
A Story About ‘Magic' (1994) - ColinWright
http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html
======
devindotcom
I love things like this.

In my old Dreamcast, I found after I'd packed it up and moved it a few too
many times that it wouldn't start, but would show signs of life when the lid
would open and close. I found that there was a position you could put the lid
in at which it would boot, and that position could be reliably reached if a
SweeTart was placed in the tray near the edge of the disc. I licked the flat
side of the SweeTart a few times and it stayed where it was, and it's there to
this day. Of course, the lock doesn't engage so I have to keep something heavy
on top of it.

And on my PS2, I'd fiddled around with it too much trying to mod it, and
messed up something in there, but not bad enough that it wouldn't boot and
play a game. But about 3/4 of the way through Resident Evil 4, I found it
would skip and eventually reset if you didn't tilt it up by 20 degrees or so.
As I progressed in the game, the angle at which it had to be set increased,
until eventually not only did it have to be tilted in a second direction as
well. Believe it or not, it finally reached the point where no tilt could save
it in the middle of the final boss, with my friend moving it this way and that
like we were trying to get reception with bunny ears on an old TV. I never
beat the game.

~~~
jimminy
The original Playstation had a similar switch on the lid mechanism. I think it
was a safety feature to prevent the discs from spinning up, without the
enclosure.

When I was about 8-9, I found the mechanism, and ended up dismantling the
system. I then wedged a little Wolverine action-figure's foot into the space
to keep his foot down on the switch and ran the system without the cover,
because it looked pretty badass to have the discs spin out in the open.

[In retrospect: All of this was probably a horribly unsafe thing to do,
considering what would happen if the disc cracked or broke while spinning.]

~~~
vilhelm_s
I think it's also to protect your eyes from the CD-reading laser if you were
to power it up with no disk in it.

~~~
jimminy
Good point, I actually spent some time staring at that when I was younger.
Also found out I needed glasses when I was 10, and my prescription hasn't
changed since.

------
pothibo
This is awesome in so many ways because it captured the imagination of the
people using it. They just saw that switch and actually tried to figure out
why _it wasn 't magic_.

Obviously it wasn't, but the way this is written really shows how dumbfound
they were because they couldn't explain it.

~~~
sparaker
I would love to have some of those in my office, just to have a psychological
change with a flip of a button.

~~~
rcthompson
You can make your own: [http://store-xkcd-com.myshopify.com/products/switch-
and-butt...](http://store-xkcd-com.myshopify.com/products/switch-and-button-
stickers)

------
reitanqild
I liked the story because I absolutely love arguing with people who will tell
me to trust the map over the terrain. :-|

~~~
sthreet
What does "trust the map over the terrain" mean?

~~~
beachstartup
when the map tells you one thing, and your eyes tell you another thing, go
with what your eyes tell you, because the map is full of shit.

you would be surprised how often people trust "the map" more than reality.
"the map" can be anything, i.e. an instruction manual, an authority figure,
folklore, a rumor, whatever.

~~~
Intermernet
Except if you're a pilot flying in low visibility. Then you trust the map, not
the terrain (mainly as the terrain is invisible). VFR vs. IFR and all that.

~~~
loopbit
SO your point is that you trust the map only when there's no other option.

------
myth_buster
Was hit by the nostalgia of reading Hackers [0]. What a great prank but quite
an extreme dike.

[0] [http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-
Anniversar...](http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Anniversary-
Edition/dp/1449388396)

------
mmastrac
My favorite was "always mount a scratch monkey":

[http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/S/scratch-
monkey.html](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/S/scratch-monkey.html)

------
nanofortnight
One of my favourite stories growing up.

------
Orangeair
Xkcd sells a set of stickers which includes a magic/more magic pair:

[http://store.xkcd.com/products/switch-and-button-
stickers](http://store.xkcd.com/products/switch-and-button-stickers)

------
billyhoffman
I was really really hoping this would be the background of the magic number
file "magic", and the `file` command... oh well.

Completely different, but still a fun story.

------
caramelsuit
Ahhh yes, the compulsive need of the reasoning mind to neatly categories all
events, circumstances and situations. I just love exploiting that.

------
slumos
I've been periodically thinking about a tattoo based on this story for actual
decades. Anyone know of any art based on it?

------
rnprince
I love this story. It's mythology from the dawn of Computer Science - like a
chapter from Genesis.

------
jimklee
great story, although the whole time I was thinking of the appended 1994
explanation. wouldn't that be reasonable? too bad no one thought to measure
the magic...

------
pimlottc
Should be tagged (1994), although it appears the earliest version of this
story goes back to Dec 1990!

[http://jargon-file.org/archive/jargon-2.2.1.dos.txt](http://jargon-
file.org/archive/jargon-2.2.1.dos.txt)

~~~
syntheticnature
Pretty sure it's older than that I recalled seeing it in this book, which
Amazon gives a date of 1983 on (fits well enough with when I recall coming
across the book in a public library): [http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-
Dictionary-Guide-Computer-Wiza...](http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Dictionary-
Guide-Computer-Wizards/dp/0060910828/)

Also, it's in the 1.5.0 file: [http://jargon-
file.org/archive/jargon-1.5.0.dos.txt](http://jargon-
file.org/archive/jargon-1.5.0.dos.txt)

~~~
pimlottc
Interesting, it seems to have disappeared between 1.5.0 and 2.2.1!

~~~
syntheticnature
That _is_ interesting -- I didn't check the 2.x revisions, and it only seems
to be in 1.5.0 -- though I didn't try to go through all the intermediate
files, simply stopping at a failure to find it in the previous one.

------
peterwwillis
Uh... How was this not obvious from looking at it? Every geek who's put
together or taken apart a computer knows the metal frame is grounded, and most
geeks have enough basic understanding of electricity to understand you only
need one wire for a ground. The switch enables or disables grounding. Since
that is literally the only thing it can do, that is what it does.

~~~
parfe
Haha HN, how did this post get downvotes? The second I read about "a switch
needing two wires" I thought "Unless it's grounded." Interesting story, but
hardly "magic"

~~~
mcphage
Is it common for one of the switch terminals to be electrically connected to
the switch's container? That seems like a dangerous idea?

~~~
parfe
Common? Hell no! Obvious? Yes.

For a switch to work a circuit must be present. Either a neutral line or a
ground it is the only way to send information.

If a functioning switch has only a single wire feeding into it then it must be
reaching ground through other means.

~~~
freyr
> _If a functioning switch has only a single wire feeding into it then it must
> be reaching ground_

False dichotomy. You omitted a third option: _magic_.

