I hear scratching in the wall, the patter of little feet at midnight, my cheese disappears—and I infer that a mouse has come to live with me. Not merely that these apparent signs of mousely presence will continue, not merely that all the observable phenomena will be as if there is a mouse, but that there really is a mouse.

- Van Fraassen


Just read that in an interesting little article:

The ‘Miracle Argument’ For Scientific Realism

http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article020108.html

I had that very thing happen to me... and the culprit was my girlfriend...

Tommy, Great link! Wonderful articles.
Thanks Pal.
Chris.

The principle of inference and so on can be applied to many magic effects it seems to me.

Take a little vanishing box, one which can make the scratching sound in its walls and the sound of the patter of little feet, a box which can make cheese disappear, then we can show the audience a very magical invisible mouse in effect.

Well perhaps not very magical in the opinion of he that moved the topic here from food for thought.

:)