http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/text_only.cfm?id=116404 Magicians lottery list accurate THE American illusionist David Copperfield said yesterday he has been bombarded by requests for tips on the winning numbers in Germanys national lottery on Saturday night - numbers he said he predicted seven months ago. Copperfield wrote down his forecast on 17 February for the multi-million mark lottery drawing due on 13 October. The prediction was sealed by a notary and locked in a box that was kept under round-the-clock surveillance. An hour after the winning numbers were drawn, the box was opened on a live television broadcast and the numbers matched the winning draw: 2, 9, 10, 15, 25, 38 and 4. "It wasnt a trick," Copperfield told Bild am Sonntag newspaper after the performance on the popular Wanna Bet? show on ZDF television. "It was more an experiment and mental exercise. We only use about 10 per cent of our brain capacity." Copperfield said he is not tempted to play the lottery himself because he would not be able to "see" the numbers. "I used to try it out by giving friends the numbers, but then it would never work," he said. "If the numbers arent kept secret, it doesnt work." Copperfield said hundreds of people had written him since February begging him for tips on what numbers to pick. "Hundreds of emails, so many letters and requests from people in despair. " But can he do RSA keys ? If he can, that would mean that they are truly random. If he can't they are not. This test should become a part of Diehard.
Anonymous forwarded:
"It wasn't a trick," Copperfield told Bild am Sonntag newspaper after the performance on the popular Wanna Bet? show on ZDF television. "It was more an experiment and mental exercise. We only use about 10 per cent of our brain capacity."
Copperfield said he is not tempted to play the lottery himself because he would not be able to "see" the numbers.
How gullible can people be? The only magical art Copperfield has mastered is the building of overengineered stage props. Randi would blow this away in 10 seconds. Better they had buried Copperfield's box in a Faraday Cage under 10 feet of wet cement, and had the armed guards watch that. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
At 04:16 PM 10/22/2001 -0700, Eric Cordian wrote:
Anonymous forwarded:
"It wasn't a trick," Copperfield told Bild am Sonntag newspaper after the performance on the popular Wanna Bet? show on ZDF television. "It was more an experiment and mental exercise. We only use about 10 per cent of our brain capacity." ... How gullible can people be? The only magical art Copperfield has mastered is the building of overengineered stage props.
Randi would blow this away in 10 seconds. Better they had buried Copperfield's box in a Faraday Cage under 10 feet of wet cement, and had the armed guards watch that.
Now, if Penn and Teller had done the same thing, they'd say "Of course it's a trick! We fooled you guys, and you couldn't catch how we did it! People only use 10% of our brain capacity, but we're using 15% of ours and you're using 5% of yours, so tricking you is *easy*! And we can do it again, with Teller hanging upside down in a straightjacket over a bed of nails!" Occasionally you can see how they do their tricks, usually in the "Mofo the Psychic Gorilla" schtick, but that's because while you're catching them doing one trick, they're actually setting up another one. Mofo knows..... BTW, Penn did a nice anti-Clipper rant in his computer column about N years ago.
It would have been more impressive had Copperfield revealed the numbers he predicted an hour /before/ the drawing... --Lucky
-----Original Message----- From: owner-cypherpunks@lne.com [mailto:owner-cypherpunks@lne.com] On Behalf Of Anonymous Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 4:01 PM To: cypherpunks@lne.com Subject: Conman, quantum entaglement and no cat
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/text_only.cfm?id=116404
Magicians lottery list accurate
THE American illusionist David Copperfield said yesterday he has been bombarded by requests for tips on the winning numbers in Germanys national lottery on Saturday night - numbers he said he predicted seven months ago.
Copperfield wrote down his forecast on 17 February for the multi-million mark lottery drawing due on 13 October. The prediction was sealed by a notary and locked in a box that was kept under round-the-clock surveillance.
An hour after the winning numbers were drawn, the box was opened on a live television broadcast and the numbers matched the winning draw: 2, 9, 10, 15, 25, 38 and 4.
"It wasnt a trick," Copperfield told Bild am Sonntag newspaper after the performance on the popular Wanna Bet? show on ZDF television. "It was more an experiment and mental exercise. We only use about 10 per cent of our brain capacity."
Copperfield said he is not tempted to play the lottery himself because he would not be able to "see" the numbers. "I used to try it out by giving friends the numbers, but then it would never work," he said. "If the numbers arent kept secret, it doesnt work."
Copperfield said hundreds of people had written him since February begging him for tips on what numbers to pick. "Hundreds of emails, so many letters and requests from people in despair. "
But can he do RSA keys ?
If he can, that would mean that they are truly random.
If he can't they are not.
This test should become a part of Diehard.
Lucky wrote:
It would have been more impressive had Copperfield revealed the numbers he predicted an hour /before/ the drawing...
Yes, but that would have required REAL magic (or time travel). Incidentally, Penn sent a further reading suggestion on the subject of "mentalism." The book is called, Self-Working Mental Magic by Karl Fulves. S a n d y
At 04:56 PM 10/24/2001 -0700, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
Lucky wrote:
It would have been more impressive had Copperfield revealed the numbers he predicted an hour /before/ the drawing...
Yes, but that would have required REAL magic (or time travel).
Or rigging the lottery drawing, but surely *that's* never been done :-) You can also simulate time travel through delayed transmission; cf: The Sting for examples of that. Probably wasn't done here, but it could have been, and putting out a broadcast story of "Earlier today, The Amazing Bogomeister successfully predicted the Powerball Lottery", showing Himself with the clock in the background *clearly* indicating the time as an hour before the real lottery drawing took place would reinforce it.
Who knows how many predictions he's made over the years, or the black book he looks them up in after a drawing, so he knows where (whether) to call the press conference. At 04:40 PM 10/24/01 -0700, Lucky Green wrote:
It would have been more impressive had Copperfield revealed the numbers he predicted an hour /before/ the drawing...
--Lucky
-----Original Message----- From: owner-cypherpunks@lne.com [mailto:owner-cypherpunks@lne.com] On Behalf Of Anonymous Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 4:01 PM To: cypherpunks@lne.com Subject: Conman, quantum entaglement and no cat
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/text_only.cfm?id=116404
Magicians lottery list accurate
THE American illusionist David Copperfield said yesterday he has been bombarded by requests for tips on the winning numbers in Germanys national lottery on Saturday night - numbers he said he predicted seven months ago.
Copperfield wrote down his forecast on 17 February for the multi-million mark lottery drawing due on 13 October. The prediction was sealed by a notary and locked in a box that was kept under round-the-clock surveillance.
An hour after the winning numbers were drawn, the box was opened on a live television broadcast and the numbers matched the winning draw: 2, 9, 10, 15, 25, 38 and 4.
"It wasnt a trick," Copperfield told Bild am Sonntag newspaper after the performance on the popular Wanna Bet? show on ZDF television. "It was more an experiment and mental exercise. We only use about 10 per cent of our brain capacity."
Copperfield said he is not tempted to play the lottery himself because he would not be able to "see" the numbers. "I used to try it out by giving friends the numbers, but then it would never work," he said. "If the numbers arent kept secret, it doesnt work."
Copperfield said hundreds of people had written him since February begging him for tips on what numbers to pick. "Hundreds of emails, so many letters and requests from people in despair. "
But can he do RSA keys ?
If he can, that would mean that they are truly random.
If he can't they are not.
This test should become a part of Diehard.
participants (6)
-
Anonymous -
Bill Stewart -
Eric Cordian -
Lucky Green -
Reese -
Sandy Sandfort