The Harry-est Town in America

What’s the Harry-est town in America? And I don’t mean body fuzz.

Amazon is running a contest to find out what U.S. town (on a per capita basis) will pre-order the most copies of the new Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Interesting concept? Yes. Genius marketing idea? Absolutely.

The winning town will be announced shortly after the end of the contest at 11:59 PM PDT on July 15, 2007. Here are the current standings as of right now:

  1. Falls Church, Virginia
  2. Gig Harbor, Washington
  3. Vienna, Virginia
  4. Fairfax, Virginia
  5. Media, Pennsylvania

Visit Amazon’s Harry-est town in America promotion to see the top 100 cities.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of November 19

Now that you’re settling in and letting all that turkey digest and I have your attention I think it is the perfect opportunity to serve you this week’s five favorites found on Gadling.

5. The Post on Hookup Travel:
Face it – the holidays can be a drag without someone there to cuddle with in the lodge on your ski vaca or to without a hand to hold as you stroll alone down a sandy beach on the islands. In short, if you’re single and desperately wishing not to go solo this season check out this piece on hookup travel.

4. Stink 0, Airlines 1:
Here’s an interesting story of a smelly German guy who got booted from his flight for being a little too offensive with his odor. The poor fellow never made it to court and his case was tossed anyway considering his odor wasn’t due to disability or illness. That stinks! (No pun intended.) Read the full deal for yourself.

3. How to Bargain Abroad: The Right Way:

Savvy shoppers know how to bargain, yet there are two ways of going about this sport: the right way and the wrong way. If you’re good and I mean really good at doing it the right way you’re bound to score some awesome goods, otherwise you’ll be like the rest of us suckers getting jacked by high prices. Learn to do it right.

2. Stashing your Goods in Your Sandals:
For all the gift-giving individuals out there, give your loved one the gift of peace-of-mind. These women’s sandals by Reef allow you to stash a credit card or two, a key and some cash in a secret compartment. Pretty cool gear piece if you’ve always been one to cling to your goods on the beach fearing someone would take them.

1. America the Unfriendly:
Say it ain’t so? Or is it? Is it really that hard making it into our borders? Visas that tough to obtain? You be the decision-maker.

Update from the Road: Walk Across America Complete

6,710,099 steps later, 3,177 miles covered and our mission is complete! As I may have mentioned here on various occasions I have been on the road walking, stepping and counting my steps across this magnificent and diverse country with a program called Steps Across America. When we started our question sounded a lot like that of the Tootsie Roll Pop Owl and his friend pondering the number of licks to finish a Tootsie Roll Pop. While the world may never know the answer to that question they now know how many steps it takes to trek America via the route found at the SAA site. Thanks to Sportline and all our amazing sponsors I was able to share the experience with 11 other individuals. With our final walk to the Santa Monica pier there were tears and cheers, but most of all the rewarding feeling of knowing you really did something to affect the masses.

Thanks to Kodak I’ve managed to take over 1,200 photos on this journey and will be searching for the best way to catalogue them for you guys to see. It may take me some time, but never fear – you’ll see them before the end of the year. Right now I’m going to go rest my feet.