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Knack Magic Tricks: A Step-by-Step Guide to Illusions, Sleight of Hand, and Amazing Feats (Knack: Make It easy)

With a foreword by David Copperfield!

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There’s nothing like performing magic—and there’s nothing like plodding through a text-heavy book on the subject whose illustrations don’t quite “do the trick.” By the publisher of Genii: The Conjuror’s Magazine, this book packs 450 full-color, step-by-step photographs, many from the magician’s point of view, plus advice on how to patter with an audience while pulling off mind-blowing deceptions, illusions, and sleights of hand. From simple to advanced, and using household and inexpensive props, Knack Magic Tricks includes tricks using cards, coins, handkerchiefs, and fruit, as well as mental tricks, anytime tricks, standup tricks, and tricks especially for kids (to be performed both for them and by them).

With a foreword by David Copperfield!

*

There’s nothing like performing magic—and there’s nothing like plodding through a text-heavy book on the subject whose illustrations don’t quite “do the trick.” By the publisher of Genii: The Conjuror’s Magazine, this book packs 450 full-color, step-by-step photographs, many from the magician’s point of view, plus advice on how to patter with an audience while pulling off mind-blowing deceptions, illusions, and sleights of hand. From simple to advanced, and using household and inexpensive props, Knack Magic Tricks includes tricks using cards, coins, handkerchiefs, and fruit, as well as mental tricks, anytime tricks, standup tricks, and tricks especially for kids (to be performed both for them and by them).

Allosaurus skull, displayed in The National Dinosaur Museum, Canberra, Australia. From the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry , USA.



From Wikipedia:

"Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian). The name Allosaurus means "different lizard" and is derived from the Greek ?????/allos ("different, other") and ??????/sauros ("lizard"). The first remains that can definitely be ascribed to this genus were described in 1877 by Othniel Charles Marsh. As one of the first well-known theropod dinosaurs, it has long attracted attention outside of paleontological circles, and has been a top feature in several films and documentaries.

Allosaurus was a large bipedal predator with a large skull, equipped with dozens of large, sharp teeth. It averaged 8.5 meters (28 ft) in length, though fragmentary remains suggest it could have reached over 12 meters (39 ft). Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, its three-fingered forelimbs were small, and the body was balanced by a long, heavy tail. It is classified as an allosaurid, a type of carnosaurian theropod dinosaur.
The bulk of Allosaurus remains have come from North America's Morrison Formation, with material also known from Portugal and possibly Tanzania. It was known for over half of the 20th century as Antrodemus, but study of the copious remains from the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry brought the name Allosaurus back to prominence, and established it as one of the best-known dinosaurs.

As the most abundant large predator in the Morrison Formation, Allosaurus was at the top of the food chain, probably preying on contemporaneous large herbivorous dinosaurs and perhaps even other predators (e.g. Ceratosaurus). Potential prey included ornithopods, stegosaurids, and sauropods. Some paleontologists interpret Allosaurus as having had cooperative social behavior, and hunting in packs, while others believe individuals may have been aggressive toward each other, and that congregations of this genus are the result of lone individuals feeding on the same carcasses. It may have attacked large prey by ambush, using its upper jaw like a hatchet.

The skull and teeth of Allosaurus were modestly proportioned for a theropod of its size. Paleontologist Gregory S. Paul gives a length of 845 millimeters (33.3 in) for a skull belonging to an individual he estimates at 7.9 meters long (26 ft).
Each premaxilla (the bones that formed the tip of the snout), held five teeth with D-shaped cross-sections, and each maxilla (the main tooth-bearing bones in the upper jaw) had between fourteen and seventeen teeth; the number of teeth does not exactly correspond to the size of the bone. Each dentary (the tooth-bearing bone of the lower jaw) had between fourteen and seventeen teeth, with an average count of sixteen. The teeth became shorter, more narrow, and more curved toward the back of the skull. All of the teeth had saw-like edges. They were shed easily, and were replaced continually, making them common fossils.

The skull had a pair of horns above and in front of the eyes. These horns were composed of extensions of the lacrimal bones, and varied in shape and size. There were also lower paired ridges running along the top edges of the nasal bones that led into the horns. The horns were probably covered in a keratin sheath and may have had a variety of functions, including acting as sunshades for the eye, being used for display, and being used in combat against other members of the same species (although they were fragile). There was a ridge along the back of the skull roof for muscle attachment, as is also seen in tyrannosaurids.

Inside the lacrimal bones were depressions that may have held glands, such as salt glands. Within the maxillae were sinuses that were better developed than those of more basal theropods such as Ceratosaurus and Marshosaurus; they may have been related to the sense of smell, perhaps holding something like Jacobson's organ. The roof of the braincase was thin, perhaps to improve thermoregulation for the brain. The skull and lower jaws had joints that permitted motion within these units. In the lower jaws, the bones of the front and back halves loosely articulated, permitting the jaws to bow outward and increasing the animal's gape. The braincase and frontals may also have had a joint."

While Randy was on the phone, a freight train rolled through the tracks nearby and let out a long HAWWWWWNNNNNNNK for about twenty seconds. Which just goes to show you, that getting on a conference call is Strong Magic, and can attract distracting background noise no matter what your situation.