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From: dgary@ecsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.followup
Subject: Re: Firewalking
Message-ID: <2910@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 11-Jul-84 12:32:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.2910
Posted: Wed Jul 11 12:32:50 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Jul-84 01:21:34 EDT
References: vortex.352
Lines: 23

<>
The author of The Flying Circus of Physics was here a year or two ago and
described his own firewalking experiences.  He contends walking on coals
is possible due to the effect (name escapes me) that allows ice to float on
a water vapor cushion on a frying pan.  He claimed not to have had even a
sensation of heat.  He did not consciously wet his feet first - he used
the sweat that was there.  His "psychological preparation" consisted of
being scared out of his wits.  In fact, when he became overconfident during
a later demonstration, he got burned.  (No worry, no sweat!!)

Adam Smith (the current one) wrote an article (in Harper's??) making fun
of the "Scientific American" article attributing firewalking to this
vapor film, evidently considering it a case of scientific skepticism in
the face of the genuinely mystical.  Smith claimed that the author had not
done the firewalking himself, which is not so!  People really want to be
believers in the mystical and get all bent out of shape when someone tries
a debunking.  As Schiller observed, "Against stupidity the very gods
themselves contend in vain!"

D Gary Grady
Duke University Computation Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-4146
USENET:  {decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary