A little tongue in cheek Cruising Navigation Seminars

[otgadventures]

Sorry I posted this "Off Topic" and perhaps this thread can be for a little fun? I hope it was not withdrawn because I questioned a Sponsor?

I've noticed "James VanPraagh ads on the top of the forum, and wondered if we need to donate $1 a month each to have this pseudo-scientific crap removed. Guilt by association, though not a real guilt, having this stuff top a list of scientific thinkers and sailors does imply some sort of credibility to the topic.

So I sent Mr. Van Praagh the following email:

registration@eomega.org

Dear Mr Van Praaaaaaargh,

Your advertisement appears on a forum I subscribe to, Cruisers Forum. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums

I realize that psychic ability is way underutilized in the boating, sailing, and cruising world. For that reason and according to your own guidelines, I propose a workshop as invited on your website. The words in RED are from your website.

• Workshop title Navigation Aides using those who have gone on before.
• What will the participants learn (subject matter, particular methods, skills, etc.)? How to augment GPS, NOAA charts, Satellite photos, and other local knowledge to improve navigation in strange or dangerous waters.
• Participants bring home: New skills? Improved health? Great awareness? Deeper understanding? New tools to add to their compass, GPS, Chart kits, Explorer kits, and logbook entries. They will improve health by surviving to sail another day, have a greater awareness of sailing by tapping into the great sailors who have gone to the great beyond, but still have lessons to tell us. Vasco Degama, Horatio Hornblower, Josh Slocum, Amerigo Vespucci, ALL of the Dutch, Cristobal Colon, just to name a few. Language lessons would also be helpful in tapping in to the skills and special knowledge of those who don’t speak English.
• The workshop is appropriate for: Professionals? Lay people? Beginners? Experts? All levels? Sailors, crew, stowaways, dock workers, pilots, and generally non-psychic types.
• Participants learn through: Hands-on experience? Group discussion? Writing? Drawing? Lecture? Any combination thereof? Hands on experience, preferably blind-fold testing through shoals and reefs to really show the awesome power of these ghosts who watch over our day to day lives in admiration of our ignorance.
• Provide a history of experience of teaching a weekend or weeklong workshop in a retreat setting.I have taught sailing, medicine and medical students, Boy Scouts, camping, and even driving to my nephews. I feel qualified to offer such a course under your expert guidance. I believe that since these sailor types are drooling in money, especially in these economically hard times, that the course could be a 3 day on the water weekend, (following a warm up in a good modern 4 or 5 star hotel) and be in the $1200-$2500 range, meals and liquor included.

Please use succinct, uncomplicated language and make sure that your name, mailing address, daytime phone number and/or e-mail address are clearly visible. Please include review copies of your videos, CDs, or books if you have them. (All such books, documents, and tapes become the property of Omega and cannot be returned.) You will be sent a receipt for your proposal; if there is interest in your proposal, a representative of the Omega program department will contact you, possibly several months later. PLEASE DO NOT CALL Omega regarding the status of your proposal.

All course proposals should be sent to:

Omega Institute
Attn. Program Department
150 Lake Drive
Rhinebeck, New York, 12572.

Thank you.

Oh No, THANK YOU
Robert Finlay
Physician Assistant

[dacust]

That's pretty good. But, then there's the standard comment for this kinda stuff: If they are psycho, I shouldn't have to mail my proposal in. They should contact me (preferably in the current life...).

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by dacust

That's pretty good. But, then there's the standard comment for this kinda stuff: If they are psycho, I shouldn't have to mail my proposal in. They should contact me (preferably in the current life...).

Well, if they're psychic, they should do that, Dan, but if they're psycho you should probably hope they can't find you.

TaoJones

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by otgadventures

• Participants learn through: Hands-on experience? Group discussion? Writing? Drawing? Lecture? Any combination thereof? Hands on experience, preferably blind-fold testing through shoals and reefs to really show the awesome power of these ghosts who watch over our day to day lives in admiration of our ignorance.

Cool - Blind sailing in dangerous waters. Do I have to share the cockpit with a cougar to overcome my fear as well?

- Shake & Bake, Baby!

[Lancerbye]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Cool - Blind sailing in dangerous waters. Do I have to share the cockpit with a cougar to overcome my fear as well?

- Shake & Bake, Baby!

Isn't this the way you all do this. Hell I thought this was SOP.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Cool - Blind sailing in dangerous waters. Do I have to share the cockpit with a cougar to overcome my fear as well?

- Shake & Bake, Baby!

Don't worry Dan, your too old to be in danger from a Cougar...

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Don't worry Dan, your too old to be in danger from a Cougar...

Sad but true...

[Hud3]

OTG,

BTW, van Praagh isn't a sponsor of Cruisers Forum. Those ads are placed there by Google, and my understanding is that Google picks the ads by reading the context of the post or poster (ever hear of Google-analytics, Google-syndication, Google-adservices, and cookies?) So the fact that you're seeing psychics may have something to do with your "interests", as interpreted by Google.

Google is everywhere.

[skatastrophy]

Firefox + AdblockPlus makes browsing a pleasurable, ad free experience.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by skatastrophy

Firefox + AdblockPlus makes browsing a pleasurable, ad free experience.

I was wondering "What ads?", when I read your post.
I must thank my son who set all our computers up that exact way!

Steve B.

[otgadventures]

Originally Posted by Hud3

OTG,

BTW, van Praagh isn't a sponsor of Cruisers Forum. Those ads are placed there by Google, and my understanding is that Google picks the ads by reading the context of the post or poster (ever hear of Google-analytics, Google-syndication, Google-adservices, and cookies?) So the fact that you're seeing psychics may have something to do with your "interests", as interpreted by Google.

Google is everywhere.

Interesting, since I am not frequenting psychic sites, wonder how Google gets this info to put the Van Praagh ads at the top of the page when I view this forum? Regardless, thanks all for the fun replies. Love this group.

Bob