The “amazing” James Randi has been caught offering “Psychic Detective” Riley G $3,000 in order to drop his claim on Randi’s Million Dollar prize…
Randi:
“I want to put an end to this “challenge” of ours. On the advice of legal counsel I will pay you three-thousand dollars to drop your claim on the million bucks…”
http://www.psicop.com/rg-jr-5.htm
LMFAO! Read it and weep Randi disciples!
Contestant #3
Ok, I read it, heard it, and I’m weeping! I can’t stop the tears from flowing… Hahahahahaha!!! Man, that was good!
Sorry, I can’t stop laughing!
This guy Riley is a big time idiot. Have you read all of his “documents”, and heard the interview?
Randi’s prize is to be collected ONLY by proving a “…psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability”, not by challenges of MISQUOTED allegations.
Riley said:
“I just love it when he has radio interviews lined up, and that he agreed to, but hangs up on the hosts after about 30 seconds into the broadcasts.”
Here Riley implies that Randi does this all the time, and leaves the question of time more or less ambiguous with his saying “about”.
Then Randi snapped back:
“How about the million-dollar prize for proof that this ever happened?”
Agreed, he should not have said that, but he was obviously being sarcastic. Besides, it is very clear that the prize is exclusively granted just for claims of psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability of any kind under satisfactory observing conditions, as is clearly stated in the APLICATION FOR STATUS OF CLAIMANT.
Then, in said aplication, Riley states:
“I, Riley G (Matthews) intend to prove that James Randi, a scheduled guest of a TV or Radio program did in fact hang up on at least one TV or Radio host of a live broadcast within 30 seconds to 1 minute after being introduced by said host or hosts.”
Well, here’s the catch. Besides his not being the kind of challenge required to collect the million bucks, Riley now specifies the time for Randi to hang up on a host as within 30 seconds to 1 minute after being INTRODUCED…
You see, I heard the tape, and timed it from the time the host INTRODUCED Randi to the time when Randi hung up, 1 minute and 3 seconds! Randi says that he has been on the phone for SEVERAL minutes already, and his point was very clear: he’s not endorsing that kind of program. But what probably really pissed him off was the fact that the host was mocking him by saying to his audience that “…in fact, if you put your hands on the radio, there is a possibility that James Randi could heal all your physical ills…”, etc, etc.
So I guess that maybe Randi screwed up by saying what he said, but maybe you can see the reasons why he’s (if it’s true) backing off this.
How’s this for a little “research”, eh? Wheeooo… I’m exhausted!
Saludos.
Men will cease to commit atrocities only when they cease to believe absurdities.
-Voltaire
Are you serious?
You don’t see anything wrong here?
Talk about surreal.
Of course I was talking to C#3. Concurrent post.
Still shaking my head.
Infuckingcredible!
hesaidshesaidiread
What really saddens me, C#3, is that I (and, I suspect, everyone else) know that you are smarter than this, but it appears that there is no level of deception or ommission of information to which you will stoop to attempt to make a point that doesn’t even exist.
Say Randi pays this guy the $1 million. Does that mean someone has effectively demonstrated a supernatural/psychic phenomenon, under the conditions laid out in the “Challenge”? No. It means some crank doesn’t like the way Randi treats radio hosts in phone interviews. Big deal.
If it tickles your funny bone to see Randi lose $1 million, good for you. I don’t care–it ain’t my million. (It ain’t his, either; most of it consists of donations from others.) Doesn’t change the fact that everyone who has ever applied to take the challenge and gotten to the testing phase has failed.
Not to mention that it’s not even Randi himself that’s offering the $1 million - it’s the James Randi Educational Foundation.
Since Randi isn’t the one with his hands on the foundation’s checkbook, it’s nigh-impossible for him to offer money from its coffers without approval of the members.
Also, Randi maintains his own domain - www.randi.org. If it were truly an official mail, why wouldn’t he use it? Signing up for a CompuServe account and and showing that the headers say that, yes, the message was sent from CompuServe, doesn’t do anything to prove that it was actually sent from James Randi.
Of course, if it’s true, the guy will accept the 3000 bucks because, well, it’s almost as good as a million.
This guy’s last post on his web site was in June.
If he got the million, it would be all over the news.
If he took the 3000 grand, he would have told us about it.
He used to be a cop, don’t you know.
I’m Elizabeth Taylor.
According to the Pope, a woman can be a saint, but not a priest.
BTW, Randi says that this guy Riley has been spreading so many lies around that he doesn’t want anything more to do with the jerk.
The title to this thread is misleading- he “outsmarted” (IMO “weaseled”) Randi for an offer of $3,000.
Isn’t Randi associated with CSICOP (the Committef for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) rather than “psicop”, the domain that Connie’s newest irrelevancies come from?
And settling out of court to remove a nuisance is not equivalent in any way to paying off the psychic challange.
Actually, Randi is no longer associated officially with CSICOP. PSICOP is Riley’s (or somebody associated with him – I can’t recall) creation to attack them.
Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan
Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University
Cave ab homine unius libri
I originally read the end of DrFidelius’ post as “…mind benders and spoon readers.”
:o
On second thought…
Actually guys, The “Amazing” Randi made a unsolicited offer to Riley G for the million dollars…
To wit:
http://www.psicop.com/rg-jr-1.htm
BTW, a Randi disciple called the Art Bell Show last night and Art told him that Randi has refused several offers to appear on his show. Remote Viewer Ed Dames has even offered to take the Randi Challenge on the air under Randi’s conditions and Randi still refuses to appear. Art as much as called Randi a coward.
What is Mr. “Amazing” afraid of?
Contestant #3
c3:
You are bringing up Ed Dames? C’mon, of all the supposed mind readers, fortune tellers, and psychic wannabes, you bring up Ed Dames. Ugh.
This Ed Dames is a fear mongerer. Who makes outlandish predictions, that don’t come true. (Hmm, has North Korea destroyed South Korea yet? Oh, you don’t know if its a part of our timeline?)
When people question why his predictions didn’t happen, first he says “Its not a prediction, its a fact” then says since he is remote viewings its hard to place a time on the subject.
Ugh. He is the worst, because he bring people up into a frenzy, and allows Art Bell to sell survival gear, and himself to sell tapes on how to remote view.
He has said that the mark of the Anti-Christ will come about because everyone will be forced to have an AIDS innoculation. He has also said that homosexuals are a cause of the end of the world.
He is a wacko. Nah, he isn’t as high on the food chain as a wacko. He is a shyster.
Not, that I am a big fan of Randi. I agree with the things he tries to do. Debunking mystics, fakes and all of the rest. But, I also think he has a rather large ego and he is more interested in getting his name out there. That is why I enjoy reading the works of CSICOP a bit more, because its an orginization and not the advancement of one person.
Ok. I had my say.
pat
Maybe he doesn’t want to be in anyone else’s sideshow? Maybe its because the determination of a “winning” demonstration is not based upon whether Randi can, personally, determine the means of “cheating” at the time of the performance? maybe because he feels that appearing on Art Bell’s show would seem to lend credence to a gullible loon?
Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan
Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University
Cave ab homine unius libri
Contestant #3 posted 10-01-1999 11:43 AM
](http://www.psicop.com/rg-jr-1.htm
[/quote)
As pointed out earlier, there is hardly a prponderance of evidence that these messages came from Randi.
Let’ see: you’ve been told that that Art told someone else that Randi has refused to appear. There’s your stunning ability to find primary sources at work once again.
How is not being at every show’s host’s beck and call being a “coward”? If he doesn’t want to on the show, that’s his right. It’s not that he’s afraid to proven wrong, it’s that there are thousands of such demands and it is ludricrous to expect Randi to answer them all.
If you're trying to convince us that you have a valid point that can be rationally defended, you are failing miserably. Both your title ( "Riley G outsmarts the "amazing" Randi for 1 million dollars!") and your OP ("The "amazing" James Randi has been caught offering "Psychic Detective" Riley G $3,000 in order to drop his claim on Randi's Million Dollar prize...") were deceptive; Riley has **not** received a million dollars from Randi, and he has **no** claim on Randi's Million Dollar prize. The use of capital letters indicates that the Million Dollar prize is a proper noun, meaning that Riley has made a claim on well known Million Dollar Offer, not just any million dollar offer. Saying that Riley has made an claim on the Million Dollar Prize is like saying that you live in the White House when you in fact live in a white house.
-Ryan
" ‘Ideas on Earth were badges of friendship or enmity. Their content did not matter.’ " -Kurt Vonnegut, * Breakfast of Champions *
Hey Ryan, take a reading comprehension course buddy.
You wrote:
“Let’ see: you’ve been told that that Art told someone else that Randi has refused to appear.”
Noooooooo. I wasn’t told…I heard it live with my own two ears. You can hear it too if you choose to by accessing Art’s audio-archives.
Further, read on dweeb:
http://www.psicop.com/rg-jr-2.htm
Randi made an unsolicited challenge to Riley G and offered the Million Dollar Prize…Riley formally responded to accept the challenge…Randi, after his lawyers point out that Riley might actually have a valid claim upon the money, recommend that he attempt to settle with Riley by offering $3,000 to forget the whole thing.
It happened. Accept it and deal with it. The only thing “Amazing” about James Randi is his enormous ego and his big mouth…and they both got him into a pickle of his own making!!! LMFAO!
Contestant #3
The prize money stands at $1,112,000.
Riley was offered less than one third of one percent to settle? No lawyer would propose such a figure.
Litigation avoidance is usually settled at anywhere between ten and fifty percent. Sometimes higher.
The whole thing is just plain unbelievable.