James Randi has died

Gray2233 said:
Uri Geller has made a career out of scamming people and pretending to have 'special' powers, on at least one occasion this involved a kidnapped woman who he claimed would be found alive and well (she wasn't).

Pretty sure he claimed to be an alien from another planet at one point too, but that's more in the area of him being nuts.

Personally I'd say Randi was entirely justified, in fact I think it's a shame more people aren't like him.
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He also claims to have hypnotised Michael Jackson to find out for himself if he was innocent or not of his abuse allegations. So he bends spoons, makes compasses move with his hands, and is also a hypnotist apparently. :rolleyes:







 
In the 80s he had a 6 part series on UK TV where he 100% debunked every special power that appeared. He did get them all there pretending to be interested and of course he couldn't do another series because he was now known.
 
RIP - he educated people on and exposed a whole load of nonsense/pseudoscience from mystic types to people who buy into woo claims about Hi-Fi/speaker cables etc..
 
NVP said:
Sounds like a bit of a dick tbh :confused: Not wishing to speak ill of the dead, just seems like a strange moment for the highlight reel
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his whole philosophy (and i'm paraphrasing, the man himself said it better) was that a magician tells you he is going to fool you, then fools you, which is what makes them honest.

people like geller and the folk randi went after were trying to legitimately claim they had psychic/magic/divine powers and were lying to at best con people out of their money and at worst do serious harm (as in the case of the faith healers and homeopaths)
 
I saw James Randi at a grocery store in Los Angeles a few days ago. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
 
Everyone has to go eventually and 92 is a decent age and he gave the world some very much needed sanity. It's sad not that he's gone but that he wasn't more well know and that others have followed in his lead. There still exists so my psuedo science and morons that this world needs many more Amazing Randi's.

I love the documentary about him and his life, including his husband, 'An Honest Liar', I highly recommend it to anyone.
 
Gray2233 said:
Uri Geller has made a career out of scamming people and pretending to have 'special' powers, on at least one occasion this involved a kidnapped woman who he claimed would be found alive and well (she wasn't).

Pretty sure he claimed to be an alien from another planet at one point too, but that's more in the area of him being nuts.

Personally I'd say Randi was entirely justified, in fact I think it's a shame more people aren't like him.
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adolf hamster said:
his whole philosophy (and i'm paraphrasing, the man himself said it better) was that a magician tells you he is going to fool you, then fools you, which is what makes them honest.

people like geller and the folk randi went after were trying to legitimately claim they had psychic/magic/divine powers and were lying to at best con people out of their money and at worst do serious harm (as in the case of the faith healers and homeopaths)
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Thanks guys, I get going after the mystics causing harm to the emotionally vulnerable and evangelicals fleecing the gullible etc. but wasn't Uri an entertainer? Just like a magician is? It doesn't really matter their own opinion of what is correct entertainment. So this one entertainer apparently sabotaged another entertainers performance because of... arrogance? Or was it perhaps jealousy?

Either way, strange highlight to mention for what appears to be quite a talented fellow.
 
Skeptic said:
I saw James Randi at a grocery store in Los Angeles a few days ago. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
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Sounds like exactly the kind of thing I'd do in a few decades purely to amuse myself. I think I'm going to be a complete **** of an old man.

Interesting story though, thanks for sharing it.
 
Reality|Bites said:
never heard of him before....guy acts a role in a marvel movie then dies and we virtue cry?
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I think it's more to do with the fact that he's the kind of guy OCUK would love - OCUK thinks that the paranormal and occult are lies and psychobabble, so anyone who makes it their life's work to disprove their authenticity will be well looked-on by this forum.

I personally didn't like his work much, though I appreciate that he was striving for the truth.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
I think he also proved that no matter how much you could prove something people didn't care.
One example was a famous preacher who knew what was wrong with people then magically made their problems go away.
Randi and his team recorded the transmissions from his wife to an earpiece and he was exposed, he also ended up doing time but when he came out he carried on as usual :(
*Snip*.
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Derren Brown, as you probably know, also studies and debunks this kind of thing. He once said that if a member of the audience blows a stage psychic's cover and exposes their methods during a performance, it's not uncommon for the rest of the audience to turn on the whistleblower. :D
 
Lysander said:
I think it's more to do with the fact that he's the kind of guy OCUK would love - OCUK thinks that the paranormal and occult are lies and psychobabble, so anyone who makes it their life's work to disprove their authenticity will be well looked-on by this forum.

I personally didn't like his work much, though I appreciate that he was striving for the truth.
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Ditto. Sheldrake called him a liar for the following reasons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLjUTvaKgdQ&feature=emb_logo
 
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