Great clip

I used to enjoy James Randi's column "Twas Brillig" in Skeptic Magazine.

A very interesting programme, that. Thank you for putting it on here.
My father was in the water boring and diamond drilling business in Kenya. On some farms, the farmer would tell him exactly where to drill the borehole, because a diviner had said that was where the water lay.
If there was no reason not to do so, my father would comply. However, my father often told a farmer that if you drilled a deep enough hole anywhere, you would probably find water - and that he would happily drill where indicated, but also asked what cost they were willing to for a deep well.
At these times, which were when he reckoned there was closer ground water in a different spot, he even went so far as to predict the maximum depth at which it would be found and to say that if he had to drill further the extra cost would be on him. He never once had to out. Some farmers asked how he could divine so accurately. That's when he would say divining was a myth and would produce government plans and maps of known water tables and the geology of the area, and also explain how to read certain visible ground features.
All his results, on both water levels and rock types drilled out at various depths, were carefully recorded and fed back to the government water and geology departments, so they could further refine the maps.
It should come as no surprise that his company eventually carried out 60% of ALL the water boring in Kenya.

He's one of my heroes!