I've been having a rough week this week, between being offline for most of Sunday, and dealing with a family emergency the rest of this week.

A little magic always cheers me up, so that's the focus of today's post.

Let's start with a quick opener that's a little different from most Grey Matters fare.

It's this week's episode of Scam School, and there's no math or memory involved. It's just pure, classic sleight-of-hand, developed by Marcus Eddie, who is teaching his SPLINTER! routine:



Now that you're awake and got your splinters removed, let's turn to a little more traditional magic. Not only are playing cards involved, but there is a mathematical basis, so it's probably a little more what you're used to on this site.

Our old friend Card Colm has been experimenting with the Gilbreath Principle. His latest results are in his most recent column, Rosette Shuffling Multiple Piles. It turns out that using a special adaption of the Riffle Shuffle, known as the Rosette Shuffle, it is possible to mix 3 piles of cards together, and still get startlingly predictable results!

I do have to keep this short, due to all I'm dealing with this week, but I hope you found these magical tidbits as enjoyable as I did!