 Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whichever the case may be. I'm James Randy. Oh, incidentally, that's a phrase with which I used to open my radio program back in 1967-68 on WOR Radio. Hey, I can still do the station break. This is radio station WOR AM and FM New York. See? I'd like to spend a couple of minutes discussing some comments that have been made following my most recent video. Now please don't suppose that I'll be discussing in detail every comment that you folks offer, but a couple of misunderstandings here should be addressed. First, I'm quite well aware of Theta waves, believe me. One commenter said that I, quote, refused to believe anything outside the realms of immediate possibility, unquote, which has quite a ring to it, but it's quite false. His added jab, saying he is a very frightened man, could not be more wrong either. I think the implication here is that I'm scared of the truth. Another commenter told me that, quote, Theta waves are emitted in brain states that occur during dreaming, immediately prior to sleep, during hypnosis, etc., etc. Yes, I'm aware of that too. Thank you. And I've never doubted their existence, but I felt sure that the young lady I was discussing might have been throwing the term around a little loosely. One chap asked if I knew that President Obama is a devout Catholic. Well, come on, I'm well aware of that. It would have been hard not to know it with the rather intense campaign that's just been waged. We have to face a hard fact here. It's a widely known fact that no politician at this point in history can be elected to office in the United States without invoking a deity. I don't know, nor does anyone else know, just how seriously our president takes his religious connections. Nor do I really care. I'm only interested that the man runs our government on a rational basis, brings us back the respect that we lost during the last eight years, and stays honest. Don't ever entertain the notion that I don't trust or like religious people. After all, I'm surrounded as we all are by believers in deities of various sorts, and it's something we have to handle. I should mention as well that this Theta healing nonsense is eligible for the JRAS million dollar prize, which should have been evident to everyone because it's a woo-woo claim. But as always, we don't go after these people. They have to come to us by making out the application, et cetera, et cetera. Another commenter suggested that I don't like my job, but that I do a good job of hiding that fact. Au contraire, I love what I'm doing. I try to do it well, and I spend literally seven days a week at it. One chap from Argentina had a very good question indeed about homeopathy. He asked, what about the delusions, the low delusions, like 3x or 6x? That means one part in 1,000 and one part in one million, respectively, so you'll know. Well, medicines at those delusions are just not homeopathic. They may claim to be, as Zycam does, but they are not. Homeopathic remedies are used at much, much higher delusions, I can assure you. My reader goes on to ask, one part in 1,000 is not that much, or is it? Well, this depends entirely upon what the substance is. If it's arsenic compound or strickenin', well, we should talk. Another commenter says that he or she has a lady friend who has been unable to receive a response from the JRAF about trying the million-dollar challenge. I get claims like this every now and then. I investigate them, and it turns out that the named person has made no application or has never contacted the JRAF in any way. Commenter, check your facts. That just doesn't happen. Rich, our media person here at the JRAF, entered a comment saying, I think being uneducated and being stupid are completely different. Yes, that's true, and let me explain the difference. Being stupid is usually hereditary, or often, or because of poor environment and or opportunities, or it just may be a decision by the individual not to know anything more. I've seen that happen too. Being uneducated is something that we at the JRAF try to remedy. Thank you. I hope that my comment on the citizens of Utah wasn't taken as being mean or unkind. However, when I think of a certain small proportion of those citizens who based their entire lives and philosophies on words written on mysteriously vanished golden plates dug up by a convicted con man, I have to think that there may not be much hope for that part of the population. On another matter, my horoscope was drawn up by somebody who probably actually believed in his art. Today, we're going to have a look at the horoscope of James Randi, the world famous professional skeptic and former magician, and see if astrologically he is qualified to be these things. This nutcase uses both traditional astrology, Chinese astrology, a completely different non-science, and numerology. In other words, he takes no chances. Somewhere in this nonsense, he'll happen upon some characteristics or facts that are actually true, and he'll consider that to be a major victory. But let's take a brief look at the characteristics that he found. According to his scientific examination of my horoscope, he finds that there are some major features and characteristics which I can strongly associate with my real personality. I must admit, really. For example, he cites aggressive self-confidence. He says I'm practical and realistic. Yes, pragmatic. Uh-huh. I'm a hard-edged realist. Oh, yes. I am combat-ready and tough as nails. These planets, which are in acute conflict, define a person who is combat-ready, and with the earth platform is as tough as nails. He warns that I have a risk of exaggerating what's wrong and says that my planet Neptune indicates my interest in illusion, misdirection, truth, and religion. Really. He mentions my aptitude for technology, science, and performing in front of audiences. Now, that's amazing, I must say. But hold on, folks. He really got off to a rather bad start and seems not to have any idea of my actual birth date. He has me 20 days away in the wrong sign, and my original name has a much different numerological value, though I've been told that those who change their names also change their futures because of the different number value they thus assumed. Really. So obviously, from that point on, by using the wrong birth date, even if astrology, Chinese or not, or numerology had any validity, he was doomed. Bear in mind, of course, that he had all kinds of biographical material to reference, so maybe he did more reading than he did astrological or numerological research. What do you think? No, this magical divination applies to someone born on August 27, 1928. Not to me. Another surprising thing here is that astrologers have told us for centuries now that you have to have the exact time and date of the person's birth in order to cast an accurate horoscope. That sometimes, difference of minutes will make a lot of difference in the quality and contents of the horoscope. Twins, as a matter of fact, born from the same mother, obviously, born a few minutes apart can have totally different futures. Gee, if he didn't even have the time of my birth, which I could have given him had I been asked, and he didn't have the correct date, he was off by 20 days, I think he's in deep trouble. Of course, with his own skills and misdirection, perhaps we need to ask how much he is using these skills to convey an honest-looking position. I must tell you about a little gimmick that I've had going for years now. First, when some starry-eyed telephone operator working for a bank or some other confidential service asks me for some sort of secret information or data point that specifically identifies me, I'm often asked by my mother's maiden name. I can argue that this information is easily available from biographical dictionaries or other sources that provide it, but instead, I give a different name to each of these folks for a very special reason. You see, when I'm being given a reading, if I hear one of these names come up as part of the divination being provided, I immediately know from what source it was obtained, since I keep a list of those names and the connected organizations to which I provided them. Tricky? Oh yeah. In closing, I'd like to mention that we've been very gratified to know of the splendid response you've given to these video presentations. It's good to know that you enjoy them and we hope that you're able to take something away with you. That's why we do them, and we have lots of subjects that we're preparing to present to you. I'm James Randy, and I thank you for watching.