More Magical Mathematics

This will be the first of a series of three posts dedicated to mathematics, for no other reason then the coincidence that they all appeared in my life more or less at the same time. I'll begin with an interview with Persi Diaconis on The 7th Avenue Project. It's actually a little bit out of date (over a year old) and it relates, ostensibly, to his 2011 book Magical Mathematics (co-written with Ron Graham) Professor Persi Diaconis is a remarkable figure in magic who falls into that category of "greatest magicians no one has ever heard of." Provided you're willing to allow being interviewed for podcasts, being a published author and appearing on the front page of the New York Times never being heard of.

The interview is fascinating (and long). Perhaps it's the confirmation bias talking, but he seems to spend a great deal more time discussing magic than math — not that I would think of complaining. It also highlights the important but subtle difference between magical mathematics and mathematical magic. I noticed when the interviewer tripped up on the title and realized that there really is an important difference.

The stories involving Dai Vernon and Ricky Jay are also moving. Enjoy.

Making Faces

It's been a while since I've posted one of these compilations. Most people don't realize how difficult it is to take photos of live performance. There is no chance to go back and try it again, the moments are gone forever. But what that also means is that sometimes the moments you capture are truly strange. So take a look at some of the funny faces performers made so far this year on Magic Tonight. Enjoy the lovely faces of Glenn Ottaway, Ben Train, David Merry, The Sentimentalists (Mysterion & Steffi Kay) and me:

Magic Tonight continues Sunday nights in Downtown Toronto at the Crimson Lounge. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online.

Last time on Magic Tonight

One of the things I enjoy most about Magic Tonight is the rich variety of performers we have in the city who appear on the show. Last week, I had the chance to see a new double-act forming: The Sentimentalists. The always-creepy Mysterion has teemed up with Steffi Kay (who came fabulously colour coordinated to our venue) to demonstrate some two-person mind reading or what has become known, for historical reasons, as "second sight".

Magic Tonight continues Sunday nights in Toronto at the Crimson Lounge. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online.

Last week on Magic Tonight

Last week I was joined by a very special guest, David Merry. In addition to being a gifted comedian, David brings with him an impressive collection of severed human heads. I know readers of this blog find it difficult to tell when I'm joking. Oh well. Take a look for yourselves:

Magic Tonight continues Sunday nights at the Crimson Lounge in Downtown Toronto. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when booking online.

Stories as tools of deception

There's a wonderful article in the New Yorker by Maria Konnikova (available online free here). A research topic that has been recently in vogue (and thankfully so) is the study of how easily humans are deceived. I've read a substantial amount about the various biases that we are prone to, but this article highlighted something I hadn't really considered before; that facts become more deceptive simply by being arranged in a narrative. The entire article is nicely summed up by this:

As the economist Robert Heilbroner once confided to Bruner, “When an economic theory fails to work easily, we begin telling stories about the Japanese imports.” When a fact is plausible, we still need to test it. When a story is plausible, we often assume it’s true.

The irrationality of humans is not a controversial thing (it's how I earn my living!) I have said before that when most people use the phrase "let's think logically (or rationally) about ______" what they really meant to say was, "let's make a series of educated guesses and stop when we reach a result which is consistent with our intuitions." Irrationality really does seem to hinge on tricking people into stopping thinking too soon.

The upside is it seems that Konnikova has a forthcoming book on the subject which I'll try to read when the opportunity presents itself.

2015 in Duct Tape

In 2012, the director of my one-person show, Lies, Damn Lies & Magic Tricks, James Biss,  had me over at his house for a party and was "encouraging" me to perform for the group. I asked if I could borrow some duct tape and he came back with, of all things, blue duct tape. I knew about grey and about black, but blue was news to me. I used that for my shows in 2012 & 2013 for the blindfold trick. In 2014, one of the bartenders at The Cage (which contains The Crimson Lounge) found a roll of Rainbow Duct shortly before World Pride in Toronto. So now whenever possible, I try to choose the duct tape I use to match the situation I'm in. I think this year I went a little bit overboard.

We used the rainbow roll all through the month of June to celebrate Pride. And for the Andy Kim Christmas Special, we found sparkling silver duct tape.

In case you're curious what all that duct tape is for, here is the trick on Rogers TV:

Magic Tonight continues in 2016. Readers of this blog can use the code reality for a discount on the price of tickets and dinner when purchasing online.