Sleight of hands or illusion?
541701
soh-audience prerehersed
350390
shadow puppets - you use your hands to make them
550514
That was incredibly fake.  A nice attempt though, the video effects were it's downfall.  Perhaps if the light changes were far more subtle, and the end scene a little more intense it would be a little cooler.  The blur effect is the ultimate give away, anyone who saw The Ring will probably immediate notice the similarities.
129155
An optical illusion is any illusion that decieves the human visual system into a perception of something that is not present or incorrectly perceiving what is present.
136889
Its an illusion.  Its because the moon is closer to objects to which you can compare it.
405471
An optical illusion is characterized by visually perceived images that are deceptive or misleading [1]. Information gathered by the eye is processed by the brain to give a perception that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. A conventional assumption is that there are physiological illusions that occur naturally and cognitive illusions that can be demonstrated by specific visual tricks that apparently show particular assumptions in the human perceptual system [2].\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusions\n\nHistory of Optical Illusions\n\nEpicharmus and Protagorus are the two people who invented optical illusions.  They lived around 450 B.C. and believed that our senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching) were not paying enough attention and were messing us up when we would look at something weird. Epicharmus said exactly “The mind sees and the mind hears. The rest is blind and deaf.” Protagorus didn’t believe that what Epicharmus said was true. He thought that our senses and bodies were fine. He believed it was our environment that was messing us up. His words were “Man is nothing but a bindle of sensations.” \n\n         Aristotle thought that both Epicharms and Protagorus were both right and wrong. Aristotle lived around 350 B.C. and said our senses can be trusted, but easily be fooled. \n\n         Plato, who lived around 300 B.C., said our five senses need our mind to help to understand what they see. What he is saying is that the eyes and mind need to work together. That is what most people think now.\n\n         It took a while for people to realize optical illusions again. Then in 1829 a psychologist named Johannes Mueller wrote two books about visual illusions. He was the first person to call distortions visual illusion. That is why most people knew what he was talking about in his books. Then in 1854 another psychologist named J.J. Oppel finished where Johannes Mueller left off. He made a paper that had 10 pages of line illusions. Nobody had seen one of them until J.J. had published it in the paper. As soon as the people saw them, they became very popular. Almost everyone liked it for a while. It was so popular that an illusion was made called the MuellerLyer illusions. Also 12 theories were made to explain it.\n\nhttp://www.tqnyc.org/NYC052034/History.htm
1068712
I find it interesting that you reference the planchette rather than the Ouija board since really it is the planchette which is most directly influenced by the spirit, since it's the the thing which moves. As for whether or not the spirit gives the right answers, that depends on the spirit.
95176
Well there are two parts to this one question:\n\nFirst, if I see something, should I believe it?  That's a difficult question for, as we know, our eyes can be decieved through optical illusion and sleight of hand.  However, in a general situation, one is inclined to believe that what they're seeing is reality.\n\nThe second question is MUST one see to believe.  This actually is a very philosophical question with two camps: the realists and the antirealists.  The realists believe the world exists even if we can't percieve it.  That is to say, even though we can't see an electron, we have enough evidence to say it exists.  We don't actually have to see it to believe.  The antirealist would say that although we have evidence that something like an electron exists, we can't say with certain that there are such things as electrons (this is obviously a gross oversimplification, but gives you a general idea).  So, depending on which camp you side with, only seeing may believing.\n\nPersonally I think it's necessary to believe in things that you haven't seen.  I've never personally seen Australia, but it's my belief that it does exist.
1151966
There're two kinds of activities people refer to as magic.\n\nOne is the kind put on by those who now prefer to be called illusionists, rather than magicians, like Houdini to David Copperfield, and who put on shows for public entertainment.\n\nThe other kind, are those performed by highly evolved individuals, who, because of their knowledge of, and mastery over nartural laws, can use these laws to perform what's popualrly called 'miracles'.\n\nThe former, as the preferred name implies (illusion) smacks of deceit; whereas the latter has nothing to do with deceit, but on the contrary, it's pure science.
341652
I dont believe it...\n\nBut human mind can make amazing illusions\n\n;)
310897
Sometimes it is necessary to distinguish what you see on Television or the movies from reality. The only thing I can think of is that what you refer to a wand may actually be a walking stick or a cane.
1182820
It is different, but not for that reason. The position of your shadow is dependant not only on your position, but also on the position of the light source that you are obscuring. Think about it like this: Take a ruler and hold it in your right fingers at the end of the ruler. Grab the ruler somewhere in the middle with your left fingers. Now, while holding your right hand in place, move your left hand around and watch how the speed of the free end of the ruler (the side you're not holding) compares to the speed of your left hand. Unless you're doing something wrong, the end of the ruler will be moving faster than your hand. Now imagine that your right hand is a light source, your left hand is you, and the free end of the ruler is your shadow. It works the exact same way.
321584
How can one Learn Telekinesis?\n\nMoving objects with the power of one's energy is called telekinesis. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as follows:\n\n"tel·e·ki·ne·sis (tµl"¹-k¹-n¶"s¹s, -kº-) n. The movement of objects by scientifically inexplicable means, as by the exercise of an occult power."\n\nI believe that this can be done, all is energy, although so far I have not felt any ambition to develop this skill.\n\nHowever, in the book Rainbows of Life by Mikol Davis and Earle Lane, on page 43, one can see two Tesla-Kirlian images: the energy field of Uri Geller's fingertip and the energy field of a wristwatch obviously having a band with metal closure.\n\nThe first picture shows the fingertip at rest and the watch at a distance of a few inches from the fingertip.\n\nThe second picture shows a "cannon ball" of energy with an energy trail toward the watch coming out of the fingertip, when Uri Geller was concentrating on shooting out energy toward the watch. The metal closure was moved and is clearly visible as energy field in a different position than shown in the first image.\n\nMy experience with developing spiritual/energy skills is that when we believe 100% that we can do it, we can! Any doubt will hold us back. There is no effort, it is just a light thought that we can.\n\nYou may want to train your ability to focus and believe 100% that you can do it. You may want to practice every day for a few minutes, with light weight objects you want to move, until you can. It may take an hour, a week, a year, or "forever," depending on your 100% believe that you can do it. You can.\n\nYou may look for healing phenomena in books on Tesla-Kirlian photography. It is an amazing subject!\n\nHappy practice!\nCordially, India.Magica
998784
That's easy.  It's Harry Houdini.  Most of the tricks that he made up himself people still can't figure out.  Even with all the pro magicians out there not to mention all of the skepticks!!!  \n\nCool fact about him:  He grew up in Appleton Wisconsin!!!
888651
Been a few years since I have been there and it was great fun. I had a Blind friend with me and he was not affected. He let me know right away that there was a tilt to the house.\n\nI proceeded to tell him about the optical illusions I was experiencing so he could enjoy it with me. The tilting creates optical illusions. I also closed my eyes and could really feel the tilt. I found out later, the house is tilted at a 20-degree angle from the ground\n\nEven though I knew the secret, it did not diminish the fun. I know a lot of secrets to illusions of magic and I still enjoy watching them preformed. It is not how it is done that counts, it is how well.
329179
I stand corrected, as usual.  The people below are correct in that the wavelength of the light is not correct for you to see your finger bones.  It takes a certain wavelength (e.g. X-rays), not the light that's coming from your mouse.  You probably also need the proper "background" to see it correctly.
252528
In a sense I believe that there is no magic. There is a mechanism to every occurence. The mechanism is how it occurred.\n\nOn the other hand, I do believe that there are occurences that we are not currently able to describe in a mechanistical way.\n\nSome activities can be fully explained by the person carrying it out, but maybe no one else. For example, a magician doing card magic may be following a specific step of rules to accomplish the trick. If he invented the trick himself, he may be the only one knowing how it works out.\n\nOn the other hand, I do believe that some tricks done by some magicians can not be fully explained by the magician himself either. Note the keyword "fully" here. What I am referring to here is that some tricks by some of the magicians are accomplished with the help of spirit forces.\n\nActually the use of magic has a long history, just as the use of hypnotism. It is just that in our days these activities are 'packaged differently for the masses'. What is today accomplished by an 'entertainer' was long time ago accomplished by a witchdoctor / witch / sorcerer / you-name-it.\n\nHowever, this does not mean that all of the tricks are accomplished this way. Most likely the magician himself uses a variety of means to accomplish his tricks. Some of them may simply involve following a specific step of rules. Others may be accomplished with the help of "smoke and mirrors" or quick hand movements & eye distractions. Yet the same magician may also have 'tricks' that are not explainable in but one way.\n\nNevertheless, even tricks accomplished with the help of spirit forces follow the rule that there is no magic. The mechanism in such a case is how the action was carried out by the invisible force.\n\nThe fact is that whether an action is accomplished by an invisible force or not, it is still [technically speaking] possible to describe it mechanistically. The only problem we have is that we do not have sufficient data to determine how the spirit carried out the action. If we did, it would not look like magic to us.\n\nOn the other hand, in this type of a case the magician may himself not exactly know how it happened either...only that it happened because he followed the steps for the specific so-called spell.