# SciAm ad for a spirit medium **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 29, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671 "2009-10-29T23:35:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/1 "2009-10-29T23:35:13Z")
Just gotta get this off my chest. On the bottom right of page 25 of the Dec. Scientific American is–I am not joking–an ad for a spirit medium. He claims to have an endorsement from Albert Einstein’s ghost! What is this world coming to. They must be getting desperate. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/2 "2009-10-30T04:39:11Z")
Good Lord, that is sort of appalling! Then again, a cornerstone of the scientific method is to keep an open mind towards all possibilities. Maybe not the very silly ones. But you never know. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/3 "2009-10-30T05:40:06Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > He claims to have an endorsement from Albert Einstein’s ghost! What is this world coming to. Einstein’s ghost? Please, that guy would do anything for cash. If you want my business, you’d need an endorsement from a real scientist’s ghost, like Neils Bohr, or Max Planck, or Brian Cox. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/4 "2009-10-30T13:03:35Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > Einstein’s ghost? Please, that guy would do anything for cash. If you want my business, you’d need an endorsement from a real scientist’s ghost, like Neils Bohr, or Max Planck, or Brian Cox. Wait - Brian Cox is dead? ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/5 "2009-10-30T14:11:34Z")
No, he’s not, but any **real** spirit medium wouldn’t let that get in the way of talking to his ghost. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/6 "2009-10-30T17:40:45Z")
I subscribe to _Scientific American_, and IIRC I only recently got the November issue. Their website ([sciamdigital.com](http://sciamdigital.com)) also shows November 2009 as the current issue. How’d you get a December issue already before Halloween? 😕 (ETA: I don’t have the Nov. issue on hand but I’ll try to look it up when I get home, maybe you mean November? Or is this a whoosh involving SciAm for no obvious reason?) Are you referring to _SciAm Mind_? It’s a bi-monthly periodical so the current issue is Nov-Dec 2009. I also read that one fairly regularly and have that issue, and just checked page 25 and don’t see what you’re referring to. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/7 "2009-10-31T11:02:23Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I subscribe to _Scientific American_, and IIRC I only recently got the November issue. Their website ([sciamdigital.com](http://sciamdigital.com)) also shows November 2009 as the current issue. How’d you get a December issue already before Halloween? 😕 > > (ETA: I don’t have the Nov. issue on hand but I’ll try to look it up when I get home, maybe you mean November? Or is this a whoosh involving SciAm for no obvious reason?) > > Are you referring to _SciAm Mind_? It’s a bi-monthly periodical so the current issue is Nov-Dec 2009. I also read that one fairly regularly and have that issue, and just checked page 25 and don’t see what you’re referring to. Sorry, of course, I meant November. Just look on page 25, bottom right. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciam-ad-for-a-spirit-medium/515671/8 "2009-10-31T15:39:56Z")
I see ads by crackpots in _SciAm_ all the time. There’s one guy who keeps taking out half pages claiming something like that he can explain life, the universe and everything without recourse to such poppycock as quantum mechanics. It doesn’t bother me. They gots ta make their money.