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So what does James Randi do for a living?

calebprime said:
I'll say "troll" if you say "crazy" or equivalent. :)

He's either someone with serious mental issues who doesn't like atheists much, so he's trolling, or

He's someone with serious, serious anger & maturity issues who doesn't like atheists much, so he's trolling, or

He's an unemployed actor/sociopath who is constructing an elaborate persona over a period of years in order to, whatever... or,

He's someone with serious mental issues and anger issues who half-wants to reach out to people and half-wants to dominate them and confound them. (like I've discussed.)

And it all comes out to the same thing, in a way, for us.

No-one's going to stick around, or give him money, or even give him that much advice, or pity.

But he ain't funny.

Oddly enough, it's easy enough to fool psychiatrists in person, as various documentaries have shown. Actors pretending to be mentally ill have gotten admitted to mental hospitals, only to really feel like they were going crazy.

These are doctors who have the person directly in front of them, to talk to.

How can we do any better than that? We can't.

Prisoners (in jail) simulate mental illness, sometimes, thinking that they will get transferred some place.

It really doesn't matter to us, since we're not responsible.

But whatever the case, it goes beyond just taking the piss.

Maybe we can all agree on that.

=========================
Look, to go on a tangent about acting: I've never seen an actor actually simulate mental illness (or neurological damage) in a convincing, naturalistic way. Not DeNiro. Not Christian Bale in The Fighter. The actual guys that movie is based on, shown at the end of that movie, are a lot scarier. Same with autism. Rain Man? No.

Of Mice and Men? No. Malkovich has way too much of a gleam in his eye.

With actors, there's a lot more spark, a lot more presence. Joie de vivre. They are way more interesting, and well, dramatic.

Counter-examples?
Click to expand...

Donald Trump?
 
Hmm, what could the reason for that possibly be - I mean, heads of companies never get way more money than staff. Oh dear, what a quandry this puts me in!!!









Oops, I was wrong - they do, and I really do not care. MYOB is a good policy for stuff like that - otherwise people might think you are jealous.
 
Randi works at a bikini car wash on the fourth Sunday of every month. Makes a ******* killing! ;)

Edited by jhunter1163: 
Edited for Rule 10.
 
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It's cool how Randi is at first this sort of almost mystical force of Skepticism somewhere in the world.


Then you actually meet him and he's pretty much a really nice, witty, smart and funny old man.
 
James Randi is showing me card tricks and teaching me skepticism over skype. I am bored. I did like the one where he threw a deck of cards at my window and a card stuck to it. Virtual window that is.
 
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Throwing a deck of cards over Skype is serious magic.

I, too have met Randi a couple of times. The thing you first notice is how small he is. Then you talk to him for a minute and you stop noticing that.

The question of his salary is a fair one. Compared to other celebrities of comparable standing it's probably not much. Compared to the CEO of non profit organisations with half a dozen staff, some volunteers, it's rather a lot. Helluva lot more'n I make anyway.
Whether you feel he earns it is going to depend on a lot of things. I'm inclined to think he does, but I do wonder what a man his age whose primary hobby and interest is basically also his vocation would find to spend it on. I guess that's not my business.

Slightly off topic , apart from the business with the cross, which I think was contracted out, is there any biblical evidence of Jesus actually doing carpentry?
 
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calebprime said:
I'll say "troll" if you say "crazy" or equivalent. :)

He's either someone with serious mental issues who doesn't like atheists much, so he's trolling, or

He's someone with serious, serious anger & maturity issues who doesn't like atheists much, so he's trolling, or

He's an unemployed actor/sociopath who is constructing an elaborate persona over a period of years in order to, whatever... or,

He's someone with serious mental issues and anger issues who half-wants to reach out to people and half-wants to dominate them and confound them. (like I've discussed.)

And it all comes out to the same thing, in a way, for us.

No-one's going to stick around, or give him money, or even give him that much advice, or pity.

But he ain't funny.

Oddly enough, it's easy enough to fool psychiatrists in person, as various documentaries have shown. Actors pretending to be mentally ill have gotten admitted to mental hospitals, only to really feel like they were going crazy.

These are doctors who have the person directly in front of them, to talk to.

How can we do any better than that? We can't.

Prisoners (in jail) simulate mental illness, sometimes, thinking that they will get transferred some place.

It really doesn't matter to us, since we're not responsible.

But whatever the case, it goes beyond just taking the piss.

Maybe we can all agree on that.

=========================
Look, to go on a tangent about acting: I've never seen an actor actually simulate mental illness (or neurological damage) in a convincing, naturalistic way. Not DeNiro. Not Christian Bale in The Fighter. The actual guys that movie is based on, shown at the end of that movie, are a lot scarier. Same with autism. Rain Man? No.

Of Mice and Men? No. Malkovich has way too much of a gleam in his eye.

With actors, there's a lot more spark, a lot more presence. Joie de vivre. They are way more interesting, and well, dramatic.

Counter-examples?
Click to expand...

Those seem like some mighty serious charges to be levying against some guy just for posting some cr*p to a little net forum...
 
I just looked at the 2010 990 form. It looks like they had expenses of 380k for "Conferences, Conventions and Meetings." Is this the main body of the JREF's cash that is spent on pursuing its mission beyond salaries and maintenance and stuff? Just trying to get a handle on what's going on there.
 
MNBrant said:
Is he a carpenter like Jesus, or does he make his entire living by being a sceptic? If he is not working, how long has it been since he has had a real job? Personal response only please.
Click to expand...

"So what does James Randi do for a living?"

getting old. At his age usually you don't *need* to have a real job.

Although one can troll at any age, as is visible here.
 
MNBrant said:
Is he a carpenter like Jesus, or does he make his entire living by being a sceptic? If he is not working, how long has it been since he has had a real job? Personal response only please.
Click to expand...

Mate, James Randi, better known as Randall James Hamilton Zwinge is an illusionist.
He made a good living doing the rabbit out of the hat stuff for a long while. But as time progressed he saw that the crowds were becoming bored. Looking around he saw that the churches of the day were making a killing doing much the same as he was..........illusions.

So, hey presto, he set up his own and called it the JREF.

And lo and behold, disillusioned ex Catholics, people who had been to false prophets, those whose love ones had died from quack remedies flooded to him.

All he had to do was pass around the plate and "Abracadabra"........$175,000 per annum appeared.

His best trick yet.
 
mike3 said:
Those seem like some mighty serious charges to be levying against some guy just for posting some cr*p to a little net forum...
Click to expand...

It was a while ago, but this post of yours--quoting mine--keeps popping up on the top of my page when I look into this thread.

At the time, there was a lot of speculation that the writer of the OP was a troll who was falsely claiming to be mentally ill.

I was arguing against this interpretation of his behavior, and this was my last post on the subject, after looking into it as much as I could.

My post is not to be understood as charging him with anything. Rather, it attempted to list what others had said as part of a list of possibilities. As you probably know, many things that are very unlikely are still logically possible.

In order to understand my thrust, unfortunately, you would have had to read some or all of the previous discussion. There, I had done some Googling and quoted many posts by MNBrant. I'd also looked at his YouTube videos--now removed. Perhaps this was overzealous.

Based on my experience with mental illness in my own family, based on a fairly extensive reading in psychology, and based on my reading of his other posts on the 'Net and looking at his video, I came to the conclusion that MNBrant was pretty much what he said he was-- said many times over a period of years in other forums.

My intention was not to be cruel or accusatory, so I regret what I said. It's just that a few of us had looked into it a little more than most other people, and I had gotten frustrated saying the same thing a few times over.

I regret causing any distress to MNBrant, if I did, or sounding like I was accusing him of anything. I had gotten a little too passionate, because I thought someone was wrong on the Internet. I put a lot of effort into one post (not this quoted post) in which I hope I sounded a little more humane.

He was getting a lot of attention for a while, because he was starting a lot of threads.

Aside from those who thought that he was lying about being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, most people here responded to him politely and appropriately.
 
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Moved a bunch of personal bickering posts to Abandon All Hope, don't start it up again.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Darat
 
Actually, I am a skeptic, same as you all. The only difference is that I acknowledge there is a mystery surrounding death, while you deny it. Randi has made an enjoyable forum for the number of people who come here.
 
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