The Genii Forum

Steven has asked me to post the message quoted below.

This information will be posted up at various forums and additional e-mails will be sent out, but it would be a great help to have you folks out there help spread the word that this material is now available again (albeit only until October 5th, 2005).

All of the material that was in Cogitations I is now available for download at www.cogitations.net

All of the articles have been reformatted and converted to PDF format to make them easier to read and print out on your computer.

This material will be available to anyone (non-subscribers also!) who wants it at no charge. However you are encouraged to make a donation to the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Effort if you find it useful. There is a banner that links directly to the Red Cross on the site.

WARNING: THIS SITE IS ONLY GUARANTEED TO BE ACTIVE UNTIL OCTOBER 5TH, 2005!

There will also be bonus material, however I cannot guarantee an exact date on its delivery.

Thank You
Steven Youell

Thank you Steven and Chris for this. I was able to download a few of the files I was missing prior to the first site closing down. The only two links to video files that do not appear to be working so they could be downloaded are: Ron Bauer's TTT (22 MB file) and Second Dealing w/ Andur Luvisi.

Thanks again. Contribution to the Red Cross is on it's way.

Well done!

Good work Steven. This will help.

-=tabman

Chris,

Fantastic! This is an excellent solution to the
situation. Thank you to Steve for stepping up. Thank you to you for letting us know it is happening. It renews my faith in things magical.
It looks like excellent material, but I don't think
that was ever a question.

Kirk Grodske

Originally posted by cgscpa:
The only two links to video files that do not appear to be working so they could be downloaded are: Ron Bauer's TTT (22 MB file) and Second Dealing w/ Andur Luvisi.

Thanks so much for pointing that out. It's fixed now and the fix should show up when one's browser is refreshed.

Thanks again. Contribution to the Red Cross is on it's way.

Very much appreciated, and Steven and I hope plenty of others follow your example.


________________________________________________
www.conjurenation.com - 'Cards Only' Forums

Thanks to Cameron Roat for pointing out that we had neglected to put up an article by Ron Bauer.

I've fixed the problem and this other Bauer article is available for download at the site (second from bottom is where it can be found).

Excellent solution for who? What about the original subscribers who paid for the privilege to get their hands on this ... material...

And don't give me any of that crap that it was worth it just to have the stuff 3 months before everyone else.

Ho Hum, what a strange little community we have in magicdom.

Originally posted by Paul Higgins:
What about the original subscribers who paid for the privilege to get their hands on this ... material...

My impression from an earlier thread on this topic was that subscribers received or were in the process of receiving refunds.
If so, this seems like a generous win/win solution to the complaints...

Interesting, my impression was that only those who had paid for Cogitations mark 2 would be recieving a refund.

I haven`t recieved any of the phantom emails since the one asking me to cough up for Cogitations 2.

Before anyone gets hot under the collar, I'm using the word "phantom" only because they didn`t reach me - I don't doubt for a second that some sort of effort was made to send out a mass mail.

Let's see what happens.

I never got the emails and I had already purchased "Weapons of Mass Destruction" notes but I feel this is a very fair resolution.

Mr. Youell has been having very difficult personal issues. Mr. Kaufman has commented (with experience)on how hard magic publishing can be. Mssr. Aguilar and Youell have gone out of their way to rectify the situation at their expense and are only asking for a Red Cross donation and for some, the griping will never cease.

Ho Hum, what a strange little community we have in magicdom.

Agreed.

Originally posted by Mark Collier:
[QB] Mssr. Aguilar and Youell have gone out of their way to rectify the situation at their expense and are only asking for a Red Cross donation and for some, the griping will never cease.

Yep, and we anticipated at least a few original subscribers would begrudge the re-release of the material for charitable purposes.

Since the material has been put up primarily in the hopes of getting folks to donate, I think you'd find Youell (or myself) aren't going to pull our hair out worrying over petty concerns of those wanting to begrudge a second run of the material offfered in the hopes of helping out the hurricane victims.

So far, response (even from many subscribers) has been pretty positive in terms of this being the right thing to do. And when the bonus material makes it way to the site, the subscribers will get a bit extra too.

This is a second issuing of the material (newly formatted into pdf with the possibility of some bonus material), and no promise of exclusivity for the original version was ever promised.

If a publisher of an e-book wants to sell something and then offer it for free (or even do both at once) , not only are they well within their rights to do so, but you'll find such a thing is not unknown on the web.

By the end of this particular day, we will have moved 25 gigabytes of data, literally thousands of downloads. Mr. Youell is footing the bill for the new website (the old one was deleted completely) and has told me he's willing to pay for whatever bandwidth it takes to get us through Oct. 5th.

We honestly believe that even prior to this offering, that the material would be (or already had been) widely pirated anyway.

So why not be visible about it and try to make a few bucks for a good cause? And at the same time, address any concerns subscribers might have had about final access to the material.

I'm sure there will be "collectors", those who spend so much time downloading free stuff that it's odds on that few of them will actually read/appreciate the material.

If just 5% make even the minimal donation to the Red Cross, we personally feel it's worth it.

Though I realize that a few folks might want to turn this into a "gripe thread", it would be nice if we could focus on getting donations for the Red Cross.

While I understand the concern of the subscribers, I am pretty certain that everyone involved in this project have done so in good faith. I don't know Mr. Youell and have met him personnally only once but from its past behavior (that I am aware), I always got the feeling that he wanted to give something back to the magic community. I have the feeling that he is more a "giver" than a "taker" in the world of magic, unless many others, myself included. Whatever personnal issue he may have now, I wish him well and only hope that he will be back in the magic world.

I invite you all to search and read the Bible passage referred in his email adress (John 8:7). Who knows, some may soften a little bit...

Regards.


Richard Tremblay

Matthew 20:1-16 might also be apt, for those who are into that sort of thing.

Personally, I hope that those who use this material do it justice. Some of it's been in my working set for years, and I would hate to see it butchered. I also hope that those lucky enough to get this material will not skip the "theory" parts. Many a mundane trick can be turned into a showpiece of a miracle with proper application of that "theory" stuff.

Andru

I enjoyed the essay by Darwin Ortiz on the site. As always, he hit the nail on the head. Good stuff.

Originally posted by Chris Aguilar:
Steven has asked me to post the message quoted below.

This information will be posted up at various forums and additional e-mails will be sent out, but it would be a great help to have you folks out there help spread the word that this material is now available again (albeit only until October 5th, 2005).

All of the material that was in Cogitations I is now available for download at www.cogitations.net

All of the articles have been reformatted and converted to PDF format to make them easier to read and print out on your computer.

This material will be available to anyone ([b]non-subscribers also!) who wants it at no charge. However you are encouraged to make a donation to the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Effort if you find it useful. There is a banner that links directly to the Red Cross on the site.

WARNING: THIS SITE IS ONLY GUARANTEED TO BE ACTIVE UNTIL OCTOBER 5TH, 2005!

There will also be bonus material, however I cannot guarantee an exact date on its delivery.

Thank You
Steven Youell

[/b]

Quoting this to keep it visible for subscribers who need to archive the material or others who wish to download and (hopefully) make a donation the the Red Cross.

As one of the more vocal posters on the Cogitations debacle, I want to state that I applaud Steven for doing the right thing and allowing those of us who subscribed the chance to archive the material for which we paid. I also admire his decision to make the material available to non-subscribers with the encouragement they make a donation to the Hurricane Relief fund. I think these choices will go a long way in restoring the opinion some of us were led to draw based on the manner in which the situation progressed.

I have shared a couple of emails with Steven, and I think it is in everyone's best interest to go directly to the source rather than draw conclusions based on commentary delivered by other sources. I think a lot of this could have been avoided if that were the case from the beginning, and I am sorry that I did not try to go to the source sooner myself. Regardless, I think Steven has done the right thing and I not only retract my concerns but apologize if they were hurtful to him in any way.

Brad, I believe many people in the thread stated that their e-mails went unanswered.

Brad,

Thank you for offering your comments. Very kind of you to do so.


Richard,

If one needs further information concerning Cogitations (even yourself, though I don't believe you were ever a subscriber), they are politely encouraged to contact Mr. Youell directly.


It's my hope (which I hope others find reasonable) that we keep this thread focused on the availability of the material and our plea for charitable donations.


www.cogitations.net (available until Oct. 5th, 2005)

Just for fun, here is the breakdown of most popular downloads up through today (Sept 10).

17,000 downloads so far and hopefully plenty of donations.


CardiniSmall.wmv - Steven Youell ------------ 645
GOOD_TRICK 1-3 Bauer ------------ 594
Cardini.wmv -Youell ------------ 582
Invisible_Aces.pdf - Mike Powers ------------ 562
DPS and LePaul Finish Video Andrew Wimhurst ------------ 553
WMD lecture notes - Steven Youell ------------ 551
Wagner.pdf - JC Wagner ------------ 540
Wagner.wmv -JC Wagner ------------ 525
invisible_aces_Demo -Mike Powers ------------ 523
TTT.pdf - Bauers TTT ------------ 523
PUNKEN_DROKER.pdf Paul Cummins ------------ 512
ExpertAtTheCardTable.zip Erdnase ------------ 504
Eyes_In_My_Fingers.pdf Bob Farmer ------------ 503
Signature_Effects.pdf Steven Youell ------------ 489
Card_Finesse.pdf Andrew Wimhurst ------------ 488
Passes_For_The_Masses.pdf -Steven Youell ------------ 487
SuperSonic.pdf Andi Gladwin ------------ 485
Hofzinser.pdf -Steven Youell via Ron Bauer ------------ 484
Next_Book_Syndrome.pdf Darwin Ortiz ------------ 476
HinduShuffleYouell.wmv Steven Youell ------------ 475
CountingOnIt.pdf - Jon Racherbaumer ------------ 474
TTT_Demo.wmv Ron Bauers TTT ------------ 471
Luvisi_On_Bottom Dealing.pdf Andru Luvisi ------------ 470
PSCInterview.pdf - Paul Chosse ------------ 469
Braue.pdf - Braue Notbooks article Steven Youell ------------ 469
The_Trick_Deck.pdf - Steven Youell ------------ 468
Force_Of_Habit.pdf - Steven Youell ------------ 466
Learning_To_Deal_Seconds.pdf Andru Luvisi ------------ 464
Cardini.pdf - Steven Youell ------------ 461
Bottom.wmv Andru Luvisi ------------ 448
BauerTTT.wmv Ron Bauer ------------ 425
Luvisi.wmv Andru Luvisi ------------ 424
TTTMidRes.wmv - Ron Bauer ------------ 414
ColorfulMagic.pdf Ron Bauer ------------ 305
TTTLowRes.wmv - Ron Bauer ------------ 257
LuvisiSecondDealing.wmv - Andru Luvisi ------------ 211
Bottom_dealing_Luvisi.wmv - Andru Luvisi ------------ 202



Total Downloads 17399

Great material! Thanks, Steven! Hope all is well with you. Sent the Red Cross a check today.

Andru: Matthew 20:1-16 was perfect. Good thinking!

As promised, there are now bonus articles(three of them!) now up on the Cogitations website.

Remember, the site is only guaranteed to be available through 10/05/05, so download 'em while you can.

All three are from Paul Chosse, two historical articles and one handling of the Jack McMillen card rise.

Don't forget to click on the link and contribute to the Red Cross if you enjoy the downloads.

www.cogitations.net

Please feel free to spread the word of the availability of this new material (of course stressing that it's only available until 10/05/05).

Congratulations on this magnificent gesture. I had heard about this before, but have not visited the site. I shall do so tomorrow, probably down load some things, and will make another contribution to support the victims of Katrina/Rita.

Steve, I'm sorry to hear you may be having difficulties. I wish you the best. Enjoyed meeting you and working with you in Martinez.

Denny Loomis

Steven has verified that the material will go offline at 11:59 PM Oct. 4th.

So don't miss out. Use the next few days to archive the material or download it for the first time and make a contribution to a good cause.

When all is said and done, I'll post up the final stats for the downloads.

www.cogitations.net

Thanks for doing this guys.

I downloaded everything, and made a donation to Katrina relief (not through the Red Cross - too much loss to overhead).

As promised, the material has been taken down and the Cogitations site no longer exists.

Steven and I would like to thank everyone who took this opportunity to donate to katrina/rita disaster relief.

At some point in the future, I might write up a "Cogitations post mortem" over at my forums for those interested.

As an early Cogitations suscriber and enthusiast, thank you and Mr. Youell for making Cogitations a wonderful, albeit brief, experience. I'm sure the decision to re-open Cogitations and the tie-in to hurricane relief will be remembered as one of the class act responses for many years to come.

Thank you.

Eric Rose