Very Interesting and Informative.

I just spent the last two days attending events conducted by James Randi.

www.randi.org Mr. James Randi is a very articulate and caring individual. His foundation is the one offering the Million Bucks to the first person to take the OT Challenge and prove for the first time in Human History that Humans have the ability to be TelePathic under controlled conditions (mostly of your choice) and on demand.

The beauty of the OT Challenge is the Simplicity of it. Simply prove Telepathy in Humans and take the Million Bucks. Just like that!

You could also prove any of perhaps a thousand other OT Abilities that Hubbard said would be easily available in any run of the mill OT. Just go for it and claim the Million Bucks!

http://www.randi.org/research/challenge/index.html Come on you OTs don't snivel off to pout and kvetch. You can do it! Don't let me get away with the challenge of saying that you never had it and never will! (actually I hope I am wrong because I want OT abilities to be real and proven not mere parlor games and false promises made to JUST GET Money) ------- I had to ask myself as I drove the nearly five hours to attend these events who is this guy? Why does he do what he does about fraud and SCAMs? What motivates him? Is he for real? Is the offer just another scam itself?

As I arrived early to secure my seat of choice to this 'free public event series' I met this tall slender retired pharmacist. He greeted my by saying, "Have you got a quarter? Do you want to make a quarter disappear?"

He had a smile that suggested, as most magicians might have as they let you know that they are about to fool you and offer you to participate in the willing suspension of your disbelief just for fun. We chatted as my two older children located our seats up close. The dentist and his wife (??) took seats behind us.

Mr. James Randi is a Magician by trade. He introduces himself as such. He is a seeker of evidence and truth about fantastic claims. Some call him a debunker, but he insists that that is not what he sets out to do. He said that he sets out to find out evidence for any claim of supernatural abilities. He earnestly wants to find evidence of OT Abilities in Humans.

During the presentation that he went through, in this case, focused on medical / health oriented and Human Psychic healing abilities being offered and currently accepted that gross in the billions of dollars revenue annually in some of the cases with most in the hundreds of millions. Each fraud was presented as plausible or currently accepted as effective (by some) as a sort of and now for the rest of the story format.

Mr. Randi uses a Magic Show (not Magik as in Allester Crowley Sex Magik, although that would have been interesting too) that shows his command of the skill of prestidigitation. He was in command of the amazement of the crowd of nearly 500. He used things that showed his superlative use of Crafty Mentalism, to the Art of Illusion, to the cleaver ruse. He was very funny and informative.

Mr. James Randi is many years from nearing the peak of a very colorful career trying to locate evidence of SuperNatural Abilities in Humans. He even met Mr. Ron Hubbard on two occasions. (more later as I tell of the laughing crowd giggle at Mr. Hubbard's mighty and powerful OTs.) He has been working tirelessly for many decades bringing his message to crowds in an attempt to just reach one person that will now look at things using newfound understanding of the entirely fallible human senses combined with the innate gullibility of mankind.

Mr. James Randi is a master at delivering his message to all age classes and cultures. His message is not one of disbelief but of keeping an open mind not keeping a hole in the head. He is careful to understand the questions being asked and make sure that his answer is understood by the person being spoken to. He was delivering this series (of two meetings) to a college audience of professors, students, family and friends of the college, magic groupies, and I suppose to those like me that heard of the presentation and wanted to tag along for the ride.

I watched as Mr. James Randi finally arrived at the part of his presentation that showed his mettle. He has taken on some very very powerful forces in this world (truly world wide investigations) and asked them about the basis for their participation in what by all appearances are fantastic SCAMS. He conducts tests and investigations that he documents on his site and in his newsletter where he shares these results. So far none have found their way into contention to claim the prize.

The use of Homeopathic Remedies and 'Natural Homeopathic Supplements' were exposed just for starters. He intermixed his presentation with offers of metaphors, hyperbole, similes, examples galore, and real life experiences both subtle and graphic of his while seeking evidence of the fantastic claims. Very often he would highlight human frailties as they related with an example of a magic trick that he says yup I just scammed you but the difference is I will tell you that I scammed you. No I will not tell you about how I did it, just that it is a scam.

A theme that presented it's self from time to time was that for the 'True Believer' there is no amount of evidence or quality of evidence that would do anything to change their mind. He did express his frustration that the way to get to a 'True Believer' was most always fruitless to use evidence or testimony about the basis of their beliefs. He did indicate that the 'True Believer' had significant emotional investment that wouldn't allow them to see the evidence no matter how thoroughly exact or how it was presented. I could see that he had some successes with getting the 'True Believer' to approach learning about the fallibility of human senses or the natural human predilection towards gullibility. It would be, perhaps, tangentially how best to approach cracking the shell of a 'True Believer' as opposed to a direct frontal assault and use examples to expose natural human sensory fallibilities and gullibility inclinations.

I liked his TV Clips of shows that he has effectively debunked (that was not what he started out to do). These show clips had the crowd captivated and amused as he slowly raised the curtain to show the details of the ruse.

The use of examples of seeing others getting taken by simple to complex scams seemed to go a long way towards getting someone to open up to the possibility that scams could come somewhat closer to home and in different ways than the one that friends and family may be trying to deliver the message about.

Mr James Randi would take apart each example and show how the delivery mechanism and the window dressing made the ruse seem so appealing and eventually let to the person becoming a 'True Believer' whereby they were somewhat protected from becoming free of the snare on their own easily.

For well over an hour after the presentation Mr. James Randi answered questions and chatted with the audience. His answers were very candid and empathetically delivered. I watched carefully as he assessed each person that asked a question. At times he would go back to a person that seemed upset by his answers to check on them and offer more insight if needed by e-mail of snail mail as the person wished. I observed him select out several young people that voiced support for common logical fallacies present in our culture and seemed to have some emotional investment in the scam thus identified. He would come back to the person with other examples, questions about experiences that they might have had that would relate their 'True Belief' or that of their friends.

As an audience we talked about The Cold Read, 'Natural' Remedies, Astrology, and many others. Because I considered myself a guest I didn't intrude my question until late in the Q&A period.

I asked if he was familiar with dianetics and $cientology and could he relate some details of his experiences with them. I was surprised that the audience, different than other questions, laughed out-loud as I asked my question. As Mr. James Randi began his story of actually meeting and talking somewhat at length with Mr. L. Ron Hubbard he related several stories about Mr. Hubbard the man and Mr. Hubbard the myth, and finally Mr.

Hubbard's obscure belief system. The audience burst out in laughter at many parts of this part tale of the bellicose and bitter man that he knew as Mr.

L. Ron Hubbard.

Because Mr. James Randi is well known by and knows well many of the most famous names in Sci-Fi he was there during the early days of dieanitics and $cientology. There were many events that he attended that were also attended by Mr. Hubbard. The story of very bad teeth and extremely foul breath were predominate parts of his memory of Mr. Hubbard. He relates that the man was very mean spirited each time he met him. The stories of the very litigious nature of the cult are well known to him and his friends.

As Mr. James Randi related the story of Xemu the crowd burst out into laughter. When he described the octopus-like creatures that blew up billions of their fellow creatures here on Earth 75 million years ago in non-existent at the time volcanoes and scooped up the spirits and showed them bad movies for thirty days the audience burst out into a roar. He added that all of this was supposed to have occurred by bringing these dead bodies 10K Light Years across space in space ships that somehow looked exactly like DC-8s of the fifties. The audience roared to life again and began to chatter among themselves. When he related that people would actually go and spend $360,000.00 to telepathically communicate with these long since dead octopi creatures the audience bemoaned the gullibility of those so inclined to be taken for the ride of their lifetime (or is it times <grin>).

During the second day event with Mr. James Randi I spent my time studying his motivations and character. What I saw was a very patient elderly gentleman with a sincere compassion for his fellow humans. He fielded several questions about race, religion, science, sociological, anthropological, and political nature. He was always careful to center the question around where the person was asking it from. He did this by asking for additional information if the person by way of their mannerisms or vocabulary didn't provide enough to locate if this person was a 'True Believer' or a friend of one. He offered advise on how to contact, handle, salvage and bring the 'True Believer' to understanding.

His answers showed a confident and determined vital human being conducting themselves in a manner of a professional trying to reach just one more person and shield them against being unwary of their fallibility and weakness for false hope.

At one point during the evening event someone asked what should he care if someone believed what ever about some true belief or not. He showed his lucidity when he instantly answered "They vote!" and that is not the least of it. He said that we are all here and will eventually have an effect of the rest of us somehow even if it is through your vote.

I could not collate any inconsistencies in his approach that would reveal endorsement or support of a scam by another name. I watched as best as I could and not be in awe of his experiences and command of the English language or his recall of details and events that would support his mission.

I would recommend that any that want to help get a company or fraternal organization revitalized and thinking about real evidence and real opportunities that they try to schedule Mr. James Randi to deliver one of his customized presentations to your group. You would not be displeased by his energy and enthusiasm for seeking truth and motivating others to do the same.

Sincerely, Xemu X. Xenu Jr.

aka Vernon D. Cain Jr.

www.xenu.net for a clue how xenu relates to what 'some' call debunkers.

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