4366/17285
An exceptional game of Yahtzee this evening where I got three Yahtzees in the first three goes and all from seemingly nowhere near Yahtzee positions - after roll 2 of the first turn I had two 5s, but hit 3 more on the final roll, the next go I had three fives by the second go and thought to myself- it would be amazing if i got another Yahtzee - and then I did and then the same thing happened with turn 3, except it was with 6s. It’s going to be another Yahtzee, I told myself and then it was. I was literally controlling the electronic dice with my mind (though obviously in the limited way that it still took me all three rolls to get the Yahtzees - no one’s mind is powerful to do it first time). But until now I had been controlling the dice without focusing entirely. The electronic dice controlling part of my mind (which evolved in the human brain due to some similar telekinetic power to control pixels in the wild) only worked if it was operating at the back and to the side of my thoughts. If I loaded the expectation to the front of my brain it wouldn’t work anymore. And indeed the power was lost, until the last turn when I managed to turn three sixes to four and then all five in my three throws. Even with 4 Yahtzees I only scored 553, some way off my 705 record.
But I might try and develop my amazing power and give up comedy and try and make my living playing on electronic dice-based gambling machines. There is no other explanation for my amazing run of play. To prove it’s true I am going to play a game of Yahtzee right now and get all Yahtzees all the way through….All right, turn one I just ended up with two fours, but was trying to hard. Turn 2- yes, much closer turned three ones, into four, but just missed out on the big Y on the last throw. Getting better. Turn 3 - three sixes. Getting worse. Turn 4- three sixes. Must focus less clearly. Turn 5- three threes. Turn 6 - two 2s. My powers are diminishing, but there will be a Yahtzee soon. Turn 7 two sixes. Turn 8 - three fives. Turn 9 hit the long straight on first throw, going to count that a success, Turn 10 - another long straight on first turn. I am clearly getting there. Even if that was not what I was consciously aiming for. Turn 11 two sixes (I don’t think I am going to break the record yet). Turn 12 - two fours. This is the last go now, turn 13. Yahtzee via mind control coming right up - nope, two fives. I scored 166. Clearly the power does not work under laboratory conditions.
But if I practice it enough I will, at the very least, become the electronic Yahtzee world champion.
It was a big day, clearly.
On the way back from Birmingham in the early hours of this morning I listened to the fascinating Neil McGregor talking about the Barlach's Angel. I was unaware of this sculpture, but this is a fascinating programme about Germany’s division and reunification and the symbolic place that this work of art had in it all. What I really loved about it was that when the Nazis took away the angel in the 1930s, people would still gather at the place the statue had been. In its absence the piece was just as powerful, if not more powerful than it was when it was there. That is a real triumph of the human spirit. By removing (and ultimately destroying) the art, the Nazis only gave it more potency. And thankfully the casts that the statue had been made from were saved and a replica could be made. But what power nothing can have. It’s well worth a listen.
