Challenge applications

[Southwind17]

But there aredowsers and the JREF not only allows self-testing, they encourage it.

I think 'so-called dowsers' would be a more accurate term then 'dowsers' here.

 

[Southwind17]

we don't all know it. If we all knew it, there wouldn't be a point to it happening.

It's a non-event in so far as we know nobody will ever succeed in winning the booty. Not because it's fixed; because there's no 'paranormal'.

 

[EHocking]

...Epilogue:

That is all I am going to say on the matter now, so that I can move on. It remains that nobody knows whether or not the MDC has insurance, and nobody, apart from me seems to be bothered, so we can leave it at that. I am not an apologist for dowsers, only the test methodology.

I'm happy enough to drop the subject as well.

Until next time!

 

[GzuzKryzt]

...
It remains that nobody knows whether or not the MDC has insurance, ...

Someone with a journalistic view would simply inquire at the JREF directly and then, to keep with said journalistic view, inform the forum members of the results from the journalistic efforts.

 

[TSR]

Why would JREF need insurance? Whether or not the Challenge is met has no effect on JREF's day to day operations. The only change would be either the Challenge is met and goes away, or a separate fundraising drive to build up the stakes for a new and improved one.

I'd bet on the first.

 

[Southwind17]

Why would JREF need insurance? Whether or not the Challenge is met has no effect on JREF's day to day operations. The only change would be either the Challenge is met and goes away, or a separate fundraising drive to build up the stakes for a new and improved one.

I'd bet on the first.

Or a completely different fundraiser to pay for research to explain scientifically why whatever won the $1m did!

 

[Lamuella]

It's a non-event in so far as we know nobody will ever succeed in winning the booty. Not because it's fixed; because there's no 'paranormal'.

The point of this isn't to be an "event". The point is to provide a reality check to those claiming to have paranormal powers and their supporters, a way to say "If you have these powers, why don't you demonstrate them?".

 

[Southwind17]

The point of this isn't to be an "event". The point is to provide a reality check to those claiming to have paranormal powers and their supporters, a way to say "If you have these powers, why don't you demonstrate them?".

'Non-event' is an idiom, my friend.

 

[xtifr]

As for the insurance, I am surprised that I am apparently the only one to have asked that question over the last eight years. If they have it, that is fine. If they don't, that is fine too. It is a business question, and if I was running a business, whether it be a skeptic's website or a manufacturing company, I would ask the same question of the executive in charge of the company's assets.

If it's fine either way, why are you trying to make such a big deal of it? If you were running the business, your question might make sense, but to the best of my knowledge, you're not running the MDC, so, again, why are you asking?

This is a tech forum, more or less. I'm not sure about the inner workings of the JREF, but I spent many years as a member of the Debian project, the oldest, largest, and most successful independent non-profit Linux vendor around. We have technical forums where some of our 800+ volunteer developers discuss issues and answer questions. We also have a business end, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit with only a handful of people, who make sure that our public servers keep working, and the bandwidth bills get paid.

If you go on the Debian forums and start asking about how the bills get paid, and whether we have adequate insurance, you'll get the same sort of answer you're getting here: you're asking the wrong people on the wrong forum. This is where the techies hang out.

The fact that you keep asking, and keep acting as if it were some sort of significant information, despite your own statement, "If they have it, that is fine. If they don't, that is fine too", starts to look a little odd. Surely you can understand why some people are puzzled by your insistence and persistence on this topic, when you've already admitted that it doesn't matter. To me (a disinterested third party), it makes you sound either strangely confused, or possibly dishonest.

(So far, though, I'm still undecided about those two possibilities.)

 

[JimOfAllTrades]

The fact that you keep asking, and keep acting as if it were some sort of significant information, despite your own statement, "If they have it, that is fine. If they don't, that is fine too", starts to look a little odd. Surely you can understand why some people are puzzled by your insistence and persistence on this topic, when you've already admitted that it doesn't matter. To me (a disinterested third party), it makes you sound either strangely confused, or possibly dishonest.

(So far, though, I'm still undecided about those two possibilities.)

I have to say, this expresses my view perfectly. It strikes me as strange, and arouses suspicions, for exactly the same reasons.