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Bizarre Randi discussion

Reading that thread hurt my brain. How could anybody be so ignorant and irrational is completely beyond my understanding - which is pretty sad since I do spend a lot of time reading woo woo claims, me being a skeptic and all. It almost seems like "psychic samurai" was just trolling to piss people off and get a reaction out of them, although it seems unlikely since I don't see that forum as being a site that would get trolled very often, and the guy has a lot of posts on his profile.
 
Admittedly "psychic samurai" sounds like a great idea for an Anime. (Or a rock band)
 
I think that I may have lost precious brain cells reading that...

Maybe we should just bring back that "suffer no witch to live" thing and see how people like Callahan maintain that they can talk to the dead.
 
In that thread, Jim Callahan brings up the old tired saw that the tests are rigged.

In one sense, that's true. Randi accepts only people who make paranormal claims, and then keeps testing them in the real world under scientific scrutiny.

How is any paranormal claim supposed to stand up under that?

Speaking of Callahan, has anybody noticed that the URL for his challenge to Randi uses "challange". I don't think I've ever run across that word before. So, he's willing to pay Randi to allow him to set up his own conditions for a test of a paranormal claim? Gee, how could that not be legitimate?
 
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And remember, poor speller that he may be, Callahan isn't a psychic or medium -- he's a paranormalist which makes it acceptable.* (That's a word I don't think I've ever run across, apart from Callahan.)




* To him anyway. I don't understand it in the slightest.
 
This post caught my eye;
I imagine that if there were not certain qualifying conditions, then every nut case in the world would be beating down Randi's door and demanding that he/she be tested, so he/she would have an opportunity to win the million dollars. I say if you are psychic, play the lottery and win the million that way.
Click to expand...

I'd have thought the whole point of the cash incentive was to encourage as many people as possible to test their 'abilities'? It wouldn't take much effort to screen out the cranks, from the ones who actually believe they have abilities, and who might not quite be full-on cranks, would it?
 
Poor spellers should avoid public posting. They just look stooopit!

:(
 
A a member of that forum I can say Callahan is a just an attention seeking idiot.All hot air.
Psychic Samurai for some unknown reason changed his username from Slim King.
Sadly there are people on that site[a magicians site no less ,go figure]that believe they have paranormal abilities too.
 
Actually, reading that thread inspired me in one way. One of the new stipulations is that applicants need to be endorsed by an academic. Hey, I can be that guy! You just have to convince me that you have some ability and could pass the test, and I'll give you all the endorsement you need.

Of course, in order to convince me you are probably going to have to go through the type of testing that Randi would put you through (and I'd probably even consult with him if I had to), so don't think you are going to snow anyone. I'm not going to endorse you unless I think you can win the challenge. Unfortunately for applicants, I understand how it works and what it takes to win, so there will be no song and dance.

But hey, if anyone is interested in applying and needs academic endorsement, contact me. Just tell me what you can do, and how well you can do it, and if you can show you can, I'll support you.
 
Does PS post here? He/She sounds a bit familiar.

BTW, loved that Phenomenon clip. Just about cacked myself. :)


M.
 
Ragnarok said:
This post caught my eye;


I'd have thought the whole point of the cash incentive was to encourage as many people as possible to test their 'abilities'? It wouldn't take much effort to screen out the cranks, from the ones who actually believe they have abilities, and who might not quite be full-on cranks, would it?
Click to expand...
Not really. Many decades ago, Randi challenged psychics and other paranormalists to prove their abilities under controlled conditions. Many of the best-known psychics didn't take part because it was not worth it. Someone challenged Randi to put his money where his mouth is. Randi responded and put up $10,000 prize money. JREF later got a donation to increase the prize to $1 million.

The "whole point of the cash incentive" was to give incentive for people to take the test. Not to get "as many people as possible" to take the test, but rather to get the people in the press that people believe in to take the test--or at least eliminate an excuse for not taking the test.

As for screening "out the cranks", look at the Challenge forum!!!! Kramer spent countless hours doing just that. JREF took on anyone. In most cases, they were deranged and nobody else in the world would even acknowledge their claim. So JREF eventually asked for claimants to provide at least some evidence that someone else acknowledge the claim. There is no point investigating some crazy person home alone that nobody believes. This expanded to the media requirement.

The purpose of the challenge has always been to challenge accepted as having paranormal abilities to prove them. The challenge was extended to everyone. The efforts to “screen out the cranks” are documented are were very much time consuming.

If you have a paranormal claim, which other people also believe, you should have no trouble applying for the JREF prize.
 
Jim Callahan: World's Ultimate Sleaze-Bag

From Magic Cafe:

Jim-Callahan= said:
Yep I can and will.

In fact I only make the challange amounts to sums I can cover with my American Express card.

If Randi accepts my challange I would just show up with the cash if he will.

-Jim
Click to expand...


Only Callahan would be sleazy enough to fund his "reverse challange[sic]" on the promise of a credit card cash advance.
 
greymatters said:
In that thread, Jim Callahan brings up the old tired saw that the tests are rigged.

In one sense, that's true. Randi accepts only people who make paranormal claims, and then keeps testing them in the real world under scientific scrutiny.

How is any paranormal claim supposed to stand up under that?

Speaking of Callahan, has anybody noticed that the URL for his challenge to Randi uses "challange". I don't think I've ever run across that word before. So, he's willing to pay Randi to allow him to set up his own conditions for a test of a paranormal claim? Gee, how could that not be legitimate?
Click to expand...


I'm new here so forgive me if this sounds stupid. Why doesn't Randi take the challenge and crush this guy once and for all. Then we won't have to listen to his nonsense any longer.
 
tapman said:
I'm new here so forgive me if this sounds stupid. Why doesn't Randi take the challenge and crush this guy once and for all.
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Because, it appears, the test conditions insisted on wouldn't eliminate the possibility of trickery being used.
 
Mojo said:
Because, it appears, the test conditions insisted on wouldn't eliminate the possibility of trickery being used.
Click to expand...


That's the samething everyone says about Randi's challenge. I think Randi could out smart this guy and expose his trickery. After all, this guy is a joke, and Randi is an amazing thinker.
 
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