Doing In the Wizard: Difference between revisions

→‎Real Life: rewrote example slightly, added xref
m (image markup)
(→‎Real Life: rewrote example slightly, added xref)
Line 213:
== Real Life ==
* Some famous magicians, such as James Randi, and [[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!|Penn&Teller's ''Bullshit!'']], specialize in debunking mysticisms with scientific explanations.
** Houdini debunked seances posthumously. Prior to his death, he toldgave his wife a [[Trust Password|number of secret phrasephrases]] that he would use if there was an afterlife and she would try to call him through a seanceséance. Since thatnone of those secret phrasephrases neverever cropped up in any of the seancesséances whereperformed hisby wifemediums triedwho claimed to summonhave himcontacted his spirit in the aferlife... well...
* From the opposite point of view, revealing the secrets of magic tricks.
* The scientific method has done in a small army of wizards, djinn, dragons, and the like. For example, death certificates from pre-scientific England list such causes of death as comet, the king's evil (a real disease, but one thought to be specially curable by the touch of a king), and sorcery.