THE ONE CARD TRICK Perhaps you'd like to try something new - like Climbing Through a Playing Card ? This is one of the 100 Amazing Magic Tricks in a book of that name published, a long time ago now, by Cape. It's based on a three-volume best-seller, originally published at the turn of the century, which went into 130 editions, thanks to the engravings of Poyet - like the one above - and the scientific explanations. Here's how to do it, according to the book.(See the illustration above) Fold the card in half lengthways and cut a slit along the crease (1), which does not quite reach either end. Fold again along the same crease, and with scissors make a series of cuts at right angles to the first, alternately from the top and then the bottom, ending all of them just short of the edge (2). Open up the card by pulling very gently on the ends. It will be a long, zig-zag band like the one shown in the bottom picture above (3). Provided you have made sufficient cuts you will have no difficulty, says the book, in stepping through the large band and drawing it over your body and head. Good luck . . . and if you don't want to spoil a pack while practising, use any piece of card the same size, shape and thickness.

TIME FLIES Is the Collective Noun for Clocks a Collection? "Time, you old gypsy man, Will you not stay, Put up your caravan Just for one day?" Ralph Hodgson (1871-1962)

Revolving 3D DIGITAL CLOCK Yes, it does show the correct time - if you can read it! JavaScriptKit

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may Old time is still a-flying And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow may be dying. Robert Herrick (1591-1674) This illustration is of a display of children's art and craft work on the subject of Time and Clocks. It is from the book 'Themes Familiar' (See Reference on my '8.Links' Page).

CLEPSYDRA The Water Clock, which took the form of a container with a small hole in the bottom from which water was able to seep through at a constant pace, is said to have been invented around the time of the 15th century BC. Ctesibius was a Greek inventor who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in the third century BC. He invented an improved form of the Water Clock, or Clepsydra, by adding a float with a rack that turned a toothed wheel. He was able to make his waterclock make sounds like a whistling bird or ringing bells.

THE SUNDIAL The sundial is one of the human race's earliest achievements in marking the passage of time. But sundials provided people with much more than this practical goal - their replication of the heavens provided aesthetic and religious satisfaction. This is often hard to comprehend nowadays, when sundials have often become little more than garden ornaments and are not usually very accurate (although it is relatively easy to construct an accurate sundial).

Big Ben Digitalised Sorry, your browser doesn't support Java. 3D - Digital Clock superimposed on my photograph of Big Ben and The London Eye. Taken from Parliament Square, London on Wednesday 3rd April 2002

Try the ATOMIC CLOCK Click on the link above, then either 'OPEN' or download and 'SAVE' the file 'atomic.exe'. This freeware Atomic Clock Sync utility can help you keep your local computer up-to-date with the exact current time. This program will reference an atomic clock server to get the current time with the greatest accuracy available and update your PC's information. It can even be set to automatically check the time once a day to keep your PC's time accurate forever. Best of all, you can download and use this utility at no cost to you! To find out more details before downloading, visit the 'World Time Server' website by clicking on this link

ANAGRAM GENIUS SERVER Now you can find what lurks within the letters of YOUR name, and that of your boss, employer or anything else you want! This highly unusual software takes the names of your friends, colleagues and competitors and transforms them in ways you would not believe! It rearranges the letters creating perfect anagrams and uses powerful Artificial Intelligence techniques to say things that are weird, wonderful (and sometimes extremely insulting!) about them. Occasionally these anagrams provide deep insights into the text being analysed. For example: You want to do some research into fundamental philosophy. Type in "The meaning of life" and out comes (along with many others) "The fine game of nil" Your big commercial rival is "Acorn Computers", tell the software it's a business and put it in Satire mode and it rearranges the letters to say "Crap on customer" and "Crap to consumer"! Type in "George Bush" and it comes out with "He bugs Gore"!! Type in "Osama Bin Laden" and get "Old man in a base" and "A damn alien S.O.B". Do something similar with "President Saddam Hussein" and Anagram Genius gives you the anagrams "Dispensed human disaster"! Type in "The best things in life are free" and it produces the perfect anagram "Nail-biting refreshes the feet"! (It is free after all although you may need to pay for some yoga lessons first!) This is a FREE service. It is based around a less powerful version of the remarkable Anagram Genius software. Click on this link to try out or to download a free copy of this software. http://www.anagramgenius.com/server.html

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