Well, out in October I guess. Looks more dessert focused. Improvements on the Tollhouse cookie recipe, homemade pop tarts and more.

Alton's official page about the book.

First Christmas list item.

Re: those yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets. Thank you The New York Times for writing this for me. My thoughts exactly. Especially after seeing all the Olympic athletes with them, and everyone else and their dog (did I see Kerry with one?) I've got to marvel at the sheer genius of this move. Nike -- you prove yet again that you are incomparable.

When I started reading this, I thought it was all just tongue in cheek... but upon further reading I wonder. Has the level of fanaticism for the iPod taken on such a pitch that people think they are sentient? Now that is some fierce and inspiring customer fanaticism.

These people are not the only ones who think that iPods have minds of their own. IPod enthusiasts are throwing all manner of Shuffle conspiracy theories around on Internet message boards, ranging from the somewhat plausible to the absurd.

At the macslash.org discussion site, one posting said: "I'm pretty sure iTunes is not sorting my songs randomly. It seems to learn. I'd say it's using some Bayesian logic and/or simple neural networks to vary probabilities of songs to be selected and adjust parameters of selection by the users history of song skipping."

When confronted with such elaborate theories, Stan Ng, Apple Computer's director of iPod product marketing, laughed. "The funny thing about it is that it really is random," he said. "When you turn on Shuffle Songs, it creates a randomized list of all the music on your iPod without repeating a song."

And other classic anti-piracy ads.

Having fought tiny battles with the Olympics folks when I managed the municipal site for Salt Lake City prior to the games there, I empathize a bit with Mark Cuban's frustration. And he makes a really excellent point. From a business standpoint especially, cooperating with the Olympics is a one-sided relationship. A win-lose. A royal pain in the neck with bupkiss in return.

First our local hometown benevolent magnate Walt Worthy buys the Met Mortgage building and promises to make it cool (retail, luxury condos, maybe even hotel rooms). Now word that the Met Theater is also to be sold to a guy (Mitch Silver) looking to take it to the next level. Three cheers for Spokane economic progress!

Looks like we can quit capitalizing "Internet" and "Web" now.

Wired says so.

Fine By Me.

About time too actually, as the internet is really just another medium of communication. Capping that has never set well with me anyhow.

If you don't want to suffer the download.

I'm not ready to write her epitaph yet, but this article mentions Alton Brown so it gets my full undivided attention.

This is a great list of terrible sales techniques. I've seen them all and they never cease to gag me.

# The Porcupine Close
# Leading Questions
# Matching and Mirroring the Client
# The Tie-Down Technique
# The Erroneous Conclusion Technique