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daffydoug
Eternal Order
Daff could give a rats butt that he has
11381 Posts
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Posted: May 27, 2013 8:00pm
Here is something to think about. Mind you, I'm just throwing this out there to get a feel for how most guys feel about this, especially those who's repertoire is heavily dependent upon effects using paper currency.
Now first, from the get go, here, please understand that this is an entirely hypothetical situation, ok? I'm not going to run around yelling that the sky is falling, but I want to be clear that this is just a "what if" scenario, ok?
OK. I've heard talk among various circles and in my reading, concerning a coming "cashless" society; a society where all paper money (and coinage, for the coin guys) would be done away with. A "new system" would replace our current cash system, and cash would go the way of the proverbial dinosaur.
My question is: How would you react, how would you feel, what would you DO, if suddenly, overnight your act was obliterated? Think of all the years, the blood sweat and tears you've invested in mastering this branch of magic, then suddenly you could no longer say to someone "Can I borrow a dollar bill?"
I've got to say, for me personally it would STING like a sharp slap in the face. Ouch! Years of my life invested in learning and practicing bill effects and untold sums of (ahem. CASH) money invested over the years suddenly down the crapper. My torn and restored bill gone. All my favorite bill changes? History. My pen through bill? Irrelevent.
I'd have to say it sucks. (Or at least it WOULD if it ever happened.
But you may disagree. You may be the kind who easily adapts and says "Not a problem. I'll just do cards from now on."
I don't know. Everyone's different. I'm just trying to get a feel for how different guys would react if this ever occured in America. (Or other countries, for that matter.
Again, the sky is not falling. I'm just speaking hypothetically in this post.
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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J-Mac
Inner circle
Ridley Park, PA
3108 Posts
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Posted: May 28, 2013 12:35pm
Fortunately I am older than dirt, so your scenario won't have a chance to affect me.
That said, the banks sure are pushing toward something very much like what you posted. Remember the recent commercials that showed people streaming quickly through checkout lines at various stores using debit cards, and when someone wants to pay with cash it slows everything down to a crawl and everyone looks very annoyed with the stupid, crusty old cash user? Pitiful.
Jim
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blsorg
Regular user
Charleston WV
146 Posts
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Posted: May 28, 2013 12:49pm
What to do during a major weather crisis, flood, etc. and power goes out for hours, days or weeks. Your banks computer system is down, etc. How will you buy gas, food, etc. I'm not a 'happy camper' about this, though I do believe it will happen in the not-so-distant future.
- Time flies like an arrow; Fruit flies like a banana! -
http://www.WVmagic.net
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george1953
Inner circle
Mallorca (Spain)
1090 Posts
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Posted: May 28, 2013 1:01pm
It wont affect me at all, I have been without cash for years 
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motown
Inner circle
Atlanta by way of Detroit
4885 Posts
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Posted: May 28, 2013 1:27pm
It could happen, but I don't think it will be in my lifetime.
"If you ever write anything about me after I'm gone, I will come back and haunt you."
– Karl Germain
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Al Angello
Eternal Order
Collegeville, Pa. USA
10559 Posts
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Posted: May 29, 2013 11:39am
I often have a hard time finding someone with a dollar bill to do a bill change.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com
http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/
"Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone"
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Tree
New user
45 Posts
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Posted: May 29, 2013 12:54pm
You could still do tricks with cash, one would just have to rewrite their scripts, easy enough.
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daffydoug
Eternal Order
Daff could give a rats butt that he has
11381 Posts
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Posted: May 29, 2013 9:00pm
Al, you mean you're finding more and more people carrying plastic and shunning paper currency in their wallet?
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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jimgerrish
Special user
East Orange, NJ
764 Posts
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Posted: May 30, 2013 4:14pm
We have almost become a society without cigarettes and cigars, once the main focus of almost every magician's repertoire. Even if the cigars and cigarettes aren't gone and forgotten, it is forbidden to have them in many venues where magicians perform. What did we do? We adapted. That's what humans always do in response to changing environments- or they become extinct if they cannot adapt. Today, I use the old cigarette and cigar sleights for crayons, pens and pencils, and other items. The sleights are not lost, just the former objects. You can use bill sleights with paper receipts, pieces of cut up construction paper, parking tickets, etc. You don't like it? Either go extinct, or find a substitute.
The old saying, "don't put all your eggs in one basket" applies to the magic world as well as the real world... even when all the eggs become powdered.
Jim Gerrish
http://www.wizkidzinc.com
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daffydoug
Eternal Order
Daff could give a rats butt that he has
11381 Posts
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Posted: May 30, 2013 7:30pm
Yeah. They say even newspapers are on the way out. So much for the Anderson Newspaper tear.
Heck. So much for Gene's whole act. ( If he's still performing)
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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jimgerrish
Special user
East Orange, NJ
764 Posts
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Posted: May 31, 2013 9:55pm
On the other hand, I'm working on a torn and restored i-Pad...
Jim Gerrish
http://www.wizkidzinc.com
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daffydoug
Eternal Order
Daff could give a rats butt that he has
11381 Posts
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Posted: May 31, 2013 11:40pm
Maybe you could do like the old classic broken and restored watch. (If you are familiar with it)
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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jimgerrish
Special user
East Orange, NJ
764 Posts
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Posted: Jun 1, 2013 8:52am
So far it's more like a sawing in half, then in quarters using a battery powered saw, all of which will probably be obsolete before I can get the trick to market.
Jim Gerrish
http://www.wizkidzinc.com
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Tree
New user
45 Posts
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Posted: Jun 11, 2013 12:48pm
It will easily be another 50yrs before newspapers and cash are gone.
There's nothing to worry about in the remainder of your short life.
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DynaMix
Regular user
120 Posts
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Posted: Jun 11, 2013 2:05pm
It's kind of like doing a trick with an old silver dollar, english penny, 2 dollar bill...etc...it doesn't have to be "used" to be performed with - just swapped out for a normal one and talked about presentationally as some old artifact.
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Alan Munro
Inner circle
Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
5441 Posts
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Posted: Jun 17, 2013 8:30am
Magicians have adapted in the past. We'll continue to adapt. If you have enough knowledge and experience, you will have no trouble adapting. I've already considered what I would do without cash and I'm prepared to make make changes. Luckily, there would be plenty of time to switch, after we knew the change was coming.
http://www.sneakymagician.com/
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