Behold….a talking raven!

First, if you are up at the Edinburgh Festival this August, the Edinburgh Skeptics have just announced a great line-up of speakers for their Fringe of Reason series (details here). They have a different speaker every day and its free! Very happy to say that Paranormality is sponsoring the event.

Second, if you have 2 mins spare, it would be great if you could take part in my new fun survey – details here.

Finally, @StuartJRitchie sent me a video that appears to show a talking raven. I find it very very creepy….

Anyone know anything about it? Is it genuine? Why is the raven so well behaved? Oh, and there will be big news on the blog tomorrow.

Update: I originally called the raven a crow. As a result I had four emails pointing out the error, three from ravens and one from a crow. The raven has now been correctly identified as a raven.

 

 

Spot the face….

So simple but so lovely….

Did it take long for you to spot the man in the door?

The Red Club

I have just launched a new experiment on magic – if you have 2 minutes it would be great if you could take part.  Details here.

I am a big fan of the The Flying Karamazov Brothers, and so thought it would be great to make a fun psychology with them. We had about 2 hours to rehearse and film, and this is what we created…..

If you know about these types of videos then I suspect it may not fool you but hope that you enjoy the idea and wonderful juggling. If you are in or near London in the next few months, catch their great show!

Answer to the Friday puzzle…..

I have just launched a new experiment on magic – if you have 2 minutes it would be great if you could take part.  Details here.

On Friday I set this puzzle….

You meet a nasty dog in a dark alley.  The dog has a bag and the bag has a pebble in it.  The pebble is either black or white.  The dog then adds a white pebble and shakes up the bag.  He then asks you to take a pebble from the bag without looking inside it.  What are your chances of taking out a white pebble?

If you have not tried to solve it, have a go now.  For everyone else, the answer is after the break.

UPDATE: Having thought about this further, and had over 50 emails about the topic, I am of the opinion that the original answer is wrong.  Sorry about that and thanks to everyone for pointing out the correct solution!

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

You meet a nasty dog in a dark alley.  The dog has a bag and the bag has a pebble in it.  The pebble is either black or white.  The dog then adds a white pebble and shakes up the bag.  He then asks you to take a pebble from the bag without looking inside it.  What are your chances of taking out a white pebble?

As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do say if you think you have solved it and how long it took.  Solution on Monday.

I have produced an ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available for the Kindle (UK here and USA here) and on the iBookstore (UK here in the USA here). You can try 101 of the puzzles for free here.

How good is this…..

@blurreds kindly sent me this….

It’s a bit overlong for me but still great!

I dare you to watch this and not laugh….

Sooooooo well done……

What would you save?

Here is the imaginary scenario.  The earth is going to be destroyed by a giant meteorite.  We will all die and everything will be lost.  However, because we know the meteorite is coming, we have an opportunity to place an object, or objects, into a capsule the size of a telephone box and launch it into space.  The hope is that at some point, aliens will find the capsule and so at least there will have been some record of our existence.

What would you put in the capsule?

Answer to the Friday Puzzle….

On Friday I posted this puzzle…..which letter comes next in this series?  The answer is neither ‘I’ nor ‘X”.

I, X, X, X, I, X, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, _

If you have not tried to solve it, have a go now.  For everyone else, the answer is after the break.

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

A nice simple one this week!  Which letter comes next in this series?  The answer is neither ‘I’ nor ‘X”.

I, X, X, X, I, X, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, _

As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do feel free to say if you think you have solved it and how long it took.  Solution on Monday.

I have produced an ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available for the Kindle (UK here and USA here) and on the iBookstore (UK here in the USA here). You can try 101 of the puzzles for free here.

 

Fractal Tom Selleck!

Austin L sent me a great fractal Tom Selleck….

…..and I really like the simplicity of this (via Symone R)

Which is your favourite?

Dizzy, I’m so Dizzy….

Teavee sent me this wonderful video showing a camera on a hula-hoop…..

So, here is the question – did it make you feel sick?

Genius

The genius that is Marco Tempest has produced this wonderful video….

Marco and my good self will be two of the many performers at this years Essential Magic Convention.  I hope you can join us.

Answer to the Friday Puzzle!

I have a rare set of 1960s magic magazines on Ebay right now and the auction closes later today – details here.  Last week I noticed that one of the magazines has a neat puzzle in it, so it seemed appropriate to use as the basis for the Friday Puzzle….

A friend of mine has £100 in a bank account.  Whenever he takes out money he records how much he has taken out and the balance.  Here are his accounts for last week….

WITHDRAWN                                BALANCE

40                                                      60
30                                                      30
20                                                      10
9                                                        1
1                                                         0

There is one small problem – the WITHDRAWN column adds up to 100, but the BALANCE column adds up to 101 – how can this be the case?

If you have not tried to solve it, have a go now.  For everyone else, the answer (kinda) is after the break….

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

If you are in or around Cheltenham, I am doing a few events at the science festival there this weekend, including some seances and a talk with Jon Ronson.  Hope you can make it.

As I said at the beginning of the week,  I have a rare set of 1960s magic magazines on Ebay right now – details here.  I noticed that one of the magazines has a neat puzzle in it, so it seemed appropriate to use as the basis for this week’s puzzle….

A friend of mine has £100 in a bank account.  Whenever he takes out money he records how much he has taken out and the balance.  Here are his accounts for last week….

WITHDRAWN                                BALANCE

40                                                      60
30                                                      30
20                                                      10
9                                                        1
1                                                         0

There is one small problem – the WITHDRAWN column adds up to 100, but the BALANCE column adds up to 101 – how can this be the case?

As ever, please do NOT post your solutions, but do feel free to say if you have solved it and how long it took.  Answer on Monday.

I have produced an ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available for the Kindle (UK here and USA here) and on the iBookstore (UK here in the USA here). You can try 101 of the puzzles for free here.