After a heated irc debate about the merits of various pizza joints, which then turned to which aspects of a pizza are most integral to the overall pizza experience, it was decided that the geeks would have to take their argument on the road. The Kansas City area has more than its share of local pizza joints, from places which would take umbrage at being referred to as a "joint" to places which are hardly elegant enough to merit it. We intend to eat at as many of them as possible, then argue ferociously about which are the best and worst on this very blog, until one or more of us cries and goes home.

To begin, I'll lay out my particular pizza preferences and let the other participants chime in as they get around to it.

The most important thing is the crust. They can be thick or thin, but never soggy. Thin can be crispy and chewy after the Neapolitan fashion, or floppy and chewy like some New York slices I've had; even just crisp and flaky as seen in the St. Louis-style. Thick is a lot more particular, it has to be thick and crunchy, like it has been deep fried in the pan. Hard to find outside Chicago, I think, but with luck we can reveal a few places that pull it off locally. Sadly, many places fail on all counts with their crust, which is often either soggy from over-topping, or is basically bread with no particular attributes identifying it as an actual pizza crust.

Continue on for our first stop on the smackdown trail, SPIN! on 119th in Overland Park.

The Kansas City Council yesterday had meetings with a representative from ShotSpotter, a company whose product (rendering pictured) is capable of pinpointing the location of gunfire and, in theory, making it easier for police to find and apprehend the shooter. This comes on the heels of the Star's infamous Murder Factory series highlighting the 64130 zip code, which as it turns out is not only the most violent zip code in Missouri, but within a mile from my house, so I have a certain personal interest in whether this thing can work.

Local blogger Toellner questions whether we need to be spending money on this during a time when the KCPD's budget is looking to come up 6% short. A valid question, but I'm more interested in whether the damn thing actually works. Knowing when and where a gun was fired is potentially useful to law enforcement, especially if the locals aren't keen on talking, but I suspect there are precious few killers who pop caps into a rival and then stand around waiting for the cops to show up. Unfortunately, the testimonials on the ShotSpotter web site aren't very compelling and hard data seems to be nonexistent.

Quoth the marketing material, "ShotSpotter has assisted the Redwood City Police Department in dramatically reducing celebratory and random gunfire." I suppose that is almost the same thing as stopping violent crime, if your goal is to appear to be doing something rather than doing something effective.

Leftover Naan Pizza

Pizza. Arguably the food with the most widespread popularity. So universal that it is rare to find 'traditional' margherita style on the menu (although, this may be changing). We'll try it with any combination of toppings, taco fixings, BBQ chicken, smoked salmon and capers, or -- one of my personal favorites -- with a mustard sauce, sauerkraut and chunks of bratwurst.

Kids love it, Miller Light drinkers love it, even foodies will consume it with wild abandon if the crust is done just so. In my household it is at the top of the list of favorites and I enjoy making it but I believe that it is a great crust makes the pizza. So I'm looking at a five hour lead time whenever I make pizza.

Today I encountered the happy coincidence of having handfuls of naan from the previous evening and a house full of willing test subjects.

While pricing parts for a simple LED project I came across this. While it isn't the pinnacle of aesthetics I must admit that it is the best piece of wearable electronics I have seen to date.

Now I've another reason to envy rodeo riders besides the ball-crushing bull rides and the leather chaps.

Given the current economic tailspin and the dearth of kick-ass Android devices at last week's CES I began reconsidering my vision of a world filled with wonderful Android devices and rocket shoes.

This morning I saw an announcement that CompuLab will release the exenda in March. The exenda's external design leaves something to be desired but it made something in my trousers tingle knowing my vision of Android everywhere is still a possibility.

After reading this I got to thinking about my own revenue generating side work, well...loss leader side work is more like it.

» Computers, programming and just plain hacking

I made a lot of money once a while back hacking out code under pressure on a side project. It was fun, the guys I was working with knew what they were doing but by the end I was burnt out, owed the government a bucket of money and had lost three months of nights and weekends.

I guess someone put up new authentication servers from Tribes 2, and is offering the game as a free download from their site. At first I felt like I was going to be stoked, the excitement began to well and I imagined myself downloading it, jumping in and finding the tattered-but-still-intact remnants of the bustling Tribes community.

Then I remembered that last time I logged in to Tribes 2, a few weeks before Vivendi pulled the plug back in November, there were just a handful of people on. Naturally they didn't care that I hadn't played in years, and they were more than happy to offer helpful comments like, "fuck off, n00b." Is that the crowd these TribesNext people are trying to appease?

Yeah, I'm going to download it and check it out. It's kind of impossible not to, and who knows, maybe I'll run into some of the oldschool good guys immortalized in the epic Tribes hit Sensor Jammin'. I have a feeling they've all moved on, though.

The newest addition to the Cosentino's family of grocery stores opens tomorrow (today, probably, by the time anyone reads this) in an unlikely location: 12th and Main, on the site where formerly stood the iconic downtown Jones Store. The store, known as Cosentino's Downtown Market, will apparently cater to the burgeoning number of downtown residents and workers who haven't yet discovered the City Market, or are too afraid to cross the Mysterious Death Chasm of I-70, which devoured the entire block between 5th and 6th streets in the mid-20th Century under mysterious circumstances.

Of course I jest, a full-fledged grocery store where one can purchase everything at once is an enormous asset. Next, I'm hopeful we can knock down One Kansas City Place and erect a Wal-Mart in its stead. Nothing says big city urban awesomeness like Wal-Mart. Coastal snobs from the likes of New York and San Francisco would fall all over themselves, writhing on their beaches littered with dirty syringes, overcome with envy.

In any event, there is at least a huge parking garage attached to the new Downtown Market which will apparently be free for shoppers. Patrons can rest assured that they won't have to pay to store their rolling ton of steel and rubber on valuable land while they search the aisles for Wonder bread. And thank God for that.

Leftover Roast Beef Hash

As much as I hate to get up early in the morning I certainly have a directly inverse feeling about breakfast. One of my favorite breakfast foods has always been a well done hash -- probably because I don't find it done correctly very often.

There are dozens of ways to make a hash however I think the zenith of the art is to use the remains of a roast beef dinner. And this morning I had the leftovers of a Pike's Peak Roast as my source material. This particular cut comes from the just above the shank on the roast primal -- it is full of connective tissue and can be a little tough if cooked too quickly but is very flavorful if treated right.

After enjoying the roast at dinner I decided it just hadn't cooked enough -- the meat needs to fall apart before it is ready for hash. I returned the leftovers to the crockpot, set it to its lowest setting and left it for the night. This morning I was greeted with all the parts I needed for an excellent hash.

According to a story in the Star yesterday, Johnson County Transit is looking to increase its operating budget to $52 million, from the current figure of $11 million. In some ways I expect this is a great idea, as a generation of boomers is retiring and growing older and may not be comfortable with or capable of driving in the near future. I don't see how it can be very efficient, though, in an area so large and completely lacking in population density.

Certainly the elderly, disabled, and the poor need a way to get around no matter where they live, but it will be interesting to see whether the seemingly dominant contingent of fiscally conservative types in Johnson County can stomach the reality of financing an expensive and underutilized transit system, which will almost certainly be a mobility welfare program rather than any kind of real public transit system that regular people use.