Via Robert Hinkley, I found an excellent video on YouTube of James Randi debunking Uri Geller. The best bit is 5m40s in when Geller appears on the Tonight Show to demonstrate his powers, but Randi has set up some controls on the experiment and Geller squirms, knowing his tricks won’t work.
In another video, Randi appears on a show called What’s My Line and makes a psychic called James Hydrick squirm and come up with excuses. Randi even repeats one of his tricks involving a pencil right in front of him. It’s worth watching the whole thing.
Here he is having a go at a cold reader. Also a lecture about homeopathy. Keep following the YouTube links, the man is a joy to watch.
On a related notes, some posts about a psychic who supposedly helps the police look interesting.
Randi’s website is randi.org, and every Friday he releases a newsletter update on the latest in crackpottery. It’s worth reading.
There’s also a very active forum there.
If only it were mere crackpottery. That makes it sound rather innocent. A lot of the shams Randi and other skeptics (a loaded term if ever there was) expose are of vultures preying on vulnerable people. In short they are scum.
Here’s Randi on Penn Radio talking about some hokum called Facilitated Communication. What motives must their practioners claim other than making an unfortunate situation worse? Scum.
http://www.pennfans.net/view/Audio_Archive/PennRadio/The.Penn.Jillette.Radio.Show.2006.05.10/