Michael Moore, looking to get Fahrenheit 9/11 on TV before the election, foregoes seeking Best Documentary Oscar nomination.

For the first time

Even after almost two years of living in NYC, returning here after being out of town still makes me feel the wonder and novelty of a tourist. The lights of the Empire State and Chyrsler Buildings from across the river. Crossing Manhattan past the residences on the long blocks and downtown past the bodegas and restaurants lining the avenues. The three 80s-style heavy metal chicks filming a commercial. Hipsters with bags laden with hummus hailing cabs in Chelsea. And an impromptu puppy gathering on the front steps of my building; more soft fur than any one town deserves for itself.

College textbooks are showing up on Bit Torrent.

Ken Jennings back on Jeopardy and continues to win.

Did the First Americans Come From, Er, Australia?.

TiVo and Netflix are teaming up to offer downloadable movies.

The WaPo on Kobe’s strange apology and the “disagreeable conclusion” to the court case.

Holy crap! It’s a gigantic killing machine!.

Flying Triangles

There’s a strange article on space.com right now about the continued sightings of Flying Triangle UFOs. A man familiar with the sightings says the sightings of the triangles are akin to those of the then-secret stealth fighter and bomber back in the 80s:

But it does not appear to be consistent with the covert patterns of deployment we saw with the F-117 and B-2 prior to their acknowledgement. This is open, even brazen.

Which makes sense. Maybe the DoD is testing out a new hover aircraft. But people have been sighting these things in populated areas and adorned with unusual lights:

The vehicles sometime fly with easily noticeable bright lights — either blinding white lights, or have “bright disco lights” that usually flash combinations of red, green or blue.

Bright disco lights? Is it a mobile wedding DJ transport? Sony’s new PlayStation Mega platform with built-in Dance Dance Revolution? Old movie props from Close Encounters of the Third Kind? I thought space.com was a serious journalistic organization. Stay tuned for next week’s headline: “Moon made of cheese, says National Institute for Believing that the Moon is Made Out of Cheese (NIBMMOC)”.

Paul Graham on the writing of essays. I liked this bit: “so the main value of notebooks may be what writing things down leaves in your head.”

Paul Ford is going to “collect as much data on the U.S. government as [he can], convert it to RDF, and build a site and a web service that make it possible to explore that data”. This first column of the Hacking Congress series is called “Screenscraping the Senate”.

Austrian physicists were able to teleport photons over 600 meters across the Danube.

Awesome collage photo of table tennis players.

QTVR panoramas of the main RNC protest march in NYC.

Photos of the Unemployment Line protest in NYC.

Humiliated, Angry, Ashamed, Brown.. A photo student get hassled repeatedly by the Seattle PD and federal agents about taking pictures. The Homeland Security guy’s 9/11 speech is nauseating.

Kerry Rocks: “John Kerry plays guitar, George Bush was a cheerleader. You decide.”.

Wow! The charges against Kobe Bryant were dropped because “the sole victim at this time is unable to go forward”. Read Bryant’s odd apology. I wonder what the real story is here…I hope she didn’t bow out due to any pressure or because she was making it up. Either way, what a mess.

Meow meow meow, meow. Meow meow. Meow! Meow!. Meow, meow, meow meow?

Fake but plausible NYC subway map to hand out to RNC delegates.

On the Webster Apartments, one of the last women-only apartment buildings in NYC. Maid service, no men allowed in rooms, 2 meals a day.

Sofia Coppola’s next movie will be a Marie Antoinette bio-pic.

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Dave Matthews Band Lyrics That Take On New Meaning in Light of the Recent Brouhaha Surrounding One of the Band’s Bus Drivers, Who Allegedly Dumped the Contents of the Excrement Tank off of a Chicago River Bridge and Onto the Deck of a Tour Boat.

Ruff! Ruff ruff ruff ruff, ruff ruff. Ruff Ruff, ruff.. Ruff ruff ruff ruff, ruff ruff. Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Ruff ruff.

Do you really need a real estate agent to buy/sell a house? Perhaps not at 5% commission.. May real estate agents rot in hell with the NYC apartment brokers.