These frauds always will turn down the Randi Challenges or this other guy because they know that their "power" cannot be quantified in any reasonable way. The millions of dollars they currently make fleecing vulnerable people is a lot more than the nothing they would get from taking (and subsequently failing) the tests.

What, dietary supplement makers don't want their claims tested?

Oh, wait, sorry. Wrong thread. Sort of.

pearls before swine: What, dietary supplement makers don't want their claims tested?

Oh, wait, sorry. Wrong thread. Sort of.

Eh - there are plenty of supplements that would actually do what they claim to do; they are mostly illegal though. Steroids are some powerful things.

ourbigdumbmouth: I knew this would happen

Wait? What?!?! You knew this would happen!!!!1! But how?

Hey..he'll do it after he helps a suburban housewife find her car keys. And maybe after one more gig..but he'll do it, subby. he'll do it.

Somaticasual: Hey..he'll do it after he helps a suburban housewife find her car keys. And maybe after one more gig..but he'll do it, subby. he'll do it.

Minor correction to cheap joke: "she'll do it, subby, she'll do it."

AngryPanda: These frauds always will turn down the Randi Challenges or this other guy because they know that their "power" cannot be quantified in any reasonable way. The millions of dollars they currently make fleecing vulnerable people is a lot more than the nothing they would get from taking (and subsequently failing) the tests.

Don't forget all the pastors, priests, and ministers. Give them a chance, too.

AngryPanda: These frauds always will turn down the Randi Challenges or this other guy because they know that their "power" cannot be quantified in any reasonable way. The millions of dollars they currently make fleecing vulnerable people is a lot more than the nothing they would get from taking (and subsequently failing) the tests.

No, see, you don't get it. Randi's the fraud! The million dollars is a hoax! That's why respectable psychics don't waste their time with Randi's challenge.

/Or maybe there's no such thing as the supernatural.

She could have given an excuse that a great calamity would have occurred (to her) if she had shown up on that date.

"Sceptics"? Seriously?

She makes more money with her show than getting a $1M prize at one go. She's just a fake. If I were given a chance to take part in that contest, I'd try my best to guess the right answers, and after claiming the $1M, I'll tell them "The spirit helping me left because of my greed." lol!

engrishmajor: "Sceptics"? Seriously?

It's about time to clean out the sceptic tank.

engrishmajor: "Sceptics"? Seriously?

I'm going to let someone else waste their time on explaining to you why your post was idiotic.

scottydoesntknow: Is that like a jumbo shrimp or a sanitary landfill?

More like History Channel.

Well to be fair, Shawn can be pretty lazy.

Hell, if I could do anything in a day or two, or even a couple of days in a month and make a million dollars for CHARITY I'd do it. There are kids in this world who go hungry, starve, and die of intestinal parasites. If you're too busy for a million bucks, perhaps it's time to stop calling yourself a human being and just go with "person".

Psychic? Hell, she lacks ORDINARY empathy, let alone extraordinary ability in that area.

Shaun couldn't send Guster?
/To the Blueberry

I know how she feels. I mean, I'm too busy to sex with all the supermodels that are begging me or to try out for the Cowboys, even though they keep asking me to replace Romo.

James F. Campbell: scottydoesntknow: Is that like a jumbo shrimp or a sanitary landfill?

More like History Channel.

I'm thinking more like military intelligence or better yet...Women's rights

GreenSun: She makes more money with her show than getting a $1M prize at one go. She's just a fake. If I were given a chance to take part in that contest, I'd try my best to guess the right answers, and after claiming the $1M, I'll tell them "The spirit helping me left because of my greed." lol!

It could be. None of the big name psychos will ever take the challenge. They will lose out on the money they are making. Wasn't it Sylvia Browne that charges $700 for a phone reading. And she is booked 2 years in advance. That is a lot of coin to give up when you are shown to be a fraud.

James F. Campbell: engrishmajor: "Sceptics"? Seriously?

I'm going to let someone else waste their time on explaining to you why your post was idiotic.

No, I get it. I apologise if I upset you. I had not learnt to spell it that way.

Jim from Saint Paul: Well to be fair, Shawn can be pretty lazy.

I foresee a ripped from the headlines episode, and Henry Spencer ends up with the cash after Gus finally gets Shawn off his ass

engrishmajor: "Sceptics"? Seriously?

Some words are spelled and pronounced differently in British English and American English! Film at 11.

AngryPanda: These frauds always will turn down the Randi Challenges or this other guy because they know that their "power" cannot be quantified in any reasonable way. The millions of dollars they currently make fleecing vulnerable people is a lot more than the nothing they would get from taking (and subsequently failing) the tests.

You can't quantify an ability that strikes indirectly and intermitemtly. Psychic powers are touchy and you can't discount them just because it scares you.
They exist, even if your small brains can't comprehend what's happening around you this very moment.

I think it's perfectly fair to assume that anyone who profits from claims of clairvoyant powers, psychic powers, or extraordinary powers of perception who does not accept the JREF million dollar challenge is a fraud. Any normal person who honestly makes a claim would demonstrate that claim if possible for one million dollars. Even if they didn't need the money, even if they're a billionaire, a million dollars can still do so much good in the world that it shows those who refuse for what they are.
Skeptics don't want to defraud them or mock them, but ask that they demonstrate their ability so that the truth can be known. We lose nothing if they win, the money is in escrow. It's not like losing your house, it's like losing a thing you can't spend but have to account for year after year. They'd be doing Randi and the rest of the JREF a favor by showing that such ability is possible, which is something we'd all like to know one way or the other.
You can never prove a negative, but if even one person demonstrates in the positive, it would dismiss all attempts to demonstrate that these people are frauds IMMEDIATELY.
That is why skeptics want to know. Skeptics are not cynical nonbelievers, they're doubters. They're people who want facts, not promises, evidence, not word-of-mouth rumors.
I'm skeptical about UFO reports, but I think it's not just possible, but probable that somewhere in our universe, there are numerous other civilizations, and some may even have space travel. Finding evidence of extraterrestrial life wouldn't wreck my worldview and I have no sacred dogma to preserve at the cost of truth.
Psychic phenomena would demonstrate that human beings may have the equipment necessary for interacting in dimensions beyond the first four. There is nothing to fear, except being led into false beliefs by charlatans, and that we guard against. Any attempts to paint the skeptical community as somehow rigid, dogmatic, or dishonest are merely attempts to remove scrutiny from those who make unproven claims and place it on those who don't believe them. That's pretty irrational, if you think about it. It's not irrational to ask a man who claims to have a rhinoceros in the trunk of his car to show it to you before you put faith in his words.

mephisto6: AngryPanda: These frauds always will turn down the Randi Challenges or this other guy because they know that their "power" cannot be quantified in any reasonable way. The millions of dollars they currently make fleecing vulnerable people is a lot more than the nothing they would get from taking (and subsequently failing) the tests.

You can't quantify an ability that strikes indirectly and intermitemtly. Psychic powers are touchy and you can't discount them just because it scares you.
They exist, even if your small brains can't comprehend what's happening around you this very moment.

6/10

I'm glad that people like Randi are around. They're doing their best to stop these frauds from ripping off people.

Why ruin your "good" name by trying to go after a $1M windfall and ultimately failing?

oren0: engrishmajor: "Sceptics"? Seriously?

Some words are spelled and pronounced differently in British English and American English! Film at 11.

I finally heard someone speak the British term "whinging. I had always read it in my head with a hard G sound (winGer), but turns out it's a soft G (strinGent).

/csb

bhcompy: Jim from Saint Paul: Well to be fair, Shawn can be pretty lazy.

I foresee a ripped from the headlines episode, and Henry Spencer ends up with the cash after Gus finally gets Shawn off his ass

Hi I'm Shawn and this is my partner Count Chocula.

Well duh she's a fake.

/Came for the Psych references, leaving with a pineapple.

mephisto6: AngryPanda: These frauds always will turn down the Randi Challenges or this other guy because they know that their "power" cannot be quantified in any reasonable way. The millions of dollars they currently make fleecing vulnerable people is a lot more than the nothing they would get from taking (and subsequently failing) the tests.

You can't quantify an ability that strikes indirectly and intermitemtly. Psychic powers are touchy and you can't discount them just because it scares you.
They exist, even if your small brains can't comprehend what's happening around you this very moment.

Oh, but you can charge for them? If they're so intermittent, who could find a way to profit from them reliably? Wouldn't you have to have a backup job just in case you had a three week spell where you couldn't provide results? Come now, we know that these powers are "reliable" enough for scheduled group sessions, shows, and other paid appearances.
You may call others small-minded, but doubting is not a small-minded behavior. Disbelief in spite of the facts would be small-minded. For example, not believing in unicorns is rational, not believing in giraffes is small-minded.
But we're not talking about giraffes here. We're talking about unicorns. Your vociferous support for the existence of these powers does not change the fact that they have not been demonstrated under conditions where fraud and random chance has been taken out. I could show you a photo that seems to show a unicorn, but you and I know that you'd probably assume it had been photoshopped- and you'd be completely rational to believe so, for that would probably be the way I'd make one.

Waiting for Psychic Chick to jump in here annnyyyyy miiinnnuuttteee now.

I would also point out that I wasn't a big fan of the last season's Psych. It picked up a bit when Shawn and Jules finally got together.

That being said, this season has been frickin solid.

/glad that the love relationship hasn't killed the show ala Moonlighting

chu2dogg: Waiting for Psychic Chick to jump in here annnyyyyy miiinnnuuttteee now.

She didn't know this thread was going on.

The problem is not the psychic. Of course, she's not going to submit to a 'test', that would interrupt her money flow and possibly lead to lawsuits. The problem is that seven more psychics would take her place and people would still line up to give them cash. Of course, I have no idea what could be done about that. That's a much more difficult problem. Maybe if kids had a class in school where Sagan's 'Baloney detection kit' was taught.

Jim from Saint Paul: I would also point out that I wasn't a big fan of the last season's Psych. It picked up a bit when Shawn and Jules finally got together.

Jim from Saint Paul, don't be a half-eaten roast beef sandwich.

Had Morgan accepted the challenge, she would have been shown pictures of 10 dead women and asked to match them to a list of their first names. The offer to take the test remains open and Morgan has been invited to discuss changes to the challenge with the group.

Well, it's a fundamentally biased, unfair test.

She had one REASONABLE condition- that a tester who knows the individual names associated with each photo be present, and answer to prompting of "I'm seeing a Juh... Jay.. Ga... Je..." with the correct photo and help her develop it into a more specific name. Because maybe these "messages" aren't specific, like EVERY LITTLE syllable... but BASICALLY, yeah, she said the name.

oren0: engrishmajor: "Sceptics"? Seriously?

Some words are spelled and pronounced differently in British English and American English! Film at 11.


I guess thats's how the biscuit crumbles on the sceptered isle