Bill Mullins wrote: Magic is more than an S.S. Adams device, or a secret from a gum wrapper.
What's wrong with either of those items? Are you also going to denigrate Tenyo? Once again, please enlighten me as to the proper, accepted entre into magic?
Brad Henderson wrote:Tell me, Widdle, what in the title of the post about playing cards made you believe it was a magic lesson?
What difference does it make if the post advertises learning a magic trick in its title or not? The beauty of this post is that you do not expect to learn a trick with cards, but then you do. What a wonderful way for that to happen! It's like if you saw a post about making a dessert with bananas, and then you were shown how to do the un-peeled-banana-with-slices-in-it trick. Maybe you could perform that trick when you serve the dessert. What's wrong with that? Oh, there's no art to it I guess.
I'd like to examine Jonathan's proposition for a definition of exposure to try and clarify what's going on here.
Let's say my uncle shows me a trick, shows me how it's done, then he leaves.
That's intentional exposure.
Let's say my uncle shows me a trick, shows me how it's done, then teaches me how to perform it.
That's a lesson.
Or my uncle shows me a deck of his old-timey cards, talks all about how cards are made, some history, and then tells me about the one-way principle, and that it can be used with this sort of deck. Then he hands me a book with one-way tricks in it, and tells me where I can buy my own old-timey cards. -
That's a cool lesson!
Frauenfelder clearly states, "Most non-magicians will not notice the asymmetry, and you can have a lot of fun with these decks." He's talking to you as a would-be magician, as someone who will try this trick.
Bill Mullins wrote:Why should someone who shows interest in old style playing cards be "rewarded" with a magic secret?
Why should a kid get a magic trick in a gum wrapper? He just wanted a piece of gum, after all? And while some kids will toss the wrapper, maybe a few will learn the trick, and maybe one will perform it to a good reaction and be encouraged to look for more magic. How did that happen? He wasn't looking for magic - he just wanted a piece of gum. What a horrifying entre into magic! (worse than buying an SS Adams trick off the spinning rack!)
Bill Mullins wrote:If the post had simply said "this deck has a special feature which helps the owner do some clever magic tricks -- go to page 160 of this book to explore further", it would have been a step in the right direction.
Perhaps that would have been better, although it's kind of like saying, "Go look it up in the book, sonny!"
Why not hear it from the person (your uncle?) telling you about the cards first? That's a little more personal, showing that he likes the trick and wants to explain it himself first, instead of as a cold throwaway to a book page.
Well-written posts where you can discover cool things (like magic), is why BoingBoing has been around for 27 years. They're doing a mitzvah for magic with their posts.