Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Even A$E Changed Chip's Bio

below i had pondered: (oddly enough, many of chip's online press kit bios seem to be changing. ie, the "advanced degree in psychology/counseling" appears to be morphing into "a background in counseling"...gee, i wonder why?)

turns out even A$E changed their chip bio. LOL!

old version:

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and click here for the new version.

Mass Tragedy? Psychics = Useless

i was reading stephen packard's article about psychics and 9/11 - "as predicted: a psychic failure" - over at JREF. in the comments i read that sylvia browne was on larry king live on 9/3/2001 and john edward was on that show 9/10/2001.

i wonder if those two $eer$ of the Future have ever dared mention those little factoids on their websites...

you might ask "but where, oh where, was chip coffey?!"

well, according to chip's own bio, he was in the "travel industry" right up until the end of september 2001 end of 2001.

(oddly enough, many of chip's online press kit bios seem to be changing. ie, the "advanced degree in psychology/counseling" appears to be morphing into "a background in counseling"...gee, i wonder why?)

apparently THAT is when he became a charging psychic. right after 9/11. he was even featured in an article for some obscure UK woo tabloid doing a "reading" at ground zero for a grieving widow.

chip has bragged about this on his various internet press kits here and there online. (wow, that particular site must be pre-TV fame, he was only charging $49 for a reading.)

barf-worthy, isn't it?

here's some sick irony for you: chip recently proudly wrote "9/11 we will never forget" on his FB page. well, we'll never forget that you psychics couldn't manage to predict it. were all of the psychics' "spiritual guides" on holiday?

yes -- psychics and tragedies = very, very barf-worthy: they can't predict them, but they sure can try to profit from them afterwards.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Psychic Silliness

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i'd recently heard of psychic parties (like tupperware, only more stupid) and pet psychics. plus, while miss cleo and dionne have wilted away, their phone and internet per minute scams live on in abundance. there's psychic healing and psychic surgery.

i thought i'd heard it all, but i was looking through google images and ran across some things i'd never noticed before.
none of them good.
did you know.....

there's an "are you psychic?" "OFFICIAL" guide for kids. ($10 what a bargain.)
there are text-a-psychic services. (for a nice fee of course)
you can buy "psychic test" software to test your skills. (i saw free software for this as well.)
there's something called "psychic speed dating". i don't want to know.
you can buy "psychic ability" bracelets. i wonder if they make psychic jewelry for other body parts.
not only are there now psychic kiddie camps to brainwash the wee ones, there's also a psychic "boot camp" for the grownups. special.

i actually have no cute closing comment for this. i honestly don't know what to say except to wonder how many stupid people fall for this crap.

UK Show to Debunk Psychic Scams

all i can say is it's about time:

Objective Productions has enlisted Derren Brown and scientist Kat Akingbade to front a C4 web series debunking psychic phenomena.

Each episode of Science of Scams will feature a hoax film that appears to show unexplained activity such as ghosts, chi energy or telekinesis.

Brown will introduce each spoof video in the manner of Rod Serling’s introductions for The Twilight Zone, while Akingbade will demonstrate the science behind the phenomena.

full article here.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Chip Coffey isn't Scary, He's Scared!

recently the guys at ghosttheory.com did an "interview" with chip coffey.
well, it wasn't much of an interview, because chip didn't really answer anything in a forthright manner.

at some point, chip is asked about whether he's ever assisted in finding missing persons or assisted the police in some way. he gives some vague non-answer, but then goes on to say that He Can't Help Because He'd Be Putting His Life On the Line.

(wouldn't you know -- this latest chip claptrap contradicts what he states on his own website, and i quote: "I frequently consult with both victims' families and law enforcement agencies on unsolved murder and/or missing persons cases." just FYI, that statement is right under his "I have an advanced degree in Counseling/Psychology" claim.)

WTF????

i recently read some comments online from someone who has apparently had it with chip's never-ending "You Anonymous Bloggers Better Look Out!! Defamation!! Libel!" nonsense (interesting to note that chip doesn't appear to have a problem with the HUNDREDS of people who are critical of him who use their actual names, just the anonymous ones. AND he doesn't appear to hold the same standard of "anonymous posters are cowards" to his own little cadre of chihuahuas who follow him around online and spew ad hominem attacks at anyone who is critical of coffey and his methods.) well, this person, enigma, was quick to point out the hypocrisy of chip coffey being too afraid to put his life on the line for missing children/murder victims.

i'm going to post enigma's reply from the excellent scifake.com article here because it's such a good one. i hope enigma doesn't mind!

i'm going to start looking into this whole Psychic Detective crap in the near future anyway, so this is a great starting point.

Enigma says:
September 10, 2009 at 12:19 pm

I recently read an interview with Chip Coffey in which he stated (and I am paraphrasing here!) that he would NOT be interested in offering his assistance in any type of case that could possibly open himself up to some crazy person setting their sights on him for solving cold cases or missing persons, etc.

So, he has essentially laid the foundation for explaining why he has not and will not make any type of predictions or statements about unsolved murders, missing children, etc. I find it rather humorous that when it is convenient for him to claim that he is afraid or concerned for his own personal safety (due to all of the nut jobs out there), that he grabs a hold of that security blanket and expects everyone to simply accept his position on it.

While I understand where he is coming from, it is entirely hypocritical of him to make such a statement(in my opinion), especially when he has demanded (several different times) to know my real name so that he could send all of his psycho “fans” after me for speaking my mind about him and his fraudulent activities.

How convenient is it for you to whine about your own personal safety, Chip—yet you demanded to know my identity, wanting ME to possibly risk MY safety and my family’s safety by opening myself up to all of the whack jobs out there on the internet….You called me a “coward” and told me to “man up” and made all sorts of other antagonistic comments demanding to know my name.

Perhaps it is YOU who should “man up” and stop being such a “coward” and “IF” you really do have “psychic” abilities, maybe YOU need to drop a pair and actually do some good with your so called gift. Why wouldn’t you want to be self-less and help a missing or abducted child find his or her way home? Why wouldn’t you want to be the one to solve an old murder case and help a family find some much needed closure?

Why wouldn’t you want to do your civic duty and give back to your fellow man as well as your community by assisting law enforcement in such a manner? I’ll tell you why: Because you are a FAKE, a total FRAUD and you lack the one true weapon that has probably escaped you your entire life: COURAGE.

In the end, I think that pretending to fear for his “safety” is just an excuse for Coffey to steer clear of situations where he can be put on the spot for giving false/erroneous information via his bogus “readings”. It is self-preservation on many levels for him, period.

re: You called me a “coward” and told me to “man up” and made all sorts of other antagonistic comments demanding to know my name. i just want to mention that chip (and/or his followers) have used these same exact tactics with anyone who criticizes him anonymously.

it's exceedingly ironic that chip is always in such histrionics over his anonymous critics. i mean, he's a psychic, right? he says so right on his website: "...I am able to forecast future events with substantial accuracy by tuning into messages that I receive from my Spiritual Partners in the Higher Realms."

i guess his Spiritual Partners don't give a crystal ball about who's criticizing/laughing at him.

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

9 09 09 999999999

well alright! we're past it and the world didn't end!

google 9 9 9

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Brent Fair, Scammer Extraordinaire??

if you've not been under a rock in any online paranormal dealings, you'll have heard of brent fair. i heard about him through his and/or his company's connections to chip coffey. birds of a feather and all that.

turns out brent fair used to run a ghost hunting group called paraex.org. Then it would seem he became thick as thieves (good descriptive, right!?) with the ghost hunters/TAPS people and started calling himself a TAPS family manager (whatever that is) and started a new undertaking, attempting to launch one of those ubiquitous paranormal/ghost hunting group convention tours: TAPSCON. evidently it was a success (sort of) and he advertised a TAPSCON 2.

only it seems as though brent fair had some problems. money problems. like ripping people off money problems. and he was going around advertising that "talent" were going to appear at his event when the "talent" actually didn't even know anything about the event.

so brent changed his company name to Odyssey Star Productions and incorporated it.

only now his associates within that organization who may or may not have been part of the problem are inheriting his money issues. ie, refund our money you scamming scumbags issues.

i remember when i first heard about this from my online pal DD, i shrugged it off and laughed "oh look, the scammers are getting scammed!" thinking that the 'talent' (ie the para-celebrity posers) were getting scammed in some way. i found that rather justified.

only i was mistaken - it's not the para-celebs getting scammed, but the poor paranormal peeps who forked over hundreds of dollars for tickets.

so where's the chip coffey connection? well, while the good plumbers at ghost hunters did a good job of disassociating themselves from fair early on - brent's company odyssey star (which is now being taken over by a couple of his associates) STILL represents chip coffey and has done so for many of these reedonkulous past paranormal conventions/appearances. apparently chip, in his psychic prowess, failed to see the scamming and is also still oblivious to brent fair's reputation -- chip's all-seeing eye is likely blinded by dollar signs.

in recently read online comments, chip coffey seems to be more than willing to give brent fair the benefit of the doubt - even with the FL Dept. of Justice knocking on peoples' doors. i would provide the links to this conversation but the blog where the conversation took place, scifake.com, has deleted / closed those comments for some reason. go figure.

chip coffey, such a pal - such a friend to the end to his money-grubbing cronies.

cha ching!!

oh, and here's an interesting tidbit -- according to this blog, brent fair's mother was some sort of "mothman" victim in 2001 and supposedly, back in 2005 brent fair had a book in the works about his mother's experiences. sadly, according to the article, his mom passed away. i wonder what happened to his book?

there are tons of links to actual paranormal peeps' blogs and articles on brent fair's odyssey star productions besides the scifake site -- here are a couple -- just google for more:

paranormalunderground and darkrealmlabs

(the really rather nice fellow at darkrealmlabs is the one who had to ban me from that TIPS forum -- as i recall he really seemed disappointed to have to do it. it's always a shame when skepticism has to pander to tender paranormal peeps' feelings.)

now i'm not a psychic, nor do i play one on TV like chip does, but since the proverbial poo is hitting the fan where paranormal peeps are concerned over this whole issue -- i predict chip coffey will be attempting to back pedal and bow out of his brent fair friendship in three....two....one.....