Nov Dec**_SI new design masters 9/27/12 10:57 AM Page 66

[ THE LAST LAUGH

SKEPTIC TRUMP CARDS SKEPTICAL ANNIVERSARIES by Tim Farley

November 3, 1957: Wilhelm reich, creator of the pseudo science “orgonomy,” died in prison after being convicted of violating fDa rules. November 16, 1977: the ufo film Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released in the united states. November 27, 2002: the animated program South Park took on tV medium in an episode titled “the Biggest Douche in the universe.” November 29, 1922: king tutankhamen’s tomb was of- ficially opened in egypt. Claims of a curse arose when lord Carnarvon died in Cairo four months later. December 4, 1872: a brigantine merchant ship named Mary Celeste was discovered abandoned by her crew off Portugal. the mysterious case is sometimes labeled as a case by some sloppy re- searchers. December 16, 1997: In a widely reported incident, 12,000 Japanese children reported various symptoms allegedly brought on watching the tV show Pokémon. December 18, 1912: hominid fossil Piltdown Man was first publicly discussed at a meeting of the Geological society of london. Decades later it was proven to be a hoax. December 27, 2002: the company Clonaid (affiliated with the raëlians) announced that it had successfully cloned a human named “Baby eve.” this was generally regarded to be a hoax. December 30, 1947: Project sign, the u.s. Government’s first official ufo investigation, was authorized by the u.s. air force. September/October 2012 Hidden Messages Puzzle Contest Winner: Izzy Williams Tim Farley is a research fellow with the Educational Foundation and created the website whatstheharm.net. GET FUZZY BY DARBY CONLEY

©2009 Darby Conley. Reprinted with permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK for UFS. All rights reserved. 66 Volume 36 Issue 6 |