magical thinking shall be the death of me
*sigh*
At least we've upped the number of skeptics in the poll - unfortunately, it doesn't what people actually think and believe.
Skeptics at 61% now. And I voted 5 times. Talk about jackass polling. (Then again, maybe I'm the bigger jackass for spending an extra 5 seconds voting repeatedly.)
61% skeptics. I voted once.
As long as you don't force us to "Americanize" (wow, it's hard to write that "ize" without flinching) our spelling with all those "zees", you may occasionally be permitted to spell sceptic with a k. We Aussies might deign to tolerate it sometimes.
Rob (#93)- English was a mess until Noah Webster, an American, cleaned it up a bit. It was getting to be a bit, too, Frenchified. "Centre." "Theatre" When I read "sceptic" I pronounce "septic" which is how the rules of pronunciation dictate. And I would rather not see myself as a "septic." I voted that I am one, and the good team is ahead %62 - %38.
62% in our favour as of now.
I would think that PZ's readership is rivalling the population of Australia these days.
I'm coming to the party late, but it's 63% for the good guys (that's us!)
Dr, you don't understand the power that you have... continue using it wisely to fight the bad guys.
HOI, MATE! Are you calling us (PZ's readership) SHEEP??
Sheep are overwhelmingly populating Australia, and a fair percentage walk on two legs.
Oh how witty!
I would not have thought suggestions (jokes my be too strong a word I guess) that Australia has a small population or PZ has a large readership would be at all controversial.
As a card carrying member of the Aussie Sc/keptiv Society I thoroughly recommend you all get your bums over there and do Dr Bob's quiz on a monthly basis. It's a hoot, actually quite educational in a quirky way and you can say "fuck" in your answers and get away with it.
http://www.skeptics.com.au
Given the winners are picked more on humour based answers than actual knowledge feel free to be as witty as possible. I won one of the months back in 2005 and, along with my Molly, stands as the greatest single moment of my life...sob.
Aussies aren't into psychics and superstition. The Aussies who watch that show would be, and they'd be the only ones who'd heard of the poll to start with. That's why the initial results were so skewed. (Or should that be scewed?)
And Mike (#94), if you'd rather not be referred to as a "septic" that could be a problem. I mean, given the popular rhyming slang for Yanks in these parts!
*poing*! *cavort*! *caper*!
This damn poll has been bugging me for weeks, ever since I saw Phil mention it on Bad Astronomy. Its been like a seed stuck between my teeth, seeing thousands of 'believers' votes sitting there, begging for a damn good pharyngulation.
It does my heart good to see the forces of reason rally to the flag and trounce the hordes of fuzzy-thinkers - well, on a pointless poll, anyway :)
Oh, and cudos to all those aussie skeptics who kept the pressure on in the show's comments section.
freelunch asks "So, why didn't they bother to invent their own spellings like we did?"
The answer is simple, freelunch: we Australians are pretty lazy, and didn't feel like it was worth the effort. (It would've cut into our beer-drinking time, for a start.)
I like how they say 'believer' or 'sceptic.' Do you think mental magic is real, or are you uncertain? (I know "sceptic" means disbelief, but it's not an exact synonym. Why not just ask, "Do you believe? 1-Y / 2-N?" This IS a leading question... anyhow, my post continues) What about a third choice: "You people have probably destroyed half the planet's exotic plant species sucking their burning embers through a bong looking for the high that would make you think this mental voodoo is real. Quit being stupid!" I'd have voted #3.
I'm sitting here knocking back Coops sparkling and continually voting for the septics. I know a sad way to spend the night.
Currently at 65/35 in favour of the septics, still voting :)
65% Skeptic
35% woo
It's viewers of Channel 7, of course the figures are going to be positive. The commercial stations here breed a bunch of morons and they regularly have psychics on talk shows because that's the target audience they aim for.
The fact that they have made a show about it is proof enough that it's for a bunch of gullible morons who want to believe. People should stick to The X Files and realise the paranormal is just that, fiction.
Thank you. I emailed this poll to you when the show began but your cracker saga followed soon after and I'm sure my email was easily lost in the flood.
But it's done now and "done like a dinner" as we say down here. Now well over 15,000 votes and over 60% skeptics. Nice. Thank you.
This show actually started me blogging and I've been doing so furiously since The One started.
Getting close to 70% skeptic. We've taken it over, but to really dominate this poll we just need PZ to move this post to the top of the blog. One such move should do it.