James Randi's Million Dollar Challenge

If you're not familiar with James Randi, you should be. He's made his life's work out of debunking paranormal hoaxes and such. He's best known for offering a prize of one million dollars to any person who can demonstrate psychic ability or paranormal activity in a controlled setting.Here's a list of phenomena, which demonstrated, would win one the money:

Dowsing. ESP. Precognition. Remote Viewing. Communicating with the Dead and/or "Channeling". Violations of Newton's Laws of Motion (Perpetual Motion Devices). Homeopathy. Chiropractic Healing (beyond back/joint problems). Faith Healing. Psychic Surgery. Astrology. Therapeutic Touch (aka "TT"). Qi Gong. Psychokinesis (aka "PK"). The Existence of Ghosts. Precognition & Prophecy. Levitation. Physiognomy. Psychometry. Pyramid Power. Reflexology. Applied Kinesiology (aka "AK"). Clairvoyance. The Existence of Auras. Graphology. Numerology. Palmistry. Phrenology.

The money's still there, if that tells you anything. Anyways, I added the James Randi Educational Foundation to the blogroll. It's a great site, where you can read about how psychics convince people that they know what they know when they really don't. Randi spent many years as a magician and a mentalist (kind of like a psychic), so he knows all of the tricks of the trade. Currently, there's a good piece on all of the 'woo-woo ideas' that seem to be on Oprah all of the time. Have a look.