Posted in Amazing, Freaky Deaky, Interesting People
Posted by Abeo February 9, 2010 at 11:04 am
“Some people call Chayne Hultgren the Space Cowboy for good reason, the Byron Bay street peformer has dared to go where no man had before – swallowing 18 razor sharp swords. The professional sword swallower set the new Guinness World Record in Sydney today by swallowing all of the 72 centimetres long swords at the same time.
The 31-year-old beat his own previous record of 17 swords, which he set in 2008. But for all those wannabe sword swallowers out there Mr Hultgren warned the stunt has taken years to perfect. “It’s amazing,” Mr Hultgren said. “I’ve been preparing for this since I was 16.” “It is definitely one of my greatest achievements so far.”
Hultgren began practising the art of sword swallowing at the age of 16 when he swallowed his first hose. A few years later he upped the ante and began using stainless steel blades. He swears his latest feat is not dangerous, but the cheeky entertainer conceded that “it wasn’t recommended by my doctor”. “It’s educated risk,” he said. “I don’t just straight away grab 18 blades and shove them down my throat – you’ve got to practise a lot and build up to it. “So I stretch my throat with hoses and use a few different techniques to basically enable me to do what, until now, has been impossible.”
Hultgren beat his own previous record of swallowing 17 swords – also a Guinness World Record, which he set in 2008. He is the only person in the world to down more than 13 blades simultaneously, he said.”
Read more at The Daily Telegraph
6 Comments »
Posted in Amazing, Interesting Theories
Posted by Abeo February 9, 2010 at 9:44 am
“Trails found in rocks dating back 565 million years are thought to be the earliest evidence of animal locomotion ever found.
The newly-discovered fossils, from rocks in Newfoundland in Canada, were analysed by an international team led by Oxford University scientists. They identified over 70 fossilised trails indicating that some ancient creatures moved, in a similar way to modern sea anemones, across the seafloors of the Ediacaran Period.
The team publish a report of their research in the February edition of the journal Geology.
‘The markings we’ve found clearly indicate that these organisms could exert some sort of muscular control during locomotion,’ said Alex Liu of Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences, an author of the paper. ‘This is exciting because it is the first evidence that creatures from this early period of Earth’s history had muscles to allow them to move around – enabling them to hunt for food or escape adverse local conditions and, importantly, indicating that they were probably animals.’”
Read more at Physorg.com (Thanks SuZi)
2 Comments »
Posted in Amazing, Freaky Deaky
Posted by Abeo February 9, 2010 at 8:35 am
4 Comments »
Posted in DB Direct, Misdirection, Deception and Magic, Mr Coops, Popular, Recommended Stuff
Posted by DB News February 8, 2010 at 1:13 pm
For those in the US, the Olivier Awards are the equivalent of the Tony’s – Theatreland’s highest accolade. In 2006, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, written by Derren and his collaborator Andy Nyman (who also directs the shows) won an Olivier, and was the first time that any sort of magic show had won such an esteemed award. Now Enigma is shortlisted, the show that Derren is about to reprise on a 5 month sell-out tour, his longest yet due to huge demand. It kicks off in Swansea this week.
Details for tickets are available on this blog. We believe extra tickets have now been made available in Torquay for Valentine’s weekend. If you find your theatre is sold out, you can try for returns or, if you wish, keep an eye on eBay, where they sometimes appear for huge amounts.
Derren says, “Touring with the stage show is by far my favourite part of the year. I’m so excited to get it up and running again. This tour had to double in size to accomodate demand, which makes it doubly fun to do. Particularly this show, which is such a massive pleasure to perform.” On the subject of a possible second Olivier, he added, “It’s amazing to be nominated. And if the show does win, it has the advantage that means that if you come and don’t like it, then you’re wrong and I can prove it.”
There are whispers of Derren hitting Broadway with a show in 2011. Nothing has been confirmed, and no details are being offered.
Coops and Iain, two of the small crew that travels with Derren, are personally requesting this year that the more “generous and sexy” fans bring them packets of Roast Beef Monster Munch. “They can be left at stage door before the show. Leave your details and we’ll announce a prize for the person who leaves the most…”
They don’t know what they’re letting themselves in for.
Anyone attending the show is respectfully asked by Derren to keep its contents secret…
19 Comments »
Posted in Freaky Deaky, Misdirection, Deception and Magic
Posted by Abeo February 8, 2010 at 12:32 pm
“IF a rapid series of taps are applied first to your wrist and then to your elbow, you will experience a perceptual illusion, in which phantom sensations are felt along the skin connecting the two points that were actually touched. This feels as if a tiny rabbit is hopping along your skin from the wrist to the elbow, and is therefore referred to as the “cutaneous rabbit”. The illusion indicates that our perceptions of sensory inputs do not enter conscious awareness until after the integration of events occuring within a certain time window, and that the sensory events taking place at a certain point can be influenced by future events.
A group of Japanese researchers now shows that this illusion is not just confined to the body. In a new study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, they report that the cutaneous rabbit can easily be induced to “hop out” of the body, so that the illusory sensations are perceived to originate not from the body itself, but from external objects that interact with it. ”
Read more at NeuroPhilosophy Blog
12 Comments »
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Seriously though, this is brilliant..."
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