# Sale on Magic Wands! (AP story) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896 "2003-01-31T16:58:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/41 "2019-07-31T20:49:49Z")
Damn, I got all excited and thought **Eve** was back. ☹ Thanks for nothing. Nobody is going to click on your link unless it’s known to be safe. You’ve been signed up since 2017 and have hardly posted. What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/42 "2019-07-31T20:58:01Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > It’s one of those things you only know about if you’ve been here a while. Generally, nobody here likes when threads more than a year old get bumped. Better to start a new thread. True, can’t be having too much fun. Besides there are only so many pixels to go around! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/43 "2019-07-31T20:58:58Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > My wand cost less than $100, and given it was made from a fallen star, I believe I got a good deal. I hate to break it to you, but everything on this planet was “made from a fallen star” in that sense. > [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > The Placebo Effect is real. Believing a sugar pill can cure you works, for some. Why is believing in magic wands any different? So you know it doesn’t do anything, but choose to believe that it does, in order to invoke the placebo effect? Sounds like Mark Twain’s definition of faith. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/44 "2019-07-31T21:04:36Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > My wand cost less than $100, **and given it was made from a fallen star** , I believe I got a good deal. (bolding mine) Is _that_ what they told you? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/45 "2019-07-31T21:21:51Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > Ahhh… > > Wait, so a question and a link isn’t “adding” anything?? In answer to your question, no, none of us believe in magic wands. I mean, we do believe there are wands, as in sticks. You provided a picture of one and there’s at least a 27% chance that that image wasn’t entirely fabricated ex nihilo in photoshop. We don’t believe in magic wands though. I mean okay, we believe in the objects labeled “magic wands”. They’re objects, they exist, but they don’t actually do anything. Okay, actually they do do something. They do lots of things. Take up physical space, displace air, apply downward pressure on things they’re placed on within a gravity field, look stupid. They do lots of things. But they don’t do _magic_. Because if magic was real it would be a defined thing with rules and we’d call it science instead. (Like gravity, which works because of magic.) So to summarize, we don’t believe in magic wands, except we do believe in them, but we don’t believe they do anything, except they do do things. But they don’t do magic, because magic would be science, which is magic. I hope that’s clear. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/46 "2019-07-31T21:29:26Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > In answer to your question, no, none of us believe in magic wands. > > I mean, we do believe there are wands, as in sticks. You provided a picture of one and there’s at least a 27% chance that that image wasn’t entirely fabricated ex nihilo in photoshop. > > We don’t believe in magic wands though. I mean okay, we believe in the objects labeled “magic wands”. They’re objects, they exist, but they don’t actually do anything. > > Okay, actually they do do something. They do lots of things. Take up physical space, displace air, apply downward pressure on things they’re placed on within a gravity field, look stupid. They do lots of things. But they don’t do _magic_. Because if magic was real it would be a defined thing with rules and we’d call it science instead. (Like gravity, which works because of magic.) > > So to summarize, we don’t believe in magic wands, except we do believe in them, but we don’t believe they do anything, except they do do things. But they don’t do magic, because magic would be science, which is magic. > > I hope that’s clear. Yes, it was all very clear. From the other side, you want real magic, look into Magnetism, Nichola Tesla, and the Earth’s ley lines. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/47 "2019-07-31T21:32:38Z")
The Earth’s ley lines? _Really?_ ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/48 "2019-07-31T21:38:39Z")
I learned from a recent documentary that if you operate a specific device at various points along intersecting ley lines, it will open a giant hole in reality and ghosts will pour out. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/49 "2019-07-31T21:39:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The Earth’s ley lines? > > _Really?_ Ahhh…“Yeah.” So, here’s the thing. I am a guru, shaman, monk…whatever word you wanna use. With perfect honesty, I can tell you, there are mysteries you know not of, and power sources most never tap into. The Holy Grail isn’t a cup…it’s a place (one of many) and a state of being. But I digress. “Magic is real.” ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/50 "2019-07-31T21:40:52Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I learned from a recent documentary that if you operate a specific device at various points along intersecting ley lines, it will open a giant hole in reality and ghosts will pour out. That was “Stargate”…hardly a documentary, but I get where you’re going. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/51 "2019-07-31T21:41:08Z")
Woo is real. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/52 "2019-07-31T21:44:08Z")
Okay, I apologize to the rest of the board, but I feel this irresistible morbid curiosity. When you say “Magic is real”, do you mean it actually _does_ things, like, real objective things that are significant enough to merit something more than scornful laughter? Or is it more of a ‘feelings’ thing? Because seriously, if you can cast giant fireballs with your magic wand, I want to see that. Preferably on the evening news. So, maybe go out and start casting Fireball at national monuments maybe? (Side note: if you come back and say “I meant magnetism and gravity are real!”, then there is a slap in your future.) ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/53 "2019-07-31T21:46:01Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > That was “Stargate”…hardly a documentary, but I get where you’re going. Pfft, Stargate was just a movie, everybody knows that. Ghostbusters (2016), on the other hand, happened _exactly_ as portrayed. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/54 "2019-07-31T21:49:15Z")
Tesla and magnetism - explain those while you explain the ley lines. Please. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/55 "2019-07-31T21:52:17Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Okay, I apologize to the rest of the board, but I feel this irresistible morbid curiosity. > > When you say “Magic is real”, do you mean it actually _does_ things, like, real objective things that are significant enough to merit something more than scornful laughter? Or is it more of a ‘feelings’ thing? > > Because seriously, if you can cast giant fireballs with your magic wand, I want to see that. Preferably on the evening news. So, maybe go out and start casting Fireball at national monuments maybe? > (Side note: if you come back and say “I meant magnetism and gravity are real!”, then there is a slap in your future.) Fireballs? I seriously doubt it. Redirecting chakra energy, sure. When someone takes a sugar pill, and cure themselves, that’s magic. The Placebo Effect is real, measurable, and USED by the FDA to say whether or not a drug makes it to market. Our society programs people into thinking pills cure them, even with no active ingredients, so it works, _sometimes._ People once believe that we could heal each other, purify the soul with meditation, clear the mind, and heal the body. Tesla could transmit electricity without power lines, and launch bolts of lightening to his fingertips… Not impressed yet? Look up “Port Arthur, Ley Lines” on YouTube, then let’s chat again. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/56 "2019-07-31T21:52:42Z")
I believe in Bob Ley, and he used to be on a show called ‘Outside the Lines’… Wake up sheeple! ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/57 "2019-07-31T21:53:46Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Pfft, Stargate was just a movie, everybody knows that. > > Ghostbusters (2016), on the other hand, happened _exactly_ as portrayed. Goddamn, Bill Murray…he knows too much. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/58 "2019-07-31T21:55:16Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Tesla and magnetism - explain those while you explain the ley lines. Please. Nah. Look up “Tesla, 369” on YouTube, and we’ll chat more. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/59 "2019-07-31T21:56:25Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > Fireballs? I seriously doubt it. > > Redirecting chakra energy, sure. > > When someone takes a sugar pill, and cure themselves, that’s magic. The Placebo Effect is real, measurable, and USED by the FDA to say whether or not a drug makes it to market. Our society programs people into thinking pills cure them, even with no active ingredients, so it works, _sometimes._ > > People once believe that we could heal each other, purify the soul with meditation, clear the mind, and heal the body. > > Tesla could transmit electricity without power lines, and launch bolts of lightening to his fingertips… Not impressed yet? > > Look up “Port Arthur, Ley Lines” on YouTube, then let’s chat again. No, let us chat now. What has magic to do with magnetism or Tesla, and what evidence do you have for the existence pf “ley lines”? ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/60 "2019-07-31T21:57:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Woo is real. “Woo” is an ad homonym attack on things you don’t grasp. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896.md?page=4)