James Randi comes out of the closet!

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Who knew or cared about his personal life? It's his professional life and work that has been so fascinating and valuable.

The only reason I knew about his cancer was because it affected his professional life; he made an announcement last year saying that he'd be taking it easy for a while because of it. Also, he had to make his appearance at last year's Amazing Meeting by long-distance video hookup instead of in person, apparently because his doctors told him that with the chemotherapy, his immune system was too suppressed to be around a lot of people.

Chalk another one up for great contributions to the world by gay people, though.

Yep.

 

[MSizer]

I love the way he used to basically boot people off the stage after they'd fail his tests on TV. They'd use their little stick to try to figure out which box contained rocks beneath it, get exactly as many correct as would be expected by chance, and without even letting them say a word "well thanks for trying, have a good night". Man that was funny to see those people want to make excuses while he ushers them off before they can say a word.

 

[Nepenthe]

Yeah... part of me wondered why he'd come out now, as opposed to any other time in the last 81 years, but then I remembered his cancer: apparently, things didn't look good for him last year, but he's responded very well to chemotherapy and is doing much better now. I imagine an experience like that can make a person stop and re-evaluate things in their life.

Of course, this is all a guess on my part, but it would make sense to me if the two things were related.

I think you're right- I also assumed his age, his cancer and perhaps even a prominent skeptic like DJ Grothe coming out of the closet helped Randi make his decision.

 

[MSizer]

I think you're right- I also assumed his age, his cancer and perhaps even a prominent skeptic like DJ Grothe coming out of the closet helped Randi make his decision.

Speaking of Grothe, are others on the same page with me that he's very knowledgable but not so good a speaker or interviewer? Don't get me wrong, I'm with him on his views, and he's surely on top of newsworthy matters with insightful comments, but I find him a bit hard to listen to just 'cuz I don't like the way he words his questions to others. I find he asks leading questions.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Speaking of Grothe, are others on the same page with me that he's very knowledgable but not so good a speaker or interviewer? Don't get me wrong, I'm with him on his views, and he's surely on top of newsworthy matters with insightful comments, but I find him a bit hard to listen to just 'cuz I don't like the way he words his questions to others. I find he asks leading questions.

I haven't listened to Grothe that much, but I think you might be right. I tried listening to his Point of Inquiry podcast (back when he was doing Point of Inquiry) but got turned off right away and didn't try it again.

 

[Nepenthe]

Not a big fan of the podcast but I suspect most of my reluctance to like it is my admittedly kneejerk reaction to Grothe's libertarianism. But he has had some great guests.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I wonder why his million dollar offer didn't prompt more people with magical powers to come out of the closet and prove their abilities.

 

[Wandered Off]

I wonder why his million dollar offer didn't prompt more people with magical powers to come out of the closet and prove their abilities.

Because they can magically create their own money, duh.