Theos-Talk Archives (May 1998 Message tl00062)

Darren wrote:
> 
> James Randi's foundation has put up pledges of over US$1 million to any
> person who can demonstrate in controlled conditions a supernatural ability
> or effect. There must be some member with a slight degree of telekinetic
> power or some other  Siddhi. This would be some easy funds for the TS to
> channel to some worthy cause.

	I have known James Randi for about 20 years, and can verify that the
offer is genuine. He sponsored a group of Philadelphia nurses trying to
set up a test of Therapeutic Touch, which was to be broadcast by
Scientific American. I tried mightily to get TT practitioners, including
Dora Kunz, to participate, to no avail; the test was cancelled because
they could not find any practitioners willing to be tested. Based on TT
literature, the test was 100% fair, but I received responses (not from
Dora, who did not respond at all) ranging from, "Anything that Randi is
involved with must be crooked", to "TT is WIMMIN'S science; it can't be
tested the same way men's science is!". 

	The test was that the practitioners would check out the energy fields
of a number of volunteers, and pick the 10 who had the strongest fields.
These people would be covered by a cloth, as well as 10 mannequins. The
idea was to tell the people from the mannequins, without touching them.

	Randi does not dictate the tests; he merely determines whether they are
scientifically valid or not. Both Randi and the subject must agree to
the testing conditions. A lot of people have tried for the prize, but
nobody has collected, yet.

	Bart Lidofsky