query: occupation banachek
supports: The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge was an offer by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) to pay out one million U.S. dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. A version of the challenge was first issued in 1964, and over a thousand people applied to take it, but none were successful. The challenge was terminated in 2015. James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928) is a Canadian-American retired stage magician and a scientific skeptic who has extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Randi is the co-founder of Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). He began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively calls "woo-woo". Randi retired from practicing magic aged 60, and from the JREF aged 87. The supernatural (Medieval Latin: "superntrlis": "supra" "above" + "naturalis" "natural", first used: 15201530 AD) includes all that cannot be explained by science or the laws of nature, including things characteristic of or relating to ghosts, gods, or other supernatural beings, or to things beyond nature. The occult (from the Latin word "occultus" "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden". In common English usage, "occult" refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", usually referred to as science. The term is sometimes taken to mean knowledge that "is meant only for certain people" or that "must be kept hidden", but for most practicing occultists it is simply the study of a deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the physical sciences. The terms "esoteric" and "arcane" can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. The bullet catch is a conjuring illusion in which a magician appears to catch a bullet fired directly at them  often in their mouth, sometimes in their hand or sometimes caught with other items such as a dinner plate. The bullet catch may also be referred to as the bullet trick, defying the bullets or occasionally the gun trick. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the transnational American non-profit educational organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to "promote scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims." It was founded by Paul Kurtz in 1976 as an independent non-profit organization (before merging with CFI as one of its programs in 2015), to counter what he regarded as an uncritical acceptance of, and support for, paranormal claims by both the media and society in general. Its philosophical position is one of scientific skepticism. CSI's fellows have included notable scientists, Nobel laureates, philosophers, psychologists, educators and authors. It is headquartered in Amherst, New York. The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) was started as an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. The JREF's mission includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into paranormal claims in controlled scientific experimental conditions. In September 2015, the organization said it would change to a grant-making foundation. Steven Shaw ( born 30 November , 1960 ) , known professionally as Banachek , is a mentalist . He has written books on mentalism and has invented various magic and mentalism effects , including the Penn & Teller bullet catch and the original `` buried alive '' stunt . He is the Director of the James Randi Educational Foundation ( JREF ) One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge .
candidates: general magic magician occult research science
answer: magician