MAKE MONEY TELLING STUPID PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR, SRSLY.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Have you looked at the title of this thread? I mean, man, I'm sorry, but it makes you sound like a horrible person.

Re: MAKE MONEY TELLING STUPID PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR, SRSLY.

[Lies]

I'd also like to point out that I use Tarot cards myself and don't have ANY problem with the ethics of sincere psychics and Tarot card readers. What I have a problem with is people who go into such a profession with insincerity, chortling and rubbing their hands together at the idea of fleecing the unwary... ie. the "stupid", as Lysergic calls them... with full knowledge that they are using shyster cold-reading techniques. That's why the title (and premise) of this thread rubs me the wrong way.

...

Wow Nigel, there are so many things wrong with what you just said, my heads about to explode.

Are you capable of understanding the difference between a holy man who builds a congregation around his own belief that he has been granted sacred knowledge by God Himself, and a cult leader who claims to believe they have been granted sacred knowledge to build a congregation for personal gain?

Both may be wrong, but only one is unethical, by virtue of their insincerity.

I think it's unethical to "channel" dead loved ones and tell people that they're "here right now" and then get them into a horrible emotional state, and to "see" things in the future that will influence the choices a person will make that could have very dire consequences.

Anything and everything I do, I do realising that people *might* just take me seriously, and with that in mind, I make sure not to say anything that will affect their lives and what choices they make that could be seriously stupid choices.I have an understanding that there are ethical and moral implications to what effects I have on people, something a lot of psychics (mind you, not "all" psychics, just *a lot* that I've met) seem to have a complete disregard for.

[Lies]

Have you looked at the title of this thread? I mean, man, I'm sorry, but it makes you sound like a horrible person.

Re: MAKE MONEY TELLING STUPID PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR, SRSLY.

You want to know what inspired the title of this thread?

I was actually thinking about mistress freaky at the time, hoping I might be able to give her some tools to make a bit of cash to get by if she's up for it.

My only interests in cold reading and psychic phenomena is mainly for entertainment. (Oh, and making money, off people who both believe in psychic ability, and those who don't believe in it)

I *am* a magician and a mentalist. Divination, psychic phenomena and trickery are all part and parcel of that particular industry.

Difference between us and people who claim they're powers are real, is that we're honest liars and will only take delusion to a certain point where as most "honest" psychics know no bounds.

It's all illusions. Tricks are what whores do for money.

[Bella]

That's fair enough.

Please know, I'm not so much having a go at you as I am saying what I've come to believe in my experience.

As someone who's interested in such areas of things and how I can exploit such "tools" to my profit, what you have to say is still very valuable to me, regardless of how much I "believe" it.

Oh yeah, you should really fix that broken drawer in your house, and get rid of that old calendar.

And I really love that gold necklace you have.

Ummm.......not to sound like a jerk, but while you were bang on the money about the cat.........we don't have a broken drawer (and what's up with that? EVERYONE has a broken drawer!) HFLS is insane for making sure the calendars are up to date, and I only wear silver jewelry

You want to know the best part about being a professional psychic? Not only do we get funny looks when people ask what we do for a living, but it's a surefire way to get out  of jury duty every fucking single time.

[Lies]

That's fair enough.

Please know, I'm not so much having a go at you as I am saying what I've come to believe in my experience.

As someone who's interested in such areas of things and how I can exploit such "tools" to my profit, what you have to say is still very valuable to me, regardless of how much I "believe" it.

Oh yeah, you should really fix that broken drawer in your house, and get rid of that old calendar.

And I really love that gold necklace you have.

Ummm.......not to sound like a jerk, but while you were bang on the money about the cat.........we don't have a broken drawer (and what's up with that? EVERYONE has a broken drawer!) HFLS is insane for making sure the calendars are up to date, and I only wear silver jewelry

You want to know the best part about being a professional psychic? Not only do we get funny looks when people ask what we do for a living, but it's a surefire way to get out  of jury duty every fucking single time.

Then ignore the misses while I fling a few more predictions at you

But yeah, most people have a broken drawer or door of some kind, most women have owned and prefer gold jewelery over silver (although, as in your case, the others who don't prefer silver over gold), and most people have an old calendar around the house somewhere.

Anyway, if I really wanted to push it, I could mention say, "Oh, didn't your grandmother used to have a gold necklace?" and "Hmm, maybe I'm getting a vision of a drawer or a door like things that opens and closes but hasn't been working right lately" and "Oh, there's an old calendar date that's been circled that's a very important date somewhere between october and december"

Strange, most of those things hit 90% of the time with most people I've tried it on :P

But yeah, it's difficult to "read" things online, when I do it with a person in real life, I'm looking for reactions and ways I can make the things you say "fit" if I don't quite get things right on.

Here, let me try and get a better feel for my psychic intuition...

You are a person prone to bouts of self-examination. This is in sharp contrast to a striking ability you have developed to appear very socially engaged, even the life and soul of the party; but in a way that only convinces others. You are all too aware of it being a facade.

This means that you will often be at a gathering and find yourself playing a part. While on the one hand you'll be talkative and funny, you'll be detaching yourself to the point where you will find yourself watching everything going on around you and feeling utterly unable to engage. You'll play conversations back to yourself in your head and wonder what that person really meant when he said such-and-such – conversations that other people wouldn't give a second thought to.

How have you learned to deal with this conflict? Through exercising control. You like to show a calm, self-assured fluid kind of stability (but because this is self-consciously created, it will create bouts of frustrated silliness and a delight in extremes, or at least a delight in being seen to be extreme). You most easily recognize this control in how you are with people around you. You have learned to protect yourself by keeping people at bay. Because in the past you have learned to be disappointed by people, you instinctively keep people at arms' length, until you decide they are allowed over that magic line into your group of close friends. However, once across that line, the problem is that an emotional dependency kicks in which leaves you feeling very hurt or rejected if it appears that they have betrayed that status.

Because you are prone to self-examination, you will be aware of these traits. However, you are unusually able to examine even that self-examination, which means that you have become concerned about what the real you is. You have become all too aware of facades, of sides of yourself which you present to the world, and you wonder if you have lost touch with the real and spontaneous you.

You are very creative, and have tried different avenues to utilize that ability. It may not be that you specifically, say, paint; it may be that your creativity shows itself in more subtle ways, but you will certainly find yourself having vivid and well-formed ideas which others will find hard to grasp. You set high standards for yourself, though, and in many ways are a bit of a perfectionist. The problem is, though, that it means you often don't get stuff done, because you are frustrated by the idea of mediocrity and are wearied by the idea of starting something afresh. However, once your brain is engaged you'll find yourself sailing. Very much this will likely lead to you having considered writing a novel or some such, but a fear that you won't be able to achieve quite what you want stops you from getting on with it. But you have a real vision for things, which others fall short of. Particularly in your academic/college situation, you are currently fighting against restraints upon your desire to express yourself freely.

Your relationship with your parents is under some strain. You wish to remain fond of them but recent issues are causing frustration – from your side far more than theirs. In fact they seem unaware of your thoughts on the matter. Partly this is because there are ways in which you have been made to feel isolated from certain groups in the past – something of an outsider. Now what is happening is that you are taking that outsider role and defending it to the point of consciously avoiding being part of a group. This will serve you well in your creative and career pursuits. You have an enormous cynicism towards those who prefer to be part of a group or who exhibit any cliquey behaviour, and you always feel a pang of disappointment when you see your 'close' friends seeming to follow that route. Deep down it feels like rejection.

However, for all that introspection, you have developed a sensational, dry sense of humour that makes connections quickly and wittily and will leave you making jokes that go right over the heads of others. You delight in it so much that you'll often rehearse jokes or amusing voices to yourself in order to 'spontaneously' impress others with them. But this is a healthy desire to impress, and although you hate catching yourself at it, it's nothing to be so worried about.

There's also an odd feeling that you should have been born in a different century. You might be able to make more sense of that than I can.

There are some strong monetary shifts taking place at the moment. Both the recent past and what's in store over the next few months represent quite a change.

You have links at the moment with people abroad, which are quite interesting, and will look to yield worthwhile results. You're naturally a little disorganized. A look around your living space would show a box of photos, unorganized into albums, out-of-date medicines, broken items not thrown out, and notes to yourself which are significantly out of date. Something related to this is that you lack motivation. Because you're resourceful and talented enough to be pretty successful when you put your mind to things, this encourages you to procrastinate and put them off. Equally, you've given up dreams a little easily when your mind flitted elsewhere. There are in your home signs of an excursion into playing a musical instrument, which you have since abandoned, or are finding yourself less interested in. (This may alternatively relate to poetry and creative writing you've briefly tried your hand at and left behind you.) You have a real capacity for deciding that such-and-such a thing (or so-and-so a person) will be the be all and end all of everything and be with you for ever. But you'd rather try and fail, and swing from one extreme to the other, than settle for the little that you see others content with.

Conclusion: It's very interesting doing your reading, as you do present something of a conundrum, which won't surprise you. You are certainly bright, but unusually open to life's possibilities – something not normally found among achieving people. I'd say you'd do well to be less self-absorbed, as it tends to distance you a little, and to relinquish some of the control you exercise when you present that stylized version of yourself to others. You could let people in a little more, but I am aware that there is a darkness you feel you should hide (much of this is in the personal/relationship/sexual area, and is related to a neediness which you don't like).

You really have an appealing personality – genuinely. Many thanks for doing this, and for offering something far more substantial than most.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

Lys, tangentally, that was the best cold reading I have ever had.

[Bella]

That's fair enough.

Please know, I'm not so much having a go at you as I am saying what I've come to believe in my experience.

As someone who's interested in such areas of things and how I can exploit such "tools" to my profit, what you have to say is still very valuable to me, regardless of how much I "believe" it.

Oh yeah, you should really fix that broken drawer in your house, and get rid of that old calendar.

And I really love that gold necklace you have.

Ummm.......not to sound like a jerk, but while you were bang on the money about the cat.........we don't have a broken drawer (and what's up with that? EVERYONE has a broken drawer!) HFLS is insane for making sure the calendars are up to date, and I only wear silver jewelry

You want to know the best part about being a professional psychic? Not only do we get funny looks when people ask what we do for a living, but it's a surefire way to get out  of jury duty every fucking single time.

Then ignore the misses while I fling a few more predictions at you

But yeah, most people have a broken drawer or door of some kind, most women have owned and prefer gold jewelery over silver (although, as in your case, the others who don't prefer silver over gold), and most people have an old calendar around the house somewhere.

Anyway, if I really wanted to push it, I could mention say, "Oh, didn't your grandmother used to have a gold necklace?" and "Hmm, maybe I'm getting a vision of a drawer or a door like things that opens and closes but hasn't been working right lately" and "Oh, there's an old calendar date that's been circled that's a very important date somewhere between october and december"

Strange, most of those things hit 90% of the time with most people I've tried it on :P

But yeah, it's difficult to "read" things online, when I do it with a person in real life, I'm looking for reactions and ways I can make the things you say "fit" if I don't quite get things right on.

Here, let me try and get a better feel for my psychic intuition...

You are a person prone to bouts of self-examination. This is in sharp contrast to a striking ability you have developed to appear very socially engaged, even the life and soul of the party; but in a way that only convinces others. You are all too aware of it being a facade.

This means that you will often be at a gathering and find yourself playing a part. While on the one hand you'll be talkative and funny, you'll be detaching yourself to the point where you will find yourself watching everything going on around you and feeling utterly unable to engage. You'll play conversations back to yourself in your head and wonder what that person really meant when he said such-and-such – conversations that other people wouldn't give a second thought to.

How have you learned to deal with this conflict? Through exercising control. You like to show a calm, self-assured fluid kind of stability (but because this is self-consciously created, it will create bouts of frustrated silliness and a delight in extremes, or at least a delight in being seen to be extreme). You most easily recognize this control in how you are with people around you. You have learned to protect yourself by keeping people at bay. Because in the past you have learned to be disappointed by people, you instinctively keep people at arms' length, until you decide they are allowed over that magic line into your group of close friends. However, once across that line, the problem is that an emotional dependency kicks in which leaves you feeling very hurt or rejected if it appears that they have betrayed that status.

Because you are prone to self-examination, you will be aware of these traits. However, you are unusually able to examine even that self-examination, which means that you have become concerned about what the real you is. You have become all too aware of facades, of sides of yourself which you present to the world, and you wonder if you have lost touch with the real and spontaneous you.

You are very creative, and have tried different avenues to utilize that ability. It may not be that you specifically, say, paint; it may be that your creativity shows itself in more subtle ways, but you will certainly find yourself having vivid and well-formed ideas which others will find hard to grasp. You set high standards for yourself, though, and in many ways are a bit of a perfectionist. The problem is, though, that it means you often don't get stuff done, because you are frustrated by the idea of mediocrity and are wearied by the idea of starting something afresh. However, once your brain is engaged you'll find yourself sailing. Very much this will likely lead to you having considered writing a novel or some such, but a fear that you won't be able to achieve quite what you want stops you from getting on with it. But you have a real vision for things, which others fall short of. Particularly in your academic/college situation, you are currently fighting against restraints upon your desire to express yourself freely.

Your relationship with your parents is under some strain. You wish to remain fond of them but recent issues are causing frustration – from your side far more than theirs. In fact they seem unaware of your thoughts on the matter. Partly this is because there are ways in which you have been made to feel isolated from certain groups in the past – something of an outsider. Now what is happening is that you are taking that outsider role and defending it to the point of consciously avoiding being part of a group. This will serve you well in your creative and career pursuits. You have an enormous cynicism towards those who prefer to be part of a group or who exhibit any cliquey behaviour, and you always feel a pang of disappointment when you see your 'close' friends seeming to follow that route. Deep down it feels like rejection.

However, for all that introspection, you have developed a sensational, dry sense of humour that makes connections quickly and wittily and will leave you making jokes that go right over the heads of others. You delight in it so much that you'll often rehearse jokes or amusing voices to yourself in order to 'spontaneously' impress others with them. But this is a healthy desire to impress, and although you hate catching yourself at it, it's nothing to be so worried about.

There's also an odd feeling that you should have been born in a different century. You might be able to make more sense of that than I can.

There are some strong monetary shifts taking place at the moment. Both the recent past and what's in store over the next few months represent quite a change.

You have links at the moment with people abroad, which are quite interesting, and will look to yield worthwhile results. You're naturally a little disorganized. A look around your living space would show a box of photos, unorganized into albums, out-of-date medicines, broken items not thrown out, and notes to yourself which are significantly out of date. Something related to this is that you lack motivation. Because you're resourceful and talented enough to be pretty successful when you put your mind to things, this encourages you to procrastinate and put them off. Equally, you've given up dreams a little easily when your mind flitted elsewhere. There are in your home signs of an excursion into playing a musical instrument, which you have since abandoned, or are finding yourself less interested in. (This may alternatively relate to poetry and creative writing you've briefly tried your hand at and left behind you.) You have a real capacity for deciding that such-and-such a thing (or so-and-so a person) will be the be all and end all of everything and be with you for ever. But you'd rather try and fail, and swing from one extreme to the other, than settle for the little that you see others content with.

Conclusion: It's very interesting doing your reading, as you do present something of a conundrum, which won't surprise you. You are certainly bright, but unusually open to life's possibilities – something not normally found among achieving people. I'd say you'd do well to be less self-absorbed, as it tends to distance you a little, and to relinquish some of the control you exercise when you present that stylized version of yourself to others. You could let people in a little more, but I am aware that there is a darkness you feel you should hide (much of this is in the personal/relationship/sexual area, and is related to a neediness which you don't like).

You really have an appealing personality – genuinely. Many thanks for doing this, and for offering something far more substantial than most.

Thank you for this most personal and revealing reading.
Next time I want information specific to almost the entire human race, I'll know who to contact.  


Seriously, dude. I am aware of what cold reading is, and I still don't believe it's the same as what I do.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

That schpeel should make its way onto the postcards for Robotic High Wierdness By Mail GASM.

[Lies]

That's fair enough.

Please know, I'm not so much having a go at you as I am saying what I've come to believe in my experience.

As someone who's interested in such areas of things and how I can exploit such "tools" to my profit, what you have to say is still very valuable to me, regardless of how much I "believe" it.

Oh yeah, you should really fix that broken drawer in your house, and get rid of that old calendar.

And I really love that gold necklace you have.

Ummm.......not to sound like a jerk, but while you were bang on the money about the cat.........we don't have a broken drawer (and what's up with that? EVERYONE has a broken drawer!) HFLS is insane for making sure the calendars are up to date, and I only wear silver jewelry

You want to know the best part about being a professional psychic? Not only do we get funny looks when people ask what we do for a living, but it's a surefire way to get out  of jury duty every fucking single time.

Then ignore the misses while I fling a few more predictions at you

But yeah, most people have a broken drawer or door of some kind, most women have owned and prefer gold jewelery over silver (although, as in your case, the others who don't prefer silver over gold), and most people have an old calendar around the house somewhere.

Anyway, if I really wanted to push it, I could mention say, "Oh, didn't your grandmother used to have a gold necklace?" and "Hmm, maybe I'm getting a vision of a drawer or a door like things that opens and closes but hasn't been working right lately" and "Oh, there's an old calendar date that's been circled that's a very important date somewhere between october and december"

Strange, most of those things hit 90% of the time with most people I've tried it on :P

But yeah, it's difficult to "read" things online, when I do it with a person in real life, I'm looking for reactions and ways I can make the things you say "fit" if I don't quite get things right on.

Here, let me try and get a better feel for my psychic intuition...

You are a person prone to bouts of self-examination. This is in sharp contrast to a striking ability you have developed to appear very socially engaged, even the life and soul of the party; but in a way that only convinces others. You are all too aware of it being a facade.

This means that you will often be at a gathering and find yourself playing a part. While on the one hand you'll be talkative and funny, you'll be detaching yourself to the point where you will find yourself watching everything going on around you and feeling utterly unable to engage. You'll play conversations back to yourself in your head and wonder what that person really meant when he said such-and-such – conversations that other people wouldn't give a second thought to.

How have you learned to deal with this conflict? Through exercising control. You like to show a calm, self-assured fluid kind of stability (but because this is self-consciously created, it will create bouts of frustrated silliness and a delight in extremes, or at least a delight in being seen to be extreme). You most easily recognize this control in how you are with people around you. You have learned to protect yourself by keeping people at bay. Because in the past you have learned to be disappointed by people, you instinctively keep people at arms' length, until you decide they are allowed over that magic line into your group of close friends. However, once across that line, the problem is that an emotional dependency kicks in which leaves you feeling very hurt or rejected if it appears that they have betrayed that status.

Because you are prone to self-examination, you will be aware of these traits. However, you are unusually able to examine even that self-examination, which means that you have become concerned about what the real you is. You have become all too aware of facades, of sides of yourself which you present to the world, and you wonder if you have lost touch with the real and spontaneous you.

You are very creative, and have tried different avenues to utilize that ability. It may not be that you specifically, say, paint; it may be that your creativity shows itself in more subtle ways, but you will certainly find yourself having vivid and well-formed ideas which others will find hard to grasp. You set high standards for yourself, though, and in many ways are a bit of a perfectionist. The problem is, though, that it means you often don't get stuff done, because you are frustrated by the idea of mediocrity and are wearied by the idea of starting something afresh. However, once your brain is engaged you'll find yourself sailing. Very much this will likely lead to you having considered writing a novel or some such, but a fear that you won't be able to achieve quite what you want stops you from getting on with it. But you have a real vision for things, which others fall short of. Particularly in your academic/college situation, you are currently fighting against restraints upon your desire to express yourself freely.

Your relationship with your parents is under some strain. You wish to remain fond of them but recent issues are causing frustration – from your side far more than theirs. In fact they seem unaware of your thoughts on the matter. Partly this is because there are ways in which you have been made to feel isolated from certain groups in the past – something of an outsider. Now what is happening is that you are taking that outsider role and defending it to the point of consciously avoiding being part of a group. This will serve you well in your creative and career pursuits. You have an enormous cynicism towards those who prefer to be part of a group or who exhibit any cliquey behaviour, and you always feel a pang of disappointment when you see your 'close' friends seeming to follow that route. Deep down it feels like rejection.

However, for all that introspection, you have developed a sensational, dry sense of humour that makes connections quickly and wittily and will leave you making jokes that go right over the heads of others. You delight in it so much that you'll often rehearse jokes or amusing voices to yourself in order to 'spontaneously' impress others with them. But this is a healthy desire to impress, and although you hate catching yourself at it, it's nothing to be so worried about.

There's also an odd feeling that you should have been born in a different century. You might be able to make more sense of that than I can.

There are some strong monetary shifts taking place at the moment. Both the recent past and what's in store over the next few months represent quite a change.

You have links at the moment with people abroad, which are quite interesting, and will look to yield worthwhile results. You're naturally a little disorganized. A look around your living space would show a box of photos, unorganized into albums, out-of-date medicines, broken items not thrown out, and notes to yourself which are significantly out of date. Something related to this is that you lack motivation. Because you're resourceful and talented enough to be pretty successful when you put your mind to things, this encourages you to procrastinate and put them off. Equally, you've given up dreams a little easily when your mind flitted elsewhere. There are in your home signs of an excursion into playing a musical instrument, which you have since abandoned, or are finding yourself less interested in. (This may alternatively relate to poetry and creative writing you've briefly tried your hand at and left behind you.) You have a real capacity for deciding that such-and-such a thing (or so-and-so a person) will be the be all and end all of everything and be with you for ever. But you'd rather try and fail, and swing from one extreme to the other, than settle for the little that you see others content with.

Conclusion: It's very interesting doing your reading, as you do present something of a conundrum, which won't surprise you. You are certainly bright, but unusually open to life's possibilities – something not normally found among achieving people. I'd say you'd do well to be less self-absorbed, as it tends to distance you a little, and to relinquish some of the control you exercise when you present that stylized version of yourself to others. You could let people in a little more, but I am aware that there is a darkness you feel you should hide (much of this is in the personal/relationship/sexual area, and is related to a neediness which you don't like).

You really have an appealing personality – genuinely. Many thanks for doing this, and for offering something far more substantial than most.

Thank you for this most personal and revealing reading.
Next time I want information specific to almost the entire human race, I'll know who to contact.  


Seriously, dude. I am aware of what cold reading is, and I still don't believe it's the same as what I do.

Fair enough.

Let me make it clear to you Bella though, despite my snarky undertones and skepticism about this all, I have no beef with what you do, and I'm not trying to undermine your profession, I'm sure you're one of the better professional psychics out there, and as far as I'm concerned, Tarot is another form of mindfuckery, and I'm all for mindfuckery.

[Iason Ouabache]

Doesn't Randi have an unsavoury rep amongst most serious skeptics anyway?  I'm pretty sure someone here, like Iason, mentioned that once.

AFIAK, Randi is still in pretty good standing with most skeptics. There was an incident last year where he was leaning towards global warming denial that pissed some people off but I think some people straightened him out.

[Lies]

Just as an FYI, here's a list of things that are "common" for most people according to Red Hot Cold Reading...
I'm curious to see how much would apply to all you guys.

Most men prefer women with long hair.
Most men believe they cannot be hypnotized.
Most older men have come close to dying once in their lives.
Most men prefer king-size beds.
Most men like their present job.
Most men who smoke pipes are very deep thinkers.
Most men fear an IRS audit.

Most men prefer large dogs as pets.
Most-men enjoy reading books written by men.
Most men prefer showers.
Most men have an unopened bottle of after shave in the bathroom.
Most men do not wear hats.
Most men prefer women in dresses rather than skirts, blouses, or pant suits.
Most men fear baldness.
Most men have a key that they have forgotten where it goes.
Most older men are veterans.


Most women prefer baths.
Most women have looked at a Playboy Magazine.
Most women at one time or another have been told they have bedroom eyes.
Most women that wear hats consider themselves fashionable.
Most women do not send as many Christmas cards as they used to
Most women handle the family budget
Most women see themselves as incurable romantics.
Most women have had stronger attachments to their grandfather than their grandmother.
Most attractive women dislike being called cute.

Most women have an overweight girl friend.
Most women are better dancers than men.
Most tall women feel their feet are too big.
Most women have their mother's eyes.
Most women when they are being photographed feel they have a good side and a bad side.
Most women as children kept a diary.
Most women that wear black are weight conscious.
Most women pick out their husband's shirts and ties.
Most women have one breast larger than the other.
Most women prefer cats as pets.

Most women would not go hunting.
Most women feel they are not photogenic.
Most women enjoy reading books written by women.
Most women after losing an earring hold onto the mate - sometimes for years.
Most women snore but don't believe they do.
Most women believe they were a man in previous life.
Most elderly women have an unopened box of lace handkerchiefs at home.
Most women dislike men who wear white socks.
Most women say they dream in color.

Most women feel they need more iron in their diet.
Most women own lots of shoes - when they buy a new pair they seldom discard the old.
Most women are never totally pleased with the way their hair looks.
Most women at one time or another have owned a black nightgown.
Most women feel they are better kissers than their husbands or boy friends.
Most women remember having long hair as a child.
Most women like the smell of a pipe - and dislike cigars.
Most women dislike freckles.

Most women have had their ears pierced as teenagers.
Most women have attempted writing poetry as a teen.
Most women will stop at a gas station for directions - men won't.
Most women get cold feet in bed.
Most women dislike kissing a man with a mustache.
Most women - given a choice - would believe in palmistry over astrology, tarot cards,
numerology, tea leaves.
Most women over 30 wear one-piece bathing suits.
Most women like blue-eyed males over brown.

Women in shopping malls spend almost as much time studying other women as they do the
window. Men likewise study other women.
About 80% of the women who are asked what animal they would turn into reply "Cat".
Most women feel they are intuitive and would like to develop that ability.
Most women have had the thought "what if I had twins."
Most people, especially females, had an imaginary playmate.
80% of all females wear or have worn gold chains.

Mature women seem to like to visit flea markets, like handmade items rather than machine-
made, may make things themselves, and spoil their grandchildren.
Purple and blue axe significant colors for most women. They often have or are contemplating
purchasing something of that color. Especially strong when they may be wearing brown.

Most people believe that they have an identical twin somewhere in the world.
Most people have suffered an unrequited love.
Most people remember the good old days - not the bad old days.
Most people have at lease one broken watch at home.
Most people, as children, believed they would not live beyond a certain age.
Most people would say that spring is their favorite season.
Most people over 40 that don't wear glasses wear contact lenses.
Most people who smoke cigarettes have tried giving them up many times.

Most short people are outspoken.
Most people sleep on their sides, not on their backs.
Most people can wake up one minute before the alarm goes off.
Most older people dislike driving at night.
Most people have at least one ticklish spot on their body.
Most people have one leg longer than the other.
Most people feel they married too young.
Most people dislike Monday.
Most people love Friday.

Most people feel they are underpaid.
Most people have wondered what their purpose is in life.
Most people have seriously thought of buying a waterbed.
Most people that sit up front at a performance are the easiest to get to volunteer.
Most people have post nasal drip first thing in the morning.
Most have some difficulty dealing with authority.
Most people have had at least one memorable sunburn.


78% of adults have aches or problems associated with their feet, more for women who wear
high-heeled shoes.
When we were young, mothers tended to be open and treat us like little adults.
Were romantic, wrote prose or poetry of a romantic nature in high school.
Had great dream about what they would do after graduation that were not fulfilled.
Respond favorably to all Self-serving Bias statements.

Feel reassured and positive when told they have outgrown hurts, needs for or overcoming
self-limiting behaviors.
Most people at one time or another in their life are told they have too many teeth in their mouth
by their dentist.
Most people feel they have untapped artistic potential.
Most people fear rejection.
Most people prefer gold jewelry to silver.
Most red-haired people get hay fever in the summer.
Everybody has at one time or another had a premonition about something. Many have had a
premonition about an impending disaster or death.

A great number of people have experienced an Out-of-the-Body experience. Astral travel, or at
least know someone who has.
Most people feel they are resourceful, and could make it by themselves if stranded on a tropical
island.
Nearly everyone has - perhaps during adolescence - thought about suicide.
People fear rejection, are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing.
Don't forget the scar on the left knee.
Tall thin people are likely to have back problems.
Light complexioned individuals with freckles, especially with blue eyes, sunburn rather than tan.

Most light-complexioned people have red highlights in their hair.
Young girls usually think about nursing and teaching. Young boys think about becoming an
animal trainer.
Nearly every adult has lost someone close to them, separated by death, divorce.
Older men dislike grocery shopping, fear being "just a meal ticket."
It is common for people to agree that they had some difficulty relating to their father, especially
during adolescence.
People avoid getting into things they don't understand.

[Captain Utopia]

I think that list may deserve its own thread, or wiki page, in order to add new items as they come up.  Certainly some of the more powerful ones would be awesome for constructing attention-getting memebombs or posters.

Just picking one at random:
Most men fear baldness - picture of a man with his hand on top of his head, line: the warmth from your hand, applied for just 15 minutes every day, is enough to reduce occurrences of male pattern baldness by 81%.

Ah, I dunno, but I think it'd be a good starting resource for.. better ideas, anyway.

[Captain Utopia]

 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'd also like to point out that I use Tarot cards myself and don't have ANY problem with the ethics of sincere psychics and Tarot card readers. What I have a problem with is people who go into such a profession with insincerity, chortling and rubbing their hands together at the idea of fleecing the unwary... ie. the "stupid", as Lysergic calls them... with full knowledge that they are using shyster cold-reading techniques. That's why the title (and premise) of this thread rubs me the wrong way.

...

Wow Nigel, there are so many things wrong with what you just said, my heads about to explode.

Are you capable of understanding the difference between a holy man who builds a congregation around his own belief that he has been granted sacred knowledge by God Himself, and a cult leader who claims to believe they have been granted sacred knowledge to build a congregation for personal gain?

Both may be wrong, but only one is unethical, by virtue of their insincerity.

I think it's unethical to "channel" dead loved ones and tell people that they're "here right now" and then get them into a horrible emotional state, and to "see" things in the future that will influence the choices a person will make that could have very dire consequences.

Anything and everything I do, I do realising that people *might* just take me seriously, and with that in mind, I make sure not to say anything that will affect their lives and what choices they make that could be seriously stupid choices.I have an understanding that there are ethical and moral implications to what effects I have on people, something a lot of psychics (mind you, not "all" psychics, just *a lot* that I've met) seem to have a complete disregard for.

Well, let me restate why I have no problem with the ethics of people who genuinely believe they have psychic ability or that the Tarot is tapping into something greater than their conscious mind:

The difference between accepting payment thinking you're helping people, and accepting payment knowing you're not, is the difference between a shaman and a snake oil salesman.

I am all for providing goods or services to people who can and will spend exorbitant amounts of money on luxuries they don't really need (but can afford), but exploiting people's gullibility, and then justifying it because the fine print says "for entertainment purposes only" doesn't make it any more ethical than the State-run gambling that generates revenue from the desperate desires of the impoverished to spend a few moments hoping and dreaming of getting the winning ticket.

Crowing about making money off people's stupidity is not really the behavior of someone with a normal sense of empathy or social justice. A tip for Freeky? I think Freeky, if she stops procrastinating and making excuses, has options and is smart enough to get her ducks in a row and make money providing goods or services that don't involve fleecing the public while she's working on getting her OTHER ducks in a row and getting the assistance she needs. I could walk her through starting up an online craft or resale business. Yes, it does take a small amount of capital up front, but sometimes that capital is already sitting around the house unused, or sometimes it's in the form of $10 worth of cassette tapes from a garage sale, and an eBay account. It could be in the form of $5 worth of sea salt and $15 worth of essential oils and food coloring, plus a few plastic bags and a roll of labels.

[Lies]

I'd also like to point out that I use Tarot cards myself and don't have ANY problem with the ethics of sincere psychics and Tarot card readers. What I have a problem with is people who go into such a profession with insincerity, chortling and rubbing their hands together at the idea of fleecing the unwary... ie. the "stupid", as Lysergic calls them... with full knowledge that they are using shyster cold-reading techniques. That's why the title (and premise) of this thread rubs me the wrong way.

...

Wow Nigel, there are so many things wrong with what you just said, my heads about to explode.

Are you capable of understanding the difference between a holy man who builds a congregation around his own belief that he has been granted sacred knowledge by God Himself, and a cult leader who claims to believe they have been granted sacred knowledge to build a congregation for personal gain?

Both may be wrong, but only one is unethical, by virtue of their insincerity.

I think it's unethical to "channel" dead loved ones and tell people that they're "here right now" and then get them into a horrible emotional state, and to "see" things in the future that will influence the choices a person will make that could have very dire consequences.

Anything and everything I do, I do realising that people *might* just take me seriously, and with that in mind, I make sure not to say anything that will affect their lives and what choices they make that could be seriously stupid choices.I have an understanding that there are ethical and moral implications to what effects I have on people, something a lot of psychics (mind you, not "all" psychics, just *a lot* that I've met) seem to have a complete disregard for.

Well, let me restate why I have no problem with the ethics of people who genuinely believe they have psychic ability or that the Tarot is tapping into something greater than their conscious mind:

The difference between accepting payment thinking you're helping people, and accepting payment knowing you're not, is the difference between a shaman and a snake oil salesman.

I am all for providing goods or services to people who can and will spend exorbitant amounts of money on luxuries they don't really need (but can afford), but exploiting people's gullibility, and then justifying it because the fine print says "for entertainment purposes only" doesn't make it any more ethical than the State-run gambling that generates revenue from the desperate desires of the impoverished to spend a few moments hoping and dreaming of getting the winning ticket.

Crowing about making money off people's stupidity is not really the behavior of someone with a normal sense of empathy or social justice. A tip for Freeky? I think Freeky, if she stops procrastinating and making excuses, has options and is smart enough to get her ducks in a row and make money providing goods or services that don't involve fleecing the public while she's working on getting her OTHER ducks in a row and getting the assistance she needs. I could walk her through starting up an online craft or resale business. Yes, it does take a small amount of capital up front, but sometimes that capital is already sitting around the house unused, or sometimes it's in the form of $10 worth of cassette tapes from a garage sale, and an eBay account. It could be in the form of $5 worth of sea salt and $15 worth of essential oils and food coloring, plus a few plastic bags and a roll of labels.

But since when did I say I was not helping people?
Just because I think they're stupid and want their money, doesn't mean I'm not going to help them.

It's ridiculous to think that one person is better then another at an entertainment craft just because one believes what they do is real and the other realise's its all an act.

It's dangerous and silly to think that you genuinely have some "special" ability to see into the future, look at where it got all the doomsday cults. They were definitely sincere about what they were doing.
Just as it's dangerous and silly to sell homeopathic remedies.
No matter how sincere you are about it's working, if you start telling people who have cancer not to do what the doctors tell you to and drink diluted water instead, that's dangerous and stupid.

I've said this before, and it looks like I'll have to say it again: I am an entertainer. Cold reading is a technique that can be used for entertainment. Whenever I do such a service for anyone, they walk away happy, nearly all the time.
The only time people have gotten upset was when I pointed out their delusions of insanity and didn't like the fact that I was pointing out they live in a delusional world, citing 2012 lady again.

I don't endorse taking stupid peoples money merely because they are stupid.
I endorse taking peoples money because they are stupid and want to be entertained and are willing to pay for a service where they can get that.

I have never, and will never, at any time, tell people things that will a. Knowingly Upset them b. Tell them exactly what they should be doing with their lives c. Tell them things that could cause them to do stupid acts such as selling all their worldly belongings and murder their family d. Would be misleading in terms of what I genuinely do believe.

Really, you think that I'm a snake oil salesman.
Yes, in many ways, I sort of am. But I tell people they are buying snake oil. I advertise that fact. Whether the snake oil works or not is up to them to believe, I will never claim that what I do is real if they ever ask.
Other people on the other hand, will take that snake oil, sincerely believe it has magical properties, dilute it a million times to make it more "potent", and sell it as a cure for cancer.

Sincerity doesn't mean shit Nigel, it's intention and understanding that there is a lot of responsibility when it comes to telling things people that could affect their lives.

Watch this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdYWVYgOi3A&feature=related

This is exactly how I would like to do my readings in my area.

See, honesty, sincerity, and fleecing stupid people, and them loving it.