#24, there we go again. There's often a strong anti-European, populist slant in some of the UK media and it rubs me the wrong way. Every mention of 'Brussels' is immediately turned into a caricature, and of course it's an ideal situation for your politicians and media to exploit. It reminds me of the way the French were regarded before cheap travel and cheap housing made hundreds of thousands of Brits decide it wasn't so bad after all - and move there.

#3, John, there's no 'official committee to authenticate pint glass volumes', it's a straightforward pan-European customer protection measure. This is not 'an interesting glimpse into the Rube-Goldberg-esque workings of European bureaucracy', it's instead a rather sensible measure that was previously British law anyway.

That there is an official committee to authenticate pint glass volume is an interesting glimpse into the Rube-Goldberg-esque workings of European bureaucracy, in and of itself.

Wow, projecting our prejudices a bit, are we?

I wouldn't want to see the baud rate on that hypothetical morse code receiver :)
It's just a normal wireless video receiver by a manufacturer called Morse - see e.g. http://www.rfamerica.com/product/dentalmed/accessory/morse.html

Don't get too excited about actually using these. I have several of these (buffing wheel, table saw and some others) and you can barely cut through a wooden match stick with them. There's too much slippage in the belts and the cutting tools are not sharp enough to do anything with them. And probably my steam engine doesn't output enough torque, either.

#4, you can see some drops explode here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdy2_vi0FfM

The first moon landing was an 8 day trip.

Neat! Also on Google Maps: it's the grey rectangle at the end of the tracks in the sand.

#1, it's not two computers in tandem, it's two screens (and a SID sound chip) attached to a home-built computer based on a 8080 CPU.

#15: Is this guy just another of those who think that because they can prove it's possible to fool people some of the time, that the people they disagree with are ALWAYS fooling people?

No, he's just one of those guys who like to stay in touch with reality. There are no better tools for this than skepticism and the scientific method. You know, as opposed to gullibility and wishful thinking.

#30: 'I'm not a big beer drinker, but I have to say that the (half) pint they have pulled in that shot has the worst head on a beer I have seen in a while.'

It depends on the country. It looks like a normal head for a pint (33cl) to me here in Belgium. Not that I have ever even seen someone drink a Heineken here, he he.

Thanks Anonymous. I found an article in French on his website about the design of the spot welder: http://paillard.claude.free.fr/triodes/soudage/soudage.html . He made it himself using the structural components from what I think is a small 1920's riveting press ('nous avons reconverti une petite presse à sertir des années vingt'). It looks rather neat!

Does anyone know what the old-fashioned welding tool he uses is called?

Tubman, I think the point is most of his tricks only use a psychological explanation as a misdirection from the fact that he is using 'standard' magical tricks. (Derren has written a book about card magic that is already considered a classic, and he's a master at a magic technique called 'double reality'.)

That's a good point Acacia. A sizable part of the general public does swallow the NLP explanation hook, line and sinker. If a person is missing the basics of skepticism, they'll fall for astrology, homeopathy, crystals and any other kind of dopey world-view. Skeptical thinking should be taught early on in life in schools - we can't put warning messages on every form of entertainment. And let me repeat that Derren is a well known skeptic - he appeared in Richard Dawkins' last show 'The Enemies of Reason'.

#9: He is most likely working with actors or using some other form of cheating. If he, a poor chess player, can defeat grandmasters, why isn't he world champion?

Derren Brown is a mentalist, in other words a kind of magician (for anyone interested: read '13 Steps to Mentalism' by Corinda). Do you also think a magician who cuts someone in half on stage is a liar? Is the magician lying when he says he used magic to do his trick, instead of owing up that it is a trick?
His trick for defeating the grandmasters was really rather straightforward and elegant. Of course it's a trick, and in this case he even explains exactly how it was done.

#10: the ambigram thing really annoyed me because I spotted it straight away and it just felt like cheating, and quite patronising at the same time.

The ambigram is a misdirection, just like hypnosis is a misdirection in many of his tricks.

#15: He doesn't trick or suggest or program, he simply lies.

The web page you link to is hilariously wrong. Any great hypnotic subject will behave like the zombie-killing guy. It's really not that hard.

#16: He explains some of his tricks, which often involve the trick of "suggestion" - implanting an idea in your mind - and then "reading" that idea. However he always goes on to extend the trick in ways that are completely baffling.

Baffling because the 'suggestion' explanation is a misdirect from a standard magic trick...

Of course, some people will never be convinced that the tricks aren't set-ups, which in my opinion is just as close-minded as assuming he must use supernatural powers.

Absolutely!

Derren also made a great show called Messiah ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown#Messiah ) debunking all kinds of superstition.

Ugh. Here in Belgium we've got an outrageous anti-piracy ad in the streets at the moment - 'Would you put her life in danger?' ( http://namaak.be/faq ). Just one gem from the faq (translated from Dutch):

"You should not forget that the purchase of pirate products that seem innocent (textiles, perfume, ...) is equal to the financing of maffia-networks that will reinvest in dangerous products (drugs, ...) as well as in terrorist networks (see the London attacks of July 2005)."

It actually says 'is equal to'... and the ad is financed by the Customs agency.

Don't mess with Xeni, she is channeling Grace Jones.
Great stuff guys, I am looking forward to more!

Does anyone know what the vinyl bird figure on Roy's desk is? I vaguely remember seeing it on Boing Boing. I think it's from a cartoon but I'm not sure...

Not Dutch, Belgian. Well, Flemish actually. Spoken in Dutch though, or should I say Flemish. Confushing huh?

It's called 'Kabouter Plop': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabouter_Plop