Richard Rossi (born March 2, 1963) is an American filmmaker , actor, writer, talk radio host, musician , and former evangelical minister.
140-598: Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore , such as Bigfoot , the Loch Ness Monster , Yeti , the chupacabra , the Jersey Devil , or the Mokele-mbembe . Cryptozoologists refer to these entities as cryptids , a term coined by
280-660: A Pentecostal Christian. Rossi turned them down. "By saying no to conditions that religious people put on me, I feel I'm actually of more service to God and people because I make an honest film," he said. In addition to his film work, Rossi acted on stage in plays and musicals to positive reviews, remaining active in the Los Angeles theater community. Between acting jobs that included small roles on TV shows, among them The King of Queens , Ally McBeal , The X-Files , Gilmore Girls and several movies, Rossi began working on Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories ,
420-635: A dinosaur in the Congo it would overturn all of evolution. It wouldn't. It would just be a late-occurring dinosaur, but that's their mistaken notion of evolution." Citing a 2013 exhibit at the Petersburg, Kentucky -based Creation Museum , which claimed that dragons were once biological creatures who walked the earth alongside humanity and is broadly dedicated to Young Earth creationism, religious studies academic Justin Mullis notes that "[c]ryptozoology has
560-426: A hung jury , with the vote 9–3 in favor of conviction after six and a half hours of deliberation. Before retrial, Rossi pleaded no contest to a count of second-degree aggravated assault while maintaining his innocence. Though his followers wanted him to fight what his wife called an "assault of justice", Rossi stated he pled nolo contendere to end the ordeal. "One of my many goals is to heal our family and become
700-520: A mistrial and was front-page news in Rossi's adopted hometown of Pittsburgh and was widely covered as something of a cause célèbre by syndicated television news programs. Rossi eventually was acquitted of attempted murder but pleaded no contest to an aggravated assault though he and his wife maintained his innocence. Rossi's father was a professional jazz guitarist in West View, Pennsylvania ;
840-415: A rock and roll preacher, usually in tandem with songwriting partner Johnny Walker, playing gospel rock . Rossi and his songwriting partner Walker were featured on The 700 Club . Rossi moved to Lynchburg, Virginia at age 18 to study at Liberty University , where he earned a bachelor's and master's degree in biblical studies. His second church, created informally with ministry partner Jack Sims,
980-614: A body of knowledge, method, or practice is scientific. Experimental results should be reproducible and verified by other researchers. These principles are intended to ensure experiments can be reproduced measurably given the same conditions, allowing further investigation to determine whether a hypothesis or theory related to given phenomena is valid and reliable. Standards require the scientific method to be applied throughout, and bias to be controlled for or eliminated through randomization , fair sampling procedures, blinding of studies, and other methods. All gathered data, including
1120-410: A book, an advertisement or the testimony of others are the basis of pseudoscience beliefs. It is assumed that illusions are not unusual, and given the right conditions, illusions are able to occur systematically even in normal emotional situations. One of the things pseudoscience believers quibble most about is that academic science usually treats them as fools. Minimizing these illusions in the real world
1260-609: A branch of science, to have been a pseudo-science, composed merely of so-called facts, connected together by misapprehensions under the disguise of principles. An earlier use of the term was in 1843 by the French physiologist François Magendie , that refers to phrenology as " a pseudo-science of the present day ". During the 20th century, the word was used pejoratively to describe explanations of phenomena which were claimed to be scientific, but which were not in fact supported by reliable experimental evidence. From time to time, however,
1400-479: A century of study by philosophers of science and scientists , and despite some basic agreements on the fundamentals of the scientific method. The concept of pseudoscience rests on an understanding that the scientific method has been misrepresented or misapplied with respect to a given theory, but many philosophers of science maintain that different kinds of methods are held as appropriate across different fields and different eras of human history. According to Lakatos,
1540-422: A different set of rules compared to rational thinking, experiential thinking regards an explanation as valid if the explanation is "personally functional, satisfying and sufficient", offering a description of the world that may be more personal than can be provided by science and reducing the amount of potential work involved in understanding complex events and outcomes. Anyone searching for psychological help that
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#17327802736251680-478: A field, cryptozoology originates from the works of Bernard Heuvelmans , a Belgian zoologist, and Ivan T. Sanderson , a Scottish zoologist. Notably, Heuvelmans published On the Track of Unknown Animals (French: Sur la piste des bêtes ignorées ) in 1955, a landmark work among cryptozoologists that was followed by numerous other similar works. In addition, Sanderson published a series of books that contributed to
1820-657: A film about his childhood hero, baseball great Roberto Clemente , planning a "bicoastal" return to Pittsburgh to premiere his film on Roberto Clemente's birthday, August 18, 2013 before exhibiting the film in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, other cities, small art theaters, Roberto Clemente High School in Chicago, the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina , and on DVD. The feature film
1960-473: A forward-minded species pursuing greater avenues of happiness and satisfaction, but we are all too frequently willing to grasp at unrealistic promises of a better life. Psychology has much to discuss about pseudoscience thinking, as it is the illusory perceptions of causality and effectiveness of numerous individuals that needs to be illuminated. Research suggests that illusionary thinking happens in most people when exposed to certain circumstances such as reading
2100-399: A given field can be tested experimentally and standards are upheld, it is not pseudoscience, regardless of how odd, astonishing, or counterintuitive those claims are. If claims made are inconsistent with existing experimental results or established theory, but the method is sound, caution should be used, since science consists of testing hypotheses which may turn out to be false. In such a case,
2240-818: A long and curious history with Young Earth Creationism, with this new exhibit being just one of the most recent examples". Academic Paul Thomas analyzes the influence and connections between cryptozoology in his 2020 study of the Creation Museum and the creationist theme park Ark Encounter . Thomas comments that, "while the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter are flirting with pseudoarchaeology , coquettishly whispering pseudoarchaeological rhetoric, they are each fully in bed with cryptozoology" and observes that "[y]oung-earth creationists and cryptozoologists make natural bed fellows. As with pseudoarchaeology, both young-earth creationists and cryptozoologists bristle at
2380-408: A man that looked like him got into the passenger side of the car, then that the man who looked like him attacked from the driver's side. Rossi had a cellular phone available, but said he pursued the assailant instead of dialing for help because he was a "good runner." Rossi also changed his story on where the assailants approached from, first saying they were in a white car, then that they "came out of
2520-486: A man who pushes a child into the water with the intention of drowning it; and that of a man who sacrifices his life in an attempt to save the child." From Freud's perspective, the first man would have suffered from psychological repression , probably originating from an Oedipus complex , whereas the second man had attained sublimation . From Adler's perspective, the first and second man suffered from feelings of inferiority and had to prove himself, which drove him to commit
2660-579: A meta-bias called the bias blind spot , or the tendency to recognize the power of cognitive biases in other people but to be blind to their influence on our own beliefs". Lindeman states that social motives (i.e., "to comprehend self and the world, to have a sense of control over outcomes, to belong, to find the world benevolent and to maintain one's self-esteem") are often "more easily" fulfilled by pseudoscience than by scientific information. Furthermore, pseudoscientific explanations are generally not analyzed rationally, but instead experientially. Operating within
2800-462: A passing motorist saw a bearded man matching Sherrie Rossi's description wearing jeans. (Rossi was wearing shorts). Sherrie Rossi said: "We have eyewitnesses who saw a white car similar to ours following us and several family members several weeks before I was attacked. My husband also received a number of threats before I was attacked. The whole police had one agenda from Day One, and that was to get my husband." During her testimony, Sherrie Rossi wore
2940-437: A programme could evolve, driven by its heuristic to make predictions that can be supported by evidence. Feyerabend claimed that Lakatos was selective in his examples, and the whole history of science shows there is no universal rule of scientific method, and imposing one on the scientific community impedes progress. Laudan maintained that the demarcation between science and non-science was a pseudo-problem, preferring to focus on
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#17327802736253080-638: A recovery program in jail that he continued after his release, including meetings four days a week, daily monitoring, and treatment in Atlanta . After his release from jail, Rossi and his wife hosted a free Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless at the Ranch House in Pittsburgh's North Park. Rossi paid for buses to transport urban children out of high-crime areas to the park. Most of the buses got to those wanting to come, but one had difficulty getting to
3220-401: A satanic cult on his talk radio show. She said eyewitnesses confirmed her husband's innocence and that they had been receiving threats prior to the assault. While charges were pending and Rossi served his sentence, membership in his church dropped from 300 to 12. Media scrutiny revealed Rossi suffered mental health, depression, and addiction issues similar to his father's. Rossi enrolled in
3360-454: A scientific field. Karl Popper stated it is insufficient to distinguish science from pseudoscience, or from metaphysics (such as the philosophical question of what existence means), by the criterion of rigorous adherence to the empirical method , which is essentially inductive, based on observation or experimentation. He proposed a method to distinguish between genuine empirical, nonempirical or even pseudoempirical methods. The latter case
3500-536: A script he wrote garnered interest in Hollywood. He returned to preaching, serving as a pastor and church consultant, and moved into acting and filmmaking to explore his interest in creative and cutting-edge expressions of ministry. Rossi's first Hollywood role was in the 1998 short film Jesus 2000 . In 1998, he appeared on stage in his own adaptation of Elmer Gantry , which he wrote, produced and starred. His stage performance resulted in an offer to Rossi to play
3640-972: A sense of wonder in a world that has been very thoroughly charted, mapped, and tracked, and that is largely available for close scrutiny on Google Earth and satellite imaging" and that "on the whole the devotion of substantial resources for this pursuit betrays a lack of awareness of the basis for scholarly consensus (largely ignoring, for instance, evidence of evolutionary biology and the fossil record)." According to historian Mike Dash , few scientists doubt there are thousands of unknown animals, particularly invertebrates, awaiting discovery; however, cryptozoologists are largely uninterested in researching and cataloging newly discovered species of ants or beetles , instead focusing their efforts towards "more elusive" creatures that have often defied decades of work aimed at confirming their existence. Paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson (1984) lists cryptozoology among examples of human gullibility, along with creationism : Humans are
3780-542: A shirt with two doll figures labeled "Rich" and "Sherrie" and flashed the American Sign Language sign for love at her husband Richard. Over Rossi's wife's objections, prosecutors charged him with attempted murder and won a court ruling admitting her earlier testimony at trial. The parties argued whether the blood-soaked interior of Rossi's car was consistent with Sherrie's claim. The secretary of Rossi's church testified that Rossi asked him shortly after
3920-585: A short documentary film about 1920s evangelist Aimee McPherson . Though some considered it a sensationalized depiction, it won the Angel Award from the Southern California Motion Picture Council for best documentary. In 2005, Rossi revisited Sister Aimee's story in the low-budget feature biographical film Sister Aimee: The Aimee Semple McPherson Story , (aka Aimee Semple McPherson ), featuring Mimi Michaels in
4060-422: A statement may be pseudoscientific even if it is eminently 'plausible' and everybody believes in it, and it may be scientifically valuable even if it is unbelievable and nobody believes in it. A theory may even be of supreme scientific value even if no one understands it, let alone believes in it. The boundary between science and pseudoscience is disputed and difficult to determine analytically, even after more than
4200-530: A textbook aimed at undergraduates, academics Caleb W. Lack and Jacques Rousseau note that the subculture's focus on what it deems to be "cryptids" is a pseudoscientific extension of older belief in monsters and other similar entities from the folkloric record, yet with a "new, more scientific-sounding name: cryptids". During post-production of the Champ, (America's Loch Ness), movie Lucy and the Lake Monster ,
4340-474: A third of adult Americans consider astrology to be scientific. In Russia, in the late 20th and early 21st century, significant budgetary funds were spent on programs for the experimental study of " torsion fields ", the extraction of energy from granite, the study of " cold nuclear fusion ", and astrological and extrasensory "research" by the Ministry of Defense , the Ministry of Emergency Situations ,
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4480-520: Is Frank Collin , a self-proclaimed Nazi who goes by Frank Joseph in his writings. The majority of his works include the topics of Atlantis , extraterrestrial encounters, and Lemuria as well as other ancient civilizations, often with white supremacist undertones. For example, he posited that European peoples migrated to North America before Columbus , and that all Native American civilizations were initiated by descendants of white people . The Alt-Right using pseudoscience to base their ideologies on
4620-421: Is a broad consensus among academics that cryptozoology is a pseudoscience . The subculture is regularly criticized for reliance on anecdotal information and because in the course of investigating animals that most scientists believe are unlikely to have existed, cryptozoologists do not follow the scientific method . No academic course of study nor university degree program grants the status of cryptozoologist and
4760-494: Is a conversation Clemente has with a nun. "She talks to him about the cross. 'Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends,' is what the nun quotes to him from Scripture, talking about sacrificial love and Christ's sacrificial love," Rossi said. "This is the theme I wanted to point out – an allegory of Christ on the cross." Rossi was pressured to delete the scene from the movie for being "too preachy and too Catholic." The controversial scene turned out to be one of
4900-498: Is also found in New Age circles and dubious " Indian burial grounds " and other legends [...] invoked in hauntings such as the "Amityville" hoax [...]". In a 2011 foreword for The American Biology Teacher , then National Association of Biology Teachers president Dan Ward uses cryptozoology as an example of "technological pseudoscience" that may confuse students about the scientific method. Ward says that "Cryptozoology [...]
5040-645: Is based in science should seek a licensed therapist whose techniques are not based in pseudoscience. Hupp and Santa Maria provide a complete explanation of what that person should look for. There is a trend to believe in pseudoscience more than scientific evidence . Some people believe the prevalence of pseudoscientific beliefs is due to widespread scientific illiteracy . Individuals lacking scientific literacy are more susceptible to wishful thinking, since they are likely to turn to immediate gratification powered by System 1, our default operating system which requires little to no effort. This system encourages one to accept
5180-418: Is driven by the belief that the brain is essentially a "belief engine" which scans data perceived by the senses and looks for patterns and meaning. There is also the tendency for the brain to create cognitive biases , as a result of inferences and assumptions made without logic and based on instinct – usually resulting in patterns in cognition. These tendencies of patternicity and agenticity are also driven "by
5320-654: Is held at the Musée Cantonal de Zoologie in Lausanne and consists of around "1,000 books, 25,000 files, 25,000 photographs, correspondence, and artifacts". In 2006, the Bates College Museum of Art held the "Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale" exhibition, which compared cryptozoological creatures with recently extinct animals like the thylacine and extant taxa like the coelacanth , once thought long extinct ( living fossils ). The following year,
5460-419: Is mathematics a formal science that is closer to the empirical ones, or is pure mathematics closer to the philosophical study of logic and therefore not a science? – but all agree that all of the ideas that are not scientific are non-scientific. The large category of non-science includes all matters outside the natural and social sciences, such as the study of history , metaphysics , religion , art , and
5600-674: Is no credible efficacy or scientific basis of any of these forms of treatment. In his book The Demon-Haunted World , Carl Sagan discusses the government of China and the Chinese Communist Party 's concern about Western pseudoscience developments and certain ancient Chinese practices in China. He sees pseudoscience occurring in the United States as part of a worldwide trend and suggests its causes, dangers, diagnosis and treatment may be universal. A large percentage of
5740-491: Is not a new issue. The entire foundation of anti-semitism is based on pseudoscience, or scientific racism . In an article from Newsweek by Sander Gilman, Gilman describes the pseudoscience community's anti-semitic views. "Jews as they appear in this world of pseudoscience are an invented group of ill, stupid or stupidly smart people who use science to their own nefarious ends. Other groups, too, are painted similarly in 'race science', as it used to call itself: African-Americans,
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5880-426: Is not simple. To this aim, designing evidence-based educational programs can be effective to help people identify and reduce their own illusions. Philosophers classify types of knowledge . In English, the word science is used to indicate specifically the natural sciences and related fields, which are called the social sciences . Different philosophers of science may disagree on the exact limits – for example,
6020-606: Is not the same as junk science . The demarcation between science and pseudoscience has scientific , philosophical , and political implications. Philosophers debate the nature of science and the general criteria for drawing the line between scientific theories and pseudoscientific beliefs, but there is widespread agreement "that creationism , astrology , homeopathy , Kirlian photography , dowsing , ufology , ancient astronaut theory , Holocaust denialism , Velikovskian catastrophism , and climate change denialism are pseudosciences." There are implications for health care ,
6160-478: Is not valid science or even science at all. It is monster hunting." Historian of science Brian Regal includes an entry for cryptozoology in his Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia (2009). Regal says that "as an intellectual endeavor, cryptozoology has been studied as much as cryptozoologists have sought hidden animals". In a 1992 issue of Folklore , folklorist Véronique Campion-Vincent says: Unexplained appearances of mystery animals are reported all over
6300-595: Is often considered pejorative , particularly by its purveyors, because it suggests something is being presented as science inaccurately or even deceptively. Therefore, practitioners and advocates of pseudoscience frequently dispute the characterization. The word pseudoscience is derived from the Greek root pseudo meaning "false" and the English word science , from the Latin word scientia , meaning "knowledge". Although
6440-534: Is on known artists, writers, and celebrity guests. Following the positive Pittsburgh reception to Rossi's Roberto Clemente project, Rossi said they were coming home, living "bicoastal," maintaining homes in Hollywood and Pittsburgh . "We'd like to spend more time in our home, where most of our family and friends live, in the North Hills of Pittsburgh," Rossi said. In March, 2016, it was reported that Rossi
6580-609: Is part of science education and developing scientific literacy. Pseudoscience can have dangerous effects. For example, pseudoscientific anti-vaccine activism and promotion of homeopathic remedies as alternative disease treatments can result in people forgoing important medical treatments with demonstrable health benefits, leading to ill-health and deaths. Furthermore, people who refuse legitimate medical treatments for contagious diseases may put others at risk. Pseudoscientific theories about racial and ethnic classifications have led to racism and genocide . The term pseudoscience
6720-747: Is subset of non-science. Science is also distinguishable from revelation, theology, or spirituality in that it offers insight into the physical world obtained by empirical research and testing. The most notable disputes concern the evolution of living organisms, the idea of common descent, the geologic history of the Earth, the formation of the Solar System , and the origin of the universe. Systems of belief that derive from divine or inspired knowledge are not considered pseudoscience if they do not claim either to be scientific or to overturn well-established science. Moreover, some specific religious claims, such as
6860-404: Is the most powerful theory science has yet produced, but Newton himself never believed that bodies attract each other at a distance. So no degree of commitment to beliefs makes them knowledge. Indeed, the hallmark of scientific behaviour is a certain scepticism even towards one's most cherished theories. Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime. Thus
7000-407: Is the study of pseudoscientific theories over time. A pseudoscience is a set of ideas that presents itself as science, while it does not meet the criteria to be properly called such. Distinguishing between proper science and pseudoscience is sometimes difficult. One proposal for demarcation between the two is the falsification criterion, attributed most notably to the philosopher Karl Popper . In
7140-435: Is what determines the scientific status of a theory. Taking a historical approach, Kuhn observed that scientists did not follow Popper's rule, and might ignore falsifying data, unless overwhelming. To Kuhn, puzzle-solving within a paradigm is science. Lakatos attempted to resolve this debate, by suggesting history shows that science occurs in research programmes, competing according to how progressive they are. The leading idea of
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#17327802736257280-517: Is your evidence?" For philosophers Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome R. Ravetz "pseudo-science may be defined as one where the uncertainty of its inputs must be suppressed, lest they render its outputs totally indeterminate". The definition, in the book Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy , alludes to the loss of craft skills in handling quantitative information, and to the bad practice of achieving precision in prediction (inference) only at
7420-825: The American Museum of Natural History put on a mixed exhibition of imaginary and extinct animals, including the elephant bird Aepyornis maximus and the great ape Gigantopithecus blacki , under the name "Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids". In 2003, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman opened the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland , Maine . The museum houses more than 3000 cryptozoology related artifacts. Pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs , or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with
7560-617: The Immigration Act of 1924 in the United States, which sought to prevent immigration from Asia and parts of Europe. In a 1981 report Singer and Benassi wrote that pseudoscientific beliefs have their origin from at least four sources. A 1990 study by Eve and Dunn supported the findings of Singer and Benassi and found pseudoscientific belief being promoted by high school life science and biology teachers. The psychology of pseudoscience attempts to explore and analyze pseudoscientific thinking by means of thorough clarification on making
7700-744: The Ministry of Internal Affairs , and the State Duma (see Military Unit 10003 ). In 2006, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Spassky published an article in Rossiyskaya Gazeta , where among the priority areas for the development of the Russian energy sector , the task of extracting energy from a vacuum was in the first place. The Clean Water project
7840-688: The folkloric record. Most famously, these include the Loch Ness Monster , Champ (folklore) , Bigfoot , the chupacabra , as well as other "imposing beasts that could be labeled as monsters". In their search for these entities, cryptozoologists may employ devices such as motion-sensitive cameras, night-vision equipment, and audio-recording equipment. While there have been attempts to codify cryptozoological approaches, unlike biologists, zoologists, botanists, and other academic disciplines, however, "there are no accepted, uniform, or successful methods for pursuing cryptids". Some scholars have identified precursors to modern cryptozoology in certain medieval approaches to
7980-453: The ghost seekers , cryptozoologists are convinced that they will be the ones to solve the mystery and make history. With the lure of mystery and money undermining diligent and ethical research, the field of cryptozoology has serious credibility problems." There have been several organizations, of varying types, dedicated or related to cryptozoology. These include: The zoological and cryptozoological collection and archive of Bernard Heuvelmans
8120-486: The history of science and the history of pseudoscience it can be especially difficult to separate the two, because some sciences developed from pseudosciences. An example of this transformation is the science of chemistry , which traces its origins to the pseudoscientific or pre-scientific study of alchemy . The vast diversity in pseudosciences further complicates the history of science. Some modern pseudosciences, such as astrology and acupuncture , originated before
8260-444: The humanities . Dividing the category again, unscientific claims are a subset of the large category of non-scientific claims. This category specifically includes all matters that are directly opposed to good science. Un-science includes both "bad science" (such as an error made in a good-faith attempt at learning something about the natural world) and pseudoscience. Thus pseudoscience is a subset of un-science, and un-science, in turn,
8400-676: The precession of equinoxes in astronomy. Third, alternative theories of personality and behavior have grown progressively to encompass explanations of phenomena which astrology statically attributes to heavenly forces. Fourth, astrologers have remained uninterested in furthering the theory to deal with outstanding problems or in critically evaluating the theory in relation to other theories. Thagard intended this criterion to be extended to areas other than astrology. He believed it would delineate as pseudoscientific such practices as witchcraft and pyramidology , while leaving physics , chemistry , astronomy , geoscience , biology , and archaeology in
8540-418: The scientific method . Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims ; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to evaluation by other experts ; absence of systematic practices when developing hypotheses ; and continued adherence long after the pseudoscientific hypotheses have been experimentally discredited. It
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#17327802736258680-521: The 10 commonly believed examples of paranormal phenomena listed in the poll were "pseudoscientific beliefs". The items were "extrasensory perception (ESP), that houses can be haunted , ghosts , telepathy , clairvoyance , astrology, that people can mentally communicate with the dead , witches , reincarnation , and channelling ". Such beliefs in pseudoscience represent a lack of knowledge of how science works. The scientific community may attempt to communicate information about science out of concern for
8820-454: The 2017 death of his youngest brother due to an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl. On January 31, 2018, Rossi and his family, in tandem with Pittsburgh Police , offered a cash reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual(s) who gave his brother the fatal fentanyl dose. In May 2019, Rossi and other actors performed monologues based on interviews with homeless people as part of Homeward L.A., an effort to raise money for
8960-453: The Congo to find the Mokele-mbembe in 2018. While they found no evidence of the creature, they did find a new species of green algae. A subset of cryptozoology promotes the pseudoscience of Young Earth creationism , rejecting conventional science in favor of a literal Biblical interpretation and promoting concepts such as " living dinosaurs ". Science writer Sharon A. Hill observes that
9100-590: The Irish, the Chinese and, well, any and all groups that you want to prove inferior to yourself". Neo-Nazis and white supremacist often try to support their claims with studies that "prove" that their claims are more than just harmful stereotypes. For example Bret Stephens published a column in The New York Times where he claimed that Ashkenazi Jews had the highest IQ among any ethnic group. However,
9240-610: The Sun), precisely as material bodies were attracted." Following from this, stars closer to the Sun would appear to have moved a small distance away from the Sun, and away from each other. This prediction was particularly striking to Popper because it involved considerable risk. The brightness of the Sun prevented this effect from being observed under normal circumstances, so photographs had to be taken during an eclipse and compared to photographs taken at night. Popper states, "If observation shows that
9380-464: The United States population lacks scientific literacy, not adequately understanding scientific principles and method . In the Journal of College Science Teaching , Art Hobson writes, "Pseudoscientific beliefs are surprisingly widespread in our culture even among public school science teachers and newspaper editors, and are closely related to scientific illiteracy." However, a 10,000-student study in
9520-713: The Young Earth creationist segment of cryptozoology is "well-funded and able to conduct expeditions with a goal of finding a living dinosaur that they think would invalidate evolution". Anthropologist Jeb J. Card says that " [c]reationists have embraced cryptozoology and some cryptozoological expeditions are funded by and conducted by creationists hoping to disprove evolution." In a 2013 interview, paleontologist Donald Prothero notes an uptick in creationist cryptozoologists. He observes that "[p]eople who actively search for Loch Ness monsters or Mokele Mbembe do it entirely as creationist ministers. They think that if they found
9660-749: The appellation of parascience, like parapsychology : the same corpus is reviewed; many scientists participate, but for those who have an official status of university professor or researcher, the participation is a private hobby". In her Encyclopedia of American Folklore , academic Linda Watts says that "folklore concerning unreal animals or beings, sometimes called monsters, is a popular field of inquiry" and describes cryptozoology as an example of "American narrative traditions" that "feature many monsters". In his analysis of cryptozoology, folklorist Peter Dendle says that "cryptozoology devotees consciously position themselves in defiance of mainstream science" and that: The psychological significance of cryptozoology in
9800-437: The approach of cryptozoologists to colonial big-game hunters, and to aspects of European imperialism. According to Card, "[m]ost cryptids are framed as the subject of indigenous legends typically collected in the heyday of comparative folklore , though such legends may be heavily modified or worse. Cryptozoology's complicated mix of sympathy, interest, and appropriation of indigenous culture (or non-indigenous construction of it)
9940-479: The arranged pick-up due to snow. Native Americans danced and helped Rossi serve dinners to disadvantaged children. Some of his fellow inmates Rossi befriended in jail attended to help serve the poor. Rossi filed for bankruptcy in 1996 as a result of his legal problems, and started over in California. After completing his probation, Rossi relocated to Hollywood with his wife and two children in 1997, after
10080-574: The best husband and father I can be," Rossi said to the judge. He received a four-to-eight-month sentence in Butler County Jail plus four years probation and required domestic violence counseling; he served 96 days. Domestic violence workers criticized the short sentence. The Rossis renewed their wedding vows after his release. Rossi wrote an apologetic letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saying: "I repent of
10220-471: The canonization church requirement of a miracle was met on July 22, 2017, when Jaime Nieto, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a backflip accident three years after the Clemente film was released, walked 130 steps at his own wedding to fellow Olympian Shevon Stoddart . The miracle was predicted by Rossi as a demonstration of the power of God in a letter he wrote to Pope Francis . Nieto stated that
10360-492: The coinage of the term cryptozoology to Sanderson. Following cryptozoology , the term cryptid was coined in 1983 by cryptozoologist J. E. Wall in the summer issue of the International Society of Cryptozoology newsletter. According to Wall "[It has been] suggested that new terms be coined to replace sensational and often misleading terms like 'monster'. My suggestion is 'cryptid', meaning a living thing having
10500-453: The conclusions they believe , and reject the ones they do not. Further analysis of complex pseudoscientific phenomena require System 2, which follows rules, compares objects along multiple dimensions and weighs options. These two systems have several other differences which are further discussed in the dual-process theory . The scientific and secular systems of morality and meaning are generally unsatisfying to most people. Humans are, by nature,
10640-507: The crime or, in the second case, drove him to rescue the child. Popper was not able to find any counterexamples of human behavior in which the behavior could not be explained in the terms of Adler's or Freud's theory. Popper argued it was that the observation always fitted or confirmed the theory which, rather than being its strength, was actually its weakness. In contrast, Popper gave the example of Einstein's gravitational theory , which predicted "light must be attracted by heavy bodies (such as
10780-618: The criterion of falsifiability to distinguish science from non-science . Statements , hypotheses , or theories have falsifiability or refutability if there is the inherent possibility that they can be proven false , that is, if it is possible to conceive of an observation or an argument that negates them. Popper used astrology and psychoanalysis as examples of pseudoscience and Einstein's theory of relativity as an example of science. He subdivided non-science into philosophical, mathematical, mythological, religious and metaphysical formulations on one hand, and pseudoscientific formulations on
10920-541: The developing hallmarks of cryptozoology, including Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life (1961). Heuvelmans himself traced cryptozoology to the work of Anthonie Cornelis Oudemans , who theorized that a large unidentified species of seal was responsible for sea serpent reports. Cryptozoology is 'the study of hidden animals' (from Ancient Greek : κρυπτός, kryptós "hidden, secret"; Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion " animal ", and λόγος, logos , i.e. "knowledge, study"). The term dates from 1959 or before— Heuvelmans attributes
11060-504: The distinction of what is considered scientific vs. pseudoscientific. The human proclivity for seeking confirmation rather than refutation ( confirmation bias ), the tendency to hold comforting beliefs, and the tendency to overgeneralize have been proposed as reasons for pseudoscientific thinking. According to Beyerstein, humans are prone to associations based on resemblances only, and often prone to misattribution in cause-effect thinking. Michael Shermer 's theory of belief-dependent realism
11200-479: The evidence to be revealed as the product of a hoax. This may occur during a closer examination by experts or upon confession of the hoaxer. Cryptozoologists have often led expeditions to find evidence of their claims. Bigfoot researcher René Dahinden led unsuccessful expedition into caves to find evidence of sasquatch, which Daniel Loxton attributes to changes in the popular perception of bigfoot. Lensgrave Adam Christoffer Knuth led an expedition into Lake Tele in
11340-421: The expenses of ignoring uncertainty in the input which was used to formulate the prediction. This use of the term is common among practitioners of post-normal science . Understood in this way, pseudoscience can be fought using good practices to assess uncertainty in quantitative information, such as NUSAP and – in the case of mathematical modelling – sensitivity auditing . The history of pseudoscience
11480-410: The experimental or environmental conditions, are expected to be documented for scrutiny and made available for peer review , allowing further experiments or studies to be conducted to confirm or falsify results. Statistical quantification of significance , confidence , and error are also important tools for the scientific method. During the mid-20th century, the philosopher Karl Popper emphasized
11620-610: The fact that the discoverers do not identify as cryptozoologists and are academically trained zoologists working in an ecological paradigm rather than organizing expeditions to seek out supposed examples of unusual and large creatures. Card notes that "cryptozoologists often show their disdain and even hatred for professional scientists, including those who enthusiastically participated in cryptozoology", which he traces back to Heuvelmans's early "rage against critics of cryptozoology". He finds parallels with cryptozoology and other pseudosciences, such as ghost hunting and ufology , and compares
11760-738: The few with a legitimate doctorate in biology. What is rarely mentioned, however, is that he had no training that would qualify him to undertake competent research on exotic animals. This raises the specter of 'credential mongering', by which an individual or organization feints a person's graduate degree as proof of expertise, even though his or her training is not specifically relevant to the field under consideration." Besides Heuvelmans, Sanderson, and Mackal, other notable cryptozoologists with academic backgrounds include Grover Krantz , Karl Shuker , and Richard Greenwell . Historically, notable cryptozoologists have often identified instances featuring "irrefutable evidence" (such as Sanderson and Krantz), only for
11900-409: The field and discusses aspects of the subculture, noting internal attempts at creating more scientific approaches and the involvement of Young Earth creationists and a prevalence of hoaxes. She concludes that many cryptozoologists are "passionate and sincere in their belief that mystery animals exist. As such, they give deference to every report of a sighting, often without critical questioning. As with
12040-483: The filmmakers reviewed their drone footage from production on August 2, 2024, and noticed what appears to be a large creature swimming just below the surface of the water, in Bulwagga Bay. The alleged plesiosaur image is visible in the bottom right portion of the screen, swimming behind a boat containing the two lead actors in the film. The boat was 142 inches from the tip of the bow to the stern and 50.5 inches at
12180-511: The folkloric record, and the psychology behind the cryptozoology approach has been the subject of academic study. Few cryptozoologists have a formal science education, and fewer still have a science background directly relevant to cryptozoology. Adherents often misrepresent the academic backgrounds of cryptozoologists. According to writer Daniel Loxton and paleontologist Donald Prothero , "[c]ryptozoologists have often promoted 'Professor Roy Mackal , PhD.' as one of their leading figures and one of
12320-458: The following terms: a statement constitutes knowledge if sufficiently many people believe it sufficiently strongly. But the history of thought shows us that many people were totally committed to absurd beliefs. If the strengths of beliefs were a hallmark of knowledge, we should have to rank some tales about demons, angels, devils, and of heaven and hell as knowledge. Scientists, on the other hand, are very sceptical even of their best theories. Newton's
12460-417: The force of Kuhn's historical criticism of Popper – all important theories have been surrounded by an 'ocean of anomalies', which on a falsificationist view would require the rejection of the theory outright...Lakatos sought to reconcile the rationalism of Popperian falsificationism with what seemed to be its own refutation by history". Many philosophers have tried to solve the problem of demarcation in
12600-665: The healings and co-produced a documentary on faith healing and exorcism in 1992 entitled Quest for Truth . The program first aired during the fall 1993 season on WPGH-TV 53 and WPTT-TV 22. In 1988, Rossi tried and failed to change both the name of the Church of the Three Rivers and its affiliation. He then joined the Assemblies of God the next year and led the Cranberry church, but left in 1991, saying that his ministry
12740-424: The incident to forge an alibi . Sherrie Rossi refuted this, alleging police had framed her husband. Sherrie Rossi testified, pointing at the prosecutors and police. "Your agenda was to get my husband, and I did not trust you or the lot of them." The defense called two witnesses, a church member and Rossi's mother, for a total of a half-hour of testimony; Rossi himself did not testify. A five-day trial ended in
12880-410: The invisible dragon, so one can never prove that the initial claim is wrong. Sagan concludes; "Now, what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all?". He states that "your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true", once again explaining that even if such a claim were true, it would be outside
13020-461: The lead and Rance Howard as the preacher's father. It attracted a record crowd to Hollywood's New Beverly Cinema , a revival house specializing in independent and cult films owned by Quentin Tarantino . A group of Evangelicals offered to invest $ 2 million in the film, but with conditions that the movie did not depict McPherson's divorce or drug overdose and that the actor playing the lead be
13160-809: The major features of pseudoscience. Larry Laudan has suggested pseudoscience has no scientific meaning and is mostly used to describe human emotions: "If we would stand up and be counted on the side of reason, we ought to drop terms like 'pseudo-science' and 'unscientific' from our vocabulary; they are just hollow phrases which do only emotive work for us". Likewise, Richard McNally states, "The term 'pseudoscience' has become little more than an inflammatory buzzword for quickly dismissing one's opponents in media sound-bites" and "When therapeutic entrepreneurs make claims on behalf of their interventions, we should not waste our time trying to determine whether their interventions qualify as pseudoscientific. Rather, we should ask them: How do you know that your intervention works? What
13300-628: The media and encouraged (largely with the aim of gain for touristic promotion) by the local population, often genuinely convinced of the reality of this profitable phenomenon." Campion-Vincent says that "four currents can be distinguished in the study of mysterious animal appearances": "Forteans" ("compiler[s] of anomalies" such as via publications like the Fortean Times ), "occultists" (which she describes as related to "Forteans"), "folklorists", and "cryptozoologists". Regarding cryptozoologists, Campion-Vincent says that "this movement seems to deserve
13440-484: The modern world [...] serves to channel guilt over the decimation of species and destruction of the natural habitat; to recapture a sense of mysticism and danger in a world now perceived as fully charted and over-explored; and to articulate resentment of and defiance against a scientific community perceived as monopolising the pool of culturally acceptable beliefs. In a paper published in 2013, Dendle refers to cryptozoologists as "contemporary monster hunters" that "keep alive
13580-520: The more general distinction between reliable and unreliable knowledge. Richard Rossi Among Rossi's projects are the film Canaan Land which contained five songs by Rossi, Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories , a biopic on the life of Roberto Clemente and two films about evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson . In 1995 Rossi went on trial for the attempted murder of his wife. She recanted her original identification of Rossi as her attacker and espoused his innocence. The case ended in
13720-412: The most inventive, deceptive, and gullible of all animals. Only those characteristics can explain the belief of some humans in creationism, in the arrival of UFOs with extraterrestrial beings, or in some aspects of cryptozoology. [...] In several respects the discussion and practice of cryptozoology sometimes, although not invariably, has demonstrated both deception and gullibility. An example seems to merit
13860-591: The most popular scenes in the film and won over fans to the idea of pitching for Clemente's canonization as a saint in the Catholic Church. Rossi says he has received support for his efforts to canonize Clemente from various people. "I've never thought of him in terms of being a saint", said MLB second baseman Neil Walker , a devout Catholic whose father knew Clemente. "But he's somebody who lived his life serving others, really. So if it would happen, I wouldn't be terribly surprised by it." Some claim
14000-730: The norms of scientific research, but it demonstrably fails to meet these norms. The Ministry of AYUSH in the Government of India is purposed with developing education, research and propagation of indigenous alternative medicine systems in India. The ministry has faced significant criticism for funding systems that lack biological plausibility and are either untested or conclusively proven as ineffective. Quality of research has been poor, and drugs have been launched without any rigorous pharmacological studies and meaningful clinical trials on Ayurveda or other alternative healthcare systems. There
14140-486: The old Latin saying 'I believe because it is incredible,' although Tertullian, its author, applied it in a way more applicable to the present day creationists. Paleontologist Donald Prothero (2007) cites cryptozoology as an example of pseudoscience and categorizes it, along with Holocaust denial and UFO abductions claims , as aspects of American culture that are "clearly baloney". In Scientifical Americans: The Culture of Amateur Paranormal Researchers (2017), Hill surveys
14280-468: The other. Another example which shows the distinct need for a claim to be falsifiable was stated in Carl Sagan 's publication The Demon-Haunted World when he discusses an invisible dragon that he has in his garage. The point is made that there is no physical test to refute the claim of the presence of this dragon. Whatever test one thinks can be devised, there is a reason why it does not apply to
14420-535: The power of intercessory prayer to heal the sick , although they may be based on untestable beliefs, can be tested by the scientific method. Some statements and common beliefs of popular science may not meet the criteria of science. "Pop" science may blur the divide between science and pseudoscience among the general public, and may also involve science fiction . Indeed, pop science is disseminated to, and can also easily emanate from, persons not accountable to scientific methodology and expert peer review. If claims of
14560-535: The predicted effect is definitely absent, then the theory is simply refuted." Popper summed up his criterion for the scientific status of a theory as depending on its falsifiability, refutability, or testability . Paul R. Thagard used astrology as a case study to distinguish science from pseudoscience and proposed principles and criteria to delineate them. First, astrology has not progressed in that it has not been updated nor added any explanatory power since Ptolemy . Second, it has ignored outstanding problems such as
14700-452: The presence of two other cars, one blue and one white. In October 1994, Sherrie testified her husband was "not to blame"; a state court judge refused her request to void the order of protection. (Press accounts claimed that Ms. Rossi stated that her attacker might have been a demon in human form, but the Rossis deny she said this.) Sherrie Rossi testified in the trial that her attacker
14840-470: The public's susceptibility to unproven claims. The NSF stated that pseudoscientific beliefs in the U.S. became more widespread during the 1990s, peaked about 2001, and then decreased slightly since with pseudoscientific beliefs remaining common. According to the NSF report, there is a lack of knowledge of pseudoscientific issues in society and pseudoscientific practices are commonly followed. Surveys indicate about
14980-434: The quality of being hidden or unknown ... describing those creatures which are (or may be) subjects of cryptozoological investigation." The Oxford English Dictionary defines the noun cryptid as "an animal whose existence or survival to the present day is disputed or unsubstantiated; any animal of interest to a cryptozoologist". While used by most cryptozoologists, the term cryptid is not used by academic zoologists. In
15120-479: The realm of scientific inquiry . During 1942, Robert K. Merton identified a set of five "norms" which characterize real science. If any of the norms were violated, Merton considered the enterprise to be non-science. His norms were: In 1978, Paul Thagard proposed that pseudoscience is primarily distinguishable from science when it is less progressive than alternative theories over a long period of time, and its proponents fail to acknowledge or address problems with
15260-443: The realm of science. In the philosophy and history of science, Imre Lakatos stresses the social and political importance of the demarcation problem, the normative methodological problem of distinguishing between science and pseudoscience. His distinctive historical analysis of scientific methodology based on research programmes suggests: "scientists regard the successful theoretical prediction of stunning novel facts – such as
15400-633: The rejection of mainstream secular science and lament a seeming conspiracy to prevent serious consideration of their claims." Media outlets have often uncritically disseminated information from cryptozoologist sources, including newspapers that repeat false claims made by cryptozoologists or television shows that feature cryptozoologists as monster hunters (such as the popular and purportedly nonfiction American television show MonsterQuest , which aired from 2007 to 2010). Media coverage of purported "cryptids" often fails to provide more likely explanations, further propagating claims made by cryptozoologists. There
15540-599: The return of Halley's comet or the gravitational bending of light rays – as what demarcates good scientific theories from pseudo-scientific and degenerate theories, and in spite of all scientific theories being forever confronted by 'an ocean of counterexamples'". Lakatos offers a "novel fallibilist analysis of the development of Newton's celestial dynamics, [his] favourite historical example of his methodology" and argues in light of this historical turn, that his account answers for certain inadequacies in those of Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. "Nonetheless, Lakatos did recognize
15680-562: The role in a new film version. He started "Eternal Grace", a movement of Hollywood house churches for actors and celebrities who had difficulty attending public services due to paparazzi , and also for AIDS victims and others not welcome to attend other churches. He was protested by followers of Fred Phelps from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas , who decried his lenient attitude toward homosexuals. Rossi's wife Sherrie worked with puppets in their children's ministry. In 2001, Rossi wrote and directed Saving Sister Aimee ,
15820-420: The same journal concluded there was no strong correlation between science knowledge and belief in pseudoscience. During 2006, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) issued an executive summary of a paper on science and engineering which briefly discussed the prevalence of pseudoscience in modern times. It said, "belief in pseudoscience is widespread" and, referencing a Gallup Poll , stated that belief in
15960-423: The scientific era. Others developed as part of an ideology, such as Lysenkoism , or as a response to perceived threats to an ideology. Examples of this ideological process are creation science and intelligent design , which were developed in response to the scientific theory of evolution . A topic, practice, or body of knowledge might reasonably be termed pseudoscientific when it is presented as consistent with
16100-914: The scientific methodology and conclusions reached by the article Stephens cited has been called into question repeatedly since its publication. It has been found that at least one of that study's authors has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist. The journal Nature has published a number of editorials in the last few years warning researchers about extremists looking to abuse their work, particularly population geneticists and those working with ancient DNA . One article in Nature , titled "Racism in Science: The Taint That Lingers" notes that early-twentieth-century eugenic pseudoscience has been used to influence public policy, such as
16240-575: The sins I have committed and, with God's help, do not plan to repeat them." Sherrie Rossi, who had campaigned for her husband's exoneration, sued state and county officials for abridging her civil rights when courts refused to lift a bond restriction forbidding her husband to contact her while he was out on bail; the suit was dismissed by a federal court. In 1996, Sherrie self-published Assault of Justice: The Richard Rossi Mystery , defending her husband and proclaiming his innocence, and claiming that charges were retaliation for exposing police corruption and
16380-543: The son followed in his father's footsteps, playing the guitar on stage at age 7. As a child, Rossi was fascinated with Pittsburgh-based faith healer Kathryn Kuhlman . After one of his father's hospitalizations for manic depression , Rossi landed in a surrogate family led by an evangelist who immersed him in Pentecostal preaching and outreach. After a drug overdose, Rossi became a born-again Christian and toured as
16520-498: The song in five minutes as a way to express my emotions about the danger of trigger-happy police," Rossi said. "I filmed it on my laptop at my kitchen table and uploaded it to YouTube." Rossi uploaded the video on November 26, and provided the song's lyrics in the video description. Here is a sample from the song's beginning, printed in the Los Angeles Daily News : "Down at the courthouse on a Monday afternoon/Justice
16660-521: The subculture is primarily the domain of individuals without training in the natural sciences. Anthropologist Jeb J. Card summarizes cryptozoology in a survey of pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology : Cryptozoology purports to be the study of previously unidentified animal species. At first glance, this would seem to differ little from zoology. New species are discovered by field and museum zoologists every year. Cryptozoologists cite these discoveries as justification of their search but often minimize or omit
16800-755: The subculture. Because it does not follow the scientific method , cryptozoology is considered a pseudoscience by mainstream science: it is neither a branch of zoology nor of folklore studies . It was originally founded in the 1950s by zoologists Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson . Scholars have noted that the subculture rejected mainstream approaches from an early date, and that adherents often express hostility to mainstream science. Scholars studying cryptozoologists and their influence (including cryptozoology's association with Young Earth creationism ) noted parallels in cryptozoology and other pseudosciences such as ghost hunting and ufology , and highlighted uncritical media propagation of cryptozoologist claims. As
16940-548: The success was due to his hard work, and the Holy See stated that they were not in continued contact with Rossi. On November 28, 2014, Rossi was in the news again regarding the controversy over the shooting of Michael Brown . Rossi wrote and recorded a protest song expressing his feelings about a grand jury's decision not to charge a white police officer in the death of the unarmed black teen in Ferguson, Missouri . "I wrote
17080-530: The term has been in use since at least the late 18th century (e.g., in 1796 by James Pettit Andrews in reference to alchemy ), the concept of pseudoscience as distinct from real or proper science seems to have become more widespread during the mid-19th century. Among the earliest uses of "pseudo-science" was in an 1844 article in the Northern Journal of Medicine , issue 387: That opposite kind of innovation which pronounces what has been recognized as
17220-471: The theory. In 1983, Mario Bunge suggested the categories of "belief fields" and "research fields" to help distinguish between pseudoscience and science, where the former is primarily personal and subjective and the latter involves a certain systematic method. The 2018 book about scientific skepticism by Steven Novella , et al. The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe lists hostility to criticism as one of
17360-405: The typical descriptive unit of great scientific achievements is not an isolated hypothesis but "a powerful problem-solving machinery, which, with the help of sophisticated mathematical techniques, digests anomalies and even turns them into positive evidence". To Popper, pseudoscience uses induction to generate theories, and only performs experiments to seek to verify them. To Popper, falsifiability
17500-519: The usage of the word occurred in a more formal, technical manner in response to a perceived threat to individual and institutional security in a social and cultural setting. Pseudoscience is differentiated from science because – although it usually claims to be science – pseudoscience does not adhere to scientific standards, such as the scientific method , falsifiability of claims , and Mertonian norms . A number of basic principles are accepted by scientists as standards for determining whether
17640-425: The use of expert testimony , and weighing environmental policies . Recent empirical research has shown that individuals who indulge in pseudoscientific beliefs generally show lower evidential criteria, meaning they often require significantly less evidence before coming to conclusions. This can be coined as a 'jump-to-conclusions' bias that can increase the spread of pseudoscientific beliefs. Addressing pseudoscience
17780-425: The widest point and the alleged plesiosaur appears bigger than the boat. One of the co-writers, Kelly Tabor, a cryptozoology adherent who has searched for the legendary sea serpent of Lake Champlain for fifty years, believes it is probably Champ. The second co-writer and director of the film, Richard Rossi , referred to himself as the " Doubting Thomas ," and was concerned that the cryptozoology folklore around Champ
17920-421: The woods out of nowhere." Police testified that Rossi told them a "satanic cult" was trying to frame him; Rossi denies this. Rossi was wearing only a pair of tan shorts when police interviewed him; Rossi claimed that he lost his shirt running through the woods, but did not explain why he was barefoot. Several witnesses reported seeing a man with long hair near the Rossi's cars, and State Police reports suggested
18060-423: The work may be better described as ideas that are "not yet generally accepted". Protoscience is a term sometimes used to describe a hypothesis that has not yet been tested adequately by the scientific method, but which is otherwise consistent with existing science or which, where inconsistent, offers reasonable account of the inconsistency. It may also describe the transition from a body of practical knowledge into
18200-598: The world today. Beliefs in the existence of fabulous and supernatural animals are ubiquitous and timeless. In the continents discovered by Europe indigenous beliefs and tales have strongly influenced the perceptions of the conquered confronted by a new natural environment. In parallel with the growing importance of the scientific approach, these traditional mythical tales have been endowed with sometimes highly artificial precision and have given birth to contemporary legends solidly entrenched in their territories. The belief self-perpetuates today through multiple observations enhanced by
18340-418: Was a different man with brown eyes and that Rossi's eyes are blue. She said her earlier testimony against Rossi was coerced by police when she was still recovering and did not have a complete recollection, and that her second testimony exonerating her husband came from "flashbacks" and a "fuller complete recollection" of what occurred. A defender of Rossi corroborated Sherrie Rossi's mystery attacker, testifying
18480-415: Was a labor of love for Rossi and the cadre of actors and technicians who volunteered their time and donated their services to the project. Olympian Jamie Nieto starred as Roberto Clemente. Rossi's telling of Clemente's story of commitment, loyalty, and devotion attempts to provide a counterpoint to today's baseball culture of players suspected of steroid abuse. The dramatic fulcrum of Baseball's Last Hero
18620-401: Was adopted as a United Russia party project; in the version submitted to the government, the program budget for 2010–2017 exceeded $ 14 billion. There have been many connections between pseudoscientific writers and researchers and their anti-semitic, racist and neo-Nazi backgrounds. They often use pseudoscience to reinforce their beliefs. One of the most predominant pseudoscientific writers
18760-426: Was called "Matthew's Party," the name taken from the biblical story about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners at the home of Matthew , the gospel writer. In 1986, Rossi started First Love, a charismatic church. He rented movie theaters and showed films as an evangelistic outreach. Dramatic faith healings allegedly occurred. The healing services, called "Healing Clinics," grew from 200 to 2000. Rossi filmed
18900-490: Was exemplified by astrology, which appeals to observation and experimentation. While it had empirical evidence based on observation, on horoscopes and biographies , it crucially failed to use acceptable scientific standards. Popper proposed falsifiability as an important criterion in distinguishing science from pseudoscience. To demonstrate this point, Popper gave two cases of human behavior and typical explanations from Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler 's theories: "that of
19040-481: Was found near death in a coma on the side of a Pennsylvania road. She had a crushed skull and was left covered in blood; her injuries were so severe that she needed to wear a helmet. Her rescuers thought she had been in a traffic accident, and called for an ambulance. Ninety minutes later, at 8:05 pm, Richard Rossi called police, and claimed that men killed his wife and shot at him twice. But when police came to interview him, his story changed, first claiming that
19180-423: Was in pre-production on his film Canaan Land . Rebecca Holden played Sister Sara Sunday. On September 30, 2017, CBS KCAL-TV channel 9 news reported on Rossi's founding of the support group Families Fighting Fentanyl to combat the fentanyl epidemic, to help addicts, work with law enforcement to hold drug dealers accountable, and support grieving families who lost a loved one to fentanyl. Rossi discussed
19320-500: Was pseudoscience and that cryptozoologists enthused about the drone discovery did not have legitimate earned academic degrees in science. Rossi shared the entire five minutes of footage with scientists with earned doctorates in science for further study to prepare a scholarly article for academic peer review. A five-second clip from the longer five minute footage was shared publicly on YouTube . While biologists regularly identify new species, cryptozoologists often focus on creatures from
19460-414: Was thrown right out the window when a young white cop entered the room." Rossi continues to host his radio talk-show " Richard Rossi Live " as a podcast on BlogTalkRadio . In 2015, the format of the program changed from its Christian roots on WPIT , a Salem Radio Network station, by broadening its content for a general audience. Although Rossi still on occasion discusses religion, the program's focus
19600-633: Was too radical for the Assemblies; church officials said he left owing several thousand dollars for the church building. In September 1991, Rossi began broadcasting his nightly radio show Rich Rossi Live on Pittsburgh's WPIT-FM . The program created controversy when Rossi called other evangelical churches "whores" who sell out the gospel for money. Rossi appeared on the Jerry Springer Show in 1994 to discuss faith healing, exorcism, and ESP. On June 24, 1994, Rossi's wife, Sherrie Lynn,
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