talkmagic.co.uk

pcwells wrote:Is this much different to the new age market?

Nope - it's folks paying to grasp alternatives where they feel mainstream has let them down or isn't doing what they want.

(I'm just as bad, I take a multivitamin every day - just in case it might do me some good even though I kow it probably doesn't make any difference !)

I'm just watching it on iPlayer and when the voice over is talking about more skeptical people relying on science and reason about 5 minutes into the programme, the footage is taken from the Leicester Skeptics In The Pub talk that I was at. The guy from Badpsychics.com was there filming it and he was quite interesting to chat to.

I wonder what James Randi would do if he heard about this?

- Rob

If anyone missed this and would rather see it from the comfort of their sofa rather than sat in front of a computer screen, it's repeated on BBC3 tonight at 8pm.

EDIT: Mind you, the Top Gear where the overgrown schoolboys try to drive HGVs is on BBC2 at 7. Far more entertaining.

RobMagus wrote:I wonder what James Randi would do if he heard about this?

- Rob

I would love to see James Randi get his teeth into this guy- he would absolutely crucify him- even "competent" psychics like John Edward and co. don't have a leg to stand on when Randi is in town, so this guy would get torn apart (with any luck)

PS the JREF does have a youtube channel that uploads a weekly video titled "James Randi speaks" as well as showing some great footage of the great man at his debunking best. Well worth a look!

this is being repeated tonight on bbc3

That silly old codger Randi has never "crucified" anyone. Psychics beat him every time. Every time I see him on TV arguing with psychics he is always outwitted at every turn. I still remember the time Rosemary Altea ran rings around him and he went red in the face while she just smiled sweetly mocking him gently all the time.

The trouble is with Randi is that he looks so miserable on television. It turns the viewer off. If he were to use his well known sense of humour and be himself more he would be far more effective.

Psychics have debunked Randi far more than he has ever debunked them. Whenever he is on TV arguing with a psychic the switchboard lights up with people wanting readings.

I still remember that nasty old witch Sylvia Browne telling him that he had heart trouble and he denied it on TV. Not long after that he went into hospital for a heart operation.

Nope. Poor old Randi was a grand old showman as an entertainer but bloody useless as a debunker. The psychic business is still booming while he is ailing. And it will boom well after he is gone.

I see Mr Lewis is once again trying to stir up attacks on him.

Wouldn't be anything to do with this, would it?

And which psychic has debunked Randi, might I ask? I'd love to know, honestly. Names and dates please - and an explanation as to why they graciously declined his million dollar prize (and also declined to make him - possibly the greatest antagonist of psychics since Houdini - look like an idiot in public and prove their powers are genuine once and for all, so as to stop future Randis from popping up). As for Randi himself, I seem to recall him having a pretty good hitrate for debunking nonsense like this.

reformedarsonist wrote:Wouldn't be anything to do with this, would it?

This is equally satisfying reading (without giving it away, I started laughing at around the time the Jarvis Cornfest was mentioned).

What's really funny is reading his words as if Stewie Griffin is saying them.

I am afraid that this deformed arsonist personage is out of his league if he tries to attack me. He is obviously a member of this deranged Randi forum which consists mainly of football hooligans and acne ridden teenagers of whom he is obviously one.

I am always amused that they never have the nerve to post their real names in public in the same way that the deformed arsonist prefers to be anonymous here.

It is not necessary for psychics to make Randi look an idiot in public since he does that himself on rather a regular basis. Everyone in the psychic business including myself realises that the so-called million dollar challenge is a load of hokum. If you produced three tons of ectoplasm out of the old b*****'s right ear he still wouldn't pay up and I don't blame him. I wouldn't either. The man is a fraud and I highly commend him for it.

Now my boy. You must remember that here you do not have your Randi louts to help you and you are alone and at my mercy. I can chew you up, spit you out and you will be screaming for your mother.

Talking about mothers we all make mistakes. I rather think she made a big one.

As for which psychics have debunked Randi there have been many, many of them. My favourite was when Doris Stokes phoned him up when he was on a radio programme and sent the old buzzard scampering off with a flea in his ear.

But she wasn't the only one. Rosemary Altea showed him up on TV as did Doris Collins.

Earl Curley actually won the Randi prize but the old b***** found some excuse not to pay him. As he would no matter whether you won or not. He is the one who decides whether to pay out or not. And he ain't going to no matter what the proof.

Now mention of Randi will no doubt bring Reverend Browning out of the woodwork who will make dark hints of terrible wickedness concerning Randi which he insists there is proof of. I won't get into that part of things since I am not sure I believe them and in any event I am actually a fan of Randi as a performer and character.

I am merely saying that as a debunker he has never actually debunked anything because he looks so miserable on television and nobody likes him. The far more charismatic psychics always seem to win the arguments.

I hope the irony of a 'psychic' calling Randi "a fraud" is not lost on anybody.