# An SDMB test of astral projection **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 3, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696 "2003-12-03T12:34:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/181 "2003-12-20T20:19:30Z")
seeing part of cityboy’s conversation with iwln, and how closely it resembles cold reading, makes me even more skeptical of cityboy’s claims of being able to astrally project. first, he says that he saw lots of little bottles. i assume that iwln keeps her bottle collection inside of the house, but cityboy then claims that he didnt look inside at all, so how could he have seen them? answer: he didnt, he did a cold reading. i also assume that iwln’s bottles are not kept full (i’ve seen many bottle collections before, and in almost all cases they’re empty), but cityboy makes comments suggesting that they were full of something that could have been perfume or home remedies. to top it all off, he leaves himself an out by asking if it means anything, as if he was not sure whether he saw the correct house or not. before, he made assurances that he could find the right house just by thinking of the name of the person he wanted to see. he promised to be specific and absolute with the descriptions he gave of items he saw, but i see absolutely nothing specific or absolute about any of the descriptions of iwln’s house. ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/182 "2003-12-20T20:19:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Musicat \* > **IWLN,** if I could find a hundred houses that substantially look like his description, would you be as impressed? Implicit in your comments is the thought that, because your description closely matches his, that he is seeing your house? Could he be seeing someone else’s house, and the description is general enough that you find matches? “I’m seeing a ‘G’ here…” “Oh, my Gawd, my cat’s name is George!” – do you see how unobjective your matching process is? How many houses DON’T have a lot of little bottles (especially women’s, since he already knows your sex) or some blue-green somewhere, or a post or a porch? Hey, my cat’s name was Kujo. That’s only four letters away from a “G” and two letters short of being the same length. I’m already impressed…:rolleyes: > [@](#): > > An aside: I am trusting you to supply ALL communication between the two of you, since if you selected some statements and discarded others, that would change the hit rate, wouldn’t it? Scout’s honor. **Cityboy916** , will you double check to make sure I didn’t leave anything out? > [@](#): > > Nevertheless, I will try to match **CityBoy916’s** description of YOUR house with my description of MY house. I assure you I will take no more liberties than you have, and you will have to trust me that I am telling the truth. If you doubt, I can send you pictures (I know, they might be faked or of someone else’s house, but that’s all I can offer). If MY house matches the same description that YOURS matches, would you say that casts doubt on whether **CityBoy916** really viewed yours? Or maybe he is just a good guesser? Well he didn’t say he viewed it. He said he dreamed about it. I already had doubt about him viewing it. I already brought up coincidence. > [@](#): > > Let’s take the items one at a time:My mother, an older woman, used to live here. She collected antiques, including little bottles, and some of them are still here. So that’s a match, right?First of all, he’s saying what he DOESN’T know! He didn’t say he saw fragrances or bottles of fragrances, he’s saying he DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE! He might as well say he doesn’t know that they are full of cat food or chirping crickets, because he is just throwing out some ideas in the hopes that YOU will link them to YOUR experience. He did say a bottle collection, which I have. That’s different than a few perfume bottles. **Cityboy** , describe my bottle collection please.😉 > [@](#): > > Nevertheless, I’ll play along. Some of my mother’s little bottles held fragrances (perfume). I doubt if any held home remedies. So, based on the logical OR in the statement, we could call this a match. (True OR False = True)My house is a fairly bright green with white trim. There are a lot of big windows on the lake side, one of which my [webcam](http://doorbell.net/lakecam.htm) is in front of. So that’s a pretty good match, I’d say. There is one load-bearing post outside on one porch. Not two, but maybe his vision was blurred by something, but his following sentence…gives him an out. He isn’t really saying it as fact, just bringing it up “in case it means anything.” So if you find a match, he gets the credit. If you don’t, it was just something thrown out there. Either way, he wins and you think he has seen it.Perfect; describes my house to a “T”. Small porch, 4x4 post holding up the porch roof, screen door in front of the main door in the corner, although methinks **CityBoy916** must have come by earlier in the year when the screen was up; right now, it’s a glass storm door. Pretty darn good match, I’d say.I have trouble defining which side is the front of my house, too, so maybe he read my mind? There’s a difference between green and blue/green. Guys don’t usually know that though. But when they’re awake they usually know which is the front of their house. I hadn’t really noticed before, but my front porch has 4X4 rain gutter around the front door and to a sleepy traveler it could look like a post.(there, how’s that for information distorting?) > [@](#): > > But note that he isn’t claiming to have astrally projected to obtain this info, he just guessed! So if HE doesn’t claim to have used supernatual ability, why would YOU even entertain such a notion? Let’s give **CityBoy916** credit for being a pretty good cold reader. He’s got the patter down – he could challenge John Edwards! You did notice that I told him it wasn’t my house, didn’t you. I find the notion entertaining. > [@](#): > > I know you & I have partipated in several threads, but I can’t remember if we were ever joined on the cold reading topic. FYI, **Ianzin** is the doper name for very-accomplished magician Ian Rowland. His book is a must-read for all of us. \*\* No I’ve never been on a cold reading thread. I’m very good at cold reading myself. It’s how you get people to open up and talk about themselves and feel heard and connected. They think it’s uncanny how well a stranger can know them. Duh. Okay, **Musicat** ; I don’t need to be saved from **Cityboy’s** evil scam. At no time did I say I bought into this. I said this wasn’t proof. I said it could be a huge co-incidence. I even said he doesn’t live that far away from me. I said it was funny. I didn’t believe it was supernatural. I used the word absurd. I don’t think your descriptions of your house and bottles matched as well as mine did, though. What I can’t say, is that **it’s not true**. How would I really know? I wil admit that my main motivation in bringing this up was to poke you a little for your sarcasm. If those were just guesses from **Cityboy** , he gets credit for coming so close. When on the first try, you describe a house just about closely enough for a stranger to find it, that’s pretty good. So what information do you think I gave him other than saying there were not weight bearing posts. I confirmed the part about the bottles and I’m sure he already knew I was older from previous conversations. I have a serious question, not in the form of a challenge. I seldom find it necessary to dis-believe anything, but in reverse, don’t believe these things either. Why is it so important to “de-bunk” this type of thing as opposed to being neutral? I’m not talking about the cases where someone claims a conclusion or thinks it should count as proven fact. Just the run of the mill situation like this post. I do enjoy it when you do. It makes me think, but why do you do it? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/183 "2003-12-20T20:22:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Musicat \* > **Glee,** it’s odd that you would object to my making light of this test. Is this the first example of humor ever spotted in this thread? We are not expecting to win the Nobel Prize here, are we? No, of course humour is welcome (and even mild hijacks like IWLN and me :o ). I just thought cityboy might take it the wrong way and without him, there’s no test. Your … confident … manner can be a little disconcerting to some! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/184 "2003-12-20T20:33:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > For this test to have any validity we have to trust: > > You, **cityboy916** , **David B** , any friends/colleagues/acquaintances of yours (or even David B’s) that might mischievously throw a spanner into the works, every doper capable of engineering information about you (and I am sure that a concerted effort would yield _everything_ about you, your name/address/social security number/employer/etc. (the “experiment” mentioned above yielded information of this richness)). > > So, sue me for exaggeration, but don’t pretend the test isn’t deeply flawed. You posted: “The test conditions are rediculously lose – there are a million ways to glean the target information that do not require any special powers.” I had already acknowledged the flaws in the original post, so felt this was not a helpful contribution. I will grant that a ‘friend’ of myself or David B. could mess this test up (but to me that’s the same category as David or I doing it). I object to your sole remaining idea that discovering things about me would somehow discover what the object was. Do explain how knowing e.g. my employer’s name will help any doper name the object on my desk. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/185 "2003-12-20T20:47:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Musicat \* > \*\* Nevertheless, I will try to match **CityBoy916’s** description of YOUR house with my description of MY house. I assure you I will take no more liberties than you have, and you will have to trust me that I am telling the truth. If you doubt, I can send you pictures (I know, they might be faked or of someone else’s house, but that’s all I can offer). If MY house matches the same description that YOURS matches, would you say that casts doubt on whether **CityBoy916** really viewed yours? Or maybe he is just a good guesser? \*\* No they were not guesses! I saw a house in a dream! Guess that’s already been addressed (gosh the people on this board are quick) but I needed to reiterate. Not a guess!!! > [@](#): > > Let’s take the items one at a time: > My mother, an older woman, used to live here. She collected antiques, including little bottles, and some of them are still here. So that’s a match, right? Fair enough. > [@](#): > > First of all, he’s saying what he DOESN’T know! He didn’t say he saw fragrances or bottles of fragrances, he’s saying he DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE! Right. The dream was not that specific. Two possibilities came to mind (and I should have said that they were bottles that may have once held fragrances or home remedy type stuff - they’re that kind of bottle, small, some are brown glass, maybe some are green). Dreams are rarely very specific. There is always something that the dream is unclear on. > [@](#): > > Nevertheless, I’ll play along. Some of my mother’s little bottles held fragrances (perfume). I doubt if any held home remedies. So, based on the logical OR in the statement, we could call this a match. (True OR False = True) Fair enough. > [@](#): > > My house is a fairly bright green with white trim. What kind of green? Apple green? Mint green? Sea green? Day-glo chartreuse? Not all men are completely ignorant of color (some of us had crayons when we were kids) and the place in my dream I’d describe as aqua, somewhere between mint green and turquoise, and kind of light but not quite a pastel. > [@](#): > > There are a lot of big windows on the lake side, one of which my [webcam](http://doorbell.net/lakecam.htm) is in front of. So that’s a pretty good match, I’d say. Fair enough. Had I said that the place I dreamt of had windows all around, not just on one side, then it apparently would not match your house. [quote] There is one load-bearing post outside on one porch. Not two, but maybe his vision was blurred by something, but his following sentence…gives him an out. He isn’t really saying it as fact, just bringing it up “in case it means anything.” So if you find a match, he gets the credit. If you don’t, it was just something thrown out there. [quote] Maybe it was relevant and maybe it wasn’t. It was worth a try to follow my WAG and ask. Sure enough, there was some similarity that made my effort worthwhile. > [@](#): > > Either way, he wins and you think he has seen it. Yeah right! The :rolleyes: smiley is getting paid overtime. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Perfect; describes my house to a “T”. Small porch, 4x4 post holding up the porch roof, screen door in front of the main door in the corner, although methinks **CityBoy916** must have come by earlier in the year when the screen was up; right now, it’s a glass storm door. Pretty darn good match, I’d say.I have trouble defining which side is the front of my house, too, so maybe he read my mind? Eh, you got a point there. Come to think about it, _my_ house has a small porch/entryway, one 4x4 white painted wooden post holding up the porch roof, door in the corner (not screen though). I also hesitate to say which way is front and which way is side, although the layout of surrounding buildings can establish that fairly well. There’s even a window in front around the corner from the door. The layout of my porch resembles a mirror image of the house in my dream, and my house is white cinderblock. Perhaps a drawing would have been better. > [@](#): > > But note that he isn’t claiming to have astrally projected to obtain this info, he just guessed! No I did not guess. > [@](#): > > Let’s give **CityBoy916** credit for being a pretty good cold reader. He’s got the patter down – he could challenge John Edwards! I will not be running for a position in public office. (I know I know I have trouble confusing them too.) > [@](#): > > **Ianzin** is the doper name for very-accomplished magician Ian Rowland. His book is a must-read for all of us. I’ll see what I can do. The Pass of Grant doesn’t have much in the way of libraries. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/186 "2003-12-20T20:53:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mosier \* > **first, he says that he saw lots of little bottles. i assume that iwln keeps her bottle collection inside of the house, but cityboy then claims that he didnt look inside at all** When did I ever claim that? :eek: In my dream I was _in the house visiting the woman who lived there!_ > [@](#): > > i also assume that iwln’s bottles are not kept full (i’ve seen many bottle collections before, and in almost all cases they’re empty), but cityboy makes comments suggesting that they were full of something that could have been perfume or home remedies. Should have been clearer on that one. my bad. > [@](#): > > to top it all off, he leaves himself an out by asking if it means anything, as if he was not sure whether he saw the correct house or not. before, he made assurances that he could find the right house just by thinking of the name of the person he wanted to see. Dreams are spontaneous. I never tried to dream of **IWLN** ’s house. At the time of the dream I didn’t even know who **IWLN** was. It was a while ago; possibly before she registered with the Dope. Whereas with this AP experiment, the intention is specific: to go to **glee** ’s house and identify exactly the objects on the desk. See the difference? > [@](#): > > he promised to be specific and absolute with the descriptions he gave of items he saw, but i see absolutely nothing specific or absolute about any of the descriptions of iwln’s house. Again, there’s a difference between spontaneously dreaming of a place and willfully astral-projecting there. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/187 "2003-12-20T21:10:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IWLN \* > **Cityboy916, will you double check to make sure I didn’t leave anything out?** [searches through sent emails] After your email where you said “nope not my house” I replied: > [@](#): > > Slide open windows - do they open vertically? The ones in the dream have a lower pane and an upper pane. Could be sliding windows. Beyond that, it really wasn’t all that specific. To which you replied: > [@](#): > > At my house the windows are vertical, as in they slide to the side. No upper and lower pane, but you were dead on about most of it. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IWLN \* > He did say a bottle collection, which I have. That’s different than a few perfume bottles. **Cityboy** , describe my bottle collection please.😉 Okay, what I saw in the dream was a lot of little bottles, maybe 100 of them or more. They’re small, averaging around 3" (8cm) in height and between 1-1¾" (2.5-4.5cm) wide. Some are circular in cross section and some are square in cross section. Some or all of them were empty. Note that I’m trying to recall a dream from a few months ago so it’s very possible I’m being influenced by the conversation on the thread, but I do specifically remember seeing empty bottles so at least some of them were. The majority of them are made of brown glass, some a lighter brown than others, but there are green and clear bottles too. Most of them do not have labels but a small fraction of them do. These are, in my experience, the types of bottles that fragrances and home remedies come in. I’ve been in health food stores where the shelves are full of essential oils, plant extracts, and the like. Those are the kinds of bottles that I saw in the dream. > [@](#): > > Okay, **Musicat** ; I don’t need to be saved from **Cityboy’s** evil scam. Ouch. > [@](#): > > I even said he doesn’t live that far away from me. [url=http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=4345209#post4345209]I’ve never been to the area where you live. [/quote] At least not in ordinary waking day-to-day life. > [@](#): > > I’m sure he already knew I was older from previous conversations. Guilty as charged. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/188 "2003-12-20T21:12:34Z")
[I burning my coding.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=4345209#post4345209) :smack: ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/189 "2003-12-20T21:21:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mosier \* > seeing part of cityboy’s conversation with iwln, and how closely it resembles cold reading, makes me even more skeptical of cityboy’s claims of being able to astrally project. Describing a dream is not cold reading nor does it relate to AP, but you should be skeptical. > [@](#): > > first, he says that he saw lots of little bottles. i assume that iwln keeps her bottle collection inside of the house, but cityboy then claims that he didnt look inside at all, so how could he have seen them? answer: he didnt, he did a cold reading. Yes they are in the house and as he said, he never denied being in the house. > [@](#): > > i also assume that iwln’s bottles are not kept full (i’ve seen many bottle collections before, and in almost all cases they’re empty), but cityboy makes comments suggesting that they were full of something that could have been perfume or home remedies. There are actually about 100 little liquor bottles, some really old. None ever opened. The bottles are mostly green and brown. I also have a set of about 30 essential oils and those bottles are brown. The liquor bottles are displayed in my china hutch. > [@](#): > > to top it all off, he leaves himself an out by asking if it means anything, as if he was not sure whether he saw the correct house or not. before, he made assurances that he could find the right house just by thinking of the name of the person he wanted to see. I’m glad he worded it the way he did. If he just insisted that he saw my house, I would have been kind of “weirded out”. > [@](#): > > he promised to be specific and absolute with the descriptions he gave of items he saw, but i see absolutely nothing specific or absolute about any of the descriptions of iwln’s house. I don’t agree. The color of the house alone, not to mention many other things are good descriptions. They don’t prove anything ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/190 "2003-12-20T21:38:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cityboy916 \* > Okay, what I saw in the dream was a lot of little bottles, maybe 100 of them or more. They’re small, averaging around 3" (8cm) in height and between 1-1¾" (2.5-4.5cm) wide. Some are circular in cross section and some are square in cross section. Some or all of them were empty. Note that I’m trying to recall a dream from a few months ago so it’s very possible I’m being influenced by the conversation on the thread, but I do specifically remember seeing empty bottles so at least some of them were. The majority of them are made of brown glass, some a lighter brown than others, but there are green and clear bottles too. Most of them do not have labels but a small fraction of them do. To be more specific, some of these bottles are so old the labels have fallen off. Some are full, some are empty due to evaporation or something since the lids are still sealed. There are all different shapes, but all fairly small, like you would get on an airline. > [@](#): > > Ouch. Sorry, I didn’t mean to nick you with that bullet.☹ > [@](#): > > I’ve never been to the area where you live. At least not in ordinary waking day-to-day life. I have been to your town, but did not bring my house with me. > [@](#): > > Guilty as charged. Okay enough talk about old.☹ ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/191 "2003-12-21T03:50:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IWLN \* > **To be more specific, some of these bottles are so old the labels have fallen off. Some are full, some are empty due to evaporation or something since the lids are still sealed. There are all different shapes, but all fairly small, like you would get on an airline.** I haven’t been on an airline but it sounds like I was close. If my _dreams_ are this accurate, I must assume my _projections_ will be right-on. > [@](#): > > Sorry, I didn’t mean to nick you with that bullet.☹ That’s okay. It took me a minute to realize that there’s another way to interpret that. :smack: Just FTR, **Somnambulist** , I was looking something up in my dictionary (Webster’s American edition, 1978) and noticed that it uses the phrase “conclusive evidence” so it is very likely I have seen the phrase before, and I am definitely not the first to use it. ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/192 "2003-12-21T05:56:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cityboy916 \* > I haven’t been on an airline but it sounds like I was close. If my _dreams_ are this accurate, I must assume my _projections_ will be right-on. Okay I have to play devil’s advocate here. This assumes that you can project, can project at will and can project with geographical accuracy. That is a lot of “cans”. Just because I don’t automatically disbelieve it, doesn’t mean I believe it either. I do hope it works though.🙂 > [@](#): > > Just FTR, **Somnambulist** , I was looking something up in my dictionary (Webster’s American edition, 1978) and noticed that it uses the phrase “conclusive evidence” so it is very likely I have seen the phrase before, and I am definitely not the first to use it. Okay, this was the real reason I answered this post. **Somnambulist** was not disputing that there was such a thing as “conclusive evidence”. He was disagreeing with your application of it. Conclusive evidence would be obtained in a very controlled setting and typically would be repeatable; otherwise it’s still only in the anecdotal “evidence”(and I use evidence very loosely here) stage. He is right about the terminology nitpick. Gotta keep you honest.😃 ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/193 "2003-12-21T05:57:27Z")
Okay, I just noticed I use “okay” way too much.☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/194 "2003-12-21T18:17:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by glee \* > \*\*Do explain how knowing e.g. my employer’s name will help any doper name the object on my desk. \*\* **glee** , please don’t think I’m just posting here to piss all over your thread, I’m just saying what I think should be said. I forget now where your desk is, is it at your home, or at your place of work? Certainly, it is not deep in some bunker where you, and only you, have access to. You have referred to your cleaning lady as the only other person with access to your desk, do you think if I arrived at your office (or home, if that’s where your desk is), and sweet-talked her a bit, maybe give her some BS about some game we are playing, or even bung her a tenner, that it is possible she would spill the beans. Now, please don’t object to this objection on the grounds that **cityboy916** would have to go a long way to do this, because a) crazier things have happened, and b) I know people in cities all over the world, I might know someone who works just around the corner from you, or even in the same office building, hey! I might even know someone who works in your office. Explained? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/195 "2003-12-21T22:48:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > **glee** , please don’t think I’m just posting here to piss all over your thread, I’m just saying what I think should be said. > > I forget now where your desk is, is it at your home, or at your place of work? Certainly, it is not deep in some bunker where you, and only you, have access to. > > You have referred to your cleaning lady as the only other person with access to your desk, do you think if I arrived at your office (or home, if that’s where your desk is), and sweet-talked her a bit, maybe give her some BS about some game we are playing, or even bung her a tenner, that it is possible she would spill the beans. > > Now, please don’t object to this objection on the grounds that **cityboy916** would have to go a long way to do this, because a) crazier things have happened, and b) I know people in cities all over the world, I might know someone who works just around the corner from you, or even in the same office building, hey! I might even know someone who works in your office. > > Explained? That’s a perfectly good point. (I was unsure about your logic, because you were a bit abrupt at first.) Nevertheless this is a lot of work to go to! I agree it’s **possible** , but I don’t think it ranks as a big flaw in the test. Anyway let’s hope cityboy can come up with a viewing… ---
**Author:** ![raizok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@raizok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raizok)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/196 "2003-12-22T06:17:21Z")
Hmm, I’ve been lurking here long enough, but wasn’t the projection supposed to happen yesterday (Saturday) ? Or is that next week? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/197 "2003-12-22T14:00:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raizok \* > Hmm, I’ve been lurking here long enough, but wasn’t the projection supposed to happen yesterday (Saturday) ? Or is that next week? Cityboy said he was still working on his ability. He said it might take him up to a year. (The object(s) can stay on my desk that long, because I want to see how this test goes!) ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/198 "2003-12-23T11:11:30Z")
So how does it feel to know that Cityboy could be hovering over your desk at any time? You’d better not be doing anything embarrassing when he drops in. You know what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/199 "2003-12-23T11:38:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FabioClone \* > \*\*So how does it feel to know that Cityboy could be hovering over your desk at any time? You’d better not be doing anything embarrassing when he drops in. > > You know what I’m talking about. \*\* I brought this up before (uh, not the “doing anything” part) and my face is still red. Whatever you do, don’t bring up his IPU boxers! :o :o :o ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696/200 "2003-12-23T11:50:10Z")
I only mentioned it because, if astral projection were real, it would have huge spying possibilities. If a person who could look anywhere on the planet fell into the wrong hands… Cityboy, I think your supposed talent has military applications. No intelligence agency on Earth could match your information. If you do succeed in proving your claims, you should plan on being contacted by your government. Hell, they might even declare you a national security threat and lock you up somewhere for testing. Take my advice, if this thing works out for you, keep it quiet. Hook up with me and we’ll make a fortune. Screw science, this is America! Let’s exploit your paranormal abilities for financial gain! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-sdmb-test-of-astral-projection/216696.md?page=11)