The episode out today on the Skeptic Zone podcast features a panel discussion from the Science Track at Dragon*Con – called “Darwin’s Bulldogs, Teachers on the Front Lines”.

This panel was proposed by the moderator Matt Lowry, who is a high school physics teacher and a part-time Physics and Astronomy college professor. Joining him was myself, C. Kevin Barrett (a writer and biological anthropologist), Martin Bridgstock of Griffith University and author of the forthcoming book ‘Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal‘, Barbara Drescher, a cognitive psychologist and lecturer at California State University, Northridge, and our guest of honor, Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education.

I took a little video footage during the presentation – you can see that here:

During the show, you can hear us discuss our experiences with creationists and how to effectively counter their pseudoscientific nonsense while also promoting good science education.

Please pop in a review at iTunes and leave some comments at the official site at www.skepticzone.tv!

Yes, there’s a new video on the Skeptic Zone page – and you can hear presenters Richard Saunders and Dr Rachie on Sydney Radio! Here’s the details, which you can catch world-wide: www.2GB.com – Sydney Talkback Radio!

8pm – 9pm on Saturday nights Sydney time – here’s the live web-cam for the studio they’ll be recording in. Expect to see Richard be particularly flamboyant (has he packed his feather boa?) and Rachie laughing her laugh for the sake of science and reason.

Here’s the equivalent times, world-wide for Saturday 8pm -

Melbourne time: 8pm

Saturday Perth time: 5pm

Saturday Adelaide: 7.30pm

Saturday LA time: 2am Saturday (sorry!!)

Denver time: 3am (sorry!!)

Atlanta time: 5am (sorry!!)

New York time: 5am (sorry!!)

London time: 10am

Toronto time: 5am (sorry!!)

Auckland time: 10pm Saturday

For the really-early birds, hope you can catch us especially!! We’ll be Twittering to alert you and hope you send in some feedback to support Skepticism on radio!

Our Facebook Page!

Hello to all our listeners and thanks so much for being a part of making the show fun and informative! By the way – seen all the vodcast films we’ve got on the Facebook page? Go check out Dr Rachie standing on George Hrab and Richard Saunders helping out with the ‘Twitter Song’ at Dragon*Con!

Recently we’ve done two great episodes, #50 and #51 – with insights and information on a number of pro-skeptic activist groups. They’ve included skeptic-parents, skeptics in the pub (both new and established, world-wide), teachers, blog-groups and radio shows… and much more! If you’d like to have your group, blog, idea promoted – DO let us know!

There’s more time left in the year to get your message out. There may be another survey for our listeners on the way, to check that we’re still getting you the interviews and programming that you want.

Speaking of which – send in feedback, pop in a review on iTunes and let us know what else you’d like us to tackle. There’s a great many forthcoming interviews from Dr Rachie’s travels (she’s heading back to the USA in November, so do keep in touch!) and the ever-refreshing Think Tank for your listening palate. There’ll also be Skeptic Zone members on other podcast interview shows, so here’s hoping you enjoy supporting other programs too.

(P.S – The Australian National Skeptics Convention… not long now! See you there!!)

Firstly, Skeptic North is the first blog to have a truly pan-Canadian scope. They have a great team of Canadian skeptic authors from across the country and from a wide-range of backgrounds, both academic and professional. Their site is skepticnorth.com and you should check out the blog interview with Junior Skeptic’s Daniel Loxton, by Skeptically Speaking host Desiree Schell.

The Skeptic Zone is a big supporter of the Parsec award winning 365 Days of Astronomy. Reports include May 14th with Tiffany Day, Kylie Sturgess on July 1st and now Richard Saunders has contributed an episode for September 23rd. The 365 Days of astronomy podcast hope to continue the show in 2010. Head to their site at 365daysofastronomy.org, for more news about donating and contributing further content.

Right now TAM London is happening – and the Rise of Atheism is on the horizon. The Global Convention is held in Melbourne from  12-14 March 2010 and tickets are now selling at atheistconvention.org.au. It will feature Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers, Robyn Williams, Phillip Adams and many more. The Australian Skeptics National convention is happening even sooner, in Brisbane at the University of Queensland from November 27-29. The Australian skeptics website at skeptics.com.au has further details.

The New York Skeptics, who just held the NECCSS conference where Dr Rachie presented, now has a blog too. The Gotham Skeptics Blog is found at nycskeptics.org/blog – and anyone around the world can be a supporter of the New York City skeptics.

Finally, Grassroots Skeptics at ohioskeptic.com/grassrootsskeptics/ – they’re all about activism and also looking for contributing writers. Sign up for news and information on their site.

Readers may be concerned about todays reports that the FAA plans to downgrade Ben Gurion Airport’s safety ranking to level two (the official term is air safety oversight category).

According to the FAA – a category 2 rating means:

A Category 2 rating means a country either lacks laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or that its civil aviation authority – equivalent to the FAA – is deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record keeping or inspection procedures.

And:

Expansion or changes in services to the United States by such carriers are not permitted while in category 2.

First of all, there is no mention of this in any FAA or official site and nothing in the international press. Here is their press release for when they downgraded Indonesia. And here is the updated file not showing Israel. In fact, looking at the list the only countries flying into the US that are category 2 are:

Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Croatia, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, Nauru, Philippines, Serbia and Ukraine.

Second of all, the aviation forums are think this is nonsense. Comments such as Even SQ (Singapore) would be banned … OR how are any of these small incidents any different than what every other airline experiences… etc.

So, unless this is really true (and we will find out definitively in a few days), someone is using this for some serious political spin and scaring millions of flyers and dozens of airlines in the process. That somebody just might be Shaul Mofaz, Minister of Transportation. Last year the Lapidot Committee released a report (news article) outlining safety problems at Ben Gurion (there are real ones). The report was delivered to Shaul Mofaz in Aug of 2007, who accepted all the findings and said he would implement by early 2008. I will leave it to my readers to try to guess who is willing to kill a few airlines and terrify millions of people for some personal gain.

Of course, if this report does turn out true, I apologize. And then we should be scared.

• Skiing in Boise, Sun Valley, and Central Idaho
• Skiing in Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Steamboat Springs and the Colorado Rockies
• Skiing in Burlington, Stowe, Rutland and the New Hampshire and Vermont Mountains
• Skiing in Lake Placid, near Lake George, Saratoga Springs, Adirondacks and Northern New York
• Skiing in Lake Tahoe, Reno, Yosemite, Sequoia, in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains

Here’s a deal from ElAl right in line with the current financial reality:

Invest $10,000,000 in a low interest uninsured bank account and get more ElAl points then you can ever use. Don’t believe me? – here is the link. I am also interested in knowing how I got on the mailing list for this offer. And if there is a connection to the 50,000 people Citicorp fired today

Oh, and yes – offer expires Dec 31, 2008 – better act fast and start emptying those piggy banks.

• Shopping in Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Cheyenne Wyoming and the Eastern Rockies
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• Shopping in Hilo, Kona, Waikoloa, Kohala Coast and Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii

We just reserved 5 tickets to New York via Rome (on AlItalia) for $4400! Online – and I did it myself (took 2 hours).

The key was an iterative process, hopping back and forth between the airlines websites and the Online Travel Agents (OTA’s) – like Expedia.

The airline websites offer more flexibility in terms of dates of travel (i.e. when is the cheapest time). But the OTA’s offer more flexibility in terms of who is traveling and multi-leg journeys. And of course, they compare multiple airlines. And don’t believe the price anyone quotes you until you are at the last click.

So I first entered our party details at the Expedia (or Orbitz – I forgot) and looked around to identify the airlines with the generally cheapest fares. Then I went to the websites of a few of those airlines to check out flexible dates. Alitalia won hands down, saving us about $1000, which we will now spend in NY.

So if you prefer Dunkin Donuts to Soufganiot, get yourself a nice comfortable chair, a hot cup of coffee and do the OTA-airlines-OTA-airlines shuffle …Good Luck!

---

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• Shopping in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minnesota area
• Shopping in Kansas City, St. Louis, Branson and the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas

With the words “Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die” ringing in my head, I wondered has our blog wronged anyone this past year? And more important – do they care?

SO – I compiled a list of companies that our blog has been critical of and invited their customer support to respond. Lets see if they care what my 1000’s of readers are hearing about their business. Care to place bets Who Shall Respond and Who Shall Delete my Email?

The companies are:

ElAl, AA, Avis, Hertz, Air Canada, Jet Blue, Continental, United, ToysRUs, USAir, US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Loungepass.com, PriorityPass, ZipCar, Amtrak, Expedia, Delta, Israir, LaMitayel, Priceline

I did not include individuals who I gave a hard time to (like Bibi). No way they would care.

While we all wait for results – lets think about Virginia Fall Foliage and Colorado Fall Colors.

I am selling out. Introducing a 24 part reality show/docudrama. But its all true. Tune in every week and find out how it works out.

Episode 1 – The bump

A friend of mine (Mr. F) flew TLV-JFK on ElAl continuing on Delta to MCO (Disney). It was a 2 week trip to Florida with friends and family (15 people total). Arrived in JFK. Went to Delta. Printed 15 boarding passes. Walked on to the jetway. “Sorry you can’t board – ElAl didn’t pay us”.

Next week – What??? !!!

But first a word from our sponsor – Only a few more weeks left for New Hampshire Fall Foliage or New York Fall Foliage

My fellow Translucent Science bloggers, who have long been keeping a keen eye on the Dore developments

whilst I’ve been busy travelling for research purposes, have all the buzz for you on what’s going on with the British Chiropractic Association vs Simon Singh.

But first – there’s a brand new review out in the Wall Street Journal on Trick or Treatment today, all about the history and trends regarding alternative medicines, by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst:

…Based at the University of Exeter in England, [Dr. Ernst] leads a research group that has spent 15 years studying alternative remedies, trying to separate snake oil from science. Mr. Singh, his co-author, is a science journalist whose books include “Fermat’s Enigma” and “Big Bang.” Together they conclude, after cataloging the evidence, that most of the popular forms of alternative medicine are “a throwback to the dark ages.” Too many alternative practitioners, they say, are “uninterested in determining the safety and efficacy of their interventions.”

READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY AT ” PODBLACK CAT”

According to latest statistics – these guys will not be flying to Mississippi, West Virginia or Alabama anytime soon.

If you didn’t go to their site – its a joke.

• Adventure Travel in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
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• Fall Foliage in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains

Jet Blue is a great option for continuing from NY. They fly to most of the country from JFK and have good fares. BUT, if your flight gets cancelled – you are on your own. This happened to over a thousand people yesterday, because of bad weather (in some undefined location – certainly not in sunny NY).

Here is what you need to know:

1. Jet Blue does not have the “let me book you on a different airline” policy. That is bad. They need to find you the next Jet Blue flight to where you are going. You and the army of people similarly affected. That translates to a day or two in NY (Theme Parks or Sea Kayaking, anyone?) and missing the big meeting with Mike Moritz at Sequoia.

2. Jet Blue does have a no nonsense refund policy. No questions asked, no creative reduction of the refund. You get the full amount of that flight segment refunded and you get to keep the return flight. That is good.

So, when you get to the airport and discover that your Jet Blue flight is canceled do the following -

a. See if there is another flight still scheduled that is good. IFF there is not a mad rush for the agents, try to get on that flight. Thats pretty obvious, but probably won’t happen. What is most likely to happen is a madhouse scene at the airport with the word “Canceled” burned into the Plasma displays. Then do step (b)

b. Follow this link for info on canceling flights due to the “current travel disruption”. Most likely you will find out (without the pushing and shoving on the line) that you will not be flying JetBlue. On to step (c)

c. Get online and find yourself a flight with another airline. Don’t waste any time – others will be doing the same and getting the best fares. Be creative. Use Kayak and see what getting there with one stop can do for you. Book the flight and get out of JetBlue terminal. Be flexible – you may even need to get to LGA (shuttle) or EWR (shlep – 2 trains + 2 trams ).

d. Call JetBlue and get your refund. Expect to be on hold a long time so get in the mood for Frank Sinatra on Muzak. You can enjoy all that as you make your way to your new flight.

Good idea to have to have you cell charged up if you are flying Jet Blue.

And look at Yapta for price drops.

• Fall Foliage in Woodstock, Cooperstown, New Paltz, Catskills and Hudson Valley
• Fall Foliage in Long Island, the Hamptons, Montauk, Fire Island and the North Fork
• Fall Foliage in Portland, Bangor, Acadia, Bar Harbor and the Maine Coast
• Fall Foliage in Lake Placid, Lake George, Saratoga Springs, Adirondacks and Northern New York

I don’t know if the facts back me up – but it seems that there are more flight delays and cancellations since the airline industry has entered the latest hard times. What I do know is that two very cautious family members missed their international connections because of delayed/canceled flights from DC and Detroit. If I am right – this may happen more and more as the industry sinks. SO, allow more time than usual and prepare alternatives, if you really must make an international connection.

Last night – the 5pm Jet Blue flight from Dulles finally made it to NY after midnight.

Last week, my sister-in-law had her Detroit-NY flight just canceled and missed the connection to Israel. She packs a week before, leave the house 5 hours before, gets to the airport 4 hours before and to the gate 2 hours before. She definitely does not deserve to miss a flight.

• Places to Visit in Seattle, Tacoma, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Washington and The Cascades
• Places to Visit in Honolulu, Waikiki and Oahu, Hawaii
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The weak dollar is hurting us all. All of us except importers from the US, that is. So, on your next trip to the states – buy that nice box of lego or the Jansport back to school bags. They are priced in Israel according to:

$1 = 10 NIS or shekel = dime. Approximately.

I looked at a basic $35 Duplo starter set (319 NIS) and a basic $25 Lego box (269 NIS). At Toy R Us.

And, the neighboring bookstore would be glad to sell me a $29 Jansport pack for 250 NIS.

I hate to promote shopping in New York, Orlando or Los Angeles over Shfayim, but Hey Mr. Import Man, play the dollar for me.

• Shopping in Jacksonville, Destin, Daytona Beach, Pensacola, St. Augustine, Northeast Florida
• Shopping in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympic Peninsula, Washington and The Cascades
• Shopping in Honolulu, Waikiki and Oahu, Hawaii

Passport Renewal Fun in Tel Aviv – NOT!

If you can avoid a trip to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to renew your passport – avoid it! Most adults can renew by mail. The problem is the under 21 crowd. You can get all the relevant details on the US Embassy Website, except for this one:

Nothing is allowed into the embassy. Cellphone, food, reading material – absolutely nothing. Just the passport and related documents. It has become their business model – food is sold at 3x prices and checking cellphone, etc. is a pain.

SO, leave everything in the car and have a good meal before. Bring your spouse, not only because you must, but because with no book to read – you may find the quality time valuable.

If you can postpone the trip until after Jan 20, 2009 you will not have to look at George Bush’s picture.
And don’t forget – check your passport expiration date well before the trip.  There are different rules for each destination country.

• Spas in Boston, Cape Cod, Newport, Connecticut, Coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island
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• Spas in Burlington, Stowe, Rutland and the New Hampshire and Vermont Mountains

Inspired by a leading VC’s blog post about the insane cost of Gas in Israel ($120 to fill up his car) I decided to do a “back of the napkin” calculation on the price of filling up ElAl’s flight to New York. Boeing 777-200 Flight uses up about 40,000 gal to NY. Fuel costs about $6/gal (probably higher in Israel). Round trip costs A HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!

So, that should make our readers a little sympathetic to ElAl’s annoucement that they are raising fares by 5% (more). Our more pro-active readers will pay for their tickets fast. Tickets purchased before July 14th get the old price.

See other posts about ElAl prices going up and down – finding hidden bargains on ElAl’s website, the airfare increase due to $146 oil,  special business class deals, the increased “price” for EL AL free tickets,  some general tips for finding cheap airfare and more. This post even has some hope that the American Airlines and ELAL codeshare willl change pricing.

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• Getting to Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland
• Getting to Woodstock, Cooperstown, New Paltz, Catskills and Hudson Valley
• Getting to San Francisco Bay Area, Carmel, Napa Valley, Central California Coast

US Air has tossed the movies from the plane in an effort to save their company. It turns out that the in-flight entertainment system weighs 500 pounds (or about the same as 4,000 ipod Nano MP4 players). So, to save fuel – no movies on US Air domestic flights. More suggestions:

- make the food out of LDPE (low density polyethylene). That would be plastic instead of rubber and stone. Or just serve popcorn only.

- Take the medals and military-style ranks off pilots uniforms

- Stop selling duty free

- Pay people to do what all travelers know – pack light and go to the bathroom before the trip

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• Fall Foliage in Philadelphia, Lancaster, the Poconos, Eastern Pennsylvania
• Fall Foliage in Durango and Four Corners of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado

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Via Fark, I stumbled across this ridiculous article from some vacant sex columnist for Fox News. And before I go any further, could there possibly be a less appealing job than sex columist for Fox News? I mean, god forbid if she should mention condoms, or abortion, or anything kinkier than doggy style.

Okay, anyway, Yvonne K. Fullbright is a very good example of the basic fact that having a lot of schooling does not necessarily make a person an intelligent critical thinker. Wikipedia says she “has a Ph.D. from New York University, a Master’s in Human Sexuality Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and Bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology from Penn State University.” Despite that impressive (and probably quite pricey) education, Fullbright recently wrote a piece on Huffington Post buying into the ridiculous media-created fear-mongering about the HPV vaccine (here’s a good rebuttal Jen linked to in the Quickies a while back).

Fullbright doesn’t stop there, though — a few days ago she promoted a completely made-up paranormal sex myth called “transcendent sex” that appears to be the invention of a woman named Dr. Jenny Wade, who just so happens to be selling a book on the topic. Ta-da! Let’s look at this fine piece of journalism a little more closely, shall we? What follows is a line-by-line breakdown of how to be a bad journalist.

Some people actually supersede the state of climax and reach a state of transcendent sex.

“Some people” is a fun trick to use when you have no actual evidence to support your premise. “Some people say that Yvonne Fullbright eats the souls of orphan children!” See? It’s easy and fun.

Such lovemaking is said to involve a divine force, and is regarded as a path to a higher consciousness. It has been known to change one’s views on sex and spirituality.

Fun Size Snicker Brains

“Is said” and “has been known” is another trick like “some people” to help you when you’re making stuff up. That’s why “some people” consider use of the passive voice to be shoddy journalism — you’re hiding the person or thing doing the action, which the reader needs in order to figure out whether you’re full of crap or not. Like this: “It is said that Yvonne Fullbright has dozens of Fun Size Snickers bars where most people keep a brain.”

Yet this mystical, spiritual sexual experience is one of the best kept sex secrets around.

(Because it does not exist.)

Why isn’t it well-known? Recognized by the likes of Deepak Chopra, such meaningful experiences are nothing new.

Deepak Chopra recognizes it? Why, that’s fantastic! If only Paris Hilton would appear on Oprah to talk about it, then we’d have all the greatest minds of science together in agreement that transcendent sex is a Fact.

Lovers have had them since ancient times.

I saw it painted on a cave wall once.

Still, people who have experienced them are afraid of being called crazy or getting mocked.

Mocked, or properly medicated. Whichever.

You can’t really blame them. Many would find it far-fetched to hear that their friend, brother or co-worker was transported to another realm during sex last night.

Far-fetched? “Many would find it far-fetched” to hear about their brother’s supernatural orgasm? So you’re sitting around Christmas dinner with your extended family, and during a lull in the conversation your brother grins sheepishly, holds his wife’s hand, and announces, “Last night Hillary and I made sweet sweet intercourse, and when I orgasmed I felt my soul leave my body and travel across the Universe to bond with an energy source that had evolved beyond what any of us could possibly imagine. Eventually my soul returned to my body, which was by then covered in ejaculate and tears. Pass the cranberry sauce, please?” Yes. “Far-fetched” is the first adjective that would spring to my mind.

The closest I’ve ever come to such a spontaneous, divine experience involved my life-force energy shooting up from the base of my spine during an orgasm. It happened when I was with my ex-lover and I found myself blissfully lost in a purplish-turned-white light that went beyond my body. The feelings were beyond description. Saying it was amazing doesn’t do it justice. But from what I understand, my story can be trumped by even more ecstatic experiences.

Hi, that’s called an intense orgasm combined with made-up words that mean nothing, like “life-force energy.” One time I came so hard I saw the Eta Carinae Nebula. Yeah, that’s right. My astrophysical sex story trumps your transcendent sex story. Win.

People who have been swept into transcendent ecstasy, according to developmental psychologist Dr. Jenny Wade, have reported: — Seeing visions; — Feeling heat, light and energy waves throughout the body;

Okay, I’m with you so far . . .

— Reliving past lives;

Whoooa there. Once again, let’s turn to the Hypothetical Situation Generator to see how this sort of thing might play out in real life: You’re in bed with your loved one, who you have just sent to sexytown. He’s yelling, “Oh god. Oh god! OH . . . Zeus?” Then he demands (in Greek) that you bring him a few succulent slave boys to continue pleasuring him. Scary!

— Seeing the face of God;

Which one?

— Paranormal powers;

Which ones? Who? Where? Is this how Sylvia Browne got her powers?

— Being visited by gods;

Not the capital-G God from before?

— Feeling possessed by spirits;

Sexy spirits.

— Working with natural forces;

I’ve read that sentence fragment seven times and I still have no idea what it means, even in a stupid paranormal sense. Can anyone help me here? I don’t even know how to further mock this, it’s that incoherent.

— Nothingness, whiteness, pure bliss; — One with everything – there is no “me” or time; — A lack of sensory channels;

Is that last one supposed to mean a lack of sensory input? Right. That’s called an orgasm. Good work, Sex Detective.

— Time travel;

I see a promising premise for Back to the Future IV.

— Enlightenment.

I’m skeptical that one can achieve enlightenment just by having an orgasm, but I am willing to keep testing this scientifically for the rest of my life. Can you believe there are still six stupid, pointless paragraphs left to this article? Ugh.

What invites transcendent sex? While many equate it to a religious experience, you don’t need to be a person of faith to experience the sacred, transformational power of sex. You don’t need to be a Tantric practitioner or be specially trained in sexuality or transcendent sex. You don’t need to be striving for orgasm. You don’t necessarily have to be making love.

Wow, so for all that talk about transcendent sex, you don’t actually have to be having sex, and it can even happen to atheists. I could just be walking down the street and BAM, crazy paranormal orgasm. I am now terrified of achieving this magical thing in a really inappropriate place, like a job interview or tea with someone’s grandmother.

It can happen to anyone at anytime. It does not involve drug use. It should be pointed out, though, that while people have had transcendent episodes during casual sexual liaisons, these intense events tend to be triggered in a more loving context. Wade estimates that as many as one in eight individuals has had a transcendent episode.

Oh good, a real scientific estimate that I’m sure comes from a real scientific study. One in eight! Fabulous! So, Skepchick gets about 5,000 readers a day, which means that about 625 of you have had transcendent orgams. THAT means that at least a few of you have paranormal powers you got through sex, and at least a few of you have “worked with natural forces,” so you should definitely be able to explain that one to me.

While this path to soulful realization seems too good to be true, experts in this area warn that there are hazards. Individuals have reported being overwhelmed by intimacy or seeking out dangerous liaisons in desiring more.

Oh noes! It’s not all orgasms and bonding with life energies, say “experts.” Who are these experts? Fullbright refuses to reveal her sources, but I have my suspicions (gnomes).

In being transported to this altered, super-dreamlike state, know that things may be nonsensical. You will likely lose all sense of reality. You may not recognize your lover or feel like yourself. The experience can be destabilizing. You may be sick afterward from the intensity.

Oh my god, Yvonne K. Fullbright is having a transcendent orgasm RIGHT NOW!

Despite its potential drawbacks, the healing, profound impact of transcendent sex has the potential for long-term effects. It can result in releasing shame and guilt around sex. It can help one to heal from sexual trauma and abuse. It can lead to a healthier life. If you’re interested in learning more, Wade’s “Transcendent Sex” promises cautious guidance on this spiritual awakening. I don’t know about you, but I plan to check it out.

You plan to check it out? What? This entire article was written based upon the stupidity tumbling out of one woman’s imagination, and you haven’t even actually read that woman’s book? Seriously, how can a person go through so many years of education and yet learn so little? It’s amazing, really, in a very sad way. My conclusion: screw (figuratively) Yvonne K. Fullbright. If you want to read an intelligent, skeptical sex columnist, it’s best to stick with Dan Savage.

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