Is magic real?

[Meh]

I ask this question because I met a kid from my school who is a street magician. He asked me to give him my dollar bill, he put his hands over it, and he made me put mine. Soon after there was my face on the bill and my signature. I still have the bill and I am tripped out. I just can't think of any way he could do that. He also took an empty beer can that was smashed. I watched the beer can straighten itself and fill with beer. This shit is crazy.

 

I just want you scientists to explain this stuff to me.

[bascule]

If you really want a good idea of how this stuff works, I suggest you see Penn and Teller perform. After performing each illusion, they deconstruct it for you to show you how it's done.

 

Illusions are real. Magic is not.

[JohnB]

Agreed. There are no "Street Magicians", only "street Illusionists.":D

 

Actually, Illusions are a fascinating study. You will learn much about Perpspective and Optical Illusions as well as practical Phychology. It lets you see how people can fool themselves.

 

It's also a lot of fun.

 

PS. Penn and Teller only deconstruct their own Illusions. It is professional suicide to reveal someone else's. As you may imagine there is only a small market for professional Illusions and the good ones are veeeeery expensive. To reveal the Illusion could leave another Illusionist with $20,000 worth of junk.

[Edtharan]

As an amature magician my self I can see the excelent job this guy did from the reactions of Meh. The sense of wonderment and the skill that this illusionist worked his craft is the magic.

 

Now for your enjoyment and wonderment I will perform a feat of telekinetic manipulation over the very aether of the internet.

 

All you need is a single pack of cards.

 

First take one entire suit out of the deck (you can have other people do this at the same time, they just use one of the other suits).

 

Now woth this suit pick a number between 1 and 5 (If you have other people they pick their own number), and discard that many cards form your packet. Then with the remaining cards, shuffle them.

 

Look at the botom card of your packet and remember it.

 

Now for this to work I will need to telepathicaly link to your mind through Aether resonance. To do this we will need to think the same thought. As I am demonstrating telekinetic power, we will use the phrase "Telekinetic Power" to link our minds.

 

I want you to spell out the words "Telekinetic Power" (T-e-l-e-k-i-n-e-t-i-c-P-o-w-e-r) and as you do so move the card on top of your packet to the botom of the packet.

 

For the final part you will need to do the "Australian" deal, also know as the "Down Under" deal.

 

To do this you first take the top card and place it down on the table. You then take the next card and place it on the bottom of your packet (this is the under part). The you repeat this until you are left with 1 card.

 

If we have been able to establish a telekinetic link then the card you are left with will be the card that you looked at at the start.

 

Repeat this as many times as you like and even try a different number of cards that yuo discard. As the pile of cards is different each time this is a demonstration of internet telekinesis.

[pretender]

Only illusions magic is not real..

[ecoli]

Only illusions magic is not real..

 

Well, they are real, it's just that they're not magic in the supernatural sense of the word.

[pretender]

As I said, sorry if I was not clear.