On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 16:21:33 +0000 (UTC), Carol Lee Smith
<human@csd.uwm.edu> wrote:

http://www.randi.org/jref/tamii.html

Penn & Teller are appearing.

How about Hodgkin and Huxley? That would be amazing.
dunk

In article <G_yJb.11521$qS3.11424@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>,
"Ed Rhodes" <edward.j.rhodes@verizon.net> wrote:

"Jon Haugsand" <jonhaug@ifi.uio.no> wrote in message
news:dmekuhxx00.fsf_-_@viisi.ifi.uio.no...

* Bob Dog

Only one person with a trick ever challenged Randi on
Randi's terms set out for him, and the guy told Randi
afterward how he did it. (That was the guy who could
"read" vinyl records and say what the music was. His
trick was remembering the record company codes engraved
on the vinyl.)

This is, in any case, amazing. Has this really been testet all over,
or is this guy using additional tricks like any illusionist does?

I also wonder if James Randi had his heart miss a few heart beats
before the trick was disclosed...

I met Randi at Lou Tannen's around this time and he mentioned the "record
reading" guy. He said at the time that he had no idea how the guy did it and
was actually considering handing over the money when the guy fessed up that
he'd been "reading" the grooves.

Well, he apparently didn't fess up to anything; he said all along
that that was how he did it. Here's a piece I saved off Usenet from
years ago, and I don't know its provenance, except that it appears to be
from Discover magazine.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A Record Claim.

There it was, printed in the New York Times, and an obvious candidate for
scrutiny by Skeptical Eye. The story was about a Pennsylvania doctor
named Arthur Lintgen, who could look at a phonograph record with its
label covered and, from the pattern of grooves, correctly identify the
recording. In some instances, he could even name the conductor. It was
obviously a case for James Randi, DISCOVER's favorite investigator of
psychics and other charlatans.

Randi was happy to oblige. "I thought the doctor's claims were quite
far-fetched," he says. "I called Lntgen and asked if he would mind
taking a test identifying some of MY records." Lintgen agreed, but
explained that he preferred fully orchestrated classical music from
Beethoven's time forward, and nothing as avant garde as electronic
music. Randi agreed to Lintgen's conditions and arranged to meet him in
two hours.

Dashing off to a record store, Randi bought the following recordings:
Beethoven's Sixth; Ravel's "Bolero"; Holst's "The Planets";
Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"; Mozart's 40th and 41st symphonies; and
two versions of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." In addition, as controls
for his planned scientific test, Randi picked up a rock album by Alice
Cooper and a voice (without music) recording entitled "So You Want To Be
a Magician."

Randi covered the labels and matrix numbers of all the albums with layers
of aluminum foil and paper. He then gave the disguised records to a
colleague, who covered the labels another time, so that when the test
began Randi himself did not know which album was which. In science, this
is called a double-blind test; it prevents the experimenter's bias from
influencing the results. DISCOVER does not fool around.

When Randi handed the first album to Lintgen, the doctor examined both
sides. "This is a pair of classical symphonies," he said, "but I think
it's pre-Beethoven probably a pair of Mozart symphonies. -- At the end
of the test, when all of the labels were uncovered, the record turned
out to be Mozart's 40th and 41st symphonies. --

Randi gave Lintgen another record. He examined the grooves and asked, "Is
this one complete composition? If it is, I don't know it. But I'm
almost sure it's Beethoven's Sixth." He took a closer look: "Oh I see,
they've added an extra overture . . . the "Prometheus" Overture." --
Lintgen was correct. --

Another record. "This is gibberish," Lintgen said. "It's not
classical. It doesn't seem to have much structure." -- Alice Cooper. --

Another. Lintgen laughed. "There are no instruments on this. If I had
to guess, I'd say it was solo vocal." -- So You Want To Be a Magician.

"Ed Rhodes" <edward.j.rhodes@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:90zJb.11522$qS3.4994@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...

"Jon Haugsand" <jonhaug@ifi.uio.no> wrote in message
news:dmekuhxx00.fsf_-_@viisi.ifi.uio.no...
Actually, I phrased that wrong. Randi said;

"If the guy had claimed paranormal powers, I wouldn't have had an answer

and

would have had to pay out. But the guy never claimed paranormal powers, he
claimed and could show that he was reading the patterns in the grooves."
(paraphrasing... this was over 20 years ago.)

He was also best at classical music and worst at rock and roll. This was in
Skeptical Inquirer.