This was originally going to be a generally phrased question about gaff cards, but as I started typing I realized that the real problem I had was not the use of gaff cards specifically, but the ability to perform tricks while spectators who have seen you perform before are present.


Gaff cards cut down on your ability to repeat a trick in front of an audience.  Take for example the 'inked' card out of UltraGaff, or the inflated Ace of Hearts out of Arcane gaff, because the cards are so amazing the effects they produce leave such an astounding impression on your spectators.  This means they will remember that trick forever, which means you aren't allowed to ever do that trick again if that person is nearby.  They'll remember it for sure, and remember that the card that this new person "freely chose" was the exact same card that they supposedly freely chose when you did the trick for them a month ago.


While I do often do tricks for strangers who I never see again, magic has also made me a lot of new friends.  Stigmata is probably the hardest hitting effect I do.  Which means I cannot tell you how many times I've been doing card tricks and had a friend come up and say something like "OMG DO THE ONE WHERE THEY GRAB YOUR WRIST".  For anyone that performs stigmata, you know that them saying this just made that trick 100 times harder to pull off.  I have to say though, I don't give in to the pressure.  When that happens I usually shrug it off, say something about not having enough pixie dust on me for that one tonight or something and move on.  It really builds suspense for if I want to do it later, after the audience has dismissed it, or if I ever see this person again.


So, to all the magicians out there, what do you guys say?  Is there a cure-all for this bug?  Some tips, aside from "Learn more tricks, only perform some."  Haha. 

So at the advice of another thread, I stumbled upon a German website selling a deck of black centurions for what at first glance appeared to be about $6.  With glee I jumped at the opportunity and ordered one.  About 4 1/2 minutes later I sat staring blankly at my computer screen wondering how the shiny 4,12  € that I saw on the main page turned into a $36.06 charge on my paypal receipt.  Curse you exchange rates and international shipping!


So, to date, the black centurions are the most amount of money I've ever spent on a single deck of cards (excluding the LTD or Gold Arcane decks I got as free gifts for buying a lot of money worth of other stuff).


What's the most you have ever spent on a single deck of cards -- nothing else, JUST a deck of cards (shipping included)?

So, I've dedicated a significant amount of time to learning the Joyal Stack, and it has proved quite useful, but I'm wondering if I picked the wrong one.  It seems like the unpopular choice in the world of magic. Si Stebbins and Tamariz seem like the much more prominent selections.  Should I learn another stack?  Is that a bad idea?  Are there advantages/disadvantages to any of the stacks?

Alright all you website junkies out there.  Is it worth it?  Dreamweaver?  I know it manages your content and updates pages and has "intellisense" and syntax highlighting, but it's also big, clunky, and expensive. 


Is it worth it?  Assume for a moment that you are going to actually pay for it, you can get the latest version for $99.  My question is should you?  Is there an alternative that actually makes web-design more pleasant?


I have very little experience with Dreamweaver, and I maintain my "html-only" website with Notepad++.  I'm looking for someone to convince me I'm doing it wrong --or as the case may be, that I'm doing it right.

For those of you running Linux or Mac, and not in the mood to obtain or purchase Photoshop, you're in luck. There's a really neat solution I stumbled across today called Gimpshop (http://gimpshop.com/).  It's a modification of Gimp that puts you in that familiar Photoshop workspace. 


If you don't know, Gimp is the free alternative to pixel based imaging software.  You can check it out here: http://www.gimp.org/.  While Gimp is free, that's not to say it can't do what PS can.  It is a very feature filled application, and is very comparable to PS.  However, I have never been comfortable with the user interface of Gimp, it's always seemed a little... gimped.


I don't have a Linux or Mac machine with me here at work, but reading through the site, it seems rather promising.  Hopefully at some point over the weekend I'll have the opportunity to install it on my Ubuntu machine and give it a whirl.  I'll post more information once I've given it a thorough test drive.


Has anyone here already played around with this?  Is it everything I'm hoping for, or are my expectations going to fall quite short?

Everyone seems to harp on borderless cards.  The Artifice V1s come to mind first, but in general I've heard it.  I'd like to pose the approach that borderless cards are not a terrible idea, and the best of both worlds can be acquired if the edges of your card share design on the front and back.


Thoughts anyone?