First, there are moves to make Tim Minchin’s wonderful song ‘White wine in the sun‘ the Christmas number 1! To help make this most desirable of ideas happen, please buy the track from itunes.
Second, if you are new to the blog, I post regular illusion and comments on Twitter, so feel free to follow me.
Third, it’s time for the Friday puzzle! According to an unreliable source, the weird and inaccurate soothsayer Nostradamus once announced…..
“On Wednesday 2nd February 2000, an event will take place for the first time in over 1000 years. In fact, the last time this event happened was 28 August 888″.
For once, he was right. What was the event? Hint: You don’t need to look up any historical events!
As ever, please feel free to say if you think you have solved it and how long it took, but do NOT post your answer. Solution on Monday!
I like Johnny Ball. In fact, he is a bit of a hero to me. For those who haven’t heard, Johnny spoke at Robin Ince’s Godless shows on Tuesday, saying that he did not believe there is any significant link between global temperatures and human activity. Several writers have described how the audience booed Johnny off the stage, with some suggesting that this demonstrates how ‘liberal atheists’ are intolerant of certain viewpoints (e.g., here).
I was performing on the same bill, and was standing in the wings throughout Johnny’s set.
It seemed to me that the main issue was one of timing not content. The Godless shows involve lots of performers and everyone is given a small amount of time. Johnny had already used up his time BEFORE starting his climate speech. Obviously many people there did not think that Johnny had the evidence to support his position, but nevertheless sat through what must have seemed like an eternity of his climate-related material in polite silence. Johnny then said a race-related line that many perceived as offensive and this, combined with a sense of boredom, started the slow hand clap (I didn’t hear any booing but might have missed it because it was tricky to hear in the wings).
In short, in my opinion this wasn’t about curtailing free speech. The organisers could have asked Johnny to leave the stage because of the timing issue. Instead gave him as long as he wanted. It’s just that the audience were not sympathetic to Johnny’s evidence, got bored and decided that enough was enough.
Update: The line was a pun on crustaceans as ‘crushed Asians’ and a reference to illegal immigrants.
I am amazed that the science stunts clip has had almost 350,000 views, and love that people are now making their own versions of the stunts. Here is my favourite so far….
The finger lifting stunt seems to be causing quite a bit of debate and it would be good to collect some data on it. So, could everyone place their hand like so….
Except that the knuckle of the second finger should be on the table. Now, can you lift your third finger off the table? Would be great if everyone could post to give me an idea of the percentage of people who can. Also, if you can do it, any idea why? Are you a musician or hypermobile?
My video containing 10 science stunts for Christmas parties seems to be doing well, with over 150,000 views so far. Thanks for watching and recommending it to others!
Also excited to see that my 59 Seconds book is now available to pre-order from Amazon US.
I came across another great demo on You Tube….
What do you think? Anyone know why it works and the conditions under which it happens?
A big hello to all the new people who have been kind enough to follow me on Twitter - almost up to 14,000 now!
Here is this week’s puzzle …
Can you create 8 equilateral triangles with just 6 matches?
Update: You are not allowed to break the matches! Also, what is the greatest number of equilateral triangles you can make with the matches?
As ever, please do not post your answer, but do say if you think you have solved it and how long it took. Have a great weekend and i will see you next week.
Ilya Larionov recently sent me this video of him performed the ‘Moving Vanish’…there are loads of different versions on You Tube. The claim is that they are no edits or cut….take a look….
What do you think? Camera trickery, genuine magic trick or supernatural powers?
As you might be aware, there has been quite a bit of web discussion recently on the evidence for the chiropractic treatment for infant colic. In my opinion, the scientific evidence is very weak, and I was looking for an interesting way of letting people know about the studies involved. Then I had the idea of making a Hitler Downfall mashup……here it is….I should warn you, it contains the F word lots and lots and lots…..
What do you think? An effective way of getting the message across?
Want to make your Christmas party special? Why not try an ace science stunt or two. I have assembled my top ten in the video below. They can all be performed with everyday objects, and only take a few seconds to learn. Here we go….
What was your favourite? Any others that you know about?
On Friday I set this puzzle….what is the longest word that can be formed from the letters in the second row….
A S D F G H J K L
The rules are:
1) The word has to be in the English language.
2) You do not have to use all of the letters.
3) You can repeat any of the letters as many times as you like. How did you do?
The best I could come up with was HAD. Just kidding, actually, I make it FLAGFALLS – so that is 9 letters. How did you do? Feel free to say what you came up with, even if it is less than 9.
This week it is all about letters. The other day I found out that the word TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be formed from the letters on the top row of a QWERTY keyboard. So, here is the question…..what is the longest word that can be formed from the letters in the second row….
A S D F G H J K L
The rules are:
1) The word has to be in the English language.
2) You do not have to use all of the letters.
3) You can repeat any of the letters as many times as you like.
I THINK that I have the answer, but am not 100% sure. Feel free to post comments saying how many letters there are in your longest word, but please don’t post the word itself. Answers on Monday – let battle commence!
Last week I said that I thought that the 10 commandments were a tad out of date, and asked everyone to suggest new ones for a technology-based 21st century (here). Hundreds were submitted, and here is my winning ten….
Thy shall only commit adultery if you are sure you will get away with it
Thou shall not worship Microsoft, for it is a false god.
Thou shall not do to others what Thou does not wish upon Thouself (masochists excepted).
You shall not sue nice but principled people for libel, especially when they have the resources to fight back and so destroy your entire profession.
Thou shalt not pretend you know what CERN does or is going to do.
Thou shalt never admit her bum does indeed look big in that.
Thou shalt not talk about Fight Club.
Thou shalt not buy anyone under the age of ten a mobile phone.
Thou shalt be patient, for the patient shall inherit the cheaper, less buggy product.
Thou shalt not have the Crazy Frog ring tone.
My thanks to Alison, Malinari, Diane Brown, JonBaxter, TS, Jack of Kent, Nick, Dandare, Andrew Risner, and ScreamingGreenConure for the great suggestions.
Matthew S sent me a link to a wonderful site containing some great ’tilt-shift’ photographs. If you haven’t seen the technique, basically it is a way of making actual size objects appear like tiny models. So, the image above shows full size aircraft and the one below shows a proper tennis match…
For more wonderful images, please visit the Smashing Magazine site here.
And then, if you really want to be blown away, see how the same technique was used to create a movie of a wrestling match over at the Sydney Herald site here.
What do you think? Know of any other examples?
Update: Several people have sent me this great site for creating tilt-shift images from your own photos.
At the weekend I attended the International Magic Convention. The highlight of the event was seeing one of the world’s greatest sleight of hand experts, René Lavand. From a very young age, Lavand wanted to be a magician. However, when he was nine he was involved in a car accident and lost his arm. Instead of abandoning his dreams, Lavand dedicated his life to creating a completely new form of magic that could be performed with just one hand. He is now seen as one of the world’s greatest sleight of hand masters, and obtained several standing ovations at the convention. At one point someone asked him the secret of creativity. Lavand answered, ‘Lose an arm’.
I found Lavand truly inspirational. He took the difficult route and transformed adversity into triumph.
Dinner party now going well. I have explained who I am via a short but effective powerpoint presentation, currently doing Q&A over dessert. 5 hours ago
First, there are moves to make Tim Minchin’s wonderful song ‘White wine in the sun‘ the Christmas number 1! To help make this most desirable of ideas happen, please buy the track from itunes.
