… to Catherine and Mike G. on the birth of their first child Benjamin James yesterday coming in at 7lb 7oz. AD48

Read Brendan Kilmartin’s article from The Supernatural World. It asks the question “did Derek Acorah use UK Psychic Medium Simon Peters as a plant at the York Opera House Theatre?”. Compare Brendan Kilmartin’s evidence with Simon Peters response and make up your own mind.

Check out Mike’ Classic Cartoon Themes & Images to download mp3’s of classic cartoon theme music. My favourites are Battle of the Planets, The Banana Splits, Spider-Man and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. Absolutely brilliant. My Squeezebox has a new genre.

Play Brian Mung’s Derren Brown Inside Your Mind Game and help Derren keep David Blaine, Uri Geller and Paul Daniels away from his big book of mind control secrets. It has a pretty funny Flash introduction too.

OozingGoo have put up details on how to make your own lava lamp. They point out that it’s still cheaper to buy one, but for all you inquisitive types…

Last night I was reading a paper, Paula was on the phone and Billy was playing with his gigantic super magnet, sticking it to the radiator and picking up coins.

Billy suddenly said “Look Dad, the magnet makes great patterns on the TV screen.”

Yes he was dragging his super-powerful magnet across the screen, taking the electrons with it. I stuttered a bit, and said that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. He had been watching a cartoon, and the picture looked sort of ok. I changed channel to be sure only to see Rolf Harris with a green head and purple hands. Yes he had magnetically charged the tv screen, and the colours were all over the place. I looked for a degauss setting on the menu, to no avail. I turned the TV on and off a few times but still no joy, and I was resigned to having to buy a new TV at the weekend. We turned the situation into a opportunity to give Billy a science lesson as to how TV’s work and why magnets and TVs don’t mix too well. We also covered video tape and anything else I could think of.

Later we turned our multi-coloured TV off to put the kids to bed, and we didn’t turn it on again for an hour our so. When we did put it back on, the picture was fine. I can only assume the TV degausses itself after a period. Phew!

Catch Derren doing his bit for charity next week on Comic Aid 26th February 9.15pm BBC1 and 10.15pm BBC2.

Scene: Paula taking Billy to school.

Billy: “Shit!”
Paula: “What did you say Billy”
Billy: “Shit”
Paula: “Billy where did you learn…”
Billy: “Why has someone written shit on the letterbox?”

Fortunately he doesn’t know what it means, and (so far) hasn’t repeated it again since.AD41

Just found an interesting article in the Fortean Times archives entitled The Modern Mentalist. It’s an article from FT 185 first published in July 2004, and it’s a good read. Jack Phoenix meets Derren at his home to “discuss perception, illusion and spoon- bending.”

The original post for this article by Jeremy Borger is available here

Analysts said on Monday that Apple plans to release software for the Atari 8-bit which would allow users of the computer to sync the iPod to their machines.

However, the limited sound capabilities of the Atari means the MP3s will only sound like bells and chirps when played on the computer.

The new software, called “iTari”, includes a special iPod-to-serial port cable. This is needed because the 8-bit Atari, which includes models such as the 400, 800, and 800XL, doesn’t have a Firewire port. The special cable allows users to hook the iPod to the Atari’s serial port. Unfortunately, this doesn’t allow the iPod to be automatically recognized by the Atari. It must be synched manually. The entire 5 GB iPod can be synched in just under 4 days.

This is big news for the estimated 527 active Atari 8-bit users.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” said Atari enthusiast Pat Jackman. “Can’t sync the iPod to the Commodore 64! Eat that, commies!”

Apple first released the iPod last October with software only for the Macintosh. Many thought when Apple released a revised version, they would include Atari software. But earlier this year, when Apple came out with the 10 GB iPod, no Atari software was included.

Apple may be releasing the iTari software in order to get a jump on third party developers who may be planning to come up with Atari iPod software on their own. There’s currently no such software out there, but at least one programmer has been thinking about it.

“I have an 8-bit Atari and was thinking about making software for it [to sync with the iPod],” said 38-year-old unemployed programmer Bruce Dickson. “But I figure there’s only about seven people out there who’d be interested in using it, so it’s probably not worth it.”

Will Apple making iPod software for the Atari hurt Mac sales?

“The advantage Apple had with the iPod was that it was another reason for potential computer buyers to buy a Mac,” said Guernsey Research analyst Chris LeTocq. “But why would consumers buy a $2000 Macintosh when they can get a $15 Atari from eBay?”

The iTari software is expected to be released in July at MacWorld New York.