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HypnoToad
Stranger
Registered: 05/08/04
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Last seen: 18 years, 8 months
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The Randi Paranormal Challenge
#2695314 - 05/18/04 08:54 AM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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http://skepdic.com/randi.html
Has anyone seen this site?They're offering a one million dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power.
That makes Swami's $20,000 look like chump change.
I am definitely interested in seeing someone win one of the challenges listed on that site or even swami's challenge.It would change alot if even one person could prove even one skill.
-------------------- "There is no fire like lust, no grip like hate, no net like delusions, no river like craving."
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Anonymous
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: HypnoToad]
#2695534 - 05/18/04 10:38 AM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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There have been a few cases where Randi, when presented with a challenge, has declined his "offer." Here's one example:
Quote:
Randi runs away
In June 1999, a Mr Rico Kolodzey of Germany wrote to James Randi and challenged for the reputed $1 million prize. Mr Kolodzey is one of several thousand people who believe and claim that they can live on water alone, absorbing 'prana' or life energy from space around them.
Now this claim is, to say the least, extraordinary. It is perhaps even more extraordinary that an individual should offer to prove this claim by submitting himself to a controlled test.
The claim is one that most people would treat with great skepticism, and might well run a mile from. But James Randi is not most people -- he is the person who has publicly claimed that he has $1 million on offer to all comers who challenge him and are willing to submit to rigorous testing, as Mr Kolodzey has offered to do.
It should not be very difficult to arrange a test of Mr Kolodzey's claim. All that is needed is to lock him in a police cell, under CCTV observation, with only water to drink. If he experiences significant measurable weight loss, or asks for food, then his claim is false. If, on the other hand, he does somehow survive on water alone, then Randi is wrong, conventional science is wrong, and Mr Kolodzey has won $1 million.
It ought therefore to have been a very simple matter for Randi to offer to lock Mr Kolodzey up for a week or two. But that is not what Randi did. Instead he ignored Mr Kolodzey entirely. When Mr Kolodzey wrote again to Randi asking about his challenge, he received the following email from Randi (later confirmed with a hard copy):-
Date: 6/18/99 12:03 PM
Mr. Kolodzey:
Don't treat us like children. We only respond to responsible claims.
Are you actually claiming that you have not consumed any food products except water, since the end of 1998? If this is what you are saying, did you think for one moment that we would believe it?
If this is actually your claim, you're a liar and a fraud. We are not interested in pursuing this further, nor will we exchange correspondence with you on the matter.
Signed, James Randi. (A hard-copy of this letter will be sent by post to you, today.)
James Randi Educational Foundation 201 S.E. 12th Street (Davie Blvd.) Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316-1815
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PHARMAKOS
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Registered: 09/13/02
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: ]
#2695626 - 05/18/04 11:06 AM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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and where theres one, there could be many
so ends the randi challenge and its legitimacy
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NariusFractal
Sat Chit Ananda
Registered: 12/19/02
Posts: 804
Loc: USA
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: PHARMAKOS]
#2695735 - 05/18/04 11:41 AM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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yah really, he wouldn't except someone to demonstrate a PARANORMAL activity because he believed they were LYING!!?! Seems like his response to Mr Kolodzey is a template for all the letters they would send in reply to inquiries concerning the challenge
-------------------- You are the microcosm of the macrocosm.
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HypnoToad
Stranger
Registered: 05/08/04
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: NariusFractal]
#2695897 - 05/18/04 12:20 PM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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On the other hand if there are alot of challengers it would be neccessary to try and avoid wasted time.I mean do any of you believe a human being can live on merely water for the rest of one's life?
-------------------- "There is no fire like lust, no grip like hate, no net like delusions, no river like craving."
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alphaone
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Registered: 01/29/04
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: HypnoToad]
#2695945 - 05/18/04 12:33 PM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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Here's something about the guy from another perspective. Personally I think he's one form of today's scientific fundamentalism, and doesn't give a damn whether a possible paranormal phenomena is genuine or fake.
http://www.cfpf.org.uk/articles/background/nicholls.html
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HypnoToad
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: alphaone]
#2696038 - 05/18/04 12:56 PM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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The article is a product of two people with an ongoing feud.However I dont doubt there is some controversy around him.
-------------------- "There is no fire like lust, no grip like hate, no net like delusions, no river like craving."
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: HypnoToad]
#2696516 - 05/18/04 02:23 PM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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Why couldn't Kolodzey just pull the same stunt in public? Then he's not wasting Randi's time. The claim, if true, sounds as if it could be repeated quite easily. I don't see why he'd bother with Randi unless he's just a media whore seeking attention. However, I'm not privy to all the ins and outs of the relationship between those two, so I really can't say anything with much authority.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Anonymous
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: Sclorch]
#2697961 - 05/18/04 05:45 PM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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i think david blane did something similar
that was pretty damn public if you ask me
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: ]
#2699057 - 05/18/04 10:37 PM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
dustin said: i think david blane did something similar
that was pretty damn public if you ask me
David Blaine lost significant weight during his little stunt. Losing weight would disqualify Kolodzey's claim. If Kolodzey pulled off the same stunt Blaine pulled off, BUT without losing weight, or being otherwise malunourished, then I'd say that Randi wouldn't be wasting his time per se.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Bodhi
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Re: The Randi Paranormal Challenge [Re: HypnoToad]
#2700100 - 05/19/04 06:50 AM (19 years, 10 months ago) |
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Somebody from this community could always write a letter to Randi, with specific believable scenarios that people here agree upon, to test for ourselves if he rejects claims that he fears could lose him his million dollars. Surely with all the creative minds here, a couple letters could be drafted...if anyone cares enough, of course.
I've often wondered why, with countless claims of the paranormal by humans across the planet and across all ages, why no one has been able to claim the cash. Does he have specific requirements that doom an experiment to failure from the start, or does he simply choose the challenges that he knows will fail?
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