Below is a delightful video of Slydini performing one of his signature misdirection routines. Michele and I were treated with Palmer’s performance of the routine over a decade ago at a delightful dinner with friends at a small, intimate restaurant in San Francisco. Michele was in the hot seat, and totally unaware of what was going on. The rest of us were laughing so hard tears were flowing.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas to all of you!

Want to learn a few tricks? Check out some of Palmer’s magic tricks.

Via Ace.

Steak – Watch more free videos

Major Brian Shul: “I loved that jet”

I don’t expect a 2nd generation iPhone yet… but do think a refresh to the current model is likely.

1st Prediction: iPhone RAM increase to 16 GB.

Looking at Apple’s history with the iPod, they followed the initial model design with a smaller version. I think this is likely with the iPhone, for a few reasons. First, some folks just don’t need the Internet access. Second, a lower-priced model would expand the market.

2nd Prediction: iPhone Mini (my name, yeah it sucks, I’m sure Steve and company will come up with something cool)

Lots of press about iTunes movie rentals. This seems likely, so I’ll go along with the crowd.

3rd Prediction: iTunes movie rentals (although I can’t see the reported 24 hour time limit being right, that’s just too short).

But just doing rentals with the existing hardware (iPods, iPhone, AppleTV, and of course Macs) seems incomplete. I think there will be something new here, something using AppleTV and FrontRow, but more interesting to a larger, iPod-savvy market. DVR technology is cool, but the technical issues for Apple to provide a solution that works with OTA, cable, and satellite are significant (witness Tivo’s struggles).

4th Prediction: An AppleTV line, probably three sizes of flat-screen, that includes the existing AppleTV functionality plus much larger hard-disk, and tight integration with Leopard and iDisk.

How about you? I’ve opened comments… Let’s have some fun!

Via BoingBoing.

She’s the first lady to appear on stage (the tall blonde) on this first video clip.

The next three clips are fairly short… appear to be some sort of amazon-fetish kind of thing…

He won.

Great job, Garth!

Update: For my iPhone-enabled readers, who can’t get to the embedded YouTube content, here’s the link to the video.

I liked this so much I bought the Saxophone Colossus (with Bonus Sampler) on iTunes. Great stuff!

Now comes news that Universal HD will broadcast the show in 1080i high definition. I’ll be setting our DirecTivo HD receiver to record them all.

WolframTones: An Experiment in a New Kind of Music

The article was timely for me, as Alex is wanting to start violin lessons, and I’ve been thinking of getting back in practice, perhaps playing chamber music with friends, or the local community orchestra. The balance of work, family, hobbies (including music) is something I’ll be thinking more about in the coming months.

I entered college on a music scholarship, and intended to make a career as a professional musician, as did Ms. Rice:

At 17, she attended the prestigious summer school at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and came to believe that though she was a very good pianist, she was “not great,” she said. “That was the really the revelation,” she added. “And it wasn’t just that experience. You start noticing prodigies, and you realize that I’m never going to play that way.” There is “just some intangible” in music, she said. Whatever it was, she said she felt she didn’t have it. She decided to major in international relations instead, focusing on the Soviet Union.

Of course, she’s now one of the most powerful people in the world, incredibly brilliant and talented, so she made a good choice. While my life has nowhere near that notoriety, I’ve been lucky to have a great family, personal and business experiences, and a full life that continues to be interesting. Certainly no regrets on my choice of career.

She’s arguably one of the most capable Secretary of State ever to have served, and her love of music, and making music, shows her to be incredibly well-balanced. And she’s got a great fitness ethic also.