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Psychic Friends Network
The Psychic Friends Network (PFN) was a telephone psychic service operating in the United States in the 1990s. The company's infomercials were aired frequently on late night television at that time. In 2012, the business began to migrate to online services. Mark Edward, who worked as a telephone "psychic" for the network, had become a vocal critic of the PFN, and all psychics, saying that "the psychic business is built on lies". His book '' Psychic Blues'' details what it was like to work for PFN. History Infomercial and telephone network business model The ''Psychic Friends Network'' was launched in 1991. It relied on infomercials to attract clients, and used a call distributing system to forward calls to a network of "psychics" working in shifts from their homes. This technology allowed the customers to build personal relationships with individual "psychics". According to the ''Slate'' article ''What Psychic Friends Failed to Foresee'', "Psychic Friends infomercials had be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as psychokinesis or teleportation. Although many people believe in psychic abilities, the scientific consensus is that there is no proof of the existence of such powers, and describes the practice as pseudoscience. Psychics encompass people in a variety of roles. Some are theatrical performers, such as stage magicians, who use various techniques, e.g. prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot reading, to produce the appearance of such abilities for entertainment purposes. A large industry and network exist whereby people advertised as psychics provide advice and counsel to clients. Some famous psychics include Edgar Cayce, Ingo Swann, Peter Hurkos, Janet Lee, Miss Cleo, John Edward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann O'Delia Diss Debar
Ann O'Delia Diss Debar (probably born Ann O'Delia Salomon,Harry Houdini. (1924)A Magician Among the Spirits(via archive.org) c. 1849 – 1909 or later) was a notorious criminal and supposed medium. She was convicted of fraud several times in the US, and was tried for rape and fraud in London in 1901. She was described by Harry Houdini as "one of the most extraordinary fake mediums and mystery swindlers the world has ever known". Biography Although many sources claim that Ann O'Delia Diss Debar was born as Editha Salomen in Kentucky in 1849, no documentary proof exists. Another commonly reported birth name is Ann O'Delia Salomon which is corroborated by census data and a family bible given as evidence in an 1888 court case. Her alleged father, Prof. John C. F. Salomon, was a Professor of Music at Greenville Female Institute, also known as Daughters' College and now exists as the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. When George C.T. Salomon came forward as her brother Diss D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defunct Online Companies Of The United States
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Defunct may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state. When used in a biological sense, it means imperfect or rudimentary when comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Properties Established In 2012
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the interlinked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, internet telephony, streaming media and file sharing. The origins of the Internet date back to research that enabled the time-sharing of computer resources, the development of packet switching in the 1960s and the design of computer networks for data communication. The set of rules (communication protocols) to enable internetworking on the Internet arose from research and development commissioned in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Séance
A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one may, for example, speak of "" (). In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a mediumship, spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance. Fictionalised conversations between the deceased appeared in ''Dialogues of the Dead'' by George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, George, First Baron Lyttelton, published in England in 1760. Among the notable spirits quoted in this volume are Peter the Great, Pericles, a "North-American Savage", William Penn, and Christina, Queen of Sweden. The popularity of séances grew dramatically with the founding of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rose Mackenberg
Rose Mackenberg (July 10, 1892 – April 10, 1968) was an American investigator specializing in fraudulent Mediumship, psychic mediums, known for her association with Harry Houdini. She was chief of a team of undercover investigators who investigated mediums for Houdini in the 1920s. After Houdini's death, she continued to investigate Spiritualism (movement), spiritualist fraud for over 20 years and was known as an expert on the subject. She testified in court cases and before Congress and was interviewed in national magazines and on television. Early life Mackenberg was born July 10, 1892, and lived in Brooklyn, New York City. In her early years she worked as a stenographer in a law office and as an investigator in New York City. She reportedly believed that psychics and fortunetellers were able to communicate with spirits and foretell the future. Houdini's investigator In the early 1920s, Mackenberg was working on a case for a banker who had suffered losses after making i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychic Reading
A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information through the use of heightened perceptive abilities, or natural extensions of the basic human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and instinct. These natural extensions are claimed to be clairvoyance (vision), clairsentience (feeling), claircognisance (factual knowing) and clairaudience (hearing) and the resulting statements made during such an attempt.Reading – Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Parapsychological Association (2010-04-14) The term is commonly associated with -based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at |
List Of Topics Characterized As Pseudoscience
This is a list of topics that have been characterized as pseudoscience by academics or researchers, either currently or in the past. Detailed discussion of these topics may be found on their main pages. These characterizations were made in the context of educating the public about questionable or potentially fraudulent or dangerous claims and practices, efforts to define the nature of science, or humorous parodies of poor scientific reasoning. Criticism of pseudoscience, generally by the scientific community or skeptical organizations, involves critiques of the logical, methodological, or rhetorical bases of the topic in question. Though some of the listed topics continue to be investigated scientifically, others were only subject to scientific research in the past and today are considered refuted, but resurrected in a pseudoscientific fashion. Other ideas presented here are entirely non-scientific, but have in one way or another impinged on scientific domains or practices. Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hot Reading
Hot reading is a technique used when giving a psychic reading in stage magic performances, or in other contexts. In hot reading, the reader uses information about the person receiving the reading (for example, from background research or overhearing a conversation) which the receiver is not aware that the reader already knows. Hot reading is commonly used in conjunction with cold reading (where no previously gathered information is used) and can explain how a psychic reader can get a specific claimed "hit" of accurate information. The psychics may have clients schedule their appearance ahead of time, and then collect information using collaborators who pose as religious missionaries, magazine sales people, or similar roles. Such visitors can gain a wide understanding of a person from examining their home, where tickets for the show may have been sent in advance. The "psychic" may then be briefed on the information, and told where the person will sit in the audience. History The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Houdini
Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in the United States and then as Harry "Handcuff" Houdini on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it. In 1904, thousands watched as Houdini tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned by London's ''Daily Mirror'', keeping them in suspense for an hour. Another stunt saw him buried alive and only just able to claw himself to the surface, emerging in a state of near-breakdown. While many suspected that these escapes were faked, Houdini presented himself as the scourge of fake spiritualists, pursuing a persona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortune Telling Fraud
Fortune telling fraud, also called the bujo or egg curse scam, is a type of confidence trick, based on a claim of secret or occult information. The basic feature of the scam involves diagnosing the victim (the "mark") with some sort of secret problem that only the grifter can detect or diagnose, and then charging the mark for ineffectual treatments. The archetypical grifter working the scam is a fortune teller who announces that the mark is suffering from a curse that their magic can relieve, while threatening dire consequences if the curse is not lifted. Method In this scam, a fortune teller uses cold reading to detect that a client is genuinely troubled rather than merely seeking entertainment; or is a gambler complaining of bad luck. The fortune teller informs the mark that they are the victim of a curse, but that for a fee a spell can be cast to remove the curse. In Romani, this trick is called , originally meaning simply "bag", but now meaning "a swindle involving a la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flim-Flam!
''Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions'' is a 1980 book by magician and skeptic James Randi about paranormal, occult, and pseudoscience claims. The foreword is by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. Randi explores topics which he says that scientists and the media are too willing to promote without skepticism and proper expertise. Content Timothy Ferris wrote that ''Flim Flam!'' "will enlighten any reader who does not clearly understand that not one shard of evidence exists to prove that the Bermuda Triangle poses any special menace to ships and planes, that earth is being visited by alien spacecraft, that the unassisted power of the mind can read closed books, predict our future or induce levitation, or that the ' psychic surgeons' of the Philippines have relieved their patients of any burden more troublesome than their money." Randi levels criticism at the sloppy study designs and faulty controls of the investigations into remote viewing by Russell Targ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
