Ramblings of an Armchair Skeptic

I don't know if this is a problem with many skeptics but I know of three (including myself) who have been accused by loved ones of being associated with a cult. It seems that this cult has slowly been integrated into my life with such a subtlety that I had barely noticed my transformation from a normal, functioning human being to a crazy zealot. So it got me to thinking, have I been brainwashed without my knowledge? Has a fundamental change come over me? Do I treat people somehow badly or differently if I deem them unskeptical? Maybe the JREF is a cult with Randi as our revered leader and I need some major deprogramming. So I thought I'd look it up and see what similarities the skeptical movement and the JREF in particular have to cults. So here is a checklist I found on the interwebs which describes the characteristics of cults. I will examine each one and determine if similarities exist. This way I can assure my family and friends that there is no need to hire people to jump ...

No. The title is not a typo. I recently visited an annual trade show here in Red Deer which is called World of Women . But as I walked around I noticed that tucked in between the booths hawking cookware, make-up and spices were many purveyors of woo and I believe my new moniker may be a more apt description. As a female, I was distressed that these scams were so blatantly directed mostly towards women. I have a sneaking suspicion that had the show been entitled "World of Men", there would have been much less woo. Or at least the woo would not be so overtly geared to just women. Why are women the targets? Is my gender just more gullible? All of the woo products were somehow related to health and wellness. I think it's because women tend to take on the role of caregiver more than men. They are the ones usually in charge of making sure their families are happy and healthy. This draws them to anything and everything that holds a promise of curing or preventing ills. And I can...