alt.magic.secrets FAQ
Tilman Hausherr
0. Does this FAQ explain any magic tricks ?
no.
1. Who created alt.magic.secrets ?
check out ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/control/alt/alt.magic.secrets.
2. Who proposed alt.magic.secrets ?
Herbert L. Becker, although another guy said it was his idea.
3. Who supported alt.magic.secrets, who opposed it ?
Magicians opposed it very strongly, because it would hurt their
business. The proposal got support from people who like to find out
magic secrets, but also from people who don't like suppression of
information. About 3/4 (rough guess) of the posters in alt.config
opposed the creation of the group.
4. What is alt.magic.secrets for ?
Revealing magic secrets, discussing ways to find out magic tricks,
reviews of commercial tricks, just about everything that is unwanted on
alt.magic. Flame wars like "you shouldn't post secrets" are unwanted and
should not be answered.
5. Who should not read alt.magic.secrets ?
People who enjoy magic performance and don't want to know how it is
done. It is also advised not to read explanations of tricks you haven't
seen yet, because it would ruin the effect.
6. Does exposure of secrets hurt magicians ?
No, but it does annoy them, since they have to learn new tricks,
instead of just perform a trick from another magician. It is also
annoying to them because they suddenly feel naked, especially if they
don't have a good performance. They also dislike that people see magic
as a sort of guess-how game, although David Copperfield said in an
interview that such people are welcome, since they are regular paying
guests
A financial impact of exposure has yet to be proven. On the other hand
it can be doubted that exposure would stop if a financial impact would
be proven, e.g. due to a broader availibity of this newsgroup.
7. What is a "troll" ?
A person posting a fake but very convincing message, like
- description of a performance that never happened
- wrong explanation of a trick ("DC flies with magnets")
Trolling is part of the USENET, and will surely happen a lot in
alt.magic.secrets. The best solution is not to believe anything, except
if a post contains real "proof", i.e. something that exposes a trick.
People who have posted troll messages in the past:
- Ian Rowland
- edl...@interport.net
- Robin Allen <R.W....@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
- Fra...@msn.com (Frank ) (posted his troll as a question)
8. How do I know if a "real" secret is posted ?
You'll have to check it yourself, by seeing the performance on video.
Magicians will say "it's wrong", even if it is right. Sometimes this is
not even a lie, because exposure of secrets is not the same as teaching
someone how to do the trick. They might also say "you're right" when you
are completely wrong. This is "usenet misdirection".
(This came from Xcott Craver, who meant another thing with the
expression: referring people to hang out in alt.magic.secrets rather
than alt.magic)
9. Who is Herbert L. Becker (HLB) ?
A magician who has written the book "All the secrets of magic revealed",
and got into legal problems with it, and as a result, DC was "allowed"
by the publisher to rewrite the book. Magicians went angry because his
books were aimed at the general public instead of the people who hang
out in magic shops hoping to buy a trick that really is "self-working",
"amazing", "easy" and other features that would get a manufacturer in
court if this was an ordinary business.
10. Who is Tilman Hausherr ?
Basically a sicko from the land of Kraut, who feels an urge to get
behind every magic trick that he sees on TV. "Bob" says: "Are you
abnormal ? Then you are probably *better* than most people !". Read why
this guy is sick at
http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/sicko.txt
He wrote a document in german detailing many "big" illusions, that was
previously available only in CompuServe, but is now also available at
http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/#zauber
Tilman went angry because magicians love to spread lies like "it's
available in any library" or "you can get it on cereal boxes". Most big
tricks are available only in magic shops, and he doubts that you will
get the real thing right away, instead you'll going away with silly
silk/coin/sponge ball tricks.
11. Is Tilman affiliated with HLB ?
No. He even has some disagreements with HLB:
- Orient Express is not a camera trick
- "Flying" is not a stupid illusion
- The explanation "waslking thru a brick wall from his book"
has nothing to do with DC's china wall illusion
12. Does Tilman like HLB ?
Yes. Thanks to him, Tilman gets flamed less because magicians
concentrate their hate on HLB.
13. Why does Tilman speak of himself in the 3rd person in this FAQ ?
For morons that didn't see that Tilman wrote this FAQ himself.
14. What's the best news reader ?
FreeAgent 1.0 or Agent 0.99.
15. Are posts from alt.magic.secrets archived anywhere ?
Tilman keeps a few on his computer. Originally he claimed he would put
them on the WWW but he hasn't done it. The reason is that his archive
grows and grows, and he would have to constantly update everything.
16. I think Tilman is cool. Should I e-mail him with my questions ?
Don't. Leave him alone. He's always busy. Please ask publicly. If you're
shy, get an anon account by sending a message to he...@anon.penet.fi.
The advantage of asking publicly is that you might get more than one
answer - no one says that his answers are correct. He has got things
wrong in the past, he might have things wrong now, he might have things
wrong in the future. (But he hopes he has most things right :-)) He's
very happy when other people join the discussion and find flaws in
theories posted here.
17. I hate this Tilman guy. Should I e-mail him my opinion ?
Don't. Leave him alone. He's always busy. Just imagine him as a nerd who
has no life and hangs around the internet pissing off everyone. That
should bring you some relief, so you don't have to e-mail him anymore.
Besides, he doesn't answer this kind of e-mail anyway, or just posts a
standard response like "don't read alt.magic.secrets is you don't like
it".
18. Any cool books ?
"Big secrets" by William Poundstone, QUILL 1983,
ISBN 0-688-04830-7.
This is the one with Uri Geller and how-to-saw-a-lady-in-half.
"Bigger secrets", by William Poundstone, Houghton Mifflin
1986, ISBN 0-395-53008-3.
This is the one with Anhony Robbins, levitating lady,
newspaper precognition, zig-zag-girl, DC's vanishing of the
statue of liberty, 3 card monte scam, Scientology "Xenu" scam.
"Biggest secrets", by William Poundstone, QUILL 1993,
ISBN 0-688-13792-X.
This is the one with Houdini's escapes, vanishing elefant,
metamorphosis, etc.
"Flim Flam!", by James Randi, Prometheus Books 1982,
ISBN 0-87975-198-3.
The basic reading of every skeptic.
19. Is there a mailing list for magicians ?
Yes, it's called the "electronic grymoire" or the "magic digest" or
whatever. E-mail to magic-...@maillist.crd.ge.com. I assume you have
to be a magician or have a damn good story pretending to.
20. Who are Tilman's favorite magicians ?
David Copperfield (a perfectionist)
Penn & Teller (two nasty guys)
Rudy Coby (funny)
Christopher Brougthon (has some cute ideas)
21. Who are Tilman's worst magicians ?
Siegfried & Roy (light and sound and tigers)
Wittus Witt (arrogant I-know-all-and-I-teach-you)
Dean Gunnarson (as surprising as a porn movie)
Hans Moretti (same remark)
The magic orwellis (just 'investors' with no talent)
--- Tilman Hausherr [KoX; awards: SP decl. by Koos, DB by R.Shaw]
biz: <til...@sietec.de> <URL:http://www.sietec.de/> (company page)
home: <til...@berlin.snafu.de> <URL:http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/>
You really do expose your true colors with your posts, Tilman.
[mi...@crl.com]
CASEY PELSINGER
A>Tilman went angry because magicians love to spread lies like "it's
A>available in any library" or "you can get it on cereal boxes". Most big
A>tricks are available only in magic shops, and he doubts that you will
A>get the real thing right away, instead you'll going away with silly
A>silk/coin/sponge ball tricks.
Not quite. Everythign that magicians have access to, you do too.
Magicians can normally get more condenced sources, but they assume a
background in magic. At any library you go to though, you can get a
good 90% of everything you see, in a general sence. If you watn
something that tells you how so and so does such and such, you will not
find it. If you look to a general understanding of concepts, you will
understand how things work. Once you do the reading and put in the
time, you will probably be just as unwilling to share the info as
magicians are, and you will probably be performing by then.
Casey Pelsinger