"Orson Wells on Cold Reading"

Via Cynical C. Worth seeing if, for no other reason, to learn what a "shuteye" is. That, and Orson Wells could tell a great story.

A Courtesy Post for Leonardo Sagan's Cats

To hell with resolutions, there are some things that have to be seen.

Via Boing Boing.

This May Make You Barf

Another sophisticated Galileo Feynman post title. Via Cynical C.

Apollo Robbins is an Incredible Pick Pocket

Videos and a related story from The New Yorker (a great long form read) have been going around about Apollo Robbins and his skill with slight of hand and picking pockets, and I was reluctant to post on them because, c'mon, picking pockets? But really, this is incredible (be patient -- there's an intro):

Slight of Hand

Eagle Attempting to Take a Child

Update: The video is now asserted on some good authority -- well, Gawker, so that has its own problems -- to be a fake. (We stand by our original "if legit" comment, below.)
______________________

This, if legit, is a bit scary. If that kid weren't so chubby ...

Wait, not scary? Well, then, there's this article from National Geographic.

And, yes, the choice of music over the slo-mo is a bizarre and inscrutable. Video via MetaFilter.

Teller Reveals His Secrets (In Sum: It's Science!)

Teller, of Penn & Teller, wrote a couple of pieces for Smithsonian Magazine on magic, including one in which he spills his guts on how magic works. I won't give any of his secrets away, which involve exploiting pattern recognition, making tricks seem a lot more trouble than they're worth, keeping people laughing so they won't think critically, keeping the "trickery outside the frame," combining multiple tricks, letting you fool yourself, and letting people believe they're acting freely, but I will say I admire these guys as they are incredibly skilled, smart, funny, open minded, and willing to not only share their stuff but debunk others who engage in nonsense and hocus pocus.

I only wish they were as diligent about knowing how government and the law really work rather than trusting superficial understandings and gut judgments. But I digress.

Anyway, while I'm at it, there's also a great set of links at MetaFilter about the Harry Houdini who not only was one of the greatest magicians of all time like both Penn Jillette and Teller, but also shared some of their enlightened views.

A Video of Anamorphs

The Cardboard Uprising is Coming

Scheming boxes. That is all.

Via Kottke.

Flawed Symmetry of Prediction

Be patient -- this can take time to load (depending on the time of day):

Flawed Symmetry of Prediction from Jeff Frost on Vimeo. Via Laughing Squid.

"Mighty Optical Illussions"

At the right are four concentric circles.

Might Optical Illusions is a blog that  posts an optical illusion everyday, as well as discussing some of the neuroscience and "tricks" behind them. See also Archimedes Laboratory, which has a great set of optical illusions and an illusion of the month (but appears targeted at a younger audience).

"Hurricane Balls"

Hurricane balls are ball bearings welded together by running an 800+ amp current through them, then spinning them on a smooth surface. The video speaks for itself ...

The McGurk Effect

Does context affect meaning, he asked rhetorically? Are meaning and understanding different "things"?

Tilt Shift Van Gogh

Several years ago Serena Malyon came up with the idea of using tilt shift photography techniques on paintings, an effect that can give them a great sense of depth. She used Photoshop to do this digitally (there are now filters for Photoshop and other photo/graphics software that assist this). Serena's old Deviant Art page is no longer there, but a good archive of her photos exists at My Modern Met.

An Optical Illusion

This is a very strong optical illusion; eyes about 10 to 12 inches from the screen.