Quite true. Most states have regs against minors and dust collecting lottery prizes.
cite?
He logged on to plug his book. Yeah, that’s Randi.
Also, I don’t think the couple had previously claimed to have precog powers and had been challenged to win the lottery more than twice.
The chance of someone randomly winning *after *receiving the challenge is probably infinitesimal to the point that it can be considered a reliable test of precognition.
Wow. Thank you for stopping by, Mr. Randi. Hope to see you around again.
They specifically claim to have a mathematical formula that helps them pick winning numbers. More specifically, the husband claims to have developed the formula. I predict a messy divorce.
One of the key features to the Randi challenge is that the challenger has to agree to the conditions of the test. Nostradamus cannot agree and, as far as I know, no one can state what his claims were in regard to his predictions and we have no way of knowing if he was even capable of making a valid claim at the time of his writings.
I have not read Mr. Randi’s book and I could be wrong, but Nostradamus may have known he had a good bit going might have admitted as much – on the QT – when confronted with a challenge.
So Mr. Randi, when are you going to publish your next book Why Do Pigeons Bob Their Heads?
Ahem. Mr. Randi, urm, sir. May I interest you in this thread here:
After all, you were on that show, as well.
I haven’t seen the “documentary” referenced in the linked column, but recently (on TCM) I saw a short propaganda film from WWII, claiming that Nostradamus predicted not only the rise of Hitler and the devastation in Europe, but that the US would come in and save the day.
(Now if they’d gone on to make accurate predictions about the rest of the 20th century based on the alleged quatrains, that would have made me sit up.)
First of all, we are awed by your presence (you won’t be a drive-by poster, will you?). But not too awed to ask a question. Are you criticising Cecil’s column in any way or just suggesting an alternate source of complementary & reliable information, like your book?
And yes, I do have your book. You autographed it for me once, in the last century.
I don’t believe Randi’s comment is meant as a slight against Cecil, but rather as a comment against “a movie on cable TV called ‘The Man Who Saw Tomorrow’”.
And a chance to plug his book!
As a shameless self-promoter myself, I see nothing wrong with it. As my mom says, “Nobody’s gonna blow your horn for you.”