Randi the fraudster?

[idunno]

Hi I watched today on Channel Odissey Maichael Palin travelling to the Philipines where he met two Psychic surgeons.Unlike Randi,in his TV demonstration of the tricks of PS, they dont hide their hands in a cloth like Randi did. You can actually thiose peoples hands digging in the persons belly. So much for Randi`s performance

 

[Grimoire]

Hi I watched today on Channel Odissey Maichael Palin travelling to the Philipines where he met two Psychic surgeons.Unlike Randi,in his TV demonstration of the tricks of PS, they dont hide their hands in a cloth like Randi did. You can actually thiose peoples hands digging in the persons belly. So much for Randi`s performance

And I've seen him do it without hiding his hand in a cloth, where it really does look like his hand is actually going into the belly.

Are you implying that Randi is a "fraud"?

 

[case sensitive]

Oh nooooooo... It´s the end of reason!!! Randi made a performance that didn't cover everything in the entire world!!!!

 

[Psiload]

Hi I watched today on Channel Odissey Maichael Palin travelling to the Philipines where he met two Psychic surgeons.Unlike Randi,in his TV demonstration of the tricks of PS, they dont hide their hands in a cloth like Randi did. You can actually thiose peoples hands digging in the persons belly. So much for Randi`s performance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxMGxz6-oTs

I don't see Randi hiding his hands in a cloth.

 

[Starrman]

Hi I watched today on Channel Odissey Maichael Palin travelling to the Philipines where he met two Psychic surgeons.Unlike Randi,in his TV demonstration of the tricks of PS, they dont hide their hands in a cloth like Randi did. You can actually thiose peoples hands digging in the persons belly. So much for Randi`s performance

idunno,

If you had a cancerous tumor, and had to choose between a real surgeon and the surgeons in the video, which would you choose?

 

[RSLancastr]

I have seen Mr. Randi and other magicians perform fake "psychic surgery" on a number of occasions, but don't recall them "hiding their hands in a cloth."

They had fake blood and bits of guts tucked away in a false thumb, and, through sleight-of-hand, appeared to be pulling them out of the abdomen of their "patient."

 

[idunno]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxMGxz6-oTs

I don't see Randi hiding his hands in a cloth.

i hadnt seen that one.In another he uses a cloth thus the mistake

 

[HeyLeroy]

Idunno's convinced me.

All this time I thought I could think critically for myself, but I guess I was wrong.

Mr. Randi, you bastage, you've had me in your evil grip for far too long. I'm off to the Phillipines to have my ingrown toenail treated by a psychic surgeon. When I return, I'll swing by Sylvia Browne's for help with my resume.

Cheers.

 

[RSLancastr]

i hadnt seen that one.In another he uses a cloth thus the mistake

Magicians frequently have multiple methods for performing a given illusion. That way, if something happens which causes a problem for one method, they simply switch over to one of the other methods.

Perhaps, the other time you saw it, something happened which made the "fake thumb" method unworkable (unexpected camera angles, for instance), so Mr. Randi switched over to another method which required the cloth.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Hey- idunno squarely admits he made a mistake here.
Fair enough. Happens to everyone.

 

[HeyLeroy]

Damn, and I've already booked my flight!

Cheers, idunno.

 

[Ladewig]

Even if Randi's debunking were very badly done, it could never be as badly done as the psychic surgery itself, because that no matter what one is diagnosed with, e.g. brain lesions, esophageal cancer, the psychic surgeon will invariably say, "no the illness is not located where the Western doctors said it was, what you really have is a tumor in the stomach area, I will remove that now." They do that because it is much easier to perform the sleight of hand on a fleshy part of the body (the stomach) than on a boney part of the body (the scalp).

I consider psychic surgeons to be the lowest form of con artist. They take money form the people who are already broke and they provide nothing in return. Let the punishment fit the crime: I would seriously consider imprisoning them for life and witholding all medical treatment from them - let them psychically operate on each other.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

Personally this psychic surgory illusion never seemed all that illusionary to me. Frankly it's disturbing that anyone could watch it and not immediatly think "maybe they are just tucking their fingers into their palms". Maybe these people never had a grandpa try to steal their nose or pretend to sever his thumb and reattach it? I'm no magician, and I do tend to overthink a lot of magician's trick when the answer is something most likely blindingly obvious, but in this case it seems blatant what is happening.

 

[Elizabeth I]

I have seen this performed live (not by James Randi, but by Brian Brushwood, *shameless plug* who does an awesome show) and even knowing it was fake it was pretty impressive. It did look like his hand was actually digging into the "patient's" abdomen. (Except one time when the patient was ticklish and couldn't help laughing.)

 

[thaiboxerken]

i hadnt seen that one.In another he uses a cloth thus the mistake

If you don't feel like a total doofus, you should.

 

[Jeff Corey]

Maybe psychic surgery of the frontal lobe could cure terminal doofusism.

 

[TjW]

Fortunately, his frontal lobe is not located in his skull, as western medicine would have you believe, but in his abdomen...

 

[Hawkeye]

i hadnt seen that one.In another he uses a cloth thus the mistake

Blast, I really wanted to use the line "idunno, udunno what you're talking about."

 

[Victor Meldrew]

Fake thumb? So that's how it's done (excuse my innocence....)

Any more revelations guys? On how other tricks are performed?

 

[Azrael 5]

That's how David Copperfield vanished the Statue of Liberty! A fake thumb!