One of the lovely benefits of (occasionally) writing in this blog is the email it generates. Not a lot of email, mind you. But what there is of it is usually very interesting, when it’s not amusing. Sometimes it’s both. Recently I received two emails basically asking the same thing: why did I (or anyone) […]

Jeff Jarvis makes a point I think might be relevant to some people in our bizarre little corner of the word. In today’s post Outboxed, Jarvis points out that Robert Greenwald is asking for contributors for his next movie, “Wal-Mart: The high Cost of Low Price” Greenwald says about his project: “WAL-MART: The High Cost […]

I wanted to make mention of a new blog in the Escamoteurettes blogroll: Great Scott! It’s Magic! — Scott Guinn’s blog. Like many folks in magic, I got to know Scott back in his Magic Cafe days. That led to us discussing and my subsequently purchasing from him the exclusive rights to seven of his […]

Down in Lou´siana where the black trees grow Live a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau. She got a black cat tooth and a mojo bone, And anyone wouldn´t leave her alone. She go GREEEEEEEEEEEE… Another man done gone. She live in a swamp in a hollow log With a one-eyed snake and a three-legged dog. […]

Now that I have your attention, this is from Boing Boing this morning: James Randi’s letter from Doug Henning is stolen and on eBay Joseph sez, “Here’s a letter I (and others on the JREF mailing list) got from James Randi concerning a letter Doug Henning wrote to him which Randi states was stolen and […]

Have I mentioned I am a fan of David Regal? Maybe not. I’m a fan of David Regal. Or, more specifically, his way of thinking. My library at Casa Escamoteurettes includes his books “Star Quality” and “Close-Up and Personal” as well as his two sets of DVDs put out by Louis Falanga and L&L Publishing, […]

From Wired early this morning: Psychologists and salesmen call it the “chameleon effect”: People are perceived as more honest and likeable if they subtly mimic the body language of the person they’re speaking with. NLP practitioners know that as mirroring. I know I’ve found the technique useful in and out of mystery entertainment, and I […]

Seneca stated: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Thomas Jefferson observed: “I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” And from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” Got a moment? Read this and […]

“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. … Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.” — […]

I have many loves in my life. At the top of the earthly list, there are the three females with whom I live. There’s getting up at 3:15 each morning — when anything and anyone with any kind of sensibilities at all is still snoozing — and having my first cup of coffee waiting on […]