Magic

I know that I got into science because it felt like the closest thing to the thrill and mystery of magic, but it was somehow more "real". But after an event I attended Monday night -- an amazing event: magic show, trash-talking puppets, real-time candy-puppet-making, card castles that hold human weight - now I'm not sure who is more in touch with reality. I found out about this event from Mark Mitton, a friend of mine who organized the evening at the National Arts Club. You can read a bit more about the event, get links to their website, and see a few photos (taken by yours truly, like the one above of Mark, Brian and two semi-willing volunteers about to stand on a card structure...) here. The one thing that you won't see anywhere (and I botched the photographs of) was Mark's string theory trick: showing how short and long strings are actually the same size, and closed strings and open strings easily transform into each other, before one's very eyes -- no-one has to teach this guy about duality [rimshot! thankyouthankyou, I'm here Wednesdays and Sundays...]