James Randi: Homeopathy, quackery and fraud

http://www.ted.com Legendary skeptic James Randi takes a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills onstage, kicking off a searing 18-minute indictment of irrational beliefs. He throws out a challenge to the world's psychics: Prove what you do is real, and I'll give you a million dollars. (No takers yet.)

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[ChantryKnight]

Actually, you are wrong... again. Randi did NOT withhold information. There was never ANY charges of ANY wrong doing against him, nor was there ever any risk of Randi going to prison... nice attempt at slander tho, poser.

[Sun Dragon]

I always think of Sylvia Browne and how she told Amanda Berry's mother that Amanda was dead...

[tiffsaver]

Instead of attacking victimless crimes, why doesn't Randi attack crimes that REALLY matter, like the ones committed by Wall Street bankers and the illegal practices that they espouse? Or the corrupt judges and politicians that are selling us down the river?? Santa Claus here is warning us about "The Long Island Medium," while Big Pharma is killing every man, woman, and child in America with drugs that KILL. His

useless gyrations make me so stressed out that I have to take another Prosac!!!

[Rexicano]

Are you stupid? It's not even close to the same. 

[Rexicano]

I usually love Randi but he's factually wrong; snake bite medicine is homeopathic medicine...it works. Also. I have had amazing results from Poison Oak homeopathic medicine. Many times...it has Poison Ivy in it! Sure, there's some quackery, but he's tossing out the baby with the bath water.

[earthygreen .]

Seriously... submit it to Randi's foundation. Everyone could use a million bucks.

[earthygreen .]

I don't know what miracles you might have been sold, but when my chest feels like it wants to explode, and I get my back adjusted and it STOPS feeling like it's going to explode... I thank my chiropractor. Whatever pressures are going on in my spine, that are pressing on nerves.. he moves things around so I don't feel like burying myself. Spinal manipulation and muscle massage aren't quackery.. unless of course your chiropractor makes you leave your phone in the car because "they're listening."

[earthygreen .]

It doesn't work because there *ISN'T ANY MEDICINAL VALUE IN IT WHAT-SO-EVER*.

[jceiras]

Yeah, I'm sadly knowledgeable of the typical scare and diversion tactics used by those people. Most of the times the claims of suppression are because those people defraud investors which then squeeze their balls in court to get their money back. I recall two names for now: Paul Pantone (4 years in jail) and Tullio Simoncini. The latter is a doctor that tells cancer is curable with baking soda. He got people dead and had to run away from Italian authorities. Claimed his cure was being suppressed

[ChantryKnight]

There has been little to no "advancements" in his "technology", nor any further claims since the 90s to the best of my knowledge, and the effect hasn't been demonstrated since then either as far as I know... curiously. Hutchison claims on his own blog (Waiting on the edge of forever) that he is "coerced by and has had his work destroyed by" the government and this is why he can no longer reproduce the effect...

[jceiras]

Hum, no. They are very different things. But some chiropractors do bullsh.t quite a bit claiming that their back and neck massage can do miracles.

[jceiras]

Randi should know that the way to commit suicide with a OD of homeopathic pill is to pick one, crush it, dilute a crumb and drink the solution. Then he should surely die. Taking many pill together just reduces their effect, becuase it's more concentrated :p