If you're reading this, you are aware of the James Randi Educational Foundation's $1,000,000 psychic challenge. This is the real deal. We have the money in a Goldman Sachs account, we WILL pay if someone wins a test that they design with us, and we do test people. A lot of people dispute those facts, but they simply can't—we've demonstrated them time after time.
Some individuals think it's a simple thing to conduct a challenge, and they've concocted their own home-brew versions. As a fun diversion, I'm going to present two of them to you.
First up, we have Victor Zammit, a lawyer living in Australia who has long derided Randi, the JREF, and our challenge. He is so convinced that there is life after death that he'll give $1,000,000 to anyone who proves there isn't. See any problems with that? You can watch the video and decide for yourself if he's on the level.
Next, we have the bizarre Bandershot, also known as John Benneth. I promise you this is the unedited video that he put up on YouTube himself. I've shown this video at a few talks, and people have asked me if I put in all the strange sounds and such to make fun of him. I assure you, they are his own creation (he even credits himself for the "music" at the end).
I've thought that if I ever teach another class on critical thinking, I might include these videos as an assignment. They're an excellent sample of logical fallacies, and they also show that merely claiming something isn't the same as actually proving it.
While I don't think they'll ever pay (at least one person claims to have won Benneth's challenge, and did not receive payment), at least they provide amusement.