All this make me hungry, I think I'll have squab with rice and asparagus.

I wouldn't be suprised.


When we worked outside the US,
we used local chinese cochan chickens.

The amount of time and energy to get
them all checked for health inspection
and license was not worth it.

but for the real trained acts; like
dogs, monkeys and so forth. it is
very necssary.

Poor doves....

Its cruel

-Max

So, Mr. Palmer: if the Internet is so useless for learning about magic, why do YOU spend so incredibly much time here at the Café? The Eternal Order, and all that? (This is a serious question, not a "flame." I really don't understand what you're saying here.)

BTW: I don't remember that ET died in the movie, did he? Or do you mean a different movie?

You certainly know how to twist a phrase, don't you?

I'll explain a few things. I don't spend as much time here as you think I do. These titles "Eternal Order," "Veteran User," etc. do not reflect how much time we spend reading at the Café, but how many posts we have made. These are titles that Steve Brooks has conferred, not I. Steve could have chosen anything he wanted to for the different titles the levels of posting have. But he didn't.

You don't make your living from magic. I did for 35 years. I know a lot about magic. This is how I participate in it now, other than collecting, researching and publishing. I get far more of my information from libraries, including my own rather large personal library, than I do from the internet.

If you look at the amazing amount of pure crap that is posted on the internet and compare it to the facts, you will find that Sturgeon's Law holds true for the internet just as it does for everything else. The main difference between the internet and material that is published in traditonal hard copy is that there is basically no vetting process for the internet.

Anyone can post anything he wishes on the internet. It costs very little to do so. You can get a MySpace page for nothing. You can get a FaceBook page for nothing. You can get unlimited web space, unlimited bandwidth and a domain for less than $200 for two years, if you know where to look. Nobody will tell you that you can't put up any hare-brained pap that you want to, and you won't suffer a great finiancial loss because nobody will publish your spoutings.

With hard copy, that's a different story. If you are trying to do a thesis or a dissertation to get your Master's or your Doctorate, your work will be vetted by a committee before it is accepted and you get credit for what you do. If you simply want to publish a hardback book. the costs are considerably greater than publishing on the internet. Usually, there are editors and proofreaders involved. And if you want to sell the book, you have reviewers that will tell people what they think of it.

The main secrets of magic are not on the internet. At least, the ones that actually make magic work aren't. These are the knowledge that is gained by years of experience successfully entertaining people. I've done that. Now I'm doing this when I feel like it.

You may have a problem with the idea that someone can actually retire from a profession and selectively share his knowledge with people on a need to know basis.

Tough.

BTW, did I SAY that E.T. died?

Please re-read what I said.

Regarding your statement "this is not a flame" -- remember the old riddle:

If a man has 26 horses and 3 cows and you call all the cows horses, how many horses does he have?

answer- 26. Calling a cow a horse doesn't make it a horse.

Bravo Bill!!

Bill,

Bravo again!!

Getting back to the subject of this thread ... no practical performer would use a live bird for the cage vanish. It would serve no purpose and would be a mess to clean up between shows. Also, there is no need to stir up the animal rights groups. Most of us who do the cage (I've done it in every show for over 40 years) use a rubber bird. In all of the years I have done the vbc no one has ever commented on the bird looking fake or being rubber. And, yes, I have two spectators holding the cage as it vanishes - they get a good look. Norm N. makes and sells a nice bird. I've known other performers who used a folded yellow silk bird and even the types of real feather covered birds used in flower decorations. There is just no reason to use a real bird. BTW - the rubber birds eventually dry rot and do need to be replaced after a few years.

If the rubber bird is suspended within the cage properly (this may mean drilling a few small holes in the cage frame) it actually moves and looks quite real. To prevent the rubber bird from looking smashed, it is best to store the cage with the bird in the fully open position or the collapsed cage with the bird pulled out between the bars so that it remains fully inflated between shows. This also prevents the rubber from reacting with the brass bars of the cage.

I have a fair number of cages of various types in my collection and none of them show any traces of bird blood on them. So obviously, fake birds have been the standard for quite some time.

Go back and watch the whole movie. There are some interesting things in it.
MR

Willard the Wizard used live parakeets. They always survived and never bit him. However, when Bev Bergeron tried to load the cage for Willard, they bit the fire out of him. Bev could never figure this out.

Source -- Willard the Wizard by Bev Bergeron.