Psychics/fortune tellers

Tom_Cruise · 20-08-2013 11:34pm

Fortune tellers, lol.

You may as well throw you're money in the river.

Beeker · 20-08-2013 11:36pm

ex_infantry wrote: »

lads ye are pack of sceptics!!grand there is a few out there who do con people but there are also genuine people who can read your fortune, don't knock something until ya try it!!

Sorry but no there are not. They're are two types, the ones who are cons and the ones who genuinely believe that they can tell the future. Both are wrong, in scientific test after test no such ability has ever been seen...ever. If any of them could do it they would win the Randi one million dollar prize, its open to all. Yet to see a single challenger.
http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html

endacl · 20-08-2013 11:41pm

ex_infantry wrote: »

lads ye are pack of sceptics!!grand there is a few out there who do con people but there are also genuine people who can read your fortune, don't knock something until ya try it!!

The only people who can read your fortune are accountants. And only if:

(a) You have accumulated a fortune.*
(b) You give them access to your accounts.

* A great way to accumulate a fortune it to set yourself up as a fortune teller. Oddly enough, you won't even have to defend this practice, as your clients marks will do it for you! Weird! You'll con them out of money, and then they won't hear a bad word said about you!

Cabaal · 21-08-2013 8:41am

ex_infantry wrote: »

lads ye are pack of sceptics!!grand there is a few out there who do con people but there are also genuine people who can read your fortune, don't knock something until ya try it!!

A few?
Try all, even the big one's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Browne

The Sago Mine controversy is particular insightful,

More recent events include the kidnapping of Amanda Berry,
Medium Sylvia Browne appeared in 2004 on the talk show and told Louwanna Miller: 'She's not alive, honey'

Miller walked away from show '98 per cent' sure her daughter was dead and even didn't buy Amanda Christmas presents that year.

As you may know now, her daughter was found in May 2013 alive

Finnbar01 · 21-08-2013 3:21pm

Keith Barry has some videos up exposing psychics.

This is part 1. the other parts are available on his channel.

Would I go to a psychic? I would, just for the laugh and see how good they are at cold reading me or how good I am in blocking them.

Beeker · 21-08-2013 4:14pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82tTr5I33hc

21-08-2013 4:19pm

So it's illegal now to ask about psychics unless there's a debate telling us all they're bogus?

Well done all of you, civic duty done. Now lets's go beat up anyone else who asks.

CardBordWindow · 21-08-2013 4:22pm

Deleted User wrote: »

So it's illegal now to ask about psychics unless there's a debate telling us all they're bogus?

Well done all of you, civic duty done. Now lets's go beat up anyone else who asks.

In fairness though, you wouldn't need to be a psychic to have predicted it would go that way.

ex_infantry · 21-08-2013 6:58pm

right lads i was sceptic just like ye narrow minded people who back in the dark ages would have been burning people at the stake for possessing a hidden talent, when i first got my the tarot cards read by kay mullally i admit yes i was like yeah right!! but her first reading what she did is she read my past,present and future, she was able to tell me stuff in that reading that not even her daughter who i was goin out with at the time would'nt have even had known,if a tarot reader tells you "oh i can give ya the lotto numbers" thats a load of bollox they can't read that from the cards its more personal to the person that there reading they could tell ya alright if your coming into money but thats as far as it goes i,m afraid!!! i don't know if any of ye are familiar with the late dave collins who was coach of the waterford wolves american football team?? well he was a psychic and could read the tarot cards who also read the cards for, now tell me keyboard warriors of boards.ie kay mullally for years of reading my tarot always told me my first born is gonna be a girl and that the next two will be twins, dave collins who said the exact same thing!! and guess what? my first born is goin to be a girl so were kay and dave in cahoots with eachother i suppose!!!! i could go on and on and on about stuff that were predicted by kay mullallys tarot reading which yes came to pass, but ye sceptics will always find a different excuse for it as ye clever burn at the stake type people do!!!

endacl · 21-08-2013 7:33pm

Chuck in a few paragraphs there and ill get back to you...

Howard Juneau · 21-08-2013 7:42pm

No need for burning at the stake, no one has accused them of being witches.
They are simply frauds who prey upon the needy & weak minded for monetary gain.

21-08-2013 8:02pm

I'm not debating that psychics are/are not bogus (I'm not into it myself), but there's a time & place to snark at them, and this isn't it. I have respect for people enough to hold my tongue and not harass them if they ask about it. They've a right to believe I they want to, and besides, there's those of us who go to these things for the craic, not to believe.

If they post in Atheism & Agnosticism, it's open season though. Have at them in there.

ziedth · 21-08-2013 8:09pm

If someone comes on here asking about that Indian crowd claiming to be microsoft we tell them it's scam.

This is the exact same thing, if you go for a bit of a laugh then that is one thing but people make life changing decisions or pay big bucks to have stuff told to them that any of us can learn to read in a book.

I'm sorry that people believe in it and they shouldn't be laughed at or mocked but simply warned.

MitchKoobski · 21-08-2013 8:43pm

I have no problem with psychics, and a lot of people get comfort from them so I don't see the problem.....if they do it for free. If you try and take money from people for that bull**** you are an asshole.

"Oh I help to give people closure and move on with their lives. I help people!"

Help them for free then if you're such a good ****ing samaritan.

ex_infantry · 21-08-2013 8:52pm

how many of ye have actually gone to a proper psychic and have had a tarot reading done??(ya can't include them gob****es on tv3 at 1am or them premium rate phonelines)
and as for keith barry the fella is an illusionist!!!! how do you know for certain the people he takes up and use's in his acts are not just planted and that he can in fact hypnotise people, so using him as an example of someone who tries to prove someone else is a fraud is laughable!!! pot calling kettle black

endacl · 21-08-2013 8:55pm

ex_infantry wrote: »

how many of ye have actually gone to a proper psychic and have had a tarot reading done??(ya can't include them gob****es on tv3 at 1am or them premium rate phonelines)
and as for keith barry the fella is an illusionist!!!! how do you know for certain the people he takes up and use's in his acts are not just planted and that he can in fact hypnotise people, so using him as an example of someone who tries to prove someone else is a fraud is laughable!!! pot calling kettle black

Impossible. There is no such thing.

ex_infantry · 21-08-2013 8:59pm

endacl wrote: »

Impossible. There is no such thing.

think as you may endaci!!!

Tom_Cruise · 21-08-2013 9:18pm

Fortune tellers, psychics, magicians etc, all this stuff is just hocus pocos, if anyone in this day and age over the age of 12 actually believes in this stuff they could possibly be mentally deranged.

They are just for entertainment, like going to the cinema or the circus.

MitchKoobski · 21-08-2013 9:19pm

Went to one a few years ago for the craic to see what she would say. She told me I was waiting to hear back about a job interview and that I would get the job and soon me and my girlfriend would get some exciting news.

I was 17 in 5th year, already had a part time job and no girlfriend.

As far as Keith Barry goes, I got picked with two others to test out some of his tricks for the new show during an interview. He had us all write the name of someone we knew who passed away on a piece of paper, swap them with each other and keep them. He hadn't touched the paper. Only a week beforehand I saw a video of him performing a trick using the same paper method on a tv show so I was looking forward to seeing how it worked in person. I got picked for one particular trick and he had me hold this bell, and said the "spirit" would ring the bell to help him finger out who it was. I was holding the bell. Starts asking me about my life etc and then he starts going through the alphabet and when it gets to J the bell in my hand rings. It was deadly. Straight away he goes "Joan, your grandmother who lived in town". He was spot on, and I thought it was brilliant. Now clearly he figured that out by watching my face and eyes to see how I was reacting to the questions and the alphabet, and the rest of the tricks he did on the others I could figure out but I never figured out how he did the bell.

Like any other professional magician or illusionist, there aren't any stooges. You don't become one of the best in the world using stooges. That's the kind of thing that get's spotted fairly quickly. Sure you went to two of his shows in a row, you'd realise fairly quickly if there were any stooges wouldn't you?

He will openly tell you he doesn't believe in psychics and thinks they're all chancers, he's an illusionist. If you want to believe he's talking to your dead grandmother, go ahead. But if you're like me you're impressed at how well he was able to read you and pull off the illusion.

I've never heard of a 'psychic' that was only concerned with giving people comfort. They all seem to have a fee don't they?

danjo-xx · 21-08-2013 9:21pm

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

Fortune tellers, psychics, magicians etc, all this stuff is just hocus pocos, if anyone in this day and age over the age of 12 actually believes in this stuff they could possibly be mentally deranged.

They are just for entertainment, like going to the cinema or the circus.

or professional wrestling!

Better off gambling on the horses or the lotto, least you might gain something.

Ostrom · 21-08-2013 11:09pm

ex_infantry wrote: »

how many of ye have actually gone to a proper psychic and have had a tarot reading done??(ya can't include them gob****es on tv3 at 1am or them premium rate phonelines)
and as for keith barry the fella is an illusionist!!!! how do you know for certain the people he takes up and use's in his acts are not just planted and that he can in fact hypnotise people, so using him as an example of someone who tries to prove someone else is a fraud is laughable!!! pot calling kettle black

That's not really the point - the details of Barry's manipulations are open to verification. His set pieces can be replicated, there are clear methods to his deceptions, which are based on a number of well established principles. The information received during a 'psychic' reading is a loose collection of generalisations and inferences formed both from questioning the respondent throughout the session, and by making statements sufficiently general to be applicable to a large number of people. I'm sorry if this comes off as condescending, but good people get caught up in this nonsense far too often - I don't know whether the people you mention believe themselves to be genuine or not, it doesn't matter. It plays to the insecurities of honest individuals whilst dishonestly sucking away their money.