Another one of those email tricks

[Boris]

so here's one of those gimmick emails. I must admit it made me scratch my head.
__________________________________________________ ___________


I'm really curious to know if this is true or no because according to
this I
am among the 2%!

At the end of this, you are asked a question.

> > > >

> > > >Answer it immediately. Don't stop and
think
about it.

> > > >

> > > >Just say the first thing that pops into
your
mind.

> > > >

> > > >Fun Test...This is kind of spooky!

> > > >

> > > >If you do not believe this, pass it
around and
you'll see.

> > > >

> > > >Be sure to put in the subject line if
you are
among the 98% or the 2% and send to everyone, including the person that
sent it to you.

> > > >

> > > >Amazing test...just follow the
instructions as
quickly as possible.

> > > >

> > > >Do not go to the next calculation before
you
have

> > > >finished the previous one.

> > > >

> > > >You do not need to write or remember the
answers, just do it using your mind.

> > > >

> > > >You'll be surprised.

> > > >

> > > >Start:

> > > >How much is . . :

> > > >

> > > >15 + 6

> > > >

> > > >3 + 56

> > > >

> > > >89 + 2

> > > >

> > > >12 + 53

> > > >

> > > >75 + 26

>

> > > >

> > > >25 + 52

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >63 + 32

> > > >

> > > >I know! Calculations are hard work, but
it's
nearly over..

> > > >

> > > >Come on, one more.

> > > >

> > > >123 + 5

> > > >

> > > >QUICK! THINK ABOUT A TOOL AND A COLOR!

> > > >Scroll further to the bottom.

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >You just thought about a red hammer,
didn't
you?

> > > >

> > > >If this is not your answer, you are
among 2%
of people who have a different, if not 'abnormal,' mind. 98% of the
folks
would answer a red hammer while doing this
exercise.

[Boris]

Yellow Hammer is what popped in to my mind. I guess I'm half normal.

[emp1346]

i thought blue saw... /images/graemlins/wink.gif

does anyone know why people think red hammer?

also, this might be better for the psychology forum, but who knows..

[Boris]

I PMd Alan Schoonmaker about your response. He is almost certain you are total freak. Blue saw? I mean c'mon. what kind of wierdo thinks of a blue saw?

[Dominic]

spooky...i thought red hammer..

blue saw?? someone call the authorities on that loonie tunes!

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ThaSaltCracka]

I have dones this before and I got blue saw as well. I sent it to a few people at my work, out of 5 people, 2 said red hammer.

[M2d]

I said blue saw, but I'm a dodger fan watching them cut off their post season chances in front of my eyes, so I guess that's to be expected

[Ray Zee]

no one uses hammers anymore. use an air nailer. i thought about my yellow dewalt 18 volt drill.

[Philuva]

I thought black hammer. Who the hell knows.

[Jimbo]

I thought of a yellow Cyrus. Well you did say tool didn't you? LOL

Jimbo

[Utah]

That was cool.

I chose red hammer. WTF LOL

[nicky g]

Yellow hammer as well.

[Duke]

Blue screwdriver.

I went with my gut on the color, and then couldn't think of a tool. Red screwdriver on my desk, so I figured screwdriver.

~D

[Duke]

Oh yeah, I use the blue theme for 2+2 as well.

~D

[MMMMMM]

If you ask people to pick a color real quick, red is the most common choice.

If you ask people to think of a number from 1 to 4, 3 is the most common choice.

Hammer is a very common tool.

I don't know why red and 3 (and apparently, hammer) are the most common choices, but they definitely seem to be so.

This red hammer is just a variant on the pick a number, pick a color trick.

The elaborate arithmetic is just to get the subject's mind busy and taxed, and therefore ready to relax and respond instantly and intuitively to a simple question. You don't want the subject "deciding" on a choice, you want them just grabbing hold of the first choice they think of.

This is actually a bit similar to "forcing a card" in which the magician fans out a deck and the subject picks out a card. The magician is moving the cards as the subject reaches in to pick. He has one card located and he times things so that that card reaches the subject's fingers just as the subject's fingers reach the deck. Of course it won't do to have the subject hovering over the fan, painstakingly deciding on where to pick. The subject should reach in and just pick without much consideration. To this end the magician will do best to create a somewhat distracting "build-up" before proferring the fanned cards. Due to the "build-up", the subject does not think the trick revolves around his pick, so he chooses quickly and easily. The subject's guard is down because of the build-up (similar to the arithmetic in the red hammer example). Of course the magician should be practiced, casual and smooth at this. If he then "finds" or "divines" the card (which he already knows) by some elaborate method, so much the better.

It is a matter of getting the subject to just pick naturally and impulsively in both examples (red hammer or pick-a-card, which is where the similarity lies).

To do the pick-a-card, first let subject shuffle the pack a few times as you tell him a tale of how a Tibetan master once began teaching you the art of detecting psychic heat residues on objects. Next you glimpse the bottom card as you take the pack and shuffle a few times as you continue your patter, telling him the trick will take a while but just to please bear with you. Riffle shuffle a few times leaving the glimpsed card on the bottom. Then cut and keep a small discreet break where the bottom card is now in the middle of the pack. Tell him to go ahead and pick a card, and start slowly fanning out the cards from hand to hand (or more actually, running through the cards in a fan-like manner from hand to hand). As the subject reaches in to pick, time it so the card at the break reaches his fingers just as his fingers reach the deck. If you do it well he will most often select that exact card. Then have him shuffle the card into the pack and then you "find" it by detecting the psychic heat patterns let on the card. Practice a bit first without anyone until you "get" how to cut and leave that little break and fan slowly. To "find" the card there are many methods. Squint your eyes and slowly pass over each card as you receive the impressions of the aura until, with great effort, you narrow it down to four choices. Then say you are getting a bit stumped because you are not very good at this yet and you wish the master was here. But not to worry, you have an idea. You will let him telepathically help you determine which of the four cards it is. Place the cards face down in a square (you knowing which card it really is, but him not seeing the faces so he doesn't know. Let's assume it is the card in the lower left quadrant). Next say "Top half or bottom half? Please pick." If he points to bottom half, leave it there and remove the top two cards. If however he points to top half take the top away anyway. Next ask him to point to one of the two remaining cards. If he points to the correct card, take the other away and ask him to turn the last card up and watch his face. If he points to the wrong card, take it away and ask him to turn up the remaining card.

There are variations of the trick, if for instance the subject just barely missed the "forced" card while picking initially, and how you can still find it, but those are beyond the scope of this post, and a thunderstorm is approaching.

There are many variants on this trick.

[tolbiny]

I love the yellow and black schemes on my dewalts. Good tools aswell.

On a side note i thought of a pink toothbrush. Not kidding, from a guy who spent last week working with wrenches/saws/hammers/nails and various other implements of destruction, and i come up with a toothbrush? maybe i shouldn't be in construction.

[baggins]

i thought blue hammer.

[Duke]

4 year old niece: Pink Hammer
53 year old mother: Blue Hammer
55 Year old father: Grey Press-Break

At least my niece was in the same ballpark. I think it depends on how you look at tools. People who never use tools probably think hammer, and people who use them often probably have that come to mind first.

When I said screwdriver, it was because I had one on my desk, and I use that a lot. I haven't used a hammer in years.

My dad worked as a tinsmith for 32 years, so his assortment of tools, though including hammers, was quite large. I figure a random choice from a large set of candidate tools is going to see more variance. Ray Zee's response tells me that he probably actually uses tools quite a bit.

Also note that everyone in my family absolutely hates the color red. If you asked my mom what color an apple was she'd ask what kind.

~D

[Al Schoonmaker]

I don't remember saying that anyone is a "total freak," nor do I recall any PM about a "blue saw."
Al

[jdl22]

Red ........ wrench. So close and yet so far away.

[Boris]

Sorry Alan - I thought it was obvious from my tone that I was puulling the guy's leg.

I have never consulted with Alan Schoonmaker about the responses to this test. And I probably never will.

[RollaJ]

I thought Blue Boris, u F_ing Tool /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[beerbandit]

i also thought yellow hammer

i guess maybe because that is the color of the hammer that i own.

interesting though

cheers
beer