Wolfgangs ended being excellent, though not as good as Peter Lugers.

So far, I have added steak knives, sake and sake glasses, and a copy of Harlan Ellison's screenplay for I Robot to my birthday arsenal.


There's still brunch tomorrow too!

This post brought to you by my new Treo 650, which arrived five years and fifteen minutes after the NASDAQ hit its all time high - at 4:15 Friday.

Take that, West Coast and your Bronco chases!

Yesterday's Big Police Chase: "

Yesterday, the local news channels sent their news helicopters in full force to capture a police chase. However, the chasee was not a suspect - it was a nervous poodle on the Major Deegan Parkway during rush hour. Clearly, this is why news copters were created. Ken Baez claims that he and his wife were petsitting the poodle, Snoopy, for his mother-in-law, but Snoopy escaped. Baez's nephew told the NY Times, 'I was going crazy because the dog was on the highway. They were like, he was neglected, but he wasn't. Everybody knows that dog.' But, as with animals-seen-on-TV, many people called the ASPCA, claiming to be Snoopy's owner, so the ASPCA will be holding onto Snoopy for a while, checking out the claims.

How do you keep your dog from running away? Gothamist suggests getting a tag for your dog, or even a microchip, in case your dog goes on the run. And cityrag has some good ideas about how to hang with your dog when you're in the city.

Photo from WNBC

"

(Via Gothamist.)

The Register has an article where it lays out the evidence for The Rise of the Machines.

This could just be baseless conspiracy mongering, but we can never be sure...

The following stories are linked to at the bottom of that page:

Battling teen crushes roboarm menace

French join motorised Lizard Alliance

Lizard Army develops copulating robot

We are Zogg: The Cuddly Menace

Lizard Army invades Alaska

London menaced by flaming DVD players

Killer hoover attacks Scotsman

Car self-destructs in assassination bid

The rise of the rat-brain controlled android

Japanese unveil trumpet-playing robot

Boffins unleash robotic cockroach

Ukrainian teen fights the Rise of the Machines

Man in satanic Renault terror ordeal

Killer cyberappliances: Satan implicated

US develops motorised robobollard

Killer cyberloo kidnaps kiddie

A robot in every home by 2010

Cyberappliances attack Italian village

Fire-breathing buses threaten London

Cyberloo blast rocks Stoke-on-Trent

Spanish cyberkiosks claim second victim

Cyberkiosk assaults Spanish teenager

Hi-tech toilet caught on camera

Hi-tech toilet swallows woman

I've been alerted to the Alabama 3, a Brit band that takes the Southern Preacher angle.

I'm supposedly going to Wolfgangs, the best Steak House in New York (and by extension, the known universe) tomorrow for my birthday.

And speaking of birthdays, thank you for noticing the Amazon Wish List.

The Great Chain of Being vs The European Convention on Human Rights

Or perhaps, "Bow down before the one you serve."

Fascinating stuff in this NYT article.

Charles and Parker Bowles plan to wed April 8 in a civil ceremony in Windsor. It is unprecedented for an heir to the throne to marry outside of a church, but it is believed necessary because the Church of England has qualms about remarriage for divorcees.

Eleven people submitted caveats, or objections, to the registrar general. Some argued that the Marriage Act of 1949, which authorized civil marriages, excluded the royals because it said ``nothing in this Act shall affect any law or custom relating to the marriage of members of the royal family.''

Registrar General Len Cook disagreed.

``A reading of the 1949 act which prevented the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Parker Bowles from contracting a civil marriage would interfere with their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights,'' Cook said.

Wil points out that the writer for Battlestar Galactica is also the head writer for DS9, my favourite Trek franchise.

The last episode wasn't bad (the second I've seen, ok the first I've sat all the way through - the people around me are disdainful at best when it comes to watching it). In the context of a first season, it really isn't half bad.

Also, an interview with Jolene Blalock (T'Pol on ST: Enterprise) has this comment on the show's last episode:

"I don't know where to begin with that one," she finally stammers. "The final episode is... appalling.

I gave up on Enterprise right about when Nazi Aliens entered the plot line.

You have to work at Jumping the Shark and breaking Godwin's Law at the same time.

Don't you?

More Jon Stewart ululation tonight.

We've also set the Michael Jackson Trial Reenactments on E! to record every day.

I remember sitting in the LSA Dean's office in 2000, meeting with Bollinger & the Dean, during the Second Sitin on campus.

The Dean told us that has she had once, many years ago, participated in student activism. There was more than a little irony in realizing that she wasn't doing a very good job dissuading us. Us in a different world from the one she had protested in.

We were of course not the first to be in a position to be told, "I share your views, but I can not help you because of the gravity of my position."

Never Act Old.

In the midst of dinner time conversation at a Japanese place in Park Slope,
discussion turned to cartoons from our childhood based upon public characters or
people from live action shows.

Mr. T.

It's Punky Brewster.

Hammerman (This might refresh your memory.)

Now cross this conversation with that of US contingency plans for invading Canada should Quebec Secede, say to defend the english speaking eastern provinces from the francophone ones. What better way to assert our dominance than to rename the Atlantic Time Zone.

Imagine:

You are now entering Hammer Time.

Chris points out that there is legal equivalency between the urge to make crystal meth and have safe sex.

Now we just need a Sinatra song in the vein of Love and Marriage.

i think it's very telling that in...: "i think it's very telling that in nebraska, both condoms and pseudoephedrine are kept behind locked glass in grocery stores."

(Via enlarged to show texture.)

Hack your Prius to work in stealth mode.

I want a Prius.

A person I work with was called today out of the blue and asked if he would like to assist with a sequel to "The Passion of the Christ."

He politely demurred.

But...

So Many Jokes...

A Poem found on a page of the web site of the Nation Institutes of Health, in the kids section, titled, Little Brown Jug.

Why don't all military vehicles carry cell phone jamming equipment? Musharraf's vehicle does, which saved him from a similar attack a couple of years ago.

Cellphone bomb detonator: "

After three dead and one severely wounded bomb-squad techs, a team in Iraq happened upon this detonator—the one time we’re glad a Nokia phone didn’t work right; yes, it says ‘01 Call Missed’. Whoever made that call is going to be a little surprised when he gets a call back.





[Thanks, Mario]

"

(Via engadget.com.)

I saw what appeared to be giant white larvae in the trash can, and at first II was enthralled.

But I didn't have my contacts in, and upon further analysis, they turned out to be

merely styrofoam packing peanuts.

It isn't "Unicorns Kick Ass!" but oh my...

Say It Ain't So, Avril!: "

Word on the street is that Avril Lavigne kills kittens! We know- it's totally shocking and unexpected, but if someone took the time to put it on a sticker, it's almost certainly, absolutely true. [Related: NYC Streetart Project @ Flickr, with a comprehensive library of tags.]

"

(Via Gothamist.)

There's a legend about the casting for the Thin Man character in Charlie's Angels.

Apparently Crispin Glover wrote three dense pages of a character outline for the role, which got him hired.

Warren Ellis has written a character study for Bond which just screams "please let me write the screenplay."

They won't.

The woman in our subway car spellbound us with tales of damnation.

Repent she told us. The end is near.

Wake up she said.

But alas, I had already slept through my stop.

I now have the tracking number for my shuffle.

Ain't clients grand?

That was some drunk Dustin Hoffman.