Does the fact that Crop Circles can be done by humans means it cannot be done by other means?
And if we extrapolate this: does teh fact that I can (by trick) pass one sponge ball from one hand into another hand MEAN that I cannot do it by real "magic"?
All of this started from my son, when we watched another magician. He asked me (7 years old) if it was a "real" or "fake" magician...

Andrea

No but Occams Razor dictates that they are.

If you truly possesed magical powers would you waste them doing card tricks?

Of cource not!
The fact that something can be duplicated has no bearing on the fact that something is an original or duplicate.
If you remember the O.J. Simpson case, one of the investigating officer's planted some of O.J. Simpson's blood (that was taken in a clinical setting) and planted it at the crime scene. This idiotic move by a servant of the community (who was anxious to prove O.J.'s guilt) was evidence to many that O.J. was innocent of any wrongdoing.
Just because someone can print a perfect counterfeit bill that can pass detection, it does not proove that all bills are counerfeit.
I don't really have much of an opinion on the origin of crop circles but just because some fun loving folk can make some intricate and beautiful crop circles doesn't mean that "Alien's" haven't had a hand at it.
As far as Sponge Balls are concerned? I have seen many Magician's do a retention vanish and to me that is real Magical. When I know how something is done and I can't duplicate it as well as the original, to me that is pure Magic.
-Iven

Um, no. That was a theory proposed by the defence, but it was never proved.

That's the patented Johnnie Corcoran 'Chewbacca Defense'.

>>If you remember the O.J. Simpson case, one of the investigating officer's planted some of O.J. Simpson's blood (that was taken in a clinical setting) and planted it at the crime scene. This idiotic move by a servant of the community (who was anxious to prove O.J.'s guilt) was evidence to many that O.J. was innocent of any wrongdoing. <<

That has never been proven nor even produced in a manner that could be taken seriously. There was some blood on the gate that showed traces of a component used to preserve blood which also exist in the cleaning agents used by the maid to clean the gate. No one has stated how, why, when, etc but only made statements that 'blood was planted' to justify in the minds of the ignorant that Simpson wasn't proved guilty. If you know of a legit site that proves such a claim that doesn't provide links for yeti hunters, ufo crop circle fans, and ghost supporters as well let me know, I'd like to see it.
Steve V

Also, don't forget Cochrane's other prong...the L.A. crime lab techs were inept, and it wasn't even OJ's blood. Put it all together, and what do you get?

In a racist attempt to frame OJ, police officers planted someone else's blood at the scene.

Things that make you go...HUH?

Back to the original question. If something can be done two ways, people tend to believe the simpler way that fits in their reality better. That's why in magic you have to rule the other methods out for the spectator. Why religious figures appear in french toast? Now that's a mystery.

Religious figures on French Toast is a fraud, religious figures on grilled cheese is legit.
Steve V

Now that I've seen a thread about crop circles evolve into a debate over the OJ Simpson trial in only a few short posts, I can safely say that any conversation, regardless of the topic, will -- if allowed to continue long enough -- ultimately evolve into an OJ Simpson debate. (It's a sub-theory of the "infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters" theory.)

Just because we KNOW that people make crop circles does not preclude aliens making crop circles too.

Though the simple logistics and cost/benefit analysis of taking a LONG trip to put graffiti on someone's cornfield does kind of weigh heavily in favor of humans as responsible for any given crop circle. As pointed out earlier, Occam's razor serves well in these situations.

After all, it could have been Santa, angels, demons, cartoon characters, time travelers, OJ, plant elementals, dyads, a quantum mechanical event... why stop with aliens as the story?

You might ask Ian Rowland his opinion.

And it's not true that all Café threads devolve to OJ discussions. They all devolve to "Do true psychics and psychic powers exist and should you issue a disclaimer." I think I actually made the mistake of participating in a couple of those, back in the day.


Jack Shalom

Now if they were 'forest circles' where an entire wilderness area of trees was sculpted into a design overnight I might wonder about those "plant elementals".

They make for an interesting movie...

Amos McCormick

They would if they went on long enough. We just keep giving up before we reach that point. We need more stamina! And I wasn't speaking about the Café ... I was speaking about all discussions on internet, in real life, etc. Sooner or later, everything comes down to OJ Simpson. OJ's guilt or innocence is the central question of human existence.

Guilty or not, OJ is just to acidic for me.
Besides my mother told me long ago that the good stuff in OJ goes about a half hour after it's been squeezed.

Still fun to eat frozen though.

Crap Circles...depends on the configuration of the bowl and the force of water

Depending on the consistency of the crap, as well.

Which is pretty thick around here...LOL...or is it deep?

How did we get from wheatfield art to potty mouth?