alt.magic.secrets FAQ
Tilman Hausherr
This is my FAQ attempt for alt.magic.secrets, the place on the usenet to
discuss magic secrets. alt.magic is *not* the place for this. If you do
not have the group, look at http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/#magic. Note
follow-ups go out of alt.magic.
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,
discussing the methods of "psychic" frauds (e.g. Uri Geller, Sai Baba)
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. What is alt.magic.secrets not for ?
Everything that is unrelated to discussing actual magic secrets,
everything that is on-topic on alt.magic, spam, make money fast,
"magicK", "magic the gathering", and everything that is unrelated to
magic.
Examples for off-topic posts:
- help with performing ("my hands are too small")
- help finding what to perform ("need new ideas")
- sales of illusions without telling the secret
- discussion of who is the best magician ("I am the best")
- help where to buy an illusion ("need address of magic shop")
- discussing audience influence ("what is the best trick")
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. What is a "troll" ?
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:
- i...@rowlan.demon.co.uk (Ian Rowland)
- edl...@ezonline.com (Ed Lopez)
- Robin Allen <R.W....@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
- Fra...@msn.com (Frank ) (posted his troll as a question)
More infos on trolls from an excerpt from the deposition of Keith Henson
in the case RTC vs. Keith Henson:
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/hk/hkhenson/deposition.transcript
07 Q (By Mr. Lieberman) And what's a troll, sir?
08 A (Keith Henson) Oh, it comes from the fishing where you troll a
09 bait along in the water and a fish will jump and bite
10 the thing, and the idea of it is that the internet is
11 a very humorous place and it's especially good to
12 troll people who don't have any sense of humor at all,
13 and this is a troll because an ftp site of 127.0.0.1
14 doesn't go anywhere. It loops right back around into
15 your own machine.
16 Q So the idea here was to make the church [RTC] think
17 that this person had an ftp site and to take action
18 against him and, in fact, he didn't have it; is that
19 your point?
20 A Oh, it's really humorous, and I picked up on it
21 and instantly -- instantly added something to extend
22 the troll. Extending the trolls like this is an art
23 form of the highest order.
9. 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)
10. 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
book was 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 would be an ordinary business.
11. 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.
12. 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 "walking thru a brick wall from his book"
has nothing to do with DC's china wall illusion
13. Does Tilman like HLB ?
Yes. Thanks to him, Tilman gets flamed less because magicians
concentrate their hate on HLB.
14. 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.
15. What's the best news reader ?
FreeAgent 1.5 for free or Agent 1.5 for $29. The later now with killfile
ability.
16. Are posts from alt.magic.secrets archived anywhere ?
Tilman keeps a few posts 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.
You can also search at http://www.dejanews.com.
Some secrets are also explained on the WWW. Try these excellent search
engines:
http://www.infoseek.com
http://www.altavista.com
17. 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, learn to post anonymously. And try to search on dejanews first (see
above).
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.
And please, use meaningful subject lines. The following are not
meaningful subject lines:
"I want to know that secret"
"Copperfield"
"Question"
"Stupid question"
"Magic!"
"How did he do that?"
"What was that trick????????"
Meaningful subject lines are:
"pen through $ bill"
"vertical sawing 1/2"
"thorn and restored card"
18. 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 if you don't like
it".
19. Any cool books ?
"Big secrets" by William Poundstone, QUILL 1983,
ISBN 0-688-04830-7.
Exposes Uri Geller and how-to-saw-a-lady-in-half.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0688048307/thexenubookstore
"Bigger secrets", by William Poundstone, Houghton Mifflin
1986, ISBN 0-395-53008-3.
Exposes Anhony Robbins, levitating lady,
newspaper precognition, zig-zag-girl, DC's vanishing of the
statue of liberty, 3 card monte scam, Scientology "Xenu" scam.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0395530083/thexenubookstore
"Biggest secrets", by William Poundstone, QUILL 1993,
ISBN 0-688-13792-X.
Exposes Houdini's escapes, vanishing elefant,
metamorphosis, etc.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=068813792X/thexenubookstore
"Flim Flam!", by James Randi, Prometheus Books 1982,
ISBN 0-87975-198-3.
The basic reading of every skeptic.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879751983/thexenubookstore
(If you buy through these links, a certain amount goes to "The Xenu
fund" which will fund activities against the scientology cult. The price
stays the same)
20. 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. You have to be a
magician or have a damn good story pretending to.
21. Who are Tilman's favorite magicians ?
David Copperfield (a perfectionist)
Penn & Teller (two nasty guys)
Rudy Coby (funny)
Christopher Brougthon (has some cute ideas)
22. 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)
23. What is DC's address ?
According to jpou...@islandnet.com (Jack Poulter), this is it:
David Copperfield
# 300 - 515 Post Oak Blvd
Houston
TX 77027
USA
According to sel...@midwest.net (Andy Shofstall), this is also it:
David Copperfield
2181 Broadway
Los Angeles
CA 90068
USA
In all letters include a S.A.S.E.
24. What is Melinda's address ?
(I am including that one because I like Melinda's "misdirection")
From: nagi...@aol.com (Naging db)
Melinda is with the
Lobeline Communications Agency
8995 Elevado Avenue
Los Angeles
CA 90069
USA
Fon (310) 271-1551
Fax -4822
25. What are typical answers of "ethical" magicians on this newsgroup?
(From: Al Bundy <sc...@csulb.edu>)
Q: How is _____ done?, What is _____? How does DC do _____ ?
A1: Magicians NEVER reveal secrets.
A2: Go to a Library.
A3: They use magnets and mirrors.
A4: Go buy it.
A5: If you are a real magician, you should know.
A6: Go buy the book.
26. What does *plonk* mean?
Many "ethical magicians" find this word in follow up, usually after
posts "you shouldn't reveal secrets". But what does it mean?
"plonk" is USENETese for "I have carefully placed you in my newsreader's
killfile so that any message you post in this newsgroup until I remove
you will go completely unnoticed by me. I have done this because I think
either you are an idiot, a moron, or you annoy me in some way, and I
have absolutely no inclination whatsoever to read your words, however
clever they may eventually become. Have a lovely day, and play nice with
the other plonks."