fellow covers,

i was amazed by the attached slide. i’d like to invite you find out the card tricks. who knows you can be a part-time magician (do the disappearing act better than David Copperfield and David Blaine).

Of course the card that you are thinking of is gone, All of the original cards are gone in the second group.

Why is it that out of several cards, what I selected on my mind was the one that disappeared? I have tried to select many times and David Copperfield (the program) was able to catch what’s on my mind.

What do you think is the trick behind the slide?

Why is it that out of several cards, what I selected on my mind was the one that disappeared? I have tried to select many times and David Copperfield (the program) was able to catch what’s on my mind.

What do you think is the trick behind the slide?
Al has already answered your question. If you doubt it, write down each of the cards at the beginning, then compare your list with those at the end. It's a completely different set of cards.
Of course the card that you are thinking of is gone, All of the original cards are gone in the second group.

Al has already answered your question. If you doubt it, write down each of the cards at the beginning, then compare your list with those at the end. It's a completely different set of cards.

i know it’s completely different set of cards, but how come that what i thought is the one that is missing out of our several cards? given that it’s a different set of cards, what a coincidence that whenever i choose one in every set of cards it’s rightly the missing card! i tried several times and gets it right every time.

:2cents:even it’s a new set of cards there is a probability of mistake. But it’s always right.

i know it’s completely different set of cards, but how come that what i thought is the one that is missing out of our several cards? given that it’s a different set of cards, what a coincidence that whenever i choose one in every set of cards it’s rightly the missing card! i tried several times and gets it right every time.

:2cents:even it’s a new set of cards there is a probability of mistake. But it’s always right.


surely you jest...:cool:

OK, lets make it as obvious as possible. Here are the cards used in the trick. Do you see any cards that are the same in both sets?

FWIW:
I often use magic tricks in my public presentations to catch audience attention and emphasize a major point of the presentation.

One that always gets a good response is to have an audience member pick a card out of a deck, seal it in an envelope without looking at it, then, by asking seemingly random questions of the audience, develop a "group psychic experience" where the audience finally resolves down to the card they imagine is in the envelope. As the envelope is torn open to reveal the same card the audience has "chosen," I flash a picture of the card up on the PowerPoint screen.

The point:
Every magician [or leader] knows the desired result or effect beforehand. His job is to make getting to that result relatively easy and enjoyable for the audience [group.]

:topic:
Like every other magician after a puzzling effect, I am always asked,
"How did you do that?"

Like every other magician, I don't tell, so the response is always,
"Very well, I thought!"

FWIW:
I often use magic tricks in my public presentations to catch audience attention and emphasize a major point of the presentation.

One that always gets a good response is to have an audience member pick a card out of a deck, seal it in an envelope without looking at it, then, by asking seemingly random questions of the audience, develop a "group psychic experience" where the audience finally resolves down to the card they imagine is in the envelope. As the envelope is torn open to reveal the same card the audience has "chosen," I flash a picture of the card up on the PowerPoint screen.

The point:
Every magician [or leader] knows the desired result or effect beforehand. His job is to make getting to that result relatively easy and enjoyable for the audience [group.]

:topic:
Like every other magician after a puzzling effect, I am always asked,
"How did you do that?"

Like every other magician, I don't tell, so the response is always,
"Very well, I thought!"

Nice but, I feel cheated :(

Nice but, I feel cheated :(If, after you have witnessed my "show," you still want to play cards for money, then, and only then, will you have a right to feel cheated.;)

Knowing how a trick is done is only satisfying for another magician, because then he can concentrate on how well the performer executes the illusion. Among magicians, we are probably more impressed by some illusions than an audience because we know how really difficult it can be to produce the effect. Most of us are not impressed by performances with mechanical illusions like David Copperfield uses because all of the skill involved goes into making the apparatus, not in manipulating it for a performance.

Nothing destroys a performance quicker than some smartass trying to show off by saying, "Oh I know how he [the magician] does that; he . . . ."

In my experience, children are the toughest audience to fool, because they have so little experience of how things are supposed to work that they are not impressed when a magician displays an effect which shouldn't work in the real world.

It's been my observation most folks who rave about a good magician don't realize they are really raving about the mechanic who created and constructed the phony prop used by the magician in his act. Most of the big stage acts like Copperfield, Siegfried & Roy, Penn & Teller, etc. use specially constructed props to seemingly defy the laws of physics. That isn't to say these folks are not great magicians, merely that the stuff which draws the biggest crowds and earns the most money depends on mechanical trickery, not physical dexterity.

When I was young and still a non-resident dues paying member of the Magic Castle in LA, I remember practicing some sleight of hand coin and card tricks for hours in front of a mirror to ensure my close-up audiences couldn't tell what I was doing. Guess what? As technically perfect as some of the effects were, most audiences weren't impressed. They didn't realize how difficult they were to perform and got more enjoyment from watching some schlock perform with a trick deck than from watching a closeup artist like Dai Vernon work with a straight deck.

Now,of course, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome have forced me to keep to very simple sleight of hand and a lot of patter to focus an audience's attention on something other than a palmed card or false shuffle. As I age even more, I, too, may be forced to resort to trick props instead of manual dexterity.

It's been my observation most folks who rave about a good magician don't realize they are really raving about the mechanic who created and constructed the phony prop used by the magician in his act.

That's true - the front man always gets the glory. Don't forget the roadies, too, when praising the unsung heroes!:tg: