Clever Illusions
I’m a big fan of magicians, but not of magic shows. What I enjoy are demonstrations of how the illusions work from clever folks like Penn and Teller and James Randi. James Randi has a long-standing record of debunking claims made by psychics, ghost hunters, and the like — most famous, perhaps, are his challenges to the well-known, self-proclaimed spoon bender Uri Geller. Geller has his own long and oddly still extant career, but his consists of duping people into believing that he has paranormal ability, which he demonstrably lacks.
But Magic?
There is a strong drive in us humans to believe in magic and supernatural phenomena, and maybe there is some legitimate magic out there. I don’t know. What I do know is that none has ever been definitively confirmed, and more importantly, that there is good logical reason to suppose none exists. Moreover, numerous claims by folks like psychics have repeatedly been disproved.
In any case, my friend Peter sent me the link to this video, in which Penn and Teller detail a common money-stealing trick that’s been in use for probably centuries, and which is still in use today. It’s interesting.
Enjoy 
