No Jokes This Time — I’m Sorry for Being a Bone-headInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Okay, I?m an idiot. Often we run the fake Errors and Omissions and make light of how stupid the editorial staff (Kathleen Lakeland, Missy Rochelle and me) are. But in the last week, I have made real errors and omissions and I apologize.

In my article on the ABC News article on Kirby VanBurch?s comments concerning the three stages of anger in tigers, some readers thought I gave the Branson illusionist too much credit.

Mr. VanBurch claimed that even though he was not present at the show and even though he hasn?t seen video of the horrible event, he knew what was going through the tiger?s mind and that somehow Roy Horn improperly handled the event.

This was an important lesson to me. In the still quiet place of my Internet studio here in the Mystic Hollow, Michigan home of Inside Magic, sometimes I figure no one reads what I write. Sometimes I figure people read it but think I am too sarcastic or dry in my humor.

Now I know that I was not sarcastic enough and certainly did not push the envelope of my saber-like (sometimes, butter knife-like) wit.

The point of my story was that ABC News was strangely writing an old story with little more than the baseless ravings of some magician in …

In my article on the ABC News article on Kirby VanBurch?s comments concerning the three stages of anger in tigers, some readers thought I gave the Branson illusionist too much credit.

Now I know that I was not sarcastic enough and certainly did not push the envelope of my saber-like (sometimes, butter knife-like) wit.

The point of my story was that ABC News was strangely writing an old story with little more than the baseless ravings of some magician in Branson, Missouri. I did not mean to suggest that Mr. VanBurch could actually read a tiger?s mind from 1500 miles away and could have stopped the horrible incident with his accomplished mind-reading talents.

I was being sarcastic. Sorry that I was not sarcastic enough. I think what happened to Roy was horrible and that but for Roy?s understanding of his animals, the consequences could have been much worse ? there could have been danger to the audience.

I truly regret the error.

The second error was a real example of my inability to read my own page.

Tim Ellis was kind enough to point out that I had a link to the Acme Magic Banner Exchange at the bottom of the Inside Magic home page. He pointed out that the banners exchange advertised Steve Fearson and his rip-off effects.

I felt terrible. Even though the exchange also includes advertisements from Hank Lee and others, I agree with Mr. Ellis that it was inappropriate to be damning rip-off dealers and at the same time advertising for them.

I immediately removed the link code and all ads from the cache. (This was later noticed by other readers who pointed out that Inside Magic stopped displaying on Friday. I did the programming myself and apparently deleted the crucial lines of code that allow anyone outside the Mystic Hollow studios to see the page.)

I very much regret this error in judgment. Inside Magic is vehemently against the theft of magic inventions or the selling of tricks by individuals other than those who either invented the effect or licensed the effect to a seller.

Please let me know if you find any errors or omissions in the pages of Inside Magic; whether written by me, Kathleen, Missy or any guest author. We won?t be offended. We have thick skin (except Kathleen ? she looks nearly translucent).