mdc

Mr. Katcher has contacted the JREF regarding a claim of Automatic Drawing - that is, he claims the ability to draw faster than humanly possible with both hands simultaneously. This claim was deemed untestable. However, Mr. Katcher has also claimed that he is able to correctly draw images...

Ms. Sellers has applied for the Challenge stating that she is able to make a key on a string move with the power of her mind. In order to ensure that it is the power of her mind moving the key, we will be putting both string and key inside an airtight jar. We will check the jar to make sure it...

Thor76's recent posts made me wonder if this is actually a good thing. The reason this requirement exists is so that the JREF is slightly less overwhelmed by random people claiming to have powers, but with absolutely nothing to back up their claims. There are two problems with this. The first is...

Tonight I attended a presentation by Lorraine Warren at the University of Texas at Arlington. The auditorium was absolutely packed, and I got there right as the presentation was beginning. There was only standing room remaining, so I took my post in the very back of the auditorium. I won't...

Pear Cable CEO calls James Randi's $1,000,000 Challenge a hoax. IMHO, it's pure "sour grapes" on Adam Blake's part. Not to mention pure "Born-Again Audiophile" excrement. Discuss?

I think in some cases the JREF is being a little too picky about the protocol. A very good example of this is THOMAS BOWE, Astrologer, forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=85841 He said he could tell by facial structure the difference between a fake birthdate and a real one if they were both on...

Re: Rosemary Hunter Ok, I'll bite (pun intended) did she make the one person cry uncontrollably by eating onions and breathing on them or does she just smell bad? If the ability to make people urinate themselves or cry uncontrollaby by paranormal means exists, it would not be an ability I...

Rosemary Hunter has applied for the Challenge, media presence requirement included, with the extraordinary claim that she can make people urinate themselves with the power of her mind. Ms. Hunter has also presented an affidavit from an academic, however in this demonstration, she made the...

Uhh, where you gonna get a 9-sided die?

this is something i came across on a magic website of all places where i thought people would be slightly more rational. would anyone like to show this guy why he is talking rule 8? "the James Randi thing is a scam. I know a handful of people (personally) who have applied for the tests...

How exciting! There is somebody applying under the new rules! See http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87960 Unfortunately, it already looks as if this claim is falling by the roadside because the applicants do not understand the rules or want to conform to them. The...

Dr. Igor Tolkachev has applied for the Million Dollar Challenge on behalf of Andrew Matevosov, M.D. (and "The VEDI Association") with a claim of remote diagnosis by photograph. Matevosov claims the ability to give an in-depth diagnosis without ever seeing an individual in person (he only needs...

Application thread here. It seems that a small prick (insert giggle here) is not enough to be detected over the noise of other equally minor ailments. However, major chronic illnesses have have a variety of ethical and logistical problems, not least of which is finding enough of them. Would...

James Dawson has applied for the Challenge with the claim that he can tell, with certain information, whether a person is alive or dead and what position they were in when they died. If Mr. Dawson is presented with photographs, full names, and birth dates of any individual (though he has...

Jenene Lehman has completed the application, and is in the process of negotiating a testable protocol for her claim. Lehman states that she is able to tell if an individual is suffering any kind of physical imbalance, which would include an injury or chronic illness, or pain. Since detecting...

Raymond Edward Powell, Jr. has completed the application process and is moving forward toward developing a testable protocol for his claim - which involves the ability to transmit images he is looking at into other people's minds. Powell will be using his own flashcards, and will be in separate...

Prasanna Jagannathan has approached the JREF with the claim that she can tell whether or not couples have "successful" children. For the first stage of protocol design, we began to define the word "successful," which Jagannathan says is as follows: "successful children - normal definition of...

At this time, the JREF is working with Thomas Bowe on his protocol, which sounds very promising! Thomas claims that if he is given photographs of people with their birthdate as well as a false birthdate printed on the back, he will be able to tell, by the individual's facial structure, which...

Mike is no stranger to the JREF. A year ago, he was tested for the Challenge and failed, but now he's back again to give it another shot! Guska claims to be able to tell whether a cannister contains gold, silver, or nothing through dowsing. His protocol, however, has changed since the last time...

Mike Maggio, a challenge claimant, will be communicating with spirits to discern the contents of a series of envelopes on June 4, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan. The challenge is a collaboration between the JREF and the Japanese television company "Vivio". The Challenge results will be aired on June 18th...

If there is a section that covers that, would someone please direct me to it? Thank you very much.

Hopefully, this won't turn into a flame-fest (which means I'm going to keep my flame-thrower firmly under the desk), or be diverted to another forum, because I would like to consider the type of people who actually claim they have something worth testing or apply for the MDC. I haven't been...

Some of you may have read my review of "The Power", an Israeli TV show dealing with "people with power" and skeptic/believer judges trying to get to the bottom of it all (it was also mentioned in this week's commentary). The TV show is sort of an American Idol type competition where people who...

I'm all for the objective testing of alleged paranormal activity and abilities. But: Doesn't the fact that claimants aren't allowed to collaborate on the choice of judges, experts and intermediaries, etc., create too much potential for bias behavior and unchecked duplicity from Randi's...

I'm sending in an application after I find a notary but I first want to know if my claim is considered to be testable. I would like to know if there are some types of claims that could be tested over a distance instead of in person. My claim only involves correctly guessing a two digit number...

I think it would behoove Randi to have several pre-defined tests available as well as the ability to negotiate your own test for the MDC. In the recent Larry King episode with Rosemary Altea (see this thread, Rosemary laughs out loud when Randi is questioned what the test entails, and he...

Hello. New to the forum. I'll be posting infrequently, but it's cool to find a place like this on the internet. To get right to the title of the thread -- I think it's time, the conditions are right, the tools are there now, and the will of the JREF seems to have turned towards this affirmative...

John Edward on Glen Beck (Oct 27) It's just inspiring how the first thing is how much money he's pulling in. Thankfully Beck tries to balance it out a tad at the end. Highlights from the interview: Beck: "A guy who picked that mantle up is a guy who offered you a million dollars -- his name is...

I was wondering how Masaru Emoto responded to James Randi's invitation to take the $million challenge. Masaru Emoto is the man who has published a study of how different things effect ice crystal formation. Here's his website: http://www.hado.net/index2.html He claims that water crystals form...