A magical search for a coincidence
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0:01 - 0:07I'd like to start my performance by saying
90 percent of everything is crap. -
0:07 - 0:08(Laughter)
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0:08 - 0:10It's called Sturgeon's law,
and what that means -
0:10 - 0:15is that the majority of anything
is always bad. -
0:17 - 0:19I have a giraffe here.
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0:19 - 0:22I'm going to throw the giraffe
behind my back -
0:22 - 0:25and whoever catches it is going
to help me on this next thing. -
0:26 - 0:30Sir, you caught the giraffe.
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0:30 - 0:32I have a playing card in my hand.
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0:33 - 0:37Freely name any card in the deck.
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0:38 - 0:39Audience member: 10 of hearts.
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0:39 - 0:41Helder Guimarães: 10 of hearts.
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0:41 - 0:43You could have named any card in the deck,
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0:43 - 0:45but you said the 10 of hearts.
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0:46 - 0:48Ninety percent of everything is crap,
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0:48 - 0:52so there's this to prove that
Sturgeon was correct. -
0:52 - 0:53(Laughter)
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0:53 - 0:57(Applause)
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0:57 - 1:01(Laughter)
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1:01 - 1:05Sir, this is not your show.
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1:05 - 1:09(Laughter)
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1:09 - 1:12Keep the giraffe for a moment, okay?
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1:13 - 1:15Jesus.
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1:15 - 1:17(Laughter)
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1:17 - 1:19Crazy people.
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1:19 - 1:22Well, the truth is,
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1:22 - 1:27why is the majority of everything bad?
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1:27 - 1:31And my answer is: I think we stop
thinking too soon. -
1:31 - 1:33I'll give you a clear little example,
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1:33 - 1:37something that people used to do
around the turn of the century -- -
1:37 - 1:40not this century, the other one.
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1:40 - 1:43The idea was to take a piece of paper
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1:43 - 1:48and fold it inside out
using only your weaker hand, -
1:48 - 1:50in my case, the left hand.
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1:50 - 1:54Something that would look like this.
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2:02 - 2:05By the way you reacted, I can see
your lack of interest. -
2:05 - 2:07(Laughter)
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2:07 - 2:09But that's okay, I understand why.
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2:09 - 2:11We stop thinking too soon.
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2:11 - 2:13But if we give it
a little bit more thought, -
2:13 - 2:14like a paper clip.
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2:14 - 2:20A paper clip makes this a little bit
more interesting. -
2:20 - 2:23Not only that, if instead of using
my hand with the fingers, -
2:23 - 2:25I use my hand closed into a fist,
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2:25 - 2:28that makes this even a little
bit more interesting. -
2:28 - 2:33Not only that, but I will impose myself
a time limit of one second, -
2:33 - 2:38something that would look like this.
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2:40 - 2:42Now -- no, no, no.
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2:42 - 2:46Sturgeon may be correct.
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2:46 - 2:48But he doesn't have to be correct forever.
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2:48 - 2:49Things can always change.
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2:49 - 2:51Sir, what was the card?
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2:51 - 2:53The 10 of hearts?
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2:53 - 2:59There's this to prove that things
can always change -- -
2:59 - 3:01the 10 of hearts.
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3:01 - 3:04(Applause)
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3:04 - 3:07Secrets are important.
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3:08 - 3:10And secrets are valuable.
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3:10 - 3:15And this is the best secret
I've ever experienced. -
3:15 - 3:18It starts with a deck of cards
onto the table, -
3:18 - 3:21an old man and a claim,
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3:21 - 3:25"I will not touch the deck till the end."
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3:25 - 3:27It doesn't matter who the man was,
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3:27 - 3:33all that matters was that sentence
ringing in my head: -
3:33 - 3:36"I will not touch the deck till the end."
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3:36 - 3:38Now, during all this time,
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3:38 - 3:40he was holding a small notebook
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3:40 - 3:43that sometimes he would open
and flip through the pages -
3:43 - 3:45and look at something.
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3:45 - 3:48But I was not really
paying attention to the book -
3:48 - 3:53because I was paying attention the deck
and the claim he had made before, -
3:53 - 3:57"I will not touch the deck till the end."
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3:57 - 3:58Now sir, you have the giraffe.
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3:58 - 4:00Go ahead, throw it in any direction
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4:00 - 4:02so that you can find
someone else at random. -
4:03 - 4:07Perfect. Sir, you're going to play
my role in this story. -
4:07 - 4:09The old man turned to me and he said,
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4:09 - 4:12"You could pick a red card
or a black card." -
4:12 - 4:13My answer was ...
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4:13 - 4:15Audience member 2: The black card.
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4:15 - 4:16HG: Indeed!
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4:16 - 4:18It was a black card.
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4:18 - 4:21He said, "It could be a club or a spade,"
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4:21 - 4:22and my answer was ...
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4:22 - 4:24Audience member 2: Spade.
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4:24 - 4:28HG: Indeed! It was a spade.
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4:28 - 4:31He said, "It could be a high spade
or a low spade." -
4:31 - 4:33And my answer was ...
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4:33 - 4:35Audience member 2: A high spade.
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4:35 - 4:37HG: Indeed! It was a high spade.
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4:37 - 4:40Since it's a high spade,
it could be a nine, a 10, -
4:40 - 4:43a jack, king, queen or the ace of spades.
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4:43 - 4:44And my answer was ...
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4:44 - 4:46Audience member 2: The king.
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4:46 - 4:49HG: The king of spades, indeed.
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4:50 - 4:51Now sir, let's be fair.
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4:51 - 4:54You selected black, you selected spade,
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4:54 - 4:57you selected the high spade,
and you selected -- sorry? -
4:57 - 4:59Audience member 2: King.
HG: King of spades. -
4:59 - 5:01Did you feel I influenced you
in any decision? -
5:02 - 5:04Audience member 2: No, I just felt
your energy. -
5:04 - 5:06HG: But it was a free choice, correct?
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5:06 - 5:08Because if not, we could start
all over again. -
5:08 - 5:11But it was really fair?
Audience member 2: Absolutely. -
5:11 - 5:14HG: Now, the old man turned to me
and he asked me one more question, -
5:14 - 5:17a number between one and 52.
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5:17 - 5:19And the first number I thought of was ...
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5:19 - 5:21Audience member 2: 17.
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5:21 - 5:25HG: Indeed! It was the 17.
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5:25 - 5:28The old man only said one more thing:
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5:28 - 5:31"This is the end."
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5:31 - 5:35And I knew exactly what that meant.
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5:35 - 5:38I knew that he was going
to touch the deck. -
5:39 - 5:45Everything that you're about to see
is exactly as it looked. -
5:45 - 5:49He took the deck out of the box.
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5:49 - 5:51Nothing in the box.
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5:52 - 6:01He counted, "One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10." -
6:02 - 6:04The tension was building.
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6:04 - 6:07(Laughter)
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6:08 - 6:16"11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17."
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6:17 - 6:22And on the 17, instead of
the king of spades, -
6:22 - 6:26something appeared
in the middle of the deck, -
6:26 - 6:30that later, I would realize
was actually a secret. -
6:32 - 6:35The old man stood up, he left.
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6:35 - 6:36I never saw him again.
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6:38 - 6:40But he left his notebook
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6:40 - 6:42that was there from the beginning.
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6:43 - 6:46And when I picked it up,
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6:46 - 6:51that was the best secret
I've ever experienced. -
6:52 - 6:56We are defined by the secrets we keep
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6:56 - 6:59and by the secrets we share.
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6:59 - 7:03And this was his way
of sharing a secret with me. -
7:03 - 7:08(Applause)
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7:12 - 7:14Crazy shit! Now --
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7:14 - 7:17(Laughter)
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7:18 - 7:25I believe that amazing things
happen all the time. -
7:25 - 7:26I really do.
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7:26 - 7:29And the reason why we don't see
them as often, -
7:29 - 7:32it's because we don't
place ourselves in a position -
7:32 - 7:35to search for those amazing things.
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7:36 - 7:41But what if we decided to search
for those amazing things, -
7:41 - 7:46for those small coincidences
in life that are truly amazing? -
7:47 - 7:48So you have the giraffe,
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7:48 - 7:53go ahead, throw it in any direction
so you find one last person at random. -
7:55 - 7:58Sir, I'm going to ask you,
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7:58 - 8:03do you have, with you,
a United States $1 bill? -
8:03 - 8:05Audience member 3: I think so.
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8:05 - 8:07HG: Yes? You see, a coincidence!
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8:07 - 8:10(Laughter)
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8:10 - 8:12Let's make sure you have it.
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8:12 - 8:13Do you have it?
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8:13 - 8:16Audience member 3: Yes.
HG: Yes! Perfect. -
8:16 - 8:19Now, I want you to do exactly the same
thing I am about to do. -
8:19 - 8:20I have a dollar bill here to explain.
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8:20 - 8:22I want you to take the dollar bill,
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8:22 - 8:26and fold the Washington part
inside, like this. -
8:26 - 8:29So you get this kind of big square, okay?
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8:29 - 8:33Now, I want you to take the bill
and fold it like this, lengthwise, -
8:33 - 8:34so it becomes like a rectangle,
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8:34 - 8:37and then again --
really fold it, really crease it -- -
8:37 - 8:38and when you have it,
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8:38 - 8:42please fold the bill again
into a little square like this -
8:42 - 8:44and let me know when you have it.
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8:45 - 8:46Do you have it? Perfect.
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8:46 - 8:48Now, I'm going to approach,
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8:48 - 8:50and before we start,
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8:50 - 8:53I want to make sure that we do this
in very, very serious conditions. -
8:53 - 8:59First of all, I want to ensure that we
have a marker and we have a paper clip. -
8:59 - 9:02First of all, take the marker
and go ahead and sign the bill. -
9:02 - 9:04And this is the reason why:
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9:04 - 9:07later, I'm going to be doing
a bunch of stuff on stage -
9:07 - 9:08and I don't want you to think,
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9:08 - 9:10oh, while I was distracted by Helder,
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9:10 - 9:13someone came onstage and swapped the bill.
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9:13 - 9:15So I want to make sure
it's exactly the same bill. -
9:15 - 9:18Now not only that, I want you
to take the paper clip -
9:18 - 9:20and put it around the bill.
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9:20 - 9:22So even if nobody comes onstage
and switches the bill, -
9:22 - 9:26I don't have enough time
to go open the bill and close it -
9:26 - 9:27and see what I don't want to see.
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9:27 - 9:28Is that fair?
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9:28 - 9:30Now you can give me the marker back.
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9:30 - 9:32And just like that, very clearly,
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9:32 - 9:36I want to make sure that
we place this in full view -
9:36 - 9:41from the beginning of this experience
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9:41 - 9:43and to make sure that everyone
is going to see it, -
9:43 - 9:47we're going to actually have
a camera man onstage. -
9:47 - 9:49Yes, perfect, so that you can see.
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9:49 - 9:52That's your signature? Yes? Perfect.
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9:52 - 9:59Now, we're going to use
also the deck and a glass for this. -
9:59 - 10:02And we're going to put
ourselves in a position -
10:02 - 10:05to search for an amazing coincidence.
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10:05 - 10:07Do you mind, can you help me with this?
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10:07 - 10:09Go ahead and take some cards and shuffle.
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10:09 - 10:12And do you mind, can you
take some cards and shuffle? -
10:12 - 10:14You can take some cards and shuffle.
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10:14 - 10:16You can shuffle cards
in a variety of ways. -
10:16 - 10:18You can shuffle cards like this.
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10:18 - 10:20You can shuffle cards
in a more messed up way, -
10:20 - 10:21something like this.
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10:21 - 10:23You can shuffle cards in the American way.
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10:23 - 10:26As a Portuguese, I don't feel entitled
to teach you guys how to do it. -
10:26 - 10:29But the important part is
after shuffling the cards, -
10:29 - 10:31always remember
to cut and complete the cards. -
10:31 - 10:33Do you mind doing that for me, sir?
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10:33 - 10:34Please cut and complete.
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10:34 - 10:37And when you have it,
place the cards up in the air. -
10:37 - 10:39And you too, cut and complete
and up in the air. -
10:39 - 10:40Up in the air.
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10:40 - 10:44A deck of cards cut and shuffled
by one, two, three, four and five people. -
10:44 - 10:49Now, very clearly, I'm going
to gather the deck together. -
10:50 - 10:53And just like that.
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10:54 - 11:00I'm going to search for a coincidence
in front of everyone. -
11:04 - 11:05I'm going to try.
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11:13 - 11:18I have some cards that maybe,
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11:18 - 11:20maybe they don't mean anything.
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11:21 - 11:24But maybe that's because
we are not paying close attention. -
11:25 - 11:28Because maybe, maybe they mean a lot.
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11:28 - 11:32Before we start,
sir, you gave me a dollar bill. -
11:32 - 11:34Is that your signature?
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11:34 - 11:35Audience member 3: Yes it is.
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11:35 - 11:39HG: I want you to see very clearly
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11:39 - 11:42that I'm going to open your bill
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11:42 - 11:47and reveal a small secret that we created.
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11:47 - 11:53And the secret of this dollar bill
is the serial number. -
11:53 - 11:56Madam, can you take the dollar bill?
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11:57 - 11:59In the serial number, there is a letter.
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11:59 - 12:02What is the first number after the letter?
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12:02 - 12:04Audience member 4: Seven.
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12:04 - 12:06HG: Seven.
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12:06 - 12:07Seven.
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12:09 - 12:12But, that's maybe just one coincidence.
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12:12 - 12:14What is the second number?
Audience member 4: Nine. -
12:14 - 12:18So after the seven, we have a nine.
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12:19 - 12:21And after the nine?
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12:21 - 12:22Audience member 4: Two.
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12:22 - 12:24HG: The two. And after the two?
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12:24 - 12:25Audience member 4: Three.
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12:25 - 12:27HG: Three, and after?
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12:27 - 12:28Audience member 4: Three.
HG: Three. -
12:28 - 12:31Audience member 4: Seven.
HG: Seven. -
12:31 - 12:32Audience member 4: Four.
HG: Four. -
12:32 - 12:35Audience member 4: Two.
HG: Two, and? -
12:35 - 12:37Audience member 4: Q.
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12:37 - 12:41HG: Q like in queen?
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12:41 - 12:42(Applause)
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12:42 - 12:44The queen of clubs!
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12:44 - 12:47All the cards in order, just for you.
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12:47 - 12:49And that's my show.
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12:49 - 12:52Thank you very much and have a nice night.
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12:52 - 12:58(Applause)
- Title:
- A magical search for a coincidence
- Speaker:
- Helder Guimarães
- Description:
-
Small coincidences. They happen all the time and yet, they pass us by because we are not looking for them. In a delightfully subtle trick, magician Helder Guimarães demonstrates with a deck of cards, a dollar bill and a stuffed giraffe.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:11
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A magical search for a coincidence |