Other works inspired by The Big Con include the movie The Sting and the TV show (and later movie) Mission Impossible.
The Big Book of Hoaxes has an informative chapter on scams. Snake Oil by Jim Rose is more comprehensive – though I couldn’t say whether it’s reliable.
Let’s not forget the internet. Quatloos! is an ever expanding website dedicated to scams and frauds. Scams 101 provides a useful list of traps. Those wishing to fight such activities can join the scambaiters at 419eater.com or perhaps here if you prefer harder-edged stuff.
“Dice” is plural; the correct term for a single spotted cube used in gaming is “die”. As in “the die is cast”, referring to Caesar making his gamble by crossing the Rubicon.
Thanks. That’s what suspected, though I always associate the Swedish “tärning” (sing.) with the English “dice”. Checked it on an online dictionary, and it says:
That’s when I posted. After I read your reply, LurkMeister, I also checked my old Swedish-English dictionary on the shelf, and it says
Well, sadly, I have the album, with the lyrics, and they definitely were saying “a dice.” It’s not surprising, because they had other instances of imperfect English grammar in order to make the lyrics work better from a scansion or rhyming standpoint. And I cut them some slack, because any band that manages a #1 hit out of a song about the Mexican Revolution of the early 1900s is entitled to some slack.
Mad magazine ages ago had an article on cheating at gambling. It included a picture (drawing, really) of “loaded dice” including a magnified view of a corner and went on about how the precise beveling would enable a “skilled person to throw a seven nearly every time.” The three faces visible on the one die were all five spots, and on the other, two.
The language moves and changes, and most people use “dice” now as the singular as well as the plural. Those who insist on old-fashioned and out-moded uses probably still think that “data” is plural and that “whom” is useful.
(Aside: I used to be more of a grammarian until I heard a series on the development of English – from the Teaching Company – where the guy basically said most of those rules are silly and outmoded and should never have been applied to English in the first place. Everyone says, “It’s me” – including the other romance languages. “C’est je” ? Not a chance. )
And, thanks to ianzine for a wonderful guest staff report!
I cannot think of a use of “data” where it could not be understood to be plural. To get a singular, we usually use expressions like “bit of data,” as in, “There is not a bit of data on the SDMB linking Dex with his real name.”
Speaking of dice, a TV show recently had an episode where a guy took a fair pair of dice and was able to throw whatever he wanted. Claimed it was all in the wrist. Is this possible, that a person could become adept enough at dice to throw them in a way to always get the numbers they want? :dubious:
You can read the Wikipedia article on dice control:
I’m sure I read an article in Games magazine about an annual tournament devoted to dice control (trying to get the highest average over N rolls), but my Google fu is coming up empty.
Hi Irishman and Hogarth. I can’t prove any of this or provide cites, but here’s the best information I give you, based on my own personal experience and that of many people I know who have far greater expertise, and who get paid to advise casinos and so on.
Is it possible to throw dice in a manner that looks fair but in fact you are secretly trying to control the outcome? Yes, but it’s hard, not many have ever learned to do it, and the results are variable.
A few magicians, especially those who like to specialise in gambling-themed routines, have developed techniques for doing this. It was said that Ed Marlo (a legendary magician and gambling cheat expert) could achieve pretty impressive results. However, note that in this case we are only talking about moves and techniques that would work in a show or a demonstration where the performer or magician can control the conditions, and where strict casino rules do not apply.
What’s more, even the best aren’t able to achieve very consistent results. Its the old dilemma: the more fair the ‘throw’ looks, the less certain the results; the more certain the results, the less fair it looks.
Is it possible to throw dice in a professional casino in such as way that you can secretly rig the outcome? No. I have never heard of anyone even claiming to have achieved this. Casinos have rules about what constitutes a ‘fair’ throw of the dice (e.g. when playing craps the dice have to bounce against the back wall) and they are very, very smart at making sure a fair throw of the dice yields a random result.
Of course, there are always going to be some people who boast that they can do it, or have done it. But I’ve never come across any reliable proof. In this field as in any other, there are always claims and boasts, but most can be written off as purely anecdotal.
Variable results trying to demonstrate a skill which improves your odds in a game of chance aren’t surprising; and don’t prove whether there’s a skill involved.
Pop quiz: Would you say “The data indicates…”, or “The data indicate…”?
Did the TV show show the guy’s face while he was allegedly doing this? I saw a video once where all you see is the guy’s hands, and he’s saying “And now I’m going to throw a five”, and so on, but without seeing his face while he’s saying that, he could have just made all of the throws randomly, and then added the voiceover afterwords once he knew what he’d get.
Well, if he’s going to cheat, he might as well record the face as well, but just do it over and over until he gets the right result. Though I guess if he wants to do a bunch of rolls in a row with no cuts, that’ll become prohibitively time consuming.
I once read a story where a crooked casino had dice with metallic paint in the spots on some sides, and then an electro-magnet under the table, so that when it was turned on, it would increase the odds that the magnetic-painted spots would be on the bottom of the table.
Is this actually feasible? And, if so, would it change the odds enough to make a significant difference to the casion?
It depends what you mean by ‘variable’. If ‘variable’ is deemed to mean ‘random’, then yes, your statement is of course true. However, if ‘variable’ means ‘with results that are at least sufficiently consistent to tip the odds in the cheater’s favour’ then we are referring to a demonstrable skill.
No, it isn’t even remotely feasible. It would difficult, bordering on impossible, to create dice and a table that would work in this way. Also, it’s hard to operate an electro-magnet indetectably (they tend to make a humming noise and give rise to vibrations). Even if you somehow get the whole thing to work, the dice would behave in a way that looks anything but fair. The motion of two cubes coming to rest naturally as a result of a fair throw, and coming to rest under the influence of a magnetic field, are conspicuously different. Nice story, not going to work in reality.
