For a long time I have been getting on the clock master numbers (numbers such   
   as 5:55 and 11:11). One day I decided to run an experiment. I set four clocks   
   to four different times around the house and recorded every time that I looked   
   at the clock. I    
   found 1 in 10 numbers I got being master numbers, when by chance it would be 1   
   in 60.   
      
   One day my girlfriend woke up in the middle of the night claiming that she was   
   hearing her ex talking to her in spirit. In the morning she decided to test   
   this, so she said in her head, "OK Todd, if you've been talking to me in   
   spirit call me." 30    
   seconds later Todd calls her and tells her that he has been talking to her in   
   spirit.   
      
   In 1995, I had a beautiful romantic relationship with a woman named Michelle,   
   who finished Harvard in three years and who was a poet. In 2000, I wanted to   
   have that recapitulated. So what happens but that I start corresponding with a   
   woman named Michele,    
   who finished Caltech in three years, who was a poet and who, in 1995, had a   
   similarly beautiful relationship with a man from Bulgaria whose last name was   
   similar to my middle name.   
      
   What are the chances of any of these things happening? The last, I would put   
   at less than one in a billion. You do the maths for the other two.   
      
   For a long time I wanted to prove what I have experienced. The result was   
   malicious abuse. Some of it was done in the name of science; some was done in   
   the name of reason; some was done in the name of reality. In all cases the   
   claims were false. Reason    
   would most certainly investigate phenomena with a minute chance of occurrence.   
   And reality involves all its levels, including the ones that those drawn to   
   materialist ideology want to deny.   
      
   Bigotry done in the name of science is the same as bigotry done in the name of   
   anything else. The most glaring example I've seen has been people with   
   scientific associations who openly claimed to ignore any evidence of the   
   psychic or the spiritual. At    
   least these people were honest about being bigots. Many others however are not.   
      
   I have absolutely nothing against science. I respect science. I however do not   
   respect bigotry. And this is the case regardless of whether the bigotry is   
   being expressed by a Muslim fundamentalist or by a materialist fundamentalist.   
      
   Should the scientific inquiry into the universe continue? Of course it should.   
   But let us drop the wrongful equation between science and skepticism. Most   
   skeptics aren't scientists, and the best scientists aren't skeptics. In fact   
   among the best minds in    
   science we see people writing authoritatively on such matters as   
   reincarnation, angelic guidance and miracles achieved through meditation and   
   prayer. And I bear familiarity with some such scientists.   
      
   An honest scientist would look at these things and practice a genuinely   
   unbiased inquiry. And the man who would not do that is not a true scientist.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)