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Psychics Get Government Grant To Talk With the Dead

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-see-dead-people-and-money dept.

Paul and Deborah Rees have been given government funding to teach people how to "communicate with the dead." The couple, from Bridgend, south Wales, got £4,500 under the Government's Want2Work job creation program. The mediums insist the "mere £4,500" of public money will be put to good use at their center, the Accolade Academy of Psychic and Mediumistic Studies. Mr Rees said, "People who have lost mums and dads or a child deserve all the respect in the world in their grieving, and they deserve a medium who can give them respect. Our job is to provide substantial evidence to bring ease to people's grieving — and that's what I would say to people who query the award." Wait, it's coming to me....I see a queue of Alchemists waiting at the Want2Work grant office.

19 comments

  1. Obvious... by VeNoM0619 · · Score: 1

    I never understood how this stuff could ever be successful. Find an orphan who never knew their parents, and have them contact their parents (or hell, have an only child contact their "dead brother") Then see what the psychic says, if they succeed 10 out of 10, then it's proof, otherwise they should be locked in a prison for being scam artists...

    --
    Disclaimer: I am not god.
    We may not be created equal
    But we can be treated equal.
    1. Re:Obvious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a psychological effect.

      1.Orphan thinks he hears parents, people donate money.
      2.Psychics then start offering it as a service.
      3.People come in, pay, believe they hear a bit, and done.
      4.he people who don't "hear" are said by the psychics to be skeptics, so it doesn't work.

      The effects also applies to "alternate-the-helathcare-companies-don't-want-you-to-find-out.

      1. Acquire medical degree (all you have to do is mention it).
      2. Start Infomecials selling your book/product/service. Hopefully with the word ancient some where.
      3. Proclaim testimony from people with placebo effect.
      4. In case of critics, claim critics didn't use it right.

    2. Re:Obvious... by v1 · · Score: 1

      Oh I'm sure they'd require you to have some tangible somethingorother as a focus, a picture or a drivers license etc. Tho you can't call them ALL scammers... half the psychics are scammers, the other half are diluted and stupid.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    3. Re:Obvious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      diluted and stupid.

      Deluded is the word you were looking for btw.

    4. Re:Obvious... by orkysoft · · Score: 4, Funny

      Unless they're homeopaths.

      --

      I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
    5. Re:Obvious... by hort_wort · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I agree, it reads like they got the money by saying "this makes people feel better", not by saying "we're genuine psychics".

      I must admit, if the girl doing the reading looked like the girl in the picture, I'd go for it. I'd ask her a few questions about my future love life while winking at her.

    6. Re:Obvious... by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      Eh - for the most part it's just for fun. Most of the services that I've seen on TV have "For entertainment purposes only." in the fine print, and I'm sure that physical locations have that too. Heck enough of us engage in role playing that I'm sure you can at least admit that there is some fun in pretending and acting out a fantasy that you know is not real.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  2. Not funny at all by Pharago · · Score: 2, Insightful

    vultures prying into people's pain, thats what they are. govs involvement into this is just another proof of the kind of person our politicians are. specially when the economy is thigh. sure a few grand aren't such a waste when talking about govs money and the pound was never so low, but the insult is just the same as if were a few millions or a few bucks. my 2 cents

    1. Re:Not funny at all by skam240 · · Score: 1

      I find it incredibly unlikely that politicians had anything to do with this directly. It sounds more like a bureaucratic mistake or an unintentional loophole.
      Using this event as a rationale for means of generalizing about politicians seems kind of silly to me.

      --
      I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
  3. Don't be ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait, it's coming to me....I see a queue of Alchemists waiting at the Want2Work grant office.

    We alchemists can turn lead into gold, which we then sell for a tidy profit. We have no need of government money.

  4. Spirit Communication by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I communicate with spirit in several ways. the main way is through intuition... I find software bugs that are elusive for others.

    I also communicate directly with spirit through words. I ask a question in my mind and the answer is given to me in words in my mind.

    I ask if Slashdot is useful for me... the answer is: Not for you but it can be used as entertainment and for enjoyment.

    I ask how goes the religions and am told: They suffer greatly... a great man to be replaced soon of the Catholic faith.

    Spirit exists in a interdimensional space where linear time does not exist and thus one may look backward into the past or look forward into potentials. It appears that the potential for the Pope is closer than is realized by many.

    1. Re:Spirit Communication by Sanat · · Score: 1

      I know what you mean by the intuition. I used it often years ago when flying from city to city fixing mainframes with problems no one else could fix. I was literally the last step before a lawsuit quite often.

      I would intuitively go to a box, controller, or panel where the problem obviously was not, to check a signal that ultimately led to the repair. Why I decided where to start was not always clear in my mind but it led to the repairs and astounded many individuals who were responsible for the site.

      When there are 10,000 logic boards then swapping them wholesale does not work like it might for a micro or PC type of equipment.

      I believe that the majority of the individuals on Slashdot have above intuition capability but it has always been there for them so they assume everyone has the capability just as strong as theirs. This is not always the truth for what is often blatant for a Slashdotter goes un-noticed and unfazed by the majority.

      It will be interesting to monitor the status of the Pope in your prediction.

      --
      And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make
    2. Re:Spirit Communication by stonewallred · · Score: 1

      You can call it intuition, but more probably it is your experience and knowledge being accessed unconsciously rather than actually thinking it out in entirety. I used to do the same things with HVAC/R equipment, hydraulics, and electrical systems. The vast amount of information you gather while working on these systems(whatever systems they may be) is not often noticed or remembered in a clearly recallable form, yet your mind can and does manage to sift through these memories, draw similar and related factoids out, and then when you are looking at some other situation, present the answer or most likely problem to you in a form that seems as it is "intuition", but is not. It is just your own personal knowledge.

    3. Re:Spirit Communication by Sanat · · Score: 1

      Where intuitiveness comes from would be a interesting experiment. Perhaps you are right in that at a deep level I knew where to look for a problem... this was especially true if I got to sleep on it.

      On the other hand, my father (a farmer) knew things that he had no way orf knowing and goes beyond the possibilities. For instance, he told my mother to call the insurance man and get wind insurance on the barn (which has stood for 70 years without insurance) and the very next day a tornado blew down the barn.

      The insurance man said if the barn burned down he would know what happened but could not understand how the wind could have taken down the barn the very next day.

      Dad would know who was sick in the neighborhood or who was going to stop by for a visit. From where do these pieces of wisdom/knowledge come for I do not know.

      --
      And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make
    4. Re:Spirit Communication by dargaud · · Score: 1

      People take millions of contracts with their insurances every year. The one time such a thing happens, everybody remembers it forever. All the other times are ignored. When you actually spend time running a statistics on it, there's no surprise.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    5. Re:Spirit Communication by fyoder · · Score: 1

      Dad would know who was sick in the neighborhood or who was going to stop by for a visit. From where do these pieces of wisdom/knowledge come for I do not know.

      Still just intuition. Intuition just knows somehow, without reasoning it out. When it's highly developed it can seem spooky, but it shouldn't be anymore than would be highly developed reasoning, empathy, or physical skills.

      --
      Loose lips lose spit.
  5. Who's the chick in the pic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone know who's the redhead in the picture?

  6. Priorities by iitob · · Score: 1

    What a great thing to spend a money on in a recession, but I hear http://www.peoplestarving.com/ need money too!