posted
I had heard long ago that bending spoon "seminars" work because the participants are trying so hard that the heat they generate with their hand helps weaken the spoon so they can bend them very easily. My girlfriends father says that this is impossible and, if it were so, bridges would collapse on sunny days. My only retort, being that i have very little knowledge in such things, is that the material is not exactly the same. This is, of course, based on nothing. Anyway, can anyone help me wit this?
Posts: 21 | From: Carteret, NJ | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I doubt it... a human being would die of fever well before generating sufficient body heat to make metal malleable.
-------------------- High on the wind, the Highland drums begin to roll, and something from the past just comes and stares into my soul... --Mark Knopfler Posts: 3402 | From: New Bern, NC | Registered: May 2004
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Bunnie of Doom
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
Didn't James Randi pretty much start his career as a debunker of the paranormal by calling Uri Gellar a fake for saying that he could bend spoons with his mind?
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The repulsive Uri Gellar was caught on camera, exposing his act, on one of those secret camera set-up shows.
Uri was set up in a fake interview - the reason wasn't to expose him as a fraud, most Brits do realise that you cannot bend metal with the power of your mind, but Brits also love a good magician, and weren't all that bothered when the camera revealed his spoon bending as slight of hand. Gellar of course clamped down on the footage but failed to prevent the original broadcast.
-------------------- This is where I come up with something right? Something really clever... Posts: 6552 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
I was once sitting a couple of metres away when James Randi demonstrated some spoonbending. I tried to keep my eye on his hands all the time, knowing exactly what he was going to do, but it was impossible, at least for a non magician like me, to see when he bent it.
-------------------- Små hönor skall inte lägga stora ägg för då blir de slarviga i ändan Posts: 1334 | From: Sweden | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I have not seen the explanation fot this trick. How is it done?
-------------------- There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane? Posts: 735 | From: Manchester, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Friends of Alfred: I have not seen the explanation fot this trick. How is it done?
Check out Bunnie of Doom's links! But basically it goes something like this:
The magician says "Hey, what's that?" and the audience turn their attention away. Before you know it the spoon is bent while they are looking the other way.
-------------------- Små hönor skall inte lägga stora ägg för då blir de slarviga i ändan Posts: 1334 | From: Sweden | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Friends of Alfred: I have not seen the explanation fot this trick. How is it done?
The same way most magic tricks are done: by misdirection and sleight of hand. Here is a web page, with pictures and commentary, explaining it.
EDITED TO FIX LINK
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-------------------- There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane? Posts: 735 | From: Manchester, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
bending a spoon is a combination of warmth, continual pressure and using a structurally weak part of the spoon (it's already been bent slightly after all).
Uri Geller is a smart illusionist who's a convincing act and knows a lot about the way the mind works.
Loosely on topic I know a good mind trick that really spooks people out :
ask someone to answer the following series of questions as fast as they possibly can.
Whats 1+1? whats 2+2? whats 4+4? Whats 8+8? etc.
Keep going until they start struggling to answer then ask them to name a vegitable or to name a fruit. If you ask for a veg they'll say carrot almost all of the time, if you ask for a fruit they'll say orange. Can really mess around with peoples heads but it won't always work if the person is extremely good at maths (in particular powers of two) or they stop to think about a veg/fruit.
Posts: 824 | From: England | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Well, woopsie doodle. I've fixed the link, but here it is again!
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Bunnie of Doom: Didn't James Randi pretty much start his career as a debunker of the paranormal by calling Uri Gellar a fake for saying that he could bend spoons with his mind? [/URL]
James Randi was born in 1928 and started debunking in his teens, roughly about the time Uri Geller was born (1946).
-------------------- I like free speech. It lets me know who the idiots are. Posts: 407 | From: Ireland | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Loosely on topic I know a good mind trick that really spooks people out :
ask someone to answer the following series of questions as fast as they possibly can.
Whats 1+1? whats 2+2? whats 4+4? Whats 8+8? etc.
Keep going until they start struggling to answer then ask them to name a vegitable or to name a fruit. If you ask for a veg they'll say carrot almost all of the time, if you ask for a fruit they'll say orange. Can really mess around with peoples heads but it won't always work if the person is extremely good at maths (in particular powers of two) or they stop to think about a veg/fruit.
I'll admit to being pretty stupid, but I dont get it..
-------------------- "All people are responsible for the good that they didn't do" Posts: 4774 | From: Virginia | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by MovieGuy: I had heard long ago that bending spoon "seminars" work because the participants are trying so hard that the heat they generate with their hand helps weaken the spoon so they can bend them very easily. My girlfriends father says that this is impossible and, if it were so, bridges would collapse on sunny days. My only retort, being that i have very little knowledge in such things, is that the material is not exactly the same. This is, of course, based on nothing. Anyway, can anyone help me wit this?
Heat can make metal malleable, yes. Ask any blacksmith. The amount of heat that you need to soften the metal depends not only on the kind of metal, but how much metal there is, what shape it is, and so on.
Even if spoon-bending was really done by warming the spoon with body heat, that wouldn't prove anything about whether or not a bridge would collapse in sunlight, a forest fire, or a lava flow.
(Spoon-bending involves the performer distracting you for a split second and then bending the spoon. A spoon-- especially a cheap one-- is not hard to bend. I've bent spoons by digging too deeply into a tub of solidly frozen ice cream.)
Posts: 49 | From: Toronto | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
The other day I was watching some show with Jenny McCarthy as the host, and they were watching Cris Angel "Mind Freak" doing a magic show.
First, he put a string in his mouth and pulled it out from his eye, which was rather disgusting.
Then, he did the bending spoon trick, but as a finale, he did the bending spoon thing, but at the end he broke the spoon off from the handle, w/o touching it at all (at least it looked like he wasn't touching it).
quote:Originally posted by 2ys4u: The other day I was watching some show with Jenny McCarthy as the host, and they were watching Cris Angel "Mind Freak" doing a magic show.
Hee. The first time I saw the title of his show come up on the preview channel, it looked like "Crisis Angel Mindfreak" and I thought that would be a cool name for a Japanese cartoon.
quote:Then, he did the bending spoon trick, but as a finale, he did the bending spoon thing, but at the end he broke the spoon off from the handle, w/o touching it at all (at least it looked like he wasn't touching it).
If he can bend it manually at all, it would be really easy to break. A piece of metal like a wire or a coathanger can be broken just by bending it repeatedly in the same spot. You can feel the metal getting warm at the bent place, even if you didn't actually warm it up with your hands.
Posts: 49 | From: Toronto | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by 2ys4u: The other day I was watching some show with Jenny McCarthy as the host, and they were watching Cris Angel "Mind Freak" doing a magic show.
First, he put a string in his mouth and pulled it out from his eye, which was rather disgusting.
Then, he did the bending spoon trick, but as a finale, he did the bending spoon thing, but at the end he broke the spoon off from the handle, w/o touching it at all (at least it looked like he wasn't touching it).
It was pretty cool.
That guy disturbs me. Have you seen the levitation episode? The skeptic in me really wants to know how he does that, but this little part of me doesn't really want to know it's a trick.
-------------------- Skunks hate the sound of industry. Posts: 2723 | From: Geneva, Illinois | Registered: Jan 2004
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guruwan2b
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
quote:Originally posted by 2ys4u: The other day I was watching some show with Jenny McCarthy as the host, and they were watching Cris Angel "Mind Freak" doing a magic show.
I saw that guy on TV last week, too. He was levitating a girl when I was watching. They were on the street in Vegas and he picked 4 young people from bystanders. They said they had never meet him before. He proceeded to hypnotise one of the girls. Then he picked her up and asked the other three to support her weight. Then he told them to slowly let go. She appeared to hang there in the air for several minutes with no one within arms reach of her. Then he picked her back up and put her on her feet and woke her up. I don't know how he did that. It looked pretty amazing. Kim
-------------------- Too much of this navel gazing and we'll disappear up our own arses. Danvers Carew Posts: 7465 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
I've never seen his show. I've seen clips of it though. I saw a preview for one episode where he put hooks in his back and hung from a helicopter.
::shudder::
It looks pretty interesting, but sort of upsetting. Some of the clips they show look pretty weird.
quote:Originally posted by 2ys4u: The other day I was watching some show with Jenny McCarthy as the host, and they were watching Cris Angel "Mind Freak" doing a magic show.
I saw that guy on TV last week, too. He was levitating a girl when I was watching. They were on the street in Vegas and he picked 4 young people from bystanders. They said they had never meet him before. He proceeded to hypnotise one of the girls. Then he picked her up and asked the other three to support her weight. Then he told them to slowly let go. She appeared to hang there in the air for several minutes with no one within arms reach of her. Then he picked her back up and put her on her feet and woke her up. I don't know how he did that. It looked pretty amazing. Kim
He levitated another girl in the middle of a field and ran a cane under her and above her. His levitations are quite impressive, 3-6 feet in the air. He floated up an escalator. Crazy stuff.
I mean, I'm a snopester, I know it's TV, but it's still pretty cool.
-------------------- Skunks hate the sound of industry. Posts: 2723 | From: Geneva, Illinois | Registered: Jan 2004
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guruwan2b
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
I hope we don't lose our snopes membership card because we like him....
-------------------- Too much of this navel gazing and we'll disappear up our own arses. Danvers Carew Posts: 7465 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Oct 2001
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Because i saw one trick before where a little girl was messing about in a puddle, then the magician rns over and jumps into the puddle. Which engulfs his body. Then the camera pans up and hes on a roof.
im sure theres a pic of it online if i knew the guys name.
Posts: 282 | From: wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
I lost all faith in Magicians on TV when my dad and I saw David Copperfield "move through a brick wall" (we were at the actual performance, some deal he got through his job) and all they did was stop the camera and have him get on the other side and do his thing.
I mean, I know its not 'magic', but I always at least hoped that magicians would just be really really good with slight of hand. Knowing that many of the 'big' tricks are just them turning off the camera and then turning it back on is disheartening, I mean why even bother with those tricks then? At least make your magic a display of your slight of hand/distraction skills rather then just how good you are at camera work.
-------------------- "All people are responsible for the good that they didn't do" Posts: 4774 | From: Virginia | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by guruwan2b: I saw that guy on TV last week, too. He was levitating a girl when I was watching. They were on the street in Vegas and he picked 4 young people from bystanders. They said they had never meet him before. He proceeded to hypnotise one of the girls. Then he picked her up and asked the other three to support her weight. Then he told them to slowly let go. She appeared to hang there in the air for several minutes with no one within arms reach of her. Then he picked her back up and put her on her feet and woke her up. I don't know how he did that. It looked pretty amazing. Kim
I believe thats a camera trick sadly. Four people lifting someone with their finger tips iirc is a mind trick where people don't realise how strong the fingers are and if there are four people lifting a light person, the load would be liftable easily.
What likely happened afterwards is pretty cheap but it's a standard thing that street magicians do for levitation tricks. Spoiler alert : this will likely spoil enjoyment of these tricks in the future so don't read on if you like the mystery.
The magician performs a lesser, more possible magic trick and the film crew capture their amazed reactions. The people all then leave and the crew hook up a wire rig for the trick, dress a bunch of crew in wigs and clothes so they look identical to the people who have left. They then perform the wire trick, shooting it over the shoulders of the actors (so you can't see their faces and it looks like it's still them). They then keep cutting to the previously filmed reaction shots of the people who were there.
I hate this kind of trick, why not just use CG? Magic tricks are supposed to be things that are really performed in a way where you can't tell how it was done, not cheating camera tricks because the magician in question can't come up with well choreographed tricks
Posts: 824 | From: England | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Loosely on topic I know a good mind trick that really spooks people out : ....it won't always work if the person is extremely good at maths (in particular powers of two) or they stop to think about a veg/fruit.
I'll admit to being pretty stupid, but I dont get it..
Nothing to get, really - it's to do with sides of the brain - often a left-handed person will say something green, like a cucumber or lettuce. It can be any kind of math problems, it really needs to be just hard enough to make them think a little bit - but you can distract them with tricky math. Apparently, when you do math, your 'mind's eye' sees either red flashes, or green flashes, depending on which side of the brain you use. There aren't that many orange or red veg, anyway, so you have a pretty good chance of the common one, a carrot being said.
I write the word 'carrot' on a piece of paper, fold it and leave it in plain sight. Then ask four or five math questions, then "name a vegetable"
90% of the time, they will say 'carrot'. At which point, you get them to open the paper and read the word you wrote there...TA-Dah!
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guruwan2b
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
-------------------- Too much of this navel gazing and we'll disappear up our own arses. Danvers Carew Posts: 7465 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Oct 2001
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I saw his show and it was amazing, but alas and sadly, I knew it was all smoke and mirrors .. shame really, cuz the guy could hypnotize me anytime.
-------------------- Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate and wine in hand, body thoroughly used up, and screaming WoW what a ride! Posts: 2924 | From: Flori-duh | Registered: Oct 2001
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.. shame really, cuz the guy could hypnotize me anytime. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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to me...but then again, I am not into guys, being one myself! ![[lol]](graemlins/lol.gif)
