where do I sign up?

There is an organization which supplies judges for those eating contests that are common at the summertime fairs: the International Federation of Competitive Eating. This afternoon, they'll be at the World Corny Dog Eating Championship at the Texas State Fair, but I doubt there'll be a contest to see how many Original Key Lime Pie Bar™s (a slice of key lime pie, dipped in chocolate, on a stick) can be eaten in a single sitting. It wasn't that long ago that the fare rage was "fried BBQ" .. yes, indeed .. you deep-fry something and then barbecue it (or was it the other way around?).

Fair food worth sticking with describes the food available at the Minnesota State Fair: (somehow I doubt that "Smoked Norwegian on a Stick" would go over well in Dallas). I remember seeing Egg Rolls On A Stick at a fair in Orange County, California .. what is it with stick food anyway? What's next - Jicama on a Stickama? There are 54 listings for "food on a stick" on the Minnesota State Fair's web site, including macaroni and cheese. Hmm .. do they supply the rubber bands needed to hold it in place?

I've mentioned The Straight Dope™ (a column by Chicago's Cecil Adams) before, but maybe not his fan website: Teemings. Chicago is larger than Dallas, so is probably listed somewhere on Sprawl City (which I found via Cool Site of the Day). Dallas is just behind Los Angeles when it comes to sprawl! Then there was the link to the Sustainable Dallas web site, where they describe "sustainable business practices such as conservation, pollution prevention and the use of renewable energy". Bah! Heresy!

And finally, with all the talk about the validity of the National Do-Not-Call List, I stumbled across one of the websites for those telemarketing vermin: TelSearch. Sadly, there are probably hundreds more of these bottom-feeders.