randi the harasser

The only comment I can make on the article's accuracy is to observe that Randi's stage name is "The Amazing Randi", not "The Great Randi".

Seeing Russell Targ's name there also set my automatic woo-filter into overdrive.
 
Big Al said:
The only comment I can make on the article's accuracy is to observe that Randi's stage name is "The Amazing Randi", not "The Great Randi".

Seeing Russell Targ's name there also set my automatic woo-filter into overdrive.
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whos russell targ?
 
I've never heard of any harrassment case from Geller, but he is notorious for sueing pretty much everyone that mentions his name in public, so I wouldn't be surprised. I do find Jaime Licauco's defense of Geller to be quite amusing though.
well-known Israeli psychic Uri Geller, saying he was nothing but a fake psychic, that it was not true Geller could bend metallic spoons, keys and rings with his mind alone, despite numerous public demonstrations that the psychic was able to do so.
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Geller is one of the most thouroughly debunked "psychics" that has ever lived, anyone who still believes in him is clearly delusional. There are plenty of frauds around that are still believed by millions, so choosing someone with basically no followers seems a little odd.
 
Seems like the usual collection of misconceptions. I'm no super Randi expert, but a few things I noticed they got wrong:

-He's "The Amazing", not "The Great" as I recall.

-He doesn't lead PSICOP.

-"When somebody comes up to prove telekinesis, Randi changes the rules. Randi always finds loopholes so that, in the end, he concludes nothing has been proven." Is BS. Once the protocol is agreed upon, that's it. Randi doesn't conduct the tests, and he can't change the protocol (neither can the person making the paranormal claims).

I don't know if he "harrassed" Geller or not, so I won't speak on that section. Geller never really seemed to be able to prove anything in non-optimal conditions, which I find highly suspect. Of course, I can't prove he didn't have paranormal powers, but it sure smelled a lot like trickery. It's all before my time, really. I'm from the generation of the talking-to-dead-people fad.

Also, I found this kind of funny:

"I told the students it was good to maintain a healthy skepticism, not to accept at face value everything a person told them, but to verify everything. This way they might learn something their teacher would never learn because she kept her mind closed to the true nature of reality."

It seems odd that the ones who appear to do the most closing of the mind to realty are not the skeptics. What if the true nature of reality is that these powers are not real?

From all I've read, the whole point of the Randi challenge is simply to offer an incentive to people to prove that paranormal abilities exist, under double-blind, properly designed test conditions. The money is not Randi's, and he essentially stands to lose nothing. He is legally obligated to perform under the detailed challenge rules, and does not seem unwilling to do so.

If the challenge were met, then he (and all of us) would have excellent evidence that someone has a paranormal ability. This could be relatively mundane (say, if the stereophiles proved that the Golden Science thingadoodle improved the sound of a CD), but it could also have profound impacts on human science (as in the case of telekinesis).

I would ask why no fruitful scientific developments have been made from these paranormal abilities, if the writer's claim that telekinesis has been proven is indeed true. If this is so easy to prove, why haven't the researchers published vast amounts of data and replicated lab results to prove to the world that these claimed abilities are real?

And why the hostility towards Randi? Surely a true telekinetic or physic would hardly be unable to prove their powers with a magician present. I would think they would relish the chance to show how genuine their powers are, with no possibility for trickery.

Why not just put all of your cards on the table? Why not prove your abilities? Every branch of science has produced amazing discoveries and made the world a better place, yet somehow the paranormal "sciences" are only able to produce vague assertions and get huffy when asked to prove them.
 
I do remember that out of the law suits Geller brought against Randi, he did win one. The "certain amount" of damages was $1 or some nominal fee, IIRC. I could be wrong, though.

To be honest, I don't think Randi's given Geller much consideration for the past ten years.
 
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Ahh... gee, they'll let anyone write an article these days. No need to research, just spew personal opinions and anecdotes.

As mentioned above, the moment I read from the article that Randi calls himself "the Great Randi" I knew this idiot had done no real research for his article.

Blah!
 
From the bottom of the article:

Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer's day desk.
Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer's Reader's Advocate.
Or write The Readers' Advocate:
c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer
Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets,
Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Or fax nos. +63 2 8974793 to 94
 
The guy who wrote this article is a real doozy. I checked out some of his previous articles, and he piles the woo thick and deep. This was my favorite:

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=27039

INNER AWARENESS
22 fingers of 11 men lift heavy stone

What I heard about that mysterious stone was this:

1. It is a boulder about six feet long and four feet wide and weighs several tons.
2. If 11 men (no women allowed) place their right hand on top of it while chanting a certain mantra, the big stone will rise several feet from the ground.
3. If anyone removes his hand or stops chanting, the stone falls flat to the ground.

I told this story many times in my class on ESP to illustrate the tremendous powers of the mind.

------SNIP------

Different reality

That’s not exactly what my wife and I discovered in that Muslim mosque. Instead of a big boulder, what we saw was just an ordinary-looking oval-shaped stone about one and a half feet long, maybe a foot wide and half a foot in depth.

------SNIP------

Impressive

Here again is an example of reality being different from stories told by others. Although the stone was not as big and as heavy as I was made to believe, it was nevertheless an impressive demonstration because it was not possible to lift a 220-lb object with only two fingers of each of 11 men.
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That works out to 10 lbs. per finger. I have a calibrated test weight here in my work shop. I have absolutely no problem lifting it with one finger. I have seen rock climbers who can hold their own weight with one finger... without chanting.

The author of this article is easily impressed. :rolleyes:
 
Psiload said:
I have seen rock climbers who can hold their own weight with one finger... without chanting.
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Maybe they have paranormal abilities.

If I can lift 20 pounds with one finger, does that make me twice as mystical as the 11 men who did that?
 
The article claims that Randi lost a harassment case. Do we have a reference for this? I'd be interested in reading the court's opinion.
 
Although Randi was forced to stop harassing Geller, the court order did not include other people. So Randi still manages to harass those who believe in psychic phenomena. He heads a small but noisy group called the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (PSICOP) and publishes the Skeptical Inquirer, the main purpose of which is to show that those who believe in such things are nuts!
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Others have mentioned how Randi doesn't head CSICOP, but also note the guy can't even get the acronym correct when the complete name of the organization is right there in front of him. PSICOP is the sarcastic version that woos like to use. Apparently he was so caught up in RandiRage(tm) that he slipped up.

So that's another indication of his bias, and the quality of his editing and fact-checking.

And that doesn't even address what he alleges the "main purpose" of SI is. That's another argument we could have.
 
LexisNexis and Westlaw don't get me anything useful. The only "Geller v. Randi" I can find results in Uri getting fined for filing a frivolous lawsuit. Hmmm....

Then again, not every case is published.
 
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi

Legal disputes

The rivalry between Randi and his opponents has ended up in court on several occasions. These episodes include the following.

* In an interview with Twilight Zone Magazine, Randi accused Uri Geller and Eldon Byrd of being the ringleaders in a criminal blackmail plot aimed at destroying Randi.[5] Byrd sued Randi; the jury found that Randi's claim regarding Byrd was defamatory, but awarded Byrd $0 in damages (thus preventing further appeals by Byrd) [6].

* In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, Randi was presented as saying that Uri Geller had driven a close friend to "shoot himself in the head", which Randi afterwards claimed was a metaphor lost in translation.[7] However, Randi made a similar statement ("The scientist shot himself after I showed him how the key bending trick was done.") in the August 23, 1986 Toronto Star that seemed to validate Geller's charge. Since the referenced suicide victim died of natural causes, Geller successfully sued both the newspaper and Randi in the Japanese courts. Randi could not participate in the trial, did not recognize the court's authority (since "insult", as opposed to "libel", is not a legally cognizable basis for a civil action in the U.S.), and refused to pay the $2,000 judgement that was awarded.

* Randi once commented that Uri Geller's tricks are of the same quality as those Randi read on the backs of cereal packets as a child. Geller sued both Randi and CSICOP. CSICOP disavowed Randi, pleading that the organization was not responsible for Randi's statements. The court agreed that including CSICOP was frivolous, and they were dropped from the action. Geller was ordered to pay substantial damages to CSICOP (over $20,000)[8] [9] The order specifically excluded Randi from receiving any of the damages. At this time, Randi and Geller had both run up huge legal bills amounting to hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars. In a private meeting they achieved an out-of-court settlement, the details of which have been kept private. This case, as noted above, was directly responsible for the decision of Randi to part company with CSICOP.

* Alleged psychic Allison DuBois, on whose life the television series Medium was based, and whose alleged abilities and other claims Randi has questioned, threatened Randi with legal action for using a photo of her from her website in his December 17, 2004 commentary without her permission.[10] Randi removed the photo, and now uses a caricature of DuBois when mentioning her on his site, beginning with his December 23, 2005 commentary.[11]

* Late in 1996 Randi launched a libel suit against a Toronto-area psychic/self-published author/entry-level web developer named Earl Gordon Curley.[12] Curley had made a number of objectionable comments about Randi on Usenet. Despite constantly prodding Randi via Usenet to sue (Curley's implication being if Randi didn't sue then his allegations must be true), Curley seemed entirely surprised when Randi actually retained Toronto's largest law firm and initiated legal proceedings. The suit was eventually dropped in 1998 when Earl Curley died at the age of 51, allegedly drinking himself to death.[13]
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Arkan_Wolfshade said:
From the bottom of the article:

Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer's day desk.
Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer's Reader's Advocate.
Or write The Readers' Advocate:
c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer
Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets,
Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Or fax nos. +63 2 8974793 to 94
Click to expand...

Well....? Have you heard from them? :)
 
talkinfg about psychics, the other day discovery channel showed psychics who helped police find solution for crimes.As the cops revealed it was so detailed that it couldnt have been a fraud or trick.One of those Mediums who helped them was a certain Nancy Weber.Know her?:)
 
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