The world lost a great magician w/ death of The Amazing Randi
On October 20, 2020, the world became a sadder place when The Amazing Randi quietly died at home in Florida.
Accomplished magician and relentless debunker of frauds and charlatans, Canadian born James Randi approached life with curiosity and an enduring sense of mischief. He was a founding member of the Centre for Inquiry (Reason, Science and Secular Values) in the 1970s and never wavered in his fight against mystical claims and scientific bafflegab.
Seeking guidance through the crises of the tumultuous 1970s, many Americans looked to horoscopes, mystical gurus, spirits of the dead, super-advanced aliens, and countless other forms of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory, and the paranormal. Rationality was in dangerously short supply. In 1976, humanist philosopher Paul Kurtz brought together an unprecedented assembly of some of the greatest minds of the era to promote scientific inquiry and critical thinking. Luminaries such as Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, B. F. Skinner, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, and James Randi joined Kurtz to form what was then the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP—today known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, or CSI.
Neither the USPS nor Canada Post have issued a stamp honouring The Amazing Randi, but the US did issue a fun series devoted to the Art of Magic that seem a fitting tribute to the great showman. The illustrations were supplied by Jay Fletcher (who also did the typography for the set) and Greg Breeding was the designer.
Fortune Teller and Crystal Ball / Bird Emerging From Flower / Empty Bird Cage / Levitating Woman and Hoop / Rabbit in Hat
Issued 2018
Alas I think the world is stuck in a loop of credulous people strutting their ignorance with pride. .