Amazing Mind Reader Reveals 'Gift'

Thanks to Reliant PI (@Reliant_PI) for the heads-up to this great clip which appears to be a part of a campaign for safe internet banking from the Belgian Financial Sector Federation, Febelfin.

It is giving me an idea of my own...

Still More Bullshit: NZ Psychics Bat Zero. Again.

New Zealand police have confirmed acting on information provided by a couple of charlatans psychics from the now-defunct Sensing Murder show in relation to a 35 year-old mystery.

Aparantly the husband of Lesley Calvert, who had been living under a cloud of suspicion for the last 33 years since the body of his wife was found on their remote farm, contacted the producers of the show to 'clear his name'.

Well, I guess there's no fool like an old (and desperate) fool and the frauds psychics had given police a description of the offender who still lived in the area, his occupation, and even what vehicle he was driving.

Monday* WTF Files: Church pays a couple of PIs $12m

Well, not a real** church but 'Church of Scientology', which probably explains a lot.

Thanks to Twitter and Kevin's Security Scrapbook, I've just heard about how two Private Investigators, Paul Marrick and Greg Arnold  (yes, their real names), received around $500,000 a year over the past 24 years from Scientology's Führer, David Miscavige.

That amount again: $12 million.

What method to this madness, I ask?

Courting Corporate Clients: Contracting for Services

You might recall an earlier post asking whether or not any of you other PIs out there worked on a retainer basis with your corporate clients.

I didn't get any response to that post, sadly.

Nevertheless, I soldiered on and worked on a proposal to a law firm to whom I have been providing services to for a number of years (mostly to one lawyer who is a friend, but sometimes to others). They are one of the largest firms in Bad City.

Here was my plan...

Poll: The X-mas Party Woes

It's almost that time, Dear Reader, when you'll hear those jingle bells and the sounds of sex in the supply cupboard.

Yes, the office Christmas Party is only a couple of months away!

Now I have mentioned this in passing earlier, I think, but I have never received an invite to any Christmas function put on by any Client (such as law firm etc) who routinely invite contractors, vendors, suppliers and the like.

Not once!

As much as I hate Christmas (which is a lot) it would be nice to be invited. Kind of hard not to take it personally since it is, in fact, quite personal. They obviously don't want me to be there but they've invited some retard who installed wiring or the phone system.

Is it just me or am I not alone?

So, the poll is open on the right. Contractors, particularly PIs, do you get invited to the end-of-year parties thrown by your Clients that you provide ongoing services to?

Curious to find out.

PS: It would be also useful if you could quickly post a comment on whether you are a PI or some other kind of self-employed contractor...

Mrs Long has a conniption

Oh dear, it seems I have done it again. I've gone ahead and offended someone and they've complained about my 'attitude'.

Meet Mrs Long (not her real name). Artists's depiction on left.

I was tasked with the routine matter of making a field visit to Mrs Long's last known address as she had not been responding to attempted communications from a Creditor. It was a fairly run-of-the-mill job where I was to update contact details if she still resided at that address and negotiate a payment arrangement or make enquiries with the current occupants and neighbours if she had moved.

It's not really work I like doing, but it's the bread-and-butter stuff I get along with other work from various companies I subcontract to.

Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. I should know that by now...

TV shows about PIs: Tricky Business

If you can't be a plucky-but-determined PI in the Big Bad City in real life, watching the fictional exploits of one on TV is the next best thing. Well, next best after reading this blog, that is.

Imagine my surprise to learn that Australia's Channel Nine has a brand new series about that very thing. "Awesome" I said to myself.

Except that it was anything but awesome. Here is a preview:

A Day in this PI's Life...

Hello again, Dear Readers. While awaiting your emails, I've been perusing the blogs of other investigators and have stolen appropriated the idea of showing what the average day is like for this gumshoe at least.

It bears no resemblance to that of Thomas H Humphries of [FIND] Investigations who is already on his 5th cup of coffee by the time I've gotten around to checking my mail.

So here is how my day usually pans out:

Ask a PI Week 2012

I'm thinking it may be time to throw open the mailbag for a week for all and sundry to write in and ask any burning questions you may have of this PI.

It doesn't even have to be investigations-related. I could answer your queries on relationships, favourite picks for the 4:15 at Henley, or give a definitive ruling on whether your bum looks big in that.

Apart from several kind emails from the UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION (capitalisation theirs) advising me I had come into a great deal of "Great British Pounds", my mailbox has been a little empty of late, hence 'Ask a PI Week 2012'.

However, I was pleased to receive this recent plea from Felicia:

Product Review: Otterbox Defender cases

Hey there, Dear Reader, apologies (again) for the lack of updates recently. The last couple of weeks have been fairly busy, which is good, but then I go ahead and do something stupid and break my BlackBerry phone.

That's the 3rd one this year.

Anyway, I went and replaced it with a second-hand one (same model) and also got myself a second-hand BB PlayBook (32GB): both the phone and tablet cost me about half the price of a new phone by itself so am feeling somewhat pleased with myself.

And the first thing I did is order an Otterbox Defender case for each, hence this review.

So what do I think?