Hacker News Reader

Comment by laurieg | Hacker News Reader

> So I decided to start by giving the correct answer, and see how he responded. I explained “The model-view-controller is a software pattern, and so resides inside the written code. Since in most cases, this code only runs on the application tier, …”. But then I saw him frowning, and so knew this was not the answer the was expecting. So I continued:

This is a great cold reading technique that works in magic tricks too.

You have some trick where someone needs to pick from 10 cards. And your patter goes something like "Picture the card in your mind. Ace of hearts. Ace of hearts" If they give a big reaction then you've found their card and performed a miracle. If not then you just continue "Of course, that's just an example..." and continue the patter throwing out other hints. Of course, it's tough to make this your only trick but it can really elevate a good trick to amazing.

Great example at 1.50 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI5-NDiY7IM

View on HN

I used to do a very stupid magic trick where I would have someone pick a card and then shuffle it back into the deck. I would shuffle a few more times while asking them to focus on their card. Then I would ask them to name their card. They did. I would put down the deck and say "not only have I found your Ten of Clubs..." and then I would look at the top card and finish with "...but I have changed it into the Ace of Spades".

Every once in a while, purely by luck, the correct card would be at the top. In which case I would just change the second line to "...but I have brought it to the top of the deck for you". My sister begged me to tell her how I did it for years.

Dai Vernon had something akin to that. I -assume- it was the serendipitous case you mention, but it is, after all, anecdote, so it might have been something more. But, pulling from Wikipedia - 'He also had an encounter with another up-and-coming young magician from his town, Cliff Green, who asked Vernon, "What kind of magic do you do?" Vernon responded by asking the boy to name a card. Upon pulling a pack of cards from his pocket, Vernon turned over the top card of the deck to reveal the named card and replied to Green "That's the kind of magic I do. What kind of magic do you do?" '

Bah, that's an easy one: To begin with, make sure what you're wearing has a total of at least fifty-two pockets...

All great until you come across someone with a permanent poker face. During my last interview, the interviewer was frowning the whole time.

If there’s two sides to something present both and note positives and negatives of each.

Read about the concept of multiple outs. It has many practical use cases in everyday life.

If you had paid more attention to that frown you might have passed the interview.

(It's Monday. Smile a little.)

Interviews aren't only just about skill. Sometimes you're just having a bad day, or the interviewer is. Either will prevent you from success.

As someone with a default poker face I am so sorry, I swear I smile, just on the inside mostly.

It's in the eyes. My resting bitch face is broken up with moments of smizing.

I once got two raises in an interview because I was so (pleasantly) surprised by the size of the first offer that I wasn't sure what to say. There was a bit more to this situation - I liked the job I was in and the employer really needed someone, but it was still a revelation.

Keeping your mouth shut, saying no, and not lying or BSing are three of the most useful skills you can develop. Many people feel pressure to respond quickly, especially in a performance situation like an interview, just as the writer of this article was highly tuned to what his interviewer wanted to hear. Controlling the tempo and direction of your own responses is a way to gain the strategic initiative without being disagreeable.

We are trained to answer quickly, people find silence uncomfortable (except with close friends).

Just pausing and not answering quickly when given an offer is a power move. I know it consciously but I still find it hard/impossible to do in real life.

> "Picture the card in your mind. Ace of hearts. Ace of hearts" If they give a big reaction then you've found their card and performed a miracle. If not then you just continue "Of course, that's just an example..." and continue the patter throwing out other hints

Wouldn't you have to do this on average five times to get the right one? Wouldn't it be a bit suspicious giving five example cards before arriving at the right one?

That’s not how it works. Usually you try to force a card with a high percentage success but if it fails you will fall back to another way of revealing the card

Yeah, it's all about card control. I used to work with someone who could shuffle and unshuffle a deck, and place any card into the deck and pull it back out (after one or more shuffles.) Takes years of practice.

The hard part is writing your patter so that it doesn't sound like you're listing cards. Without giving away too many magical secrets, I invite you to consider the fact that there are many ways to reference cards more subtly. Color, suit, number, high and low. There are also a few different possible reactions.

So basically running a Decision Tree algorithm.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com