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A PROGRESS REPORT ON THE J.R.E.F. As promised, here's a report on the progress of the The James Randi Educational Foundation.... We're thoroughly moved in at our home office in Fort Lauderdale. We've solved the leaky roof, the uneven parking lot, the confused electrical wiring, and the weird telephone system. The staff of three -- with another new member starting as of October 1st -- figures it can live with this setup, in fact there is general euphoria. We have lawyers fighting for our tax-exemptions (state and federal) which, contrary to what one might expect, are always initially refused, though they should be automatically granted since we abundantly meet the requirements. We were told that religious organizations get these rights immediately, and the temptation to establish an instant religion was strong. But we opted to go through the required song-and-dance. We really had no choice. Our library is being catalogued with a very sophisticated computer database that cross-indexes the material and it will also display a 2"X3" full-color picture of each book cover on each catalog page accessed by the computer. We've catalogued 1240 books so far, plus 42 files of skeptical newsletters, journals, and folders. That project should be essentially completed within two months. The video library, some 300 hours of material going back to the earliest days of videotaping, is yet to be catalogued at all; that's an equally formidible task. We will be copying PAL and SECAM tapes into NTSC format, then making digitalized copies which should last essentially forever. Donated videotapes continue to come in from all over the world, as do books -- and we repeat our appeal for this material. Any books dealing with esoteric, paranormal, occult, pseudoscientific or magical subjects -- pro- or con- -- will be welcome. Ken Montgomery, our video guru, is setting up a video-switching board for the dubbing and copying facility here, and we're getting together the ingredients for the TV studio facility. Any video equipment is also welcome. The architects plans for our auditorium-plus-experimental-area have been submitted, and we're pleased to find that the cost is less than we'd anticipated, due to the way the building was designed. This will increase our working area to 6,820 square feet -- from 5,320. We will still have the 21 parking spaces (a double one reserved for UFOs -- I kid you not!) and access to 20 more spaces after 5p.m. at night. The air conditioning for the building will not need to be expanded, which is a great saving in itself. The auditorium will have a full raised stage, TV lighting and audio provisions, and seating for about 200 persons. Until that's in place (proposed for January/97) we won't be inviting classes in for critical thinking classes. The fully-equipped Foundation guest apartment has already been occupied by visitors, and met with approval. It has a wide plate-glass picture window looking in on the auditorium area. A full TV-cable-and-digital facility is available to visitors. The Foundation WWW page has replaced my personal page. Changes are being made to the page as we speak. We've been slow getting the Encyclopedia up on the page, but that will be done when we get a breather.... To those of you who have sent in 2000 Club pledges and haven't yet heard from us: sincere apologies. It's just been too hectic to get to that stack of mail, but it will all be entered in and responded to by the end of this week. We're now prepared to offer books for sale through the Foundation. The list will appear on the WWW page soon, with instructions, prices, etc. All of my lecture fees are now being paid directly into the Foundation account. We have brought in a fund-raiser person who shows great potential indeed. And that suggests the next paragraph. We've had numerous telephone, fax, e-mail, and postal inquiries about how interested persons can become involved with the James Randi Educational Foundation. Accordingly, we've framed up a membership plan which only has to pass the lawyers before we announce it. Soon you'll be able to add your support to the work by subscribing to the JREF under one of several classes of participation. Our newsletter will be available by that means, beginning in December, if all plans continue as scheduled. We're planning an informal "opening" session the end of October, by which time the auditorium construction will be under way. Media and interested persons will be invited to have a look at what's happening here. The official, formal, opening will be after the auditorium is in operation. Meanwhile, if any of your are in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, please call and invite yourselves to have the five-minute tour. We're very proud of what's come into existence here, and we'd be delighted to show you the new baby. It's not walking yet, but Carl Lewis, stand back! James Randi The James Randi Educational Foundation 201 S.E. Davie Blvd. Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316-1815 U.S.A. phone: +1 954 467 1112 fax: +1 954 467 1660 web: http://www.randi.org ************************************************** ** PROVIDED FOR YOUR REFERENCE BY THE MODERATOR ** ************************************************** Requests to be added to or deleted from the randi-hotline mailing list, must be sent to the service address: Internet: randi-hotline-request@ssr.com PLEASE BE PATIENT. All requests are processed before each new mailing to the list and these can be widely spaced. You *will* be added if your request was sent to the correct address. If you wish to contact Randi, mail to randi-hotline@ssr.com will return an information message explaining how. BACK ISSUES OF THE HOTLINE: On the Web: http://www.mindspring.com/~anson/randi-hotline/ Via FTP: USA: ftp.netcom.com directory: /pub/an/anson/Mailing_Lists/geller-hotline ftp.ssr.com: directory: /Randi Please try netcom.com first, since ftp.ssr.com is very busy. EUROPE: mercurio.iet.unipi.it directory: /pub/Randi Our gratitude goes to Anson Kennedy and Massimo Macucci for providing the ftp sites at netcom and unipi.it, respectively. Randi also has a web page, now hosted at the new FOUNDATION! Check it out at: http://www.randi.org/

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