Okay, too much has been said about this already, but Simon Cowell really foot and mouthed it – and it sums it all up.

He complained that the push to get Rage Against the Machine (RATM) to number one for Christmas was both silly and cynical. He did not like the idea of this manufactured push to number one – hinting it was unfair….

With this in mind, please think about this….

Cowell puts on X-Factor to build up the buzz and hype around some wannabe pop stars.(These singers may have talent, but it really doesn’t matter, as all Cowell is doing is using them to his own cause).

He plans the show so that it ends just before Christmas.

The show hype is planned to hit fever pitch just in time for a Christmas release…. That’s a bit unfair…

All that built up hype from the TV show is then focused on the X-Factor winner (It doesn’t matter who wins…). It is unfair on all the other bands and singers that don’t have Cowell’s budget and the X-Factor backing.

On top of this, Cowell chooses a song from a current singer who already has a huge fan base… not just a huge fan base, but a huge fan base that crosses over into the X-Factor viewer fan base.

Yes… the X-Factor Christmas release already has fans BEFORE its release… before the singer is even chosen.

Cowell even said the song was chosen to boost the winners chance of a Christmas number 1!!!

So Cowell, shut the Hell up with your calls of  “unfair”  – You put everything into getting that number one spot – you do it for the money and you don’t care who your singer is, because you know the public will buy it anyway after all the planning you put into it.

It isn’t about the music, it’s about raping the British public for their money. It has so much planning, the singer doesn’t come into it.

So, who will win?

The chosen charity will get cash (a good thing)

Cowell will win, after all, the public brought into his crap, brought the single and after the prize money, expenses etc are split, he’s no worse off as the public financed it all with the record sales….

BUT ULTIMATELY RATM will win….

Even if they didn’t get number one, even if they only got into the top ten they will have won…. they will have got the message across that we, the thinking public, don’t want your forced X-Factor song EVERY BLOODY YEAR. That’s a win, even if the X-Factor had come in at Number 1.

If you really like Joe, then how can you let Cowell and his publicity machine use him – whore him out – as a puppet – just to line THEIR pockets…?

If you Love Joe… Buy RATM!

Puppet Boy

UPDATE – WELL DONE RATM!!!! Number One!

The UK’s Xmas Number 1 is Rage Against The Machine selling 502,672 copies. X Factor Joe is Number 2 having sold 450,838.

Joe – Keep up the music – but do it in your own time.

Flickr reorganised my photo’s & broke picture links….

So… let’s try again – and this time with an update & more pictures!

I was on the lookout for some captioned t-shirts recently and just couldn’t find what I wanted. In the end I found a place that allows you to design your own… and sell them if you want.

Well, I purchased the one I wanted (after designing it…) – and once it arrived I was impressed by the print quality and the actual quality of the t-shirt. I then went back to the store and looked into how to sell my designs, after all, why not?

Since then I have added several designs – including a mug and notebook case to go with all the shirts…

If you like any of them, go to http://sometimespace.spreadshirt.co.uk/ and have a shop around… if you can’t find what you want, I might be able to sort something out for you (if you don’t want to do it yourself!).

I started out with some shooting orientated ones and then added a few more various others…These are a few of the designs…

SOMETIMESPACE – THE SHOP

Click the shop link above to buy any of the items below! These designs are on shirts, bags, mugs, bumper stickers…. Go for it! Alex needs new shoes!

Back in January 2008, before my back injury, new job and a lot of other stuff (read the blog and catch up…) I was training and competing a great deal with my target rifle.

I will say that I am by no means up there with the people who devote their lives to the sport – I just can’t afford that… so if you read this and think that I’m any good, then take it from me, I am a long way off of those in the top competitions – I take my hat off to those people – I wish I could spare that time and money, but I can’t.

Health reasons stopped me for a while, and now I’m getting back to it… and to get some extra wind in my sails I am posting this report I wrote for www.snipercentral.com whilst I was a much, much more active member. Now I am getting back into it all, I will be active there again – Great bunch of people with some very fine skills. Top place for newbies and oldbies alike!

Anyway, this may read a bit odd as it is out of context and out of it’s original web space, but to fill in a bit before I carry on….

“Recoil” is a guy who shoots well… and at the time had told people that they needed to concentrate on getting to grips with their rifles without all the extra bits such as scopes and bipods to help the shot. He suggested using reduced range US Marine training targets. These are silhouettes that symbolise a target at, say 800yds, but are scaled so that you only place them 25 yds away…. so it saves space and is ideal for training. The idea is to shot with non telescopic sights and just use a sling. Most of the guys that carried out this task used AR15’s that are autoloaders… I used a .22 target rifle that needed to be reloaded after each shot… which isa handicap compared to their rifles… especially during a timed run!

I did my practice targets and had my fun, but didn’t want to post my results on their forum initially, as I was much more serious and focused than the most of type of people who were trying the exercise. I didn’t want to put people off, as I was coming at these targets from a totally different background and with a skill set better suited for the task.

I am always happy to help share what I know, and more than happy to pick up new lessons and skills myself, and after much poking and requests from other Sniper Central members I published a report.

Just looking over it again after almost 2 years (Jeeeez!) has made me want to get right back into serious competition again. I miss the focus – and my back is as good as it is going to get, so it’s time to get training!

When I last shot I had just qualified as a Mastershot with a score of 396/400 – which gave an average of 99/100. I hope to be back there within the year….

Here is the report and the comments that followed it….HERE, but for Sometimespace…..

…and to get me going, and to share a little about my activities in another web group…. here is that report…

———————————————-

Newbies stay away!!!!

A fair few of you have asked for a report from me…..I’ve not wanted to do one before because what I do is not like what you mostly do. It can’t be compared – even though it is still lead tossing, it is a different school of lead tossing.

Right, I need to make it clear that I am not bragging – I am not showing off, and I am not saying that I am better than anyone else.

I do this. It is my thing. I don’t have to be able to run with a bergen, I don’t need to kill to survive and/or protect.

I sling my rifle, look through a dioptre sight (just a 3.7mm hole in a glass ring) and just shoot at small black spots with a “tack driver” that will always be able to out perform me.

I practice. A lot.

I joined SC to help gain some skills to help me. Skills that the “usual” target shooter probably wouldn’t be able to give me.

I shoot at targets that are much smaller than the reduced range practice pictures that Recoil put up. My usual 25yd target card (I shoot up to 100yds with the .22)  is made up of ten individual diagrams that mean I have to move around the card – 1 shot in each diagram. This means upsetting my position very slightly for each shot.

Those black dots I shoot at….I have to hit inside the very middle ring every time to win….without touching the line at all. That’s a lot of dry firing, relaxation techniques, focusing, listening to others….and practice. Currently I have a 98.2 average – by no means the best. That middle ring counts as 10 points – and a 10 spot card can give you 100 points. Simple stuff.

When I shot Recoils reduced range targets I was just out for fun. As I did not have to move around the paper I could just punch away. Because of the results I even got my Club President to sign as a witness.

Why did I say “Newbies stay away?” – A bit of a joke – but I always wanted to play guitar. After hearing Jimi Hendrix I realised I’d never be that good – so never started to learn. If you’re a newbie, then just practice…I’ve only had 3 years trigger time – but I’m in engineering and was taught my whole life to “LISTEN and DO AS I AM TAUGHT”.

I was also told that you never stop learning – so never stop listening.

I’m only as good as the people who help me – and that means each shot I fire has a little bit of all of you in it. For that I thank you.

RIGHT…..Those darn reduced range targets…..

20 shots from a single loader bolt gun. 2 minutes (well….just shy of 2 minutes). That included removing the jam caused by my fat fingers ramming a case (my very first jam!!!!)

Keeping on one target without moving made this an easy task for me. My eye stayed behind the sights and my ammo was exactly where it had to be to just reach, pick, load, pull…It has taken 3 years to get my position this far….and I’m still not happy with it…

That fubar round….Don’t panic, dump it, reload, keep shooting.

Man….20 shots…. most of those just went through and hit the back wall….and my ammo isn’t cheap (for a .22!!!)

A bit more relaxing. Once the first shot goes in, the rest follow – once more thanks to me just having to hold one position (unlike the movement I am usually used to). These diagrams took 10 minutes total to shoot….and yes….that is 10 shots in each.

I put these in a range report because I didn’t want to post them in Recoils “reduced Range” thread. I’m a hard practising focused competition shooter – and I didn’t want these pictures to put anyone else off of having a go.

To be honest with you – I’m a bit embarrassed about even posting them here – It just feels like I’m bragging (Recoil will say grow a spine now!!!!)

A few Twitter users will have noticed some users are posting tweets from something called Blip.fm.

Quite simply, it’s a free web page that allows users to post songs and videos to various social media sites – such as Facebook and Twitter.

It’s really pretty good – I didn’t really get into at first – but after giving it a fair try I’m getting into it now!

You can just tune in to favourite DJ’s (or rather people who also use Blip.fm). Other users select songs and their playlist builds up, and you can just select to listen to it.

To be more involved you can start to create your own playlists. This allows other people to then go to your list to listen to your chosen and growing selection of songs.

It’s quite simple – and a top way of finding long time forgotten songs, and discovering new ones you wouldn’t have otherwise thought about.

I particularly like searching through the “Mash Up” selections – song mixes such as Lady Gaga vs. Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.

For iPhone users there is currently an app called “Boombox Pro” which allows use of Blip.fm via the iPhone. It is a bit temperamental, but there are fixes for it. I have found that it failed totally after my first tries, but by resetting my application key in my Blip.fm settings/password section, Boombox started working again. It’s not faultless yet, as some of the playlist doesn’t update – but the search and Blip function works fine.

Hopefully, Blip.fm will bring out their own app soon… or Boombox will pull their finger out and sort out their bugs.

UPDATE: Received an email from Boombox designers today – They are working on fixes along with Blip.Fm. As that is the case I would recommend Boombox to anyone, simply because the app is a great idea, it almost works and the people working on it offer quick customer support. Good customer support is a must for me.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share a little bit more of what is out there on the web for those who hadn’t heard of it yet!

Not often I post something for the pure Hell of it… BUT….This is the best footage I have ever seen of a Shuttle launch. Views from various cameras…. first one, then starting again from another…etc…. fascinating!

NASA STS-127 Endevour Launch – Solid Rocket Booster Cameras – As talked about on SPEEDWAY SQUAD and highlighted by Toren Atkinson.

Okay… this is just a thought – It is not 100% figured out, and to be honest, I would be pretty much against some aspects of it – BUT I was just musing over something that MIGHT be the better good for the greater many for the future….

Feel free to add constructive comments!

So anyway… the roads are getting clogged up with too much traffic. Motorways are reduced to a dribble and often just stop during rush hours. Sometimes it is due to roadworks, sometimes due to accidents, and all compounded by pure volume of traffic.

That gives 3 focal points…. Roadworks, Accidents, volume of traffic.

All of these add to pollution in a big way, after all if a car takes longer to get somewhere due to traffic slowing it down, then it is burning fuel and not getting anywhere… Also, lots of cars = lots of pollution.

To reduce roadworks we need to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. The question is which ones do we remove? The answer to this will reflect on the accident rate on the roads…

To reduce accidents we need to remove as many drivers from the road that are likely to cause problems… and by reducing accidents we take a huge load off of the emergency services and hospitals (frees up the Police, Ambulances, Doctors, Nurses, Fire service etc…) and we keep the roads moving more freely due to less road traffic accident caused jams… This saves a lot of tax payers money allowing it to be routed in other directions…. one of those directions would be public transport… but more on that in a moment.

To help reduce the amount of drivers on the road, a much tougher driving test is required. Much, much tougher. This will keep a lot of the drivers off of the road that are dangerous. The less able drivers, the careless, the worriers, hesitater’s, the heavy on the gas drivers etc, all of these would get a taste of a cull. I’d even say that in this day and age the smoothness of a persons driving could be judged – after all a smoother drive gives greater fuel economy and less emissions – and also a smoother drive is a safer drive.

This would leave a lot of people stranded with nothing but frankly shitty public transport to rely on.True, one option could be lift sharing – and that would help save people money by sharing the fuel costs. Not a bad option really, once you see how many cars there are on the road in the morning with only one person in.

Back to public transport though – I had to travel to my work place by train recently as my car was being serviced… it cost over £30 for a return ticket…I had to get up 45 minutes earlier to catch a train… the journey took over an hour longer than my drive and I finally arrived home 1 hour later than usual…. The next day I hired a car and that worked out cheaper than a train ticket!

So how can this dire public transport be improved? I’d envisage more and better bus services… subsidised taxis, Heck, why not mini buses more frequently than the current buses? Who knows? Just SOMETHING!!!

With more people being forced to use public transport there would be more money being spent on travel – so prices could be reduced (finally!). Some of the money saved on emergency services and roadworks could be funnelled into improving the public transport system. In fact with less cars on the road, a regular stopping or fast track coach system could be set up on the motorways (after all, some places aren’t near train stations).

It may even get to a point where unlike my experience with public transport, it might be better for me to use public transport – Cheaper, faster, cleaner….. I can dream!!!

The more people that use public transport, the better it would get due to the cash injection (it would HAVE to get). So there you have it – a rickety theory on reducing the number of cars on the road and at the same time saving us and the Government money from areas that can have spending reduced (the reduction of road traffic accidents & road repairs due to lighter wear and tear etc), whilst at the same time reducing carbon emissions, and road deaths!

One point here… If I was one of the people who were caught in “the cull” then I’d be pretty annoyed… BUT I’d hope that an infrastructure was in place that would alleviate the pain and suffering that losing a car would give me. In fact I’d hope that if a scheme like this ever took off, that some people would simply PREFER to ditch their cars due to a much improved alternative… (stretch your imagination!)

Maybe, as a great deal of accidents are Motorway situated, my theory could be to just make a tough test for people to pass prior to travelling on the motorways. That would mean people could still have access to cars for local travels, but keep the main motorways clearer… hey… it’s just some random thoughts here!

Yes, it is a dodgy theory with many holes in it, but it is just the bones of a discussion that other people might look at and carry on with….

Good grief…

BBC news had story about a youth disco/club venue that is being shut down because of the underage drinking & fighting it caused…. and then within 5 minutes they show a clip for Children in Need where they want our money to fund a disco/club venue to keep kids off of the street & away from underage drinking & fighting….

Which one is it you want?

Okay, I think there are some charities that deserve my money -BUT I’m growing to hate the big events that take our charitable donations and give it to unworthy causes.

For charity, my money goes direct to the cause I support. I’m not letting some huge event organisation distribute it for me… and tonight on BBC News my beliefs have been well a truly cemented. I was disgusted – well and truly disgusted…. maybe I’m just getting old, but there is no way Children in Need are getting my money.

So there I was watching the BBC and that Children in Need advert I mentioned at the start came on. This concentrated on funding a disco/club venue for kids not having anything to do apart from go out and cause trouble - “because there’s nuffink else to do, so we, ya know, just get our kicks and cause trouble..”

They aren’t wanting for money as they currently DO go out drinking, smoking, (some do drugs) fighting – all because they supposedly have nothing to do! For God’s bloody sake! Every year there is more and more for people to do! When my Dad was growing up in the 1920’s & 30’s he had more to do than his Dad. When I was growing up there was an even bigger leap of things for me to do than the gap between my Dad and Granddad! Now Alex is growing up…and if he ever says there isn’t anything for him to do I’ll be amazed! There is so much to do!

I wasn’t even into computers so much back when I was a kid. I’d go out and play around with my mates in a local forest. Proper stuff – tree climbing! war games (no paint ball back then though – we had to pretend!)! ride bikes & make jumps! I’d go to the local swimming pool or sports centre. I had plenty of hobbies and things to do…. I had far, far less to do than kids have to do now!

So… there is no way on earth that I’ll give money to keep yobs off of the streets just because they say it is the lack of stuff to do that leads them to cause trouble! There is plenty to do, but the kids can’t be bothered to do them and just use this pathetic excuse to hide behind.

Teenage pregnancy is another thing I really don’t want my cash going on. Once more, compared to “my day” and my Dad’s day, there is so much more information about sex available that I shouldn’t have to fund little miss bored and little miss stupid. Yes – accidents might happen – and I’m sorry for those kids, BUT most of the time these aren’t accidents – they are just lazy, arrogant kids who think they know better. If the kid gets in trouble, then let the parents sort it out – because I put a lot of the blame on them.

This might rub a few people up the wrong way – but we are being to bloody soft nowadays. I’m sorry you had to mug an old lady because you were bored – here… have some money. You have to rob a house to get your drug and beer money because there’s absolutely nothing to do… my heart bleeds for you.

I pay my taxes which goes towards the benefits these people get anyway – and I have no choice where that goes… so there is no way I’m giving more away to them.

Where I can, I’ll place my charity directly where I want it to go. If I want to help real children in need (because I’m not dumb and DO realise there are many that are in genuine need!), then I’ll pay it direct to the supporting group.

Children in Need – you pushed this one out of me – Hope this helps you.

EDITED – See end of text for latest figures!

Since getting my old Audi A4 (1996 Saloon) I have covered over 6000 miles in under 3 months.

I drive over 100 miles a day – and that works out as an average of 76.1 miles a day including my none driving days!

That also works out at £8.04 a day on average…. and 659.8 miles per fill up.

So… I have the perfect chance to try several ways to save fuel.

I didn’t want to do anything over the top. I wanted to make slight changes to see what would happen. The type of changes you could do quite easily without altering your driving style so much.

Firstly I did a few journeys at my normal style. I’m no racer – I keep up with the traffic and drive as the traffic around me drives – so pretty average.

The table below shows a few statistics on my trips. I purchased the car with 113816 miles on the clock – so that is why the first line shows 0mpg – I hadn’t got anything to judge it against.

By the 27/08/09 I had covered 638 miles filling up with 57.63 litres – I had covered those 638 miles at 50.33mpg – a good starting point, as when I chose the car I was looking for 50mpg or more at the very least.

The next entry and I only got 47.03mpg! I knew why though. I was a bit heavier on the throttle and harder on the brakes. I even went around a track which gave the impact of driving the car like a “boy racer” – although that was only for 3 miles…. ONLY 3 miles like an idiot racer and it hammered my economy.

The following fill up gave me 55.66mph – and that was by far gentler driving… but nothing major!

I still drove at the same speeds on the roads as I had done on the previous tests, but this time I didn’t floor the throttle to get to those speeds, and I didn’t use harsh braking to slow down.

I simply put enough throttle down to get the car moving, then as it gathered speed I’d change up a gear – but a little earlier than usual. The time it took to get up to my usual top speeds was a little slower, but it was there that most of the fuel savings took place.

When it came to driving I simply left a bigger gap between me and the car ahead. If I saw the cars ahead start to slow I would come off of the throttle straight away instead of catching up and having to brake.

This way I wasn’t wasting fuel by braking and accelerating all the time – I was just using the throttle to keep me gently at my cruising speed – which was the same cruising speed I had used from the beginning of the test.

As you can see – between harsh driving and gentle driving I had a change in mpg of 8.63 mpg… or 299 miles per tank – at the time that was £6.84 per tank saved. For me that is over £350 a year… which  covers MoT & Tax.

The thing is, the journey to and from work is not taking any longer. Just driving calmly, pre-empting what other cars were doing, having a feather weight foot rather than a lead one… it all added up.

I use the iPhone App – Road Trip to measure all of this. Since using it I have taken a greater interest in my economy – I even have all my expenses set up on it so I can see the true daily cost of my car once insurance, fuel, tax, MoT, services etc are taken into account. Currently it costs £12.21 a day – which is less than half the price of a return train ticket for my work!

Annoyingly the M3 then had months of road works – and the reduced speed took the car out of an economic cruise, so I lost the high mileage economy for a while. Still, I managed to keep the average up over 50mpg.

Yellow: Price per Litre / White: MPG / Blue: Average

I am now trying to hone my driving style to reduce the fuel cost even more. I mentioned that I would simply come off of the throttle if I was catching up with traffic. If I caught up too fast (nothing dangerous)  then I was using the brake. This isn’t the best way to save fuel…. You see modern cars that are aiming at giving better economy are now using engine braking to help save fuel. One way you can do this with older cars is to come off of the throttle, put the clutch in so the revs drop off, then slowly let the clutch out again. The speed of the car will then try to spin the engine revs back up again, and as this happens the energy used to spin the engine up is lost in speed. I am finding I can slow down quite smoothly this way – and in fact don’t need to use the brake unless I am coming to a dead stop, or if there is an event that requires faster stopping.

I also don’t sit on the clutch at traffic lights or on hills. I go into neutral and put the hand brake on. It doesn’t seem like much, but it all adds up. Correctly servicing the car, keeping the tyres to the correct pressure (an important safety check in its own right) – it’s all important in the fight to save fuel bills – and none of it is difficult to achieve.

It’s all about being calm – and it is true to a point, driving faster doesn’t get you there any quicker – but driving there with a bit more thought will save a lot of money.

UPDATE!

Even though I spent some time stuck in traffic due to a huge problem on the M27, the results from clutch braking are showing through. I have just returned my best MPG to date at 56.18mpg – giving my daily running cost (including all bills etc) of just over 15 pence!). If I carried on driving hard, that would go up to £1.15!!! That’s a heck of a difference.

One person pointed out that this may wear the clutch out more… BUT… I am using less brakes and less fuel – which more than makes up for any additional clutch wear. Also. the clutch is gently slipping within a small speed & rev range, so the wear is much less than you would get when changing gear. So clutch wear is a mute point here.

]]> http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/save-cash-on-fuel/feed/ 0 rb73 Screen shot 2009-11-09 at 20.36.37 photo fuel http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/magicians-can-kiss-my-enchanted-ring/ http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/magicians-can-kiss-my-enchanted-ring/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:19:41 +0000 rb73 http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/?p=1683 ]]>

Okay… before I rant I will say that there are some fantastic illusionists who use their own physical skills to do their illusions. Sleight of hand, close up illusions – all very good… but as for magic, that’s the stuff of King Arthur and Merlin, or Dungeons and Dragons.

I appreciate the skills of these illusionists almost to the same extent that I detest so called magicians and illusionists that rely on getting an audience to lie, tricks of the camera and other such bull to make their “tricks” work.

It stems back to me as a young lad being privileged enough to see Paul Daniels make an elephant “disappear” with his “magic”…. what a bunch of tosh.

The “trick” involved a big square tent with a pointy roof. The tent sides all drop down outwards so they lay flat on the ground. The roof of the tent is pulled off by a rope going up to a crane jib. In the top of the tent is a trapeze.

The idea is that the sides are down but the roof is on so the trapeze can’t be seen. Hidden in the roof is Debbie McGee. An elephant is walked into the tent. The tent sides are hoisted up, Paul says some “magic” words and then the tent sides drop and the roof cover is rapidly whipped off to reveal no elephant in the tent and just Debbie McGee sat on a trapeze.

To add credibility to the “magic” there are four Gurkha soldiers guarding the four corners of the tent. Their job is too act all shocked when the elephant vanishes… and have been told to lie, as they have to say the elephant hasn’t left the tent by any other means. This is where Daniels starts to get supposed audience participants to lie to the viewing public to help the so called illusion. I’m sorry, but if it takes making people lie to make the “magic” work, then it is nothing but a con at best. Not an illusion, not magic… a pure con.

What made me feel worse was even as a young kid I knew how honourable & honest the Gurkha soldiers are – I knew these brave soldiers would do anything for the Queen & Country…. and here they were being told by the dwarf like Daniels to lie for entertainment…

To add even more credibility to the farce they even had Johnny Morris there, walking around in the tent and jumping up and down proclaiming how the ground under the tent was absolutely solid. For all Johnny knew it was…

From my vantage point I watched the elephant getting walked into the tent. As the sides went up the rear tent panel opened like a pair of curtains (hidden from view, and ignored by the Gurkhas) and the elephant was lead out onto a platform. This was a lift platform that then dropped the elephant into a big old hole in the ground. As the platform retreated into the hole, the curtains were shut again. All of this happened very quickly as Daniels spun his cheesy magic to the camera…. and then! BANG… the tent sides drop, the roof is lifted and you are left with Debbie on the trapeze and no elephant – as the elephant is now hidden in a hole underneathe the back tent panel that has been dropped over the hole. See… I told you for all Johnny knew the ground directly under the tent was solid.

What the home audience see is the disappearance of an elephant, a confused Johnny Morris, four Gurkha chaps who have been told to lie, and several scattered spectators who also “didn’t see anything dodgy happen”. Home audiences are wowed and one small boy who saw it all for his own eyes is thoroughly disillusioned (see what I did there?).

Derren Brown is another to get people to lie for his act. The Lottery number trick was all done with split screen monitors (a bit like in movies where a thieves loop a video clip of a corridor to trick the guards). I won’t go into that here – but instead I’ll hand over to this YouTube clip (by Mutated Monty) that explains it. If one guy with a camera at home can do this, then Derren Brown would have no problem. Goes to show what a bunch of arse it all is. Well Done Mutated Monty.

So, unless you can pull a clever trick off WITHOUT getting people to lie to cover you, or relying on camera or computer trickery, then you don’t deserve to be called an illusionist – AT ALL. You are nothing more than a visual effects performer or con man.

Copperfield, Blaine, Daniels, Brown and all – you can all kiss my enchanted ring with your huge vanishing buildings and psychic mumbo jumbo – it’s all pathetic tat.

Now, street performers who can, by pure use of hand skills, make things happen before my eyes, then you people are the true illusionists. Lets not forget though – it’s all illusion and not magic…. magic is all Lord of the Rings.

What brought all of this up you may ask…. Simple… I just found out our works Christmas party has table “magicians”…. I am really hoping they are from the street performer side of the illusionist track, than the pathetic fakers side…

]]> http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/magicians-can-kiss-my-enchanted-ring/feed/ 0 rb73 sometimespace.com http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/spider-man/ http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/spider-man/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:58:25 +0000 rb73 http://moretimespace.wordpress.com/?p=1679 ]]>

As you may well know, spiders have never been my strong point.

Only 2 years ago I’d torch the buggers with a hairspray can and lighter, rather than go near it.

A year ago I managed to catch one in a glass and let it loose outside… It got to a point where I could catch it and let it go AS LONG as it didn’t move during the process… if it moved, the pint glass was turned rapidly upside down and the spider became bigger, flatter….deader.

I had to overcome this fear though – or else little Alex would fear spiders too… and that wouldn’t be a fair thing for me to pass on.

A year ago at my last job I encountered a weird spider outside of my office window… I observed, contacted the Natural History Museum and found out it was a very rare sight for a human to see. It was some kind of woodland night time spider. Big thing – bit like a garden spider, but in a leather jacket with a skull on the back. In fact this thing did have a skull like pattern on the back!

Anyway, this rare spider had young un’s…. One got into the office. It was tiny only 1mm across… and each day I decided to pick it up to try and out grow my fear. It got bigger (only about 1cm across) before it vanished… but it was a start for me.

Then a few weeks ago a reasonable sized house spider caught me off guard in the bathroom. The only thing I could do was scoop it up by hand… EEEP!

That was it though – Once I held it I realised the fear was on the way out. It was just a spider! It was a bit like getting into a cold swimming pool! The initial touch was chilling… but within moments it was walking over my hand and I was not too freaked!

Then a few weeks later I caught a slightly bigger one in a glass… took it outside… then tipped the glass onto my hand and let it run around a bit. Once more gaining confidence!

Then tonight…. I heard thumping on the kitchen ceiling as this brute walked across it. Too big for even me! I took a pint glass and card and caught it… took it outside… and just figured I’d do it… no time to think….

I figure I’m pretty well on my way to beating the fear! This thing was huge and had weight to it!!!

I even managed to keep it entertained whilst I called Chris on my mobile…. She answered from safe in the house… I asked her to bring my camera out and leave it on the doorstep so I could get some pictures!

More pictures HERE

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