Sensing Murder producers say psychic Deb Webber had named a person involved in the Kaye Stewart inquiry. Her revelation "could go down in New Zealand policing history".

But Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Levy said police who interviewed Webber and…

And not with a view to charge them with something, mind. To help them solve a murder.

Can I have the money from my taxes that goes to the police redirected towards something useful?

(I found it pretty hard to "sense" in which thread we…

Jeremy also queried in passing why they didn't extend the concept and do shows on Sensing Aggravated Assualt and Sensing Agravated Burglary. Heh.

I can just see it...

"Spirit is telling me, 'I am high on P. I need some money, ow. I'm gonna do a burg.'"

Jeremy Newsboy was only giving B those few generic compliments to butter him up and make Jeremy seem more fair, wasnt he?

Wells was on the panel yesterday and was asked about Sensing Murder, presumably arising from the Media 7 show. He said that he thought the production, reenactments etc…

but I don't think I'm going to be able to take my eyes off Beijing this month.

The first four hours was definitely worth a look, Absolutely stunning!

Jeremy Newsboy was only giving B those few generic compliments to butter him up and make Jeremy seem more fair, wasnt he?

Nah, I think you've got to acknowledge that Sensing Bullshit is very well produced, and Ninox does have form when it comes to producing real documentaries not necrophile…

And I do wish you'd asked B. this question: "Well, how would you feel if you'd seen 19 shots of your daughter's corpse — including close ups of her brused and scratched limbs, back and neck. Really?"

he would have countered with his solve-all block-all well rehearsed statement that as…

Knowing an ex-police officer who has been on the show about one of his cases, I can confirm that the police are very cynical about anything useful coming out of it.

And so they should be. I saw the repeat of Media7 last night, and while I have enormous respect…

Sensing Murder is like Crimewatch, but with the psychics' visions providing dialogue to…

:)

it seems there is a new psycofraud show airing in australia called 'the one' James Randi has been covering it via his SWIFT newsletter:

[[http://www.randi.org/joom/commentary/swift/swift-july-31-2008-2.html#i7|One of the psychics said that she had become overly confident, and her failure was merely her spirit guides humbling her –…

Bloody cow. Didn't speak to her for a week after that.

And I see you haven't forgotten!

But maybe one day they could lead the cops in the wrong direction.

Knowing an ex-police officer who has been on the show about one of his cases, I can confirm that the police are very cynical about anything useful coming out of it.

The one I've seen didn't have…

Reminds me of when I was student flatting – I answered a phone call from a clairvoyant who was ringing to berate my flatmate for missing an appointment.

I had a flatmate into astrology. Told me I was a typical Cancer male: sensitive, moody, and doesn't forget a slight.

Bloody…

Of more pressing concern to the producers and broadcasters is that you'd think an over-excited psychic could land them on the end of one hell of a defamation suit.

Except most psychics are experienced enough at their profession – i.e., manipulating people and cold-reading – to know not to name…

Potentially they could point the police to someone who is innocent.

Of more pressing concern to the producers and broadcasters is that you'd think an over-excited psychic could land them on the end of one hell of a defamation suit.

If you think China is going to be rocky for internal crime/terrorism. The Soccer world cup in South Africa has the real possibility to be a nightmare.

Well said.

Touch wood, but it’s worth noting that the only 2 Olympics to be hit by terrorism were in held Munich and…

But — of, of course — it'll be tied up with DRM that locks out Mac OS and Linux users.

I'm amazed that Microsoft have chosen to lock non-Vista users out of viewing the online olympics coverage. I don't see how they think they reverse Vista's bad press by making…

Why do you all dislike psychics so much? What have you got to hide? ;-)

Reminds me of when I was student flatting – I answered a phone call from a clairvoyant who was ringing to berate my flatmate for missing an appointment.

I asked the clairvoyant how come she…

Before everyone gets all anti-MS on this, this is a NBC limitation, NOT a Microsoft one. Silverlight works just fine on a Mac, and fairly well on Linux – DRM or not.

Actually in my rush yesterday I got that a bit wrong. It's only the HD downloads that are…

..."Seventh Day Adventists" or "The Jesus Christ Church of Later-day Saints" as they are known for short...

Not the same thing, fwiw.

Although now I'm wondering what a 7DA parallel to Big Love might look like.

You seem particularly... exuberant today.
it's stopped raining

Slaps Knee. Chortles. Such an Orklund moment. :)

Sensing funding.

Or are you tell me that they so many fundies around these days, that they are mainstream?

"Seventh Day Adventists" or "The Jesus Christ Church of Later-day Saints" as they are known for short, very big in business here, Sanatarium for one. The Mormons have the largest database of births,…

I think you will find that many Churches in this country require tithes.

Those were the type of churches I was thinking off. Though I have never heard New Thought Center and Church.
When I said churches don't, I was referring to the mainstream ones. Or are you tell me…

Do my taxes go on that?????? I want to scream.

From an earlier thread:

Direct Government Funding programme commissions for the three months to the end of March 2007 are set out below:

[...]

Programme: Sensing Murder Series 2 Extension
Genre: Entertainment
Duration: 5 x 1.5 hour
Production Company: Ninox…

A genuine sports psychic could become a millionaire in about a week on the TAB.

Yep,psychics are not present in an area of the market where their "talents" would produce the biggest payoffs, then they do not exist.:)

Perhaps the National Party could use them for policy

won't work, they are supposed to find things that actually exist

The situation there is not pretty and China's support of that awful regime is next to complicit to genocide.

How about the UK or Singapore? They're the biggest investors in Burma. Or India, or Malaysia or Thailand? They're all pretty strong supporters of the junta, and all have this year…

They should get the psychics over to China

A genuine sports psychic could become a millionaire in about a week on the TAB.

Harder than rocket science...

Have you seen tvnz6 / tvnz7 / maori? No ads = quality TV.

I only watch online and was wondering why, if there are no ads, are there breaks in the show? (Media 7 that is). Seems a shame when people are having a discussion to cut them off for…

I mean look at the saturn space programme – large incendiary device pointed at sky with a tin can on top. The smart soul was definitely the one who didn't try…

A tv show is a gap filler for advertising

it's funny cos it's true. Have you seen tvnz6 / tvnz7 / maori? No ads = quality TV.

Strange that. And quite depressing, when you realise that hardly anyone watches those channels.

From Newton's (and his time's) point of view, alchemy had not been disproved. And have read somewhere that alchemical and other theories of spiritual `sympathies' acting between objects may have given him the idea of gravitation – the…

Actually they don't. It's the american inspired fundy churches that do. And deserved to be mocked as much as the psychics.

I think you will find that many Churches in this country require tithes.
New Thought Center and Church
Destiny Church
[[http://adventist.org.au/newsevents/southpacificnews/news_articles/cfo_shares_good_news | Seventh-day Adventist Church…

Off on a tangent but the term “rocket scientist” to indicate enormous intellect really annoys me

I prefer the term 'rocket surgeon'.

I quite like the term Sofie Bribiesca :) Please feel free to adopt this yourselves should you wish.

Off on a tangent but the term “rocket scientist” to indicate enormous intellect really annoys me

I prefer the term 'rocket surgeon'.

People have faith in all kinds of fairytale stuff, who are we to insist otherwise?

But when someone uses that to exploit them, then yeah and we should.
Yeah, you can say the same about religion and again yeah we should.
Though most of religion is that harmless feel good…

maybe we could build robots to do this caring shit.

I'm a 13ist , we just want to control the world and that's all."

It's a constant struggle to me, to understand why people believe the sheer nonsense they often do. But believing in nonsense can be a matter of life…

*I can't explain Isaac Newton, though – both a scientist and alchemist.

Half the molecular biologists I know won't put samples in well 13 of a centrifuge if they can avoid it.
Scientists can be superstitious and wierd as much as anyone else ...

So are you saying modern medicine lacks compassion, empathy,soul?

I agree – although i find it hard to believe that could be applied to NZ.

See any tino rangatiratanga-type forum on the issue of vaccination.

So why its popularity here?

Because it's not just in the third world that scientists and technological practitioners treat people who are different from them badly. Tuskegee and the Unfortunate Experiment are two salient examples in living memory. I don't think it's a coincidence that interest in the paranormal rose…

it's stopped raining.

People have faith in all kinds of fairytale stuff, who are we to insist otherwise?

When they're spending our tax dollars on this kind of crap, we absolutely have the right to get grumpy about it. Market forces and ratings don't make it right, it's still peddling nonsense.

the ultimate…

He's got magic mysterious eyes and hidden electric powers . I remember Jeremy Wells when he was in al queda youth, ohhhh
he had a temper then to.

I’m sure the first people to design a rocket were really smart, but surely now that has been done, it is all just a matter of tweaking the design to improve performance etc.. A…

your not a fucking rocket science, go on fly your rocket in the sky right now.

because if your gullible enough to believe the crap then you are the right person to show ads to.

Wow! best comment of the day. Thanks.

uhhh.... but the psychics are still full of shit, right?

Entirely, and even more problematic is the way they prey upon the most vulnerable. The same applies to all sorts of weird beliefs, and the ultimate tragedy is when the disempowered reject science as a tool of the oppressors, thereby…

when the try and solve murders yeh, but on a level of checking in with another person and reviewing their life in most case in a warm, caring fashion they seem to connect.

Maybe that's its popularity, it seems to…

I have to admit having to look at that young girl that many times was shocking. The question is should we be shocked by that or should we actually deal with the realities of violence, maybe we need to…

Unfortunately, the program is called "sensing murder", and it gives the "psychics" credibility. It's a shame that not everyone can see them for the charlatans they really are

People have faith in all kinds of fairytale stuff, who are we to insist otherwise?

It's a sad day when NZ tellymakers…

the producer totally ignoring Russell's excellent question

Baldock's a canny guy. Every uncomfortable question was diverted into a discussion of the good he believes he achieves. When he gets tired of of his current career he can probably make a second one schooling politicians about staying on-message.

Also notice the…

and chicks love it , I don’t know why

Nor do I, but then I don't know any chicks who love it. I think it's appalling exploitative drivel, and I think Vicki Hyde agrees.

Of course, I also think Jeremy Wells would write terrific children's books, so there's probably some…

"I'm so excited, I'd like to tell everyone who is still doubtful of the Beijing Olympics that Beijing is much greater than you…

There is simply too much there; including the potential that something may go terribly wrong. I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm going to be able to take my eyes off Beijing this month.

Russell Brown 2008

yet another western…

My only explanation, should there actually be a strong gendered aspect to belief in the paranormal, is that supposedly down-the-line straight science and reason has historically been practiced by people with sexist ideas, who have at times been…

This gratuitous use…

Lock the medium and the presenter up in a room with a photo and a map and so on. Eventually it transpires the presenter has no idea who the photo is…

That's what the news is for. ..

Shouldn’t god be solving these crimes anyway.

IMO “psychic” tians are a spiritual group as WEIRD as any other although in their defense they very rarely kill people and the faith itself seems to rely on a “base…

If the intent of the show is to highlight unsolved cases, why isn't it called "Unsolved Murders"? I would have thought that would be interesting enough on its own. Dispense with the psychics (and save the program some money).

That was my conclusion from watching Media 7 last night too.…

I am going to ignore TVNZ news for the next month; they always spend too much on these overseas pageants and then dominate their news broadcasts with hundreds of pointless live-crosses to nothing in order to justify the expense.

Our household has almost entirely switched over to TVNZ7 on Freeview…

[[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7545344.stm|Here's yet another…

It showed itself as filling the gap in USA Mental Health. All poor & looking for help with recognised mental health issues and family histories.

He did listen and give some support to people in desperate need of help. They must…

I don't think it matters how stupid the concept of "psychics" is.

I think it does. So-called psychics extract large sums of money from a gullible public, preying on their grief and distress, sometimes making it worse. And Baldock is lending them all the credibility of a purported documentary.

The…

If the intent of the show is to highlight unsolved cases, why isn't it called "Unsolved Murders"? I would have thought that would be interesting enough on its own. Dispense with the psychics (and save the program some money).

I would tend to agree. It's a sad day when NZ…

If the intent of the show is to highlight unsolved cases, why isn't it called "Unsolved Murders"? I would have thought that would be interesting enough on its own. Dispense with the psychics (and save the program…

Baldock made no particular claims about what his "psychics" do. His boldest claim that the show reawakens interest in cold cases and that…

Last night they crossed LIVE to an empty swimming pool as one of their lead stories. Its only going to get worse.

Tonight's live cross: "Yes that's right, they are now filling up the swimming pool here at Beijing. With only a day to go until the biggest show on…

I am going to ignore TVNZ news for the next month; they always spend too much on these overseas pageants and then dominate their news…

"and we'll come back and wrap up after the break, but I'm not sensing a resolution."

Brilliant!

YouTube will carry official coverage in the 77 countries (including the likes of India and South Korea) that do not have Olympic media partners. The rest of us will be blocked from seeing that in favour of our own media-partnered broadcasters.

I hate the internet locking me out of videos…

http://www.youtube.com/TVNZMedia7

And here's Kurt Anderson's Vanity Fair story on Beijing's "Radical, brilliant" new buildings, which he compares, perhaps…

The BBCsports sequence with music and animation by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett is most very brilliant.

It is based on the rather terribly excellent Monkey stage show and upcoming album that was featured on an eisode of Imagine late last year.

there is a rather nice higher…

I think I need to blog about this show now. :-)

Press release:

August 6th. Today in Beijing, Chinese authorities shut down the press conference scheduled to release and screen the Tibetan made film, Leaving Fear Behind, at Beijing’s Hotel…

Meanwhile, Keith Quinn is blogging. Could it get any wilder than that?

Well, I went through the link, started reading and then realised I'd kept reading and read all the posts so far. A good sign for a 'blog, I think.

The episode of Media7 that screened last night concerned Sensing Murder. It was a riot.

Fun riot, or 'we're not getting the deposit back' riot?