# James Randi Owes Me $1,000,000 & Czarcasm Closed My Thread Without Reason **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246 "2004-01-02T07:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/41 "2004-01-02T14:57:59Z")
Originally posted by EddyTeddyFreddy… > [@](#): > > Is anyone else getting the impression that it’s DNFTT time? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Question](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Question](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Question)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/42 "2004-01-02T14:58:14Z")
well, i give up… it’s a fact … you are all educated stupid … i dunno, i’m kind of tired. i have one last proposition for you … if enough people believe that i am right i will win the $1,000,000 … i am willing to sign some sort of contract that would force me to give $950,000 of this money to the survivors of the Iranian earthquake … if you could find it in your heart to believe what i have said in these threads the children of Iran would benefit at least as much as i would if i received $50,000 … if you think $50,000 is unfair that is alright too … i will be satisfied with $1.00, $0.10, $0.01 or whatever amount you decide that i deserve … go read what James Randi has to say … this man is wealthy; he has obviously profited immensely with his obsession with skepticism and when it comes down to it he’s not really that nice of a guy … maybe you think i’m a jerk too but those kids who are suffering deserve better … ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/43 "2004-01-02T14:59:06Z")
Speaking from some considerable experience with LSD and peyote, I concur with **Daniel** that the notion that hallucinogens “enlighten” the mind of the user is utterly false. Watching walls melt and having telepathic conversations with the sofa are subjective experiences brought on by altered brain chemistry; they are not _real_. The walls are not really melting and the furniture is not discussing Nietszche; those events are delusions. If you really want to be "enlightened, take a calculus class. Math explains more of the universe’s workings than any amount of illicit pharmaceuticals can. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/44 "2004-01-02T15:01:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > \*\*i am as much under the influence of the ying and yang of existance as anyone else and for a moment there i let darkness and hate take control. why? because all the energy of the universe must be kept in state of balance. my hate was overriding my love and until the moment that i recognized that i was doomed to repeat the same mistake for eternity. \*\* . . . Does anyone else picture Question in a beret and goatee and playing bongo drums while a woman in a leotard does Interpretive Dances behind him? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/45 "2004-01-02T15:03:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > because all the energy of the universe must be kept in state of balance. my hate was overriding my love and until the moment that i recognized that i was doomed to repeat the same mistake for eternity. You want to learn how to balance force and energy better? Get yourself a copy of Meriam and Kraige’s **Engineering Mechanics** (in two volumes). Read em. Do all the problems. Right now, you’re just a flake, slinging big words around with no real understanding of how this “truth” you speak of works. What your drugs have taught you to be wisdom, others know to be a babbling fountain of shit. Learn something _real_. Clean yourself up. Come back. Bring Pie. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/46 "2004-01-02T15:06:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > \*\*you are asbolutely right, Daniel … > > i am as much under the influence of the ying and yang of existance as anyone else and for a moment there i let darkness and hate take control. why? because all the energy of the universe must be kept in state of balance. my hate was overriding my love and until the moment that i recognized that i was doomed to repeat the same mistake for eternity. \*\* It’s yin, not ying. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/47 "2004-01-02T15:08:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > go read what James Randi has to say … this man is wealthy; he has obviously profited immensely with his obsession with skepticism and when it comes down to it he’s not really that nice of a guy … maybe you think i’m a jerk too but those kids who are suffering deserve better … Dude, if you’d read his site **at all** you’d know it’s not his money. He offered some money to start, and others have pledged money over the years into a trust fund. That money can only legally be used for this award, so your whining about the Iranian victims of an earthquake is pointless. It’s like griping about how scholarship funds are going to send students to college instead of helping the earthquake victims. If you were bitching that the Red Cross decided to buy Humvees for their staff members and took that out of their relief funds, you’d have a point. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/48 "2004-01-02T15:10:09Z")
I’m confused about the OP’s rant. He believes that James Randi owes him $1, 000, 000 for. . . what, exactly? From the [JREF](http://www.randi.org/research/index.html) site. . . > [@](#): > > At JREF, we offer a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event. The prize is in the form of negotiable bonds held in a special investment account. The JREF does not involve itself in the testing procedure, other than helping to design the protocol and approving the conditions under which a test will take place. All tests are designed with the participation and approval of the applicant. In most cases, the applicant will be asked to perform a relatively simple preliminary test of the claim, which if successful, will be followed by the formal test. Preliminary tests are usually conducted by associates of the JREF at the site where the applicant lives. Upon success in the preliminary testing process, the “applicant” becomes a “claimant.” Eseentially, if one can perform a supernatural feat, such as telepathy or telekinesis, the applicant can perform a test under lab conditions and get the money. What **Question** fails to understand is that one cannot be a claimant by spouting fuzzy, drug-induced hippiespeak, “Dude, like, wow, we’re made of energy, man.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/49 "2004-01-02T15:14:38Z")
Have you ever looked at your hands, I mean _really_ looked at your hands? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/50 "2004-01-02T15:15:33Z")
**Question** , why stop there? Why not demand that Mr. Gates give 50 billion to the orphans of Iran? You’re picking on Randi because the charity work he’s doing – making life more difficult for con artists, hucksters, and lunatics who want to bilk folks out of their money – offends you. Not because you are sincere, but because you’re trying to be a pain in his ass the way he’s a pain in yours. Requesting the money from Randi is stupid: it ain’t his, and it’s already doing good in the world. Request it from the Hiltons, from the Gateses, from the Waltons. Leave Randi alone. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/51 "2004-01-02T15:28:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > **if enough people believe that i am right i will win the $1,000,000 …** Wrong. Read the website again. If you can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event, in both preliminary and final trials, then you get the million. According to the rules, a successful result should be evident to any observer. Belief doesn’t come into it. What power or event will you be demonstrating? > [@](#): > > \*\*i am willing to sign some sort of contract that would force me to give $950,000 of this money to the survivors of the Iranian earthquake … \*\* If you successfully pass the JREF challenge, you can do whatever you want with the money. > [@](#): > > \*\*go read what James Randi has to say … this man is wealthy; he has obviously profited immensely with his obsession with skepticism and when it comes down to it he’s not really that nice of a guy … maybe you think i’m a jerk too but those kids who are suffering deserve better … \*\* [A comment on the finances of the JREF.](http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&postid=1870191493#post1870191493) ---
**Author:** ![IWLN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@IWLN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IWLN)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/52 "2004-01-02T15:31:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Have you ever looked at your hands, I mean _really_ looked at your hands? \*\* Wow, dude! Look at that! It’s different sameness. I need to go start a thread in GD! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/53 "2004-01-02T15:31:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > \*\* the words that you read now are a part of the totality of existance. examine these words closely and you will see that they are the same as you and me \*\* I decided to eat those words to make them even more a part of me but they came back on me! urp ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/54 "2004-01-02T15:31:39Z")
We all have the same hands. We have a hive hand. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/55 "2004-01-02T15:33:41Z")
Do any of you remember **[Justhink](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=103530)**? Mr. Hink and **Question** should get together sometime. That’s a conversation I’d like to listen in on. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/56 "2004-01-02T15:50:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bnorton \* > \*\*Do any of you remember **[Justhink](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=103530)**? Mr. Hink and **Question** should get together sometime. That’s a conversation I’d like to listen in on. \*\* Dude, you’re like sick or something. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/57 "2004-01-02T15:52:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > **well, i give up… it’s a fact … you are all educated stupid …** Hey, I was right! He is the Timecube guy! ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/58 "2004-01-02T15:52:58Z")
> [@](#): > > well, i give up… it’s a fact … you are all educated stupid … > > i dunno, i’m kind of tired. i have one last proposition for you … > > if enough people believe that i am right i will win the $1,000,000 … > > i am willing to sign some sort of contract that would force me to give $950,000 of this money to the survivors of the Iranian earthquake … if you could find it in your heart to believe what i have said in these threads the children of Iran would benefit at least as much as i would if i received $50,000 … if you think $50,000 is unfair that is alright too … i will be satisfied with $1.00, $0.10, $0.01 or whatever amount you decide that i deserve … > > go read what James Randi has to say … this man is wealthy; he has obviously profited immensely with his obsession with skepticism and when it comes down to it he’s not really that nice of a guy … maybe you think i’m a jerk too but those kids who are suffering deserve better … Fuck you! Stop posting, or I’ll collapse **your** waveform. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/59 "2004-01-02T15:57:52Z")
This thread is my first encounter with the much-maligned **Question**. But I must say I hate him for the link in the OP. He has forced me to agree with **Brutus**. For that I hold much enmity towards him. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246/60 "2004-01-02T16:10:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > \*\*I’m confused about the OP’s rant. He believes that James Randi owes him $1, 000, 000 for. . . what, exactly? > \*\* He addressed that in the Reincarnation thread 😃 : > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Question \* > i do not need to demonstrate a ‘paranormal’ power because our mind knows that i am right. But if that isn’t enough to convince you, consider the following nuggets of wisdom which will undoubtedly make converts of even the most hardened skeptics: > [@](#): > > let’s try an experiment. pay close attention to the number seven - 7 … think about it… One day later: > [@](#): > > remember to keep in mind the number 7… this is the 77th post to this thread and someone out there is the 777 person to view it… HOLY SHIT! HE’S RIGHT! But it gets even more paranormal than that! > [@](#): > > in the beginning i was nothing. my father and my mother created me and i became sperm; another fish swimming in the river. i evolved from there into the person that i am today. > . > . > water is the key. it is energy. humans are capable of the sentient thought because the great flood forced us into the water that was cold, thus bringing us closer to a state of enlightenment. So from this we can draw the earth-shattering conclusions that parents make babies that eventually grow up, people need water to survive, and someone got a whole vial of LSD for Christmas. Fascinating. Mr. Randi, I think you owe this man some money. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-randi-owes-me-1-000-000-czarcasm-closed-my-thread-without-reason/222246.md?page=4)