DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Today I did some reading on the science behind firewalking.

What is firewalking? Just like it sounds, firewalking means walking barefoot across glowing, red-hot coals. Prior to last week, I thought firewalking was an ancient tribal custom of some sort, no longer practiced except perhaps in geographically and culturally remote places, during religious or spiritual ceremonies. I actually hadn’t given it a lot of thought prior to last Saturday, which is the day I myself walked across glowing red-hot coals.

Subsequent research turned up some interesting bits of history. Various people have postulated that the Leidenfrost Effect prevents firewalkers from getting burned, because moisture on the sole turns to vapor and prevents the skin from contacting the hot coals. This seemed reasonable to me, until I felt hot coals crunching under my feet. I’ll tell you this: I made contact.

Tolly Burkan, who is apparently responsible for introducing firewalking as a modern ritual, tells the story of physicist Jearl Walker, who was so convinced that the Leidenfrost Effect would protect him that he felt it was impossible to get burned on a firewalk: After severely injuring himself on a coalbed, he lost faith in this theory.

Walker initially explained his injury by noting that he had lost his fear, and therefore didn’t perspire sufficiently. My story is different: he believed that he would not be safe, and therefore he immediately became unsafe.

Another theory debunked by Burkan is that firewalking is safe because wood coal conducts heat poorly. Physicist Bernard Leikind postulated that although humans can clearly walk across a bed of coals, it would be impossible to walk across a red-hot metal grill. To disprove this claim, several members of Burkan’s group walked barefoot across Leikind’s superheated metal grill, unharmed. Burkan notes, “The grill was so red-hot, the weight of people walking on it bent the softened metal and left impressions of the firewalkers’ feet on the grill.” So even if wood coal does conduct heat poorly, there is clearly something more going on.

What fascinates me most about all this is the lengths people go to to prove that the likeliest explanation is not true. For me, the most likely explanation is that the mind has more control over the body than most people believe (and as Richard Bach said, if you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them!). Skeptics take heart — the fact that this is true may be due to science, but if so it is science we don’t yet understand.

But no matter what explanation you believe, one fact remains: you need to come to terms with your fears before you walk barefoot into a fire.

The Register reports that EFF co-founder John Gilmore’s home network was cut off by his ISP for running an open relay. To this I respond, Ha!

Gilmore is quoted as saying this amounts to censorship. This is ridiculous! Software exists to provide precisely the functionality he needs (allowing roaming users to send mail through his system), but he’s apparently not willing or able to configure it.

The problem is that his open relay allows spammers to send junk mail. Spam/UCE/junk e-mail is much more threatening to the Internet than Gilmore’s conceived threat (that ISPs could lose “common carrier” status by filtering packets). But the bottom line is that having an open relay is unnecessary — the argument over rights and interpretations is moot.

I think the Electronic Frontier Foundation has done some wonderful, admirable work, but in this particular case I think they’ve made a mistake. The EFF has access to the resources it needs to fix its co-founder’s home network, I’m quite certain; this need not become a huge legal issue.

A few weeks ago we learned that Network Solutions sells domain owner’s private data to marketing firms. I encouraged readers to transfer domains away from NSI, and in fact I have been doing that. My scorecard: I’ve personally transferred 10 domains from NSI to other registrars.

This gives me a front-row seat for NSI’s latest operational disaster. I can only assume, based on comparative pricing, that NSI is losing thousands of domains per week. (As of this writing, NSI’s default renewal invoice is $70 for a two-year term, whereas Dotster charges only $11.95 for a transfer plus $14.95 for the second year, for a savings of $43.) If that is the case, then it’s safe to say that the business guys at NSI are sweating their market-share numbers, and are being pushed hard to stop the hemorrhage of accounts.

Their answer is dishonest, and possibly illegal. They’re now trying to sell something they cannot provide: they are sending invoices for renewals after domains have been transferred to other registrars.

In mid-February, I initiated the transfer of a domain from NSI to Dotster. On 2/17 I received an email from NSI indicating that they’d approved the transfer request. Then on March 2 — 13 days later — NSI sent a paper renewal invoice for the domain, with eye-catching red letters indicating “FINAL NOTICE” across the top.

The invoice claims that “timely receipt of payment will ensure registration services for the period noted above.” This is untrue. The domain is no longer registered at NSI, so they have no way to extend the registration term. Is it legal to offer for sale something which the seller cannot provide?

Clearly, most individuals will remember that a domain has been transferred and will therefore not make additional payments to NSI for that domain. But what happens when the billing contact is someone else, or there is a breakdown in communications? I’m sure some percentage of these phony renewal invoices get paid — and I’m equally sure NSI will refuse to refund erroneous payments, because I’ve been told as much by their telephone reps. This is also indicated by NSI’s Service Agreement: All fees are due immediately and are non-refundable.

Cautious readers may object that an isolated paper bill could be an anomaly — the lead times for issuing paper invoices could easily exceed the 13-day period indicated above. I propose that lead times for emailed invoices are significantly shorter… and I have a second example of NSI’s new bogus-billing system:

Today I received an emailed invoice for another domain recently transferred. NSI sent me their acceptance of transfer on 3/9. Four days later, on 3/13, NSI invoiced me for a $70 renewal.

Nine days ago, I spent 36 hours in Las Vegas — my first time there. Here are some impressions from the perspective of a first-timer.

It’s loud, disorienting, and runs 24x7. If you go there, bring earplugs and comfortable shoes, and leave all your cash and credit cards at home.

If you don’t leave your money at home, you’ll leave it in the casinos, which appear to be entertainment complexes but in actuality comprise a unique filtering system designed to allow humans to pass through, while removing the entire contents of their wallets. The best odds in the room are the change machines. Casinos are like financial black holes, where the gravity is so strong that your money cannot escape.

Here’s a challenge worthy of a Mensa test: walk straight through a gaming room. This is like one of those “draw a single line that connects all the dots” puzzles, except that it can’t be solved. There are no straight paths through the casinos. The floorplans were designed to maximize any pedestrian’s exposure to opportunities for spending: slots, craps, cards, sports, etc. Also, the signage is a disaster (to promote wandering), and several of the things you might be looking for (restrooms, attractions, and in some cases the exits) are located in the center of the room. If you ask anyone for directions, the response invariably begins “well, go back into the casino…”

But if you are comfortable with your resistance to get-rich-quick schemes, Las Vegas presents unparalleled opportunities for distraction. The architecture is absurd, of course — there’s a miniature New York skyline with wrap-around roller coaster, a 50-story Eiffel Tower replica, a fairy castle, a Sphynx and what appears to be an obsidian pyramid with a 40-billion candlepower light shooting out the top — a spectacular sight after dark.

Most of the casinos are festooned with JumboTron projectors advertising the shows, shopping, and attractions inside. Outside the Treasure Island, I saw a funny juxtaposition: a double-size billboard advertising Danny Gans, the Entertainer of the Year, just below a video screen advertising Sigfried & Roy, the Magicians of the Century. Las Vegas is all about one-upmanship.

Years ago we moved into a house. An enormous tree shaded the patio, but nobody knew what sort of tree it was. Then one day, ducking under a low-hanging branch, I knocked my head on an avocado hiding in the thick foliage. “Who put this avocado in my tree?” I wondered briefly. Then I saw: it was attached!

With practice, I developed the skill of spotting avocadoes on the tree. They’re quite well hidden actually, especially when the spotter is legally blind. I also created a picking tool — a plastic cup lashed to a 10' pole, low-tech but effective — to assist in harvesting fruit that would otherwise be out of reach.

That first year, we felt rich beyond any measure… fresh avocados weekly for months! It was our first taste of country living.

But that was three years ago. With every Spring we searched for the new crop, sometimes finding tiny squirrel-chewed avocado buds but little else. We tried watering the tree. We tried fertilizing. We postponed trimming in fear of shocking an apparently fragile specimen.

And then we gave up. We stopped the fertilizer, ignored the watering schedule, and hacked the low limbs off the tree so we don’t have to duck down to walk past. And today we craned our necks and found about 100 avocadoes on the tree, glowing in the sun and screaming to be made into guacamole.

There’s something miraculous about having food appear in one’s yard like this.

Avocado fans will be entertained by the California Avocado Commission website — FAQs, trivia, recipes, and the accidental gardener’s friend, the Avocado Variety Chart.