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just_some_guy
New Member
19 Posts |
 Posted - 07/22/2008 : 19:54:31
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Ok I'm sure alot of you all have seen the 'viral' video of the man breaking a stack of chopsticks with a US dollar. Is it real?
I have seen some cool things being broken; one example that comes to mind is a brick with a drinking glass, but when one is able to see how it is set up it makes sense.
This one leaves me just thinking that he is able to slip in a finger or something.
:edited cause I can't spell or put a link in right the first time around
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Edited by - just_some_guy on 07/22/2008 20:09:48
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2008 : 20:09:10 [Permalink]
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| The guy extends his finger on the way down. One of the commenters points out that the guy is a "noob" at the trick 'cause he fumbled it and dropped the bill. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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just_some_guy
New Member
19 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2008 : 20:22:53 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
The guy extends his finger on the way down. One of the commenters points out that the guy is a "noob" at the trick 'cause he fumbled it and dropped the bill.
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yeah that is what I thinking he did, I just did not know if there was a 'set-up' with the bill that allowed it to work. A fold or a kink or 'choking up' on the point of impact. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2008 : 20:34:27 [Permalink]
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As far as I can tell, the bill is simply a distraction and (if you've got normal-sized fingers) a handy measuring guide.
When you do the trick, don't mistake a plastic chopstick for wood, or you'll be in a world of hurt. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2008 : 21:37:22 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
As far as I can tell, the bill is simply a distraction and (if you've got normal-sized fingers) a handy measuring guide. |
Actually, it depends on the angle, as the bill will actually hide the finger on one side's view. Notice how in this video the camera was off center to the guy's right side? That's presumably because the guy on his left holding the chopsticks was in on the trick as well and was in a position to see his finger.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2008 : 22:05:34 [Permalink]
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| Given how fast one needs to move one's hand to break the chopsticks, I would be surprised if a person could see the finger, live, even if in on the trick. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2008 : 23:26:38 [Permalink]
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| The guy extends his finger on the way down. One of the commenters points out that the guy is a "noob" at the trick 'cause he fumbled it and dropped the bill. |
Trouble is, the guy is likely to break his finger on standard chopsticks; or more likely, simply knock (or pull) several of them out of the holder's hands and spoil the effect.
I think it's a combination of video photoshopping, prepared "chopsticks", and a set-up. The chopsticks are made of balsa wood and pre-sliced, at varying intervals, with a very sharp knife to just a sliver of wood holding the chopstick shape. Notice that they don't break sequentially, rather all almost simultaneously.
He may extend his index finger and actually break the "chopsticks" with the finger, or he may insert a metal or wood rod behind the dollar bill while the video is briefly stopped (there is a slight jerk in the video before his final chop).
The chopstick holders give a slight twist of their wrists at the same time the finger or rod is cutting through the row of "chopsticks". He drops the bill, to cover the drop of the rod at the end. The entire audience is, of course, "in" on the trick. It is practiced and choreographed before the final video. |
| Edited by - bngbuck on 07/22/2008 23:31:29 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2008 : 08:53:57 [Permalink]
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How did this one get by me? I love this sort of thing!
Ok, here's how it was done: Those are not chopsticks at all. The best chopsitcks are made from strips of bamboo and you can pound on those suckers 'til the cows come home and gain nothing more than a sore finger. That is because they are cut with the grain of the wood, as are even the cheap chops.
The sticks used were simple, wooden rods, probably but not necessarily of some softwood. They were sawn across the grain and weakened slightly with a razor blade to keep the broken lengths consistant, then painted or heavily stained to cover all that up. The assistants, who were, of course, in on the gag, broke the sticks with simple wrist pressure. The give-away is the guy on the lower right, who got carried away.
Neat trick!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Im Cool Trust Me
New Member
United Kingdom
14 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2008 : 03:53:12 [Permalink]
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| The bill is mainly made from cotton fibres, which means it is mostly organic, this means the man can extend his chi into the paper, causing it to become incredibly hard. During this brief time it is hard enough to break a wooden chopstick, depending on the skill level of the man and the power of his chi it can be made strong enough to break metals. This is something only asian people can do. |
Dig your claws into my organs! Stretch into my tendons! Bury your anchors into my bones!
"Force, my friends, is violence: the supreme authority from which all other authority is derived. Naked force has resolved more issues throughout history than any other means. The common thinking, that violence never solves anything, is wishful thinking at it's worst! People who forget that always pay." |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 07/29/2008 : 04:18:01 [Permalink]
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Welcome to SFN, Cool! We do indeed trust you.
Originally posted by Im Cool Trust Me
The bill is mainly made from cotton fibres, which means it is mostly organic, this means the man can extend his chi into the paper, causing it to become incredibly hard. During this brief time it is hard enough to break a wooden chopstick, depending on the skill level of the man and the power of his chi it can be made strong enough to break metals. This is something only asian people can do.
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Heh, indeed! 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2008 : 09:20:20 [Permalink]
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ICTM.....
| the man can extend his chi into the paper, causing it to become incredibly hard.....the power of his chi it can be made strong enough to break metals. |
Of course! It's just a chi trick!
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2008 : 11:21:21 [Permalink]
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This is something only asian people can do.
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There was an early 80's TV show called "That's Incredible". I once saw a blooper's reel in which a small Asian "martial arts" expert was going to break a metal bar with his hands (like the wood/brick breaking things people do).
The host goes to check his set up... with a hammer. One light tap on the bar and it broke cleanly.
Funny stuff!
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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real or not
