Reply #16: Example

[Az]

Uri Geller made an act (besides bending spoons) of taking old dead watches and making them work again. He did this by holding them in his hand for a moment and then gesturing. He even claimed to be able to make watches work in peoples homes over the TV. He would tell people to go get broken watches and hold them up to the TV. And the shows he was on invariably got calls saying it worked.

Here is what was going on. Mechanical watches sometimes breakdown because of an accumulation of gunk within the workings. Geller would take such a watch and hold it in his hands thus warming it a bit. Then a few theatrical shakes would also further the process. The watch would often start working for a while. Long enough for the show. But then break down again.

The calls that came in claiming watches started working at home were simply the result of statistics. With 1000s of viewers watching there are going to be enough with watches that simply needed a bump or two to start working again that you will get calls. This is the problem with anecdotal evidence. You simply do not know what caused the correction without proper testing and examination. For every caller there are 100s of people sitting there looking silly holding a watch up to the TV and winding up with a still dead watch.