trentmkelly/rationalwiki huggingface dataset:
Michael Schmicker

{{paranormal}}
'''Michael Schmicker''' is an [[United States|American]] [[parapsychologist]], pseudoscience promoter, and [[spiritualist]].

Schmicker claims to be a nationally-known writer on "anomalies" and the [[paranormal]]. He is a member of the [[Pseudojournal|crank]] ''[[Journal of Scientific Exploration]]'' and discussed his [[woo]] beliefs on [[Coast to Coast AM]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150413124008/http://www.rhine.org/who-we-are/staff/advisors/42-michael-schmicker.html Michael Schmicker Biography]</ref> In an interview with [[Alex Tsakiris]],<ref>[http://www.skeptiko.com/71-michael-schmicker-best-evidence-of-psi/ Michael Schmicker Interview]</ref> Schmicker has said that [[psi]] has been scientifically proven.

In his book ''Best Evidence'' he has written that there is scientific evidence for all kinds of debunked woo topics such as [[ectoplasm]], [[poltergeist]]s, [[psychokinesis]], and [[reincarnation]]. He ignores most of the skeptical literature on the paranormal and takes [[anecdotal evidence]] at face value. Schmicker has admitted after his research that he believes 98% of alleged paranormal phenomena turn out to have a naturalistic explanation but the remaining 2% has real scientific evidence for the paranormal.<ref>[http://www.hrvg.org/newsletter/2001-04/bestevidence.html A Book by Michael Schmicker]</ref> 

As a devout spiritualist, Schmicker has supported the crank views of [[Michael E. Tymn]] and has written that [[Leonora Piper]] and other fraudulent [[medium]]s were in contact with spirits.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101107051223/http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1ZHA1F3SX7OH2?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview#R3ISIY5MHXR94G Michael Schmicker Spiritualist Reviews]</ref>

==Publications==
*''Best Evidence: An Investigative Reporter's Three-Year Quest to Uncover the Best Scientific Evidence for ESP, Psychokinesis, Mental Healing, Ghosts and Poltergeists, Dowsing, Mediums, Near Death Experiences, Reincarnation, and Other Impossible Phenomena That Refuse to Disappear'' (2002)
*''The Gift: ESP, the Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People'' (2002)
*''The Universe Wants to Play: The Anomalist 12: A Nonfiction Anthology'' (2006)
*''The Listener'' (2010)

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{stub|pseudoscience}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmicker, Michael}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]

Categories: Living people, Authors, Paranormal, Pseudoscience promoters
Michael Talbot

{{Sources needed}}
{{Paranormal}}
'''Michael Talbot''' {{lived|1953|1992}} was an [[United States|American]] [[parapsychologist]] and [[author]] of books on [[quantum woo]]. He is most well known for endorsing a theoretical model of [[reality]] that suggests the physical universe is akin to a giant [[hologram]]. According to Talbot, [[ESP]], [[telepathy]], and other [[paranormal]] phenomena are real and are a product of this holographic model of reality.

==Publications==
*''Mysticism And The New Physics'' (1992)
*''The Holographic Universe'' (1991)
*''Your Past Lives'' (1987)
*''Beyond The Quantum'' (1986)

{{stub|Paranormal}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Michael}}

[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Parapsychology]]

Categories: Authors, New Age, Parapsychology
Michelle Smith

{{satanism}}
'''Michelle Smith''' was the [[author]] along with Dr. Lawrence Pazder of the 1980 book ''Michelle Remembers'', an alleged autobiography of her childhood abuse by a [[Satanism|Satanic]] [[cult]]. The book gave a significant boost to the "[[Satanic ritual abuse]]" scare, yet as with most books in the sensationalist [[Christianity|Christian]]-books-on-Satanism market, it was exposed as fraudulent. It was found that most of the book's content came from Dr. Pazder's studies of [[Africa]]n rituals and not from Michelle Smith's childhood. When questioned about this, Pazder actually defended himself by claiming that he and Smith never claimed the events in the book had really happened! Nonetheless, this book along with similar tall tales of [[Mike Warnke]] and [[John Todd]] launched a [[Satanic panic|panic]] within [[United States|American]] Christendom over Satanism that continued throughout the 1980s and 90s.

==See also==
*[[Confabulation]]

==External links==
*[http://members.shaw.ca/imaginarycrimes/michelleremembers.htm ''Michelle Remembers'': Fiction, Not Fact]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Michelle}}
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Moral panics]]
[[Category:Satanism]]
[[Category:Shysters]]
{{stub|religion}}

Categories: Authors, Moral panics, Satanism, Shysters
Microraptor

{{italic title}}
[[File:Microraptor mmartyniuk.png|thumb|Artist's impression.]]
'''''Microraptor''''' is a [[transitional form]]. It represents, along with other dromaeosaurids (a.k.a. "raptors"), a branch of  [[evolution]] path from [[dinosaur]]s to [[birds]]. The 24 centimeter creature had feathers and was able to glide between trees, yet it also has a tail that is "clearly [[dinosaur]]ian".<ref>Jeff Hecht, [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn244-microraptor.html "Microraptor"] in ''[[New Scientist]]'', 6 December 2000.</ref> Bizarrely, ''Microraptor'' has ''four'' wings, i.e. feathered legs, as opposed to birds' two. 

The latest discovered genus related to ''Microraptor'', ''Changyuraptor''<ref>http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/15/largest-four-winged-dinosaur-changyuraptor-yangi</ref>, has a feathered tail 30 cm long, consistent with gliding flight.

== See also ==
*[[Feathered dinosaurs]]
==References==
{{reflist}}

{{evonav}}
{{stub|evolution}}

[[Category:Evolution]]
[[Category:Transitional fossils]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]

Categories: Evolution, Transitional fossils, Dinosaurs
Middle East

[[File:"Political Middle East" CIA World Factbook.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A map from the 2013 [[CIA]] World Factbook.]] 

{{cquote|The Mideast reminds me of that old joke about the optimist and the pessimist. The pessimist says, "It can't get any worse!" The optimist says, "Oh yes it can!"|||President Bartlet, ''The West Wing''}}

The '''Middle East''' (rarely referred to as West Asia) is the part of the world, in southwestern [[Asia]], between the Mediterranean Sea and the [[India]]n subcontinent, where [[United States|America]]'s [[oil]] is buried under the desert sands nominally held by her arch-enemies. The region is overwhelmingly [[Islam|Muslim]] and has of late had a tumultuous history, especially between [[Sunni]]s and [[Shia]]s.

America's one true ally in the region, [[Israel]], 
has none of this oil
 found oil in territory that is not legally theirs (although Kuwait is US friendly and has oodles of oil).

The term is presently synonymous with the term "Near East" - while the Far East is (sensibly) as far away as possible from the area. The Middle East region represents an area of over 5.0 million square miles where vast deserts are common and includes the inhospitable Arabian Peninsula-so harsh it is sometimes called "The Empty Quarter."<ref>http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/meast/MEgeo.html</ref>

==See also==
{{collist|2|
*[[Bahrain]]
*[[Egypt]]
*[[Iran]]
*[[Iraq]]
*[[Israel]]
*[[Jordan]]
*[[Kuwait]]
*[[Lebanon]]
*[[Libya]]
*[[Oman]]
*[[Palestine]]
*[[Qatar]]
*[[Saudi Arabia]]
*[[Syria]]
*[[Turkey]]
*[[Palestine]]
*[[United Arab Emirates]]
*[[Yemen]]
}}

==External links==
*[http://www.vox.com/a/maps-explain-the-middle-east 40 maps that explain the Middle East], Vox
*[http://www.theonion.com/article/everyone-in-middle-east-given-own-country-in-31700-36484 The only true solution for the Middle East.]
*[http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/04/28/arab-world-s-options/h9ft The Arab World’s Options], Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
*{{wpl|Midwest|Midwest}}, which is a contraction of "Middle" and "West" and out of some weird coincidence contains [[Illinois|a state]] that has a region called Little Egypt and a small town called Palestine.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[category:geography]]
[[Category:Middle East|*]]

{{stub|geography}}

Categories: geography, Middle East
Middle knowledge

{{sources needed}}{{christianity}}
'''Middle knowledge''' is one of the nuttiest concepts that [[Christian]] [[theologian]]s have yet to cook up, concerning [[predestination]]'s compatibility with [[free will]]. It supposes that [[God]] had already decided before you were born whether you are going to [[heaven]] or [[hell]], yet whether you go to heaven or hell is simultaneously and entirely based on your own freely-willed decision to accept the [[Gospel]] message.

==The theory==
The theory claims that God knows what you would 'freely' choose to do in every possible circumstance, even in circumstances which never actually occur. This knowledge is known as 'middle knowledge'. Thus, he can arrange things so that you go to heaven or hell forever, as he chooses – if he wants you to go to hell, he'll make sure you undergo whatever circumstances would result in you freely choosing hell; if he wants you to go to heaven, he'll make sure you undergo whatever circumstances would result in you freely choosing heaven. So you have free will, within a certain extent. Sorta.<ref group=note>If circumstances determine your choice your choice is not free.</ref>

==Does this make sense?==
What does any of this mean? Does anyone know? Do even the proponents of this idea really understand it? Probably not. But [[William Lane Craig]] thinks it is one of the deepest ideas anyone has ever thought of. Perhaps it's just a bit of sophistry employed so that certain denominations can have their cake and eat it too regarding free will vs. omnipotence.

==Warning==
You'd better believe it or you're headed straight for the [[hell|really not nice place]].

==See also==
* [[Calvinism]]
* [[Christian apologetics]]
* [[Last Judgement]]
* [[Problem of evil]]
* [[Salvation]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

[[Category:Philosophy]]

Categories: Philosophy
Midrash

{{judaism}}
A '''midrash''' is a prominent form [[Jewish]] [[Bible|biblical]] [[exegesis]] primarily found in the [[Talmud]] written in the Middle Ages. They are both narrative and commentary. While technically anyone can write a midrash, most references to midrashim are going to be referring to ones in the pre-existing rabbinic literature. [[Judaism#Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]], as in those who strictly follow Rabbinic Judaism, consider these midrashim to have the authority of [[scripture]].

==Notable Midrashim==
===The Three Oaths===
A midrash found in the Talmud, the '''Three Oaths''' is primarily notable as the scripture behind [[Haredi]] Jews' opposition to [[Zionism]]. It is based on three verses from the Song of Solomon, namely 2:7, 3:5, and 8:4:

:<bible book="Song of Solomon" chapter=2 verse1=7/>

In Ketubot 110b and 111a, the Rabbis interpreted these three similar verses as three oaths: God made the Jews swear that they would not try to take the Land of Israel by force or rebel against the nations they're living in, and God made the rest of the nations swear not to oppress the Jews too much. The Gemara reads:

{{Quotebox|Why/What are these Three Oaths? One, that Israel should not go up to the land in a wall {i.e. en masse, Rashi interprets: forcefully}. Two, the Holy One adjured Israel not to rebel against the nations of the world. Three, the Holy One adjured the nations that they would not oppress Israel too much.}}

These oaths are generally regarded as still in effect by Haredi Jews.

{{stub|Judaism}}
[[Category:Judaism]]

Categories: Judaism
Mike

{{Disambig}}
* [[Mike Adams]], alternative medicine preacher
* [[Mike Bara]], anti-science writer
* [[Mike Bloomberg]], billionaire boy
* [[Michael Coombs]] (Mikemikev), serial far-right troll and vandal
* [[Mike Enoch]], neo-Nazi preacher and podcaster
* Mike Godwin, creator of [[Godwin's Law]]
* [[Mike Gravel]], former Democratic politician in Alaska
* [[Mike Huckabee]], former governor of 
TERFkansas
 [[Arkansas]]
* [[Mike Lee]], tea bag packer
* [[Mike Lindell]], pseudoscience promoter and pillow vendor
* [[Mike Malloy]], atheist radio host
* [[Mike Pence]], Christian fundamentalist and former VP of the United States
* [[Mike Warnke]], preacher and lying dirtbag
Military Commissions Act

{{uspolitics}}{{sources}}
The '''Military Commissions Act''' was a law passed in the [[United States]] in 2006 to provide rules and regulations for how to treat and try "illegal alien combatants".

This was made necessary by the [[George W. Bush]] administration's decision that fighters picked up abroad were not POWs, and [[terrorists]] abducted by the military/[[CIA]]/etc. were no longer normal [[criminals]]. The Bush administration did not want to provide Geneva protections to the former, or [[due process]] to the latter. This is not ''technically'' a violation of the Geneva Convention because it only applies to what it defines as a "lawful combatant", which is essentially a uniformed fighter with a defined chain of command. In theory, any non-lawful combatant can be treated at the discretion of the country that captured him/her, however it has almost always been practice to treat the person as a POW, but nothing has been officially written about this in most countries, including the US. Eventually, however, rules of some kind were needed, and the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] had left it up to [[Congress]] to make them.

The law was written by the [[Republican Party]] leaders, especially [[Mitch McConnell]]. The law specifically ruled that the status of such combatants would be determined not by a court, but by a special tribunal to be selected by the [[President of the United States|President]]. Moreover, there could not be any appeal of this determination. Even the right of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' has been removed.

In theory, this means that if the President and his handpicked tribunal wished to, they could abduct anyone and have that person declared an "enemy combatant," with no opportunity for the person to argue their case before an independent judge. In practice, this will only happen to [[Middle East]]ern people the administration finds scary.

==Update==
It was amended by the {{wpl|Military Commissions Act of 2009}} which gave prisoners slightly more rights.

==See also==
*[[Executive power and the War on Terror]]

[[Category:Law]]
[[Category:United States law]]
[[Category:United States politics]]

Categories: Law, United States law, United States politics
Millennial

{{fork}}
*[[Millennialism]] 
*[[Fun:Millennials]]
*[[Millennial Woes]] — pseudonym of Colin Robertson, a [[Scottish]] [[white supremacist]] and [[alt-right]] [[YouTube]] personality
*[[Millennium Prize Problems]]
*[[The Post Millennial]], [[Canada|Canadian]] conservative news site
*[[Lauren Chen]], formerly known as "Roaming Millenial"
*[[Y2K]] — a.k.a., "Millennium bug"
Miller-Urey experiment

{{Chemistry}}
[[File:Miller-Urey experiment-en.svg|thumb|left|165px|Schematic of the Miller-Urey experiment]]

The '''Miller-Urey experiment''' was a 1952 experiment by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey of the University of Chicago that synthesized the environmental conditions that were thought to be present at the origin of life. The intention was to observe if [[abiogenesis]] could have taken place under the circumstances then believed to represent the early [[Earth]]; the result, after passing an electrical discharge through an atmosphere made up mostly of [[methane]], ammonia, [[water]], and elemental [[hydrogen]] was a water soup of various [[amino acid]]s and a few other recognizable biomolecules.

The state of understanding of early Earth chemistry has changed somewhat since then (a nitrogen-carbon dioxide atmosphere is now considered more likely than Miller and Urey's mixture), but even though the Miller-Urey conditions are no longer widely accepted, the experiment did successfully prove that the basic building blocks of life could form spontaneously in nature without [[intelligent design|intelligent intervention]].

Additionally, a re-analysis conducted in October 2008 by Jeffrey Bada of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in [[California]] and colleagues showed that 22 amino acids were created in one apparatus of the Miller-Urey experiment, rather than the 5 that were purportedly found in the 1953 publication of the original experimental results.

In 1995, Miller and colleagues conducted another experiment (with a more accurate recreation of Earth's early conditions). They had similar results through the release of energy into simple compounds and elements (mostly carbon and water). In Miller's experiment, uracil and cytosine were produced. These are two of the bases found in [[RNA]]. Subsequent experiments have yielded similar results.

Also the name is kind of funny because Harold Urey's last name sounds like urea, which was the first synthesized biological molecule, an early bit of counterevidence for [[vitalism]]. 

==See also==
*[[Abiogenesis]] 
*[[Evolution]]
*[[Origins debate]]

[[Category:Biochemistry]]

Categories: Biochemistry
Mind

{{Sources needed}}{{Psychology}}
'''Mind''' is one of two components of Cartesian [[dualism]], the other being ''body''. Mind is where the [[soul]] is supposed to reside and is the non-materialistic, eternal, undetectable [[ghost in the machine]] that controls the mindless body. [[Rene Descartes]] formulated the concept and even went so far as to label the [[pineal gland]] as the point where mind and body intersect. 

Dualism as a scientific concept suffers because it is ultimately [[Unfalsifiable|unfalsifiable]]. Some proponents follow a [[God of the gaps]] style of argument where the non-materialist reality is the cause for whatever [[materialism]] can not, at that moment, explain.
==See also==
*[[Essay:Michael Egnor's failed attempt at dualism]]
*[[Meme]]

[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
{{stub|philosophy}}

Categories: Philosophy, Psychology
Mind-body woo

{{pseudosciencenav}}
'''Mind-body woo''' or '''mind-over-matter''' is the idea that the [[mind]], through mere thought, exercise, [[meditation]], or other methods, can tangibly alter the body or the [[universe]]. There are some sensible interpretations (e.g., the [[placebo effect]]) and tons more woo.

==Sane stuff==
===Adrenalin===
[[File:Epinephrine.svg|thumb|left|165px|Epinephrine (adrenaline)]]
The most well-received explanation for the mind over body argument is the release of adrenalin into the body, which does increase strength and endurance. Basically the body's abilities are underappreciated, so that exceptional feats brought about by "mind over body" are seen as mysterious or even superhuman/supernatural.{{fact}}

===Hot coals===
Of interest is the fact that ''[[Mythbusters]]'' tested whether walking on hot coals is a "mind over matter" thing. The conclusion was that the ash formed a layer over the hot coals, which actually allowed you to safely walk across the fire. Host Adam Savage, however, sustained second degree burns to his foot because he panicked halfway across the path, and disturbed the ash layer.<ref>[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JibIlisE9uA Fired Up for Fire Walking | MythBusters]</ref>

===Hair standing on end===
A more moderate approach would be to say that, for example, you can consciously make your hair stand up on end. Some people can exercise an amount of conscious control over their heart rates, or "tick" muscles that are not normally used. You can even use [[biofeedback]] to learn how to do this.{{fact}}

==Paranormal==
The more extreme aspects of the mind-over-body concept argue that the defiance of the body's limits demonstrates an innate potential that our body is masking, similar to [[Scientology]]. While indeed the body can do impressive things, and holds secrets we do not know about, the extremes that people think of are almost certainly impossible, according to every known law of [[physics]]. For example, it is physically impossible [[Telekinesis|to lift things without touching them]], though it is possible to lift a 500 pound log without injury (just unlikely).

At the less realistic end of the scale is the sort of claims seen in [[New Age]] philosophies that positive thinking can override both the body and even physics itself &mdash; such as the claim in [[New Age|New-Age]]-Luvvie-Fest ''[[What the Bleep Do We Know?]]'' that "if you believe it with all your heart, you can walk on water". Or the application of the so-called [[law of attraction]] which makes the universe into a personal wish-granting [[genie]].

==See also==
*[[Placebo effect]]
*[[Psychosomatic]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Psychology]]

Categories: Biology, New Age, Psychology
Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False

{{philosophy}}{{title-italics}}
'''''Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False''''' ({{Isbn|9780199919758}}) is a book with a stupidly long title written by [[United States|American]] [[philosopher]] [[Thomas Nagel]]. It was first published in September 2012.

==Overview==

Nagel proposes that the modern [[materialist]] approach to life fails to explain [[consciousness]]. Nagel's argument takes the form of a ''modus tollens''. He claims that if neo-Darwinian materialism is true, then psychophysical reductionism must be true. Psychophysical reductionism, Nagel argues, is false. Therefore, neo-Darwinian materialism can't be correct. From this he argues that mental activity is a fundamental feature of biological systems that has developed through [[evolution]] and the materialistic "Darwinian" version of evolution through [[natural selection]] fails to explain it.<ref>[http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/Science/?ci=9780199919758&view=usa Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel]</ref> It is, of course, a gigantic [[God of the gaps]] argument. It's also somewhat untrue: the development of consciousness ''can'' be explained quite well by evolution through natural selection. One might postulate that linked biological systems function more effectively and are hence selected for, and that "consciousness" is the product of a very complex web of systems. Explanations like this one have yet to go through the rigors of the [[scientific method]] and be proven (or disproved) in [[experiment]]s, but they show that the gap that Nagel's God of the Gaps argument tries to fill is not so big, after all.

==See also==
*[[Providence Lost: A Critique of Darwinism]] 

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Intelligent design creationism]]
[[Category:Books]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Categories: Intelligent design creationism, Books, Philosophy