In case you hadn't heard, everyone's favorite pseudo-psychic con artist Sylvia Browne is retiring soon. Soon, in the geological sense, anyway - she's got tours going on through next year and will in fact still be doing pretty much everything she's doing now except not doing as many stage shows. Actually I guess she's not really retiring at all... Regardless, you'll still be able to get one of her famous phone readings for a mere...$850?!
I'm serious. Check out the fees at the bottom of her readings page. Note that frugal dupes can get a reading that's just as effective from her son Chris for a mere $500.
Let me tell you something: If you've got $850 burning a hole in your pocket and you just can't stand to hold onto it anymore, check out Donors Choose and UNICEF. I guarantee you that money donated to either of these charities is going to much better use than money spent to line the pockets of that gravelly harpy and her henchmen.
Showing posts with label psychic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psychic. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Virtually Indistinguishable from the "Real" Thing...
Hey everyone. Your ol' pal Skippy has been battling a weird combination of being simultaneously busy and lazy lately, which accounts for the paucity of entries. That being said, I ran across a hilarious spoof of Uri Geller today starring none other than House, M.D.'s Hugh Laurie that I thought was worth posting. The video is embedded below and I think you'll agree with me that Laurie's portrayal is in all important respects indistinguishable from Gellar himself. Enjoy.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sylvia Browne - Unimpressive as ever...
Sylvia Browne has another book out, this one about the end of the world. I know this because I had the chance to peruse it at the store this evening while waiting for my girlfriend to finish shopping for socks. (Not kidding.) It's typical Sylvia Browne crap - "a president will die of a heart attack, there will be conflicts with North Korea", and she puts the end of humanity at "sometime before the 22nd century". (She makes a note that, as a psychic, she has a clear view of the entirety of the rest of 21st century, then immediately begins being as vague as possible.) I didn't get to look at much of it, and honestly there's only so much of Browne's crap that I can stomach at once, but I did stumble upon an interesting prediction about the future of medicine.
Browne claims that at some point around 2010 "much to the chagrin" of drug companies, the cure for the common cold will be discovered. Furthermore, it will "somehow involved heat". ("Duh", she further notes. Again, not kidding.) Well, once again, not only does her "clear view" of the next century not actually have any details, but her basic understanding of how colds work betrays, once again, that she has her head up her ass. Presumably she stills thinks that colds are caused by being cold. They are not. She also notes in one of her many online ravings that people get fevers when they have colds (a shocking revelation), and thus maybe her "cure involving heat" has something to do with how the "immune system fights a cold with heat, [and thus] the cure for the common cold certainly may lie in this first signal to heal".
Hmm, now that almost sounds like a concrete prediction...too bad for Sylvia that this isn't a new idea! Ultimately she's managed to do nothing but plagiarize medical speculation from some dude's WordPress page. Predictions like that require about the same amount of psychic power as it does for me to go to Upcoming Horror Movies, read their release lists, and then predict that many older films are getting remakes.
More than anything else, I'm mystified that people buy so completely into obvious hokum like Browne's silliness. There's a small part of me, cynical and sinister, that sometimes ponders banging out a handful of feel-good woo-woo nonsense books to try and cash in on people's desires to indulge in magical thinking, but the thought of sinking to Browne's level is enough to keep me from ever giving the matter any serious consideration.
Browne claims that at some point around 2010 "much to the chagrin" of drug companies, the cure for the common cold will be discovered. Furthermore, it will "somehow involved heat". ("Duh", she further notes. Again, not kidding.) Well, once again, not only does her "clear view" of the next century not actually have any details, but her basic understanding of how colds work betrays, once again, that she has her head up her ass. Presumably she stills thinks that colds are caused by being cold. They are not. She also notes in one of her many online ravings that people get fevers when they have colds (a shocking revelation), and thus maybe her "cure involving heat" has something to do with how the "immune system fights a cold with heat, [and thus] the cure for the common cold certainly may lie in this first signal to heal".
Hmm, now that almost sounds like a concrete prediction...too bad for Sylvia that this isn't a new idea! Ultimately she's managed to do nothing but plagiarize medical speculation from some dude's WordPress page. Predictions like that require about the same amount of psychic power as it does for me to go to Upcoming Horror Movies, read their release lists, and then predict that many older films are getting remakes.
More than anything else, I'm mystified that people buy so completely into obvious hokum like Browne's silliness. There's a small part of me, cynical and sinister, that sometimes ponders banging out a handful of feel-good woo-woo nonsense books to try and cash in on people's desires to indulge in magical thinking, but the thought of sinking to Browne's level is enough to keep me from ever giving the matter any serious consideration.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Cashing In On Tragedy Yet Again...
"Psychic detective" seems to me to be a contradiction in terms on the level of "fuel efficient SUV" or "a wonderful film by Andreas Schnaas". When psychics pretend to help the police, all they do is spout off trite vagaries (which is what psychics do in all situations) while distracting the real investigators from doing their job. I mention this because Court TV (or whatever it calls itself these days) is running a dizzying number of advertisements for its show "Haunting Evidence", in which a team of psychics play pretend while talking about famous "cold cases". Apparently tonight the show will be making a mockery of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, who vanished, and was presumably murdered, while vacationing in Aruba over 3 years ago.
The Court TV show follows a crew of three paranormalists, each one crazier than the last. The leader of the group is Patrick Burns, who is billed as a trained paranormal investigator despite having only a high school diploma. I suppose your level of education doesn't matter much when you're just making things up as you go along. Next up is Carla Baron, who claims to have been involved in a number of high profile cases, such as the JonBenet Ramsey case and the Nicole Brown Simpson investigation. Many of her claims are outright lies, while essentially all of the others are grossly exaggerated. The third musketeer on the show is a fellow named John J. Oliver, whose website not only details his magical psychic services AND sells audio tapes to help give you ESP (for a mere $20), but also refers visitors to a dojang where they can study Tae Kwon Do. (He claims that it is TKD that helped him "develop the mind necessary to work as a psychic detective".)
"Haunting Evidence" has thus far dealt with something in the area of 21 cases in the three years that it's been running. So far the psychics have a stellar record of exactly 0-21 for solving cases, though one case profiled on the show, the 2003 rape and murder of Katie Sepich, has since been solved through conventional means. One thing that has always puzzled me is that if I, as a private, non-psychic citizen, were to go to the police about an ongoing investigation and just start making things up, I'd be charged with obstruction of justice and probably spend the next few years of my life locked in an tiny cell with a man named Lucy, whereas psychics apparently lie to the cops with impunity. Now maybe some of these psychics really are just batshit and they actually do think that they have magical D&D powers, but surely most of them know that they're bullshitting. It must take a special kind of hubris of march up to law enforcement and deliberately start misleading investigators while smiling for the cameras and smugly proclaiming to the credulous public that you're just "using your gifts" to help.
So-called "psychic investigators" do little more than swoop in to prey upon the grief and confusion of people who have lost loved ones and bloat themselves on the publicity and cash that's showered on them by the "gee-whiz" media. That being said, I think a better term for "psychic detective" would be "vulture".
For more information on fraudulent psychic investigators being caught in the act, check out StopSylviaBrowne.com and also the CSICOP articles linked here and here.
The Court TV show follows a crew of three paranormalists, each one crazier than the last. The leader of the group is Patrick Burns, who is billed as a trained paranormal investigator despite having only a high school diploma. I suppose your level of education doesn't matter much when you're just making things up as you go along. Next up is Carla Baron, who claims to have been involved in a number of high profile cases, such as the JonBenet Ramsey case and the Nicole Brown Simpson investigation. Many of her claims are outright lies, while essentially all of the others are grossly exaggerated. The third musketeer on the show is a fellow named John J. Oliver, whose website not only details his magical psychic services AND sells audio tapes to help give you ESP (for a mere $20), but also refers visitors to a dojang where they can study Tae Kwon Do. (He claims that it is TKD that helped him "develop the mind necessary to work as a psychic detective".)
"Haunting Evidence" has thus far dealt with something in the area of 21 cases in the three years that it's been running. So far the psychics have a stellar record of exactly 0-21 for solving cases, though one case profiled on the show, the 2003 rape and murder of Katie Sepich, has since been solved through conventional means. One thing that has always puzzled me is that if I, as a private, non-psychic citizen, were to go to the police about an ongoing investigation and just start making things up, I'd be charged with obstruction of justice and probably spend the next few years of my life locked in an tiny cell with a man named Lucy, whereas psychics apparently lie to the cops with impunity. Now maybe some of these psychics really are just batshit and they actually do think that they have magical D&D powers, but surely most of them know that they're bullshitting. It must take a special kind of hubris of march up to law enforcement and deliberately start misleading investigators while smiling for the cameras and smugly proclaiming to the credulous public that you're just "using your gifts" to help.
So-called "psychic investigators" do little more than swoop in to prey upon the grief and confusion of people who have lost loved ones and bloat themselves on the publicity and cash that's showered on them by the "gee-whiz" media. That being said, I think a better term for "psychic detective" would be "vulture".
For more information on fraudulent psychic investigators being caught in the act, check out StopSylviaBrowne.com and also the CSICOP articles linked here and here.
Friday, May 02, 2008
The Amazing Randi on Youtube...
For some odd reason it never occurred to me that the James Randi Educational Foundation would have a Youtube Channel. I mean, there's dozens of videos about Randi on Youtube, but I suppose I never thought to go right to the source. In any event, the next time you have a couple of hours to spare, head over to Randi's channel and browse through some of the 95 videos archived there. It's all great stuff, and a lot of the videos aren't available elsewhere.
Embedded below is a story about one of my favorite Randi moments, Project Alpha. Project Alpha was a scheme in which Randi captured a couple of amateur magicians and used them to infiltrate a "serious university study" of paraspsychology. Using simple sleight of hand, the two easily fooled some of the country's most "distinguished" parapsychologists into they that they were the genuine article. They eventually outed themselves at a huge press conference that was called to unveil their "psychic" powers to the public. Enjoy!
Embedded below is a story about one of my favorite Randi moments, Project Alpha. Project Alpha was a scheme in which Randi captured a couple of amateur magicians and used them to infiltrate a "serious university study" of paraspsychology. Using simple sleight of hand, the two easily fooled some of the country's most "distinguished" parapsychologists into they that they were the genuine article. They eventually outed themselves at a huge press conference that was called to unveil their "psychic" powers to the public. Enjoy!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Honor Among Thieves...?
Well, I happened to catch a segment with James Randi on Larry King Live Friday night. Alas and alack I missed the first part of the bit, but I did get the chance to see Randi spar around with “psychic” Rosemary Altea. Ms. Altea’s website claims that she’s an “internationally renowned spirit medium”, though I’m not personally familiar with her. Ms. Altea, naturally, has numerous books and audio recordings for sale on her site, all of which are co-authored by her spirit guide, Grey Eagle. There’s also a large section on her site about “spiritual healing”, though on these pages there is at least a disclaimer advising people to seek regular medical care as well.
For the most, however, Altea’s claims are neither here nor there. Aside from a bit of back-and-forth with Randi during which she repeatedly made the accusation that the JREF challenge was fraudulent, most of the night’s discussion focused instead on Randi’s nemesis Sylvia Browne.
As you’ll recall, a few weeks two young boys from Missouri were rescued by the police from a kidnapper. This is a joyous (but all too rare) occurrence made even more incredible because one of the youths, Shawn Hornbeck, was kidnapped in 2002. For the victim of a stranger abduction to be found alive after 5 years is almost unheard of. The case was resolved through a combination of police work and public vigilance, and everyone involved in the investigation is worthy of praise. So where, exactly does Sylvia Browne come in? Well, it seems she helped the police with case.
Naturally she used her incredible psychic powers to lead the cops straight to the apartment where the boys were being held, right? No; that was a tip from a concerned citizen. So what exactly did Browne do? She told Shawn’s parents, back in 2003 after they had already suffered through months of gut-wrenching torment and grief, that their son was dead. She further told them that his body had been dumped in a remote wooded area, and that his murderer was likely a Hispanic man. (Note that the kidnapper was, in fact, white.) James Van Praagh made similarly off the mark claims regarding the case.
Much has already been made of this, especially here at this excellent site, but what really struck me was Altea’s take on the situation. She basically admitted, maybe not in so many words, the Browne and Van Praagh might simply be faking it. Now keep in mind that she immediately took the mealy-mouthed position that psychics are never right all the time. (Not very psychic then, I suppose.) Now granted there are charlatans in every profession, but for a psychic engaged in distance (she calls it “absent”) healing to call someone else a fraud in the very same interview in which she refuses to have her own abilities tested is simply delicious. I suppose there really is no honor among thieves.
For the most, however, Altea’s claims are neither here nor there. Aside from a bit of back-and-forth with Randi during which she repeatedly made the accusation that the JREF challenge was fraudulent, most of the night’s discussion focused instead on Randi’s nemesis Sylvia Browne.
As you’ll recall, a few weeks two young boys from Missouri were rescued by the police from a kidnapper. This is a joyous (but all too rare) occurrence made even more incredible because one of the youths, Shawn Hornbeck, was kidnapped in 2002. For the victim of a stranger abduction to be found alive after 5 years is almost unheard of. The case was resolved through a combination of police work and public vigilance, and everyone involved in the investigation is worthy of praise. So where, exactly does Sylvia Browne come in? Well, it seems she helped the police with case.
Naturally she used her incredible psychic powers to lead the cops straight to the apartment where the boys were being held, right? No; that was a tip from a concerned citizen. So what exactly did Browne do? She told Shawn’s parents, back in 2003 after they had already suffered through months of gut-wrenching torment and grief, that their son was dead. She further told them that his body had been dumped in a remote wooded area, and that his murderer was likely a Hispanic man. (Note that the kidnapper was, in fact, white.) James Van Praagh made similarly off the mark claims regarding the case.
Much has already been made of this, especially here at this excellent site, but what really struck me was Altea’s take on the situation. She basically admitted, maybe not in so many words, the Browne and Van Praagh might simply be faking it. Now keep in mind that she immediately took the mealy-mouthed position that psychics are never right all the time. (Not very psychic then, I suppose.) Now granted there are charlatans in every profession, but for a psychic engaged in distance (she calls it “absent”) healing to call someone else a fraud in the very same interview in which she refuses to have her own abilities tested is simply delicious. I suppose there really is no honor among thieves.
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