Last month I wrote about Prince Charles delivering a speech using modern holographic technology that hearkened back to 19th century technology - the Pepper's Ghost Illusion. Leafing through the newest edition of MAKE magazine (alas, my last subscription copy - I'm not using credit cards any longer) on magic, there's a section on a little known corner of the Google-verse called "Google Patents Search".




Why is this cool? Well, using the patent search will let you find out the inner workings of some of the older tricks around, including sawing a person in half, pulling a rabbit out of your hat, and, of course, Pepper's Ghost.











Viewing these patents with their technical drawings and explanations doesn't immediately give away any of the trickery, but it is fascinating to see both the complexities involved in some of them, as well as the simplicity of design in others.

Even if you're not that technically-minded, this quarter's edition of MAKE has some superb articles, including one entitled "Making Magic" by illusion designer John Guaghan, who has designed illusions for the likes of Siegfried and Roy and David Copperfield.

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In a strange turn of synchronicity, I happened to be reading the above article, which opens with a quote by Arthur C. Clarke just moments after I heard about his death last night. This statement certainly rings true for anyone working in IT:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."