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So yesterday as work ended, I had the opportunity to watch the events of Michael Jackson’s unfortunate death unfold. As somebody mentioned his name, I opened up Twitter Search to find that everyone was reporting Michael Jackson as dead. The strange part is there were few or no references. Finally I get a link to TMZ.com. They reported he had passed away, but hitting up other news sites reported only that he was taken to the hospital. After checking numerous news sites, I settled on CNN and started watching their live feed.

Around 6:28 PM they announced that they received confirmation that Michael had passed away, but it’s amazing how sites like TMZ can start up such a stir. A handful of other news organizations, including our own local Newsday.com reported the death prior to receiving any confirmation. They cited TMZ as their source long before any confirmation had been received.

Michael Jackson was an incredible performer and artist, but definitely had a quirky sense of being. It seems that we’ll never know for sure if all or any of the allegations against him are true or not, but they’ve certainly lead to tons of celebrity gossip humor. While some of it may be tasteless, I’ve continued to get bombarded with text messages containing Michael Jackson jokes, so rather then sending them all on, I will post them here for those who care to read them to do so.

If you are offended by Michael Jackson jokes, please leave this page now.

• LA County hospital are unsure what to do with Michael Jackson’s remains since plastic recycling isn’t until next Tuesday.
• Rumor has it Michael Jackson wants to be buried at sea and strapped to a couple of buoys…
• Michael jackson hasn’t been this stiff since Macaulay Culkin slept over
• When Farrah Fawcett got to heaven, God granted her one wish. She wished for all the children of the world to be safe. So god killed Michael Jackson.
• In remembrance of the King of Pop, McDonalds is coming out with the McJackson Burger. 50 year old meat between 12 year old buns.
• Due to the fact that Michael Jackson was 99% plastic, instead of being cremated, he is going to be melted into toys so little boys can now play with him.
• Michael Jackson died of food poisoning. They found 9 year old sausage and 11 year old nuts in his stomach.

Thanks to the few of you who sent me the above (or variations of the above) jokes.

This is my cry to ask if anybody has (and can send me) a copy of the Palm Mojo SDK for the Palm Pre. From what I can gather in the forums, there have been some people added to the early SDK program already, but palm has not opened their developer program to the public yet. I’m surprised that the development kit hasn’t popped up on BitTorrent or in the newsgroups.

You have to wonder what the holdup is. Palm has, what could be the next big phone, and the only thing preventing me from showing more interest in it is that there’s applications that I use that are only available for Windows Mobile at this time. If I had the ability to write my own applications (Supposedly very easy as Pre development is based on HTML5/JavaScript) I could easily see myself switching to their platform.

I have considered switching to Android, but have been unimpressed with T-Mobile’s connectivity options. I’m rarely in an area with WiFi and their broadband is mediocre when compared to Spring and Verizon’s. I’m with Sprint now, so the Pre was just what I ordered. An incredibly well designed handset based on open source software and technologies.

It would make more sense if Palm initiated a controlled release of the SDK prior to the public launch of the phone. Give their key developers time to create many killer applications for the device and have that all ready at launch time. Now that the phone is available to the public, it would make sense for Palm to open the SDK. There’s already a strong community about developing for the Pre, mostly relying on hacks and backdoors in the Pre. Palm is not taking a stance against the home brew community, but isn’t doing them any favors by holding back. If the SDK is ready for one developer, it’s ready for the community. If it’s not ready, offer it as a Beta to those who want to begin with it.

With competition like the iPhone, and Android based phones coming out, you would thing that Palm would try to step up to the established products as quickly as possible.

One of my passions is Magic. Those of you who know me are aware that I spend a lot of time, money and energy on the art and it’s something I strive to be better at every day. This weekend I had an opportunity to see one of my favorite professional magicians perform just inches away from me, and also had multiple opportunities to to work with and learn from him.

Jeff McBride has a very unique style. His performance is backed by strong storytelling and poetry. He takes you deep into his own world of magic while wowing you with effects that are both visually astounding as well as emotionally astounding. I had the pleasure of sitting second row for a performance at Fantasma Toys, a Magic and Joke shop in Manhattan, just upstairs from Penn Station! Jeff performed his Vegas-style show in a small theater that held around a hundred people. To see that caliber of a show close up was incredible.

He performed many of his classics as well as some new effects. It was a treat seeing his mask routine, coin production, water bowls, illuminated canes, and especially his card and card-fan procuctions. Jeff combines his magical skill with performance skill to bring a show that is unlike any other.

Getting to listen to Jeff lecture to a room full of magicians, students and enthusiasts was enlightening. Learning the psychology behind many of his effects and the detail and work that goes into the performances opened my mind to new possibilities with my magic. If that wasn’t enough, I took an opportunity that I had missed last time Jeff performed locally and signed up for a closed-door workshop. The workshop was held at Fantasma again but consisted of a small group of about a dozen business professionals, working magicians and hobbyists, but all students of magic. Jeff taught about the different phases of magician; The Trickster, Where we all start out learning our first tricks and opening up communications with our audiences; The Sorcerer, where we apply disciplines to bring our magic to the next level; The oracle, where our magic touches inner thoughts and emotions; The Sage, who mentors and teaches using the combined knowledge and experiences through the other three stages. Through each phase he gives invaluable advice, magical history and even a few effects that can be integrated into our reportiore.

Jeff McBride’s magic is astounding and his attitude toward the craft demonstrates that he is truly a real magician.