This is the life

Wrote yesterday’s diary entry early this morning sat out on the upper balcony overlooking the hills. A cloudless sky. A croissant for breakfast and then 10 minutes meditation. Wanting to do more meditation this week to kickstart me in to meditating when we get back home.

Down to the pool for a morning’s sunbathing and a swim. Rachel even went topless for the first time ever!

“Hello team!” called an Englishman’s voice from above us. “Is everybody decent?”

“I am”, I called back. Dripping wet, I walked up the steps to meet Andrew who, with his wife Marianne, are caretakers for Scopeto. I’m guessing they are probably in their 60's and discover they moved out to Umbria a little over 20 years ago to a house the renovated just down the road. Their friendly dog, Oscar, takes a rest in the shade as Andrew and Marianne make sure we’re settling in.

“Everything OK?” Andrew asks.

“Fantastic. The place is beautiful!” I reply, "I think I've heard Rachel say 'this is the life' about five times this morning already". Andrew and Marianne proceed to suggest places we could visit during our stay such as the lake (Lake Trasimeno) which is just over the hill opposite us, a great local wine-tasting place, the town of Citta del Castello, and of course Cortona which is about half an hour’s drive over the hills along the valley. Cortona is a hillside town just over the county border in Tuscany made famous by the books Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes in which she recounts her experiences of renovating a Tuscan farmhouse and how she falls in love with the surrounding area. The book was made into a film and much of the location filming was done in Cortona.

“The irony is,” Marianne tells us, “Frances Mayes has now moved over the county border from Tuscany to Umbria to get away from the American tourists that descend on Cortona! American tourists that come to visit the town she describes she fell in love with in her books.” Ironic indeed. Andrew and Marianne bid us farewell and wish us an enjoyable stay. I don’t think that will be hard.

A few more hours sunbathing and swimming, broken only by a home-made lunch of Italian meats, mozarella, baguette, and a rocket salad with oil and balsamic. And an ice-cold beer. Eventually, around 4-ish, we decide we would take a short drive down to the nearest village, San Leo Bastia, to see if the shop was open and just see what was down there. The shop was closed, and so we drove a little further along the road to find a café open but again no shop. Now we were out, we thought we’d take a little drive further along the road to explore a little. Before long we were driving along the high and windy road that would take us over the Tuscan border toward Cortona.

Cortona is, as Marianne described, very beautiful but full of tourists. Not in an overly bad way compared to say Spain but I imagine it is the one town around here that attracts the tourists. It is a fairly small Etruscan walled town set on the hillside with fantastic views across Tuscany. We weren't able to take any photographs of Cortona as we'd left the camera at home (listen to me, I'm calling it 'home' already) thinking we were only popping out to the shop.

There are a few shops there to browse and a number of restaurants and trattoria and so we decided to kick around till 7pm, which is when the restaurants tend to begin serving dinner and eat there. An excellent meal at La Locunda overlooking Piazza della Republica as the birds darted around above our heads. Rachel even reserved the table in Italian. Show-off.

Under the Umbrian Sun

When Sandra and Keith, Rachel’s parents, asked if they could take Freya on holiday for a week this year, it wasn’t long before Rachel was poring through holiday brochures and browsing the web looking for places to go. Not, you understand, places to take Freya. No, no no. Rachel was looking for places we could go. Without Freya.

And so it is that we are sat outside Scopeto, a glorious stone-built cottage tucked away in the Umbrian hills. Rachel’s internet searches have really come up trumps this time. A week of relaxation should be pretty easy here, with only the sounds of birds, and the occasional lizard to distract you. Our own private pool catches the sun* all day, there are three different terraces on which to sunbathe, and the view across what feels like our own private valley is a delight.

It will be our longest time away from Freya. She is spending the week with her grandparents in a cottage in Northumbria. They are joined by Alice, the 17-year old daughter of friends Lynn and Ron. I’ve got a feeling that Alice is going to become Freya’s new best friend. On the flight from Gatwick to Bologna, we seemed to be the only couple who weren’t accompanied by a young child or two, which initially made us miss Freya even more but by the time we were waiting in line at Bologna airport to collect our hire-car, we were simply grateful we weren’t one of the couples having to chase after and/or manhandle a fractious toddler who was getting bored/hungry/tired etc.

The convertible (“cabrio”) Mini that Rachel had hired for the week didn’t materialize. We had imagined ourselves cruising down the Italian highways with the top down with the sun on our heads and the wind in our hair.

“No cabrio” the surly man behind the Eurpocar desk informed us, “I can offer you CinqueCento”. I looked to Rachel, “that’s one of those crappy little Fiats isn’t it?”. Rachel was already letting Signor Surly that she wasn’t best pleased with being offered a CinqueCento when she had booked and paid for a cabrio. None of the other car-hire companies had cabrios either but the one next door did at least offer us an Alfa Romeo which has to be better than a CinqueCento, so we cancelled the Europcar booking and went with the Alfa Romeo.

A few hours later, after a drive through some beautiful countryside, we arrived at Scopeto. Nearest village San Leo Bastia, nearest town Trestina. We’re about half an hour away from Cortona. It’s beautiful.

*Note for readers in the UK. The “sun” is a large firey ball in the sky that sits behind that grey blanket we call cloud. In other countries, it is seen on more than one or two afternoons of the year.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Yesterday was quite an auspicious day. At least it was for me. I finally decided to hand my notice in at the University where I have been employed for the last 10 years! Back in January, I indicated that I was contemplating taking a career break, but after much deliberation (including several sessions with an occupational health counsellor!) I realised that it was time to move on. Anyway, I'd have to apply for a career break and I was told it would be unlikely to be approved by the head honcho, so I thought I'd bite the bullet and give my notice.

Gulp!

Comic genius

I think I might have had a sense of humour bypass without realising it. Last weekend I caught the result of Britain's Got Talent having managed to skilfully avoid the whole thing until that point. It wasn't so much the shock defeat for Susan Boyle that caught my attention, rather the phenomenon that is Stavros Flatley. YouTube won't let me embed the better quality clips of their Final act (which you can view here), so apologies for the poor quality of the clip:



Each time I watch this clip, my sides ache with pain as I guffaw at the sheer comedy genius that this father and son display with their moves in time to the Riverdance music. You read that right folks, they dance to the Riverdance music! And they're a fat father and son! It's funnier than a whole weekend of The Vicar of Dibley crammed into a minute and a half.

More weird science

The book on anomalous experiences I mentioned in an earlier post will hopefully be published later this year or early next year. In the meantime I thought I'd draw your attention to a book editted by a former colleague of mine, and himself a contributor to the Anomalous Experiences book, Dr Craig Murray.

This book has the rather wordy title of Psychological Scientific Perspectives on Out of Body and Near Death Experiences and is published by Nova. More details can be found here. With chapters written by the leading researchers on OBEs and NDEs, it looks set to become a leading text dealing with these unusual, though not uncommon, experiences. Perhaps these experiences tell us something about consciousness, how our brains construct conscious experience, or even shed light on what happens after we die!

All done by mirrors (or is it?)

My mistake. The camera trick linked to in the previous blog was more than likely inspired by this Dr Wiseman trick (not the colour changing card trick):

Camera trick

I came across this today quite by accident and just love it:



I actually discovered it when I stumbled upon a blog that linked to it. The blogger even made reference to the fact that it reminded her of a Dr Wiseman trick (don't worry Richard, I'm sure she meant to say Professor Wiseman). She was no doubt referring to his superb colour-changing card trick. Remember the effect is achieved with no editting. Have a think about how it might have been done before you watch the clip below that reveals the wonderful secret:



Great piece of marketing.. who knows I might even consider buying a Samsung if I didn't already have my eye on an iPhone.

(Just for now, I have stretched the template for the blog so that the full screens from the YouTube clips above are shown. The usual template rather annoyingly cuts off the right hand side of the clips.)

Flowery Twats

After their recent attempt to kill off the nation's brain cells by broadcasting back-to-back episodes of The Vicar of Dibley, G.O.L.D., the nation's favourite comedy channel (apparently), have redeemed themselves. I just caught the repeat of Fawlty Towers Re-Opened, a two-hour documentary about the truly classic sitcom in which John Cleese, Connie Booth, and others from the show talk about why it was so successful, how it was written, what inspired it, and so on. Excellent stuff.

Fans of the show will remember that at the end of the opening credits of each episode, the letters on the hotel sign were re-arranged by the paper boy to spell out different words like 'Fatty Owls', 'Farty Towels', etc. In fact only one of these was an actual anagram of Fawlty Towers...

Israeli bender (of spoons)

Talking of psychics, when I was a kid Uri Geller was a bit of a hero of mine. I guess I have to use the word 'psychic' loosely as nowadays he refers to himself as a 'paranormalist', whatever that is.

I also use the word 'hero' fairly loosely, but he was a big influence on me. In fact he was probably one of the reasons I became interested in the idea of paranormal phenomena as I already an unhealthy interest in magic and conjuring. Geller seemed to be able to bend metal (more often than not in the form of spoons) with the power of his mind as well as start broken watches and reproduce hidden drawings. What Geller did looked an awful lot like magic tricks but he claimed he was doing it for real. And it started me wondering whether any of this stuff could be done for real. I still wonder.

I was hoping that YouTube might provide a clip from the Dimbleby Show on which Geller shot to fame in the UK in the 1970s, but all I can find on YouTube are clips seeming to show Geller bending spoons in less impressive ways. Either that or clips from the various versions of his recent TV shows in which he leads the search for the Next Uri Geller (this is the title of the German version of the show; in the US it went by the name of Phenomenon, and in Israel it was called The Successor). The show hasn't made it to the UK. Yet.

Psychic Unfair

I have long been interested in the possibility that some of us, or indeed all of us, possess some kind of psychic ability. In fact, the vast majority of my academic research over the 15 years or so has examined this question in one way or another.

It was therefore with interest that we paid a visit last weekend to a psychic fair that was being held in a village hall just a few miles down the road from our home. As we paid the £3 each entry fee to the girl on the desk, I looked over the girl's shoulder to glance at the room we were paying six quid to enter (Freya was free). Down one side of the room stood five or six tables selling a little jewelry, a few crystals, and not a lot else. On the other side of the room were a handful of smaller tables at which were sat the psychics giving their readings.

Call me old fashioned but having been to one or two psychic fairs before I was expecting a few more stalls, and perhaps even a few more psychics. Still, we thought we'd enter into the spirit of things and get a reading each (me and Rachel that is, I don't think Freya was that arsed...). To get a reading we were required to put our name down with the girl on the front desk for the psychic (or indeed medium) of our choice. We opted for a reading from a medium so put our name down for someone called Annabel. I would go first and then Rachel, and we'd take turns to look after Freya. While waiting for Annabel to become available we thought we'd wait outside as it was such a beautiful sunny afternoon, and surprisingly Freya found it rather boring inside the hall with absolutely nothing to do.

A few minutes later I wandered back inside to see if Annabel had become free, only to find she was now giving a reading to someone else! What an effective queuing system... It's good that the girl on the front desk was taking people's names so as to avoid just this.

Oh well, perhaps it wasn't to be. Rather than wait another half hour for Annabel to become free (and perhaps be gazumped again) we decided instead to take Freya to a park and enjoy the Saturday afternoon sunshine. We quickly saw the positive side... we'd just saved ourselves £40 and we could be back home to catch the remaining hours of the Dibley-a-thon on G.O.L.D. Yay!

Goose, Moose and Apple Juice

As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a fan of Derren Brown. So it was a treat last night to see the man himself in his touring show, Enigma, at the Lowry Theatre in Salford. This was the second time Rachel and I had seen DB in a live show, having seen his An Evening of Wonders show in the West End last summer.

Both shows were excellent. Members of the audience needed on stage are chosen by frisbies thrown out into the audience. At the London show I was lucky enough to be one of about eight on stage at one point for a segment involving pendulums, each made of a large nut tied to the end of a piece of string. Through the power of suggestion the pendulum swings from left to right or in a circle no matter how much you feel you're keeping your arm still.

The best part of the Enigma show comes right at the end which, of course, I can't reveal. Suffice to say, the the title of this post might seem random but it isn't. It seems that DB is in agreement with Spiritual Junkie in so far as nothing is random.

Death by Dibley

This weekend the TV channel G.O.L.D. (which apparently stands for Go On Laugh Daily...) is showing back-to-back episodes of The Vicar of Dibley. Sadly I won't be able to watch these as I'll be too busy sticking forks in my eyes.

The man with the never-ending surname

Yesterday, the video about our research into coincidences that Hannah liked so much made it on to the website of the Liverpool Daily Post. So up yours Hannah!

Speaking of coincidences, while looking for the link to the video on the Daily Post, I just took a look at the Daily Post's main page as that was where the video appeared yesterday. The video that appeared in its place today was about a launch event for something called CAUSE (Children's Aid Using Soccer Events) and featured former Liverpool and England footballer Steve McMananam. The coincidence? Somewhat bizarrely, when Rachel and I were enjoying a meal out on Monday this week, for Rachel's birthday, we recognised one of the large party at a nearby table as a famous footballer. Neither of us were able to remember his name at the time, but when we got home we did a bit of internet searching to discover it was none other than Steve McMananam.

Somewhat of a coincidence that Mr McManaman turns up twice in one week, once in person and once in an indirect link to this project via the Daily Post, don't you think?

Everyone's a critic

As you know, I absolutely love Facebook. Can't get enough of it. So just as I posted about our horse-riding lesson last night, I was delighted to receive an email via Facebook informing me that Hannah Mowl had made a comment on a video of me on Facebook!

If you remember, the University's PR agency suggested we set up a group on Facebook (called 'Do you believe in destiny or chance?' in case you're interested) to help recruit people for a survey on meaningful coincidences that one of my students was conducting. Well they also suggested that a short video on the Facebook page might for some reason attract people. So they did an interview with me a couple of weeks ago, and posted the short video on the site at the beginning of this week.

And now Hannah Mowl had seen fit to post a comment about the video on the Facebook group page. How exciting! I immediately clicked the link that took me to the page to find out what insightful comments Hannah had made. Imagine, then, my surprise as I scrolled down the page to discover Hannah's one word review. The solitary word she had chosen to post to convey her innermost thoughts about the short film about our research project? "fanny".

Thanks Hannah! And I don't even know who Hannah Mowl is! That's what I love about Facebook. Now I can get the insults of complete strangers dropped straight into by email inbox. Cool, eh? I suppose I could be grateful that this is a fairly tame insult (and a step up from insults like "tosser" or "wanker" that I'm used to...) but who knows what future comments might bring?

If you're really keen to watch the offending video then you need to do no more than click here. I was going to say you could also read Hannah's scathing review but it seems as though it's been removed, but you can always leave your own insults!

Why the long face?

The last time I sat on a horse, I cried. I was probably about 9 years old at the time. My sister, Sally, went to horse-riding lessons and so my mum took me and my brother, Anthony, along too. The first few times Anthony and I would just play around while we waited for Sally to have her lesson, but eventually my mum thought it might be a good idea if me and my brother had a lesson at the same time. I don't really remember if we had a choice in the matter, but before we knew it we wearing hats and boots and were lined up next to each other on our respective horses. Sally was on her quite respectable looking mottled grey steed whose name I don't remember, Anthony was on a smaller, hairier, horse I think called Snip, while I was rested upon an animal that went by the name of Jason.

Now Sally, of course, was a more than willing participant in the lesson (indeed she was the reason we were there in the first place) and so no doubt found the whole thing rather enjoyable. Perhaps even fun. But my brother and I were more reluctant riders and so found it less enjoyable. Traumatic even. Anthony probably had the tougher horse as Snip seemed to have trouble seeing through his shaggy mane that fell over his eyes and would often stop half way round the ring to graze on the grass over the fence. My horse, Jason, seemed to be more up for it but paid little attention to what I was doing with the reins or my heels and decided to do whatever he fancied doing in whatever direction he fancied doing it. Which I personally think is fair enough. But you try telling the horse-riding teacher that. (I use the word 'teacher' but I think fascist cow is nearer the mark.) From the beginning to the end of each lesson she would shout her instructions from the centre of the ring, telling me that I was doing it all wrong. Hence the tears. (Hey, I was a sensitive kid.)

These memories re-surfaced today as I agreed to join Rachel for a horse-riding lesson. Yes folks, a horse-riding lesson. I've been reading Susan Jeffers' book Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway, so I thought what the heck! (And the fascist cow/teacher of 30 years ago must be retired, or even dead, by now right?)

When we arrived, the smell brought it all back to me. I could almost feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I actually felt a little nervous. And the pair of crutches beside the door of the reception office didn't help my confidence too much either. Still, Ms Jeffers would have been proud of me, as I followed Rachel into the office and found a suitably sized pair of riding boots and hat.

"Rachel, you're on Rosie", the woman behind the desk informed us. "Matthew, you've got Ed". She pointed across the stable yard to a black horse with a white streak down his face. I liked the look of Ed. As we led our horses out to the ring, Ed seemed very laid back, almost not caring. Did he not realise the demons I was exorcising?

Our teacher today was Geena. She was neither a fascist nor a cow. In fact she was really nice. She told us both (me and Rachel that is, not me and Ed...) how good we were doing and she was "very impressed" (her actual words mind) with my rising trot!

The entire lesson passed without a single tear. In fact, I had a smile on my face the whole time.

Men who...

I was looking for information about Jon Ronson's book The Men Who Stare at Goats, and so started to type the title of the book into Google. I got as far as typing "Men who" and of course Google, being Google, suggested the various ways in which this phrase might end. The first surprise was that the phrase I was actually wanting to search for "Men who stare at goats" came up as the first suggestion (with around 298,000 hits)! But I was more intrigued with the other suggested endings to the phrase. Google's second suggestion was "Men who cheat" with 14.7 million hits. Further down the list were the suggstions "Men who can't love" (100 million hits) "Men who have walked on the moon" (4.7 million hits) and "Men who knit"(968,000 hits). What stuck out, though, with 950,000 hits was the suggested phrase "Men who look like Kenny Rogers"!

It would seem that basically having a white beard is enough to count as looking like Kenny.

Blind leading the blind

What do you find yourself thinking about on those occasions when you wake up at 3am and can't get back to sleep? Sometimes it's the strangest things. Freya is teething at the moment and so tends to wake in the night crying. After getting up to settle her, I found I couldn't get back to sleep as my mind starts to ponder some of life's questions. Tonight my mind decided to mull over this little engima...

Those of you who also have young children will more than likely be familiar with the BBC channel CBeebies. One of the more recent additions to the fine range of programmes on CBeebies is called Me too! set in the fictional city of Riverseafingal which is a kind of composite city made up of bits of cities from around the UK. Amongst the array of characters is Rudi who runs a fruit and veg stall on the market. Now the first time I saw Rudi, I thought "he's not a very good actor! He's not even looking at the woman he's supposed to be talking to...". I then I realised there was a good reason for that. He's blind. But what confused me is that at no point do they refer to him being blind. He goes about his business, selling fruit and veg and exploring the confusing hybrid town that is Riversea Fingal as if he can see perfectly well. This confuses me (it's even keeping me awake at night!) so surely it's going to confuse pre-schoolers.

I wish I could get back to sleep.

I feel dirty

One of my dissertation students is conducting an online survey on 'meaningful coincidences'. Please feel free to go and complete the survey. Thing is, our University's Public Relations agency had the rather ingenious idea of using social networking to get people to complete the survey. Yes, folks... that's Facebook to you and me! Aaagh! This means I have had to join a specially constructed Facebook group and invite all my "friends" to join too...

I just wanted to say sorry.

If you've got a young child then my guess is you'll hav esome kno

Slumdog a winner!

A good night last night for Danny Boyle and friends... Slumdog Millionaire won 8 of the 10 Oscars it was up for (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Music [Song], Best Music [Score], Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography, and Best Adapted Screenplay)!

Have you seen it yet?

The future of cubing?

Oh dear. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. They've just released a new Rubik's TouchCube. All the fun of the original Rubik's Cube but without any of the twisting and turning that actually made up much of the original fun! (See my earlier post that brings back memories of cubing as it should be...)

Still, with a price tage of $149.99, I think us 'purist' cubers are safe for a while.

15 Steps to Tyranny

This week I have watched a TV documentary called Five Steps to Tyranny three times. It is something we show to our first year psychology students as part of one of their seminars. As I take three separate seminar groups, I have sat through the film three times this week!

The film is a very useful introduction to how social psychologists explain how it only takes a few key ingredients to turn any one of us into someone who might inflict terrible harm to others. Step 1 is that from an early age we identify with various 'in-groups' of which we regard ourselves to be a member, and can contrast those with 'out-groups' of which we are not a member (i.e., 'us' and 'them'). Step 2 is that we readily obey orders, often without questioning them. More worryingly, perhaps, when there is an authority figure who asks us, or commands us, to do something that we might normally not want to do (Step 3: do 'them' harm) we will often follow the command especially if we feel that someone else will take responsibility. The eye-opening research conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960's revealed the extent to which this was the case. Around two thirds of people who participated in his studies of obedience (who thought they were taking part in research on the effects of punishment on learning) would go on to deliver electric shocks to a co-participant of 450 volts when told to do so by an experimenter. (The co-participant was actually a confederate of the experimenter who never received the shocks, but the real participant wasn't told this until after the experiment.) Experts in human behaviour had predicted beforehand that only a very small percentage would administer these shocks.

Step 4: 'stand up' or 'stand by' shows how many of us are far more likely to stand back and do nothing when we see somebody who might need our help. Combine this with step 1 and we are particularly reluctant to offer help to someone who we see as being in an 'out-group'. By the time we get to the final step, 'exterminate', we've reached the point there is every chance that members of a more powerful 'in-group' will seek to get completely rid of any 'out-groups'. It was the research of another psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, which demonstrated this so effectively. In his Stanford Prison Experiment he turned the basement of the Psychology Department at Stanford University into a prison. Male students were arbitrarily split into either 'prisoners' or 'guards' and asked to role-play these roles as part of the planned 14-day experiment. As it turned out, after just 6 days the guards had become sadistic and were treating the prisoners so badly the study had to be stopped.

It is through these 5 simple steps that, according to social psychologists, tyrannical regimes can emerge and be allowed to continue to exert their power.

Bummer.

The full documentary can be found here.

Better late than never

In October 1993, US stand-up Bill Hicks recorded a set for The Late Show with David Letterman. The set was never aired as the show's producers felt that Hicks' material was too controversial and might upset the TV network's sponsors. Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer (aged just 32) a few months later in February 1994. In the final months of his life, the fact that his stand-up routine had been cut from the show was of major concern to Hicks (and his fans).

Last month, the set was finally broadcast. Enjoy:

Hair cut

Today was my first day in work since getting my hair cut at the weekend. Not one person commented on it.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Hide and seek

This advert for the Ford Ka caught my attention in the first advert break tonight during Lost on Sky 1. There are supposed to be 80 Ka's hidden in the ad. Just love the idea and the song:



The clip above, from our friend YouTube isn't great quality. Clicking here will get you to the Ford Ka website for a much better quality version (click on the 'media' link), which you'll probably need if you want to be sad (like me) and make it full screen to see how many Ka's you can spot.

True love

True love is like ghosts,
which everybody talks about
and few have seen.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Happy Valentine's Day.

Unlucky for some

Today is Friday the 13th, the first of three this year. And it would seem that on Friday the 13th there really is an increased chance of being involved in an accident even though there is less traffic on the road. A study conducted in the early 1990's*, compared the number of traffic accident casualties admitted to hospital in the South West Thames region of England on Friday 13th's with the number of admissions on Friday 6th's during the same period. The researchers found that there were consistently more admissions on Friday 13th's than on Friday 6th's (a total of 65 in the period examined compared to 45, an increase of more than 50%). The difference was statistically significant.

The researchers did a similar comparison for the amount of traffic on the roads on these days (specifically certain sections of the M25 London orbital motorway). They found that there were actually a little over 1% fewer vehicles on the road on Friday 13th's compared to Friday 6th's.

If these data reflect a genuine difference between the two days, then maybe Friday the 13th really is an unlucky day! What I think it might reveal is that people's beliefs about Friday the 13th could become a rather neat example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, a small percentage of people (around 1%) may be sufficiently superstitious about Friday the 13th being an unlucky day that they avoid driving (or at least motorway driving). Those drivers that still decide to get in their car may still be aware of the superstitions surrounding Friday the 13th and this may actually increase their fear and anxiety enough to affect their concentration while driving.

I stayed at home today.

*Scanlon, T. J., Luben, R. N., Scanlon, F. L., Singleton, N. (1993). Is Friday the 13th bad for your health? British Medical Journal, 307 (6919), 1584–1586.

Colour changing card trick

I have been meaning to link to this clip from YouTube for a while, and what with the recent references to Professor Wiseman and his blog, I thought it was now time...



Richard uploaded this short film to YouTube in April 2007. Since then clip has been viewed a staggering 2.9 million times (2,909,647 times at the time of writing to be precise)! In addition to it being a dramatic example of change blindness, the clip's remarkable success on YouTube also demonstrates how sometimes when you do something you can't always predict what will come from it. The last time Richard and I met, he told me that one consequence of him making this film and posting it on YouTube was that world-famous magic double-act Penn & Teller had seen it and it had inspired them to devise a whole new routine for their Las Vegas show!

Fluent

I would love to live
Like a river flows
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.

John O'Donohue 1956-2008

That's my girl

They say that the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. Well it's true. Today we found ourselves back in the bookshop from which I, ahem, "stole" a book a couple of years ago. (I put the word stole in inverted commas there trying, unsuccessfully, to make it sound less wrong!) It was a book about cosmic ordering (which I've still not got round to writing about!), and I did eventually take the book back to pay for it, admittedly some months after I had originally taken it.

Today's purchase (yes, purchase... I paid for it) was a book by Susan Jeffers called Embracing Uncertainty (Mobius, 2003), a book that I thought might help me s I consider a career break. Dr Jeffers seems to be one of the more successful self-help authors, with over 20 books under her belt. Her best known contribution to the literature is her book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, a phrase that would now appear to be a registered trademark (and might even be taken by some to be condoning shoplifting! Or is it only me that reads it that way?). But you'll be pleased to learn that I did indeed pay for this book, along with the book of Rupert the Bear stories Rachel had chosen for Freya, who was being very good in her pushchair ("booky... booky!"). So, unlike my first visit to this shop, I was able to walk out proudly clutching my book complete with receipt!

As we walked through the shopping mall, Rachel turned to me and asked "Did you give her that?".

"Give her what?" I asked back.

"That...". I looked down at Freya in her pushchair as she looked innocently back up at me gently chewing on the end of a plastic container of Winnie the Pooh blowing bubbles. A plastic container of Winnie the Pooh blowing bubbles that she hadn't had a moment ago.

The irony didn't pass us by... but we did go back and pay for them.

O well...

I just had a quick look and it would seem that the article by Ben Sherwood for O, The Oprah Magazine is now published and is available here.

I don't even get a mention. O well...

Luck is no accident

A book arrived from Amazon this morning as a consequence of having looked at Richard Wiseman’s blog last week. One of his recent posts mentioned that the current issue of Newsweek included an article that featured his research on luck. The article was actually adapted from a new book written by Ben Sherwood called The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life (Grand Central Publishing, 2009). Ben had been the guy who had interviewed me about luck last year for an article for O, The Oprah magazine (I wonder if that is published yet?).

However, the book that arrived this morning isn’t the one by Ben Sherwood (though perhaps I should order that one too!). No, it’s actually a book I discovered by following the link Richard had included to another website, called Get Rich Slowly, that also referred to the Newsweek article but focused more on Richard's work. It was this website that linked to an earlier article (are you following this?) that reviewed a book called Luck is No Accident: Making the Most of Happenstance in Your Life and Career by John Krumboltz and Al Levin (Impact Publishers, 2004). It was this book that I ordered from Amazon and which arrived this morning. The message of the book is very similar to that of Richard’s book The Luck Factor (2004, Arrow Books), although the focus here is on making the most of unplanned events.

Unintended consequences

Imagine you're on a flight. You've read the in-flight magazine, savoured the remaining crumbs of an exquisite in-flight meal, and about to relax for a restful in-flight nap. However, you're jolted from your reverie by an announcement from the pilot saying there are problems and he's going to have to "take the pane down" (that's crash-land to you and me). As the plane takes a dive, oxygen masks make a sudden appearance from above your head and you begin to wish you'd paid more attention to the cabin crew when they were talking you through all this stuff as you were taxiing.

It's Groundhog Day!*

Every year, on February 2nd, the world's media (or rather a small proportion of it) turns its attention to the small town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania, USA. In particular they go there to observe a character called Punxsutawney Phil. Phil is a groundhog. But not just any groundhog... Phil is a special groundhog, because legend has it he has an uncanny ability to predict how long winter is going to last. According to his very own website, http://www.punxsutawneyphil.com/:

"At sunrise, Phil will emerge from his burrow at Gobbler's Knob, and his handlers will announce whether or not Phil has seen his shadow. If Phil sees his shadow, legend has it that we can expect six more weeks of winter weather. No shadow indicates an early spring."

Back in 2001, one guy, an economist, even undertook some kind of analysis of Phil's forecasting data and concluded that over the years he had been around 70% successful and predicting either an early or late Spring.

That's all very well, but the thing that actually interests me about this rather strange tradition is the 1993 movie Groundhog Day that's based around this rather quaint annual event. In the film Bill Murray plays TV weather forecaster Phil Connors who is assigned to cover the event for something like the third or fourth year running. Connors is, to say the least, fairly cynical about the whole thing and can't wait till the piece is done so he can get the hell out of Punxsutawney and back to civilization. The trouble is, a blizzard means that all routes out of Punxsutawney are blocked and so he has to stay there for a second night. The next morning he is woken up at 6am, just like the morning before, by the same song on the radio (Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe). He initially thinks that the local radio presenters must have simply forgotten to change the script from the previous morning, but slowly as he goes about his day he realizes that he is actually living the previous day again. It's still Groundhog Day! Eventually the end of the day comes again and he's back in his hotel bed (because just as with the previous day a blizzard prevents him from leaving town). At 6am the next morning he wakes again to the same song on the radio! And so it goes on... every morning he awakes only to relive Groundhog Day. Imagine that! Imagine having to live the same day over and over and over again. Once the realization sets in that no matter what he does, Phil Connors is going to relive the same day again and again he even tries a variety of ways of killing himself... only to find himself waking up at 6am on Groundhog Day to the sound of I Got You Babe. There's no way out.

Eventually Connors resigns himself to the fact he is going to have to relive Groundhog Day ad infinitum, and so starts throwing himself into his recurrent daily activities. By doing this he finds he actually enjoys having the opportunity to relive the events of the day again and again and discovers that he can learn from his earlier encounters with the day's events. The question is, will he ever live to see the day that follows Groundhog Day or is he destined to remain in this day for ever? And do you ever get that feeling you've been here before?

*Is this joke beginning to wear thin now?

It's Groundhog Day!

Every year, on February 2nd, the world's media (or rather a small proportion of it) turns its attention to the small town of Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania, USA. In particular they go there to observe a character called Punxsutawney Phil. Phil is a groundhog. But not just any groundhog... Phil is a special groundhog, because legend has it he has an uncanny ability to predict how long winter is going to last. According to his very own website, http://www.punxsutawneyphil.com/:

"At sunrise, Phil will emerge from his burrow at Gobbler's Knob, and his handlers will announce whether or not Phil has seen his shadow. If Phil sees his shadow, legend has it that we can expect six more weeks of winter weather. No shadow indicates an early spring."

Back in 2001, one guy, an economist, even undertook some kind of analysis of Phil's forecasting data and concluded that over the years he had been around 70% successful and predicting either an early or late Spring.

That's all very well, but the thing that actually interests me about this rather strange tradition is the 1993 movie Groundhog Day that's based around this rather quaint annual event. In the film Bill Murray plays TV weather forecaster Phil Connors who is assigned to cover the event for something like the third or fourth year running. Connors is, to say the least, fairly cynical about the whole thing and can't wait till the piece is done so he can get the hell out of Punxsutawney and back to civilization. The trouble is, a blizzard means that all routes out of Punxsutawney are blocked and so he has to stay there for a second night. The next morning he is woken up at 6am, just like the morning before, by the same song on the radio (Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe). He initially thinks that the local radio presenters must have simply forgotten to change the script from the previous morning, but slowly as he goes about his day he realizes that he is actually living the previous day again. It's still Groundhog Day! Eventually the end of the day comes again and he's back in his hotel bed (because just as with the previous day a blizzard prevents him from leaving town). At 6am the next morning he wakes again to the same song on the radio! And so it goes on... every morning he awakes only to relive Groundhog Day. Imagine that! Imagine having to live the same day over and over and over again. Once the realization sets in that no matter what he does, Phil Connors is going to relive the same day again and again he even tries a variety of ways of killing himself... only to find himself waking up at 6am on Groundhog Day to the sound of I Got You Babe. There's no way out.

Eventually Connors resigns himself to the fact he is going to have to relive Groundhog Day ad infinitum, and so starts throwing himself into his recurrent daily activities. By doing this he finds he actually enjoys having the opportunity to relive the events of the day again and again and discovers that he can learn from his earlier encounters with the day's events. The question is, will he ever live to see the day that follows Groundhog Day or is he destined to remain in this day for ever? And do you ever get that feeling you've been here before?

A wise man?

The final card of my reading spoke of advice from some kind of 'authority figure' and indicated that I could be about to embark on a new course of learning:

The Hierophant: It is time to take sound advice from someone you trust. The Hierophant often reveals an authority figure, such as a father, teacher, or other mentor. He symbolizes practical wisdom, so his influence can help you resolve a challenge. This card also denotes a spiritual dimension, so it can indicate that you are about to embark on a new course of learning that will bring you closer to your soul's purpose.

One of the original reasons we had arranged to go down to Rachel's parents this weekend was because there was a possibility that we might attend a Beginners' Psychic Development Workshop down that way today (well, if I'm gonna learn tarot I should also try and develop my psychic awareness, don't you think?). If that had worked out, that could have been a been a nice hit for the tarot. But. alas, it didn't happen: There were no spaces. You thought I was going to say it was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances didn't you? Now come on, you know me better than that.

As it turned out we didn't really do much (didn't dare walk the dogs!), other than eat lots of lovely food expertly cooked by Rachel's dad before driving back home in time to watch Lost. In an idle moment on the internet I did have a read of Richard Wiseman's blog, and I would regard Richard as one of my mentors what with him being my PhD supervisor an' all. Richard has only just taken to blogging this month but a few days ago his blog was apparently already in the top 50 on Wordpress! Bloody smartarse. Or is there a lesson to be learnt here?

Bitch on heat

Today's card, the Ten of Swords, was supposed to predict endings:

Ten of Swords: The Ten indicates endings. In the suit of Swords, endings are dramatic, and may be shocking. However, on closer inspection of the facts, it's likely that this ending was predictable. A relationship or other arrangement is cut out of your life. The closure is harsh, but necessary; you will recover and be open to new opportunities sooner than you think.

Couldn't really find anything today that could relate to this. No endings, dramatic or otherwise. The only drama was when we were taking Rachel's parents' dogs, Daisy and Harry, for a walk in Shotover Park near where they live. We let them off their leads to let them have a run and explore the woods. Shotover seems to be popular with dogs and dog-walkers of all shapes and sizes, so it's a case of keeping a watchful eye as dogs greet each other in the way only dogs know how. Now, I'm not a dog-owner nor have I ever been (though I am an enthusiastic walker of Daisy and Harry when we visit and I can imagine maybe having a dog at some point in the future) so I'm not au fait with the etiquette between dog owners as one's dogs sniff the backsides of other dogs as they hello. I tended to opt for a facial expression that tries to convey the "that's dogs for you..." look. And, by and large, I think I achieved the look. This expression seemed to be serving me well right up until the point when Daisy was about to be humped by not one, not two, but three over-excited setters. The "that's dogs for you..." facial expression was quickly replaced by one of mild panic as I yelled out "Noooo!!" and reached to put the lead round Daisy's neck. Freya just peered out at me from her pushchair as if to say "spoilsport".

It is written

The Star: Inspiration and guidance; you have clarity of purpose and great potential now. The water symbolizes creativity and its flow, memory. As the past and the present flow together, so past experiences give you the wisdom to make a dream come true. This is a nurturing card, showing that you are tending your garden well. Ideas flourish as you create fertile conditions for success and happiness.

One of the many nice things about visiting Rachel’s parents for the weekend is that Rachel and I sometimes get the chance to go out on our own while Nana and Grandpa babysit. Tonight we managed to escape to the cinema to watch Slumdog Millionaire. We didn’t know too much about the film beforehand apart from having seen the trailer last week and it being recommended to us by a friend. We were also aware that it had won a few Golden Globes and has been nominated for a million Oscars (well, ten).

In the opening minutes of the film the words appear on screen:

Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees.
How did he do it?

A: He cheated
B: He's lucky
C: He’s a genius
D: It is written

The answers A, B and C fade from the screen, leaving the final answer, “D: It is written”.

The film tells the story of how Jamal got to this point and how his experiences growing up in the slums of Mumbai gave him clues to the answers he would eventually be asked on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? It’s an excellent film about love and destiny, and perhaps an appropriate film for today given the Star indicating how the past and present flow together, so that past experiences give the wisdom to make a dream come true.

Anyway, here's the trailer. Take a look and then go see the film and let me know what you think. (You'll notice that for some reason they decided to change the final answer to “D: It is destiny” for the trailer.)

Take a break

Today is a significant day, as it marks three years of Rachel and I being together. So maybe the Three of Cups is an appropriate card for today:

Three of Cups: Love grows and a relationship moves up to a new level of commitment. A child may be born, or your creativity flourishes as new projects evolve and take form. This is a card of healing and happiness, with myriad opportunities for celebration, sharing, and the renewal of friendship. The Three also predicts healing, so you feel rejuvenated, physically and emotionally.

So whatever happens today, I'm happy to give the Tarot a point.

That said, a couple of meetings at work today seemed to fit nicely with what the Three had to say. This morning's meeting, which I'd arranged last week, was with someone from our Personnel Department about the possibility of taking a career break next year. In September this year, I will have been working at Liverpool Hope for ten years. And it's starting to feel like it! Many of the lectures I now give I haven't updated for a few years, and my research has come to an almost stand still. I just don't want to find myself having been there for fifteen or even twenty years thinking the same thing, having done nothing about it! For at least the last couple of years I have been saying to myself (and to Rachel) that I needed to change. Change my research, change jobs, change something. So I thought I'd start saying it to somebody other than myself and Rachel, and perhaps kickstart the process that might lead to me actually doing something about it! Anyway, the meeting with Cathryn from Personnel seemed to go okay (apart from the fact I had written down the meeting time wrong and was half an hour late!). She seemed to understand where I was coming from and gave me some useful advice.

Later in the day I met with two TV producers working on an idea for a TV show that would look at ghostly experiences across the UK (sound familiar?). It all sounded very interesting and exciting, but they were still looking for the show to be commissioned so we'll see if it comes to anything. Still, could be an opportunity for new projects to evolve and take form perhaps?

The best part of today, though, was the fantastic surprise I got this evening. Rachel called me through and said she'd been a little bit naughty. I immediately guessed that she'd maybe bought something. I was close. Rachel had actually booked a surprise weekend away for us both in Barcelona! She had booked it a week or two before and it would be for a weekend in March, but she had told me today to mark our three years together. I think that could nicely represent an opportunity for "celebration, sharing and the renewal of friendship", don't you agree? Even if you don't, I'm not too bothered... we're going to Barcelona!

Foundation Day

As if we needed reminding, here is what the tarot reading predicted for today:

Ace of Cups: As Cups are associated with the element of Water, or love and emotion, the Ace predicts emotional fulfillment, creativity, and contentment, from falling passionately in love with a person or an ideal to following a spiritual calling or artistic pursuit. Pregnancy and motherhood are also indicated because the overflowing chalice of the Ace symbolizes ultimate femininity.

Well, you'll never believe this but today I fell in love and got pregnant! How about that for a spot on prediction? What are the odds?? No, you're just being silly now (I've got a feeling you're not taking this seriously).

Today was something called 'Foundation Day' at the University at which I work. This is effectively a day of thanksgiving during which we celebrate the foundation of the University and award degrees to students on courses that, for whatever reason, don't get awarded at the main Graduation ceremony in July. The University also awards a couple of honorary degrees and fellowships at this time. (In fact Gee Verona Walker, who I mentioned in a post some time ago, was awarded a Fellowship at one of these Foundation Days a couple of years ago.) This year Fellowships went to a couple, Gerald and Judith Henderson, for their work with an organization called Initiatives for Change, and an Honorary Degree was awarded to Sir Jeremy Isaacs who has been a leading figure in the Arts and Media worlds for over 50 years.*

Suffice to say, I didn't fall in love with Gerald, Judith, or Jeremy (I know, even with those names!). As is usual with these kind of academic ceremonies, we were all dressed in our gowns that displayed the degrees we had obtained and from which universities we oursleves had graduated. Me? I was in a rather fetching purple and red number, complete with sash and a jaunty hat with tassle: a symbol of ultimate femininity if ever there was...!

This evening it was time for my guitar lesson. Yes, despite the "guitar fiasco" last year I am proud to report that I am still keeping up with my guitar lessons. In fact, since Christmas I have switched classes so I am now with a slightly more advanced group (and older... I'm not the oldest student any more!). I'd like to say that this is because Vernon, the teacher, recognised my natural ability and realised that the kids were holding me back. But the truth is that changes to my teaching timetable at the University this term meant that I could no longer make the Monday class. Still this can only be seen as a sign that it is time for my talents to be nurtured to the next level. As the Ace predicts, today I was supposed to be following a spiritual calling or an artistic pursuit. You can't argue with the facts!

*Interestingly, Rachel was actually involved with setting up Sir Jeremy's Artsworld channel a few years ago!

Checkout King

According to my tarot reading, today I thought I'd be recovering from yesterday's battle, so I hadn't really planned much. It was the King of Wands that came up for today. According to Liz Dean (the woman who wrote the the little book that came with my tarot cards):

The King brings calm integrity and compassion. Wise and unassuming, he is loved by family and friends. He may be demanding of others, but he still has energy and ideas. This card reveals honorable conduct. and can also indicate that you will feel comfortable with yourself now. Others respond to you positively.

Not really sure what to make of that. Calm integrity and compassion is my middle name (it's actually David), and you'd be hard pushed to find a day on which I'm not wise and unassuming. It's just part and parcel of who I am (!). Today included a trip to Sainsbury's (rock'n'roll, eh?) but I don't think asking the guy at the checkout for a couple of extra carrier bags counts as being demanding of others, does it?

I was "working from home" today. So, yes, I felt comfortable with myself. And it is fair to say that others did respond to me positively today (I got the extra carriers I asked for, plus a few extra).

So today maybe Tarot gets half a point (though perhaps I'm being a little generous there).

Ready for battle!

This is what my tarot reading for the week ahead came up with for today:

Knight of Swords: When the Knight of Swords arrives in a reading, he heralds a future battle that must be fought so that a resolution to a problem may be found. Dynamic and charming, he may come into your life for just a short period of time, but his verve is infectious: he brings enough energy and determination to meet the challenge with courage.

So I was all set for a battle of some sort today! A fight! Maybe even a "scrap" (does anyone use this term any more?), just like you used to get at school, in which me and my nemesis are surrounded by an over-excited crowd, clapping their hands in unison to the chant of "Scrap! Scrap! Scrap!..." just in case it wasn't clear to any of the onlookers exactly what was going on.

But, alas, it was not to be. No fight today. No arguments. Not even a bicker. Or a cross word. Freya, now a willful 15 month-old woddler, had had a rough night thanks to a combination of teething and an ear infection, but it was Rachel who got up in the early hours and saw to her allowing me to stay in bed as I was to be up early in the morning. Rachel was quite willing to do this (or at least said she was!) so no battle there.

Monday is my main teaching day with six hours of teaching. That all seemed to go off without a hitch, and no arguments, battles, or significant challenges that I can recall. By the time I got home around 7pm, Freya was bathed and ready for bed and Rachel had the dinner on (her own recipe lasagne... the best ever). So still no battles. I put Freya to bed and within 5 minutes she'd fallen asleep. A very relaxing evening lay ahead and an early night. Not a battle in sight.

Tarot nil points.

Next week

I'm learning to read the tarot, so I thought I'd do myself a reading for the week ahead. The spread involves eight cards. The first card is called the 'significator' and supposedly indicates the dominant theme(s) for the week. The remaining seven cards relate to each day of the week. My significator card is the Three of Wands, that's the one in the centre. Here's what the very helpful little book that came with the cards, the Golden Tarot for those of you who know about these things, has to say about the Three of Wands:

The Three reveals creativity and self-expression, and the development of projects. Events speed up, with more communication, action, and reward, as money flows your way. This confirms what you secretly know to be true - that you are really good at what you do.

Cool. Now taking the cards in turn day by day, starting with the card in the one o'clock position as the card for Monday and going clockwise:

Monday
Knight of Swords: When the Knight of Swords arrives in a reading, he heralds a future battle that must be fought so that a resolution to a problem may be found. Dynamic and charming, he may come into your life for just a short period of time, but his verve is infectious: he brings enough energy and determination to meet the challenge with courage.

Tuesday
King of Wands: The King brings calm integrity and compassion. Wise and unassuming, he is loved by family and friends. He may be demanding of others, but he still has energy and ideas. This card reveals honorable conduct. and can also indicate that you will feel comfortable with yourself now. Others respond to you positively.

Wednesday
Ace of Cups: As Cups are associated with the element of Water, or love and emotion, the Ace predicts emotional fulfillment, creativity, and contentment, from falling passionately in love with a person or an ideal to following a spiritual calling or artistic pursuit. Pregnancy and motherhood are also indicated because the overflowing chalice of the Ace symbolizes ultimate femininity.

Thursday
Three of Cups: Love grows and a relationship moves up to a new level of commitment. A child may be born, or your creativity flourishes as new projects evolve and take form. This is a card of healing and happiness, with myriad opportunities for celebration, sharing, and the renewal of friendship. The Three also predicts healing, so you feel rejuvenated, physically and emotionally.

Friday
The Star: Inspiration and guidance; you have clarity of purpose and great potential now. The water symbolizes creativity and its flow, memory. As the past and the present flow together, so past experiences give you the wisdom to make a dream come true. This is a nurturing card, showing that you are tending your garden well. Ideas flourish as you create fertile conditions for success and happiness.

Saturday
Ten of Swords: The Ten indicates endings. In the suit of Swords, endings are dramatic, and may be shocking. However, on closer inspection of the facts, it's likely that this ending was predictable. A relationship or other arrangement is cut out of your life. The closure is harsh, but necessary; you will recover and be open to new opportunities sooner than you think.

Sunday
The Hierophant: It is time to take sound advice from someone you trust. The Hierophant often reveals an authority figure, such as a father, teacher, or other mentor. He symbolizes practical wisdom, so his influence can help you resolve a challenge. This card also denotes a spiritual dimension, so it can indicate that you are about to embark on a new course of learning that will bring you closer to your soul's purpose.

So that's my week sorted. Tomorrow I'm going to have some kind of fight, Tuesday I'll feel better about it, then on Wednesday I'm going to fall in love and get pregnant, and the baby's gonna arrive on Thursday. Time for a bit of gardening on Friday before it all goes tits up on Saturday (still it was nice while it lasted!). It all comes together on Sunday when my dad gives me some sound advice (use a condom?) and I sign up for parenting classes. I'll let you know how it all goes.

How do you decide what to do with your life? Do you decide? Or is it decided for us? Does something or someone else make these decisions for us? Or is it more a case of not deciding at all?

All these questions were going through my mind this week as I sat down with my "line manage" at work this week to discuss the possibility of my taking a career break.

Yes Man

We went to see Yes Man last week. As I mentioned in a post back in 2007, Danny Wallace’s book was made into a Hollywood Movie starring Jim Carrey. Well, that’s not strictly true. They have actually made a film that is inspired by Wallace’s book. The story is completely different. The book is based on a year in the life of Danny himself, and the consequences of him deciding to ‘yes’ to everything after a mysterious stranger on a bus suggested he should simply say yes more! In the film, the protagonist is Carl Allen, played by Jim Carrey. Carl decides to say yes to everything after attending a “Yes Man” seminar hosted by General Zod (actually a character called Terrence Bundley, played by Terence Stamp who played Zod in Superman). The essence of the film is the same of the book: look at what can happen if you start saying yes to life rather than saying no! But the book does it a damn sight better. Wallace’s story is more compelling, and has the added advantage of being true. The only thing the film has over the book is a score c0-written by Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett and a soundtrack that features several Eels songs. Which is nice.

Cowell Almighty!

Simon Cowell is more famous than God.

Friday night telly

Just been watching Peter Kay's Britain's Got Some Extra Pop Factor... and Then Some (his parody of X Factor and the rest). He only went and did my Stephen Hawking on Hole in the Wall gag!

And they're having a pop at Facebook ("Friendface") on The IT Crowd. Good ol' Channel 4.

F******k it

I still don't get it. Or rather I get it, but I don't 'get' it. I'm talking about Facebook again. I just don’t know why people rave about it and feel the need to update their profile every 6 minutes. I can see that it can be useful for sharing photographs and the like, but other than that it seems to me to be a bit of a waste of time. Having said that, I guess some would argue much the same can be said for blogging…

The reason Facebook has resurfaced in my psyche is that yesterday I received another Facebook “friend request” by email. I get these every so often, sometimes from people I know and sometimes (more often) from complete strangers. I usually just delete them but this one was at least from someone I have met (but only once or twice so does that count as a “friend”?). I clicked on the link to go to the dreaded Facebook site. Turns out I have 51 friend requests that I haven’t yet confirmed. Oh dear… I hope no-one has taken offence. Although given that most of them are people I’ve never met then f**k ’em.

That seemed a little harsh didn’t it? But I was just taking a leaf out John Parkin’s book. It’s a great book. Or at least a book with a great title... it’s called F**k It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way (published by Hay House). Rachel has bought it for a friend for Christmas so I had a flick through it (I'm secretly hoping she might have got me a copy for Christmas too!).

The idea is that sometimes we just need to say “f**k it!”. We need to realise that much of the time (perhaps all of the time?) things just aren’t worth getting stressed about. According to Parkin, saying f**k it encapsulates much of the philosophy of Eastern wisdom (given a nice Western vernacular spin!). There is a Fuckitway.com website, where you can read more, buy a f**k it chocolate bar (or say f**k it and buy a whole box), and even book yourself a place on a f**k it holiday in Italy! They also have a page on, ahem, F******k.

Weird science

Today I finally submitted the manuscript for an edited book called Anomalous Experiences. It's a collection of papers that were originally presented at a conference called Developing Perspectives on Anomalous Experience in June 2005, and covers research on unusual experiences ranging from out-of-body experiences, alien abduction experiences, haunting experiences, and ESP. There were plenty of times over the last three years that it looked likely that it would never happen so I'm very pleased that it's finally been done. It's due to be published next year.

Please don't judge me!

I have used this blog to confess something before. I've got to do it again. I'm not proud, but I have to get it off my chest. I really hope you won't judge me. Promise me you won't judge me?

It happened on Saturday evening around 5.30. I'm not proud but... I watched Hole in the Wall. Look I said I'm not proud.

You've not seen it? Then let me try to describe it to you. Two teams of "celebrities" (if you watch it you'll understand my use of the quotes) compete to avoid getting knocked into a pool of water by a wall moving towards them. Now here's the thing... there is a hole in the wall. The only way to avoid getting knocked into the water is to assume a pose that matches the shape of the hole. And that's it! It is quite spectacularly awful television. But, and here's my only defence. It is strangely watchable.

When the guests have no chance of making the shape, it becomes even more watchable. Like when Vanessa Feltz, clad in bacofoil jumpsuit, wouldn't fit through any of the holes. Should be interesting next week when the guests are Stevie Wonder and Stephen Hawking.