The IIG West is an organization based in California that offers to investigate paranormal claims. I am in communication with them currently to try to design a test with them based on my specific claim of detecting which of persons is missing a kidney.
July 16 2007 - I have begun correspondence with the IIG to arrange for a test.
August 3 2007 - Mailed in my challenge application to the IIG West.
September 2007 - The IIG West has begun working on my challenge application.
November 25 2007 - Waiting to hear from the IIG West.
January 3 2008 - The IIG West is discussing the test protocol amongst themselves.
April 24 2008 - We are discussing what health problems to test my ability on. Progress is slow.
June 29 2008 - Had a phone conversation with the IIG West yesterday discussing the test protocol.
September 17 2008 - The IIG West has announced to me that they are now in the process of designing the demonstration that I will be taking.
October 22 2008 - According to the October update on the IIG webpage, an approved version of the test protocol has been sent to me and I await its arrival. Unless they have added conditions on it that I can not accept, I will approve of the protocol and my test will be held "soon" (what ever "soon" means).
November 3 2008 - I have received a version of the test protocol that has been approved by the IIG. For most part it resembles my proposed protocol. I have sent a few comments and questions to the IIG regarding the test protocol but expect us to agree on a final protocol soon.
December 4 2008 - I receive another copy of the protocol draft from the IIG including their comments and questions.
December 5 2008 - I reply, sending the protocol draft back again to the IIG having placed my answers and comments on it. We are still in the protocol negotiations stage, where the specifics and details of the test are being considered and discussed. Progress is slow.
January 14 2009 - The IIG has assigned a person to work on my case and the IIG and me are still in communication. The IIG supports my plans of having the study, so that we can find out more about under what conditions the perceptions can occur, so that it becomes easier to design a test around my experience and paranormal claim. I reply to them on January 23 announcing that I had a meeting with the local skeptics yesterday, and that I am planning on having the study the weekend of January 31, February 1.
July 15 2009 - I decide to go ahead and have the official paranormal test based on the detection of what people have a missing kidney and will contact the IIG West and let them know the good news. I am ready for the test.
July 16 2009 - I have e-mailed the IIG West suggesting that we have a test based on the detection of which of persons have a missing kidney.
July 17 2009 - The IIG sent me a reply letting me know that they are having a meeting on the 18th. I e-mailed them my first suggested protocol draft.
July 18 2009 - The IIG will have their monthly meeting.
Draft of the test protocol. This is written by me and based on the correspondence I've had with the IIG. It is not a final version and has not been approved of by the IIG (or myself yet). What is learned in the study is implemented to the test protocol draft, until I am ready to submit it again to the IIG for further discussions:
IIG test protocol draft
The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF)
JREF Paranormal Challenge http://www.randi.org/
The James Randi Educational Foundation also offers to test paranormal claims and they offer a million dollars to anyone who can under proper testing conditions prove a paranormal phenomenon. In order to apply one needs to have media presence and attention to their claim and that is something I do not have at the moment. They also require that an applicant has already had and passed a preliminary test and can provide affidavits from credible persons who have witnessed a successful demonstration of the claim. I am currently not applying with the JREF MDC.
February 16 2008 - I begin correspondence with the JREF by sending them an e-mail asking whether I have sufficient media presence, and letting them know that I am returning to them with an official challenge application as soon as I have arranged for the demonstration with an academic to witness it.
April 24 2008 - I do not currently have sufficient media presence. Today I e-mailed the JREF asking about the percentage correct answers required in a chemical identification test.
November 19 2008 - I never received an answer from the JREF about a percentage correct answers. Thanks to JREF Forum member EHocking I now have access to the Laws of Chance Tables which should answer this question. I have recently begun testing my ability on Lactobacillus detection which has opened up the new possibility of perhaps in the future applying to the JREF Paranormal Challenge after all.
The JREF Forum Discussions
Vision From Feeling Thread http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=128149
The JREF offers a Forum in which anyone can discuss skeptical topics. I have been an active member there since November 08 but because some of the Forum Skeptics are very rude and hostile several of the discussion pages relating to my claim and investigation have been closed.
The JREF Forum should be a valuable resource to discuss a paranormal claim, test protocols, tests and test results with skeptically minded individuals. At first I was hesitant to approach the JREF Forum because many psychic claimants are negatively attacked there. At first I came across some very science-minded, objective and reasonable people but things have gradually gotten worse in the Forums and I am constantly attacked no matter what I say.
March 3 2009 - The thread has finally been closed by a moderator of the JREF Forums and I will have to endure no more personal attacks and harassment when I have tried to discuss this paranormal investigation with JREF skeptics. It has been an interesting learning experience. The investigation itself of course continues, in fact I have procured both location and participants for the upcoming study.
July 18 2000 - The second thread that was about my claims and test has now also been closed because of rude and hostile Forum Skeptics.
Winston Salem local skeptics group in North Carolina
Winstom Salem Skeptics Meetup Group http://skeptics.meetup.com/182/
December 10 2008 - I've found a local skeptics group and joined them. I attend my first meeting with them on December 29th. Although I am a paranormal claimant I can't wait to enter a room full of skeptics! I look forward to skepticism and critique and expect to learn a lot from it, also I will be giving off free demonstrations of what I can do! (It is always free.) Perhaps I can arrange to have a test with them locally and soon. Depending on the standards of a test, a passed result might not be able to prove an ability, but failing a test even if a test has flaws could at the very least determine if it is the case of no ability. I can't wait.
December 18 2008 - I attended a meeting with the local skeptics group. Although some of us were interested in a preliminary demonstration or test of my claim there was no time available for that this time. Dr. Eric Carlson gave a very informative and also interesting lecture on how to test paranormal claimants. From today's meeting and the brief discussion I had with the group members I've come to realize that I need to gain more experience with the medical perceptions in order to state a much clearer and more specific claim, and that is why I am now planning a study. I also learned that unlike what I had been assuming, it is I as the claimant who has to do most of the work. It is mostly a good thing because I can now take more initiative of my own and stop waiting for others to do my work.
January 22 2009 - Had my second meeting with the local skeptics group. We had some time to briefly describe the plans of having the study, but no time to make arrangements with them. I was given the opportunity to attempt my perceptions with one of the members, the results of which are found at the observations page.
February 26 2009 - Attended this month's FACT Skeptics meeting.
March 26 2009 - Had a chance to present my study and to ask for members of the FACT Skeptics Group to participate. All of the assignments were assigned with at least one willing participant so the study is all set now and can take place as soon as everyone is available on a mutually agreed on date. I did readings with two different members of the group, the results of which can be read here and here.
Other Ideas
March 5 2009 - I have a brilliant idea! If my claim is to be able to see images from inside human bodies, plenty of people have taken MRI's and had other medical imaging done and already have these records taken and available! Why not find people who have recent medical imaging data available and have me look at these images and match it to the correct person! This is so brilliant and would be so easily done! First thing I need to do is to try this on my own before I make a specific claim of whether I can do this or not. I do not do any kind of official test unless I am testing something I know from experience that I can do.
Why would I need to test this, you ask, don't I already know I perceive images from inside people's bodies? The images I see are not always photographic, most often they highlight problem areas, so I do not know whether I would see what is on the medical images. I do intend to find out. Luckily I am moving toward a career in medical radiation treatment and imaging so maybe I can pull some strings? This is such an excellent idea and might provide a very easy test that could tell once and for all whether my images are subjective to me or whether they correlate with actual world-based information.
Preparing a Study
My page about the study http://www.visionfromfeeling.com/study.html
January 1 2009 - I've been active in discussions with skeptics at the JREF Forum and met with local skeptics and have made some progress in my understanding of what my next steps should be. I must say, and do believe me, arranging a test of possible psychic medical diagnose is not as straightforward as it should be. I am now arranging a study in which I will gain more experience with the medical perceptions to better learn how to take what my everyday experiences are with the perceptions and adapt them to a laboratory setting, as well as to become better able to make a much more specific claim.
January 23 2009 - I am now planning to have the study on the weekend of January 31, February 1, unless something unexpected comes up. Arrangements of location still need to be made. According to my preliminary study procedure (version 1), four skeptics are required to participate in the study, and so far more than four have expressed interest in participating, so that is nice. I still have some more paperwork to do before then, the questionnaires need some more work and need to be printed, and other minor arrangements. Hopefully it will finally take place. The study would be great progress toward an actual test, unless the claim is actually falsified by the study.
January 27 2009 - I had asked the representative of a mall whether I could have the study there and the answer was negative, which is somewhat what I expected since the subject of my study is controversial. I am now asking the City of Charlotte Parks and Recreation about whether my planned study is in accordance with law and whether to obtain a permit to have the study in a public area of Charlotte. I do not expect any shop- or restaurant owner to allow a paranormal study at their premises. In the way that it is designed the study more resembles a survey than a psychic reading. My study is more like asking people off the street, "Are you a Republican or a Democrat?", than seating them by a table and reading their palm and telling their fortune. There is no speaking between me and the volunteers, the answers in the health questionnaires by the volunteers remains entirely anonymous and not linked to their person, and the volunteers never find out what my perceptions of them were. And no money is involved of course (and never will be). So, how I see it, the volunteers are at no risk of harm by volunteering for the study. It is not a display or a practice of paranormal abilities. It is a study, designed to falsify a paranormal claim if one does not exist, and, if the results of the study allow, a more elaborate test can later be done and under even more controlled and even more careful circumstances.
March 2 2009 - I have obtained permission to conduct the study on the sidewalk in the city of Winston Salem. The study can now take place, very, very, soon.
March 27 2009 - We now have participants for the study, at least six persons for three different assignments, all assignments can be assigned. Everything is now prepared, all that remains is to mutually decide on a date for the study to be held.
March 31 2009 - I am now contacting organizations in my area who might be able to set up a study with me. The study is a process and will involve several independent studies until my claim is falsified or until I have learned what I need to know in order to finalize the IIG testing protocol. My primary goal is still to have the study with the local Skeptics as the participants, but meanwhile while I wait for a day when everyones' schedules are coordinated so that a day can be chosen, I might be able to have other studies with other people as I wait.
April 2 2009 - The first larger-scale study is finally scheduled and all set. The results of the study will be posted here as soon as they become available.
April 4 2009 - The first larger-scale study took place and all went wonderfully. The results, data, and conclusions will be presented on the study page soon.
May 17 2009 - I am now studying the medical perceptions on Induced information, and this brings several benefits to the investigation. I no longer have a shortage of volunteers for the study, and the same volunteers can be used repeatedly! Progress should come fast now.
July 18 2009 - I have decided to end the study and am happy to proceed with the one good ailment that will be used in the upcoming test, the detection of which of persons is missing a kidney.
The Second Study
http://www.visionfromfeeling.com/secondstudy.html
July 1 2009 - Planning to have the second study soon.
July 18 2009 - I have decided to end the study now that I have chosen a suitable ailment to include in the test. The second study will not take place and next up is the test.
September 7 2009 - A second study will by the way not take place. I have already decided to test the claim on detecting the number of kidneys in a person.
Preliminary Test
http://www.visionfromfeeling.com/secondstudy.html
September 7 2009 - While the IIG and me are preparing the test protocol I will try to arrange a preliminary test with another Skeptics group. Two other Skeptics groups have already shown interest.
brightstar@visionfromfeeling.com
