Friendster - babyrose's Photos - area12.jpg

Friendster - babyrose's Photos - area12.jpg: "rdpipz"

w/ jerome lee @ spencer resto...

w/ jerome lee @ spencer resto...: "friends bonding"

OFFICE NIGHT SWIMMING

OFFICE NIGHT SWIMMING

Witch Bottle

Discovery of witch bottle used to drive away evil spells
A witch bottle used to drive away evil spells has been found with all its contents. More than 200 witch bottles have already been discovered, but this is thought to be the first one with its cork intact. Dr Alan Massey, a retired chem­istry lecturer from Loughborough, ana­lysed the contents of the bottle after it was found buried upside-down at a depth of about 5ft by builders at a site in Greenwich, south-east London, in 2004. Like most early witch bottles, it was a bartmann or bellamine, a salt-glazed jar made in the Netherlands or Germany, stamped with the face of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino (1542–1621).

It probably dates from the last quarter of the 17th century, and contained 12 bent iron nails (one of which pierced a small leather heart), eight brass pins, 10 adult fingernail pairings (not from a manual worker, but a person “of some social standing”), a quantity of hair and urine with traces of nicotine, indicating it had come from a smoker. There were also traces of sulphur, then known as brimstone, and what is thought to be navel fluff. The brimstone recalled the passage in Revelation where the beast and the false prophet were “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone”.

The witch bottle will be displayed in the Discover Greenwich permanent exhibition, opening at the Old Naval College, Greenwich, in 2010.

Before this discovery, the best example, a glass bottle buried after 1720 in Reigate, Surrey, had been opened years before it could be examined. The bottles were used to cure the sick by turning spells on the witch. The practice continued into the early 20th century.

Rama's Bridge

Battle at Lanka, by Sahib Din.

FT256

Back in September 2007, the unthinkable happ­ened for devout Hindus: the government in India filed an affidavit in their Supreme Court declaring that the events in Ramayana – one of the holiest of Hindu books relating the life of the god Rama – “should not be read as historical truth” or as evidence that Rama ever existed.

As more than 80 per cent of India’s over one billion populat­ion are Hindu and elections were looming, this was not the smartest move. The hardline Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mounted angry opposit­ion, accusing the government of blasphemy in denying the existence of the widely worshipped Lord Rama and of “deliberately destroying the most ancient relic of Hindu history”. The government was forced into an undignified retraction of the affidavit the following day, but this was too late to prevent nationwide demonstrations, which included a number of deaths.

Two senior officials were sacked and Ambika Soni – the outspoken federal cultural minister of the National Congress Party that made up the government – was forced to offer her resignation (although this was never acted upon). She used the occasion to say she would “no longer take responsibility” for the affidavit, which had been filed on behalf of the Archæological Survey of India. The offending document, it turned out, was intended to be evidence in a vital appeal to build a canal.

This was no ordinary canal. Ever since the advent of large vessels, all shipping on India’s east coast was forced to make a detour around the island of Sri Lanka because the passage between the northern part of the island and the Indian mainland is blocked by a shallow chain of limestone shoals, beaches, coral reefs and rocky outcrops about 19–30 miles (30–48km) long (depending on where you measure from) and just 1m (3ft 3in) deep in places. When this was revealed in photographic glory by NASA satellite photographs in 2002, it was immediately seized upon by devout Hindus as tangible proof of one of the key stories in the Ramayana, which tells of a stone bridge – 10 leagues wide and a hundred long – across the sea. It was built by the sage Nala aided by the god Hanuman and his army of monkeys to aid Rama in the rescue of his wife Sita, who had been kidnapped by the demon Ravana and taken to his kingdom in Lanka.

Realising the chief argument of the opposition would be the sacrilege of destroying tracts of a site associated with a much-loved god, the government tried to get their retaliation in first by undermining the historical and geophysical reality of Rama and his bridge. The government was engaged in a huge and historical project to create a navigable sea route around the Indian peninsula that would save time and reduce shipping costs. The Sethusamudram Ship Canal – a project valued at £250 million – would be dredged across the Ram Sethu (Rama’s bridge, also known as Sethu Bandhana, Hanuman Sethu and Nala Sethu) to link the Palk Strait in the north with the Gulf of Mannar in the south. Given the high stakes and continuous pressure from leaders in industry and commerce as well as the Indian Navy, it was not surprising to see officials, such as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, the state on the mainland side of the Ram Bridge, openly questioning the historical existence of Rama and thereby his bridge. “Who is this Ram? From which engineering college did he graduate?” he joked. (His sarcasm backfired, however, as protesters attacked his family home and a bounty of “his weight in gold to whoever beheaded him” was offered by the head of the World Hindu Council – in jest, he later said.)

The forces behind the clash were already well established. In March 2007, months before the government gaffe, around 10 Hindu organisations worldwide had mobilised for an Internet campaign – ramsethu.org – to have the submerged land link declared a world heritage site. The ‘bridge’ was first surveyed by the British in 1804 and named by them Adam’s Bridge (after an Islamic legend). By 1922, there had been at least nine proposals to cut a canal across it. Others suggestions followed until, in 1997, the National Environ­mental Engineering Research Instit­ute (NEERI) drew up a plan for excavations near Pamban Island. With some changes, this was formally accepted by the government in 2005 as the Sethusamudram Project. It contained much on minimising the impact on biota and environment alongside details about dredging 48 million cubic metres (1,695 million cu ft) of silt, but nothing at all about the cultural consequences.

Expert views are equally divided on this matter – poss­ibly reflecting the deep hold the Rama myth has on the Indian psyche – and the whole issue remains confused. A former head of the country’s Geo­logical Survey, S Badrinarayanan, said he believed the formation was “not natural” and recent government surveys were “not thorough”. At least one court of law (the Madras High Court) in Tamil Nadu, and the intriguingly-titled National Remote Sensing Agency (part of the Indian Space Research Organisation), both refer to the “bridge” as possibly “man-made”. The latter said it was about 3,500 years old after carbon-dating corals from its beaches.

On the other hand, in 2007, Prof. N Ramanujam of the Geology and Research Centre, Chidambaram College, astrophysicist J Narlikar and a group of professors from Madurai Kamaraj University, all declared it a natural form­ation some 17 million years old. During the last period of glaciat­ion, about 18,000 years ago, the sea-level would have been more than 100m (328ft) lower, and the ‘bridge’ would have formed a natural land-bridge between India and Sri Lanka. Another study found that some 4–5,000 years ago the sea-level at Pamban rose 2m (6.5ft) higher than the present level. On both sides of the ‘bridge’ there is corresponding evidence of human habitation as early as 8–9,000 years ago, and on Sri Lanka itself human occupation extends to the late Pleistocene (about 13,000 BP). It was on this archæological evidence of antiquity that some scientists requested the Indian government to have UNESCO declare it a World Heritage site.

Unfortunately for the tradit­ionalists, some venerable Indian scholars spoke publicly about what they had long debated in academia. “The Ramayana is not that old,” the historian RS Sharma told the Times of India. “Nor did the area have human habitation 1.75 million years ago.” The oldest textural evidence of the Ramayana seems to date from around 400 BC, he said, and the stories in it are traditionally placed in the Treta Yuga (one of the four eons of Hindu chronology) some 880,000 years earlier. Stories about the principal characters are certainly older than the text. The book itself is completely vague about the actual location of the mythical bridge and, as other scholars have pointed out, according to the scripture, Rama himself destroyed the bridge after his rescue mission succeeded.

The row forced a government rethink, since when a new scheme was developed by the Sethusamudram Corporation, which will cut through the northern part of the landbridge 3km (1.8 miles) within and parallel to India’s maritime border with Sri Lanka. We have not been able to find any more recent status reports of this “Suez of the East” than April 2008. As reported on the company website, dredging to the north and south of the landbridge was going well. The landbridge itself is still intact and probably will remain so as long as the opposition has the upper hand.

Man arrested at Walmart for punching pit bull

Man arrested at Walmart for punching pit bull

Coin Washer

The magician causes a borrowed coin and a metal washer to change places under apparently impossible conditions.
A cup is shown to contain a metal washer. The washer is dropped out onto the table. The cup and the magician's hands are seen to be empty.

A spectator drops a coin into the cup. The magician picks up the washer, works it between his or her finger tips and it is seen to change into the coin.
The cup is tilted toward the spectators and the washer slides out. Again the magician's hands are seen to be empty.

Props and Set-up

Two identical large metal washers, a cup or other container with the bottom slightly recessed, magician's wax or equivalent such as soft soap, or other putty like temporary adhesive.
Prepare the cup by turning it mouth down and applying a thick layer of the wax to the center. The waxed area should be thick enough so that the side of the coin/washer toward the cup is not touching the cup bottom. The waxed area should not extend to the edges of the coin/washer. These two precautions will eliminate any fumbling during presentation.
Stick one washer to the wax area, turn the cup mouth up and drop the other washer into the cup.

Handling
Cup Bottom Steal

One of the two washers is stuck to the bottom of the cup with magician's wax or other temporary adhesive. Enough wax should be used to hold the washer or coin away from the actual cup bottom. This makes it easy for the finger tip to engage the edge of the washer or coin and free it from the wax. Once free of the wax, the washer or coin will fall against the third and fourth fingers. This finger palm position is used throughout the routine to conceal the extra object in play.

Tip Out Switch

The coin slides out of the cup and lands in classic palm position. The washer is concealed in finger palm position. The fingers are curled up and the front of the hand turned towards the spectators so they cannot see into the hand.

Drop In Cup & Cup Pickup

To the audience it appears you are dropping the coin back into the cup. Actually the washer is allowed to slide off the fingers into the cup while the coin is retained in the classic palm.

After the washer has fallen into the cup, the classic palm is relaxed so the coin can drop to finger palm position. The hand then picks up the cup, the first and second fingers and thumb taking hold of the cup at the bottom so that as the cup is raised the third and fourth fingers are below the cup bottom.

As the cup is lifted, the finger palmed coin or disc is stuck to the bottom of the cup.

Transformation

With the coin finger palmed in the right hand, the washer is picked up off the table. The left hand turns palm up, the fingers curled in and the washer apparently dropped into the left hand. In fact, the finger palmed coin is released and the washer pulled back and finger palmed. The left fingers then mask the apparent washer as it is moved towards the tips of the left fingers.

The hands turn so the backs are towards the spectators. The apparent washer is rubbed and turned between the finger tips, slowly exposing it and creating the illusion that it is visibly changing into the coin.

With the coin visible at the left finger tips, the right hand moves to the cup, lifts it, attaches the finger palmed washer to the bottom of the cup, tips the cup forward so the washer inside the cup slides out and falls onto the table surface.

The Routine
Pick up the cup. Look down into it as you shake it so the washer will rattle against the sides.
Tilt the mouth of the cup toward the audience and allow the washer to slide out onto the table surface.
Put the cup down, pick up the washer, turn it between the fingers and then place it back on the table, making it obvious that both hands are empty.
Pick up the cup with the right hand in the following manner. The right thumb and first and second fingers go around the cup near the bottom so that when the cup is lifted the third and fourth right fingers are below the bottom of the cup.
Extend the right arm forward, asking a spectator to drop a coin into the cup. As this takes place, the right third finger tip rises up against the bottom of the cup, finds the front edge of the washer and pulls it free of the wax so that it drops into the right hand.
As soon as the spectator drops the coin in the cup, take hold of the cup with the left hand, bring the cup toward your body, look down into it while shaking it so the coin rattles.
Tilt the cup to the right and let the coin slide out into the right hand. The position of the right hand is palm up, fingers curled up slightly to obscure the spectator's view into the right palm, the washer resting in finger palm position against the bottom joints of the fingers. The coin should land directly on the center of the palm so that it can be classic palmed.
Move the left hand a bit to the left, rotate the right hand over the mouth of the cup and let the finger palmed washer drop into the cup. The coin is retained in the right hand.
Immediately move the right hand to the right of cup and lower the right hand down to the bottom of the cup. At the same time let the classic palmed coin drop onto the right fingers.
Take hold of the cup near the bottom with the right thumb and first finger, the rest of the fingers moving under the bottom of the cup and attaching the coin to the wax.
Shake the cup so the coin (actually the washer) rattles. Take the cup with the left hand and move the left hand a few inches to the left. The right hand will be seen to be empty.
Give the cup another shake or two. Then extend the left arm forward to place the cup down on the table. In performing these actions, free the coin from the bottom of the cup and let it drop into left finger palm position.
Just as the left hand is putting the cup down on the table, the right hand moves forward, back of the hand toward the spectators, and picks up the washer on the table. This pickup is done with the right finger tips on top of the washer, the right thumb under it.
The following right and left hand actions should be done simultaneously: Bring the left hand back, rotating it so that it palm up, but with the left fingers curled up to hide the coin. Bring the right hand back, rotating it to the left and finger or classic palm the washer as the right fingers move down into the left palm and touch the coin lying there.
Take hold of the coin with the right finger tips and move the coin toward the left finger tips. The right and left hands rotate to the right and move to the center of the body. The coin is now half hidden by the left and right finger tips.
Appear to be working the washer (actually the coin) between the finger tips. Move the finger tips back slowly to reveal that it is no longer the washer but the coin.
Hold the coin at the tips of the left fingers so it is visible and move the left hand up and away from the right hand.
The right hand moves forward, picks up the cup and tilts it forward to show that the washer is now in the cup. In doing so the washer finger palmed in the right hand is attached to the bottom of the cup.
To clean up: drop the spectator's coin in the cup, move cup toward the spectator and turn it over to let the borrowed coin drop out. Steal the washer from the bottom of the cup.


Performance Notes
This is a neat bit of prestidigitation that is based on a Sam Berland move. A fair amount of rudimentary sleight of hand is involved and a good deal of practice is recommended. However the results are a very clean cut transposition that is impossible seeming and highly visual even in formal close up situations.
A gold coin or other object could be used in place of the metal washer, although the hole in the washer makes it easy to identify and the transposition obvious.
An advanced version of the gimmicked cup can be made up using a magnet rather than the adhesive. A steel core coin has to be used, along with two ferrous metal washers. The magnet should be just strong enough to lightly attract the coin or washer and a false bottom must be added to create enough distance between the magnet and the inside cup bottom to ensure that the coin or washer in the cup doesn't cling to the magnet. The advantage of this setup is that when the coin or washer is dropped into the cup, as it hits the bottom interior it knocks the coin or washer under the cup off the magnet into the curled fingers.