Evan Ratliff has been captured!

In case you haven't heard already, Evan was caught Tuesday evening in New Orleans. Gluten-free pizza seems to be his achilles heel. Read about how Evan was caught at the official Wired blog, www.wired.com/vanish The folks at http://www.vanishteam.com/ put the pieces of the puzzle together and alerted hunters in New Orleans. I suggest you read their story on their web site.

A big congratulations to the folks at Wired for a successful contest.

This will most likely be my last blog entry. I might have more insight or refelections once Evan's story is published in the December issue of Wired.

Atlanta

We know he went to Atlanta. We don't know if he stayed in Atlanta. Evan's clues about his favorite Chik-Fil-A and favorite Mexican restaurant could be diversion. Then again, they could be very bold moves such as the soccer game in Salt Lake City. However, we don't know if he even left the Atlanta airport. I have a question into Nick if there is any new information regarding flights since he landed in Atlanta.

The Fulham Football Club does not play again until Sunday, September 9. The next US Men's National Team plays Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday, September 9, in the country of Trinidad and Tobago. Rules preclude Evan from leaving the states, so he won't be attending in person, but expect him to be watching on television. This match will be televised on ESPN, so there are plenty of bars to choose from, not just the soccer bars listed below.

Here is a guide to Soccer bars in Georgia from Fox Soccer Channel:

GA	Jeffrey's Sports Bar & Grill Alpharetta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	McColgan's Alpharetta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Meehan's  Alpharetta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Wild Wing Cafe Athens	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Bench Warmers Sports Grill Atlanta 404-321-0303	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Brewhouse Cafe 3401 Moreland Avenue  Atlanta 404-525-7799	LIVE international matches including English Football, World Cup Qualifiers, and Fox Soccer Channel telecasts. Call for schedule.
GA	Dantanna's Surf & Turf 3400 Around Lenox Drive, Suite 304 Atlanta 404-760-8873	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Fado Irish Pub Atlanta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Fox and Hound Pub  1193 Collier Road  Atlanta  404-352-1007	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Hartfields Grill and Bar 1375 Virginia Ave. 404-763-9922 Atlanta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Limerick Junction Pub  822 N.Highland Ave.  Atlanta	Fox Soccer Channel Subscriber. Owner Man U fan.
GA	Loca Luna  836 Juniper St Suite B  Atlanta  (404) 875-4474	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	McDuff's Irish Pub Atlanta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Mellow Mushroom Emory 1679 Lavista Road NE Atlanta 404-325-0330	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	P'cheen  701-5 Highland Ave.  Atlanta  404-529-8800	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Pub 71  4058 Peachtree Road, Suite C  Atlanta  404-467-8271	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	The Rose and Crown 288 East Paces Ferry  Atlanta  404-233-8168	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Taco Mac Peachtree Rd.  Atlanta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Tap Peachtree Rd.  Atlanta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Somewhere in Augusta 2820 Washington Rd.  Augusta 706-739-0002	Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV, and Setanta subscriber. Official viewing spot for Manchester United and USA National Team supporters. Over 40 HDTV flat screens and 15 booth TVs.
GA	Wild Wing Cafe 3035 Washington Rd.  Augusta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	The Manchester Arms  1705 Virginia Avenue  College Park	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	The Firkin & Crown 440 Peachtree Parkway  Cumming 678-845-7997	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Twain's Billiards & Tap Decatur	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Los Bravos Decatur	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Bailey's Duluth	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Loafing Leprechaun 6320 Sugarloaf Parkway Duluth 678-218-0800	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber
GA	Vic's NY Pizza 3455 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Suite A-140 Duluth	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber. Soccer friendly, manager is an Arsenal fan. Shows EPL and Champions League matches.
GA	Coaster's Sports Bar (478) 474-2229 Macon	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Locos Bar and Grill  2440 Riverside Dr. 478-745-8980 Macon	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Churchill's Pub  1401 Johnson Ferry Rd  Marietta  770-565-2739	Fox Soccer Channel Subscriber.
GA	Hammer Jax Marietta	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Johnnie MacCracken's Celtic Firehouse Pub  15 Atlanta St., NE  Marietta  678-290-6641	Fox Soccer Channel Subscriber.
GA	Suburban Tap 1318 Johnson Ferry Rd. Marietta 770-977-4467	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber
GA	Wild Wing Cafe  2145 Roswell Road  Marietta  770-509-9464	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Dark Horse Pub Peachtree City	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Andretti Speed Lab Roswell	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	La Med Restaurant Roswell	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Meehan's  Sandy Springs	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.
GA	Churchill's Savannah	Home of Manchester City! FSC subscriber and all EPL games.
GA	The Penalty Box Stockbridge	Fox Soccer Channel subscriber.

#vanish

@Evanoffgrid

Data Dump from Lexis/Nexis

Twitter searcher @luckyitslizz did a search for Evan using the Lexis/Nexis database. Her access is through a university and is most likely not a full Lexis/Nexis search. The results from this search are mostly from jigsaw.com and mostly they reference Evan's articles from Wired as well as other publications.

Some interesting pieces of information that I have found so far include: Evan held, maybe still holds, the title of Speech Assistant at Wired, and a new (to me) email address: im_ratliff@newyorker.com.

If you have a chance please look through the data and provide your thoughts or questions in the comments section of this blog or on the Find Evan Wiki.

The Lexis/Nexis data dump can be found here.

Thanks,
@EvanOffGrid

#Vanish

Has Operation Bookstore Been Defeated?

It would appear that in Wired's contest to find Evan Ratliff the current score is Evan 1 and Operation Bookstore 0.

Nicholas Thompson, Evan's editor at Wired, posted this tweet today about Evan's successful purchase of Tracy Kidder's new book, Strength in What Remains:



According to Nicholas, via a Twitter direct message to me, Evan emailed him the message about purchasing the book and "Since Evan can't lie to me, it's either true or someone cracked his account. But writing sure sounds like him." 

Nicholas had assured that Evan would purchase the new Kidder book on or before today. The ABA mentioned in the email to Nicholas is most likely a reference to the American Booksellers Association, the association for independent bookstores. Operation Bookstore was mentioned in the official Wired blog, Vanish: Finding Evan Ratliff, ensuring Evan would know the hunters were focused on finding him at an independent bookstore.

Evan is now taunting his hunters by letting us know he eluded Operation Bookstore, which was designed to limit Evan's purchase to a large chain bookstore, thus narrowing his purchase options and hopefully making it easier to find him.

I wonder if our man on the lam went to extraordinary measures to purchase his coveted book at an independent bookstore. Maybe he disguised his appearance even more before walking into the store, throwing a glance over both shoulders, warily looking side to side, before entering the Shangi-La of book nerds: an independent bookstore.

Perhaps the paranoia of a man on the lam forced Evan to hide behind big, dark sunglasses and a creepy-looking trench coat while standing on a street corner whispering to pedestrians, "Hey, wanna make 50 bucks? It's yours if you buy the new Tracy Kidder book for me."

We probably won't know how our efforts to find him effected Evan until his follow up story in the December issue of Wired is published. It seems that the extra worry on his brow or any special steps Evan took to make his coveted purchase at an independent bookstore were worth it. For indeed, he did make his purchase at an independent bookstore and tauntingly defeated Operation Bookstore.

Unless, of course, Operation Bookstore never existed?

Operation Bookstore Is Underway

Attention Evan Ratliff!!

We're coming to a bookstore near you! 

Evan's editor at Wired, Nicholas Thompson, blogged yesterday that he is sure Evan will go into a bookstore on or before Thursday, and purchase a copy of Tracy Kidder's new book Strength in What Remains.

Through contacts (a friend of a friend) I have at the American Booksellers Association, an e-mail will go out to all independent bookstores in the U.S. informing them of the Find Evan Ratliff contest. The e-mail will contain photos of Evan and details of the contest and how to claim the $5,000 prize. They will urge the booksellers to distribute the information to all of their employees.

Hopefully this will put the squeeze on Evan's plan to purchase the latest book by one of his favorite authors. I know he still has the opportunity to go to a chain bookstore for his purchase. I think this campaign will narrow his opportunities to purchase the book. So, if you are one of the friends of Evan, please be sure to let him know that going to an independent bookstore would probably end his time on the lam.

#Vanish