I'm not sure it's technically live blogging if I am live blogging a recording, but who cares.  On CBS's The Early Show (you can tell my watching experience this week made quite an impression) Julie Chen interviewed medium Concetta Bertoldi.  Bertoldi comes across as New Jersey's answer to Sylvia Browne, completely with the raspy Sharon Glass smoker's voice.

She has written two books entitled Do Dead People Watch You Shower? and Do Dead People Walk Their Dogs?  Apparently, dead people may be perverts, but they are responsible pet owners.  The Early Show also gave Bertoldi the opportunity to demonstrate her skillz on a subset of the lemmings crowding the sidewalk outside the studio, while also hawking her walking the dogs book.  As a result, I was provided with the opportunity to watch and document a series of cold readings as they happened, ish.

Cold reading is a set of techniques used by mentalists, magicians, "psychics", and "mediums" to create the appearance that they know more about their subjects than they could through natural means.  Bertoldi demonstrated a simple set of the classic techniques in a rather ham-handed fashion.

Shotgunning: The reader throws out general guesses in the hopes of getting an initial hit and additional information from a compliant subject.

Barnum Statement: Also known as the Forer effect and named after showman PT Barnum, the reader makes statements that appear to be specific to the subject, but that are actually applicable to large proportions of the population.  The technique of warm reading involves using additional information to make the statements appear more specific.

Rainbow Ruse: The reader follows a specific sounding attribution about a personality trait or emotion with an attribution of the opposite trait or emotion.

Subject #1: Looking to contact her father. 
Bertoldi: Sees a man,  "Joe".  Shotgunning
Subject #1: Identifies "Joe" as a family friend.   

Peggy Hobbs: Didn't you get his last name?

Roger Hobbs: No, I just called hey Joe, it's from my experience that there's usually one Joe in a group of fellows.
    -Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Bertoldi: Sees a woman, "Ana/Anna".  Shotgunning
Subject #1: Identifies "Ana/Anna" as aunt.
Ana/Anna is such an uncommon name, especially in Italian families.  Oops, did I forget to mention the subject's family is Italian.

Bertoldi: Father wants to wish someone a happy birthday.  Barnum Statement  
Subject #1: Brother's birthday was previous week.
But Dad never remembered anyone's birthday when he was alive.  Can you think of anyone you know who has a birthday within a month of today?  It's a 1/6 chance for every person you know.  A hit is almost guaranteed in anything but a tiny family.

Bertoldi: Brother kept artifacts from father, perhaps a watch.  Barnum Statement
Subject #1: Confirms that brother kept keepsakes, but does not specifically confirm watch.
This one is a classic Barnum statement and is a common example of warm reading.  The loved ones of a deceased person usually keep mementos, espcially jewelry.  A watch is the most common piece of jewelry (except wedding rings) worn by males.

Subject #2: Looking to contact his grandfather.
Bertoldi: Sees a uniform.  Barnum Statement
Subject #2: Confirms grandfather wore uniform.
Another classic.  Let's see, subject looks to be about 30.  I wonder if there was anything going on 60-70 years ago that would have put a large proportion of American males in uniform.  Well, We can't thInk of anythIng.

Bertoldi: Asks if grandfather was in the Marines.  Barnum Statement
Subject #2: Grandfather was in Navy, not the Marines.
Swing and a miss.  Although this will probably be remembered as a hit, because Marines and the Navy both ride on boats.  The Marines also fight on land and fly planes.  So, it works well as a guess for both Army and Air Force, too.  How convenient.

Bertoldi: Grandmother still looks at grandfather photo.  Barnum Statement
Subject #2: Confirms.
Hooray, grandma isn't a heartless bitch.

Subject #3: Looking to contact her grandfather (Bertoldi thought she wanted to contact grandmother).
Bertoldi: Who is "Marie"?  Shotgunning
Subject #3: I know a Marie.
Great, cause I was just covering for that whole grandmother thing.  It was either make-up some "Marie" crap or tell you grandpa had gender issues.

Bertoldi: Who is "S"?  Shotgunning 
Subject #3: Grandfather.
Oh god, I'm dead and can't remember my name.  Heaven is just one tequila shot after another.  Why do you think they call it Heaven?

Bertoldi: Did grandfather have a dog, animals, chicken. . .  Shotgunning
Subject #3: Grandfather was from a farm in Italy.
Or he lived in a house, anywhere.  I wish the subject had not been so helpful, because I wanted to see where the list of animals was going.  Five mintues later, ". . .what about marmots?  Did he have marmots?!"

Subject #4: Looking to contact her grandfather. 
Bertoldi: Grandfather is a flirt, but was faithful to grandma.  Rainbow Ruse
Subject #4: Blushes and nods.
Faithful?  Or just not very good at flirting?  I'm still trying to forget the incredible creepiness of Bertoldi suggesting that the subject's grandfather's ghost was flirting with his granddaughter. 

Bertoldi: Grandfather says Subject looks like her father or father's side of family.  Barnum Statement
Subject #4: Confirms.
Are you saying that people look like their relatives?  I'll one up Bertoldi and predict that the subject is 50% genetically identical to her father.

Bertoldi: Grandfather played special music grandmother would recognize.  Barnum Statement
Subject #4: Confirms.
Play is a vague word.  I can play music from a radio, a CD, or a piano (OK, what I "play" on piano is not normally defined as music). 

Bertoldi: There is a new baby coming to Subject's family.  Barnum Statement
Subject #4: Brother recently married.
Usually, we try to avoid having marriage and baby arriving be synonomous.  As a future prediction, only an abstinence only education advocate would expect this not to come true.  I'll tell you secret, people like to make with the sweet bippity.  You do know how to make a baby don't you?  You just. . . 

Speaking of making babies, Julie Chen was impressed by the demonstration.  She declared herself to be a "converted believer".  Converted?  That's like a born, raised, baptized, and confirmed Catholic converting to Catholicism.  Chen's interview with Bertoldi was a completely credulous series of softballs.  Of course, if The Early Show didn't play nice with the authors foisted upon them by publishing houses, what would they do to fill up their two hours?  Report real news?  Just remember, when you are wondering why people believe silly things, how many homes Chen reaches each morning.