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#1
06-03-2007, 01:47 PM
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#2
06-03-2007, 01:59 PM
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Not that way, they can't. James Randi is a con artist and a fraud.
I'll give you two examples. As part of his ongoing feud with Uri Geller (who is also a con artist and a fraud), Randi once duplicated one of Geller's radio shows. Geller had done this thing where he called on his radio audience to concentrate on broken appliances and try to fix them psychically. The listeners could then call in to the station with the results. Please note: Geller claimed the entire time that the listeners were the ones fixing the appliances. He did not claim that he was doing it himself. Randi's duplication of the performance was done by an associate, later described by Randi as "about as psychic as a piece of shirt cardboard." Randi's associates got the same results Geller did, and he claimed that this disproved Geller's claim. What's wrong with this claim is that, since Geller didn't claim to be doing the repairs himself replacing him with someone who doesn't claim to be psychic and getting the same result proves absolutely nothing. (Further note: Geller's radio show WAS a con scam; I'm not suggesting otherwise. Only that Randi's was, too.) Second example. On a TV show Randi put on years ago, he showed a film clip of the Latin American surgeon who called himself "Arigo," who was famous for miraculous cures using only a knife, with no anaesthetic, no proper surgical environment, etc. The psychic abilities alleged for him involve enhancement of actual surgery, done with an actual cutting instrument. Randi, to refute this, took a volunteer from the audience, and performed a completely different procedure, done by a completely different set of "psychic surgeons" (these from the Philippines), using palmed animal blood and sleight-of-hand. Of course, since he didn't repeat Arigo's procedure (lucky for his volunteer!), this proved nothing. But misdirection is the stage magician's stock-in-trade, after all. As for the contest, the catch is that Randi and his challenger must agree on the terms by which the test is to be conducted. Randi is free to reject any test that has any chance of succeeding, and of course he will. Either his challenger is stupid enough to fall for this, or he is not, but either way Randi will not lose his money. It's only the illusion of a test, not a true test, and the money (which is actually irrelevant to the test itself) is offered as, again, a form of misdirection. Randi is fine for entertainment. Otherwise, he should be ignored.
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 Même si tu es au loin, mon coeur sait que tu es avec moi The Stairway To Nowhere (FREE): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/8357 The Child of Paradox: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27019 The Golden Game: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/56716
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#3
06-03-2007, 02:45 PM
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Quote:
 lol don't anyone fall for something so stupid... please people don't be so naive
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 Je t'aime Alizée
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#5
06-03-2007, 03:46 PM
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HAHAHA. some things never change! oh yes, i dont believe in UFOs. as for ghosts, lemme put it this way, when anyone starts getting into long conversation with me in person about ghosts i tear up, but i dont cry. just tears. so in short...i believe in ghosts.
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#6
06-03-2007, 04:11 PM
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RMJ, DEEPWATERS... break it up, just respect each others opinions for what they are, regardless of what your thoughts are about them. Both of you agree to disagree, cuz this is just getting plain stupid...
It's over, just end it...
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Je t'aime Alizée
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#7
06-03-2007, 06:27 PM
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^ the debate would be kinda funny though CF no offense to the dearly cared for RMJ.
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Rockin' since 92 and rolling and melting faces off since 2005. I am a metalhead and Alizee fan to the end.
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#8
06-03-2007, 08:49 PM
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Quote:
One (1) Joeyhehe to English Translator Must have at least 1 year experience Competitive Pay in the form of Lili Dollars Please contact via PM
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#9
06-04-2007, 10:53 AM
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Quote:
Aside from the aggressive lack of punctuation, this particular sentence is not so cryptic. The debate would be kinda funny, though, CF. No offense to the (dearly cared for) RMJ.
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#10
06-04-2007, 12:27 PM
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Quote:
 always looking forward to being poked fun at.
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Rockin' since 92 and rolling and melting faces off since 2005. I am a metalhead and Alizee fan to the end.
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