William Tell's Second Arrow

Before the media could finally discredit the idea of psychic powers, a British lawyer named Lewis Gordon Pugh suddenly surfaced. Pugh is an arctic swimmer who holds world records for the longest swims in the coldest waters. "New Scientist" magazine recently published a fascinating article, "Superhuman: The secrets of the ice man," describing Pugh's severe physical and mental preparation for his gripping cold-water achievements. In 2007, Pugh took a 1-kilometer swim at the geographic North Pole, where the water was 29º F to 32º F (minus 1.7º C to 0º C).

Nearly all scientists attribute Lewis Pugh's amazing capability to a phenomenon known as "anticipatory thermogenises," which is just a technical name for mind-over-matter. There is little doubt in most researchers' minds that his talent is actually a psi ability based on "superior mental powers." Pugh can raise his core body temperature to 101 degrees without any physical exertion. It should therefore be evident that Uri Geller, in a similar way, can raise his core body magnetism. Yet some of the mainstream press today continues to mock Geller while presenting Pugh as some kind of Aryan superman. Uri Geller is Jewish.

Not long ago, "Discover" magazine published a short interview with James Randi in which Uri Geller was pointlessly mocked before Israel's Knesset, referring to derogatory statements that were false. In its most recent issue, "Discover" printed a formal apology to Geller (although you might need a magnifying glass to see it).

James Randi has said he aims to ruin Uri Geller's reputation. But perhaps Randi should be more worried that a distant person using the name "Randi Schimnosky" is pointing back to his website.

The Schimnosky eccentric is now and again either a woman or a man, who posts on "Mother Jones" and many other message boards concerning sex and atheism. It's not clear if Randi Schimnosky is a real person, except for a pen name for weird child-sex and antireligious discussions, as well as unsympathetic letters against the church. In one forum debunking radio host Stephen Bennett, a member wondered if Schimnosky was in fact James Randi. Schimnosky irately replied that his or her accuser is "a lying poser if not actually Stephen Bennett."

Schimnosky's preferred topic is Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT). In one unsettling post Randi Schimnosky said: "I don't agree with you that the definition of child abuse is something that is legally actionable." In another odd post Schimnosky wrote: "N--- said ‘LGBT Randi doesn't think it's child molestation to keep and view sexual torture porn on the bedroom computer of her ten year old son. LGBT Randi doesn't think it's child molestation to have lurid chat with a twelve-year-old, trying to lure them somewhere so you can teach them sexual techniques and have them use them on you.' Obviously those things aren't child molestation and you are a liar because you said these two people had molested children. Child molestation requires actual physical sexual contact and there was none in these cases."

Schimnosky also mysteriously published a bare and vacant blog called "sch957" (http://sch957.blogspot.com/). One might assume the blog title is the abbreviation of his or her name. But in the view of science, sch957 stands for "Polytopes of Type 957." A regular polytope is a geometric figure with a high degree of symmetry. SCH957 is named after the 19th century Swiss mathematician, Ludwig Schlafli, who characterized regular polytopes in higher dimensions. The catch-22 dilemma is that a search engine listing of polytopes returns a surprising number of links (almost a thousand) to James Randi's own website. The SCH957 polytope is apparently a mathematical reference to "Asteroid 3163 Randi."

In 1993, James Randi accused Uri Geller of blackmailing him with a transcript and a tape that appeared to be of Randi having intimate sexual conversations with teenage boys. Randi later said that he had been working on behalf of the telephone company in its attempt to track down a minor who had been making obscene calls. It seems that at various times Randi has said that this tape was made by his enemies to blackmail him, that he made it himself, or that the police asked him to make it in an attempt to track down a teenager making obscene calls to his home.

On May 22nd, 1999, Randi gave a public lecture at Cal Tech, in California. At that time Randi read from a formal statement that he had apparently already sent to some people, and for which he invited others to write to him. This statement consisted of Randi's explanation for the infamous "Blackmail Tape" and repeated his version of the events that led up to the production of the tape. Randi claimed that he made the tape under the direction of the police chief of Rumson, New Jersey, to entrap harassing obscene callers.

James Randi fearlessly went to the trouble of producing a recording of himself chatting about sex with wayward boys. Perhaps he should also be complaining in public that a wacky sex promoter is using the Randi name on different web forums and cryptically pointing back to James Randi's "scientific" website.

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