Wow if it can do this I wonder what it does to our brains.....I'm so getting a new bluetooth!

I gotta try that..

To get enough phones to try it out...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ffc_1213730204

Just go directly to snopes... or urbanlegends... or mythbusters, whenever you hear some silly story like this that keeps you from falling asleep with your arms or legs dangling over the edge of the bed.

Many people actually get angry with me when I try to guide them back to the land of logic... "Oh yeah? Well how come you believe snopes all the time? Maybe they don't know everything!"

They're probably right. Microsoft IS giving away millions for trying out their new beta software. There really is some guy in Nigeria who wants to deposit a bunch of money into your account. Tanning Booths really do cook your liver, and cell phones really do fry your brain.

It's just a viral advertising campaign for Cardo Bluetooth headsets.

go to utube (cell phone popcorn) and they show how the trick is done.

it's actually a hoax

Stop raining on my parade people!!

I was really looking forward to trying that. Dang it!

do you think you could smoke a ham?

kept falling out of the rolling papers and I couldn't keep it lit.

Nice job explaining this.  

I think people simply like to believe in things beyond reality because it gives them hope that somehow we aren't responsible for our actions, and when you take away that belief you hurt their feelings.  Rational thought is often abhorred by those who have never really tried it.

James Randi -- who is a skeptic, magician and hero of mine -- once infuriated a class of college freshmen by showing them that astrology is nonsense.  He had them fill out some forms that told when and where they were born, and he told them he would use the information to determine what sorts of people they are and how their lives must certainly be going due to the influence of the stars.

A week later he returned to the class and he handed each of them a sealed envelope.  In it was a very specific set of statements about that individual student.  He asked the class to read them individually and gave them time to do so.  When they had completed their reading, he asked, by a show of hands, how many people thought his statements were accurate.  Nearly every student's hand was in the air.

Next, he asked them to pass their envelope to the person next to them and then to read the other person's packet.  They were all identical.

This made a few of the students laugh, but many were furious.  The argument was, "Just because you don't believe in astrology doesn't mean it isn't real."  Of course, they're right.  The fact that Randi or you or I doesn't believe something has no bearing whatever on the truth of the proposition.  On the other hand...

If one is going to make an extraordinary claim, as Carl Sagan liked to point out, it will require extraordinary evidence.  The fact that I can't prove reindeer can't fly doesn't mean they can.

Penn and Teller, many years ago, gave a great example of this too.  They suggested we could take 100 reindeer to the top of The Empire State Building and toss them off one at a time.  As we watched each fall to its inevitiable and messy death, we would still not have proven that reindeer can't fly.  We would have proven only that those PARTICULAR reindeer either couldn't fly or that they had a death wish.  But you could simply never prove that no reindeer anywhere can fly.

Because you can not prove a negative, if you want someone to believe something incredible, you must provide credible evidence.

The videos of people popping popcorn with their cell phones looked pretty convincing.  How could this not be the truth?  There's your extraorinary proof for the extraordinary claim.  Fortunately, however, there were people who were not so easily convinced do a little more research to find out how the trick was done.  The rational among us are smiling or laughing at the ingenuity of the producers of the original video.  Others will, however, refuse to believe it's not true.  They want to believe ridiculous things, and who are we to tell them not to?

Sometimes, of course, it's simply fun to believe ridiculous things.  One example would be that I choose to believe that when a Provider comes to see me, she really likes me.  I know that there is no more truth in that idea than that I can pop popcorn with my cell phone.  However, I ignore the facts, I ignore what logic tells me, and I allow myself to pretend it's true in order to enjoy myself as much as possible.  Those Providers who do better fostering this illusion tend to be those I most like to see.  

We all cling to whatever myths make us happy.  I'm sure that when people got angry with you it was simply because you challenged their deeply held but irrational ideas.    

PS.. please NEVER tell me my ATFs aren't secretly in love with me or I'll pop your brain with the ulra powerful radiation from my cell phone.  lol

i saw this on the news. they said this was a hoax, part of a viral ad or something like that.

that if you put two cell phones in my side pants pockets, call them and hold them there while snuggling up against my back, I'll get an erection.

I can prove it, too! James Randi be damned!

Yeah that was a youtube video.

It's a fake.

I mean come on. Think about it. Think critically.

I don't think even James Randi would argue with that one... lol

wow, who are you??

The Amazing Randi has a sealed envelope in his safe containing a certified check for a million dollars, and a few simple words. Tell him what the words are and you get the million. His crew also has a standing offer to psychics to perform certain tasks (or make a reasonable proposal) in front of his panel of experts, and take home the million. Many have applied, some have tried, all have failed, most have embarassed themselves.

Harry Houdini wanted desperately to believe in the afterlife and spent a good portion of his life searching the country for someone who could truly communicate with the dead. He wanted to talk to his Mommy. He never found anybody who could do it - and he was REALLY looking.

I firmly believe that every provider I have ever met loves me deeply and wishes that our union was under different circumstances - even if she's not that good at propogating the illusion

There is a huge difference between clinging to myths, and the willing suspension of disbelief.
I guess the trick is identifying which is which.

I saw somehwere on the internet that it works, and I believe it. Same with banana peels.

I also believe that all the women I see love me, at least for an hour or so. Please don't tell me it's not true, because I believe it.

Come on now where's the clapping for actually finding a video that will make you think eh??? I liked it and I thought it was very realistic, albeit highly unlikely, and yes I'm still going to try it out because that's what blonds do. I'll keep you posted!  

my daughters car door for her...she was 10 miles away and locked her keys in the car.  I had the other transmitter, put it thru my cell, told her to hold hers about a foor from her door...it popped open.   Works on mine too.   That's the same principle "onstar uses to open your doors for you"   It actually works!!!

I'd like the address of the guy giving away the $$$ thank you....lol

well I don't know about a ham but you may be able to cook a few hotdogs or mabe a grilled  cheese.

what about mythbusters Rea, this sounds like something they would try to disprove so have at it...be sure to let us know.

when you try it out, put the pop corn & the cellies in the microwave, make the phone calls & turn on the microwave for 30 seconds & see what happens....

I may just have to make sure I do that one GJ...lol...

I thought it was very entertaining...for a moment I had wanted to try it....

It is a transmitted signal that travels in the air from your car key pad (remote key entry - RKE) to a lock transmitter in the door that opens the lock.  If the distance between the car and the key pad is too far the door will not open as the weak signal never reaches its target.  Onstar utilizes satellite GPS technology to locate your car and sends a signal to unlock the door.  It each case, the low tech key pad and the high tech Onstar, it is a signal travelling through the airwaves and not a sound that unlocks the door.

Not sure what type of locking mechanism is on your daughters car.  But without question it is not a RKE system that major automakers deploy.



-- Modified on 7/2/2008 8:11:04 AM

the mortgage crisis would not hit him.

lots of our citizenry are just too lazy or ignorant to believe truth... because truth is kinda hard at times.

You're right, of course.  I deceive myself intentionally, but I would never try to defend my belief that my ATF has any feelings for me.  Truth be told, last time I saw her she went to some length to let me know that she likes me, but she has a boyfriend and all that.  I had to assure her that I understood this, and then she returned to creating the illusion I love so much.

I think it's the same with any legitimate magician.  We all know that we are watching him do impossible things, and, for me, the fun of that is trying to figure out how he did it.  For others, though, there is a real desire to believe he could saw a woman in half, and this can start one down the road to serious trouble.  

Soon, you find yourself thinking that a Faith Healer can cure your child's illnesses, and you stop taking her to real doctors and believe that if only you have enough faith, it will work.  This is when I object.  Those kinds of beliefs are dangerous.

There's no danger in my playing the game that my ATF is in love with me.  I know it's not true, but it improves my session, and I want to get as much as I can for my money.  There is a danger, though, in convincing oneself of things that cannot be true if that leads a person to choices that are foolish.

I was aware, by the way, of Randi's offer.  There was a psychcic (Sylvia something?)  who kept making excuse after excuse for why it wouldn't work.  What I find appalling is how many people believed her, and blamed Randi.

In the final analysis, as Paul Simon said, "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."  If people want to believe something, they need very little evidence in order to convince them.  Until we all learn to think rationally and critically, I'm afraid psychics, The Loch Ness Monster, and killer cell phones will continune to crop up.  

While I would LIKE to believe that there is life beyond Earth, for example, and I think the most amazing day in Earth's history would be when we made contact with such life, there simply is no credible evidence for it, and I apply my skepticism in healthy doses to such claims.  This helps to keep me from believing things that might finally hurt me.

Anyway, thanks for your response, and I hope to read more of your work.

F

Hey Nichole.

You can read about it at this link.

If you win the million dollars, can I get a free session for turning you on to it?  

lol

F

Now that is COMEDY!! Seriously.....DID IT WORK Z.?!?! Are you still there, you ok?!?! You all are so cute. Ahhh, LIFE!... Human Interaction.