Xeni Jardin at BoingBoing writes: James Randi, the guru of anti-woowoo, has released the full text of his Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural online for free. Randi hopes the move will boost sales of the print edition. When I decided to place the entire text (…) on the Internet, […]

It was just a year ago that I read of the nice ceremony when James Doohan received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He wasn’t well then. From WCVB’s online site: The publicist for James Doohan says the actor who played Scotty on “Star Trek” has died at his home in Redmond, Wash. […]

Early in 1999, one of my clients introduced me to a wonderful world I didn’t know existed, and I’m glad she did. She handed me a thick book and told me she thought I’d enjoy it. While it was written for children, news reports had adults walking the streets with a copy tucked under their […]

To say that I am a fan of Anders Moden would be understating things quite a bit. A few years ago, in a private email list for magicians, Anders gave to us a wonderful little routine whereby an opened soda can is crushed and then restores itself to its former uncrushed, full, and unopened glory. […]

There is a surprising crossover between magicians and musicians so I feel confident that this isn’t as off topic as it might seem on the surface. Bob Moog is a name many of you will recognize. The extent to which his work on music and, specifically, his synths, has impacted the world of popular music […]

(It only seems fair.) Teller speaks. For many of us, this is not much of a revelation. But whether you have or have not heard the eloquence that is The Voice of Teller, I have a surprise for you. Via TV Squad via TV Barn via NPR via the Internet via Al Gore thanks to […]

Gizmodo points to an article touting a “new radio-controlled watch” by Epson. From the Epson news release: Epson, in collaboration with Junghans Uhren GmbH of Germany, has succeeded in developing the world’s first(1) analog radio-controlled watch movement that is capable of receiving signals from three different locations across the globe. The solar-charged radio-controlled analog watches […]

While doing my best to figure out how to wrap up any number of mostly-done posts for Escamoteurettes, I get a notice that Penn Jillette has commented on the State of the World. It’s not that I planned to pen two Penn posts back to back, but that’s the way the world works sometimes. I […]

According to one of my favorite web sites, the Internet Movie Database, the plot to the motion picture, The Aristocrats, is described as: One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke–one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville. An article in today’s New York Times puts it this way: How do you […]

Yes, I know, old news. But I’ll bet you didn’t know he bends bicycles, too. (Thanks to Red Ferret.) As an aside — and I’m not sure I should even mention this — but don’t you find more than a passing resemblance between Uri and Gerry McCambridge? Hey, I’m just asking.