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Newsgroups: alt.paranormal,uk.legal,alt.consciousness.mysticism,alt.magick,uk.media
From: "Lucianarchy" 
Subject: Re: An Important Question for Randi
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 15:30:57 +0100

pz wrote in message ...
>In article <%FXB6.1393$xA.158351@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com>,
> "Frederick Trotteville"  wrote:
>
>> "Ron/Dane"  wrote in message
>> news:1ert1g7.1iw6q9i1xgen14N%freshflowers@spam.xtra.co.nz...
>> | Frederick Trotteville  wrote:
>> |
>> | > "Ron/Dane"  wrote
>> |
>> | > | Frederick Trotteville  wrote:
>> |
>> | > | > "Arthur L. Rubin" <216-5888@mcimail.com> wrote in message
>> | > | > news:3AD4D4A2.6388@mcimail.com...
>> |
>> | > | > | Regarless of whether those "scientifically controlled
>> | > | > | conditions" were adequately controlled, none of the tests
>> | > | > | met Randi's rule the conditions for "proof" were agreed
>> | > | > | upon before the experiment.
>> |
>> | > | > The testee has to agree to the conditions otherwise the
>> | > | > contest will not take place at all.
>> |
>> | > | So does the testor. But he's happy with that. Why not you?
>> |
>> | > No the tester doesn't have to reach an agreement with the testee.
>> | > It's no skin of Randi's nose if the contest doesn't go ahead.
>> |
>> | You know precisely what I meant.  I am talking about a challenge,
>> | not a NON challenge. In the event of a challenge taking place, the
>> | conditions must be agreed to by BOTH parties.
>>
>> Yes, otherwise the challenge does not go ahead.  In other words Randi
>> can decide which claims will be tested.  If he feels that claimant
>> may conceivably pass the challenge he need only agree to the
>> challenge going ahead if that challenge is made that little bit
>> harder.  Thus in effect he ensures that no one will ever be able to
>> pass his challenge.
>
>Think about it. If someone had a *real* psychic power, and Randi
>refused to even look at it, they could go ahead and demonstrate it
>without him. Wouldn't Randi look foolish then?

"A split hair's difference,
      and heaven and earth are set apart!" - Sang ts'an

~Subject: The Uri Geller FAQ.


Summary: This information is about Uri Geller.
Expires: 1.7.2001 00:00:00 GMT
Archive-name: www.angelfire.com/me/lucianarchy/uri.html


Posting-Frequency: Not specified.
~Newsgroups: Not specified.
Last-modified: 15.11.99
Version: 1
Copyright: (c) 1999 Lucianarchy(tm)repro allowed without alteration.
Maintainer: Lucianarchy

This FAQ ( Frequently Asked Question ) is compiled by a proponent of truth.

It is modelled on guidelines published by:

http://www.faqs/news-answers/guidelines/section-2.html

( Revised 15.11.99 updates existing FAQ posted 13.11.99 )

__________________________________________________

Q: When did Uri first get his remarkable ability?

A: Uri thinks it was when he was a young child.
He was with his mother ( a member of the Freud family )
when some cutlery he was eating with bent.
He also remembers being hit by light from the sky.

Q: Was this from a higher intelligence?

A: Andrija Puharich suggested that Uri's subsequent 'powers'
came from an extraterrestrial source.
www.forteantimes.com/artic/126/nine.html

Q: Does Uri believe this?

A: Uri is quoted as stating " 90% probably not.", but retains an open mind.

Q: Who brought Uri to the attention of 'The West'?

A: Andrija Puhariach introduced Uri to astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Hal
Puthof and Russel Targ at the Stanford Research Institute.
Uri was tested and validated by the SRI and the results were
written up in 'Nature' magazine.
www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/sria.htm

Q: Then what?

A: Uri became a media celebrity, and toured the world giving
demonstrations of his abilities.

Q: Why did Uri drop out of the 'lime-light'?

A: Uri claims to be misrepresented by a group of sceptics which lead him
to defend himself in Court. In one case, a Tokyo Court ruled that Geller
had been insulted and awarded a judgement against one sceptic for
500,000 Yen. In another case, a Hungarian Court ruled against another
newspaper over a different matter in favour of Uri, making the newspaper
print a retraction. Yet another case resulted in Geller obtaining a written
apology and acknowledgement of error from
Prometheus Books.
http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/courts.htm

Q: Then what?

A: Uri decided to work for oil companies, using his ability to prospect
for minerals. He says he gained his wealth and independence from this
work. He also went to 'spiritually recharge' himself at a location under
Mount Fuji, Japan and decided to "take a break."

Q: So, did Uri 'give it up'?

A: Not at all. He met with Nobel prize-winner, Brian Josephson and decided to
undertake " confidential, but positive, work for scientists."

"IN AN OFFICE at King's College I had set up several experiments designed
to measure the pressure applied by Geller during metal
bending.The two main ones were very simple. The essential apparatus for
one of them was a balance of the type used to weigh letters and
parcels; it was sensitive enough to measure weights
to a quarter of an ounce. A brass strip about 20 cm long
was taped horizontally to the platform of the balance.

The major portion of the strip extended out from the platform,
and Geller stroked the top surface of it while I measured, directly,
by reading the scale, and by using an automatic recording device,
the pressure he was applying.

At the end of the test the strip had acquired a bend of ten degrees
although Geller had at no time applied more than half an ounce (20 gm)
of pressure. It was out of the question that such a small pressure could
have produced that deflection.

What is more, the actual bending occurred upward- against the pressure
of the finger. Earlier, another subject gave a similar result,
producing, with less than an ounce of downward pressure,
a smaller upward deflection (two degrees) on a strip of copper. "
http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/g19.htm

Hasted was elected Chair of Experimental Physics, London University.
http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/eng.htm

http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/hastspec.htm

http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/h&r.htm

http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/spinelli.htm

http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/inv.htm

"A BRIEF PSYCHOKINETIC INVESTIGATION OF MR. URI GELLER

J.B. Hasted, D.J. Bohm, E.W. Bastin, and D.O'Regan

Birkbeck College (University of London)

We possess four numbered and weighed brass Yale keys which
were bent through angles of between 10 and 40 degrees under
light stroking action by Mr. Geller. If, under symmetrical four point
loading, force pulses of the order of 500 N (Say 50 kg weight) had
been applied to the keys, similar bends would have been produced.
No loss of surface brightness or change of weight, within the
experimental error of 1 mg was observed. Mr. Geller applied a
light stroking action between forefinger and thumb, or by forefinger
with key placed on the table. In all cases several witnesses watched
the entire operation intently from within 1m. In one case the key was not
stroked but was simply, held under a cold water tap. In all cases
the bending took a time of the order of minutes to complete, and
it usually appeared to continue slowly for a short while after the
stroking had, been terminated. No physical or chemical explanation
of these Phenomena is readily apparent. The mean grain size at the
bent surfaces has been compared with that in unbent and mechanically
bent specimens by X-ray reflection and electron micrograph.
No significant change in grain orientation
or size was noted. "

"Based on preliminary investigations of Uri Geller,I cannot establish fraud
.The powers of this man are a phenomenon which theoretical physics
cannot yet explain."
Dr Friedbert Karger (Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Munich, Germany)

"Geller asked me to put my hand over a spoon supplied by me,
we could all see the spoon clearly. Geller then put his own hand
over mine and began concentrating. It was just ashe stopped
that we all saw the handle of the spoon begin to distort."
Dr Edward W Bastin (Holds doctorate degrees in
both physics and mathematics. He won an Isaac Newton studentship
to Cambridge University, and for a time was visiting fellow at Stanford
University, California)

http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/uribiog3.htm

"The apparatus for the other test was a small cylinder imbedded
in a strip of aluminum in such a way that one end of the cylinder,
covered by a pressure-sensitive diaphragm, was flush with the
surface of the strip. When pressure was applied to the diaphragm
by a person's rubbing the strip gently with a finger, an electric
current proportional to this pressure was generated by a device
installed inside the cylinder. This pressure-measuring device
had been used with various subjects, but no bending was achieved.
In Geller's case the consequences were
drastic. Holding the strip in one hand, he made it bend in
the appropriate region so that the pressure could be measured.
But as the bending occurred the mechanism in the cylinder
suddenly stopped functioning. I took the apparatus from Geller
and observed, to my horror, the pressure sensitive diaphragm begin to
crumble. A small hole appeared in its center and spread across its
whole surface till the diaphragm had completely disintegrated, the
entire process taking about ten seconds. After another three minutes
the strip in which the cylinder was imbedded had bent a further thirty degrees.

Attempts to influence objects without contact yielded more information. Geller
held his hands over a plastic container in which had been placed a small crystal
of lithium fluoride; within ten seconds the crystal broke into a number of pieces.

There was absolutely no chance of Geller's having touched the crystal.
Throughout the experiment I could see a gap between his hands and
the container holding the crystal. He also buckled a small disc of
aluminum, which again was inside a plastic container. I held my hands
between Geller's and the container in order to prevent any possibility
of his directly manipulating the disc. - Taylor
http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/g19.htm

Q: OK, but what about the magicians who have seen Uri?

"As a magician, I believe that the tests we did (with Geller) could not be
duplicated in any way by a magician's methods."
Abb Dickson (Professional magician - U.S.A. and President of the
International Brotherhood of Magicians 1997-98) Abb Dickson has
been named as a new director of the World Alliance of Magicians (WAM).

"Uri bent a spoon for me, the first time he did it, I thought there must
be a trick. The second time I was stunned, completely, completely
stunned and amazed. It just bent in my hand.

I've never seen anything like it. It takes a lot to impress me."

Uri Geller is for real and anyone who doesn't recognise that is either
deluding himself, or is a very sad person." David Blain,
(American Magician. Star of ABC's Television Specials.)
http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/uribiog4.htm

Q: So, what's the secret to Uri's success?

A: Positive thinking. Uri thinks that a collective energy of
certain 'beliefs has the ability to make positive transformations.

Q: But is it true?

A: Attorney at Law, Ruth M.Liebesman states:

"We are happy to let people believe or disbelieve as their conscience
dictates. Unfortunately, a few people are very threatened by what Uri
can do, and do not want people to believe what we know; that what
Uri does is real. As a result, some of the lies have been beyond
reprehensible, many of them have been without any factual basis.
But that's where I come in. I protect Uri from the lies."


Sources and links:


'Clarification of some legal issues' by Dr M.Truzzi
http://www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/courts.htm

www.martiansgohome.com/smear/

www.forteantimes.com/artic/126/nine.html

www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/nature.htm

www.tcom.co.uk/hpnet/sria.htm

www.peekatyou.org

www.uri-geller.com

www.fork-you.com

Spectra

Uri Geller Magician or Mystic by J Margolis : UK - Orion / USA - Welcome Rain (2000).

'The X Factor' - Marshall Cavendish, London. 101 - 103.
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