Merged The One - Australian TV

AndyD said:
Richard, can you explain who was awarding points in this week's speed-reading exercise and how much of the reading session was edited out?
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Much of the show is edited out for many reasons including time. This fact makes this 'speed reading' hard to comment on for me. All I can say for now is that the show is for entertainment and you cannot really judge too much on what the edited version shows you. You can see for yourself how many 'hits' they got in their 5 minutes.
 
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Rove is just about the most banal and unfunny person/thing on TV and I sit stony faced through the whole thing if I ever have to watch it but that was very amusing. Sure, making fun of psychics full of FAIL is shooting fish in a barrel - but I could watch it all day. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
Richard said:
That's better than being a weener.

I'll be on MMM radio (Brisbane) at 8.05am Eastern Australian Time.

TRIPLE M – Breakfast - The Cage

Date: Tuesday 22nd July
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Did you manage to get a recording of the show? When I went on MMM to "debate" a psychic the podcast released by the station left out such parts as me telling the "psychic" how she does her tricks and her denying any knowledge of the expression "cold reading". Also, the time between her being asked to do a reading of me and her refusal was not the instant it appears - she agreed then changed her mind. I attempted to get a full recording from the radio station but I was unsuccessful.

Hear what's left at http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/radio/050822mmm.mp3
 
All I can say for now is that the show is for entertainment and you cannot really judge too much on what the edited version shows you.
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Hmmm, well, yes and no. WE know that it shouldn't be judged by what goes to air (and I went back and did the calculations and up to 4 minutes of each 5 minute read was edited out) but, other than Amanda, these people are (we are led to believe) operating commercially and what is presented is essentially advertising.

Now, you and I, and everyone here, knows full-well that there's nothing psychic going on in the show - and some of us are having fun pointing it out - but viewers with a credulous bent are being fed a fairy tale and are being told (at a ratio of 8 for to 1 against) that it's all real.

I've spoken recently to some (otherwise rational) friends who think there is something going on in that studio - and they didn't mean BS.
 
Tonight's episode will be interesting.

I'm currently working on trying to edit last weeks episode three and I hope to put in a review of this week's episode as James Randi said he'd "consider it". It's fun for me as it's practice for my article writing.

I'm so damn happy that that cow woman She was eliminated. She knows what she's doing is fake, I think a lot of them (possibly not Charmaine) have actually tricked themselves into believing their own powers.

Anyway...I can't wait to have a laugh at 7.30.

Alex.
 
AndyD said:
[Charmaine got a point for guessing a woman's mother used to wear glasses!!! That's like saying saying she wore clothes.
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Wow. Australians either have much poorer eyesight than Americans, or a far more liberal attitude towards the necessity of wearing clothing...
 
RSLancastr said:
Wow. Australians either have much poorer eyesight than Americans, or a far more liberal attitude towards the necessity of wearing clothing...
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I saw a figure somewhere that suggests "almost everyone" over 55 wears glasses, luckily they do all tend to wear clothes - in public at least. Perhaps I did overstate the case a little ;)

On a much better note however - I GOT ANOTHER PREDICTION RIGHT!!!

Part of last week's prediction included:
"I'm getting a "J" and someone is pushing a recliner chair away. One take one leaves three."

Tonight, Jason was evicted. (For non-Aussies, "Jason" is also a major brand of recliner chair)

Tonight's review up at http://thinkingisreal.blogspot.com/
 
Just watched the most recent episode and its just more of the same. The psychics had to complete a test where they were given a piece of luggage and had to guess who it belonged to (There was a group of about 20 people)
Naturally all the psychics failed, but there were some close guesses, one of which I'am certain was due to the bag owners facial expression giving the psychic a hint. Then after the test they all had excuses. The female judge gave them all credit even though they failed.

The medical diagnosis was the worst, the only really full on hits were on 2 people who's conditions were obvious just by looking at them. One man had issues with his eyes, (among a myriad of other problems) and another man had suffered a stroke (which you could tell from his facial movements.)
All the rest was just guessing in the general area of the body with no specifications.

I missed the judges comments after the medical test, there seemed to be a disagreement which I wanted to hear.
Richard do you remember what was said?
 
I missed the judges comments after the medical test, there seemed to be a disagreement which I wanted to hear.
Richard do you remember what was said?
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I'm not sure if Richard will revise details (or if it's in the video above) so I'll do it for him...

After the medical demonstration, Richard suggests the stroke victim looked a bit like he'd had a stroke. Stacey declares this to be "number 24 out of the skeptics little poo poo book".

Later, after the missing luggage episode, despite the fact that Richard graciously allowed Stacey to mention Acupuncture as if it was a real medical treatment, she took issue with him failing to credulously accept that the failed guessing game he'd just witnessed was a genuine demonstration of psychic power. She then threw in the old "you can't measure love" canard.

One big win for skeptics tonight (although only skeptics will see it) was when Demarco confirmed the Forer effect (I don't think she realised it). From my blog review:

"Saunders agrees that we were seeing "generalities" and Demarco confirms what every skeptic has been arguing for decades - that these vague generalities feel specific to the individual involved. By George, I think she's got it! That is what the entire trick relies on - people think that vague things that apply to almost everyone really apply only to them..."
 
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Thanks AndyD, sounds as if Stacey got a little bit defensive, she probably knew what Richard was going to pick up on since it was so obvious I'm sure most of the audience and home viewers saw it as well. I'm actually surprised that only one of the psychics noticed the stroke victim.
 
Thanks AndyD, sounds as if Stacey got a little bit defensive, she probably knew what Richard was going to pick up on since it was so obvious I'm sure most of the audience and home viewers saw it as well. I'm actually surprised that only one of the psychics noticed the stroke victim.
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He he :), I'm not. They were pretty hopeless and we only got to see a few seconds of some readings - and some weren't shown at all. I think they only showed Ezio reading two of the five people.

The scary thing is that at least two of them (Amanda and Jason) consider medical intuition to be their strength. More interesting however is a quote from the Aust. Psychics Assoc code of ethics:

"In the process of your readings, you may make reference to legal or medical issues, but you are not to give legal or medical advice. You are to refer clients to suitable people in the above professional categories if that need should arise."

In other words, feel free to make all the vague guesses you like, even if it scares the crap out of the customer, but when you're done tell them to get a useful opinion from someone who actually knows what they're doing. So, although Demarco says science and skeptics have trouble accepting alternative medicine, the peak "psychic" body in the country shares that skepticism.
 
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I'm surprised that Richard gets knocked here at all for his unique hard work. It's a great start that he is allowed at all -- despite editing -- to appear on a woo show. The people who think he doesn't fight hard enough are undoubtedly curmudgeons who will never get on TV. You have to have a little charisma like Richard and I and a little ability to put up with the pretty woos to make it.

Someday there will be a show sponsored by the JREF where woos are invited to do some woo under controlled conditions. All the woos will hopelessly fail and the ratings will be terrible and other woos will say it didn't mean anything.

The battle against woo is never ending and will never be won. Give Richard credit for getting in the argument and on TV, don't give him an argument for things beyond his control. I suspect there are middle school Australian children writing papers about this show who will become future skeptics.

It's all good.
 
I have pages and pages and pages of notes taken during the taping of both the medical intuitive and celebrity reading segments from last night and it goes without saying that I'd be here for hours if I typed out everything left on the editing room floor.

Stuff like, Charmaine flat out said the woman in the medical segment was an ovarian cancer survivor. She's not -- actually, below the knee amputee. The show is totally pushing for her to win though so they wouldn't sabotage her that way. With the soapie actor Paul O'Brien Ezio said "here is a John in spirit" which got him the green orb of approval, however it came out in the chat afterwards that while his father is John, he is NOT DEAD thus not in spirit.

It was good though that the patients nodding and smiling and giving away cues out the wazoo was shown, despite being told they had to give no feedback when someone is standing right in front of you, talking directly to you obviously you can't help giving them direction. The same with the baggage owners in the other segment even though none of them got it right.

Richard got some good lines again -- "they all failed, some just failed more than others." Heh.
 
I quite like Richards remarks, he comes across as very observative and patient, plus some of his facial expressions are hilarious.

I'm really hoping the Chaser guys comment on this show when they finally come back on the air

Nettiemoore you should post scans of your notes.
 
AndyD, thanks for writing that blog, its very handy to be able to spend 10 minutes reading about what happened rather than wasting an hour watching the horrid show myself. Plus I have to argue with my husband while it's on so I miss bits anyway :)
 
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