James Randi Speaks: My Horoscope

good morning good afternoon or good evening whichever the case may be I'm James Randi 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 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 is 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 ah 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 its religious connections nor do I really care I've only interested that the man who runs our government on a rational basis brings his 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 well they just people - all I'm surrounded as we all are by believers in deities of various arts and it's something we have to handle I should mention as well that this thetahealing nonsense is eligible for the J res million dollar prize which should have been evident to everyone because it's a woowoo claim but as always we don't go after these people they have to come to us by making out the application that said register another commenter suggested that I don't like my job but that I do a good job of hiding that fact Oh 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 1 million respectively so you'll know well medicines are those solutions are just not homeopathy they may claim to be a Zicam 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 strychnine 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 Jay wrap 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 jrf in any way commenter check your facts that just doesn't happen rich our media person here at the jrf 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 not to know anything more I've seen that happen to being uneducated is something that we at the jrf tried 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 gold in place dug out by a convicted conman 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 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 hmm he says I'm practical and realistic yes pragmatic ah I'm a hard-edged realist oh yes I am combat ready and tates 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 numbered 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 know this magical divination applies to someone born on August 27th 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 cast an accurate horoscope that sometimes difference of minutes will make a lot of difference in the quality and contents of the horoscope twins is mattified 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's 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 asked 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 viagra graphical 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 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've lots of subjects that we're preparing to present to you I'm James Randi and I thank you for watching you

Channel: JamesRandiFoundation

Views: 192,594

Rating: 4.8265643 out of 5

Keywords: james randi, horoscope, astrology, simply astrology, astrological sign, jref, james randi foundation, theta brain waves, theta healing

Id: flZXJ-Ewsn4

Length: 9min 58sec (598 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 03 2009