 Thank you Glad I got that one piece back in there because he could have been in terrible condition. I can tell you that I Never did send in the bill for that. I got all about it Ladies and gentlemen, I'm a great believer in science a great believer in science It's the only way we really make sense out of the world around us Takes a lot of effort a lot of time takes a lot of patience Takes the patience of the people who support science as well There's a lot of them don't understand what it's all about. They expect miracles and they don't always get miracles Not right off the bat. Sometimes it takes a little longer. I Will tell you that very frequently I Get people in the audience during the question-and-answer period, which we may have a few minutes for now I get people who say to me Franny, can you prove to me that ESP doesn't exist and I said no, I certainly can they say ah, ah You say it does. Oh, yes, most certainly then you prove it You're making the claim not I I'm not saying it isn't there. You say it is you prove it Hey, I got a million dollars for you if you'd like to prove it and that usually quietens them down a little at least I I'm going to compare it with the way I often do for my audiences with trying to prove negatives is It's not always impossible, but it's usually very difficult I can't prove to you for example that there is not a Barbie doll on the moon You prove to me there is if you're making the claim fine Then you probably get the million dollars I would imagine for that unless one of those guys really pulled a swifty on it Through a Barbie doll down there somebody just to cost me a million dollars. I don't know I Often say that it's a it's like trying to prove Santa Claus or something like that. Oh, there's a good example Let's let's work out a little thought experiment here. Shall we okay? We'll examine the Santa Claus, but I believe to be a myth. Oh, pardon me if I offend you by saying that I assume it it is a myth We can take one small aspect of it not the whole thing of course. It's very complicated Flying reindeer now that we could test couldn't we and I presume that we could Probably get somebody to fund it somewhere along the line, and I'm not saying we should do this, but we could let's get 50 reindeer and Take them up on top of the World Trade Center. Don't laugh. This is science now. This is serious And we number them on the side very plainly and We have a fellow standing there with a big pad of paper and a video camera and a recorder and he's Taking down all the details. I say, okay. What time is it? It's 10 past 10 in the morning Thursday, so it's all okay You got that all down. Okay Let me see where number one. Where are you here number one? Okay, here we go Okay, number one. I know you can do it ready. Okay push Opposite number one right down. No Wow number two number two. Where are you? Come on. You're hiding get in here. Come on out here Come on out here. Now. He just he just didn't try. I know you can do it. I know you can do it. Come on Let's go fly. Just use ditto marks Listen didn't work either if the latter we have certainly learned something about the IQ of reindeer But we have not shown that there are not eight tiny reindeer at the North Pole who on the evening of December the 35th do and can we haven't proven that no very highly unlikely that it's true But proving a negative is not always easy now for years I closed by lectures and I closed my magic performances like this and I'll choose this opportunity to do so again No, Virginia There isn't anything paranormal out there Don't see I hate to say that I Wish there were some really supernatural stuff out there. It would be fun. Wouldn't it some we can't explain at all But it still happens. It would be fun. It is sort of disturbed me But hey, I find fun in it too. No Virginia. There's no Santa Claus. No Virginia There's nothing supernatural out there now I can't really say that because I don't know there isn't something out there for example now I work in Florida and I get up early at my home before I go off to my office and by seven o'clock Usually, I'm sitting at the seat of the computer and I have a cup of coffee with me to get my heart started that morning and Or outside my little office window there. There's a morning glory vine and they're wonderful You know morning glories close up at night like that and they open up in the morning like that now I was going because I've never seen them open up. I don't think anyone ever has it's marvelous I try to catch them. I look up at the vine and who gonna get you this morning You're all park it up there or like this I go to the computer and click click click Reach around the back of the printer. You have to reach around the back of the printer for some reason or other to turn it on I don't know why on the back click it on. Okay paper in there. That's fine sip of the coffee not taking my eyes off. Yeah Okay, we're perfect There they are like this looking at me and I imagine the back of my brain looking at one of them got them again Now what do they say? Are they there saying is he looking? No, not yet. Wait till he goes for the coffee. He'll get now No, I don't really know. I don't care much to tell you the truth but you know Proving these wonders proving these wonders to be true. It's not the way scientists should be going about it They should be finding out whether or not they're true They set out as many scientists do and you'll have to admit this yourself Pursuing something that you believe is probably there instead of looking at a situation and finding out what you believe is probably There really is there it's a difference in attitude, but it is a difference between sometimes good science and bad science now Good old Virginia there. I have to have to tell her no GM. I'm sorry There isn't any Santa Claus. There isn't anything paranormal that I know of and I've got a million dollars that I put up for many years now For someone who can prove it. That doesn't mean it isn't it just means they haven't come forth with the evidence yet That's all that it is proven and they say what you're not sure of yourself are you Mr. And I say that's right and no scientist is sure of himself either though. I am not a scientist I share that with them They can be pretty sure they can be almost a hundred percent sure but there's always got to be that little bit of a doubt I wonder if someone is going to improve upon what I discovered or change it slightly, but that's okay That's in the rules. That's the way science is it makes mistakes and learns from the errors And I think that's the beauty of this thing that we call science and most people out there find that very difficult to understand Science doesn't really know anything. That's right But we know an awful lot of stuff that we really believe way down deep It's really true and you prove to me that it isn't and I'll have learned something. That's a great attitude No, Virginia. There's no magic. I'm sorry. I really wish in some ways that there were But there is some perhaps in the fact That we can be wrong that we can correct ourselves and look at them straight in the eye and say yeah, I was wrong on that Isn't that wonderful? I learned I was wrong and now I'm a little smarter than I was just a couple of hours ago That's the satisfaction. Isn't it? I hope it is with you folks But there certainly is with me if we have a few moments. We will do questions and answers But for now, I would like to thank you very much for your kind attention and your most enthusiastic Reception of my efforts. Thank you