https://www.pkman.org/archive/files/original/7/252/740221.pdf fe84221de64992e82a4b8f0bd0146644 https://www.pkman.org/archive/files/original/8a7ccd0b2f3f6cfb2554b94d21b2bc12.txt fab77690e73a1d22b7177419c1631d65 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1974 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document === **Page: 1 of 2** AMERICAN mensa limited a not-for-profit corporation of new york state / fifty east forty-second street, new york, n.y. 10017 February 21, 1974 please reply to: 340 Brighton Road Norristown, Pa. 19403 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Ted Owens, sometimes called the "PK Man" because of his work in the field of psychokinesis, asked in September 1973, to set up an experiment in which he would attempt to utilize this alleged parapsychological force. This might be considered unusual. He proposed to use what he calls "psi-force", i.e., mental force, to cause certain pro football teams to win over other pro football teams, week by week, game by game, play by play. These games would be only those listed in the TV Guide magazine for Owens' locale. Owens would utilize two TV sets simultaneously in order to work two different games. Later, when a third game came on, he would also work that game. He also proposed to try to affect the television power set-up, to knock out the picture on TV, affect the sound, affect the electrical conditions at the stadium where the game was being played, and the like. His goal was to win 75% of the games that he proposed to control with his mind. Throughout the pro football season Owens supplied me, in advance, with the information on what teams he proposed to help win on the coming weekends. After the games had been played, he cut out the newspaper reports, appended these to his advance notifications and submitted them to me, along with pages torn from his TV Guide to assure that he had worked only on the games shown in his location. At the end of the season, after the Super Bowl, Owens had scored 44 wins, 16 losses, and 2 ties giving him the following possible percentages, which vary according to the method used to count the tied games: 44 wins, 16 losses, ties not counted = 73% 44 wins, 16 losses, ties counted as wrong predictions = 71% 44 wins, 16 losses, ties counted as half wins, half ties = 72% Parenthetically, it may be noted that on Sunday, December 16, 1973, TV Guide departed from its usual procedure. The magazine that week listed four alternate games which might be aired. Owens attempted to control the three games actually shown by resorting to what he calls "absent OD mechs" (or "absent PK"). He predicted correctly === **Page: 2 of 2** 2. these three additional games. If included, his percentage of hits would be 74.6% using the top-mentioned-above system of calculations. However, these games departed from the usual format and thus should not be included. Although Owens did not score the 75% he was supposed to score, his scoring was high enough to warrant this document of near confirmation. Had he scored lower than 70%, I would not recognize his experiment at all. It is difficult to know how to interpret these findings. We cannot use typical parapsychological statistics, such as the Zener scale, since the predictions were not based upon chance observations. Rather, Owens did have information about the worth of each of the teams, information which undoubtedly influenced his predictions one way or another. However, it would also not be valid to compare Owens' predictions with those of, say, sports page predictors since Owens at times deliberately picked underdogs in order to attempt to demonstrate his abilities. So his work and intentions should not be called either guesswork or straight predictions, but something in between. At this point, I will simply acknowledge that Owens came very close to a stated goal of 75% despite the fact that he often knowingly picked underdogs. Sincerely, Max R. Fogel Max L. Fogel, Ph.D. Director of Science and Education mlf:dgm Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 740221