The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 18 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Ramon: Eye fluttering is the most obvious nonverbal tell for lying
“The most obvious one, and people probably have seen this and heard about it, is the eye flutters.”
Alex Ramon: Leaders Can Be Honest Without Full Transparency
“So you can be honest without being fully transparent.”
Ramon: Build a primary revenue river before seeking multiple income streams
“I don't want streams. I want a river, right? Like, so let's get your river first. Once you have a river, then get your other streams. And I think that so often people try and just think, they hear this buzzword from, you know, whether it's influencers or whate…”
Ramon: Magicians spot lies by prompting questions with known answers
“The interesting thing that magicians can do is I can force something on you, whether it's a free choice or a question where I already know the answer, and then determine if you're lying or telling the truth based off of your reaction.”
Ramon: The most eager audience volunteer makes the worst presentation pick
“You know what the worst person, I'll tell you who the worst person to pick for a magic show, or just any sort of, ah, presentation, doesn't just have to be magic, is the person who is the most eager to get up on stage. So if there's someone that's like, I wann…”
Ramon: Engaging front-row attendees first settles inattentive adult audiences
“Because I feel like if you bash them and you're like, come on people, let's go. Like it's a high school pep rally. Adults and people are like, who are you? Wait, what are we doing here? But if it's like, all right, we're going to get going here. Are you ready?…”
Ramon: Contrary to common belief, awful audiences genuinely exist
“There's a famous debate amongst magicians is, you know, is there such thing as a bad audience, and The classic answer, answer is no. There's no such thing as bad audience, only bad performers. Right? That's not true at all. There are awful audiences.”
Alex Ramon: Deconstructing single speeches on video is the key to improving articulation
“You can get better if you focus in on maybe one speech that you like, that you see a presentation, and you focus and you study how someone's so articulate, whether it's on a YouTube video. I mean, YouTube is amazing because you can just break it down and watch…”
Ramon: Magicians guard secrets because knowing them disenchants audiences
“The reason why magicians don't tell their secrets, ok, is because if the audience knew the secrets, they'd immediately become disenchanted. Right? So magicians guard an empty safe, not just to protect these vital, important secrets. But they guard the safe so …”
Ramon: Reframing addresses counterpart objections while maintaining the core request
“If I present you with a deal point, and you have an objection, ok, the reframe is to present you another option while addressing your objection, but still making the same request. I'm still getting the same point, right? That's a part of the negotiation.”
Ramon: Stage hypnotists whittle down volunteers to find the most suggestible
“That's why whenever you see a hypnotist show, they grab like 30 audience members, right? First. And then they start eliminating them. And at the very end, there may be six people left on stage. And these are the six that are the most controllable. The ones tha…”
Ramon: Feld Entertainment is privately held and worth about $3 billion
“It's a private company, Feld Entertainment. It's about worth about three billion dollars. One man and his daughters own it.”
Ramon: Magician vertically integrated tour merch by acquiring a screen printer
“And I sell merch, shirts, and hats after my shows, and so I ended up acquiring a screen print embroidery company, and it was just, The exact formula that Feld Entertainment does is they own these businesses that only serve as verticals to what they're doing”
Leno earned over $300M hosting The Tonight Show without spending his salary
“He's never spent a dime of his Tonight Show money. And in 20 years, he was paid over three hundred million dollars.”
Ramon: Magician created Taylor Swift's flaming rose illusion for the AMAs
“I'm working, ah, consulting with Taylor Swift on Blank Space, and it was for her world premiere performance on the American Music Awards, and so this production company in L.A., they called me to consult on this performance, and they wanted this magic effect, …”
Ramon: Experienced Magicians Can Predict Illusions by Reading Subconscious Cues
“So I can watch another magician, ok, I know why he's saying the things he's saying, why he's standing the way he's standing, why he's wearing what he's wearing, why he's choosing to use these specific words, because I can read magic and I can see And just by w…”
Ramon: Vocal Intonation Swings and Whispers Maintain Audience Engagement
“If I lower my voice to more of a whisper, it's called Soto Voce, right, these are like theater techniques, these are performance techniques. So if I tell you something, and then I get really big because I'm super excited about it just, it keeps the interest ga…”
Ramon: I have self-produced my shows and held casino leases for 15 years
“So I've produced my own show now for 15 years. And so I don't, no one produces myself. That's like, I have the contracts and the leases with the casinos and the billboards and the advertising and all that. Those are my contracts. My payroll, my everything else…”