# Fuck you Larry King! Sylvia was lying you stupid twit! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2001, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762 "2001-09-04T23:16:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/21 "2001-09-07T18:28:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > In reading the info on Randi’s site, I’m confused about one thing. Randi has offered to let Sylvia know the identities of the people involved in the test, and give her their contact information. What’s to prevent her from contacting these people beforehand and arranging their testimony, so to speak? Based on the protocol as described here: [http://www.randi.org/jr/090701.html](http://www.randi.org/jr/090701.html) I don’t think Sylvia would be given the information for anybody but the one person she was reading for. That person could rate the reading high or low. . . but what really matters is what happens when they play back _the same reading_ to the other nine people, who she would have no way to contact. These people should give back a low score to the reading. I’m suprised she accepted these conditions, as I understand them. Even if her psychic powers were legit, I’d think she’d have to ask _some_ questions to make a “connection” with the subject, not just have them sitting at the end of a phone line which would sound dead to her. But, hey, she’s the psychic. ---
**Author:** ![Monocracy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monocracy/32/4493_2.png) [@Monocracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monocracy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/22 "2001-09-08T13:36:44Z")
> [@](#): > > CALLER: Yes, hi, Sylvia. My niece recently passed away, and I wanted to know if she suffered at all, and if it was her fault at all. > > BROWNE: No, it wasn’t her fault, and it – no, she didn’t suffer. But what I’m saying is, this looks like it was very quick. > > CALLER: Right. If the caller needs to know if she suffered, then it had to be quick. If it were a long drawn out illness, the caller would have already known if she suffered or not. > [@](#): > > BROWNE: Yes. But this also – what it has to do with the breathing, because it looks like there was something wrong with the breathing apparatus. > > CALLER: OK. Does she know how much she’s missed, and how many people came to see her? > > BROWNE: Yes. Also, which is very unusual, too, but a lot of people don’t come, because she did come to her service. > > CALLER: Right. A prediction by Browne, which was totally ignored by the caller. Then Browne replies with something that makes absolutely no FUCKING sense (looks like she put three totally random clauses together and added in a few "also"s and "too"s for the hell of it). > [@](#): > > KING: What made you think of – about the question of fault, ma’am? > > CALLER: I’m sorry? > > KING: Why did you ask about fault? > > BROWNE: Because she was afraid of suicide. > > CALLER: It was a car accident, and… Wow, a swing and a COMPLETE miss by Sylvia. Looks like Browne read too much into the “at fault” question. Also, Larry never confronts her on her wrong statement. > [@](#): > > KING: And whether she was at fault… > > CALLER: Right, whether she was at fault or exactly what happened. We don’t know. > > BROWNE: Yes, she wasn’t at fault, honey. She was trying to veer off from something. But she says that something hit, she couldn’t breathe. > > CALLER: Oh. OK. What!? Sheesh, a call where every single prediction is wrong, and yet nothing is mentioned by Larry King … no smug, so-what-do-you-think-of-THAT-one-Randi attitude … just a commercial break. ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/23 "2001-09-08T17:13:25Z")
DoctorJ, you missed the funniest part of the bilirubin/Epstein-Barr exchange. Right after the part quoted above, we have… > [@](#): > > CALLER: That fecal manner, what – I don’t know how it’s spelt. > > BROWNE: Honey, it means a bowel movement test, honey. > > CALLER: Huh? > > KING: It’s a bowel movement test. > > BROWNE: It’s a bowel movement test. > > CALLER: Oh, it’s a bowel movement test. At that point, I was ROTFLMAO. I got a little mad when a caller from Saskatoon said: > [@](#): > > CALLER: Sylvia and Larry, I enjoy you so very, very much. I listened to you for years and I just wanted to get on for a long time. Randi, I feel sorry for you as well, because we have to believe in something. …Mainly because it was clear by that point that the whole show was going to be slanted. Mr. Amazing didn’t help either, just by sitting there shrugging. Then again, there wasn’t much to respond to; it was all nonsense. Randi scored his biggest points late in the show… > [@](#): > > RANDI: The harm that it does, Larry, is it believes – it leads people into, like the thin edge of the wedge, into much more dangerous, perhaps much more dangerous, forms of belief. They’ll fall for almost any kind of a swindle once they accept something on a very small scale, it leads them into the rest of it. And it can be very, very dangerous. I’ve seen it. > > KING: True. > > BROWNE: I believe that. And then you start getting the Kool-Aid thing. > > KING: Yes. Whatever that was. Anyway, I was slightly impressed that Sylvia managed to score very lucky guesses usually on the first try. I know how cold readings are done, so I could always imagine what she would say next to avoid a miss. Frankly, she didn’t have to maneuver too much. I guess that’s because she made statements that are unverifiable during the show. “Get a bilirubin test.” Lucky for her, the mom didn’t remember getting one – but I could’ve made a similar statement, no psychic power required. ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/24 "2001-09-08T17:23:00Z")
Why is it that people always call psychics for medical or relationship advice (even if it’s relationships with the dead)? Since Sylvia Browne’s source of insight must have access to a vast index of information – from liver functions to forensic details of crime scenes – I can’t think of any bit of knowledge beyond its scope. Why not ask Sylvia for Fermat’s wonderful proof to his Last Theorem? Ask about the nature of Dark Matter. The wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane is somewhere – where is it? No, they always want to know about the most boring, mundane facts. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/25 "2001-09-08T21:38:01Z")
Does Sylvia have an e-mail address? If so, I plan on sending the following to her, and invite others to do the same. _ahem_ Dear Ms. Browne, First of all, I must say I have been a fan of yours for a long time and I have read all of your books. [She’s got books, doesn’t she? They all have books.] I saw you the other night on Larry King Live, and I was proud of the way you handled yourself with poise and graciousness in the face of that idiot, James Randi. I suppose I shouldn’t call him an idiot, he’s just misguided and sad, but perhaps your performace will show that to others. I personally can’t wait for you to make him eat his words. I will be watching the newspapers to see when you accept his “challenge” and demonstrate the reality of psychic abilities once and for all. You taking away his million dollars in the name of all who have been slandered and pestered by him and those like him will send a message that God is real and his servants on Earth are real as well. I am so glad, that unlike other psychics who have been bullied into stepping away from Mr. Randi, you are going to courageously confront him, rise to the challenge, and defeat himi once and for all. What I would give to be there when he has to sign that check for you! I know you do not need it, but my prayers will be with you. It’s time this child was silenced, and you’re the perfect person to do it. Go forth with all the support of your fans. We’re counting on you, Sylvia! In God’s love, Legomancer [I will probably sign my real name, or the real name of whatever yahoomail account I use] ==== Anyway, if she gets enough of these, can you imagine the awkward position it could possibly put her in? ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/26 "2001-09-09T01:36:03Z")
It seems as though for the last several months, any night there hasn’t been a real news story, the Chandra Levy investigation has been the topic of Larry King Live (at least whenever I happen to flip by CNN at that hour). They bring on the same band of idiots, er pundits, to discuss the significance of the same things they (the same guests) have already discussed on at least another dozen episodes of Larry King. “Welcome, tonight we’re here to discuss the fact that we still don’t have a clue what happened to Chandra Levy. With us is Nancy Grace, etc.” Of course, they’ve also done dozens of shows discussing the absence of any new developments in the Jon Benet case too. In a way, the guests on these episodes are like psychics–they don’t know what they’re talking about, but they do a good job of faking it. Okay, all this psychic business is nonsense of course, but it can be kind of fun to watch a clever con at work. I’m hoping that Sylvia Browne will use her psychic gifts to start picking winning lottery numbers, and that she donates all the post-tax winnings to charity–that would truly be a magnanimous way to use her gifts for maximum good. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/27 "2001-09-10T20:20:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > BROWNE: I believe that. And then you start getting the Kool-Aid thing. > > > > KING: Yes. > > Whatever that was.\*\* Does the name “Reverend Jim Jones” ring a bell? ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762/28 "2001-09-10T20:44:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \* > **Why not ask Sylvia for Fermat’s wonderful proof to his Last Theorem?** According to Andrew Wiles, the mathematician who did find the proof eight years ago, said [in an interview with NOVA](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/proof/wiles.html) that he doubts that Fermat ever really had the proof, that it was likely Fermat was mistaken when he wrote that famous margin note. Why? The techniques Wiles used to find the proof did not exist in Fermat’s time (the 17th century). So even if Silvia could contact the dead Fermat, she still probably would not learn the answer (assuming she could understand it). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-larry-king-sylvia-was-lying-you-stupid-twit/79762.md?page=1)