And now… for no particular reason here is a 1956 picture of The Amazing James Randi as sent to us by John Houdi by way of the Italian blog MassimoPolidoro.com.

Skeptic kingpin and magician James Randi has taken issue with the use of unscientific devises to detect bombs in Iraq and other war zones.

“It’s a dummy, complete fraud and fake,” said Randi, who has pursued similar questionable bomb detectors, like the Quadro, made in the United States.

Randi said devices like the ADE 651 or GT200 are classic dowsing rods, which use an antenna that swings back and forth, allegedly pointing to where the explosives — or whatever the substance being detected — are supposedly located. The antenna responds to very slight movements of the human hand, making people think it’s being directed by the device, when in fact it is responding to their own movements.

Interesting stuff.

What does David Blaine’s street magic marathon in Times Square to benefit the Haitian earthquake relief do for his legacy? What are the pros and cons of taking a long-term gig? Is storytelling the most important element of magic? In our lifetime, will Houdini ever be less important than he is now?

- Trick Shop Magic Get $10 off The Dracula Book Test 2.0 if you buy now!

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Magician, Escape Artist and King Skeptic James Randi describes his bout with intestinal cancer, his experience with chemotherapy and his recent completion of his treatment at the end of 2009. It is truly inspiring stuff.

We’ve mentioned here before, and will again now, that both the publisher and editor of iTricks have ties to the James Randi Educational Foundation and are proud to call themselves friends of the man himself. We can say with first hand experience that during his recovery, both were consistently shocked by how spry the man was during what is supposed to be such a taxing process.

He is a great man and thanks to the relentlessly self-improving miracle of modern medicine, he stands to continue that trend much longer.

How prestigious is performing at the White House? Who is the oddest celebrity you’ve ever seen perform magic? How hard is it to open a show in Las Vegas? Why do all the networks love the idea of magicians solving mysteries?

- Trick Shop Magic Get $10 off The Dracula Book Test 2.0 if you buy now!

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For those who might have missed it live…

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a reality including David Nott, Barry & Stuart, Michael Shermer, Phil Plait, Penn Jillette, Teller and David Copperfield. Very special thanks to Brandon of the JREF for making sure this happened and, of course, to James Randi for allowing us the space and making a very special cameo at the beginning.

Before Houdini’s death, he famously gave his wife a code word. This was to prevent mediums and psychics from coming to her door, breathlessly confirming that they had spoken with Harry after his passing. With the word, she could immediately double check their work by asking if he’d passed along the secret message.

As time passed, the word (”believe”) slipped out. And even Criss Angel would agree that the word has officially outlived its usefulness.

So for our Houdini Seance, THIS SATURDAY at 9 p.m. EST LIVE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF iTRICKS.COM, we needed new words. Thankfully, we have some friends to help us out…

Author, speaker and editor of Skeptic Magazine Michael Shermer will help us with a word.

President of the Reason foundation, David Nott has agreed to contribute.

Magicians, BS artists and soon-to-be TV detectives Penn & Teller will EACH give us a word suitable for Harry Houdini himself to divine from beyond the grave.

All of those listed above are sending their words to James Randi who will seal them in envelopes and challenge us to discover their contents with the help of Houdini’s spirit.

But that is not all, expect more announcements today and tomorrow!

Newsmaker Interview:

• Milt Larsen Magic Castle legend and organizer of the It’s Magic! show talks about the big performance at the Kodak Theater on November 8th.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

How should Derren Brown handle the “magic fail” label? Would you work at Todd Robbins’ Fun House? Is a network TV tame Barry and Stuart the Barry and Stuart we want to see? How do momentary lapses in memory help a magician make their living?

- Trick Shop Magic FOLLOW @TrickShopMagic on Twitter for a chance to win free stuff over the next few weeks!

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Commenting on the $1 Million Challenge, he stated that it would continue, and that suspending it was considered not ‘profitable’.

Also magic has been represented with Richard Wiseman performing an invisible deck routine, and a performance from Chris Cox

You can follow more of the updates via TAMLondon’s twitter account

Today, we offer a hearty happy birthday to a legend in magic and beyond, “The Amazing” James Randi.

Escape artist, magician and most notably a leading critical thinker and skeptic advocate. He also knows everyone on the planet, which we talked about a lot on the podcast series we produced for him.

However, this birthday is different. As Randi publicly announced at his The Amazing Meeting conference last month and posted on his website yesterday, he is currently undergoing medical treatment for “a most unwelcome guest.”

We implore the magic community to flood Randi with well wishes today, not only for another birthday milestone reached but also to let him know that his complete and speedy recovery is in your hopes and prayers. Actually, let’s just stick with hopes.

Blogger John Huntington had a great time at the big SAM 100th annual Salute To Magic this weekend. So much so, he wrote about it so those who were not there could enjoy it as well.

• John Sturk recommends Is Anybody There? with Michael Caine. [Fun Inc.]

• Bizzaro wishes you’d stop blowing on cards after a spectator signs them. Please? For him? [Why am I stuck in magician hell?]

• Dodd Vickers talks to our the namesake of The Amazing Show, James Randi [Magic Newswire]

Got a great post you want the iTricks audience to read? Send them along to iTricksNews@iTricks.com for the next Chatter.

Yesterday, YouTube suspended the account of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Communication with the home office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida revealed that they are hard at work on the problem and should have it resolved sometime soon.

Although the JREF has had recent issues (YouTube-centric and otherwise) in the past with old foe Uri Geller, there is to this point no evidence that he’s had any involvement in the suspension.

Hopefully, much more on this before the day is out. Keep an eye on Randi.org for an official announcement.

For those new to the iTricks party, we’d like to take this time to declare in the interest of full disclosure that iTricks Publisher Andrew Mayne is a former employee of the JREF and Editor Justin Robert Young was a former intern of the foundation. Also, we did a podcast with Randi.

We got sent these old rare photos of Penn and Teller, from, well lets just call him ‘The Anonymous Tipster’, and if the photos of of Penn and Teller weren’t enough, he also included a photo of James Randi drilling Alice Coopers teeth on stage!

The question is; Who is the mysterious third man in the ‘Asparagus’ act??

Anonymous Tipster.. You ROCK!!

See them all after the Jump!

Joe Monti and Cashetta weigh in on how David Blaine would play in the UK with his rumored close-up show and what Derren Brown needs to do to play in America. Meanwhile, Ed Alonzo goes on tour with Britney Spears and Andi Gladwin calls in live from Blackpool to let us know what the big stories coming out of the convention are.

Trick Shop Magic
Andrew Mayne’s Close-Up pack

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Matthew Hampel talks about which magician should be the next to suffer the wrath of Gator Boots, why Infants are hard to make and if Supernatural’s “clever” episode title about Criss Angel is a little tacky.

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Eric DeCamps’ Pure Magic
NOW RUNNING IN MANHATTAN This week’s guest host: Bob Fitch.
Corporate Close-Up 2 Volumes 1 & 2 from RSVP Magic
Ki from Sean Scott

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Randi performing a mentalism effect for Brian Brushwood at the James Randi Educational Foundation today.

Look out for Brian hosted episode of The Amazing Show podcast coming soon.

Morgan is back and he has some opinions on the possible rift between Cirque and Criss Angel, if the New York Post is right to question David Blaine’s career and the determination that goes into headlining a show.

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Free Stuff for iTricks Listeners: Use code 10USA for 10% discount
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Ronjo Magic
Horizon Monster Highlight Reels
Free Stuff for iTricks Listeners: Mention iTricks to waive set-up fee for press releases

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