Mike DeWolfe : The Daily Edition

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I was lucky enough to see the Corpse Bride last night. Super short review: "Nightmare Before Christmas Light" While Cheryl has written a great a review, I wanted to review not the movie but the experience. There has been a security ramp up that is getting openly ridiculous and all of this is to prevent taping of movies and their subseqent posting the Internet. I have some bad news: they've lost. Last night, we had to line up until EVERYONE who would attend was in line. This was probably an attempt to get the cat herd of security people into position. Finally, they opened the doors. A team of security people stood guard at the entrance. They were basically tough burger-flippers. In other words, if they were less malicious, they would either be asking "Do you want fries with that?" or "Can you spare some change?" One of them ushered me forward in broken English to go to another one of the security. I took two steps forward. The other "one" wav...

I saw this interesting bit on CTV News this morning about UFO sightings in Mexico ( Tula Hidalgo) . For a minute I was worried. After all, you easily dismiss one flying saucer at night. It could be jet exhaust or a weather balloon. Or Venus. Or a flock of seagulls-- spherical seagulls that move rapidly around one another and can spontaneously disappear. The media is so likely to ignore something like this that aliens will be panhandling and washing our windshields; while the media plays creepy music and shows the footage after midnight sandwiched between a Blind Date re-run and the "Too Hot For College" informercial.

For just $30: Every first person shooter has a level where you have to get past a bunch of automated motion-detecting turret sentries in order to get to your objective (likely rescuing the progeny of somebody with mega-influence). It's FPS 101. Now you can live out those FPS scenarios in the real world with the Room Defender and still live to tell about it. When activated (either via motion detector or via included remote), the Room Defender will shoot up to fifteen foam discs up to fifteen feet away!

Do you want to play the Trend game? Yahoo and O'Reilly have powered " The Buzz Game ." Check it out. There is more to it than just trends. There is also the " Wisdom of the Crowd " at work. If you can predict a trend in behaviour, you can predict styles, commodity usage, potential crises and opportunities. Google has blogged about this concept . They have also open sourced their, "Idea Futures" application. In my line of work, trend prediction could allow gear shifting in dynamic content service. From an associate program standpoint, you could sniff indicators for trends and then make relevant product links available. Hurricane on approach? Link to place to download roadmaps. Michael Jackson in the news? Get a book on how to keep your children safe from child molestors. Trend prediction is a key way to make an opportunity for yourself based on good data and the capability to react.

This from New York Daily News Online: The producers of "Extreme Makeover" promised Deleese Williams "a Cinderella-like" fix for a deformed jaw, crooked teeth, droopy eyes and tiny boobs that would "transform her life and destiny." But when the ABC reality show dumped the Texas mom the night before the life-changing plastic surgeries, it shattered her family's dream and triggered her sister Kellie McGee's suicide, says a bombshell lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court. Doh! Long haired freaky people need not apply. More...

When you have a fear of heights, people who love you don't take you to the top of the tower.

Don's blog has more details on Mile Zero . He met with one of the producers and discussed the show, the creators and its prospects for being turned into an ongoing series.

Anyone who joins Sunday's Nine-Eleven memorial Freedom Walk without registering could be arrested. Pentagon officials tell The Washington Post that the route from the Pentagon to the Mall will be lined with four-foot-high snow fencing. US Park Police will keep out interlopers. Hundreds of officers will patrol the route on foot, horseback, motorcycles and in a helicopter. Park Police Chief Dwight Pettiford says anyone who joins the march or the subsequent concert on the Mall without a permit and refuses to leave will be arrested. The media will also won't be allowed to join walkers on the route. Police have approved a permit from a small group of protesters that plans to stand along Independence Avenue. Walkers have until 4:30 p.m. Friday to register online at www.asyfreedomwalk.com . There is no walk up registration.

This was forwarded to me from Ana Voog and this seems to be the original posting: http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18337.shtml I think when this is all done: there needs to be autopsy of the autopsies. It's important to know how many people drowned and how many were shot with law enforcement issued weapons. The New Orleans situation looks like a combo platter of the Indonesian tsunami coupled with the Tianammin Square crackdown. Trapped in New Orleans By LARRY BRADSHAW and LORRIE BETH SLONSKY ( Bradshaw and Slonsky are paramedics frorm California that were attending the EMS conference in New Orleans. Larry Bradsahw is the chief shop steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790; and Lorrie Beth Slonsky is steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790. [California] ) Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreens store at the corner of Royal and Iberville Streets in the city's historic French Quarter remained locked. The dairy display case was...

Re: Celine Dion Dear Jann Ardren, I have liked your music for a long time. What I find is really special in you is your disdain of our fellow Canadian, Celine Dion. After seeing Celine Dion's exhibition on CNN's Larry King Show , I feel that enough is enough. This warbling cabaret singer's claim to fame is backing the popcorn-romantic classic, Titanic; and she was lousy in that capacity. She is a blight. For some reason, the US Cable News Network saw fit to tap Celine Dion for her sage insight into the Hurricane Katrina affair. She jitted and wept and then broke into song. It was embarassing. Ms. Adren, I don't have a lot of money. Regardless, I would like to fund an expedition that is of great import to all Canadians. I don't think we can weather another bout of Celine Dion. I have taken out enough money for you to travel from Canada to Las Vegas. I have also set aside enough money so that once in Las Vegas you can take advantage of lax US gun laws and ...

Codewalkers had a question about PHP certifications. Zend's PHP Certification was the lead recommendation. I don't have my certification, yet; but I am planning on getting it in the next 12 months. So, I went to the Zend site and looked for the procedure . Buy the exam guide; take a test at one of the exam centres-- hold it! You can't do that in Victoria . Vancouver: sure. Burnaby: sure. Fort St. John: sure. Fort St. John? I have nothing wrong with that town way in the middle of nowhere, but if the have a test/certification centre, why is it that Victoria-- provincial capital, third largest city, and a place brimming with tech colleges-- doesn't? I have one good reason: Victoria's IT colleges are mostly scam outfits . If they had a test centre, their students may take the PHP certification and fail. Then, the students would have to ask "Why can't I even pass a test based on what you've taught me?" The good news: there has been some bleach added to...

Aww... thanks, guys. I am really touched that someone out there has set up the Michael DeWolfe Memorial tournament . This is ironic, because I am so bad at golf. It is likely that if I ever did play, I would be struck down by a golf ball while on the course. This is weird, because I was explaining to Alice that there is more than one Mike DeWolfe in the world. Here it turns out, there is actually a Michael DeWolfe worthy of a golf tournament in his honor. This is probably tied to a bunch of DeWolfe realtors in New England. My theory is that the DeWolfes who could stay clear of the law headed south. The others were in Nova Scotia jails at the time.

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I’m a geek and programmer. But there are constructs in programming that have a relative metaphor in real life. Case in point: the code library. In coding, it’s a command that is nice and concise, like print() that at the core is full of ugly commands, instructions and qualifiers. You say, print(“Hello”); and out pops “Hello” All of the machine language is hidden and compacted. What about a code of conduct library. Your life experience condenses from a set of ugly commands and controls into a reaction to input-- to stimuli. A code of conduct library. Let’s assume there is a code of conduct library. The function in discussion: trust(). Flashback to my childhood. For a variety of reasons, I have a really faulty trust mechanism. I think it's the peril of being from a single parent home. My daughter has two people hammering her with the messages, morals and the leadership of adults. Children from broken homes have one parent and a vaccuum. That leaves the people who almost as close as t...

We were lucky enough to find a cheap copy of Undercover Brother. It's a great movie. Not like Citizen Kane or Gone With The Wind -- but like A Night At the Roxbury or Dude: Where's My Car? You know: you won't put it on your shelf. It's a movie you'll use as a layer of protection video between prying eyes and your stash of porn. One of the supporting cast is Neil Patrick Harris . Doogie Howser. Doogie! When I went to see Starship Troopers on opening night, he appeared and the audience yelled, "Doogie!" I came to disturbing realization: I've liked every movie he's been in. Does this mean I like Doogie? Oh, do I not hate Neil Patrick Harris? How can this be? Undercover Brother : Neil Patrick Harris works for B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. a secret organization of black men who are trying to counter The Man. Why is NPH in this black enclave? Affirmative action. Starship Troopers : This is such a hated and gory movie, but I love it. NPH plays a psychic who e...

In the summer of 2001, George W., had squeaked into an election. He squared off against China over a downed spy plane and it seemed like he was heading for a new Cold War. Past that, this hapless former cokehead and conman was on his way to inherit Gerald Ford's role as unelected, loser Republican president. Then came September 11th. Theories abound about the real origins of the September 11th plot. It was theorized that it cost $1 million. That's chump change. That the staple-and-paper-clip budget for CIA. It would be very easy for an large organization to hide it. More than that, it would be easy for the same network that funded Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan to direct him to carry out this work. That network was the CIA. Regardless who greased the wheels, it's clear that Bush and his masters capitalized on 9/11. It felt like Bush neglected his role president for as long as he could as he could get away with it and the made up for it, like an alcoholic who goes on the wag...