African shaman performing levitation

Don't know if it's already been mentioned, but wouldn't levitation be possible via Brownian motion? If all the molecules in your body miraculously (very miraculously, maybe miraculously raised to the 10th power) vibrated up at the same time, you might float up a little. Then again, you'd probably have a better chance to levitate by developing your flautulence talents.
 
insidespace said:
Dogdoctor said:
Your center of gravity doesn't change by thought alone, action must be taken for it to change. In additon changing your center of gravity doesn't change gravity or your weight.


You mean "thoughts" have no mass? Are "thoughts" a part of the "mind" which is not part of the "body"? I think that is called "dualism" isn't it? Why do you say that thoughts cannot change your center of gravity if actions do. Aren't thoughts just the brain's actions, involving changes in potentials as a result of nervous activity? Isn't that activity basically chemical in nature? Doesn't that involve atoms? Don't the atoms have mass? Wouldn't that mean that if the atoms move some change in cg (as you put it) occurs? Why not?
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Thoughts involve the moving around of chemicals in your brain there is no change in the center of gravity since the chemicals are all still in your brain and their movement is of no significance to your center of balance since they are such a small amount of mass and their movement is generally accompanied by the movement of other chemicals that take their place. However I will concede that there may be an extremely small and unmeasureable change that may occur it is certainly of no significance as far as really changing your center of gravity since it is so slight as to be unmeasurable. However if you happen to have some scientific data showing I am wrong now would be the time to show it.
Otherwise this is just another unsuported thought you are having.
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Stellafane said:
Don't know if it's already been mentioned, but wouldn't levitation be possible via Brownian motion? If all the molecules in your body miraculously (very miraculously, maybe miraculously raised to the 10th power) vibrated up at the same time, you might float up a little. Then again, you'd probably have a better chance to levitate by developing your flautulence talents.
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Brownian motion is the random movement of macroscopic particles due to interactions with microscopic particles, classically demonstrated with pollen in water. You're probably thinking of quantum mechanics where, due to uncertainty, it is theoretically possible for a particle to be measured some distance from its most likely position. However, even quantum things have to obey all the laws of physics. No matter how likely or unlikely it is for a particle, or group of particles, to do something, energy can't be created from nothing. In order to levitate, lots of energy is needed to overcome the gravitational potential. Without an input, the particles can't just jump in the air, although they could theoretically jump sideways.
 
Spektator said:
Couldn't say. I never get invited to that sort of party.
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I think it was a reference to an incident told in a certain trilogy. If I'm right, the same trilogy also tells the story of a party that really got off the ground. That "levitation" was accomplished with some sort of rocket engines or something like that. It also tells exactly how to achieve real levitation ("flying" I think they call it)--where you begin falling but then fail to hit the ground.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
I think it was a reference to an incident told in a certain trilogy. If I'm right, the same trilogy also tells the story of a party that really got off the ground. That "levitation" was accomplished with some sort of rocket engines or something like that. It also tells exactly how to achieve real levitation ("flying" I think they call it)--where you begin falling but then fail to hit the ground.
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I do believe you are right--and I do believe that the scientists in that trilogy(the ones with the really hot cup of tea) are miffed that they never get invited to that sort of party, which provoked my comment.

Back on track, I do not believe that Brownian motion accounts for the shaman's levitation. I think that the word "fake" covers that nicely.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
It also tells exactly how to achieve real levitation ("flying" I think they call it)--where you begin falling but then fail to hit the ground.
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I think I've nearly got the hang of that. Admittedly I usually miss the ground because I've hit something else on the way down. More practice should get it sorted.
 
ObscureReferenceMan said:
Does anyone else know the photo? As I recall, it has been debunked - something about inconsistencies in the wallpaper, I believe. Anyone?
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Is this it?

indelible_nixon.jpg
 
Lithrael said:
Is this it?
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No shadows of the man on the wall as they appear for the furniture in the background.
Easily debunkable although this doesn't mean that levitation by the power of the mind is not possible only that this photo had been tampered with.

Regards,
Yair
 
yairhol said:
No shadows of the man on the wall as they appear for the furniture in the background.
Easily debunkable although this doesn't mean that levitation by the power of the mind is not possible only that this photo had been tampered with.

Regards,
Yair
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Nah, that's Richard M Nixon, that is. Here's a telling Nixon quote that gives the game away,

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/richard_m_nixon.html
"Tell them to send everything that can fly."
 
Anything new in this field?
Anyone else levitated recently?

Regards,
Yair
 
insidespace said:
OK, a coupla things.
So, which is it, guys (and gals)? If so called "scientists" cannot even agree on something so *basic* supposedly as how a dog makes himself (herself) heavier, yet I am supposed to believe scientists have the answers to how the sacred Shaman levitates????
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Tell me, where does the extra mass come from when the dog makes itself heavier? And where does it go to afterwards?
 
Obscurereferenceman:
"Anyway, a little derail... One of inside's links about Amedee Zuccarini got me thinking. Is he the medium who claimed he could levitate, but only had one photograph of himself doing the trick? I think I remember the photo, but my google skills were not up to the task of finding it.

Does anyone else know the photo? As I recall, it has been debunked - something about inconsistencies in the wallpaper, I believe. Anyone?"


A few months late but this is what you were referring to. He was standing on a ladder that was brushed out on the photograph.

http://members.tripod.com/~Mirabelli/falsalevitacao.htm
 
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Given the correct amount of tequila and just the right circumstances, I have been known to levitate and become bullet proof.
 
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