[Harkening back to the old days and ways of CityCynic.com, I present a new regular feature on the blog called “Today in Links,” featuring multiple interesting news stories I’ve come across. Enjoy. –Ed.]

*Engadget Labs launching October 15: Weblogs, Inc.’s Engadget, the gadget blog, will launch an NYC-based testing lab to perform CNET-style benchmark tests on all sorts of gadgets they review. The blog laboratory will also feature a podcasting studio for interviews with gadget makers.

* Flash memory prices to fall following Apple’s Nano deal: Apple got a bargain on it’s Samsung flash chips for the iPod nano, so now flash memory manufacturers will be forced to reduce the price of flash memory cards, benefitting consumers.

* Ground Zero focus turns to retail: Planners for the new World Trade Center site are turning the attention to adding retail space to Ground Zero after Pataki put the kibosh down on the International Freedom Center. Walmart seems very interested.

* Giants and Jets Agree to Build a Joint New Jersey Stadium: Acting NJ Gov. Richard Codey gets the two New York football teams to stay in New Jersey with a brand new shared $800 million football stadium at the Meadowlands. Designs for the stadium may include lighting the exterior blue or green depending on which team is playing at the time.

* MTA imposes $25 fine for drinking coffee on the subway: The MTA voted to keep a rule against drinking anything on the subway. That means you, morning coffee commuters! Check out the insane things that came out of MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow’s mouth at the meeting. At least they weren’t able to get that photo ban passed.

Just when you thought Kanye West saying, “George Bush hates black people,” on the NBC telethon was the most unexpected story in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there’s killer dolphins on the loose.

That is, US military-trained sharks with frickin’ lasers on their heads a la Austin Powers dolphins taught to shoot terrorists with dart guns are swimming around the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina damaged their evil laboratory holding tanks. No, really!

Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina:

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy’s cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying ‘toxic dart’ guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet’s smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Besides this story essentially being ripped from the Austin Powers movie and Dr. Evil’s plot to take over the world with sharks outfitted with lasers, weren’t the group of dolphins that were set free by Hurricane Katrina after spending some time in a saltwater-converted swimming pool eventually recovered from the Gulf? Didn’t I hear that on the news? Or were the dart gun dolphins actually a second group of dolphins set free?

And, more importantly, which terrorists are the military targetting with dart gun-shooting dolphins in the first place?

Wait, there are poison dart dolphins on the loose? What is going on here?!?!

[via 1115.org]

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were married Saturday in Los Angeles.

And yes, Demi’s ex, Bruce Willis was in attendance.

Moore, Kutcher wed in L.A.:

Representatives for Kutcher, 27, and Moore, 42, could not be immediately reached for comment, but both Us Weekly and People magazine reported on their Web sites that the couple wed in the Los Angeles area on Saturday.

Us Weekly reported that the wedding was attended by about 100 of the couple’s friends, including Moore’s second husband, Bruce Willis. Also at the wedding were actress Lucy Liu and Moore’s three daughters from her marriage to Willis.

Congrats to them both. At least Demi will be keeping her last name, since “Demi Kutcher” just sounds wrong. I guess “Demi Willis” wouldn’t have sounded any better, come to think of it.

We’ve all seen the Bruce-Demi children (Rumer, Scout LaRue, and Tallulah Belle), now bring on the Ashton-Demi babies!

FUN FACT: Demi Moore was born Demetria Gene Guynes in 1962 in Roswell, New Mexico.

I don’t own an iPod (pause for collective gasp) or anything from Apple, but that Steve Jobs guy sure seems to know what he’s doing.

With his success with iPod and iTunes, Jobs has shown he really understands the spirit of the Internet and how music consumers think.

Today at some sort of convention called the Apple Expo, he took the RIAA to task for being greedy:

The labels make more money from selling tracks on iTunes than when they sell a CD. There are no marketing costs for them. We are competing with piracy, so it needs to be a fair price: If the price goes up people will go back to piracy.

Let’s compare: Steve Jobs responds to online file sharing by trying to preserve reasonable pricing. The RIAA responds by suing its’ customers. Which reaction do you think will save the music industry and keep music fans happy?

Now if only Apple would make iPod/iTunes tracks a little less restrictive in how you can use them, I might actually buy an iPod.

And yes, I do have an mp3 player, and it also records live radio. So there.

Someone told me today that I smell good.

That’s definitely better than the alternative, let me tell you.

Anyway, thanks “someone” (you know who you are) — you smelled pretty good yourself.

The 78th Annual Feast of San Gennaro will be held September 15-25, 2005 in NYC’s Little Italy.

The San Gennaro festivities have been an annual event for me — and not just because of my Italian heritage!

It’s because of the delicious sausage heros they serve every year! And, more seriously, for the sense of community I feel each time I go to Manhattan’s Little Italy.

Even as Chinatown tries hard to expand into the historical Little Italy neighborhood, it’s as if the real Italians living in the neighborhood — from those on the street to the various shop owners I meet — recognize my Italian heritage. And that is a unique atmosphere, indeed.

And the daily parade lead by a band following the San Gennaro statue is pretty amazing, as well. I’ll have to dig up my photos from last year for you guys or take some more this time around.

If there was a Little Ireland, I suspect I might feel the same thing there if it were similar to the character of the Little Italy neighborhood, but so far I haven’t found one. And no, Hell’s Kitchen doesn’t count as an Irish neighborhood. It definitely was one, but so was the Five Points.

Anyway, my point was that you — no matter what your heritage — should stop by the San Gennaro festival and get a sausage sandwich. You’ll be happy you did, trust me.

Today marks four years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th.

As many of you know, I was attending NYU at the time and saw the whole tragedy unfold from my dorm room window in Union Square.

It’s weird to be four years after that day looking back. At the time, I can remember wondering if I’d get four days away from it. Now it’s four years later somehow.

I was forever changed that day, seeing all that destruction firsthand, feeling a fear and dread not only immediately, but for weeks following, that I had never felt before. But then there was my family and my friends surrounding me at NYU who became a source of support in coping with what had happened. I’ll always be thankful for that.

I have many memories associated with September 2001, most of which I won’t go into today, but which I remember very clearly. I’ll never forget what happened that day.

Like the past three years, I’ll be returning to Ground Zero today to again photograph the people who return to the site and also the progress made in rebuilding and memorializing. There has been much improvement there and I hope to publish a comparison of the levels of progress from year to year at the site sometime in the future.

I’ll also be going to reflect on all the feelings I still experience about that day and what I and the City went through and to remember Scott Bart, a family friend that we lost that blue-skied September day.

I won’t be there to see the Towers of Light tribute at night, but I’m really happy they’re doing it again this year. I’d love to see some photos at the lights’ new location this year if any of you get some good shots. (Edit: Tien has a good photo here.)

RELATED: I found these various blog posts interesting concerning September 11th, and you might too: Here, here, here, here, here, here, and a list of more here.

ALSO: Four years after September 11th, President Bush’s approval rating is at it’s lowest ever — 39% and Halliburton has been awarded no-bid contracts to rebuild New Orleans.

While flipping channels tonight, I noticed that reporter Arthur Chi’en, who was fired in May after using the f-word live in a report, was back on the air.

Chi’en is now reporting for the WB11 News at Ten after CBS2 fired him for confronting hecklers during a repor on Metrocard scammers. (See video here.)

It seems that the hecklers that got Arthur Chi’en in hot water were causing problems for The Opie and Anthony radio show. You know, the show that encouraged a couple to have sex in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral that got them fired and the couple arrested?

I’m happy to see Chi’en has a new job. CBS2 could have cut him some slack in the first place, especially considering his 12 years of reporting experience, but then again, they’re an affiliate of the network that let Janet Jackson show her boob live.

Jerry Lewis has really done it this year.

Not only has he done a remarkable job for the Muscular Dystrophy Association year after year, with his Labor Day Telethon, but this year he expanded the scope of the show to remind people to donate to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

And just like I did last year, I’m asking each and everyone of my readers to donate to the MDA to help fight neuromuscular diseases.

My family has been lucky not to be affected by any sort of muscular dystrophy, but so many families aren’t so fortunate.

Do me a favor and donate to the Muscular Dystrophy Association right now. It’s really for a great cause and your contribution, whether $10 or $100, will go a long way.

And, following the tremendous example of Jerry Lewis, I challenge you to match whatever you donate by sending the same amount of money to the Red Cross to help the thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina. Or, if you’ve already donated to the Red Cross, why not send the same amount to the MDA for Jerry’s Kids?

I just sent two donations — one to the MDA and one to the Red Cross. If I can do it, anyone can. Skip your grande double latte extra foam coffee this week and give some money now. Thanks!

UPDATE: The telethon raised $59.4 million this year, only $5 million less than last year. Not too shabby. But remember, if you haven’t donated yet, it’s never too late to give.

Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died from thyroid cancer at the age of 80.

Chief Justice Rehnquist has died:

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who helped shift the U.S. Supreme Court toward a more conservative ideology and strongly supported states’ rights during his three decades on the bench, has died.

Rehnquist, who presided over the court for nearly 19 years, was 80.

Rehnquist, who had been receiving chemotherapy and radiation for thyroid cancer, died at an Arlington, Virginia, hospital surrounded by his three children, a court spokeswoman said.

All the cable news networks have stopped their coverage of the hurricane aftermath to cover Rehnquist’s death. Even Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN is explaining the medical side of thyroid cancer amidst the destruction in New Orleans. Amazing. I never thought the hurricane story would be pushed off the air like this, although this is a major story.

Of course there will be many debates over how to fill his seat on the Supreme Court in the next weeks and months, but let’s not forget about the thousands of people suffering in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.