Blog Posts for Michael L Schmicker

Weird Book Room

Michael L Schmicker — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:48:18 -0700

Some spam is tasty. Possibly because I write on the paranormal, I received an unsolicited morsel this morning from online bookseller AbeBooks alerting me to their new “Weird Book Room.” The message showcased cover thumbnails of ten representative titles. My favorites: “The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories;” “Outhouses by Famous Architects;” “Old Tractors and the Men Who Love ...

The Dying of the Light

Michael L Schmicker — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:28:44 -0700

Ready for some scientific heresy? First the orthodox sermon: In a January 19, 2007 article entitled “The Mystery of Consciousness,” Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, assured readers of Time magazine that “Consciousness does not reside in an ethereal soul that uses the brain like a PDA; consciousness is the activity of the brain.” Scientists had ...

Maverick Author, Maverick Science

Michael L Schmicker — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:38:04 -0700

How old is Egypt’s Great Sphinx? Controversial author Dr. Robert Schoch, Yale-trained geologist and professor of natural sciences at Boston University, is famous for re-dating its construction to 7000-5000 B.C. His well-researched conclusion, resting on the known physics of limestone weathering, enraged establishment Egyptologists who adamantly proclaim Pharaoh Khafre’s subjects carved the ...

William James, Ghost Hunter

Michael L Schmicker — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:13:46 -0700

I have a good friend who earned his Ph.D in chemistry from Harvard. He’s a college dean and professor of oceanography at a name-brand U.S. university. He’s authored textbooks in his field of research. In short, he’s the very model of a modern, major-league scientist. He tolerates my membership in the Society for Scientific Exploration and our interest in scientific anomalies, but has no ...

Spook and Roach

Michael L Schmicker — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:30:47 -0700

Mary Roach is a funny writer. While reading Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, I often found myself laughing out loud. The book is chock full of zingers and hilarious, footnotes. Her sharp, witty, humor-column style of writing makes the complex scientific and philosophical debate regarding survival of consciousness both entertaining and enjoyable. That’s the good news. The bad news? She ...

The Witch in the Waiting Room

Michael L Schmicker — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:19:27 -0700

In 1997 an English housewife heard a voice in her head one evening when she was quietly reading at home. “Please don’t be afraid,” the voice said politely. “I know it must be shocking for you to hear me speaking to you like this.” The voice explained that it was only trying to help, that the poor woman had a brain tumor and should immediately seek a CAT scan at a certain London ...

Psychic Experiences and Extreme Sports

Michael L Schmicker — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:40:06 -0700

The first and last time I jumped out of an airplane, I was 17 years old. It was my mom who nearly died of fright. She had to sign a waiver that listed in gruesome detail all the ways her underage, unlucky son could die or sustain serious injury from skydiving. True to the odds, nothing went wrong. After four hours of “training,” the actual skydive, from Geronimo! to hard landing, lasted just ...

Draft Bait (50 and Done): Vietnam, Rock 'n Roll and Race Riots: A Timeline

Michael L Schmicker — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:40:46 -0700

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke Oct. 1887 – As European powers divide up Asia, France seizes and colonizes Vietnam and the Kingdom of Cambodia. The kingdom of Laos is grabbed and added in 1893, forming French Indochina.1941-1945 – The U.S. Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner of the CIA) recruits Vietnamese nationalist/communist Ho ...

Draft Bait (49) Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Michael L Schmicker — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:45:58 -0700

Forty years can do some serious damage to the dreams, reputation or health of people. Time certainly did that to several characters who frequented my diaries, or troubled my long-ago life in Thailand. Nixon was impeached; Hawk has disappeared; Boris is dead. But most sailed through the succeeding decades unscathed and fulfilled. A few still make headlines. Starting with Sterling, here’s ...

Draft Bait (48) Peerachat Wins

Michael L Schmicker — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:21:25 -0700

On April 16, 1972, I officially finished my three years with the Nuay Santipahp Saharat America, the Peace Corps. We got 100 pounds of air freight free to ship our stuff home; I packed mostly memories. If my son ever asks me “What did you do in the war, Daddy?” I would tell him that I didn’t kill anyone and I didn’t get killed. That I made a small difference in the lives of a few Thai ...