Last Saturday an estimated 20,000 people packed into Washington, D.C.'s National Mall for the Reason Rally, and we're proud to say the JREF was there in full force. JREF founder, James Randi himself, was one of the event's keynote speakers, sharing the stage with other well-known academics, activists, and entertainers who worked to spotlight the growing secularist movement devoted to fostering a more reasonable world. Many of our Amazing Meeting regulars were on the bill, including Richard Dawkins, Adam Savage, R. Elisabeth Cornwell, Michael Shermer, Paul Provenza, and Sean Faircloth, and other friends of the JREF also appeared, including the the inimitable comedian Tim Minchin. Close friend of Randi's, Penn Jillette, appeared via video, as did comedian Bill Maher.

James Randi speaks to the crowd. (photo courtesy Ingrid Laas)

Flim-Flam!, An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, The Faith Healers, and The Truth About Uri Geller are now available digitally for Kindle, Nook, and iBooks (iPad and iPhone) e-readers. Download these classic James Randi titles for your favorite mobile device for the special price of just $6.99. Find download links here.

Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine.  

Keeping the customer satisfied (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/keeping-the-customer-satisfied/ Alternative medicine, integrative medicine, and hospital administrators place great emphasis on patient satisfaction, but giving the patient what he wants isn’t always what’s best for the patient. A recent study shows that satisfied patients tend to have worse outcomes.  

In the course I cover the topic of innumeracy - the fact that humans have a poor innate grasp of math and statistics. I expected to get a disproportionate amount of feedback from these two lectures, based on my experience with the SGU. The topic that has lead to the greatest number of e-mails over the years has been the Monty Hall problem.