# Paranormal, telepathy, one million price from James Randi, telepathic Vinko and spoon bender Uri Gel **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 9, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345 "2012-02-09T21:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/41 "2012-02-10T12:43:32Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Actually, it was this woo business of “power of positive thinking” that really got me started on examining what my religion claimed. And that’s the real power of positive thinking. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/42 "2012-02-10T13:18:11Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I’ve had this too, and there’s a perfectly rational explanation. It’s a combination between “even a stopped clock” and “the astrology effect.” First think of how often you think of random shit that DOESN’T happen, now think of astrology, where all the horoscopes and descriptions are so hilariously vague they could apply to anyone. Take the venn diagram of things you think of that COULD happen, and things that could apply to a lot of situations, sprinkle a little bit of deja vu and you have pre-cog powers. Yes, it can be freaky, and sometimes they can be REALLY uncanny (I’ve had what I swear are step by step recreations of a good 10-20 seconds of a dream), but they’re explainable. Especially if it’s something that was likely to happen anyway. It’s not hard to “imagine” something that was probably going to happen soon given subconscious evidence you’ve gathered. Me too - and in one or two cases, it was very detailed and accurate (as well as being an absurdly uncommon scene), but it’s a big ol’ world, and as you say, between confirmation bias and deja vu/false memory, I no longer consider it very strange. Back when it happened (teens and early twenties) I was convinced I was special - everyone wants to be special, so I imagine this is rather common. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/43 "2012-02-10T13:25:04Z")
Hmmmm… English not first language, won’t properly engage in discussion, believes in psychic phenomena… **neurostudop** - what’s your position on Dirty Shit Pervert Gangs? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/44 "2012-02-10T13:52:01Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > The intense concentration that my dog exhibits attempting to psychically make me drop my food on the ground, coupled with his dismal success rate suggests that dogs, at least, lack telekinesis. I once read a fascinating short story about a person that entered a room containing a dog. The person got an image of a sausage treat in a desk drawer, opened the drawer and gave it to the dog, whose tail wagged. It turned out the dog was able to “suggest” the image of the sausage treat to people but once they knew about it they could easily resist his telepathic suggestion. That dog is now living on the Riviera on Randi’s million bucks. Just last week our Labrador retriever went up to Mrs. J., who was enjoying a snack on the couch. While Mrs. J. was distracted crooning at her, she filched a saltine cracker. If that isn’t telekinesis, it’s damn close. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/45 "2012-02-10T14:10:24Z")
I haven’t heard from you yet. I’m very excited about this opportunity to publish this evidence in extremely prestigous journals, and turn the current world of science on its head. It would truly be a great revolution and paradigm shift. The two really big journals are Science and Nature. these would be my target journals. Uri Geller’s work was actually published in Nature back in the 70’s which made a bit of a splash. So these journals are certainly open to publishing important and excellent scientific work. Please contact me and let me know; we don’t have to do it for the money or fame, we can work on this and prove the effect for the ultimate good of mankind. There’s nothing more noble. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/46 "2012-02-10T14:54:43Z")
Thanks Sigene. I concur. There are plenty of people out there willing to study your telepathic powers. I certainly would be happy to, assuming it doesn’t involve opening a bank account in Nigeria. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/47 "2012-02-10T15:43:02Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I haven’t heard from you yet. I’m very excited about this opportunity to publish this evidence in extremely prestigous journals, and turn the current world of science on its head. It would truly be a great revolution and paradigm shift. You’re not going to hear from the OP. He or she just created a new thread in GQ with the same OP and also spammed various other message boards, again with the same OP. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/48 "2012-02-10T16:10:33Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You’re not going to hear from the OP. He or she just created a new thread in GQ with the same OP and also spammed various other message boards, again with the same OP. Just making sure that the OP (and others with similar claims) knows I have an open mind and am willing to test the hypothesis. I want to remove the suggestion and complaint that no scientist is willing to do this. I see my first post was 1 hour before his last new post submission, so I assume he saw my response. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/49 "2012-02-10T16:17:09Z")
I doubt that he saw your response. The sort of person who spams boards like this typically doesn’t bother to read the threads. (I welcome **neurostudop** to prove me wrong by replying to the various posts here and elsewhere. But I’m not holding my breath.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345/50 "2012-02-10T16:27:37Z")
Since the OP seems to be spamming and has started a couple of accounts here to post about his alleged abilities - which didn’t include remote viewing of our registration agreement, I guess - I’m banning him and closing this thread. Sorry, folks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-telepathy-one-million-price-from-james-randi-telepathic-vinko-and-spoon-bender-uri-gel/612345.md?page=2)