Monday, April 18
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If Ray Kurzweil has his way, we’ll need to start Crisis Mapping this thing right away.
Monday, April 180
If Ray Kurzweil has his way, we’ll need to start Crisis Mapping this thing right away.
When I was young, I loved the the movie “The Last Starfighter“…I loved the idea that some random suburban kid could backdoor his way into saving the entire galaxy by simply excelling at playing a coin operated video game (really well). Perhaps in retrospect, this was a bit of self-indulgent thinking…as I spent many a formative year dumping quarters into coin-operated video game machines.
My very first job was as a paperboy for the Philadephia Bulletin. I’d deliver newspapers on my bicycle and I’d collect tips. Many times tips came in the form of quarters. And I’d spend those quarters on video games…like Asteroids, Space Invaders, Defender… Galaga.
When The Last Starfighter came out in 1984, the Philadephia Bulletin had been out of print for two years. The Bulletin was just an evening newspaper published daily in Philadelphia from 1847 to 1982…no big deal. I was 13…my paperboy days were long gone. But when I saw The Last Star Fighter for the first time I thought it was the coolest thing ever, mostly because I could relate to the main character, Alex Rogan. Alex gets an opportunity, granted by “The Music Man” himself, Robert Preston, because he’s a smart geek. The opportunity is to save the galaxy using the skills he’s displayed by #winning the #highscore at a coin-operated video game near his local laundrymat called (appropriately) The Last Starfighter.
Well, today is my birthday and I have an opportunity to help out a very real version of this concept. It’s a project we’ve been working on at Geeks Without Bounds called “GameSave”… a competition challenging teams of game developers to create a game that teaches and trains players (in advance) in basic emergency relief and disaster mitigation techniques.
Help me make this birthday count… who knows…one day we might just save the galaxy from some “Trouble with a capital T” 
Oh, and in case you’ve never seen the film…here’s the trailer for The Last Starfighter:
This is a song I wrote a couple of years ago for a novel/film project I’ve been working on for close to 10 years. It’s the story of a boy named Kris who grows up to become the man we all know as Santa. The book has just recently been published…Check out Santa Is Real for more info.
Merry Christmas!
The Snowflake Song
Counting snowflakes, counting dreams, count the days til Christmas eve,
Count the snowflakes, count the stars, count them if you’re near or far,
Falling Snowflakes, tumble down, Lift your head and spin around,
Falling Snowflakes, Count them all, a Christmas wish as snowflakes fall.
Crystal snowflakes, crystal night, keep my brothers, warm and tight,
Watch my sisters, safe and dear, til I return next Christmas year,
Falling snowflakes from above, each unique and filled with love,
Keep them safe until I call, my Christmas wish as snowflakes fall.
Making angels in the snow, playful children, watch them grow,
Read their letters, wrap the toys, each made with love for girls and boys,
Little angels, all around, close your eyes and settle down,
Snowflake angels, find them all, my christmas wish as snowflakes fall.
Falling snowflakes from above, each unique and filled with love,
Keep them safe until I call, my Christmas wish as snowflakes fall.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to present Geeks Without Borders at Gnomedex in Seattle.
More about:
Brilliant mashup of two recent memes: Double Rainbow and the Hitler videos:
More and more people are running their businesses, quite successfully, as solo founders. If you happen to follow the world of startups, especially web startups, you’ll know that venture capital is undergoing a change and more startups are being run on less initial investment and that the size of each investment is getting smaller. More:Royal We: Single Founder Startups | Ginzametrics.
25 years ago today, the original Back the the Future film was released. It was the top grossing film of 1985. Here’s some things you may not know about the film:
Although Michael J. Fox was always the first pick to play Marty McFly, Fox was too busy filming “Family Ties” to sign on to the project. They replaced Fox with Eric Stoltz. After 4 weeks of filming (and $3 million dollars), the producers and Stotz agreed he wasn’t right for the part and he left the project. Fox was then cast and they worked around his tight schedule to make the film.
Michael J. Fox is only ten days younger than Lea Thompson who plays his mother, and is almost three years older than his on-screen dad, Crispin Glover.
When Marty pretends to be Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan, he plays a tape labeled “Van Halen” to scare George out of his sleep. It is an untitled Edward Van Halen original written for a movie called “The Wild Life”.
In the sequel the entire ending scene from the original movie was painstakingly re-created, shot-for-shot:
I can’t think of a worse week to open a new attraction in Central Florida…the same week Universal Studios opens Harry Potter’s Wizarding World???
Really guys…TIGHT work. You really couldn’t of held it a week?
Anyway… (In case you missed it…)
Star Trek Live, a new interactive stage show made its worldwide debut at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Friday, June 11, 2010.
“Each 30-minute show will combine special effects, audience interaction and an exploration of real space-age technology. Guests will also see on-screen appearances from Captain Kirk and Spock.
“In the show, the audience portrays new Starfleet cadets assembled for the first day at the Starfleet Academy. As we are introduced to the Academy, the Earth itself comes under attack from a renegade Romulan, leaving the fate of the future itself in the hands of our cadets. The new cadets will have to learn the intricacies of living and working in space, modern space travel and the latest in communication and technology.”
Here’s a gallery of images from the Star Trek Live show
Star Trek Live makes its debut at Kennedy Space Center | Orlando Attractions Magazine Blog.
Absent father, separated from his mother at an early age, unstable moods, unstable interpersonal relationships, dysfunctional experiences of self and others, dissociative episodes, difficulty controlling his anger, drastic shifts in identity….
Infantile illusions of omnipotence.
Sound like someone you know?
It affects 2 percent of adults (mostly young women).
It’s called borderline personality disorder, and Dr. Gupta says Vader has it: What is Darth Vader’s diagnosis? – Paging Dr. Gupta – CNN.com Blogs.
