gnome@oliveb.UUCP (10/10/86)
Extracted from SCIENCE magazine, 1,Aug,1986 pg.517 Amazing Randi one of 25 MacArthur Genius Winners James Randi (the Amazing Randi), the magician known to scientists for shooting holes in research on paranormal phenomena, has been awarded one of this year's MacArthur Foundation grants for "outstandingly talented" people. Randi was cited for his work in exposing the fraud behind "psychic surgery" and for his recent campaign against television evangelists for mulcting their audiences and gulling the sick. Randi, 57, says he plans to use his $272,000 award, to be doled out over the next 5 years, in expanding his office and computer system and hiring an assistant. For the past year and a half, Randi has been on the trail of faith healers who he says are fleecing the public with the aid of advanced computerized information and mailing systems. Randi says these men have an enormous amount of information, including everything from the health status of individuals to the names of their pets, gained through mailing lists from a variety of sources such as fundamentalist groups and purveyors of holy water from Lourdes. Randi says many people are dying because at healing services they are told to throw away their pills. In undercover work in San Fransisco and Houston, he says he went through the trash following a service held by the now "vanished" evangelist Peter Popoff, and found a great variety of medications tossed away by the audience, including nitroglycerin, digitalis, and oral antidiabetic agents. He says he also intercepted transmissions to a receiver Popoff had in his ear as he walked among the audience. Popoff was getting information on peoples' identities, incomes, relatives, and diseases. "You're talking James Bond here," says Randi. Randi has been spreading his message with appearances on the Johnny Carson show. He has contacted states' attorneys in seven states to alert them to the various violations including fraud and invasion of privacy but, he says, the law won't do anything because these are religious organizations. ----------------------- It then went on to list the other award winners. Gary HASA H-Division (allegra,ihnp4,hplabs,glacier)oliveb!oliven!gnome
sunny@hoptoad.UUCP (10/10/86)
Where ever there is an opportunity to make money,
there will be people with a greater interest in money than scruples
who will defraud others. There are fraudulent "psychics" just as
there have been medical quacks. That doesn't mean there aren't
capable psychics and capable doctors.
Sunny
--
Sunny Kirsten
POB 557
Monte Rio, CA 95462-0557
(707)865-2885
USENET: {sun,ptsfa,well,lll-crg,ihnp4,ucsfcgl,nsc,frog}!hoptoad!sunnydaveh@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (10/13/86)
> Amazing Randi one of 25 MacArthur Genius Winners > > James Randi (the Amazing Randi), the magician known to scientists for > shooting holes in research on paranormal phenomena, has been awarded > one of this year's MacArthur Foundation grants for "outstandingly talented" > people. > > Randi was cited for his work in exposing the fraud behind "psychic surgery" > and for his recent campaign against television evangelists for mulcting their > audiences and gulling the sick. That's great news! Randi's a frequent writer in Free Inquiry magazine, and in last Summer's issue the actual investigations of Popoff and others are discussed by Randi and some of the folks that helped him out on them. Randi as a magician is trained in the various "mind-reading" techniques of magicians, like language coding with an assistant, etc. Popoff seemed to be doing much better than these techniques allow. Until they got their radio expert in on it. I think Randi still carries around a $10,000 check for anyone who can prove they have supernatural powers (which would include this talking to God and healing espoused by the TV evangelists) under laboratory conditions. > > Gary > HASA > H-Division > > (allegra,ihnp4,hplabs,glacier)oliveb!oliven!gnome -- ============================================================================ Dave Haynie {caip,ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!cbmvax!daveh "Techno-Hippie, heathen, designing evil computers" These opinions are my own, though if you try them out, and decide that you really like them, a small donation would be appreciated.