10/4 Morning Communiqué

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Twins playoff coverage by Britt Robson and Chuck Terhark at Balls!

Corpus Obscura remembers Prentiss Barnes, the bass singer for the doo-wop group the Moonglows.

The Bad Plus, the Velvet Teen, and Takka Takka are just a few of the acts worth checking out tonight. See Chuck Terhark's City Planner at Culture To Go for a complete itinerary.

THESE DAYS

The U.S. government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity. [via Undernews]

An Austrian Airlines jet made an unscheduled stop Friday after a passenger sneaked a hamster aboard and the rodent escaped.

Parisian smokers are bracing for a major culture shock in the coming months as France prepares to enact a ban on smoking in public places.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Connie writes to pantyhose manufacturers, craves monkey cake, and dreams of cruising to the Bahamas at Evitable.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

"Pecan Pie," a short starring Jim Carrey

The fifth annual Blogger Boobie-thon for Breast Cancer

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"The nicknames that stick are the ones that are organic. This is one that has been with us."

— Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey, on the Arkansas capital city's new nickname "The Rock"