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Mrs. Laura Bush

Mrs. Laura Bush, from George Bush.com. This is a crazy image! Why is she hanging out with Mannequins?

Five Weeks Left to Train

Tasty Links

• The Risotterria was quite good. I'll look forward to going back there. I love the West Village.
• I've been meaning to read Joel's books for a while. I've been reading less (books, not Internet) but I'm going to try and reverse this trend.
• N Train means No Luck. Yeah, the N train has been bad the last month or so. It used to be so wonderful and fast, what's wrong N train?
• Gothamist Interview: Joel Sherman. Occasionally, the Gothamist shows flashes of it's old fun self.
• Voters Information Guide for the 2004 US Election
• Good posture! 15$ each! Two more days!
• ... a series of hints that point towards Nintendo launching a massive distributed multiplayer 802.11 network, possibly with each DS acting as an Airport Express-like repeater.

You Will Transmit Hopes and Dreams Over Port 80 / Lucky Numbers 8 13 22 23 31 45 / In Bed

My friend Eli just launched "Fortune Cookie Surveyor". (Surveyor?) It's exactly what you think it is:

Most of the time when you open one of those cookies, you get something other than a fortune, a prediction of something that will happen in your future. Instead, you most often get either praise, advice, an aphorism, or even advertising or an insult. Take a minute to answer the survey. We'd like to know how many you got that were actually fortunes (if any). There's also a few other questions which you don't have to answer but the answers to which I and a few other people will find interesting.

I get deja vu with nearly every fortune cookie I open. I used to keep all of the fortunes I got in an envelope, and as the ink faded I imagined the fortunes were coming true. I wonder they will lose some of the magic as they cross into elirosenblatt.org:80.

Suggestions for future enhancements:

• Geotracking Cookies over time


• Marking the Fortune Cookie Manufacturer


• Flickr-like tagging of fortunes, so watchwords can be cross referenced with Flickr/Delicious/Technorati by watchword (Anil has suggested a similar web service.)

Unlike Mike, Kobayashi to Leave at His Peak

BUN SETS ON HOT DOG KING SAY it ain't so, Takeru! Fans of competitive eating are going to find it hard to swallow the news, but the greatest gobbler of all time, Takeru Kobayashi, is pondering his retirement. The man who ate a record 531/2 Nathan's hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes this year told The Post's own Homer of hot dog lore, Gersh Kuntzman, that the bun is setting on his career: "Lately, I have been thinking of retiring," said Kobayashi, who has won the annual Coney Island frank fest four years in a row. "I want to retire before I disappoint my fans. It is not the competition that I fear. It is a decline in my own abilities. I must go out on top." International Federation of Competitive Eating chairman George Shea found a way to put a positive spin on the news. "Look, the kid is a true champion who wants to go out on top," Shea said. "He will always be the greatest. Women want him, men want to be him and all forms of beef and beef by-products fear him."

From Page Six... this link will disappear.

Name This Film

Hello_12
Originally uploaded by david.

American Expats Blocked from Voting

In a decision that could affect Americans abroad who are not yet registered to vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election, the Pentagon has begun restricting international access to the official Web site intended to help overseas absentee voters cast ballots.

The International Herald Tribune reports that the American expats, which of course includes hundreds of thousands of armed forces and consultants in Iraq and Afghanistan, are no longer allowed access to the web site which helps them cast absentee ballots. This is insane on many levels, obviously. Electoral-vote.com chimes in:

Is the Pentagon, with its billions of dollars, incapable of building a simple website that is difficult to break into? And is the answer to attempted break-ins to disenfranchise overseas voters, including the servicemen and women who are defending this country with their lives? Is this how we support the troops? By taking away their right to vote?

Microsoft and other companies are attacked all the time, and their reaction is to put up strong defenses. Surely the Pentagon is capable of doing what the computer industry does every day?

I recently talked to a knowledgeable source who has been in Iraq for a long time and his impression is that the reservists and national guardsmen there are quite unhappy, especially about having their tours of duty extended. It is not unthinkable this unhappiness might be expressed if they were allowed to vote.

Fortunately, overseas voters, including members of the armed forces, who haven't registered yet can fill in the necessary registration forms online via overseasvote2004.com and then print them. Instructions for sending the printed forms to the U.S. are given on the Americans abroad page. But time is running out.

The Google Browser (codename: waggle)

If the gbrowser comes out soon, it means that AOL bought netscape and effectively handed over its assets (except for netscape.com (yaaaawwwwn)) to a top competitor, for free.

I don't like the name "gbrowser" - let's all start calling it "waggle." Thanks.

Pokémon Fire Red

New paths will open to you by helping people in need, overcoming challenges, and solving mysteries.

At times, you will be challenged by others and attacked by wild creatures. Be brave and keep pushing on.

Through your adventure, we hope that you will interact with all sorts of people and achieve personal growth. That is our biggest objective.

Grammar Police

Thank you, grammar police! Your anal-retentive attention to detail, though unrequested and off-topic, has been duly noted. How about e-mailing me next time?

If I had a nickel for every time I've thought this...