commentary

So I just saw the video referenced in this week's Swift, where Randi challenges us to put on our deerstalker caps and find the methods the medium is using to do his reading. Obviously, there was some cold reading involved, and, I suspect, hot reading (is that the right term?) Were there...

Screamers (the movie) spoiler: :D

Lock this thread if it's already been posted somewhere, but I don't see it. If you read Mr. Randi's latest commentary, he linked Chadbourne, an Astrologist, and his video of his claims of Randi. There's been a huge debate going back and forth in the comments page, and I suggest you check them...

Some thoughts about the 2/23 commentary 1) Can anybody find Geller doing this without choosing the star symbol? 2) Where are the studies that show people mostly pick the star, mostly pick 7, or 35, or 37, or don't pick repeated digits like 22 or 99, and that odd numbers are favored over...

Just wanted to say loved the commentary this week. Very strong all around.

"Of course, this isn’t the original handle, which was eaten up by termites many years ago, and I had to replace the axe-head, too, since it rusted away. But it still occupies the same space!” Well put. Does remind me of Terry Pratchett's "Fifth Elephant" And the Scone of Stone. Of course, as...

40 out of 60 would be significant. I don't see that 4 right answers out of 6 could remotely count as significant enough to qualify for the final test. And surely performance less than chance is no less miraculous than more thanchance. If the dowsers are making the wrong decision from the...

From the Commentary: A bit of a boo-boo here, pH 7 is less acidic than 6, not more so. But my other point would be that surely acidity is what is measured by the pH scale. A change in pH of 7 to 6 means there are 10 times as many free hydrogen ions in a given volume of the solution, but...

That composition about microfascism in health science had me laughing so hard I was gasping for air.

The fact that the bodies of the two missing guys (and their car) was found in Lake Waubesa instead of Lake Monona is likely to be enough evidence of Hurkos' psychic powers for many ... however, I assume that Hurkos made his "guess" after the car and bodies had not been found during an extensive...

In defence of Jersey's Senator Freddie Cohen, I think Randi missed the point with his line ... "That silence you hear from Mr. Langlois and from Senator Freddie Cohen is likely to continue. It is the defence-of-choice that superstition has over reason." It seems to me that the senator was the...

Have you ever seen the TV show Flip This House on A&E? They find a company that buys old, run down houses and fixes them up and sells them and they follow them around and document it all. Well this season it seems it's going to focus on a company in Texas with these really annoying people that...

I am confused. This weeks commentary is from October 2003. Is this a mistake or was Randi unable to do the commentary this week so they gave us a re-run? I don't mind, though when I got to the end and read about Roy Horn's recent mauling I thought, "Again?" so it kind of gave me a scare.

I don't know about you, but I very much enjoyed Fowlsound's contribution to this week's SWIFT, just as I enjoyed his original essay on the topic. For those who haven't done so already, do yourself a favor and read it. http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49403 As much...

This thread is only for the discussion of this section in the COMMENTARY. There are a zillion threads elsewhere if you want to revisit the whole issue (which is a pointless issue, but that's neither here nor there) This thread exists for one thing: to ask if Randi misunderstood why the...

I just want to point out that this week's commentary seems especially entertaining, fascinating, and fun to read. That is all. (Becca, you can take the dogs away now. Becca? Becca?)

Is the Commentary font also bigger now!?!? I'm aware that people with little knowledge of typography often make the mistake of thinking that a bigger font is easier to read. This is now a mistake that has appeared on last Friday's Commentary page. Why? Why mess with something that was good in...

In this week's Commentary at http://www.randi.org/jr/071505on.html, Randi writes: I'm afraid I have to take exception to this, on two fronts: First, a minor nitpick: Although the Declaration of Independence uses the phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", that phrase exists...

Woo hoo! You know, I really didn't write it for glory or fame or anything, but it would be nice to get a little acknowledgment somewhere for creating it...

Time to eat crow. Yes, you know who you are... Aw, man! Doesn't that just suck?

Looks like some massive lens flare. Was there a flash reflection just off-film (or sensor) there? It looks like one.

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That's a much better test than many amateur or informal tests I've read about. There are other people (Clarke, Krueger, Muller, etc) who can run a decent ABX test as well, using the actual "ABX Box", but of course that's a bit tough when we're swapping out power cables. I do have a couple of...

As I rarely go to the home page and have the Commentary Archive bookmarked.... This weeks commentary is not showing. Was their one last week and I have missed it? I know it was TAM3 weekend, so I just assumed JR was too busy.

I'm assuming Mr. Randi has evacuated the Ft. Lauderdale area in anticipation of Frances. I hope that he and staff have headed for higher ground. -TT

Sort of. That's my English translation of the OZ's French experimental report on therapeutic touch. Boo yah! Cross that particular ambition off my list.

Every week I check up on The Mellenium Project... and this week intrigued me: http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/ ... where Peter mentions the British Medical Journal editorial and a response by 106 doctors. This has commentary by none other than YURKO! See...

http://www.randi.org/jr/070204another.html This weeks commentary has a discussion of yet another free energy device. At the end a contact email is given. It seems to me that this address wasn't intended for general distribution but rather for an individual's followup questions (I could be...

I notice that the reflexology webpage linked from Randi's commentary has a forum also. My mouth waters at the possibilities.

Does anyone know why this weeks commentary hasn''t been posted? Is Randi taking a vacation or something? I don't mean to complain or anything, Randi definitely deserves any and all breaks he wants to take. But the weekly commentary is the high-light of my week; I love it and get excited every...