User:Cyprus2k1/resources

Uri Geller: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_http://www.countrywatch.com/@school/number_countries.htm _ _ _ _

Frequently, Geller has cancelled previously announced performances or failed to produce the expected results, usually blaming his apparent lack of psychical power on some interference, exhaustion, or lack of cooperation by the subjects. In some cases, Geller disagreed with the subjects about the success, such as the "telepathic drawing" demonstration, where Geller claims to be able to read his subject's mind as they draw a picture (in spite of the alleged mind reading, the subject still has to draw the picture, allowing Geller to infer common shapes from pencil movement and sound).

Geller's performances of drawing duplication usually take place under informal conditions such as television interviews. He has refused to alter the conditions of the "telepathic" experiment so as to avoid the potential for trickery, and still frequently failed to produce the correct shape or image. With subjects susceptible to suggestion, Geller has the highest chances of success, as demonstrated by this interview from the Gerry Ryan radio show (February 20, 2002):


 * Ryan: Are you getting the image that I'm sending to you? I'm working working very hard on it at the moment.


 * Uri: it's very very hard for me because, you know...


 * Ryan: Just say what comes into your head, what's in your head?


 * Uri: Well the first thing that I drew was a, it had a triangular shape at the top. Am I very wrong?


 * Ryan: I have sent you an image of the Pyramids. That's it! Are you really? You're not pulling my leg? No! No!


 * Uri: Gerry, I swear to you I drew a pyramid, and I also drew the stones in the pyramid, but I was not sure, so the first image that came into my mind was a triangle and then I drew the lines in it as the stones.

Note that Geller's initial answer ("a triangular shape on the top") can apply to many different common objects (e.g. a house), and his second answer ("I swear to you I drew a pyramid") is somewhat in contradiction with that, but still sufficiently compatible for the suggestion to work. His initial reluctance ("Am I very wrong?") also helps to compensate the disappointment if he is indeed incorrect and leads a well-meaning subject to allow some room for interpretation.

He has sometimes stated that he has received his powers from extraterrestrials, but has also held God responsible.

As Geller himself admits, the bending of cutlery has been reproduced by many magicians. However, he asserts that he "really" bends using psychic powers, whereas others use tricks ("Sure, there are magicians who can duplicate it through trickery. But the real ones... there's no explanation for it." )

In a famous appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Geller was invited to bend a series of spoons pre-selected by Carson (James Randi was also present to thwart any trickery - both Carson and Randi are trained stage magicians) and failed to bend a single spoon. This is widely considered to be among the most graphic evidence against Geller's claims.

Geller was also paid to investigate the kidnapping of Hungarian model Helga Farkas. He predicted that Farkas would be found alive and in good health; unfortunately, she was murdered by her kidnappers.