Ring Report
March 16, 2008

The theme for the March meeting was Oriental Magic. Theme Leader Dr. Wilson gave Wes Booth three Chinese coins and had him cast them six times for a reading from the I Ching. Dr. Wilson painted the hexagrams on a piece of rice paper, then read from the I Ching. He offered to dispell the great illusion that Wes Booth had brought with him to the meeting. Wes Booth accepted, and Dr. Wilson opened a locked set of nested boxes that had been in full view during the casting. Inside the final box was a tiny scroll containing the hexagram that Wes was to cast, dispelling the illusion of chance occurrences. Professor Miller continued on theme with a performance of the Chen Lee Water Suspension.

Alan Drew showed a deck of cards with Olympic Rings on the case. After a card was named, Alan showed that the named card was the only one in the deck with "Beijing" written on it. Wes Booth had three cards selected, then gathered magical energy with a huge magic wand before tearing a sheet of newspaper to reveal the three cards in succession. Danny Baker performed Steve Dusheck's Lethal Tender. He changed a half dollar into a Chinese coin while it was on the back of a volunteer's hand. Danny then performed his version of NFW, in which a packet of four Jokers go through some interesting acrobatics before changing into a packet of four Aces.

Brother Don Paul asked Gary Jewell to name any date, then gave him a daily calendar to look up the card corresponding to that date. There was an envelope inside the calendar that contained Gary's card! Brother Don then had Dr. Wilson deal a packet of twelve red cards while Professor Miller dealt a packet of twelve blue cards. He had Dr. Wilson think of a card from the cards that he had dealt. The thought-of card vanished from Dr. Wilson's packet and appeared as the only red card in Professor Miller's packet.

The Great Leon, attending his first Ring meeting as a guest, changed a coin from a quarter to a nickel to a dime before our very eyes. Matt Bennage said that he had a premonition that morning, and asked Gary Jewell to name a card. Gary named the Queen of Diamonds. Gary discovered that his card was the only card missing from a deck of 51 cards. Matt removed the Queen of Diamonds from his pocket. This was Matt's debut performance at a Ring meeting, and members were floored!

At the business meeting that followed, we held the annual Ring Name Raffle. The winning name was Bob Nixon Ring, in memory of our recently departed friend, who was a founding member of Ring 362 as well as the TVP for Maine.

Full details of the business meeting and photos are available on the Ring's web site (www.ibmring362.org).