Stephen Gryphon

Isn't human knowledge a wonderful thing.

My mother recently forwarded me an email and asked if I could verify a few of the claims.

The first concerned a 1984 Omni magazine investigation of "Super Psychics of China", claiming that the children passed all the tests "flawlessly". The email did not have any date or reference on it, but after some Googling I found the following article, dated May 1999, which is basically the email word-for-word (plus several variations or reposts with later dates).

You can read the claims for yourself: http://www.newconnexion.net/article/05-99/dna.html

This did not seem too difficult a problem. Omni magazine is now defunct, but the publisher is still around. Better yet, checking the online catalog at the State [reference] Library of NSW shows that they hold the periodical from 1980-1995.

The State Library is only two blocks away from where I work in Circular Quay, so I paid a visit today at lunch time. They got me the catalog number, then I put in my request for them to get it from the stack. As the email claimed the investigation was in 1984, I thought to play it safe I had better ask for 1984 issues plus early 1985.

Not a problem -- they give you this little reference slip whilst they head down to the basement to find what you want, letting me know it might take half an hour. Off I head to Chifley Square for a quick lunch of Japanese inari sushi, potato croquet (not very Japanese I would have thought), and miso soup.

Getting back to the library it was only a short wait before the guy arrived with the cart carrying four large bound volumes of the magazine, six issues in each. (If you've ever looked at periodicals in a library, you will know exactly what I mean.)

Off I head and start browsing through the contents of each issue, checking any articles which mention China or psychic powers just in case they are the right one.

I reach the end of 1984 (the first two books), without any luck and am hoping that it isn't some one paragraph news article which I have to read through every page of every issue to find -- plus the fact that they seemed to be missing Mar 1984 was annoying.

So, I open up 1985 and there on the front cover of January is the headline "China's Psychic Savants" (see, I knew it was a good idea to also check early 1985 :-)

Well, they got that right -- Omni magazine did do an article on psychic Chinese children.

Of course you have to read the article to find out that just about every other thing they claim is wrong: The actual trip to China was in October 1981. The writer met we three groups of supposed psychics.

Quoting from the article the first group of four girls "didn't score a single hit" on guessing symbols written on paper, whilst the second group of three children, guessing cards held up, "got every answer wrong" (despite one test where one of the children "actually left the room and took the target card with her").

With the third group of four children reading messages on folder paper under their armpits the writer "for the first time in two weeks, I saw these children score several hits", however he was a bit concerned about the validity of the tests as the children fidgeted (moved a lot) and the hosts often blocked their view of the children during the tests.

As an example of the problems with the test "one girl given a specially sealed container prepared by us returned it with the seal undone".

The article concludes that "as the trip drew to an end, those in our group agreed that we had seen no convincing evidence of EHF [exceptional human functions]."

It just goes to show how easy it is on the Internet to completely misquote an article and then have your claims passed on as 'fact'.


... Next to check up on another claim the email made (in the URL above) about some testing performed by UCLA regarding some mutated DNA. It's already suspect as some of the statements they make about DNA are simply wrong (for example there are no "turned off" codons, all 64 are functional -- the number 20 probably refers to the different basic amino acids which can be produced, not codons).

Irrespective of the incorrect statements, it should be relatively easy to contact the UCLA genetics department and find out if they have any record of the claimed experiments.

Well, that's it.

My official 15 minutes of fame, I suppose.

Take 5 magazine, Issue 34, out today. Our wedding (7 years ago). $200.

Back to an ordinary life :-)


Wedding web site: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gryps/wedding/

P.S. wintersheart still posted it before I did, tho.

Yup; went to the Nine Inch Nails concert last night.

Absolutely great -- one thing about Trent is that he can actually sing (pretty much did Hurt solo with just him playing the keyboard).

Wasn't too impressed with the support band, however (sorry) -- I would have loved to see Dresden Dolls (who did support on the rest of the tour), as I missed them when they were out recently.

As Simon said "Just a little-itty-bitty fan".

After quite a bit of work, finally it is ready -- the faerie shop is now open for business.

http://www.wintersheart.com/

Looking forward to KMFDM tomorrow (Sat) night:

KMFDM @ Metro

Hello to anyone else coming along.

Pungenday, Discord 40, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3170

Despite having an _extremely_ hectic day at work, I still managed to complete my religious observances and partake of a hot dog.

So should you all, for such is the third commandment!

In fact, there isn't many places in Milsons Point, where I work, that one can partake of a hot dog; therefore I picked one up on the way to work. It was nice, in a hot-doggy sort of way, with a proper hot dog bun.

Does this mean I have actually found a topic to write about, albeit religion is ofttimes controversial one?


- Sly

Anyway, getting back on topic, recently I have found more and more people I know (acquaintances? friends?) that have LJ accounts.

Like fayr -- gee, skimmed through, interesting read to catch up on their life, and found out some interesting news [Congrats Fayr.].

So, then I scan her links/friends, etc, and find even more recognisable names: like sluis -- apparently in London, etc, etc.

LJ is just so weirdly viral, seemingly spreading throughout particular sub-cultures.

Or maybe it just validates my theory that there really are only a very few (a couple of hundred, maybe more) actual _interesting_ people in the world; 99.999% (or maybe even more) are boring people, with boring lives, who go to work, go home, watch sport, listen to top 40, and just plain have no urge to explore. That's why I keep running into the same set of people.

(Or maybe it's just the theory of 6 degrees of separation at work).

---

So, if you want to know something vaguely-might-be-interesting: Next time you see me I may have different colour hair -- I'm currently dying my hair (blonde this time), and waiting for it to turn. I'll probably need a second go though.

Anyway, off I go to shower and wash it out.

- Sly

Details on aus.games.roleplay

I have felt sadness over the last couple of days, since I heard this
news.

I would like, however, to add my voice to those praising Greg. He was
always friendly and willing to talk (with enthusiasm), and was great
at remembering everyone's name. As Craig has mentioned, he would jump
into any game at a minutes notice, and pull off a commanding
performance, no matter what the character.

He more than compensated for his wild expressions, and his complete
disorganisation, with sheer passion and fervor; he brought memorable
life to any role he played. Outside of games I remember many
conversations at conventions, at the pub, or giving him a lift home.
I will miss him.

As well as being an excellent friend to konw and play with, he has
been one of the greatest contributors to our hobby over the years; his
game world, the Saga of Raven's Nest, has existed since before I
started attending conventions (over 15 years), and been one of the
games that I have been happy to return to time and time again.

Greg's personality and enthusiasm has made me always go out of my way
to try and play games set in his world (even written by other writers
who he has inspired), and I have spent many hours myself cataloguing
the world that Greg created. For those interested in remembering his
works, the information I have collected is available at
[http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gryps/raven/].

Although the Saga had an ending, sort of, in 1999 (at least for the
Raven himself), I know that Greg was planning to start a new chapter
in the Saga this year. I hope that his legacy lives on for many years
to come, and we can all remember what a great person Greg Rickards
was.

His funeral will be held at

Metropolitan Funeral Homes
Bankstown 39 Meredith St 2200 (02) 9709 5044
Monday 29th of March at 10am .
It will be Informal.
A light meal will follow at Bankstown TAFE at 12.00.


- Stephen (Sly) Gryphon

Hmm, yes I do sometimes get to indulge in my hobbies, lots of gaming over the coming weekends :-)

The housewarming was a success -- we had plenty of people through the house, even though there was light rain for most of the day and people were confined to inside.

We have also ordered a simple lounge suite to at least fill out the front room (it's looking pretty bare). Unfortunately it won't arrive for 4-6 weeks.

Sat, Mar 20

Meanwhile, we have some free childminding this coming weekend, as my mum is down from Brisbane and offered to take the kids. We will be playing _something_ on Saturday (Mar 20) morning, although I'm not sure what. At this stage I am tossing up between Everway (one off), Tales From the Floating Vagabond (comedy one off), and kicking off a Pendragon campaign -- I thought I would start off a new campaign for our new house and Pendragon seemed like a good idea for an irregular campaign.

If anyone is interested in playing this weekend, I am open to suggestions!

Sun, Mar 28

The weekend after that...

Meanwhile, as wintersheart has mentioned, I will be co-ordinating some games at Necronomicon roleplaying convention.

I'm up for a trilogy (3-session game) of Star Wars (Living Force), plus a single Legacy of the Green Regent (Forgotten Realms D&D). At least I don't have to write the games, as I will be getting them all from the RPGA library.

I am running a playtest/slot-0 for Green Regent on Sunday, Mar 28, although at this stage I think I have enough players.

GMs wanted: If anyone is interested in helping out GMing either of the games at Necro, especially if you have already played them, please contact me: <stephen_gryphon@yahoo.com>.


The weekend after that is Connor's birthday, and then after that is Necro.

- Sly

Finally, I found something vaguely interesting to post to LJ.

( Unrelated tangent on the general nature of blogging )

We had a good, social, weekend. After the Sydney goth parents picnic last weekend, this weekend was on a much smaller social scale.

On Saturday, 'Arco' (not an LJ user, but I'll use a handle anyway -- some should know who I mean, e.g. jujulilianan) and wife brought over their lovely new baby girl, Arkira. Our boys, especially Connor, were very interested in a child smaller than themselves! They were supposed to visit at about 15:00, but (they are usually late) they didn't make it until 17:30, so we had dinner (I cooked Indian).

On Sunday, we went and visited monie_ree, husband, and their new baby boy, Rhett. Again Connor was very interested in the baby (but Liam was more interested in Toy Story 2, which was running on their video). We had a nice afternoon tea, and the boys ran around outside.

So, that's leading up to next weekend (Saturday), which I am very looking forward to, our "Last housewarming party" -- as we have now bought a house (well, buying -- we own a few bricks, the bank owns the rest) and hope not to have to move again for a very long time.

I suppose pretty much anyone who is actually reading my journal (as a friend) should also be invited, so if you didn't get an invite in the mass email-out a few weeks ago, it's probably because I've got an old email address for you! Send me an email sgryphon@computer.org if you are interested, and I will send you our address details.

It will be a lunch BBQ, and warning that there will probably be quite a few kids and babies around.

- Sly