Casinos strictly prohibit card counters from playing blackjack at their tables. Why? Because skilled counters can beat the house at blackjack over the long run.

Psychics and clairvoyants, such as Ms. Su Walker professes to be, claim they can visualize hidden things both near and remote, foresee future outcomes and events and read the minds of others. Were that really so, psychics and clairvoyants could routinely beat the casinos at everything, games of skill and chance alike.

But psychics and clairvoyants are quite welcome at the blackjack tables. Why? Because they perform as poorly as any one else (except for the card counters, who always outperform them over the long run).

It’s too bad that such preposterous paranormal claims are taken seriously by so many students and faculty members at Iowa State. As in past years, this speaks directly to the pathetic status of critical judgment at ISU and to the university’s overall lack of intellectual and scientific excellence.

Further examples of outrageous ISU logic should be appearing here soon.

John W. Patterson

Ames