title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour identifies his political leanings as "Gaullo-Bonapartiste", a set of views inspired by Gaullism and Bonapartism. This has been defined in more concrete terms by the historian Nicolas Lebourg, who wrote that the Zemmour's politics are defined by four elements. Firstly, Bonapartism: Zemmour believes in the importance of "great men" in the fate of a country. Secondly, unitarism; a great importance is given to the unity of a nation state. Thirdly, "complete sovereignty": Zemmour believes that all of a nation's problems can be solved by the sovereignty of the nation state. The fourth element of Zemmour's ideas is a "nationalism obsessed with decadence" which would take the form of a sort of Darwinism: if the French people don't change, they will be "swept away by history".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour has been commonly presented as a "far-right pundit" in French and international media. Historian Laurent Joly wrote in 2015 that "since Barrès and Maurras, no other intellectual, journalist or writer has had this status as a broker of far-right ideas with a very large readership".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On the contrary, political scientist Jean-Yves Camus has opposed designating Zemmour as far-right, claiming that Zemmour was not a fascist or a Nazi. Asked in October 2021 on the positioning of Eric Zemmour in relation to Marine Le Pen, Camus ranks him "on the right", more precisely in the "radical conservative right". Some French media outlets also present him "on the right", in the "conservative right", or as Gaullist, or in the "sovereignist right", or in the "radical right", or in the "radical and identitary right".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour has expressed the view that the French nation-state has been in a state of decline since the 1970s, which he has attributed to the rise of immigration, feminism, left-wing politics and the erosion of traditional values. He presented these views at length in his 2014 essay "The French Suicide". Zemmour has therefore been associated with declinism.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In a review of "The French Suicide" in "The New Yorker", Alexander Stille argued that Zemmour significantly overstates the decline of France which, while no longer a great power, "remains among the top twenty countries by virtually all measures of the World Bank's Human Development Index."


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour has extensively promoted the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, contending that France's population will be replaced by immigrants.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Interviewed in August 2021 on his views on immigration in France, Zemmour declared: "We have to stop the flow. I'm not just talking about the illegals; I am thinking first of legal immigration. ... There is a process of replacing the population from the moment there are too many immigrants who no longer assimilate. It's inevitable."


title: Éric Zemmour

text: A member of the French assimilationist tradition, Zemmour has strongly opposed mass immigration, and the current model of integrating immigrants which he considers to have been too lenient, for a long time. In November 2008, he gave an interview to the monthly "Le Choc du mois" where he compared immigration to a "demographic tsunami". In 2007 he also came out in favour of the Thierry Mariani amendment, which would require genetic tests in order to qualify for family reunification.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: At a public meeting in Lille in October 2021, Zemmour reiterated his position on migrants, calling for an end to illegal and legal immigration in France.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour says he would like to put on trial the anti-racism of the 1980s, which he considers, along with feminism, to be a "bien-pensant cause" derived from the "milieu of French and Western pseudo-elites" that the people will not follow in the least. He says that it was especially after having "read Pierre-André Taguieff" who is known for his positions and work on the Nouvelle Droite and anti-racism that he "understood that anti-racist progressivism was the successor of communism, with the same totalitarian methods developed by the Comintern during the 1930s". According to him, anti-racism is a tactic initiated by François Mitterrand to make people forget the left's turn to economic liberalism in 1983. He claims that anti-racism is an ideology implemented by former leftists who had had to give up their illusions. With immigrants, these people had found a kind of alternative revolutionary people.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour has expressed criticism of feminism and homosexuality, and has claimed that France's decline had partly been caused by the erosion of virility, and the "feminization" of society, themes he has explored at length in "Le Premier Sexe" and "The French Suicide". Zemmour called the legalization of abortion a "collective suicide" and has argued that women were unsuited to positions of political power. In "The French Suicide", he expressed criticism of birth control, women's rights, and gender studies. He has also defended Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Tariq Ramadan in relation to accusations of sexual assault levelled against them.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour defends himself from such allegations, stating that he instead believes himself to be "the greatest defender of women". In televised debates and during his presidential campaign he has often taken this position, arguing that he is the sole candidate to defend women from Islam, especially from the compulsion to wear veils under many modern interpretations of Sharia law.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour's diagnosis of the current economic state of France precedes his positions on various economic issues, and in particular questions of fiscal policy and free trade. He says that France is "world champion in everything" in this regard, with 30% of GDP for social protection, 56% for public spending and 47% for compulsory contributions, such as direct taxes and various other social contributions. He also says that France's budget massively helps foreigners and immigrants, who benefit for example from 42% of the social redistribution of the national Family Allowance Fund. Zemmour declared in that regard that he will stop all kind of aid and subsidies to foreigners, and claims that this will bring 20 to 30 billion euros yearly savings to the French budget.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In particular, he also advocates abolishing state medical aid for foreigners, which costs 1 billion euros per year to the state budget.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Rather anti-liberal with regards to free trade, he opposes European federalism and the European Union, which he considers to be clearly in favour of the free movement of goods and in deep conflict with the French social model. According to him, because of the European Union, the left, like the right, must apply "the same economic policy, social liberalism or liberal socialism" because, in the words of Philippe Séguin, "right and left are retailers of the same wholesaler, Europe". Zemmour supports protectionism.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour wants to lower corporate taxes. He has proposed to reduce the CSG (general social contribution) from 9% to 2.5%, for employees who have a modest salary, from the minimum wage up to 2,000 euros. Eric Zemmour thus judges that this would make a salary increase of a monthly minimum wage over the year. In order both not to reduce the social protection model of the French and to finance this tax cut, he wants "national solidarity to become national again", and has proposed that non-contributory social expenditure (family allowances, housing allowances, minimum old-age allowance, minimum living allowance) be withdrawn from foreigners and are reserved for the French. According to him, this represents 20 billion savings for the national budget.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: While Zemmour has advocated France dropping the Euro currency, he is no longer supporting this idea, which he believes would have more disadvantages than advantages at this stage. He rather prefers to concentrate on free trade issues, in order to stop free trade treaties, and introduce import taxes on strategic products where France needs to defend its national interest, local production, and social model.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour has argued for a distancing of France from the United States, a closer relationship with Russia, as well as an increased independence from the European Union and its foreign policy. He has stated that the Normandy landings during World War II had been a liberation, but also a "colonization", of France by the United States. Zemmour has also called for a strengthening of the French Armed Forces, arguing that the only influence that France has retained on the international scene was due to the strength of its armed forces and its nuclear defense capabilities. He supports a withdrawal from the NATO's integrated military command.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour supported Brexit and Britain's vote to leave the European Union, describing the EU as a "pure technostructure that has got rid of the people," but has said that he would not seek to fully withdraw France from the EU if elected president, arguing that France's war record made it harder for the country to follow Britain's example. Instead, Zemmour has summed up his position as "I want France to be in Europe, but I want France to come before Europe," and pledged to withdraw France from the EU's immigration and asylum policies, put French law above EU law and halt accession talks with Eastern European countries aiming to join the bloc.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In addition, Zemmour has expressed support for Rattachism, the integration of Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, into France, pointing to a 2010 opinion poll in which 49 per cent of Walloons were ready for such a move. He described Belgium as having become largely a fiction, and likened its separation from France to that of East Germany from West Germany, calling it "France's GDR".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: The subjects Zemmour addresses, as well as the positions he defends, have earned him some strong opponents and equally strong supporters. According to an article by François Dufay, "La fronde des intellos" (literal translation: "The upheaval of the intellectuals"), in the June 2002 edition of "Le Point", Jean-Marie Le Pen reportedly said that "[the] only three journalists who behave properly with respect to [him]" are Élisabeth Lévy, Éric Zemmour and Serge Moati. Zemmour noted during an interview: "I think he meant that with an ironic wink: it refers to his famous declaration fifteen years ago that caused such a scandal when he criticised Elkabbach, Levaï, who were all Jewish, and you will note that the three who he noted treat him well are also all Jewish. [...] And he knows that quite well, and everyone knows that quite well".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Following a number of controversies after a talk show on Arte dedicated to miscegenation on 13 November 2008, as a result of his comments on races (that blacks and whites belonged to two different races and that this difference was discernible by skin colour, without ranking them hierarchically), Zemmour also published a reply in the magazine "Vendredi".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Faced with the criticism caused by the views expressed by Éric Zemmour during the show, the deputy manager of programmes for the Arte channel distanced himself from these words but explained that nothing said was illegal.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 25 March 2009, he filed a complaint against the French rapper Youssoupha for "criminal threats and public abuse" after the uploading of the song "Because of saying it" in which Zemmour was attacked "ad hominem": "Because of judging our faces, people know, that talking heads often demonise the ghetto-dwellers, each time it blows up they say it's us, I put a price on the head of the one who silences this asshole Éric Zemmour". The rapper had clarified in a previous interview in the newspaper "Le Parisien" that he was not advocating silencing Zemmour by force, but rather by argument. The album was finally released on 12 October 2009, with an expurgated version of the controversial track in which Zemmour's name is scrambled out. On 26 October 2011, Zemmour won his suit against the rapper and the director general of EMI Music France, Valérie Queinnec.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 5 March 2011, some voices were raised against Zemmour and called for Rémy Pflimlin, the CEO of France Télévisions, to suspend Zemmour's collaboration with France 2, which he refused to do, explaining: ""The public service is attached to humanist and republican values, but it is also the place where the diversity of opinions is expressed within the legal framework", he reminds those around him urging him to suspend Éric Zemmour's collaboration with France 2".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 17 November 2015, four days after the 13 November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, Zemmour stated on RTL: "Instead of bombing Raqqa, France should bomb Molenbeek from which the Friday 13 commandos came". This caused outrage in Belgium. In a 24 March 2016 column, Zemmour added: "Molenbeeks, France is full of them. France creates them in abundance".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 18 September 2018, controversy arose over his opinion about the first name of columnist Hapsatou Sy on the TV programme "Les terriens du dimanche" hosted by Thierry Ardisson. His words "It's your first name that is an insult to France", adding "first names embody the history of France" were cut at the editing of the show but rebroadcast by Sy. She then asked him "What would you like my name to be?" to which he answered "Corinne, that would suit you very well". She decided to file a complaint against Zemmour.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In 2020, whilst commenting on footage that showed four policemen hitting a black man in Paris, Zemmour responded to accusations of racism levelled at the involved policemen by saying "I can hardly see [them] getting up in the morning and telling themselves: 'Here, I'm going to endanger my career and I'm going to hit a black guy'", although he recognised "that does not mean that they were right" to do what they did. He also questioned the victim's judicial history.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In September 2021, in his book "La France n'a pas dit son dernier mot", Zemmour states Seine-Saint-Denis—the northern suburbs of Paris known for their large Muslim population—has become a "foreign enclave under the reign of Allah", a remark which angered local politicians.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 11 September 2021, Zemmour's declaration about the 2012 Toulouse and Montauban shootings caused controversy among Jewish communities in France.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In May 2021, Zemmour was publicly accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour by several women, but no judicial proceedings followed.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In February 2022, a shadow group working covertly within the digital division of Zemmour's campaign team was organized to alter articles at Wikipedia in order to promote Zemmour's profile. This "WikiZedia" team was discovered, and administrators at French Wikipedia banned seven editors, including a 15-year veteran who was one of the top contributors.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: As of 2022, Zemmour has been convicted once in France for provoking racial discrimination in 2011, and once for hatred against Muslims in 2018 as well as once for inciting racial hatred for 2022. He did not appeal his 2011 conviction, but appealed on 5 December 2019 the 2018 conviction to the European Court of Human Rights on the basis of article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights protecting freedom of expression, and thus this conviction is not definitive.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) decided to launch legal proceedings against Éric Zemmour for his views after the 6 March 2010 broadcast of "Salut les Terriens" presented by Thierry Ardisson, where he promoted his book "Mélancolie française". He declared during the show that: "French people with an immigrant background were profiled because most traffickers are Blacks and Arabs. ... It is a fact." The same day, he asserted on France Ô that employers "had the right to refuse Arabs or blacks".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 23 March 2010, he wrote a letter to the LICRA explaining his views. In this letter he particularly observed the views of Christian Delorme before a parliamentary commission of the Senate. He cited the book "L'Islam dans les prisons" by Farhad Khosrokhavar, who confirmed the figure of 70 or 80% of "Muslims in prison" estimated in a survey commissioned by the Ministry of Justice.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Following this letter, the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) decided to withdraw its legal proceedings against Éric Zemmour.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 30 March 2010, Éric Zemmour was summoned by SOS Racisme to appear in court on 29 June 2010, where he "will have to answer for the offense of racial defamation and incitement to racial hatred." During the trial, Zemmour received testimony in his favour from journalist Robert Ménard, his fellow columnist Éric Naulleau, writer Denis Tillinac, politician Claude Goasguen and essayist Xavier Raufer.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 18 February 2011, in a first judgment, the 17th chamber of the court of Paris acquitted Zemmour of the offense of defamation for the remarks on the traffickers. These words may be "shocking", writes the court, but they are not "defamatory". On the other hand, he was condemned to a 1,000 euros fine suspended for having, on France Ô, "justified an illegal discriminatory practice – discrimination in hiring – by presenting it as lawful". In a second judgment, the 17th chamber only retained the offense of incitement of racial discrimination and sentenced Zemmour to a suspended fine of 1,000 euros.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 2 March 2011, invited by Hervé Novelli and given an ovation by the members of Parliament from the Union for a Popular Movement at the national convention of The Reformers, Zemmour suggested doing away with the laws on racial discrimination, the memorial laws, prosecutions by anti-racist organisations and subsidies to them in a speech to UMP members of Parliament.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In the 6 September 2016 episode of the programme "C à vous" on France 5, while promoting the launch of his book "Un quinquennat pour rien", Zemmour stated that Muslims should be given the choice "between Islam and France" and that "all Muslims, whether they say it or not", consider jihadists to be "good Muslims". On the 3 May 2018, the Court of appeal reckoned that these passages do not contain "any exhortation, even implicit, to incitement of hatred". On the other hand, the court of law did condemn him to a 5,000 euro fine for incitement to religious hatred, as well as to pay one euro in damages to the association Coordination des appels pour une paix juste au Proche-Orient - EuroPalestine and 3,000 euros for the legal costs. The court considered Zemmour's statements to "aim at Muslims in their entirety and constitued an implicit exhortation to discrimination", when he claimed that France had been experiencing "an invasion for thirty years" and that a "struggle to Islamise a territory" was taking place "in the countless French banlieus where many young women are veiled", "a jihad".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On the 17 September 2019, the Cour de cassation, bringing against him the charges of "an implicit exhortation to discrimination" and "a call for discrimination", rejected his appeal, making his condamnation on appeal definitive in domestic law.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: However, on 5 December 2019, Zemmour complained to the European Court of Human Rights on the basis of article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights which protects freedom of expression.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On the 17 January 2022, Zemmour was found guilty by a Paris court for inciting racial hatred during a TV programme on the French channel CNews in September 2020. He was fined €10,000 for comments about child migrants.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: He was acquitted six times of similar charges, in 2008, 2014 (twice), 2016, 2017 and 2019. Convictions in 2015 and 2020 were overturned on appeal.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: In 2008, following the publication of his novel "Petit Frère", in which a Jew is attacked by a young North African in a parking lot, Zemmour admits to having been inspired by a news item that occurred five years earlier: the murder of Sébastien Selam by Adel Amastaibou. Selam was a childhood friend and next door neighbour of Amastaibou. Zemmour was sued by the family of Selam who demanded the book be banned. According to the family lawyer, in the novel, the victim is described as a "bad Jew, his mother defamed and his grandfather accused of the worst evils". Zemmour won the case.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: The Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) filed a complaint with the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) about a column by Zemmour aired on 6 May 2014 on RTL. As a result, CSA "strongly warned" RTL on 17 June, judging that Zemmour's remarks "were likely to encourage discriminatory behavior towards the population groups specifically named, and to be capable of inciting hatred or violence against them". The comments by Zemmour that were the subject of the complaint were these:


title: Éric Zemmour

text: The CSA also considered that RTL, "by allowing the broadcasting of these remarks, had failed in their obligation to maintain control of the broadcast", recalling that the column had been communicated to station managers beforehand by its author. Prosecuted for "incitement to racial hatred" for these comments, Zemmour was released in September 2015 by the in Paris, which ruled that "as excessive, shocking or provocative as these comments may seem", they apply "only to a fraction of the targeted communities and not to them as a whole". The Court of Appeal confirmed the acquittal on 22 June 2016.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 30 October 2014, he told the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera": "Muslims have their civil code, it is the Koran. They live among themselves, in the outskirts. The French were forced to leave". The journalist then asks him: "But don't you think that it is unrealistic to think that we take millions of people, we put them on planes to get rid of them?" Zemmour replied, "I know, it's unrealistic, but the story is surprising. Who would have said in 1940 that a million pieds-noirs, twenty years later, would have left Algeria to return to France? Or that after the war five or six million Germans would have abandoned central and eastern Europe where they had lived for centuries?" On 17 December 2015, Zemmour was sentenced at first instance to a fine of €3,000, for inciting hatred against Muslims. The conviction was confirmed by the Paris Court of Appeal on 17 November. In January 2018, the Cour de Cassation overturned the conviction. Zemmour was released on 29 November 2018, by the Paris Court of Appeal, the judges considering that "it is not proven that Eric Zemmour, prosecuted as an interviewee, knew that this newspaper was published in France".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 12 May 2016, Zemmour declared on RTL that by publishing Denis Baupin's telephone exchanges, "Mediapart violated all the rules of respect for private life" and that these journalists are "also and above all the consenting instruments of Cécile Duflot's political revenge against Emmanuelle Cosse, Denis Baupin's companion, who betrayed her for a ministerial dish of lentils". Zemmour was sued for defamation by Duflot, but on 6 February 2018, the Paris Criminal Court released him, finding that his allegations against Cécile Duflot were not defamatory.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 2 February 2017, Zemmour declared on RTL: "Non-discrimination is misrepresented as a synonym of equality whereas over time it has become a machine to disintegrate the Nation, the family, society in the name of the rights of an individual king". On 14 June 2017, RTL was put on formal notice by the High Audiovisual Council (CSA), France's media watchdog agency, for having broadcast "praise of discrimination" without any "contradiction or putting into perspective". On 15 October 2018, the Conseil d'Etat cancelled the decision of the CSA.


title: Éric Zemmour

text: On 25 September 2020, the Paris court sentenced Zemmour to a fine of 10,000 euros for "insult and incitement to hatred", because of the comments he had made in September 2019 during a speech to the against Muslims and immigration, at the opening of the right-wing convention organised by relatives of Marion Maréchal. In its judgment, the court said that, "by distinguishing among the French all the Muslims opposed to the 'ethnic French' and by designating them, as well as the Muslim immigrants living in France, not only as criminals perpetrators of the terrorist attacks of 2015 but like former colonized people who became colonizers", the remarks made "constitute an exhortation, sometimes implicit and sometimes explicit, to discrimination and hatred towards the Muslim community and its religion".


title: Éric Zemmour

text: Zemmour appealed. The appeal hearing took place on 2 June 2021. The Paris Court of Appeal acquitted him on 8 September 2021. In the reasons for its judgment, the court of appeal ruled that "none of the statements pursued target all Africans, immigrants or Muslims but only fractions of these groups". "There is no justification for remarks targeting a group of people as a whole because of their origin or their belonging or not belonging to a particular ethnicity, nation, race or religion," the court added, "from where it follows that the prosecuted offenses are not constituted."


title: James Randi

text: James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively called "woo-woo". Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87.


title: James Randi

text: Although often referred to as a "debunker", Randi said he disliked the term's connotations and preferred to describe himself as an "investigator". He wrote about paranormal phenomena, skepticism, and the history of magic. He was a frequent guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", famously exposing fraudulent faith healer Peter Popoff, and was occasionally featured on the television program ""


title: James Randi

text: Before Randi's retirement, JREF sponsored the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, which offered a prize of one million US dollars to eligible applicants who could demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event under test conditions agreed to by both parties. In 2015, the James Randi Educational Foundation said they will no longer accept applications directly from people claiming to have a paranormal power, but will offer the challenge to anyone who has passed a preliminary test that meets with their approval.


title: James Randi

text: Randi was born on August 7, 1928, in Toronto, Canada. He was the son of Marie Alice ("née" Paradis; 1906–1987) and George Randall Zwinge (1903–1967), an executive at Bell Telephone Company. He was of French, Danish and Austrian descent. He had a younger brother and sister. He took up magic after seeing Harry Blackstone Sr. and reading conjuring books while spending 13 months in a body cast following a bicycle accident. He confounded doctors, who expected he would never walk again. Randi scored 168 on an IQ test. He often skipped classes, and at 17, dropped out of high school to perform as a conjurer in a carnival roadshow. He practiced as a mentalist in local nightclubs and at Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition and wrote for Montreal's tabloid press. As a teenager, he stumbled upon a church where the pastor claimed to read minds. After he re-enacted the trick before the parishioners, the pastor's wife called the police and he spent four hours in a jail cell. This inspired his career as a scientific skeptic.


title: James Randi

text: In his 20s, Randi posed as an astrologer, and to establish that they merely were doing simple tricks, he briefly wrote an astrological column in the Canadian tabloid "Midnight" under the name "Zo-ran" by simply shuffling up items from newspaper astrology columns and pasting them randomly into a column. In his 30s, Randi worked in the UK, Europe, Philippine nightclubs, and Japan. He witnessed many tricks that were presented as being supernatural. One of his earliest reported experiences was that of seeing an evangelist using a version of the "one-ahead" technique to convince churchgoers of his divine powers.


title: James Randi

text: Although defining himself as a conjuror, Randi began a career as a professional stage magician and escapologist in 1946. He initially presented himself under his real name, Randall Zwinge, which he later dropped in favor of "The Amazing Randi". Early in his career, he performed numerous escape acts from jail cells and safes around the world. On February 7, 1956, he appeared live on NBC's "Today" show, where he remained for 104 minutes in a sealed metal coffin that had been submerged in a hotel swimming pool, breaking what was said to be Harry Houdini's record of 93 minutes, though Randi called attention to the fact that he was much younger than Houdini had been when he established the original record in 1926.


title: James Randi

text: Randi was a frequent guest on the Long John Nebel program on New York City radio station WOR, and did character voices for commercials. After Nebel moved to WNBC in 1962, Randi was given Nebel's time slot on WOR, where he hosted "The Amazing Randi Show" from 1967 to 1968. The show often had guests who defended paranormal claims, among them Randi's then-friend James W. Moseley. Randi stated that he quit WOR over complaints from the archbishop of New York that Randi had said on-air that "Jesus Christ was a religious nut," a claim that Randi disputed.


title: James Randi

text: Randi also hosted numerous television specials and went on several world tours. As "The Amazing Randi" he appeared regularly on the New York-based children's television series "Wonderama" from 1959 to 1967. In 1970, he auditioned for a revival of the 1950s children's show "The Magic Clown", which showed briefly in Detroit and in Kenya, but was never picked up. In the February 2, 1974, issue of the British conjuring magazine "Abracadabra", Randi, in defining the community of magicians, stated: "I know of no calling which depends so much upon mutual trust and faith as does ours." In the December 2003 issue of "The Linking Ring", the monthly publication of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, it is stated: "Perhaps Randi's ethics are what make him Amazing" and "The Amazing Randi not only talks the talk, he walks the walk."


title: James Randi

text: During Alice Cooper's 1973–1974 Billion Dollar Babies tour, Randi performed on stage both as a mad dentist and as Cooper's executioner. He also built several of the stage props, including the guillotine. In a 1976 performance for the Canadian TV special "World of Wizards", Randi escaped from a straitjacket while suspended upside-down over Niagara Falls.


title: James Randi

text: Randi has been accused of actually using "psychic powers" to perform acts such as spoon bending. According to James Alcock, at a meeting where Randi was duplicating the performances of Uri Geller, a professor from the University at Buffalo shouted out that Randi was a fraud. Randi said: "Yes, indeed, I'm a trickster, I'm a cheat, I'm a charlatan, that's what I do for a living. Everything I've done here was by trickery." The professor shouted back: "That's not what I mean. You're a fraud because you're pretending to do these things through trickery, but you're actually using psychic powers and misleading us by not admitting it." A similar event involved Senator Claiborne Pell, a confirmed believer in psychic phenomena. When Randi personally demonstrated to Pell that he could reveal—by simple trickery—a concealed drawing that had been secretly made by the senator, Pell refused to believe that it was a trick, saying: "I think Randi may be a psychic and doesn't realize it." Randi consistently denied having any paranormal powers or abilities.


title: James Randi

text: Randi was a member of the Society of American Magicians (SAM), the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM), and The Magic Circle in the UK, holding the rank of "Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star."


title: James Randi

text: Randi wrote ten books, among them "Conjuring" (1992), a biographical history of prominent magicians. The book is subtitled "Being a Definitive History of the Venerable Arts of Sorcery, Prestidigitation, Wizardry, Deception, & Chicanery and of the Mountebanks & Scoundrels Who have Perpetrated these Subterfuges on a Bewildered Public, in short, MAGIC!" The book's cover indicates it is by "James Randi, Esq., A Contrite Rascal Once Dedicated to these Wicked Practices but Now Almost Totally Reformed". The book features the most influential magicians and tells some of their history, often in the context of strange deaths and careers on the road. This work expanded on Randi's second book, "Houdini, His Life and Art". This illustrated work was published in 1976 and was co-authored with Bert Sugar. It focuses on the professional and private life of Houdini.


title: James Randi

text: Randi's book, "The Magic World of the Amazing Randi" (1989), was intended as a children's introduction to magic tricks. In addition to his magic books, he wrote several educational works about paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. These include biographies of Uri Geller and Nostradamus, as well as reference material on other major paranormal figures. In 2011, he was working on "A Magician in the Laboratory", which recounted his application of skepticism to science. He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of his friend Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers.


title: James Randi

text: Other books by Randi include "Flim-Flam!" (1982), "The Faith Healers" (1987), "James Randi, Psychic Investigator" (1991), "Test Your ESP Potential" (1982) and "An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural" (1995).


title: James Randi

text: Randi was a regular contributor to "Skeptic" magazine, penning the "'Twas Brillig ..." column, and also served on its editorial board. He was a frequent contributor to "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine, published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, of which he was also a fellow.


title: James Randi

text: Randi gained the international spotlight in 1972 when he publicly challenged the claims of Uri Geller. He accused Geller of being nothing more than a charlatan and a fraud who used standard magic tricks to accomplish his allegedly paranormal feats, and he presented his claims in the book "The Truth About Uri Geller" (1982).


title: James Randi

text: Believing that it was important to get columnists and TV personalities to challenge Geller and others like him, Randi and CSICOP reached out in an attempt to educate them. Randi said that CSICOP had a "very substantial influence on the printed media ... in those days." During this effort, Randi made contact with Johnny Carson and discovered that he was "very much on our side. He wasn't only a comedian ... he was a great thinker." According to Randi, when he was on "The Tonight Show", Carson broke his usual protocol of not talking with guests before their entrance on stage, but instead would ask what Randi wanted to be emphasized in the interview. "He wanted to be aware of how he could help me."


title: James Randi

text: In 1973, Geller appeared on "The Tonight Show", and this appearance is recounted in the "Nova" documentary "Secrets of the Psychics".


title: James Randi

text: In the documentary, Randi says that Carson "had been a magician himself and was skeptical" of Geller's claimed paranormal powers, so before the date of taping, Randi was asked "to help prevent any trickery". Per Randi's advice, the show prepared its own props without informing Geller, and did not let Geller or his staff "anywhere near them". When Geller joined Carson on stage, he appeared surprised that he was not going to be interviewed, but instead was expected to display his abilities using the provided articles. Geller said "This scares me" and "I'm surprised because before this program your producer came and he read me at least 40 questions you were going to ask me." Geller was unable to display any paranormal abilities, saying "I don't feel strong" and expressing his displeasure at feeling like he was being "pressed" to perform by Carson. According to Adam Higginbotham's November 7, 2014 article in "The New York Times":


title: James Randi

text: However, this appearance on "The Tonight Show", which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to debunk Geller's claimed abilities, backfired. According to Higginbotham:


title: James Randi

text: According to Higginbotham, this result caused Randi to realize that much more must be done to stop Geller and those like him. So in 1976, Randi approached Ray Hyman, a psychologist who had observed the tests of Geller's ability at Stanford and thought them slipshod, and suggested they create an organization dedicated to combating pseudoscience. Later that same year, together with Martin Gardner, a "Scientific American" columnist whose writing had helped hone Hyman's and Randi's skepticism, they formed the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP).


title: James Randi

text: Using donations and sales of their magazine, "Skeptical Inquirer", they and secular humanist philosopher Paul Kurtz took seats on the executive board, with Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan joining as founding members. Randi travelled the world on behalf of CSICOP, becoming its public face, and according to Hyman, the face of the skeptical movement.


title: James Randi

text: András G. Pintér, producer and co-host of the European Skeptics Podcast, called Randi the grandfather of European skepticism by virtue of Randi "playing a role in kickstarting several European organizations."


title: James Randi

text: Geller sued Randi and CSICOP for $15 million in 1991 and lost. Geller's suit against CSICOP was thrown out in 1995, and he was ordered to pay $120,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit. The legal costs Randi incurred used almost all of a $272,000 MacArthur Foundation grant awarded to Randi in 1986 for his work. Randi also dismissed Geller's claims that he was capable of the kind of psychic photography associated with the case of Ted Serios. It is a matter, Randi argued, of trick photography using a simple hand-held optical device. During the period of Geller's legal dispute, CSICOP's leadership, wanting to avoid becoming a target of Geller's litigation, demanded that Randi refrain from commenting on Geller. Randi refused and resigned, though he maintained a respectful relationship with the group, which in 2006 changed its name to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). In 2010, Randi was one of 16 new CSI fellows elected by its board.


title: James Randi

text: Randi went on to write many articles criticizing beliefs and claims regarding the paranormal. He also demonstrated flaws in studies suggesting the existence of paranormal phenomena; in his Project Alpha hoax, Randi successfully planted two fake psychics in a privately funded psychic research experiment.


title: James Randi

text: Randi appeared on numerous TV shows, sometimes to directly debunk the claimed abilities of fellow guests. In a 1981 appearance on "That's My Line", Randi appeared opposite claimed psychic James Hydrick, who said that he could move objects with his mind and appeared to demonstrate this claim on live television by turning a page in a telephone book without touching it. Randi, having determined that Hydrick was surreptitiously blowing on the book, arranged foam packaging peanuts on the table in front of the telephone book for the demonstration. This prevented Hydrick from demonstrating his abilities, which would have been exposed when the blowing moved the packaging. Randi writes that, eventually, Hydrick "confessed everything".


title: James Randi

text: Randi was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1986. The fellowship's five-year $272,000 grant helped support Randi's investigations of faith healers, including W. V. Grant, Ernest Angley, and Peter Popoff, whom Randi first exposed on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in February 1986. Hearing about his investigation of Popoff, Carson invited Randi onto his show without seeing the evidence he was going to reveal. Carson appeared stunned after Randi showed a brief video segment from one of Popoff's broadcasts showing him calling out a woman in the audience, revealed personal information about her that he claimed came from God, and then performed a laying-on-of-hands healing to drive the devil from her body. Randi then replayed the video, but with some of the sound dubbed in that he and his investigating team captured during the event using a radio scanner and recorder. Their scanner had detected the radio frequency Popoff's wife Elizabeth was using backstage to broadcast directions and information to a miniature radio receiver hidden in Popoff's left ear. That information had been gathered by Popoff's assistants, who had handed out "prayer cards" to the audience before the show, instructing them to write down all the information Popoff would need to pray for them.


title: James Randi

text: The news coverage generated by Randi's exposé on "The Tonight Show" led to many TV stations dropping Popoff's show, eventually forcing him into bankruptcy in September 1987. However, the televangelist returned soon after with faith-healing infomercials that reportedly attracted more than $23 million in 2005 from viewers sending in money for promised healing and prosperity. The Canadian Centre for Inquiry's "Think Again! TV" documented one of Popoff's more recent performances before a large audience who gathered in Toronto on May 26, 2011, hoping to be saved from illness and poverty.


title: James Randi

text: In February 1988, Randi tested the gullibility of the media by perpetrating a hoax of his own. By teaming up with Australia's "60 Minutes" program and by releasing a fake press package, he built up publicity for a "spirit channeler" named Carlos, who was actually artist José Alvarez, Randi's partner. While performing as Carlos, Alvarez was prompted by Randi using sophisticated radio equipment. According to the "60 Minutes" program on the Carlos hoax, "it was claimed that Alvarez would not have had the audience he did at the Opera House (and the resulting potential sales therefrom) had the media coverage been more aggressive (and factual)", though an analysis by "The Skeptic"s Tim Mendham concluded that, while the media coverage of Alvarez's appearances was not credulous, the hoax "at least showed that they could benefit by being a touch more sceptical". The hoax was exposed on "60 Minutes Australia"; "Carlos" and Randi explained how they had pulled it off.


title: James Randi

text: In his book "The Faith Healers", Randi wrote that his anger and relentlessness arose from compassion for the victims of fraud. Randi was also critical of João de Deus, a.k.a. "John of God", a self-proclaimed psychic surgeon who had received international attention. Randi observed, referring to psychic surgery, "To any experienced conjurer, the methods by which these seeming miracles are produced are very obvious."


title: James Randi

text: In 1982, Randi verified the abilities of Arthur Lintgen, a Philadelphia doctor, who was able to identify the classical music recorded on a vinyl LP solely by examining the grooves on the record. However, Lintgen did not claim to have any paranormal ability, merely knowledge of the way that the groove forms patterns on particular recordings.


title: James Randi

text: In 1988, John Maddox, editor of the prominent science journal "Nature", asked Randi to join the supervision and observation of the homeopathy experiments conducted by Jacques Benveniste's team. Once Randi's stricter protocol for the experiment was in place, the positive results could not be reproduced.


title: James Randi

text: Randi stated that Daniel Dunglas Home, who could allegedly play an accordion that was locked in a cage without touching it, was caught cheating on a few occasions, but the incidents were never made public. He also stated that the actual instrument in use was a one-octave mouth organ concealed under Home's large mustache and that other one-octave mouth organs were found in Home's belongings after his death. According to Randi, author William Lindsay Gresham told Randi "around 1960" that he had seen these mouth organs in the Home collection at the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Eric J. Dingwall, who catalogued Home's collection on its arrival at the SPR does not record the presence of the mouth organs. According to Peter Lamont, the author of an extensive Home biography, "It is unlikely Dingwall would have missed these or did not make them public." The fraudulent medium Henry Slade also played an accordion while held with one hand under a table. Slade and Home played the same pieces. They had at one time lived near each other in the U.S. The magician Chung Ling Soo exposed how Slade had performed the trick.


title: James Randi

text: Randi distinguished between pseudoscience and "crackpot science". He regarded most of parapsychology as pseudoscience because of the way in which it is approached and conducted, but nonetheless saw it as a legitimate subject that "should be pursued", and from which real scientific discoveries may develop. Randi regarded crackpot science as "equally wrong" as pseudoscience, but with no scientific pretensions.


title: James Randi

text: Despite multiple debunkings, Randi did not like to be called a "debunker", preferring to call himself a "skeptic" or an "investigator":


title: James Randi

text: Skeptics and magicians Penn & Teller credit Randi and his career as a skeptic for their own careers. During an interview at TAM! 2012, Penn stated that "Flim-Flam!" was an early influence on him, and said "If not for Randi there would not be Penn & Teller as we are today." He went on to say "Outside of my family ... no one is more important in my life. Randi is everything to me."


title: James Randi

text: At the NECSS skeptic conference in 2017, Randi was asked by George Hrab what a "'skeptic coming of age ceremony' would look like" and Randi talked about what it was like as a child to learn about the speed of light and how that felt like he was looking into the past. Randi stated "More kids need to be stunned".


title: James Randi

text: At The Amaz!ng Meeting in 2011 (TAM 9) the Independent Investigations Group (IIG) organized a tribute to Randi. The group gathered together with other attendees, put on fake white beards, and posed for a large group photo with Randi. At the CSICon in 2017, in absence of Randi, the IIG organized another group photo with leftover beards from the 2011 photo. After Randi was sent the photo, he replied, "I'm always very touched by any such expression. This is certainly no exception. You have my sincere gratitude. I suspect, however that a couple of those beards were fake. But I'm in a forgiving mood at the moment. I'm frankly very touched. I'll see you at the next CSICon. Thank you all."


title: James Randi

text: In a 2019 "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine article, Harriet Hall, a friend of Randi, compares him to the fictional Albus Dumbledore. Hall describes their long white beards, flamboyant clothing, associated with a bird (Dumbledore with a phoenix and Randi with Pegasus). They both are caring and have "immense brainpower" and both "can perform impressive feats of magic". She states that Randi is one of "major inspirations for the skeptical work I do ... He's way better than Dumbledore!".


title: James Randi

text: "Exploring Psychic Powers ... Live" was a two-hour television special aired live on June 7, 1989, wherein Randi examined several people claiming psychic powers. Hosted by actor Bill Bixby, the program offered $100,000 (Randi's $10,000 prize plus $90,000 put up by the show's syndicator, LBS Communications, Inc.) to anyone who could demonstrate genuine psychic powers.


title: James Randi

text: In 1996, Randi established the James Randi Educational Foundation. Randi and his colleagues publish in JREF's blog, "Swift". Topics have included the interesting mathematics of the one-seventh area triangle, a classic geometric puzzle. In his weekly commentary, Randi often gave examples of what he considered the nonsense that he dealt with every day.


title: James Randi

text: Beginning in 2003, the JREF annually hosted The Amaz!ng Meeting, a gathering of scientists, skeptics, and atheists. The last meeting was in 2015, coinciding with Randi's retirement from the JREF.


title: James Randi

text: Randi began a series of conferences known as "The Amazing Meeting" (TAM) which quickly became the largest gathering of skeptics in the world, drawing audiences from Asia, Europe, South America, and the UK. It also attracted a large percentage of younger attendees. Randi was regularly featured on many podcasts, including The Skeptics Society's official podcast "Skepticality" and the Center for Inquiry's official podcast "Point of Inquiry". From September 2006 onwards, he occasionally contributed to "The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe" podcast with a column called "Randi Speaks". In addition, "The Amazing Show" was a podcast in which Randi shared various anecdotes in an interview format.


title: James Randi

text: In 2014, Part2Filmworks released "An Honest Liar", a feature film documentary, written by Tyler Measom and Greg O'Toole, and directed and produced by Measom and Justin Weinstein. The film, which was funded through Kickstarter, focuses on Randi's life, his investigations, and his relationship with longtime partner José Alvarez (born Deyvi Orangel Peña Arteaga), to whom he was married in 2013. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, at Toronto's Hot Docs film festival, and at the June 2014 AFI Docs Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature. It also received positive reviews from critics. The film was featured on the PBS "Independent Lens" series, shown in the U.S. and Canada, on March 28, 2016.


title: James Randi

text: In December 2014, Randi flew to Australia to take part in “An Evening with James Randi” tour, organized by Think Inc. This tour included a screening of "An Honest Liar" followed by a "fireside chat" with Randi on stage. Cities visited were Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. MC in Adelaide was Dr. Paul Willis with Richard Saunders interviewing Randi. MC in Perth was Jake Farr-Wharton with Richard Saunders interviewing Randi. MC for Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney was Richard Saunders with Lawrence Leung interviewing Randi.


title: James Randi

text: In 2017, Randi appeared in animated form on the website Holy Koolaid, in which he discussed the challenge of finding the balance between connecting sincerely with his audience and at the same time tricking/fooling them with an artful ruse, and indicated that this is a balance with which many magicians struggle.


title: James Randi

text: The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) offered a prize of US$1,000,000 to anyone able to demonstrate a supernatural ability under scientific testing criteria agreed to by both sides. Based on the paranormal challenges of John Nevil Maskelyne and Houdini, the foundation began in 1996, when Randi put up $1,000 of his own money payable to anyone who could provide objective proof of the paranormal. The prize money grew to $1,000,000, and had formal published rules. No one progressed past the preliminary test, which was set up with parameters agreed to by both Randi and the applicant. He refused to accept any challengers who might suffer serious injury or death as a result of the testing.


title: James Randi

text: On April 1, 2007, it was ruled that only persons with an established, nationally recognized media profile and the backing of a reputable academic were allowed to apply for the challenge, in order to avoid wasting JREF resources on frivolous claimants.


title: James Randi

text: On "Larry King Live", March 6, 2001, Larry King asked claimed medium Sylvia Browne if she would take the challenge and she agreed. Randi appeared with Browne on "Larry King Live" six months later, and she again appeared to accept his challenge. However, according to Randi, she ultimately refused to be tested, and the Randi Foundation kept a clock on its website recording the number of weeks since Browne allegedly accepted the challenge without following through, until Browne's death in November 2013.


title: James Randi

text: During a subsequent appearance on "Larry King Live" on June 5, 2001, Randi challenged Rosemary Altea, another claimed medium, to undergo testing for the million dollars, but Altea refused to address the question. Instead Altea replied only, "I agree with what he says, that there are many, many people who claim to be spiritual mediums, they claim to talk to the dead. There are many people, we all know this. There are cheats and charlatans everywhere." On January 26, 2007, Altea and Randi again appeared on the show, and Altea again refused to answer whether or not she would take the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge.


title: James Randi

text: In October 2007, claimed psychic John Edward appeared on "Headline Prime", hosted by Glenn Beck. When asked if he would take "the Amazing Randi's" challenge, Edward responded, "It's funny. I was on "Larry King Live" once, and they asked me the same question. And I made a joke [then], and I'll say the same thing here: why would I allow myself to be tested by somebody who's got an adjective as a first name?" Beck simply allowed Edward to continue, ignoring the challenge.


title: James Randi

text: Randi asked British businessman Jim McCormick, the inventor of the bogus ADE 651 bomb detector, to take the challenge in October 2008. Randi called the ADE 651 "a useless quack device which cannot perform any other function than separating naive persons from their money. It's a fake, a scam, a swindle, and a blatant fraud. Prove me wrong and take the million dollars." There was no response from McCormick. According to Iraqi investigators, the ADE 651, which was corruptly sold to the Baghdad bomb squad, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians who died as a result of terrorist bombs which were not detected at checkpoints. On April 23, 2013, McCormick was convicted of three counts of fraud at the Old Bailey in London; he was subsequently sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for his part in the ADE 651 scandal, which Randi was the first to expose.


title: James Randi

text: In 2015, the James Randi paranormal challenge was officially terminated due to Randi's retirement from, and thus lack of direct involvement with, the foundation.


title: James Randi

text: Randi was involved in a variety of legal disputes, but said that he had "never paid even one dollar or even one cent to anyone who ever sued me." However, he said, he had paid out large sums to defend himself in these suits.


title: James Randi

text: Randi met magician Uri Geller in the early 1970s, and found Geller to be "Very charming. Likable, beautiful, affectionate, genuine, forward-going, handsome—everything!" But Randi viewed Geller as a con-man, and began a long effort to expose him as a fraud. According to Randi, Geller tried to sue him several times, accusing him of libel. Geller never won, save for a ruling in a Japanese court that ordered Randi to pay Geller one-third of one per cent of what Geller had requested. This ruling was cancelled, and the matter dropped, when Geller decided to concentrate on another legal matter.


title: James Randi

text: In May 1991, Geller sued Randi and CSICOP for $15 million on a charge of slander, after Randi told the "International Herald Tribune" that Geller had "tricked even reputable scientists" with stunts that "are the kind that used to be on the back of cereal boxes", referring to the old spoon-bending trick. The court dismissed the case and Geller had to settle at a cost to him of $120,000, after Randi produced a cereal box which bore instructions on how to do the spoon-bending trick. Geller's lawyer Don Katz was disbarred mid-way into this action and Geller ended up suing him. After failing to pay by the deadline imposed by the court, Geller was sanctioned an additional $20,000.


title: James Randi

text: Geller sued both Randi and CSICOP in the 1980s. CSICOP argued that the organization was not responsible for Randi's statements. The court agreed that including CSICOP was frivolous and dropped them from the action, leaving Randi to face the action alone, along with the legal costs. Geller was ordered to pay substantial damages, but only to CSICOP.


title: James Randi

text: In 1993, a jury in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore found Randi liable for defaming Eldon Byrd for calling him a child molester in a magazine story and a "shopping market molester" in a 1988 speech. However, the jury found that Byrd was not entitled to any monetary damages after hearing testimony that he had sexually molested and later married his sister-in-law. The jury also cleared the other defendant in the case, CSICOP.


title: James Randi

text: Late in 1996, Randi launched a libel suit against a Toronto-area psychic named Earl Gordon Curley. Curley had made multiple objectionable comments about Randi on Usenet. Despite suggesting to Randi on Usenet that Randi should sue—Curley's comments implying that if Randi did not sue, then his allegations must be true—Curley seemed entirely surprised when Randi actually retained Toronto's largest law firm and initiated legal proceedings. The suit was eventually dropped in 1998 when Earl Curley died at the age of 51 of "alcohol toxicity."


title: James Randi

text: Allison DuBois, on whose life the television series "Medium" was based, threatened Randi with legal action for using a photo of her from her website in his December 17, 2004, commentary without her permission. Randi removed the photo and subsequently used a caricature of DuBois when mentioning her on his site, beginning with his December 23, 2005, commentary.


title: James Randi

text: Sniffex, producer of a dowsing bomb detection device, sued Randi and the JREF in 2007 and lost. Sniffex sued Randi for his comments regarding a government test in which the Sniffex device failed. The company was later investigated and charged with fraud.


title: James Randi

text: Randi was a registered Democrat. In April 2009, he released a statement endorsing the legalization of most illegal drugs.


title: James Randi

text: Randi had been reported as a believer in Social Darwinist theories, although he would denounce the ideologies and movements that formed around the theories in 2013.


title: James Randi

text: Randi's parents were members of the Anglican Church but rarely attended services. He attended Sunday school at St. Cuthbert's Church in Toronto a few times as a child, but he independently decided to stop going after receiving no answer to his request for proof of the teachings of the Church.


title: James Randi

text: In his essay "Why I Deny Religion, How Silly and Fantastic It Is, and Why I'm a Dedicated and Vociferous Bright", Randi, who identified himself as an atheist, opined that many accounts in religious texts, including the virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus Christ, and the parting of the Red Sea by Moses, are not believable. Randi refers to the Virgin Mary as being "impregnated by a ghost of some sort, and as a result produced a son who could walk on water, raise the dead, turn water into wine, and multiply loaves of bread and fishes" and questions how Adam and Eve "could have two sons, one of whom killed the other, and yet managed to populate the Earth without committing incest". He wrote that, compared to the Bible, ""The Wizard of Oz" is more believable. And much more fun."


title: James Randi

text: Clarifying his view of atheism, Randi wrote "I've said it before: there are two sorts of atheists. One sort claims that there is no deity, the other claims that there is no evidence that proves the existence of a deity; I belong to the latter group, because if I were to claim that no god exists, I would have to produce evidence to establish that claim, and I cannot. Religious persons have by far the easier position; they say they believe in a deity because that's their preference, and they've read it in a book. That's their right."


title: James Randi

text: In "An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural" (1995), he examines various spiritual practices skeptically. Of the meditation techniques of Guru Maharaj Ji, he writes "Only the very naive were convinced that they had been let in on some sort of celestial secret." In 2003, he was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.


title: James Randi

text: In a discussion with Kendrick Frazier at CSICon 2016, Randi stated "I think that a belief in a deity is ... an unprovable claim ... and a rather ridiculous claim. It is an easy way out to explain things to which we have no answer." He then summarized his current concern with religious belief as follows: "A belief in a god is one of the most damaging things that infests humanity at this particular moment in history."


title: James Randi

text: When Randi hosted his own radio show in the 1960s, he lived in a small house in Rumson, New Jersey, that featured a sign on the premises that read: "Randi—Charlatan".


title: James Randi

text: In 1987, Randi became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Randi said that one reason he became an American citizen was an incident while he was on tour with Alice Cooper, during which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police searched the band's lockers during a performance, completely ransacking the room, but finding nothing illegal.


title: James Randi

text: In February 2006, Randi underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. The weekly commentary updates to his Web site were made by guests while he was hospitalized. Randi recovered after his surgery and was able to help organize and attend The Amaz!ng Meeting (T.A.M.) in 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada, his annual convention of scientists, magicians, skeptics, atheists and freethinkers.


title: James Randi

text: Randi was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in June 2009. He had a series of small tumors removed from his intestines during laparoscopic surgery. He announced the diagnosis a week later at The Amaz!ng Meeting 7, as well as the fact that he was scheduled to begin chemotherapy in the following weeks. He also said at the conference: "One day, I'm gonna die. That's all there is to it. Hey, it's too bad, but I've got to make room. I'm using a lot of oxygen and such—I think it's good use of oxygen myself, but of course, I'm a little prejudiced on the matter."


title: James Randi

text: Randi underwent his final chemotherapy session in December 2009, later saying that his chemotherapy experience was not so unpleasant as he had imagined it might be. In a video posted in April 2010, Randi stated that he had been given a clean bill of health.


title: James Randi

text: In a 2010 blog entry, Randi came out as gay, a move he said was inspired by seeing the 2008 biographical drama film "Milk".


title: James Randi

text: Randi married Venezuelan artist José Alvarez (born Deyvi Orangel Peña Arteaga) on July 2, 2013 in Washington. Randi, who had recently moved to Florida, met Alvarez in 1986, in a Fort Lauderdale public library. Arteaga had left his native country for fear of his life, as he was homosexual. The pseudonym Arteaga had taken, Jose Alvarez, was an actual person in the United States. The identity confusion caused the real Alvarez some legal and financial difficulties. Arteaga was arrested for identity theft and faced deportation. They resided in Plantation, Florida.


title: James Randi

text: In the 1993 documentary "Secrets of the Psychics", Randi stated, "I've never involved myself in narcotics of any kind; I don't smoke; I don't drink, because that can easily just fuzz the edges of my rationality, fuzz the edges of my reasoning powers, and I want to be as aware as I possibly can. That means giving up a lot of fantasies that might be comforting in some ways, but I'm willing to give that up in order to live in an actually real world, as close as I can get to it".


title: James Randi

text: In a video released in October 2017, Randi revealed that he had recently suffered a minor stroke, and that he was under medical advice not to travel during his recovery, so would be unable to attend CSICon 2017 in Las Vegas later that month.


title: James Randi

text: Randi died at his home on October 20, 2020, at the age of 92. The James Randi Educational Foundation attributed his death to "age-related causes". The Center for Inquiry said that Randi "was the public face of skeptical inquiry, bringing a sense of fun and mischievousness to a serious mission." Kendrick Frazier said, as part of the statement, "Despite his ferocity in challenging all forms of nonsense, in person he was a kind and gentle man."


title: Unni Mukundan

text: Unnikrishnan Mukundan (born 22 September 1987), commonly known as Unni Mukundan, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Telugu and Tamil films.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: Unni Mukundan made his acting debut with the Tamil film "Seedan" (2011), a remake of "Nandanam"(2002). At the age of 23, after playing several small roles, Unni got his breakthrough with his lead role in Vysakh's action comedy "Mallu Singh" (2012). Later, he went on to do major roles in several Malayalam films including commercially successful films like "Vikramadithyan" (2014), "KL 10 Patthu" (2015), "Style" (2016), "Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya" (2016) and "Achayans" (2017). He made his Telugu film debut with the 2016 film "Janatha Garage".


title: Unni Mukundan

text: Unni Mukundan made his debut as a lyricist and singer with "Achayans". He has also sponsored road safety measures by appearing in the motor vehicle department's advertisements.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: Unni Mukundan was born on 22 September 1987 to Malayali parents Mukundan Nair and Roji Mukundan. He completed his school from Pragati Higher Secondary School at Ahmedabad. He is graduated in English Literature and Journalism from Prajyoti Niketan College, Pudukad (Thrissur). He was brought up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In his early days, he used to work with Motif, now known as TTEC.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: In 2011, Unni made his film debut in Tamil film "Seedan", a remake of the Malayalam film "Nandanam". Unni entered the Malayalam film industry through "Bombay March 12" alongside Mammootty, directed by Babu Janardhanan. For his performance in "Bombay March 12", he was adjudged best newcomer by SIIMA, Asianet Film Awards, Asiavision, Jaihind TV, Amrita TV and Vanitha Film Awards. He played a supporting role in "Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty", directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: Unni got his turning point from the movie "Mallu Singh" (2012) directed by Vyshakh. The movie became a huge hit and ran over 100 days. He did cameo appearances in movies "Theevram" and "The Hitlist". In the same year, he appeared in "Ezham" "Suryan" and "I love Me" directed by B. Unnikrishnan. His action sequences where well acclaimed by the audience.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: In 2013 he appeared in "Ithu" "Pathiramanal" and "Orissa," both directed by M. Padmakumar. Also he was seen in "D Company" an anthology of three independently shot action films.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: In 2014, he appeared in "The Last Supper" directed by Vinil turned out to be a flop. But in the same year, he made a comeback by playing one of the titular role along with Dulquer Salmaan in super hit movie "Vikramadithyan" directed by Lal Jose. A critic from Ibtimes wrote "Unni Mukundan has made a massive comeback with this Lal Jose directorial. He nailed his character as Vikraman, a young man with well controlled emotions and realistic attitudes".


title: Unni Mukundan

text: In 2015, he was seen in supporting role in the Mammootty starrer "Fireman" directed by Deepu Karunakaran. Same year, he played the lead role in the movie "" as Jordan, the son of Alexander who was the protagonist in the prequel. He next release was "KL 10 Patthu" written and directed by debutant Muhsin Parari.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: In 2016, he did action thriller movie "Style" which turned out to be a decent commercial entertainer. He was then seen in critically acclaimed movie "Kaattum Mazhayum" and fantasy romantic comedy film "Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya." He made his Tollywood debut with the film "Janatha Garage" in an antagonistic role as Raghava, son of Sathyam (Mohanlal). The film was both commercial success and critically acclaimed. It was the highest grossing Telugu films of the year.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: In 2017 film "Achayans", he made his debut as a lyricist and singer. He played one of the lead role along with Jayaram and Adil Ibrahim in the movie and it turned out to be a commercial success. In the same year, he was seen in another multi hero movie "Avarude" "Raavukal" along with Asif Ali which received mixed reviews. In August of the same year "Clint" with director Harikumar was released, in which he played the role of Joseph, father of Edmund Thomas Clint, a child prodigy known for having drawn over 25,000 paintings during his short life of seven years. He was seen in two different looks as a 35-year old and a 73-year-old man in the film. For this film he received Ramu Kariat Movie Award for the Best Actor. His last release of 2017 was Mammootty starrer "Masterpiece" in which he played the villain role and "Tharangam" in which he played an extended cameo.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: In 2018, he did Tamil-Telugu Bilingual film "Bhaagamathie" along with Anuskha Shetty which turned out to be both commercial success and critically acclaimed. His next releases were two thriller movies "Ira" and "Chanakyathanthram". Both the films received positive reviews and was commercially successful.


title: Unni Mukundan

text: His first release of 2019 was Haneef Adeni's "Mikhael", in which he portrayed the role of antagonist Marco Jr. He was seen last in the film Meppadiyan which had a theatrical release on January 14, 2022. He will be also seen in a Telugu film "Khiladi".


title: Antonov

text: Antonov State Enterprise (), formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov (Antonov ASTC) (), and earlier the Antonov Design Bureau, for its chief designer, Oleg Antonov, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company. Antonov's particular expertise is in the fields of very large aeroplanes and aeroplanes using unprepared runways. Antonov (model prefix "An-") has built a total of approximately 22,000 aircraft, and thousands of its planes are operating in the former Soviet Union and in developing countries.


title: Antonov

text: Antonov StC is a state-owned commercial company. Its headquarters and main industrial grounds were originally located in Novosibirsk, and in 1952 were transferred to Kyiv. On 12 May 2015 it was transferred from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to the Ukroboronprom (Ukrainian Defense Industry).


title: Antonov

text: In June 2016, Ukraine's major state-owned arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom announced the creation of the Ukrainian Aircraft Corporation within its structure, to combine all aircraft manufacturing enterprises in Ukraine.


title: Antonov

text: The company was established in 1946 at the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association as the top-secret Soviet Research and Design Bureau No. 153 (OKB-153). It was headed by Oleg Antonov and specialised in turboprop military transport aircraft. The task was to create an agricultural aircraft CX-1 (An-2), the first flight of which occurred on August 31, 1947. The An-2 biplane was a major achievement of this period, with hundreds of these aircraft still operating as of 2013. In addition to this biplane and its modifications, a small series of gliders A-9 and A-10 were created and built in the pilot production in Novosibirsk. In 1952, the Bureau was relocated to Kyiv, a city with a rich aviation history and an aircraft-manufacturing infrastructure restored after the destruction caused by World War II.


title: Antonov

text: The 1957 introduction of the An-10/An-12 family of mid-range turboprop aeroplanes began the successful production of thousands of these aircraft. Their use for both heavy combat and civilian purposes around the globe continues to the present; the An-10/An-12 were used most notably in the Vietnam War, the Soviet–Afghan War and the Chernobyl disaster relief megaoperation.


title: Antonov

text: In 1959, the bureau began construction of the separate Flight Testing and Improvement Base in suburban Hostomel (now the Antonov Airport).


title: Antonov

text: In 1965, the Antonov An-22 heavy military transport entered serial production to supplement the An-12 in major military and humanitarian airlifts by the Soviet Union. The model became the first Soviet wide-body aircraft, and it remains the world's largest turboprop-powered aircraft. Antonov designed and presented a nuclear-powered version of the An-22. It was never flight tested.


title: Antonov

text: In 1966, after the major expansion in the Sviatoshyn neighbourhood of the city, the company was renamed to another disguise name: "Kyiv Mechanical Plant". Two independent aircraft production and repair facilities, under engineering-supervision of the Antonov Bureau, also appeared in Kyiv during this period.


title: Antonov

text: In the 1970s and early 1980s, the company established itself as the Soviet Union's main designer of military transport aircraft with dozens of new modifications in development and production. After Oleg Antonov's death in 1984, the company was officially renamed as the Research and Design Bureau named after O.K. Antonov () while continuing the use of "Kyiv Mechanical Plant" alias for some purposes.


title: Antonov

text: In the late 1980s, the Antonov Bureau achieved global prominence after the introduction of its extra large aeroplanes. The An-124 "Ruslan" (1982) became the Soviet Union's mass-produced strategic airlifter under the leadership of Chief Designer Viktor Tolmachev. The Bureau enlarged the "Ruslan" design even more for the Soviet spaceplane programme logistics, creating the An-225 "Mriya" in 1985. "Mriya" was the world's largest and heaviest aeroplane.


title: Antonov

text: The end of the Cold War and perestroika allowed the Antonov company's first step to commercialisation and foreign expansion. In 1989, the Antonov Airlines subsidiary was created for its own aircraft maintenance and cargo projects.


title: Antonov

text: Antonov Design Bureau remained a state-owned company after Ukraine achieved its independence in 1991 and is since regarded as a strategic national asset.


title: Antonov

text: Since independence, Antonov has certified and marketed both Soviet-era and newly developed models for sale in new markets outside of the former soviet-sphere of influence. New models introduced to serial production and delivered to customers include the Antonov An-140, Antonov An-148 and Antonov An-158 regional airliners.


title: Antonov

text: Among several modernisation projects, Antonov received orders for upgrading "hundreds" of its legendary An-2 utility planes still in operation in Azerbaijan, Cuba and Russia to the An-2-100 upgrade version.


title: Antonov

text: In 2014, following the annexation of the Crimea by Russia, Ukraine cancelled contracts with Russia, leading to a significant income reduction in Ukraine's defense and aviation industries. However Ukraine has been slowly recovering the deficit from breaking ties with Russia by entering new markets such as the Arab gulf states and expanding its presence in old ones such as India.


title: Antonov

text: In July 2018, Antonov was able to secure a deal with Boeing in order to procure airplane parts which were no longer available due to breakdown of relations with Russia.


title: Antonov

text: During the Soviet period, not all Antonov-designed aircraft were manufactured by the company itself. This was a result of Soviet industrial strategy that split military production between different regions of the Soviet Union to minimise potential war loss risks. As a result, Antonov aeroplanes were often assembled by the specialist contract manufacturers.


title: Antonov

text: In 2009, the once-independent "Aviant" aeroplane-assembling plant in Kyiv became part of Antonov, facilitating a full serial manufacturing cycle of the company. However, the old tradition of co-manufacturing with contractors is continued, both with Soviet-time partners and with new licensees like Iran's Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company.


title: Antonov

text: In 2014, the Antonov produced and delivered only two An-158 airplanes. This trend continued onto 2015, producing one An-148 and one An-158. Since 2016, no aircraft have been produced or delivered to clients.


title: Antonov

text: In June 2016, Ukraine's major state-owned arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom announced the creation of the Ukrainian Aircraft Corporation within its structure, thereby combining all aircraft manufacturing enterprises, including the assets of Antonov into a single cluster, according to Ukroboronprom's press service.


title: Antonov

text: On 19 July 2017, the Ukrainian government approved the liquidation of Antonov's assets. The State Concern "Antonov" (a business group, created in 2005 from the merger of several legally independent companies into a single economic entity under unified management) will be liquidated as a residual corporate entity. Antonov State Company, Kharkiv State Aviation Manufacturing Enterprise and Plant No.410 of Civil Aviation were transferred under the management of another state-owned concern Ukroboronprom in 2015. Antonov State Company continues to function as an enterprise.


title: Antonov

text: Antonov's primary activity has generally been in developing large military transport aircraft, including the world's largest airplanes, chiefly for the Russian Federation and its predecessor nations.


title: Antonov

text: Additionally, Antonov has produced airliners. It has also produced numerous variants of both transports and airliners, for operations ranging from air freight hauling to military reconnaissance, command and control operations.


title: Antonov

text: It has also developed various general aviation light aircraft, having originated as a producer of gliders.


title: Antonov

text: Antonov's aeroplanes (design office prefix "An") range from the rugged An-2 biplane through the An-28 reconnaissance aircraft to the massive An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya strategic airlifters (the latter being the world's heaviest aircraft and was the only one in service).


title: Antonov

text: Whilst less famous, the An-24, An-26, An-30 and An-32 family of twin turboprop, high-winged, passenger-cargo-troop transport aircraft are important for domestic/short-haul air services particularly in parts of the world once led by communist governments. The An-72/An-74 series of small jetliners is slowly replacing that fleet, and a larger An-70 freighter is under certification.


title: Antonov

text: The Antonov An-148 is a new regional airliner of twin-turbofan configuration. Over 150 aircraft have been ordered since 2007. A stretched version is in development, the An-158 (from 60–70 to 90–100 passengers).


title: Blind Melon

text: Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Los Angeles by five musicians: three from Mississippi, one from Pennsylvania and one from Indiana. The band currently consists of guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, drummer Glen Graham, vocalist Travis Warren and bassist Nathan Towne. They are best known for their 1993 hit "No Rain", and enjoyed critical and commercial success in the early 1990s with their neo-psychedelic take on alternative rock.


title: Blind Melon

text: Blind Melon released two albums on Capitol Records – "Blind Melon" (1992) and "Soup" (1995) – before their original lead vocalist Shannon Hoon died of a drug overdose on the band's tour bus in New Orleans on October 21, 1995. After four years of unsuccessfully searching for a replacement for Hoon, Blind Melon officially dissolved in 1999. The remaining members reformed the band in 2006 with Warren and recorded one album with him, "For My Friends" (2008). Shortly after its release, Warren left Blind Melon but returned in 2010, when the band returned to performing occasional gigs. Blind Melon is currently working on their fourth studio album. The group have been nominated for four Grammy Awards.


title: Blind Melon

text: Blind Melon formed in Los Angeles in March 1990 after West Point, Mississippi, transplants Rogers Stevens and Brad Smith, a guitarist and bassist respectively, met vocalist Shannon Hoon, a native of Lafayette, Indiana. Guitarist Christopher Thorn, originally from Pennsylvania, was added shortly thereafter; the four eventually convinced drummer Glen Graham to relocate from Mississippi to complete the group after failing to find a drummer in Los Angeles. Their moniker derived from a nickname Smith had observed among Mississippi hippies, a name with precedent in the 1920s blues artist Blind Lemon Jefferson and the Cheech & Chong character Blind Melon Chitlin'.


title: Blind Melon

text: The band debuted with a four-song demo, "The Goodfoot Workshop", in 1991. Capitol Records A&R executive Tim Devine signed Blind Melon later that year and oversaw sessions with famed producer David Briggs for an unreleased EP to be titled "The Sippin' Time Sessions". The recordings were abandoned due to the band's dissatisfaction with the production quality, which they felt resulted in "slick and doctored" results. Hoon's friendship and association with Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose accrued additional industry attention for the group, as he provided backing vocals on several Guns N' Roses tracks on 1991's "Use Your Illusion I" and "II" albums, including the single "Don't Cry". Blind Melon embarked upon a tour supporting Soundgarden late that year.


title: Blind Melon

text: At drummer Glen Graham's suggestion, the band relocated to Durham, North Carolina, while beginning work on what would become their self-titled debut album with producer Rick Parashar, known for producing Pearl Jam's "Ten". Sessions were held in London Bridge Studio in Seattle, Washington, and the album was recorded mostly live with minimal overdubs. The record was released in September 1992, and initially sold poorly behind its lead singles, "Tones of Home" and "No Rain", until the latter became an MTV staple the following July. Featuring Heather DeLoach playing the "Bee Girl", the video for "No Rain" helped the band achieve international recognition. The album eventually attained quadruple-platinum status, debuting in the "Billboard" top 40 on October 9, 1993.


title: Blind Melon

text: The group toured extensively in support of their debut, performing dates in Europe and Mexico and supporting such acts as Neil Young and Lenny Kravitz late in 1993. Their activity the following year included a performance at Woodstock '94 in August and a supporting slot on the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge Tour thereafter. Amidst rising success, the band began to experience personal and legal problems related to drug and alcohol abuse, leading to multiple stints in drug rehabilitation for Hoon.


title: Blind Melon

text: In 1994, the members relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, to begin work on their second album, "Soup", with producer Andy Wallace. The album was released in 1995, and featured predominantly shorter songs with a less conventional alternative rock approach, including New Orleans-style jazz and a hodgepodge of instrumentation throughout, such as horn sections and mandolin/banjo tracks. The lyrics to "St. Andrew's Fall" referenced a suicide jump, "Skinned" spoke about the life of Ed Gein, and "New Life" addressed the forthcoming birth of Hoon's child. "Mouthful of Cavities" featured backing vocals from Jena Kraus, who subsequently recorded a solo record with Thorn and Smith. Despite the debut of the lead single, "Galaxie", at number 25 on the "Billboard" charts, "Soup" ultimately failed to meet sales expectations.


title: Blind Melon

text: Later that year, Blind Melon contributed a version of the song "Out on the Tiles" to the "" tribute album to Led Zeppelin, and cover of the "Schoolhouse Rock!" song "Three Is a Magic Number" to the "Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks" compilation. Their version of "Three Is a Magic Number", although never a charting single, became a fan favorite and featured in the films "Never Been Kissed", "Slackers", and "You, Me and Dupree". All Music Guide reviewer Theresa E. LaVeck has praised the tune's "'70s feel-good vibe" and "rolling jam-band rhythms".


title: Blind Melon

text: Against the advice of Hoon's drug counselor, Blind Melon went on tour in support of "Soup". The band initially employed a counselor to assist Hoon's rehabilitation, but this attendant was soon dismissed. After several weeks on the road, Hoon was found dead on the band's tour bus of a heart attack caused by a cocaine overdose, on October 21, 1995, in downtown New Orleans.


title: Blind Melon

text: The surviving members opted to continue their collaboration and recruit a new vocalist, although it would ultimately take them over a decade to do so. In 1996, they issued "Nico", an album of outtakes and demos named for Hoon's daughter, who was only 13 weeks old when her father died. "Nico" contained unreleased songs from the "Soup" recording sessions, as well as several songs recorded with only partial instrumentation. The closing track, "Letters from a Porcupine", was recorded as a telephone message left by Hoon on Thorn's answering machine. The album also included covers of Steppenwolf and John Lennon songs. Its profits went to a program that helps musicians with drug and alcohol addiction.


title: Blind Melon

text: Discussing his loss with "The Guardian", Gia DeSantis, former KROQ DJ, producer and host at KDOC and head of video promotion at Capitol Records who worked with the band, said "Shannon had a magnetism. You couldn't take your eyes off him. They knew to bring in a new singer to sing his lyrics would not have had the same magnetism." She also mentions that "the band knew its chapter was closed following Hoon's death because he had become the public face of their music through their videos, particularly the one for No Rain" a video that made VH1's list of Top 100 Music Videos of All Time.


title: Blind Melon

text: During this period, the relationships between the band members disintegrated as they attempted to recruit a new front man. After failing to find a replacement for Hoon, Blind Melon officially dissolved their partnership on March 4, 1999, and the various members went on to other projects, including Thorn and Smith's activity in Unified Theory, a group they had founded the previous year.


title: Blind Melon

text: In 2002, Capitol Records released a "Classic Masters" CD showcasing twelve Blind Melon songs. Thanks to stronger-than-expected sales, the band released "The Best of Blind Melon" in 2005, a CD–DVD package that features Blind Melon performing live from a September 1995 concert in Chicago. On December 15, 2006, a tribute album to Blind Melon was released by Yakmusic in New Zealand featuring bands from all over the world. In April 2006, Capitol Records released the "Live at the Palace" CD.


title: Blind Melon

text: Blind Melon announced their reformation on September 15, 2006, which included the addition of new lead singer Travis Warren (formerly of Rain Fur Rent). Three new Blind Melon songs – "Make a Difference", "For My Friends" and "Harmful Belly" – followed on November 9. On October 7, 2007, they performed their first live concert in twelve years in Providence, Rhode Island.


title: Blind Melon

text: "Wishing Well", the first single from the group's upcoming third studio album, was released on March 4, 2008, to coincide with a U.S. tour. The album, "For My Friends", was released on April 22, 2008, on Adrenaline Records. On September 17, 2008, the biography "A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon" by Greg Prato was published. European tour dates followed thereafter.


title: Blind Melon

text: On November 6, 2008, the band announced the departure of Warren, despite having unfulfilled concert dates. Initially, the band intended to honor their remaining dates, and announced Chris Shinn of Unified Theory as lead vocalist for the remainder of their tour. However, this was later retracted, and the tour cancelled. Warren ultimately returned to perform a previously scheduled gig with Blind Melon on December 31, 2008, in Dearborn, Michigan, which was announced as his final show.


title: Blind Melon

text: Capitol Records released the four-track EP "Deep Cuts" in April 2009 as a digital download. The members remained active with other projects: Smith and Thorn played with Codename Mike, while Smith also toured with Revis as a guest member and Thorn played briefly with Awolnation. Graham formed the band Jakeleg with his long-time friend Joe Tullos.


title: Blind Melon

text: On November 2, 2010, Blind Melon announced its reformation and Warren's return. Their first performance came November 27, when they played a free concert at the base of Aspen Mountain in Aspen, Colorado. They continued sporadic performances over the coming months, opening for Candlebox at The Hard Rock Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 4, 2011, and headlining Rest Fest at Crumland Farms, Frederick, Maryland, on September 5.


title: Blind Melon

text: In 2012 they toured South America, with dates in Chile and Argentina, and Western Europe thereafter. On the status of the group, Graham stated late that year that "Blind Melon is still a functioning entity; Travis Warren is our current vocalist as he has been since 2007; however, we are only doing the occasional one-off and currently have no plans to record full length CDs."


title: Blind Melon

text: To cap 2015, the band played back-to-back shows on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day at Lafayette Theater in Lafayette, Indiana, with Shannon Hoon's mother present. Nico Blue, Hoon's daughter, took the stage to sing the song "Change."


title: Blind Melon

text: By 2018, Blind Melon had spent the last couple years working on new material for the follow-up to "For My Friends". In a July 2018 interview on Consequence of Sound's "Kyle Meredith With ..." podcast, guitarist Christopher Thorn stated, "I've been mixing the new single or the new song, I could say ... the new song for the next Blind Melon record. We've been writing a bunch, and we have a song and a video done, so we just mixed the new song last night actually." Thorn also revealed that the band had been tracking some eight songs for the album since last December at his studio in Silver Lake, but added that there was no date set for release.


title: Blind Melon

text: A documentary about Hoon titled "All I Can Say" (composed mostly of footage he shot on a handheld camera from 1990 to 1995) premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2019, and was released on June 26, 2020, on online streaming platforms. Also, it was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2020.


title: Blind Melon

text: In September 2019, Blind Melon released their first song in 11 years "Way Down And Far Below". Thorn stated that the band was expected to release their fourth full-length studio album in 2020; however, in an interview with "Guitar World" in February 2021, when asked about the state of the fourth studio album, Stevens said "We're going to release singles every couple of months, and then when there are 10-12 of them, we're going to press vinyl and sell it to whoever wants it," while when Thorn was asked if the plan was to release the album by year's end, he replied, "We've got to get a record out this year. "For sure"."


title: Blind Melon

text: On November 1, 2021, author Greg Prato issued a follow-up book to "A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other", simply titled "Shannon", and featured all-new interviews with either people who knew Shannon or were admirers of his music (plus a "roundtable discussion" with Stevens and Thorn).


title: Nystagmus

text: Nystagmus is a condition of involuntary (or voluntary, in some cases) eye movement. Infants can be born with it but more commonly acquire it in infancy or later in life. In many cases it may result in reduced or limited vision. Due to the involuntary movement of the eye, it has been called "dancing eyes".


title: Nystagmus

text: In normal eyesight, while the head rotates about an axis, distant visual images are sustained by rotating eyes in the opposite direction of the respective axis. The semicircular canals in the vestibule of the ear sense angular acceleration, and send signals to the nuclei for eye movement in the brain. From here, a signal is relayed to the extraocular muscles to allow one's gaze to fix on an object as the head moves. Nystagmus occurs when the semicircular canals are stimulated (e.g., by means of the caloric test, or by disease) while the head is stationary. The direction of ocular movement is related to the semicircular canal that is being stimulated.


title: Nystagmus

text: There are two key forms of nystagmus: pathological and physiological, with variations within each type. Nystagmus may be caused by congenital disorder or sleep deprivation, acquired or central nervous system disorders, toxicity, pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, or rotational movement. Previously considered untreatable, in recent years several drugs have been identified for treatment of nystagmus. Nystagmus is also occasionally associated with vertigo.


title: Nystagmus

text: The cause of pathological nystagmus may be congenital, idiopathic, or secondary to a pre-existing neurological disorder. It also may be induced temporarily by disorientation (such as on roller coaster rides or when a person has been spinning in circles) or by some drugs (alcohol, lidocaine, and other central nervous system depressants, inhalant drugs, stimulants, psychedelics, and dissociative drugs).


title: Nystagmus

text: Early-onset nystagmus occurs more frequently than acquired nystagmus. It can be insular or accompany other disorders (such as micro-ophthalmic anomalies or Down syndrome). Early-onset nystagmus itself is usually mild and non-progressive. The affected persons are usually unaware of their spontaneous eye movements, but vision can be impaired depending on the severity of the eye movements.


title: Nystagmus

text: X-linked infantile nystagmus is associated with mutations of the gene FRMD7, which is located on the X chromosome.


title: Nystagmus

text: Infantile nystagmus is also associated with two X-linked eye diseases known as complete congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) and incomplete CSNB (iCSNB or CSNB-2), which are caused by mutations of one of two genes located on the X chromosome. In CSNB, mutations are found in NYX (nyctalopin). CSNB-2 involves mutations of CACNA1F, a voltage-gated calcium channel that, when mutated, does not conduct ions.


title: Nystagmus

text: Nystagmus that occurs later in childhood or in adulthood is called acquired nystagmus. The cause is often unknown, or idiopathic, and thus referred to as idiopathic nystagmus. Other common causes include diseases and disorders of the central nervous system, metabolic disorders and alcohol and drug toxicity. In the elderly, stroke is the most common cause.


title: Nystagmus

text: Risk factors for thiamine deficiency, or beri beri, in turn include a diet of mostly white rice, as well as alcoholism, dialysis, chronic diarrhea, and taking high doses of diuretics. Rarely it may be due to a genetic condition that results in difficulties absorbing thiamine found in food. Wernicke encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome are forms of dry beriberi.


title: Nystagmus

text: Central nervous system disorders such as with a cerebellar problem, the nystagmus can be in any direction "including" horizontal. Purely vertical nystagmus usually originates in the central nervous system, but it is also an adverse effect commonly seen in high phenytoin toxicity. Other causes of toxicity that may result in nystagmus include:


title: Nystagmus

text: Nystagmus is highly noticeable but rarely recognized. Nystagmus can be clinically investigated by using a number of non-invasive standard tests. The simplest one is the caloric reflex test, in which one ear canal is irrigated with warm or cold water or air. The temperature gradient provokes the stimulation of the horizontal semicircular canal and the consequent nystagmus.


title: Nystagmus

text: The resulting movement of the eyes may be recorded and quantified by a special device called an electronystagmograph (ENG), a form of electrooculography (an electrical method of measuring eye movements using external electrodes), or an even less invasive device called a videonystagmograph (VNG), a form of video-oculography (VOG) (a video-based method of measuring eye movements using external small cameras built into head masks), administered by an audiologist. Special swinging chairs with electrical controls can be used to induce rotatory nystagmus.


title: Nystagmus

text: Over the past forty years, objective eye-movement-recording techniques have been applied to the study of nystagmus, and the results have led to greater accuracy of measurement and understanding of the condition.


title: Nystagmus

text: Orthoptists may also use an optokinetic drum, or electrooculography or Frenzel goggles to assess a patient's eye movements.