Harassment by computer is a crime in several U.S. states –– especially if the communication threatens bodily harm. In “Destructive Crowds: New Threats to Online Reputation and Privacy,” Danielle Keats Citron from the University of Maryland School of Law says that online attackers can release the sense of a mob thrashing. Persons who are driven by fear sometimes find short-term relief by expressing their rage. Statements of annoyance and dislike that swamp some web forums might sway a number of confused school bags, but they can’t stand up in a court of law or influence a genuine educational organization. Scientific advances come about by exploring the unknown. Those who fear and spurn the unfamiliar can hardly contribute new research.

Since Lewis Pugh says that his one-in-a-billion talent to withstand sub-zero contact is mostly because of mind over matter, James Randi and his team could possibly attempt to debunk him. Like the fire walking “stunt,” (which Randi says is due to wood ash under the feet that has very low specific heat and is similar to a heat shield ceramic), Pugh’s paranormal defiance to freezing could be imagined as a clever stunt by some professional skeptics. For example, they could say that something in Pugh’s swimsuit produces heat from the combustion of metallic elements, to warm the water around him.

If that doesn’t work, Randi’s team might assail the scientists who bear witness to the newly discovered phenomenon of “anticipatory thermogenesis.” As Randi did to the Stanford Institute researchers who investigated the Geller Effect in the 1970s, the skeptics could accuse Lewis Pugh’s researchers of a controlled deception to promote the awareness of climate change and global warming, which he represents in the media. The various wires and monitoring devices strapped to Pugh’s body could be alleged to function somewhat like a neodymium heat apparatus, warming up the icy waves as he swims.

In contrast, scrupulous researchers seeking to scientifically confirm Lewis Pugh’s resistance to freezing are studying molecular groups that rotate within vacuum cavities in such a way that thermalization occurs. The possible existence of long-lived rotational states of some molecules inside protein structures (the electromagnetic partitioning of DNA) could be responsible for increasing core body temperature. Pugh’s paranormal ability may in truth be a variant of the Geller Effect, because excitable tissues are now regarded as true generators of thermalization and magnetic fields.

Despite the top-notch skeptics’ best efforts, today many common people are happy to accept the possibility of magnetic “woo.” But faith certainly includes an undeniable “weirdness.” For example, a portrayal of Jesus as a merchant selling jewelry and promoting cosmetics certainly seems pretty weird: "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." (Revelation 3:18). Even more weird is the ceremonial buzz that he’s forecast to arrive with space clouds and a completely different name: “And I will write upon him my new name.” (Revelation 3).

Is the magnetic attraction of “woo” a strange spot in the pursuit of happiness? Or could the extraordinary sense of a greater good actually determine life’s evolving nature?

I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through
(Queen, "We Are The Champions," 1977)

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