Finding Hocus Pocus

I make these statements with only a touch of wryness; I do sincerely try to keep an open mind. To any readers who have not yet encountered Gardner’s mathematical writings, I strongly urge you to try them! Familiar names as Ian Stewart, one of Gardner’s successors as a writer for the same Scientific American column continued to carry the torch for a tradition which Gardner may be said to have ignited. Some may be surprised at the emphasis laid on the philosophical and religious beliefs of the book’s characters and the context may mean that the odd cultural reference needs clarification for anyone not so familiar with American twentieth century history. After googling different variations of the “hocus pocus” phrase, I found it spelled “hocus pocus triocus” in a translation of this passage from Marcuse’s book in “The Berlin Haskalah,” which is part IX of Israel Zinberg’s “History of Jewish Literature.” But no explanation is provided. However, both of these aspects are vital to Gardner’s life as he tells it; his delight in mathematics is but part of his delight in the world.

The reader of Undiluted Hocus-Pocus who, like me, was unaware of Gardner’s non-mathematical writing, will find in Perci Diaconis’ preface a very helpful account of Gardner’s novels, short stories and articles on philosophy and literature. Gotta say, I’ve never heard anyone say that they didn’t like this movie. Public funding of “unproven or disproved treatments” such as homoeopathy and reflexology, which are promoted by the Prince, is unacceptable while huge NHS deficits are forcing trusts to sack nurses and limit access to life-saving drugs, the doctors say. “We dedicate our time and talent to improve the well-being of the state and our neighbors, yet we are deprived of medically necessary and often life-saving health care services. “My first Grand Slam I actually left at my dad’s house at the time and I said, ‘You keep it because I’m going to get another one.’ That was the US Open. “Communities of color in particular will enter the next cycle of map drawing with fewer protections than at any time since the 1960s,” the Brennan Center wrote in a February report.

When I received my review copy of Undiluted Hocus-Pocus, Martin Gardner’s new autobiography, the first thing I did was to take down my old, well-worn copy of his Mathematical puzzles and diversions and out fell a hexagonal paper model, a hexahexaflexagon, the subject of the book’s first chapter, and indeed of the first Mathematical Games column which Gardner wrote for Scientific American. Biff Hummerguy filling his backseat with leaking gas containers because he heard that the cryptocoin blockchain was going to NFT the oil pipes may be a hell of a story, but it’s not the thing that is going to drive midterm elections. Some alternative therapies may form a solid support mechanism for suffering patients, but I do think they should be an optional extra; a luxury in a way; not something that the taxpayers pay for. If any of the alternative therapies would be scientifically proven to be consistently effective in treating serious conditions, I’d be saying different things. There are certainly issues where more cooperation between the three branches would benefit everyone, as well as more cohesiveness between state and federal laws. The legislative branch can pass laws and reasonably expect that law enforcement will crack down on those who refuse to obey (in most cases, anyway).

Of the three branches of the federal government, the judicial branch has the least actual “muscle” in the physical world. It suggests we have benefited from a tradition of mutual respect, restraint and co-operation between the three arms of Government. Seriously now, who could forget a super, duper blonde SJP in Disney’s Hocus Pocus, a movie that takes place around three kids, three witches, a crazy flying magic book, and a black cat that creates serious competition for Sabrina’s Salem. To push ahead now, despite the many reservations which have been expressed, would, it seems to me, be inconsistent with the desirability of achieving constitutional change by consensus. It’s nice to have an “open mind”. Serena then responds: “Wimbledon is before the US Open! I know, but I say it because then there’s at least a chance! My father, originally from Poland and a native Yiddish speaker, would say “Hocus Pocus Imarocus”. Just as I was cashing out, I heard some one who as soon as they got into the store exclaimed, “Hocus Pocus!?” Heehee.. One of the central strands of the book is Gardner’s journey of faith, from a Christian upbringing, through a variously fervent and disenchanted adolescence, to his position of “philosophical theism”, a belief in a god, but not one directly involved in the world, or conforming to the deity of any organised religion.

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