Pigasus Flies Again

On April 1st of each year, we award the coveted Pigasus Awards in four categories for accomplishments in the year previous. The awards are of course announced via telepathy, the winners are allowed to prophesy their winning, and the Flying Pig trophies are sent via psychokinesis. We send; if they don’t receive, that could be due to their lack of psychic ability.

This year, 1999, the prizes go to: 

Category #1 

The scientist who said or did the silliest thing related to the supernatural, paranormal or occult goes to Dr. Jacques Benveniste, for his insistence that the magical qualities of homeopathic medicines can be transmitted via the internet in digital form, transferring curative qualities from a bottle of homeopathic water located in Paris, France, to a bottle of quite ordinary water located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For this amazing discovery, Dr. Benveniste also became the only individual to have twice received the Ig Nobel Prize awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research! Surely French pseudoscience can take pride in this distinction. (The JREF has offered its one-million-dollar prize to any homeopath who can distinguish between homeopathic and non-homeopathic water.) 

Reference: http://www.digibio.com 

Category #2 

The funding organization that supported the most useless study of the supernatural, paranormal or occult goes to Mr. Joe Firmage, the computer genius who gave up his $2.1 billion company to pursue humanity’s potential rendezvous with space aliens, despite a perceived government conspiracy to conceal the abundant evidence he says exists. He points to “retro-research,” which he says explains the existence of the transistor, which ordinary mortals were unable to develop without first finding the technology on one of those numerous crashed UFOs. Mr. Firmage has published a 600-page manifesto titled “The Truth,” which he describes as a “synthesis of science and faith.” 

Mr. Firmage’s web page is http://thewordistruth.org 

The awards are of course announced via telepathy, the winners are allowed to prophesy their winning, and the Flying Pig trophies are sent via psychokinesis.

Category #3 

The media outlet that reported as fact the most outrageous supernatural, paranormal or occult claimgoes to TV host Montel Williams, who has essentially made one Sylvia Browne into a psychic superstar by featuring her on show after show doing her second-guessing act to titillate the public. Back on a 1989 TV special, Sylvia gave us a demonstration of her powers. On this occasion, she was not allowed to contact the potential subjects in advance, and her performance was singularly unimpressive. 

Reference: http://www.tvtalkshows.com/montelwilliams 

Category #4 

The “psychic” performer who fooled the greatest number of people with the least talent goes to the very popular bestselling author and psychic performer, James Van Praagh, who is a “cold reader” featured on almost every major TV program, some of them more than once. Though he is a mediocre performer, he has gained a huge following of bereaved persons who embrace his banal and obvious statements as evidence of the return of the deceased. In our experience, there are much better performers of this art working the circuits today. 

Reference: http://www.vanpraagh.com