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A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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I was sitting at my son's T-ball game yesterday, listening to the other parents around me. One particular woman talked nonstop, it was her default state. Over the course of the last couple of months of Saturdays, I noticed something interesting when her son went up to bat,. She would say things like "he's going to hit a big one, I just know it" or "this one's going into the outfield, I can feel it". This was always directed at the tween daughter, who would banter back at the mother too quietly for me to hear. It wasn't so much that they were having a conversation, they seemed to be having a mouth marathon.

Anyways, her son was no better than the other boys, and often missed the ball or hit sputtering fouls like a 6 year old. The mother's predictions almost always turned out false. But her predictions were another stone in the road of her unending monologue, and I'm sure she'd forgotten what she'd said just as soon as the inning changed.

Yesterday, she said to the daughter, "this time he's going to hit off the pitch, and it's going to the outfield." The son fulfilled this prophecy by knocking one past the second baseman on the first pitch, and the crowd cheered. Then in a groan-inducing example of confirmation bias, the mother starts remarking to the daughter how she predicted this, and how the Tarot reader said she has prescience. Apparently, the mother has the ability to predict the future every now and then.

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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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I remember watching that TV program that showed how street magicians did their card tricks. It was funny because he would pull something off and the person would back away in fear. When they showed how the trick was done, it was SO easy that these people would feel stupid for falling for it. Basically, it always involves sleight-of-hand so deftly maneuvered that people convince themselves that something is one way when it is, in fact, another way. Cognitive disconnect.

If I show a deck of cards, let you examine it and confirm it is a regular deck, then turn the deck face down and lift the top and show you an ace of spades, you believe the top card is the ace of spades. Then I tell you to take that top card but don't turn it over, then I take the next card down and your friend takes the next and then I ask you what card you had taken, you'd say the ace of spades. I then tap your card with my card and tell you to turn it over and it's some other card. You're both convinced I have it but I insist your friend has it. I then tap his card with my card and turn my card over and it isn't the card. You friend turns his over and there is the ace of spades. OH MY GOD!!!!! The trick? Sleight-of-hand. When I showed you the top card of the deck, I actually lifted the top three cards but did it so smoothly that you did not detect the cheat. So when your friend took the third card down, he took the ace of spades but both of you were convinced that you had it because you took the top card and I had shown you the top card to be the ace of spades.

Sounds dumb but it works on people. They convince themselves something is a certain way that you told them and then when it isn't, they don't suspect you tricked them but instead they freak out. And they back away from you in fear. Try it.

And we're supposed to believe these people when they say they've experienced a miracle when they can't figure out a simple card trick. And this isn't just dopes on the streets who barely graduated high school, a college professor once brought all his top students into a classroom where a card magician pulled the same kind of second-rate tricks I just told you about. The professor then had the students write down how the magician did it. About half of them believed he had tapped into a certain power latent in most human beings but manifest in him and had learned how to manipulate it.
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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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I recall watching Penn & Teller some years back before the Superbowl saying they would predict the score and the MVP. They wrote it on a piece of paper, rolled up the paper, had a United States marine put his initials on it and then sealed it in a glass tube that can't be unsealed without breaking it. Then they put the glass phial into a length of pipe with caps on each end. Then they dropped the pipe into a big, cylindrical jar of pickles. The jar was then suspended from a tree branch or something and a small squad of marines stood guard underneath it until it came time to lower it after the final score and MVP were announced.

They laid the jar on its side and let someone from the audience smash it with a hammer. Then they let someone else dig out the pipe. Another person opened the pipe and removed the phial. The marine confirmed his initials were still there and cracked the phial open. Then they unrolled the paper and written on it was the correct final score and MVP. How did they do it?

Again, there is always sleight-of-hand involved, smoke and mirrors. When I went over it in my mind, I wondered about the jar of pickles. Why pickles? There were so many of them that you couldn't see the pipe. Why not a clear jar with the pipe clearly in it? And it hit me: the pickles were there to hide the fact that the pipe never went in the jar. The sleight of hand was that Penn put it up his sleeve when it looked like he was dropping it into the jar. Remember, this was winter, they were outside and wearing jackets so this would have been easy.

At some point in the game, Penn would excuse himself to go to the restroom and somewhere along the way, he ditched the pipe that was up his sleeve and then returned to the others. After the final score and MVP were announced, Teller would excuse himself to use the restroom but was really retrieving the pipe. He'd break open the phial, unroll the paper, write the score and MVP on it, roll it up the same way so the marine's initials were visible and seal the paper inside a new phial, put it in the pipe, slip it up his sleeve and return to the others.

Then the jar was lowered to the ground and placed on its side (it was Teller who laid it on its side). Teller slips the pipe from under his sleeve and places it under the jar. Now the jar is smashed and it appears the pipe was in the jar all along.

When I asked people the next day how it was done, they either didn't know or they were convinced P&T were using "some really complex equipment" to pull it off. Nope. The equipment you saw was what they used and it was more than adequate for the job.
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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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This has been a very interesting thread. :hmm: I have scanned it, and watched some of the videos. This may be off topic :offtopic: but I have to post it:

(Arthur C.) Clarke's Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." :wink:
Love what you do, and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. -Ray Bradbury

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it. -Robert A. Heinlein
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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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I'm not sure which I would choose. I'm a Christian, and a firm believer in God but I'm also open minded. You could never have to much education on either, so I would probably choose both. I have friends and relatives who believes in witch craft and spells and I think it's cool. Life is supposed to be about doing what makes you happy and as long as you're not hurting anyone I don't see anything wrong with choosing either.
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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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I do believe that Miracle and Magic are totally different and both happen nowadays.
Miracle by Elizabeth Scott convinces me that miracle is existent.
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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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Hello Sarah,

I'm not a believer in magic but I'm very interested in the subject of magic. What do you mean by, "Miracle by Elizabeth Scott convinces me that miracle is existent?"

I'm even more excited to see that you're in Iraq. Please feel free to create threads and share your thoughts on events in Iraq and the Middle East in general.
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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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Some may find this interesting. It shows how our minds are designed to some extent to believe the unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZFusjCRdyA

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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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awesome vid GB, good health :)
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Re: A million possible causes, why do you choose magic?

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youkrst wrote:awesome vid GB, good health :)
My pleasure and thanks.

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