An Easy Way to Make a Million Dollars

If you are frequent reader of my blog then you may remember me mentioning one of my heroes, James 'The Amazing' Randi ("Oh, Me, of Little Faith"). Alongside his accomplishments prevously mentioned he also is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) which promotes scientific skepticism and serves as "an educational resource on the paranormal, the pseudoscientific, and the paranormal."

Now, I know a lot of you out there already think I'm some kind of a nut for not buying into things like aliens in the White House or faith healers but you gotta love the people who do (unless you have something against the swindlers who maliciously profit off of the ignorance and suffering of others. I do, but that's another blog). But there are some individuals who earnestly believe in their own psychic or paranormal powers enough to open themselves to scrutiny. This is where the JREF comes in.

Whether you believe in the mystical or not, chances are that at some point you were exposed to the premise of the scientific method at some point. Basically, you have a hypothesis and then test it to see if it holds water. Using this approach to scientific inquiry JREF has found a way to let the faithful test their claims: Money!

JREF sponsers the "Million Dollar Challenge", a program that allows anyone who can successfully demonstrate a paranormal claim in strict testing conditions will receive $1 million. Both parties must agree on the best way to create an objective testing environment and what constitutes success. From psychically making hands grow to proving the extrasensory abilities of an unfertilized chicken egg to creating super-magnetic fields with one's mind just about everything that people can come up with has been submitted. Of course, when most of these people learn the rigors of scientific testing (like someone else being there to observe it is a frequent stumbling block) it usually never gets past the discussion stage. Suprisingly enough, no one has been able to demonstrate any form of psychic, paranormal or supernatural phenomenon. Fortunately for us, though, JREF is kind enough to include the coorespondence with applicants on their website:

http://forums.randi.org/forumdisplay.php?f=43

Trust me; this is good fun.

For more information on 'The Amazing' Randi and the James Randi Educational Foundation goto www.randi.org or visit your local library.

****Originally posted May 3, 2007>>>>