# James Randi May Need to Start Writing a Check **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073 "2006-07-18T22:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Salt\_Seller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Salt\_Seller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salt_Seller)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/1 "2006-07-18T22:44:53Z")
I think [this woman](http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2006/7/10dziura.html) stands a very good chance of winning. I can’t think of any flaws in her design. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/2 "2006-07-18T23:37:29Z")
**Salt Seller** –it’s published in _McSweeney’s_! :smack: A Humor Magazine. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/3 "2006-07-18T23:40:51Z")
While, of course, everything posted on the SDMB is dead serious. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/4 "2006-07-18T23:59:23Z")
It is also [old news](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=379246). (You gotta be quick on the SDMB. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Salt\_Seller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Salt\_Seller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salt_Seller)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/5 "2006-07-19T02:50:48Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] **Salt Seller** –it’s published in _McSweeney’s_! :smack: A Humor Magazine. [/QUOTE] Ummmmmm, _yeah_. I was aware of that. Didn’t realise it was so old, though. Nuts. So, I guess she didn’t win? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/6 "2006-07-19T15:11:20Z")
[QUOTE=Salt Seller] Ummmmmm, _yeah_. I was aware of that. Didn’t realise it was so old, though. Nuts. So, I guess she didn’t win? 😃 [/QUOTE] IIRC, I don’t think that anybody can win, even with real miraculous powers. Isn’t one of his provisions that he (randi) can’t \*duplicate \* the effect? given that, I don’t see how anyone could collect the money. hh ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/7 "2006-07-19T15:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=handsomeharry] IIRC, I don’t think that anybody can win, even with real miraculous powers. Isn’t one of his provisions that he (randi) can’t \*duplicate \* the effect? given that, I don’t see how anyone could collect the money. [/QUOTE] I’m torn between wanting to see James Randi try to control men’s minds with his vagina and wanting to jab my mind’s eye with a red-hot poker. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/8 "2006-07-19T18:58:02Z")
[QUOTE=handsomeharry] IIRC, I don’t think that anybody can win, even with real miraculous powers. Isn’t one of his provisions that he (randi) can’t \*duplicate \* the effect [/QUOTE] Absolutely not. [The JREF Million Dollar Challenge.](http://randi.org/research/index.html) The applicant and the Foundation decide _together_ what will constitutes a successful demonstration of that applicant’s purported supernatural effect. Obviously, the testers will strive to eliminate testing conditions where someone _could_ replicate the applicant’s effect through cheating. But Randi simply being able to replicate the effect under conditions of his own choosing would not disqualify the applicant. A lot of people seem to think they know the rules of the $1,000,000 Challenge and why it is therefore unwinnable, but much of what’s floating around about the Challenge seems to have been made up out of thin air. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/9 "2006-07-19T19:24:23Z")
> [@mr. jp](#): > > While, of course, everything posted on the SDMB is dead serious. Right. Here’s an example. [QUOTE=handsomeharry] . . . real miraculous powers. [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-may-need-to-start-writing-a-check/365073/10 "2006-07-19T21:58:52Z")
[QUOTE=Salt Seller] I think [this woman](http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2006/7/10dziura.html) stands a very good chance of winning. I can’t think of any flaws in her design. [/QUOTE] The flaw is that her control is wrong. A better control would be to do a test run and then surgically remove her vagina. Assume she is clothed in both instances so that neither group knows whether or not she has a vagina. I’m guessing the data would not change between the control group and the second group, but I have not yet experienced the powers of her magical vagina, so who knows?