Psychic Friends Notwork

From: By Bevans on Wednesday, September 26, 2007

A while ago, I heard about a site that offers $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate psychic or paranormal abilities or events. Up until now I haven't bothered to look it up, but today I did.

The James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge

What I found really interesting was their Log of Applicants. There are hundreds of people listed there who have applied, with nearly as many weird so-called "abilities". Some of these people claim to be able to transfer thoughts to other minds, to be able to control magnetism, to have telekinesis, to be able to exorcise demons, control street lights, and all sorts of other psychic nutjobbery. And not a single one has passed the foundation's preliminary tests. These aren't hard tests either. They're basic, scientific rules that don't allow for any sort of bias or outside interference.

I'm also posting this so that other people can use it to help to debunk the phonies, and to help the truly gifted. If you know or meet someone who claims to have psychic or paranormal abilities (or if you've ever hired one to come to your house, hint hint) then you can just point them to this site. Even if they don't want the money, they can always donate it to the charity of their choice. There's no reason NOT to do it!
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T-Shirt Designs

From: , By Bevans on Wednesday, September 12, 2007


I was working on a new merchandise design today, and I realized that I hadn't ever posted my other merchandise designs on this blog. So, in the interest of getting the word out, here they are.

So far, I've actually sold 4 or 5 items with the Angry Cactus logo on them, but so far there've been no takers for the SkyPie. And no takers for the Tony Lived/Tony Died shirts either. Not that I expect any sales, mind you. It's mostly just for me to practice, and maybe make a few bucks on the side.

I really like my new design though. I'll be posting it in the next few days, I think. Complete with full CafePress store, once again. And more importantly, I think I may actually sell a few items with it.
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Incredible image-resizing tool

From: , , By Bevans on Tuesday, September 04, 2007

It's hard to explain this video, so I recommend just watching it (it starts out kinda dry, but it's worth sticking to it).

Basically, it's an experiment in dynamic image resizing, but instead of stretching/squashing or cropping, this tool takes out unimportant elements while keeping important ones (like people), or stretches elements that can be stretched while keeping other perspectives equal. If that makes ANY sense...

Just watch the damn video.

Water bubble experiments in space

From: , By Bevans on Tuesday, September 04, 2007

This video shows 3 different experiments that scientists conducted in zero gravity, presumably on the ISS. They're really quite amazing, especially the last one.