The CIA magic book

The Boston Globe has a slideshow with a few examples from the now-declassified Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception.

Here's the associated article. One could imagine a Mad Men/Bond-style spy show set in the 1960s that would utilize these techniques.

How to Calculate How Many People Your Home Can Successfully Host [Holidays]

Many of us will be throwing holiday parties in the weeks ahead, but for those who aren't regularly party throwers, it can be difficult to know how big of an invite list your place can handle. This simple formula can help.

Photo by dpstyles™.

Clinton Kelly of TV's What Not To Wear suggests a straightforward method for inviting the right amount of people to your party. His easy equation takes your home's space into account and a few simple rules for getting your numbers right.

Divide the square footage of your home by five (the approximate number of feet each guest needs in personal space). That number equals how many people can fit comfortably in your home. Then, assume that 80 percent of your invitees will accept the invitation, but that five of those people won't end up coming. For example, if you've got 100 square feet of space in your home, you can fit 20 guests. But really, you can invite 25 because just 16 will plan to come in the first place, and one will claim to be violently ill the day of the party.

Hit up the full post for more holiday entertaining advice from Kelly. If you're an old hand at throwing parties, give us your tips for getting it right in the comments.