"Sez You?"
That's a fine accusation.
It's not a matter of SEZ ME.
It's a matter of SEZ THE CASE FILES.
You can come to JREF anytime you like (please call and let us know when you plan to visit so that we might receive you properly, or just pop in unannounced, if your suspicions require it)
and go through our case files. They are open to the public, and, on a more personal note, I am more than anxious to see people visit the JREF to see for themselves. Our doors are wide open, and they shall remain so. We welcome all inquirers.
Of course the people don't want my statements to be proven as being truthful, well, they won't ever be interested in physical proof, and you know something? Although this bugged me a lot upon my arrival here, I just accept it nowadays as "a given". I now view them as I view Creationists, UFO-logists, and people who claim to talk to the dead. They are either trying to delude others, or are self-deluded, and there's little real difference between the two groups. Neither has any use for the truth, so what can I possibly do to change that? Nothing, I've learned.
And unless I get a duly executed Challenge application and accompanying claim letter from them, I ignore them as I would the village idiot.
But, if you have doubt regarding my statements, you have the right to investigate. If you truly seek the truth, you will do so.
Come one, Come all !!!
If all you wish to do, on the other hand, is to make empty, baseless accusations on internet forums, we'll never see you at our door.
"If they can dowse, they can dowse. If their rock melts ice, it melts ice. Yet again and again they are unwilling to use certain protocols."
This sizes it up perfectly. I remind you, also, that by signing the application and sending it to JREF, the applicant agrees to abide by the Challenge rules and submit their claim to scientific scrutiny.
Only this morning I received the following statement from our ALIENROCKWHEREDIDITCOMEFROM.com applicant (after many long weeks of protocol negotiations) as his means of escaping the test and backing out of the Challenge:
"I will not allow a non scientist or a scientist with no experience in high energy radiation to conduct experiments on my gemstone."
Randi calls this The Escape Portal. I have learned that most applicants have one prepared and ready to go, should they find themselves unable to persuade us to test their claim using less-than-acceptable standards.
Keep in mind, also, that this applicant made numerous claims about the properties of his "gemstone" that he stated in his claim letter could be "verified under whatever conditions JREF requires."
This is par for the course, people. Once the applicant realizes that their claim won't withstand scientific scrutiny, they back out, and most of them back out in very similar fashions.
And as to another forum members' question...don't I wish that more credible claims were submitted, or is it satisfying to see one claim after another tumbling into the pit of failure?
YES, I wish we received claims by applicants who truly were anxious to be tested, and by applicants who might want to adhere to the agreement they entered into when signing their application, and submit their claim to scientific scrutiny.
And by the way, an investigator need not be an accredited scientist in order to apply scientific method to the testing procedure. All one needs is an understanding of the scientific method of inquiry, with an emphasis on the area of the specific claim they have been enlisted to test. Most "real" scientists know their field well enough to be less than interested in being bothered with 99% of the claims we receive here. Indeed, if dowsing has been tested without success thousands and thousands of times, why would some scientist, given the choice, chose to spend his Saturday afternoon in damp cornfield instead of with his children, or grandchildren, or beside his fireplace with a good book in hand?
And NO. It is NOT satisfying to me in any way whatsoever to see claims fail, or to see applicants refuse to be tested. In fact, in my many months here, I have seen ONE applicant tested, and this infuriates me. He performed worse than chance.
If you could be a fly on the wall here this morning, you'd have seen me storm into Randi's office with a copy of the email from Mr. AlienRock, loudly protesting the man's refusal to be tested, his massive file under my arm..."Look at what this man put us through in these last few weeks, and look at the manner in which he backed out of testing!"
I was livid.
Randi was entirely unphased. He's seen this thousands of times.
He just stared at me with a rather blank expression that seemed to say, "Tell me something I haven't heard before, please."
"But I want to see more people tested!", I yelled.
"But you won't", came Randi's calm, studied reply.
I left his office with my tail between my legs, more than just a little bit embarrassed over the fact that I continue to get so upset at something that I should be well used to by now.
Will I ever find a way to stop becoming so upset? I hope so.
Will I ever stop being disappointed when it does? I hope not.
Complacency just isn't my style.
And I will always, ALWAYS put my best efforts into negotiating an acceptable test protocol. I will bend the rules as far as they can be bent in my efforts to meet the applicants needs, but I can't break the rules. My goal is to see applicants proceed to testing.
Meeting that goal but once in nearly 6 months is a most serious thorn in my side, but I insist that the responsibility for that lies with the applicant, as the onus of PROOF sits entirely in their court, and not with JREF.
It is NOT JREF's job to disprove extraordinary claims. It is the applicant's job to PROVE it.
I'm not used to this stuff just yet (the disappointment, I mean), but I'm getting there.
