Chaos Theory

The witch, the water, and the wine

Meet Marc Mondavi: water witch.

I heard of this fellow when a friend of mine went to a talk he was giving. She got some free divining rods. I don't really have the skill, alas, but her son looks like he's got the talent. Interesting....

Other people's crafts I have seen recently

This made me laugh

"Portland is a fun little place, and it also happens to be one of the most progressive cities in America. You can buy marijuana at a food cart beginning at approximately age twelve."

Scientific proof of psi

"Critics are fond of saying that's there is no scientific evidence for psi. They wave their fist in the air and shout, "Show me the evidence!" Then they turn red and have a coughing fit. In less dramatic cases a student  might be genuinely curious and open-minded, but unsure where to begin to find reliable evidence about psi. Google knows all and sees all, but it doesn't know how to interpret or evaluate what it knows (at least not yet).

In the past, my response to the "show me" challenge has been to give the titles of a few books to read, point to the bibliographies in those books, and advise the person to do their homework. I still think that this is the best approach for a beginner tackling a complex topic. But given the growing expectation that information on  virtually any topic ought to be available online within 60 seconds, traditional methods of scholarship are disappearing fast.

So I've created a SHOW ME page with downloadable articles on psi and psi-related topics, all published in peer-reviewed journals. Most of these papers were published after the year 2000. Most report experimental studies or meta-analyses of  classes of experiments."

Cool!

Happy birthday self-congratulatory post!

Hey, there's a holiday on my birthday. Uh, a creepy one. Oh yeah, and Administrative Professionals Day some years like today, but that's for another post.

Yup, it's that time of year again! I am officially WAY TOO OLD to (a) look this young, and (b) act this immature. I chalk it up to the power of staying single, a la Elizabeth Wurtzel. I should really like, be an undercover cop or something.

How often should miracles happen?

Statistically, about once a month. Huh?

Oh, you hippies

"This thought led Rebecca Lerner to wonder if she could survive for a week eating nothing but wild plants found within Portland city limits. The answer was no—at least the first time around. Without thought to the season, or any reserves in supply, Lerner found herself expending too much energy for too little sustenance, such as pine-needle teas and a few leafy weeds. By day four she was so hungry she tried boiling and eating slugs."

More fun with cars

Witches are fashionable now?

Missed that memo (NY Times).

A moment of amusement.

I just finished reading Dead Letter Day, a book written by an author who lives in my town. The series takes place in the Sacramento area. There was a quote in it, referring to dryads:

"The mother's name was Cedar. Who would name their kid Cedar?"

I had gone to school with several Cedars. "This is northern California."

While I laughed at hearing this line, of course, I also thought, "Well, god knows I have seen a LOT OF WEIRD NAMES here," (alas, because everyone Googles themselves, I won't be sharing any) "but I can't say I've ever come across a Cedar." Somehow I don't see repeated hippie names, go figure.

Then I just read this contest entry from a kid named Cedar. There you go, then.