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Another Randi Video: Psychic Power put to the Test.

Patricio Elicer

Obsessed with Reality
Patricio Elicer
Joined
Aug 6, 2001
Messages
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Location
Santiago, Chile
Trainings from an old Chinese master?
smLMAO.gif


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7471941094792399305

(18 min)
 
No white styrofoam (for whatever bogus reason)?

Here, try with black dust....or some smoke....
 
That was pretty sweet. I hadn't seen that one before.

But wouldn't a "the chi will probably make the styrofoam move as well" explanation be better than that lame static electricity one? That's what I would've said :)
 
ond_magiker said:
That was pretty sweet. I hadn't seen that one before.

But wouldn't a "the chi will probably make the styrofoam move as well" explanation be better than that lame static electricity one? That's what I would've said :)
Click to expand...

Chi can, apparently, go through solid matter. Set up a glass screen inbetween.

Next? ;)
 
thomps1d said:
I love the look in Hydrick's eyes when the host is preparing him for the test. My telepathic powers tell me that he's thinking:

"Awww, man...this isn't good. I'm pretty much SOL on this one. Maybe I'll be able to BS my way out of it when I can't perform."
Click to expand...
Yes, I especially loved it when Randi was opening the small trunk, like he was wondering "WTF is this guy going to do" :p .
 
Blue Bubble said:
Oh fer goodness sake ...

An even simpler test would have been to get the guy to turn the page in the opposite direction. I bet the sucker couldn't suck that much :blush:
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Speaking of that, did you notice that when Hydrick came up with the excuse that "static electricity pulls the page down", the page he pulled kept turning in the other direction?. Hilarious!.
 
CFLarsen said:
Chi can, apparently, go through solid matter. Set up a glass screen inbetween.

Next? ;)
Click to expand...


This is the guy who later confessed to the con. In the linked article, Randi was prepared for this excuse anyway:

"In case Hydrick claimed that his power could not differentiate
between the pages of the book and the styrofoam particles, Randi
was prepared to place a simple germ-mask on his face, which would
in no way interfere with his breathing or his psychic functions
but would prevent one thing-blowing."

http://www.totse.com/en/fringe/dreams_auras_astral_projection/psi.html
 
Good morning ond_magiker.
ond_magiker said:
That was pretty sweet. I hadn't seen that one before.

But wouldn't a "the chi will probably make the styrofoam move as well" explanation be better than that lame static electricity one? That's what I would've said :)
Click to expand...
I have a tape of Randi talking about this demonstration. Someone in the audience asked Randi this question. Basicaly he said that if JH did try to do the trick and the styrofoam blew around, that it would be pretty telling that it would look just like he was blowing on the page. He also said that he was glad JH didn't do that. I'm sure that the entire setup, that Randi did, caused a great deal of concern with JH. He apparently was tring to find out what was in that truck the whole time he was there. Remember that a "Real Psychic" isn't always able to perform. They often claim that they just can't turn it on and off. I assume that JH made the decision that it was wiser to just not be able to perform then to possibly expose his method, ie controlled blowing.
Randi also said they had other materials they could have used. I know he mentioned feathers, I can't recall what else they had. He also said they had grounded the can before the demonstration. The tape I have if from the Skeptics Society.
JPK
 
I give Randi credit for exposing Hydrick beyond all doubt. However, as I noted on a February thread regarding the "That's Incredible" show: "I think you'll find that John Davidson exposed Hydrick first. While Hydrick impressed [co-hosts] Fran [Tarkenton]and Cathy Lee [Crosby], [the third co-host John] Davidson detected Hydrick blowing on the pages of the phone book and said so on the show." See http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1470411&highlight=hydrick#post1470411
 
Rodney said:
I give Randi credit for exposing Hydrick beyond all doubt. However, as I noted on a February thread regarding the "That's Incredible" show: "I think you'll find that John Davidson exposed Hydrick first. While Hydrick impressed [co-hosts] Fran [Tarkenton]and Cathy Lee [Crosby], [the third co-host John] Davidson detected Hydrick blowing on the pages of the phone book and said so on the show." See http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1470411&highlight=hydrick#post1470411
Click to expand...

I didn't see anything at that link to verify this, other than your own quote. Do you remember this, or have a clip to link to? I think it would be hilarious if he was busted on one show, but still went on another after he had already been found out.
 
rebecca said:
What a great video, thanks Patricio!
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I'm glad that you liked it :)

Now, the guy deserves some recognition, not for his mental power, but for his lung power and the cleverness of some of his tricks.

Here's another video. It's in Spanish, it basically describes his methods and how he fooled millions of people, including scientists of the University of Utah.

He finally burst in anger when Danny Korem replicates his tricks, and confesses it all (see post #10 by Starrman for the full confession interview by Korem). He said he did that to show how foolish people can be. Not that bad!.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhIA0q1ZH6w

Claus: Chi can, apparently, go through solid matter. Set up a glass screen inbetween.
Click to expand...
. Well, he was powerful enough to do that. See video.
 
Starrman said:
I didn't see anything at that link to verify this, other than your own quote. Do you remember this, or have a clip to link to? I think it would be hilarious if he was busted on one show, but still went on another after he had already been found out.
Click to expand...
I recall watching that show. Maybe I have it on tape, I'll see if I can post the clip. From memory, Davidson did not expose Hydrick, he took a step in the right direction however, by suspecting that Hydrick might be just blowing. Hydrick denied the explanation and asked Davidson to cover his mouth and nose with his hand, to show that the effect was not accomplished by blowing. Under those conditions he was still able to move the pencil, so Davidson had to surrender.
 
This is why it's great that we all have VCR's, computers, TiVo's, etc. Back in the old days, everyone would watch these shows but perhaps some people 'remembered' more (or fewer) details than others. Rodney might be right about this guy being caught on "That's Incredible", but if he could show it to us on video, then we could all agree on what happened. Certainly this 'detail' was missed during Bob Barker's introduction so not everyone remembers it the way Rodney does. Maybe they don't want to remember it that way!

I think that with video and computers everywhere, it is going to be very difficult for believers to ignore the many psychic debunkings performed by Randi and others. Up until now it was easy for these psychic frauds to explain away failure to their believers. I'm especially excited with the YouTube and Google video services. Now that high-speed internet connections are common, everyone can watch these sorts of videos and see what really happens when a psychic meets up with James Randi.
 
I think the real demonstration of the paranormal is that Bob Barker was the emcee of Truth or Consequences for nineteen years and before today I'd never even heard of it.
 
Starrman said:
I didn't see anything at that link to verify this, other than your own quote. Do you remember this, or have a clip to link to? I think it would be hilarious if he was busted on one show, but still went on another after he had already been found out.
Click to expand...
How can you doubt my quote? ;) Seriously, I remember that show of "That's Incredible," just the way I remember Randi saying that he was "buffaloed" the first time he observed firewalking. Now, I'm not saying that John Davidson proved beyond all doubt that Hydrick was a fraud, but Davidson did say something along the lines of: "He did not turn the pages of the phone book with psychic power alone, he was blowing on the pages." I'll see what I can dig up to confirm, but perhaps some of the over 35 crowd here also remembers that show.
 
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