Permeabilis
by Werner Miller

Werner Miller is a retired teacher of mathematics, whose hobbies are recreational mathematics and magic. A magical inventor and writer, Werner has produced a prolific volume of work, mostly what he calls “semi-automatic” card tricks based on mathematical principles. He is the author of "Fast von selbst", "Alles Miller oder was", "Ratatouille", more than 300 trick contributions to various magazines and web sites and more than 30 related computer programs. In addition, Werner is also a staff member of the German magazine "Magische Welt", a columnist for the British magazine "The Magician", and regular contributor here at Visions. Werner's first English-language book, Ear-Marked, is available here.

Effect:
You introduce a 3.5" disk stating that it contains a graphic file. You insert the disk into the drive of your PC, and you start a bitmap viewer via the Start Menu. It is seen and heard that the PC is accessing the drive (especially if the PC is several years old), and the stored graphic file is shown: a full deck of 52 cards (Fig. 1).

You take a real deck of cards and have one card selected by a spectator. Say, it's the Nine of Diamonds.

You remove the disk and inspect its surface closely as if you are looking for the right place. With a permanent marker, you draw a bold "X" there (Fig. 2).

The disk is reinserted, and the spectator is asked to press Enter or to click on the deck. Immediately the picture changes showing now the same "X" just over the chosen 9D (Fig. 3).

The disk is given to the spectator as a souvenir, so that she may view the file herself at home.

Download the archive permeabilis.zip (right-click and select "Save Target As").

Expand it getting three files: "Setup.exe" (a program that will install "View_A", a faked bitmap viewer), "Cards.bmp" (a graphic file needed by this viewer), and "Read_me.pdf" (detailed instructions on how to prepare, perform, repeat and customize this effect).

Werner Miller