Yes, we're going to travel back in time, and re-visit some older feats to update them!

Our first stop back is also our farthest on our journey. In my Old Paths, New Directions post, I described my Psuedo-Phone Book Memorization feat. It used the props and instructions from a trick that, shortly after I posted that, went out of print.

However, I'm thrilled to announce that the missing trick, Meir Yedid's Predict-Perfect is now available again! For those of you who have Mind Blasters, the approach is similar to Stephen Jones' 1812 trick. However, Predict-Perfect comes complete with the props, as well as all the needed information spelled out.

Our next stop is a personal favorite of mine: the Day of the Week For Any Date Feat. I've been using iPhone version of Mental Case to keep the needed key numbers in my head, but there's really no way to set that program up to quiz you on random days while on the go.

There's also no iPhone app to quiz you on random days, either. However, I found one app that unintentionally works great for quizzing you on random days! It's a calendar app called This Day (iTunes link). If you hold your thumb across the days listed in the middle of the app, and shake the iPhone (or click on the Shake button), you'll get a random date (from 1600-3000) with the day of the week hidden. Determine the date as quickly as you can, and then lift your thumb to see if you're correct.

Back in March of 2006, I discussed non-transitive dice, and their amazing mathematical properties. Just last month, Scam School featured a non-transitive dice episode where you can see them in action:



Just to save you some Google-time, you can find non-transitive dice available in either a numbered version or a more traditional spotted version at Grand Illusions' Toy Shop. A great explanation of the dice, along with some great links, can be found in Ed Pegg's Tournament Dice article.

Funnily enough, instead of spending time either making your own non-transitive dice (as described in the above video) or buying them, you can do a non-transitive bet with regular coins, as described here, with a more complete explanation here.

Speaking of Scam School, they've also made this last update possible. I took a trick of Robert E. Neale's, called Election Game, and gave it a memory-demonstration presentation called Remembering The Election. Unfortunately, the resources I listed weren't easy to find, so there was little understanding of the feat.

Fortunately, Robert E. Neale recently gave permission to Scam School to teach his Rock-Paper-Scissors version of this same feat!



The principle, as well as the inspirational force, behind Remembering The Election is exactly the same as that of the Rock-Paper-Scissors trick above.

To make it clearer, imagine starting with the trick in the above video, and making the following changes:

1) We're going to move the trick from the bar to a stage.

2) The small props could be difficult to see on stage, so we're replacing the sugar packets ("Red", "Whitey" and "Bluto"), with audience volunteers.

3) Instead of having Rock, you have a card with the following qualities and descriptions on it:

Intelligence: Smart

Appearance: Plain

Personality: Average

(This card is remembered with the mnemonic SPA for "Smart/Plain/Average")

4) Instead of having Paper, you have a card with the following qualities and descriptions on it:

Intelligence: Dumb

Appearance: Average

Personality: Exciting

(This card is remembered with the mnemonic DAE for "Dumb/Average/Exciting")

5) Instead of having Scissors, you have a card with the following qualities and descriptions on it:

Intelligence: Average

Appearance: Handsome

Personality: Dull

(This card is remembered with the mnemonic AHeaD, with the small vowels ignored, for "Average/Handsome/Dull")

From here on out, everything is pretty much the same as in the Rock-Paper-Scissors effect, with the exceptions mentioned in the original article, and the fact it's being presented as a memory feat instead of mind reading.

Do you have any new touches for something you've discovered on this site? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!