By Scott Hood, President Ring 49, Hamilton Ontario, Canada

Once again the I.B.M. 2012 Convention (whose slogan is "Sea the Magic • Norfolk") planning committee is hard at work pulling together the annual “Operation Tricks Are Treats” hospital shows. It has been the I.B.M. practice for many years to have some of the magicians who are attending the annual convention to donate their time and talents to perform for local hospitals in the convention city and area. Norfolk 2012 will be no exception. However, 2012 will have a slightly different twist to it.

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Award-winning writer Don Wiberg is gathering information for an article on magic summer camps to be published in The Linking Ring. Wiberg, Past International President of the I.B.M., notes, "A Google search to get information about summer camps for young people turns up hundreds of camps appealing to a wide variety of interests. With all the camps available, it makes you wonder how many teenagers stick around at home all summer, doing nothing?"

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The February 2012 issue of The Linking RIng features as its cover story the exciting quick change act, Lex Schappi and Alina.  The cover photo -- which shows the couple in action -- is one of the most exciting photos for the magazine in a long time, perhaps going back back to the August 2009 issue, which featured a montage of photos from the Nashville I.B.M. Convention. (The standard cover photo of The Linking Ring is a head-and-shoulders photo of the subject.) See more photos and read the story of how this couple has grown into one of the top quick change acts in the world. And learn more about the history and other aspects of quick change. Read on for summaries of the rest of the issue.

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Hey! It's a new year, and time to take a look at some of what is new on the I.B.M. Portal, and some of the things planned in coming months. Of course if you have not looked and clicked around THIS page, nor all the links in the left lists of menus, then EVERYTHING -- or at least MUCH -- on the Portal is new to you. So plan on spending a little time here, and you may be surprised what all you'll find. Read on for some ideas:

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A good question came to Shawn from "Matt," namely: "How do magicians overcome nervousness on stage?" Do professional magicians even GET nervous? What can you do to get ready and be more comfortable on stage?

Shawn posed that question to FISM award winner (2006 at the Stockholm convention) David Sousa, when they were in Tokyo, Japan last year.

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A new online publication, the Journal of Magic Research, seeks to promote the application of scientific methods in magic research. 

The journal is published by Past International President Dr. William E. Spooner (left). “At the present time,” writes Dr. Spooner, “the use of scientific methods in research is practically non-existent within the magic fraternity. A scientific approach to magic can provide information not available through traditional historical research.”

John Moehring, former editor of MAGIC magazine and M-U-M, will serve as editor of the JMR. Past International President Dr. William A. Wells and Dr. Gerry S. Hayes are associate editors.

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At mid-January, 2012, we call to your attention ten magicians whose obituaries will appear in the February issue of The Linking Ring. We print them early in order for their friends and acquaintences to know of their passing. 

Since this is the beginning of a new year, once again we ask that anyone who learns of the death of a fellow magician, please notify the I.B.M. Office (office@magician.org) as soon as possible so that we might publish them in The Linking Ring in a timely manner. 

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It’s a new year and another issue of the largest circulation magic magazine in the world -- The Linking Ring, the official publication of the International Brotherhood of Magicians -- awaits your attention. The issue is now on this portal, both in a digital format, as well as in PDF form, to download and read wherever you wish. Here are some of the highlights, while you wait for your hard copy, summarized by members Paul Lelekis and Dennis Schick:

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This is the time of year when we see year-end summaries from all the media -- newspapers, television, radio, Internet, etc. It seems to be comforting to everyone to review the just-passed twelve months, either with fond memories, or with happiness that bad things are behind us and now we can look forward to a new year and a clean slate. As I flipped through all twelve issues of The Linking Ring, in order to write a review of the Broken Wands for 2011, I decided to take notes on other aspects of the magic world’s largest-circulation magazine. Here are my findings; you should be surprised:

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New DVDs, books, products:
When does Osterlind sleep?

By Bobby Warren

When Richard Osterlind wrapped up production on "Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism" DVD set for L&L Publishing, the veteran performer of the magical arts thought it would be his last. However, that self-imposed ban did not last long.

Osterlind has returned with another L&L project: "Live Without a Net," in which the mentalist and magician performs in front of a real audience at a casino in Reno, Nev.

With the release of the new, three DVD set, the I.B.M. portal is updating a 2008 feature story about Osterlind, which was the cover story for the February edition of The Linking Ring that year. An edited version of the story appears below, along with some of Osterlind's accomplishments since 2008 and his goals for the upcoming year:

Richard Osterlind's roots in mentalism go as deep as his roots in magic. Ask him when he made the transition from magician to mentalist, and you'll discover he had an impression clipboard as a seven-year-old. Other Osterlind mental mysteries from his childhood repertoire included color and die divinations. With the effects from a couple of magic kits, one of which was his Sneaky Pete's Magic Show, a young Osterlind performed the Linking Rings and sawed in half a lady (never mind it looked a lot like a plastic doll). (READ MORE)