Trivial fun stuff

The other night during a game of poker, someone reminded me of how some people can throw ordinary playing cards with surprising force, hard enough to slice into fruit, for instance.

Well, it's been a day and a half, and I can already throw them so that they make a loud crack sound when they hit the wall on the far side of the room.  A few months and I'll be just like Gambit from the X-Men.

Comments

[PeterTerp]

There was an episode of Mythbusters about this. Apparently, there is a tall tale about being able to throw a card with such velocity as to kill a man. After constructing a card-shooting machine, the best the Mythbusters could do was draw blood.
Of course, none of them had mutant powers allowing them to kinetically charge projectiles.

[Thomas]

Apparently, for the real lowdown on card throwing, the authority to consult is one Ricky Jay, a magician famous for his Guinness Book Record card scaling abilities (90 mph, it seems), and his book entitled "Cards As Weapons." I have not seen this book, but I have heard a rumor that certain martial arts experts can make a card throw surprisingly debilitating by aiming for pressure points.

Since this is just a fooling-around side hobby, I'll be happy when I can break a sheet of newspaper or cut into a banana.