# Recommend questions for a (skeptical) friend who's going to a well recommended medium Tuesday night **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288 "2010-04-25T07:17:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/41 "2010-04-30T13:55:13Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Is it possible that she could be both deluded _and_ performing cold reading? > > As in, rather than cynically, she has instead intuitively built up a bank of cold-reading techniques that work, but attributes the mental processes she uses to the spirit world. Truly intuitive (“Blink” style) thinking can often feel kinda spooky. Is that possible? Absolutely! I have done a lot of readings knowing that I am using cold reading - much done with the help of\*\* ianzin’s\*\* book. I started using tarot and astrology - always saying up front that I was trying to show how the process worked - but my denial about any psychic ability was sometimes met with the argument from a sitter that I might think that I was a fake, but the system must be working. Otherwise, as they would say: “there’s no way you could have known that!” So I created my own divination system, based entirely on cold reading techniques. No validity beyond my own imagination. It still works a treat and there are still a few who refuse to believe that I don’t have psychic ability. When I read people, often things jump into my head which are amazing hits. At the time, I can’t identify their source, but when I work back over the reading later, I can see the pattern. This happens often now that I have done hundreds of readings. If I believed in my system - astrology, tarot, psychic abilities, dead people talking to me - then I can fully understand that I would attribute those hits to the system, or voices or whatever. I could easily be using cold reading and be deluded at the same time. I have no doubt many of the street-stall local psychics are doing just that. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/42 "2010-04-30T15:37:03Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > A well-done medium is rare. Was she short? Cause I heard on the news that one of them escaped from prison. A small medium at large. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/43 "2010-04-30T16:05:17Z")
I like your description of her. Semi-world famous in Atlanta. That’s the narrowest definition of “semi” I think I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/44 "2010-04-30T17:19:43Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > A well-done medium is rare. Win 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/45 "2010-04-30T19:15:15Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > John Edward is the “psychic”. > > John Edwards is the former vice-presidential candidate who had an affair. > > Jonathan Edwards is the “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” preacher. Which one knocked up the woman who was on Oprah yesterday? Or is that something we won’t know til she and the baby go on Maury? Trivia: Jonathan Edwards was the grandfather of Aaron Burr. On his deathbed he supposedly told a Calvinist clergyman cousin who was trying to convert him “I was born the grandson of Jonathan Edwards and became the killer of Alexander Hamilton, what reasonable deity would turn a blind eye at those credentials?” (He was never overly repentant of the duel.) What would be cool would be if John Edward summoned Jonathan Edwards and Aaron Burr to discuss their opinions on what kind of VP John Edwards would have made. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/46 "2010-04-30T19:19:37Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > But if you were a ghost, and for some reason wanted to communicate with someone who knew you when you were alive, presumably you’d try to appear in some form that looked familiar to that person. I might not recognize my grandmother if she looked like she did when she was 30. It would save a lot of problems if they’d wear nametags. That way they could say “Her name is 'Hello My Name is Susan OliviaThorsdottir-Norris” which would help a lot more than “her name has an o or two in it and she’s standing next to a guy who looks like Paul Sorvino but in a Hawaiian shirt”. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/47 "2010-04-30T19:25:10Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I like your description of her. Semi-world famous in Atlanta. > > That’s the narrowest definition of “semi” I think I’ve ever seen. Based on a line from _To Be or Not to Be_: “My husband is the great actor Joseph Tura. He’s world famous in Poland.” The line was added by Jack Benny because when he was touring he loved all the podunk towns with diners that advertised their “world famous peach cobbler” or “world famous strawberry preserves” or somesuch. He said in one of his routines that whenever Soviet dignitaries visited and you could see them whispering something to somebody in the background while appearing with the president or at the U.N. “I always wonder if they’re saying 'when this is over let’s go to Molly’s Diner in Texarkana and get some of that pecan pie the East German ambassador and the Chilean consul were talking about”. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/48 "2010-04-30T19:31:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It would save a lot of problems if they’d wear nametags. That way they could say “Her name is 'Hello My Name is Susan OliviaThorsdottir-Norris” which would help a lot more than “her name has an o or two in it and she’s standing next to a guy who looks like Paul Sorvino but in a Hawaiian shirt”. I had already decided that when everybody recognizes my rightful claim as Queen of the World, everybody would have to wear nametags at all times when they weren’t at home. That way, those of us who can’t recognize faces wouldn’t be at such a disadvantage. Now I know that I must get all ghosts to wear nametags, too… how am I going to do that? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/49 "2010-04-30T19:33:52Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I had already decided that when everybody recognizes my rightful claim as Queen of the World, everybody would have to wear nametags at all times when they weren’t at home. That way, those of us who can’t recognize faces wouldn’t be at such a disadvantage. Now I know that I must get all ghosts to wear nametags, too… how am I going to do that? I think the Arizona Society of Psychic Specialists (ASPS) is working on that legislation now, but it’s only for non-English speaking ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/50 "2010-04-30T20:09:55Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I like your description of her. Semi-world famous in Atlanta. I’ve spent over half a century in Atlanta and I’ve never heard of this person! I just don’t travel in the right circles. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288/51 "2010-04-30T20:20:57Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > I’ve spent over half a century in Atlanta and I’ve never heard of this person! I just don’t travel in the right circles. Ask your dead friends. They may have her on speed dial. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-questions-for-a-skeptical-friend-whos-going-to-a-well-recommended-medium-tuesday-night/537288.md?page=2)