Drive-Bys

The brilliant (and bent) mind behind @MayorEmanuel is finally revealed:

For weeks, journalists and insiders have urged the person behind @MayorEmanuel to reveal himself, but he (or she) demurred. Until now. After a protracted email negotiation, the author has outed himself to The Atlantic. He's receiving no compensation.

The genius behind @MayorEmanuel is Dan Sinker, who has a heart made out of Chicago and balls of punk rock.

Read the whole beautiful thing.

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I don't know why anyone would pay full price for a meal in Chicago, what with Groupon, YouSwoop, LivingSocial, kgbDeals, Open Table and Village Vines offering wonderful deals. And now there's a new and innovative entry into the market -- gDine.com:

Bargain-hunters, there's another discount-dining game in town.

gDine.com launched in the Chicago market today with about 20 participating restaurants, and owner Rakeesh Thakkar says he'll have 100 restaurants within two months.

"It's Opentable meets Orbitz meets Restaurant Week," Thakkar says.

Positioned as an alternative to couponing, the site lists restaurants and their deals, generally a set menu (with choices) for a given price. Diners select a day and time, pay up front and arrive to dine with the big unknown -- the check -- already paid.

Thakkar says the format is especially helpful to larger parties. Individuals can pay their share up front and enjoy dinner with no "who-ordered-what" issues at meal's end.

Sounds good!

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Have any of my readers tried this Provent doohicky?

Looks to me like it would beat the hell out of a CPAP machine or any of the dental devices available on any number of levels -- less invasive, more mobility in bed (YOU try turning over with a hose attached to your head without strangling yourself and/or yanking the machine off the nightstand), and certainly more portability.

I'm seriously thinking about getting the free trial sets, but would be interested to know if any of you have tried this product and how it did or did not work for you.

P.S. -- Given that my dreams, which are once again lasting all night long, have recently featured little pop-up ads in the lower right-hand corner of my dreams, just like the ones at Pajamas Media, anything that would improve my quality of sleep at this point would be welcomed.

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Note to self: Pay attention to the weather report and carry a damned umbrella if rain or sleet is in the forecast. You'll pay the price if you don't.

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