Shuffle a deck of cards one handed.
Put my feet behind my head.
I also, but I am left eyebrowed.
I can raise both eyebrows independently, juggle 3 objects (and pass juggle 6 in a few patterns if supplied with a suitable partner), move both little toes and the second smallest toe on my left foot all independently.
I can make origami flapping birds under 1cm long, or I can make slightly bigger ones one handed behind my back; I can do a different origami model simultaneously in each hand as well, but not very fast.
I am improving, but I wanna be smoooooooth. Not there yet.
Thanks for the info. I’ve been learning with 6 chips, will try your advice.
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I can’t make them quite that small, but I can make flapping birds from beer bottle labels. It’s quite tricky because the material isn’t crisp, often wet, and my fingers are fat.
I do that too, but never graduated to the other fingers like some people can (sometimes rotating it forward and back between all fingers successively.) I sometimes mix it up by rotating larger objects (which are actually easier as they move slower) or try to get the least amount of contact with my thumb, sometimes flipping the pen around my thumb and back into the same position without making any contact with the top of my thumb.
I can tell you the day of the week for any date, from 1900 through 2030 or so. It takes about five seconds, less if I can get the year, month, and day separately in the discussion.
I can pick things up with my toes and throw them.
I can still remember the social security number of my ex-husband whom I haven’t seen for 40 years. Not going to recite that at parties though.
Is there a technique or formula for this?
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Yes, it’s one I figured out myself. It involves some memorization, and some arithmetic.
Care to share the specifics?
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I can wiggle the little toe on my left foot independently of moving my other toes. That’s all I’ve got.
When I was in graduate school, I got to be very, very good at balancing old-fashioned salt shakers on their beveled edges, like this. I could do it within a few seconds using only a tiny amount of salt. My friends would try to do the same trick and always ended up spilling salt all over the table. Eventually I was also able to do the same thing with pepper shakers.
I can still do it, although not as quickly.
As can I. Hard to work it into conversation though.
My younger sister can flare her nostrils and move the dimple on her chin in and out - at the same time.
I’ve memorized a list of years that are “zero-years” as I call them. The ones since 1950 are: 1951, 1962, 1968, 1973, 1979, 1990, 1996, 2001, 2007, 2018, 2024, 2029. Notice the pattern of differences is 6, 5, 6, 11, 6, 5, 6, 11, …
Then there’s a number for each month: 6 2 2 5 0 3 5 1 4 6 2 4 for January through December respectively.
That’s all the memorizing, now it’s just quick calculations, where you add one for each year past a zero-year, add one for each leap year you covered (Feb 29 specifically), add the month number, add the day of the month, and do a modulo-7 (remainder after dividing by 7). Monday would be zero, up to Sunday which is six.
For example, I was married on August 6, 1983.
1979 was the most recent zero-year, so that’s four for the four years between them. But 1980 was a leap year, so that’s one more: we’re up to five. The number for August is 1, so we’re up to six. Add six more for the day of the month being six, so we’re up to 12. Modulo-7 makes that five. A five means Saturday, so I got married on a Saturday.
My first son was born on November 3, 1996.
1996 is a zero-year, so that’s zero, but it’s a leap year and November is after Feb 29, so that makes one. The number for November is 2, so we’re up to 3. Add three for the day, and we’re at six. Six means Sunday, so my son was born on Sunday.
With some practice, it’s pretty quick. You can also figure out some shortcuts, like for 2017, instead of counting ten since the last zero-year (2007), plus three more for the leap years in-between, you can simply figure a negative one because 2018 will be a zero-year. Figuring the number for the year is the hardest part, so if you can pull out the year ahead of time and be figuring the year number while talking is going on, it makes the perceived time faster.
I used to be able to type faster than a computer. Seriously. I would be typing on the computer and suddenly a line of nonsense would appear. I’d stop typing, and the computer would go back and correct it. People who saw the machine do that would be totally drop jawed.
Unfortunately, snapping off my left wrist put a end to that talent. However, people were amazed to see me typing with the cast on my arm.
Here’s how you get it into a conversation with kids: you challenge them to stick out their tongue and touch their nose. Watching them try is hilarious. Then, with great drama, you stick out your tongue, and you poke your nose with your finger. They’ll groan and/or giggle. That’s when you touch your nose to your tongue.
Similar trick: challenge kids to make a hole with their thumb and forefinger, and poke their head through the hole. After they try (kids are remarkably dumb sometimes, it’s great), you make the hole, put it next to your forehead, and with your other forefinger, you poke your head–through the hole.
One more fun trick, mostly for kids: challenge them to cut a single piece of copy paper so there’s a hole in it big enough to walk through. No tape, no glue, just one piece of paper.
Another simple trick I do involves either a sheet of paper towel, a Kleenex, or a paper napkin. I roll up my sleeves slowly, demonstrating that there is “nothing up my sleeves”. I then ask an audience member for a tissue/napkin/etc. I carefully show everyone that my hands are empty as I take the tissue.
Then I show the tissue from all possible angles, stressing that it’s just a common Kleenex that I have not prepared in any way. I repeatedly show each person the Kleenex, turning it to prove that both sides are normal and that I have nothing else in my hands.
As the tension builds, I bring the tissue toward my face, holding it pretty taught against my nose and chin. Then I stick my tongue through, pull it away while yelling, “tada!” (that’s magician talk).
Then I take a bow.
Another magic trick I do a la Slydini is disappearing a rolled up tissue, wad of paper, or any small soft object in front of person eyes. Several times, while others watch. I tell the subject I have them hypnotized and only they cannot see the obvious way in which it is done, which is true except for the hypnotized part. Everybody else laughs, the subject is baffled.
As usual:
I can bark like a dog and shake my eyeballs back and forth.