标签: coin trick

Have you heard of this video called "The Most Useless Machine Ever" ? Actually, this is really rather cool. I would love something like this on my desk with a big red switch and a sign saying "Do NOT press this switch!" The idea is to have a box with a toggle switch on top (I prefer the ones that also have a light-emitting diode). When someone flips the switch, part of the box lid opens and something comes out to flip the switch off again. On the one hand this is a trivial application of technology. On the other hand it's strangely compelling. I will share a few (just a few) of the myriad devices and videos that are out there. First, we have a classic version hand-crafted out of mahogany. This does look tasty, and the creator does offer a kit, but the kit isn't cheap and it would require a lot of time and effort (and tools) to pull it together. There's also a rather tasty Japanese version , which has pretty translucent side panels and a nice little delay on the turn-off cycle. Of course there's always someone who wants to take things to the next level, which is how we come to find " Dueling Useless Machines " (as if one wasn't enough). Or how about the "Ultimate Useless Machine" ? This one starts off like the others in that you flick the switch and the machine turns itself off again... but if you keep on flipping the switch, the machine "throws a wobbly" as it were ... Click here to see an article and watch the associated video (it's well worth watching the video right to the end). Now, if you want to make your own useless machine, there's a cheap-and-cheerful kit available from SolarBotics.com ( Click here to see this kit). On the one hand this is very reasonably priced ... and I must admit that I was tempted ... but then I saw how much they wanted to charge for postage and I thought "Pull the other one... it has bells on it!" But wait, there's more, because I also ran across the following " One-Time-Use " machine. I didn't know what to expect when I started this video ... but I certainly didn't expect what happened... Last but not least, I just ran across another very cool magic trick. I built the disappearing coin trick I mentioned in a previous blog and it worked really well on my 16-year old son, so I think I will try this new trick this evening.  

My old chum Norm emailed me recently to say "Hi Max, I know you like neat visual illusions, and this is a pretty cool one..." He then pointed me at a page on the MIT website showing a really incredible shade illusion. I've seen this sort of thing before, but it never fails to amaze me. The idea is that you have a checkerboard of light and dark gray squares with some object casting a shadow across them. Two of the squares are brought to our attention – one is a light gray square that falls inside the shadowed area, while the other is a dark gray square that falls outside the shadow. The amazing thing is that both squares are actually the same shade of gray ( Click here to see the image plus a full description on the MIT website). Now, it's one thing seeing this as a static image, but the really cool thing is that there's a video on YouTube of a live person demonstrating the same thing with a human-size 3D model. This really is quite spectacular to watch. The problem, as ever, is that you can't just watch one video on YouTube, which is how I came to find myself viewing an Impossible Balls Illusion . While you are watching this video, pause it at the 20 second mark and see if you can guess how it's done, then resume the video to see the solution. But wait, there's more, because from here I bounced over to a video called Vanishing Coin Trick (How To). Once you see how this is done you say to yourself "That's so simple." I don't know about you, but I also said to myself "I bet that would fool my 16-year old son and his friends!" Which is why as soon as I post this blog I'm going to race down to my local Hobby Lobby store to purchase some heavy black felt, because I intend to play this trick this evening (grin).

I got an email from my old chum Norm saying "Hi Max, I know you like neat visual illusions, and this is a pretty cool one..." He then pointed me at a page on the MIT website showing a really incredible shade illusion. I've seen this sort of thing before, but it never fails to amaze me. The idea is that you have a checkerboard of light and dark gray squares with some object casting a shadow across them. Two of the squares are brought to our attention – one is a light gray square that falls inside the shadowed area, while the other is a dark gray square that falls outside the shadow. The amazing thing is that both squares are actually the same shade of gray ( Click here to see the image plus a full description on the MIT website). Now, it's one thing seeing this as a static image, but the really cool thing is that there's a video on YouTube of a live person demonstrating the same thing with a human-size 3D model. This really is quite spectacular to watch. The problem, as ever, is that you can't just watch one video on YouTube, which is how I came to find myself viewing an Impossible Balls Illusion . While you are watching this video, pause it at the 20 second mark and see if you can guess how it's done, then resume the video to see the solution. But wait, there's more, because from here I bounced over to a video called Vanishing Coin Trick (How To). Once you see how this is done you say to yourself "That's so simple." I don't know about you, but I also said to myself "I bet that would fool my 16-year old son and his friends!" Which is why as soon as I post this blog I'm going to race down to my local Hobby Lobby store to purchase some heavy black felt, because I intend to play this trick this evening (grin).