African shaman performing levitation

insidespace said:
These are people who would doubt for the sake of doubting. They doubted Edison and Einstein, remember?
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Edison and Einstein did levitation videos? Cool.

Returning to the levitation at issue, I note the general looseness and lack of stress on the shaman. It is just like he is floating, not being pulled up by a cord. A cord would put pressure on him, but he does not seem to have any pressure. So, he floats on a sea of air (?), buoyed up by his belief. Did Archimedes measure how much lighter one can get if one tries? Have you ever tried to make yourself "heavier" so that someone can't pick you up? Dogs can do this too. It is just the reverse of levitation, so don't say it is impossible.
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Reading your explanations, I'm reminded of the Chinese Proverb -- "He who has seen little marvels much."

RayG
 
insidespace said:
The film is impressive. His body lifts as one. There are no stresses or attachment points for wires.
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Assuming this is not a troll, what I see here is a thing I've seen Randi warn about pretty often (and Banachek too btw): if you explain a trick to someone, they can be fooled into thinking something is the real thing by someone who does the same thing, but with a different method.
Apparently, insidespace thinks he knows how people can 'fake' levitation - with wires. And since he does not see the shaman using wires, it must be real levitation. And please, fireproof wires? How about steel wires? We all know fire can't melt steel, right? :D
If I were to do this levitation, I'd simply use a boom attached to my back with a harnass. One or more helpers hidden behind the palmleaves and of in the air you go! You can't see it with that camera angle and regarding the other camera, well, they're in on it anyway. And the way the guy falls down at the end. Hah, just like I've seen David Blaine take a fall after he did a Balducci! Blaine was really, really exhausted after that. And he didn't use no wires. Guess that was real too!
 
insidespace, here is a video of a man performing a simple levitation trick. His name is Richard Wiseman and you should get to know his work.



BTW, welcome to the forum. I think you are delusional, but you are passionate about your delusion. Oddly enough, I sort of respect that.
 
insidespace said:
OK, well I see as I posted a little bit, I was asked for my "theory of levitation." OK here goes:

First, there is no "theory" of how the bumblebee flies, is their? It is impossible according to the finest aerodynamists.
<snip>
And I think with training, Shamans can lower their body temperature. This is altering the lattice vibrations, isn't it?
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Actually, the old myth that bumblebees cannot fly has been busted many many times. There is nothing mystical about it. Here's one link, you search up some more: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_045.html

Call for reference on both impossible-bumblebee-flight and shaman-lowering-body-tempurature.

Oh, hello, Dejan. Is this your new handle?
 
If this African guy is really a Shaman, how come he can't cause a Windfury Totem to materialize next to him on the ground? Hmmm?
 
tracer said:
If this African guy is really a Shaman, how come he can't cause a Windfury Totem to materialize next to him on the ground? Hmmm?
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Hell, I will take Storm as an African Shaman any day of the week over this turkey.
God,it is not even a clever fate.
And being endorsed by David Icke of "Lizard Men Rule The World" fame is the kiss of death.

Of course there will always be doubting thomases. These are people who would doubt for the sake of doubting. They doubted Edison and Einstein, remember?
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He forgot to throw in Galileo.
I wish I had a dime everytime I have seen this weak argument used. It is not enough to be doubted by the masses.You also have to be right.
 
Well, I guess everyone thinks the Shaman is tricking everyone in this levitation thing. Well, without knowing the exact situation in Africa or wherever, I guess we really can't say. What motivation would the guy have to get out there in the heat and do this stuff anyway? If it is a trick, who would care? I tend to take people at face value, though. And he does look like a Shaman.

I know for a fact though that there are a lot of unexplained things about levitation. For instance, why does a star seem to float upwards when you stare at it? I am *NOT* saying the star is levitating because we know the star is so far away it can't, but it indicates your brain may be playing tricks on you.

So can the Shaman make your brain think he is levitating, by sending out brain waves or something, so that everyone who watches says he is levitating, when "really" he isn't, but there are no wires or anything?

I think that may account for a lot of the "paranormal" phenomena we can see. People swear they see it, and they are not lying. However, we can't understand how that could possibly happen. So, the answer may be, our minds are affected by the person and we think we see something.

I remember reading how certain people could change people's minds. Maybe it is called mass hysteria, or something else. Is that impossible? Throughout recorded history there have been tales of great men (and women, sorry) who could effect others in strange ways. Why was Caesor so influential? Couldn't it have been he could effect minds? What about Hitler? Can you really believe everybody followed him because he was smart? No way. He could send out brain waves or something that effected peoples' perceptions and changed their minds.

So I think that Shaman may be able to send brainwaves, and maybe it just looks like he flew. On the other hand, it is possible he flew by force of will, which has been documented many times.
 
Insidespace, please except my belated welcome. :)

I have to say I can't wait 'till you wander over to the Conspiracy Theories forum. I expect you will be very popular!
 
O thanks. Accept I do *NOT* believe in random conspiracies. There are rules of nature that are in operation, irregardless of whether we believe them or not. For example, for everybody on G-D's green earth, there is someone who knows someone six times to connect all them. Is that a conspiracy? I think it can be explained by natural law.

Now if you mean, can someone have "information" that they are not supposed to have (ref: The Government's Coverup of UFO's, etc.) then the answer is definitely "yes". But if you think that behind every bush people are talking about you or plotting to do you harm, well, mister I just say, "prove it!"

Does that help?
 
insidespace said:
O thanks. Accept I do *NOT* believe in random conspiracies. There are rules of nature that are in operation, irregardless of whether we believe them or not. For example, for everybody on G-D's green earth, there is someone who knows someone six times to connect all them. Is that a conspiracy? I think it can be explained by natural law.

Now if you mean, can someone have "information" that they are not supposed to have (ref: The Government's Coverup of UFO's, etc.) then the answer is definitely "yes". But if you think that behind every bush people are talking about you or plotting to do you harm, well, mister I just say, "prove it!"

Does that help?
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Hoooo.... Ok, nitpicky stuff first. "Irregardless" isn't really a word. It means the opposite of what you intended to say...

Now then. I think if you are not indeed Dejan, you are close to him/her.

As for the rest of it... I confess, I'm having a hard time following you. You seem to be saying that UFOs (as in ET visits) are real and are being covered up by the government, though you don't mention *which* government.

Are you saying you beleive the fakir flew, the llama levitated, the holy man hovered, the guru guffawed at gravity? If yes, continue. If no, what are you talking about? Dejan?
 
You said what do you mean, Dejan? Who or what is that? Is it a figure of speech? A person? I am not "Dejan" whoever that is.

OK, yes I think the U.S. Gov't covered up UFO evidence. Their is a huge amount of visible evidence, including metals that do not form in the periodic table, that are in private (not military) hands in N.M. And on the flying charts known as "sectionals" there is a "UFO landing site" marked. Someone let that through, because it is from the U.S. Government printing company.

Right, as the convergence in meaning, remember no body knows how UFO's can "levitate." They have been observed *ON CAMERA* to fly sideways and up and down, much better than the best military jets. So, would that be considered levitation? And if not, how do you explain it?

Now, as to the Shaman, I have to say, it could be both. He could be levitating because of control of his body vibrations, or be could be sending brainwaves out to make everyone think its so.

As for me, I like to keep an open mind until there is absolute cash on the barrel head proof. A lot of people make "claims" but far fewer can "prove" these claims beyond a shadow of a doubt. You know their is a sucker born every minute, and it is because they don't say "mister, prove what you say!!!!!!"

I hope that explains it.
 
If irregardless means the opposite of what I meant to say (assuming you know what I meant) then does "inflammable" mean the opposite of "flammable"?
 
insidespace said:
You said what do you mean, Dejan? Who or what is that? Is it a figure of speech? A person? I am not "Dejan" whoever that is.
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Ok, sure. I'll go along with you, you're not Dejan.
OK, yes I think the U.S. Gov't covered up UFO evidence. Their is a huge amount of visible evidence, including metals that do not form in the periodic table, that are in private (not military) hands in N.M. And on the flying charts known as "sectionals" there is a "UFO landing site" marked. Someone let that through, because it is from the U.S. Government printing company.
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Would you please provide something that resembles evidence of this?
Specifically, I would ***love*** to see evidence about "metals that do not form in the periodic table". But let's define what we mean -- Bronze isn't in the Table, yet it's a metal. This is true of any alloy. Is this what you refer to, an alloy? If so, an alloy of what? Do you have references as to the composition?
Right, as the convergence in meaning, remember no body knows how UFO's can "levitate." They have been observed *ON CAMERA* to fly sideways and up and down, much better than the best military jets. So, would that be considered levitation? And if not, how do you explain it?
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I explain it as... garbage. You should too. There is more evidence for the existence of Mickey Mouse than there is of extraterrestrial anything.
Unless you have a specific reference, that is.
Now, as to the Shaman, I have to say, it could be both. He could be levitating because of control of his body vibrations, or be could be sending brainwaves out to make everyone think its so.
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Or, it could be a load of bologna. The video is a fraud.
As for me, I like to keep an open mind until there is absolute cash on the barrel head proof. A lot of people make "claims" but far fewer can "prove" these claims beyond a shadow of a doubt. You know their is a sucker born every minute, and it is because they don't say "mister, prove what you say!!!!!!"

I hope that explains it.
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Oh, it does.

Mister, prove what you say.
 
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By the way I think I can prove my dog can make himself heavier. I held him and walked on a scale. He wiggles around and the scale changes. How can that happen when I does not hit anything,just wiggles. Thats not the point right now, that is another point. Right now, I tried to pick him up and he went "limp". Weighing him when he went limp showed more weight.

Disclaimer: I do not warrant this result to anwyone else.
 
insidespace said:
You said what do you mean, Dejan? Who or what is that? Is it a figure of speech? A person? I am not "Dejan" whoever that is.

OK, yes I think the U.S. Gov't covered up UFO evidence. Their is a huge amount of visible evidence, including metals that do not form in the periodic table, that are in private (not military) hands in N.M. And on the flying charts known as "sectionals" there is a "UFO landing site" marked. Someone let that through, because it is from the U.S. Government printing company.

Right, as the convergence in meaning, remember no body knows how UFO's can "levitate." They have been observed *ON CAMERA* to fly sideways and up and down, much better than the best military jets. So, would that be considered levitation? And if not, how do you explain it?

Now, as to the Shaman, I have to say, it could be both. He could be levitating because of control of his body vibrations, or be could be sending brainwaves out to make everyone think its so.

As for me, I like to keep an open mind until there is absolute cash on the barrel head proof. A lot of people make "claims" but far fewer can "prove" these claims beyond a shadow of a doubt. You know their is a sucker born every minute, and it is because they don't say "mister, prove what you say!!!!!!"

I hope that explains it.
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I call TROLL! :covereyes
 
insidespace said:
If irregardless means the opposite of what I meant to say (assuming you know what I meant) then does "inflammable" mean the opposite of "flammable"?
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Go to dictionary.com and find out. Use the link I provided you for "irregardless". Look it up.

In fact, get used to being asked to go read things. If you hang around here, it'll happen a good bit.
 
Wasn't it Randi that debunked Indian levitators?

As I recall, what the Indian shamans did was carry around a pole with a little stool for them to sit on. They keep the pole hidden in their clothes, plant it in the ground, and raise their feet up off the ground... basically sitting on the pole.
 
insidespace said:
Well, I guess everyone thinks the Shaman is tricking everyone in this levitation thing. Well, without knowing the exact situation in Africa or wherever, I guess we really can't say. What motivation would the guy have to get out there in the heat and do this stuff anyway? If it is a trick, who would care? I tend to take people at face value, though. And he does look like a Shaman.

I know for a fact though that there are a lot of unexplained things about levitation. For instance, why does a star seem to float upwards when you stare at it? I am *NOT* saying the star is levitating because we know the star is so far away it can't, but it indicates your brain may be playing tricks on you.

So can the Shaman make your brain think he is levitating, by sending out brain waves or something, so that everyone who watches says he is levitating, when "really" he isn't, but there are no wires or anything?

I think that may account for a lot of the "paranormal" phenomena we can see. People swear they see it, and they are not lying. However, we can't understand how that could possibly happen. So, the answer may be, our minds are affected by the person and we think we see something.

I remember reading how certain people could change people's minds. Maybe it is called mass hysteria, or something else. Is that impossible? Throughout recorded history there have been tales of great men (and women, sorry) who could effect others in strange ways. Why was Caesor so influential? Couldn't it have been he could effect minds? What about Hitler? Can you really believe everybody followed him because he was smart? No way. He could send out brain waves or something that effected peoples' perceptions and changed their minds.

So I think that Shaman may be able to send brainwaves, and maybe it just looks like he flew. On the other hand, it is possible he flew by force of will, which has been documented many times.
Click to expand...

Wow. So you actually think it's more likely that he is somehow sending out brainwaves to make us think he's levitating, rather than a simple magic trick - one that many people have done countless times before? Try and think about it; which explanation seems more possible, brainwaves or a magic trick? Which is easier to explain? Which can be replicated and tested? Why do you want to believe the explanations that are less likely to be true?

Do you really take people at face value? Do you aways think things are the way they look? Well, that's your problem. Things and people aren't always what they seem. Just because he looks like a shaman doesn't mean he is, and just because he says he can levitate, doesn't mean he isn't pulling our legs. You've got to think things through a little more than just accepting them at face value and stop coming up with wild theories to explain them.
 
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