SATURDAY, 12/2/2000, 11:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Slacker Raul" Edition

Look at Raul slugging it, it was even his turn today. Not too much news today though.

Ever want to check out when the International Space Station will by flying by? Heaven's Above has some nice mapping apps on it's site to tell you where major celestial bodies will be in your area. Check it out here.

Looks like some CIA contractors and employees hacked their way into the CIA system to create little chat rooms. While not unusual by itsef, this hack went on for about 15 years. And we trust these people with national security. Read the article here.

The Squab has a little write up of the Voodoo5 hidden surface removal. While it is still extremely beta (like nVidia's FSAA), the scores do show the potential of the technology. Read the article here.

PS, I have a V5-5500 now and compared to Raul's nVidia FSAA, the V5 fsaa is much nicer.

Gideontech has a review of the eVga Geforce2 MX card. This is the exact card that I'm taking out to put in the v5. While is disagree about the overclockability of the card, for the price, it is a deal. Check out the article here.

The Sultan of Brunei was known as one of the richest people in the world, but not rich enough. Seems like his son as off spending a bit too much, almost 15 BILLION is junks. Read the story here.

During my time working for Times Supermarket, from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, we were forced to listen to cheesy Christmas songs played over the PA. Seems that the employees weren't the only ones bothered by the same loop of old Christmas songs. Customers in England did something, demanded that they stop playing overplayed christmas music. See the story here.

FRIDAY, 12/1/2000, 9:58am HST by Penfold
The "Freezing My Ass" Edition

It is so cold in Manoa today, must be in the high 60s or something. For you mainland readers, trust me, it's really cold.

For Weid, here's a primer on DVDs to help you with your new drive. Raul has a good size stash of DVDs, go bum some "alternative" DVDs from him.

Submitted by Laura, sorry for the poor PS job, don't have enough fonts to do it right.

MS, with he input of end users, has compiled a list of all known bugs in Win2k. Check it out here, though I don't think anyone here actually runs win2k.

No, that's not feeling up Raul, if you are, I don't want to know about it. But this site is just full of demos for you to dl and twiddle with your computer. Go dl some and see how l33t your computer is.

Video seem choppy and unsmooth? Maybe you need a new video card like this one. While this Chaintech MX is no geforce ultra, it is dirt cheap.

Computer still isn't holding up to the demo's abuse? Maybe you need a new processor (Weid, I'm looking at you, buy my celery2 (it'll do 850mhz at 1.65v) so I can get a cC0 p3). Check out a review of the new cC0 stepping celery2 processors here. While no where as fast as a comparable duron, it does save you from buying a new MB.

Hmmm, even with the new vid card and processor, your computer is lagging, How much are you OCing it? Maybe you need a better HS/fan combo like this one.

Still not quick enough, maybe you need some more system ram. Buy it now, because it looks like the market is going to be turning up in 3/01. Read the story here.

FRIDAY, 11/30/2000, 7:30pm HST by Raul

Unquestionably dangerous cell phones

Swiss police have intercepted a cache of arms that include guns disguised as mobile phones. The phones don't actually work but contain barrels for four .22 bullets and a winding mechanism made to look like an aerial.

Direct from the very green apartment, some latest pictures of some of the original Tokenfelines in their element. 1 2 3

It seems that the Napster for pr0n, Leechnet (maybe it should be called Lechnet), will have a major problem to contend with in the form of easily traded child pr0n. Again, it will come down to whether the service it responsible for the information traded, or if the users are.

Now this looks painful. Washington Capitals Peter Bondra (12) shoves Tampa Bay Lightning's Martin St. Louis (26) into the cross bar. Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig, left, made the save during the first period Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2000, at the MCI Center in Washington.

See, don't sell your soul

Hackers exploiting a loophole in America Online's sign-up process have begun taking their pick of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) accounts, hijacking them virtually at will.

The technique emerged early this month on AOL-Files, a meeting place for AOL hackers, where it was born as a harmless hack that allows users to establish AOL accounts with indented screen names.

THURSDAY, 11/30/2000, 12:58am HST by Penfold
The "Bar Convention Tommorow" Edition

3dfx's v5 5500 pci video card has made quite a splash in the Mac world. Seems that there is a distinct lack of anything approaching high end 3d for the Mac. You know Mac people are having problems with the refer to 40fps as "buttery smooth". Read the story here.

Seems that 3dfx has been working on applying hidden surface removal (HSR) to their new driver. Basically, if something is obscured by an object in the foreground, the HSR doesn't render the hidden image, while a conventional vid card would draw the behind image then draw over it with the foreground image. Guess this is what 3dfx was looking for when they acquired Gigapixel. The drivers are extremely beta, but it looks like this is a way to significantly boost the output of any vid card. Even better, as the complexity of the image increases, the percentage improvement also goes up. Check out the story here.

Not to be left out, [H] has put up a review of the Visiontek Geforce2 Ultra up. While not quite as cool as a v5-5500, the geforce2u from visiontek does crank. I had a visiontek gefore256, never had a problem with it. Read the story here.

Quarter to Three has a little bit of gamer comedy (who doesn't) concerning the still on going election. Read up on the story here.

Fly powered craft? This is too odd to believe, check it out here, and if you build it, tell me if it works.

Bet that Raul would say that he though of this too. Pr0nster, napster for dirty pictures. Sex really does drive the computer industry. Think your dirty thoughts here.

Maybe the "relaxation parlors" in Honolulu should turn into car washes.

WEDNESDAY, 11/29/2000, 1:45am HST by Raul
The "Just got home from work" edition

Shoulda ate them birdseeds instead

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -- Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, who vowed to live on "birdseeds" while eluding police in New York and Los Angeles, landed back in custody while trying to place an order at a McDonald's restaurant, police said on Tuesday.

Court outlaws treating of non-criminals as criminals

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declared unconstitutional police roadblocks set up to catch drug offenders, ruling they violate privacy rights of innocent motorists.

In an important victory for advocates of civil liberties, the high court by a 6-3 vote ruled against Indianapolis, where police had erected the roadblocks to stop all motorists in an effort to halt the flow of illegal drugs through the city.

The Firingsquab has a preview ofWarcraft 3 up, due out next year. It looks like it's going to be a veritable festival of eye candy. Almost makes me want to get it, until I realize I am not really an RTS'er. Oh well, people like Dave the Muss should be pleased. They'll use any excuse to put in a glowing particle or lighting effect these days. You see what the Geforce did? Developers are getting used to having essentially free hardware lights.

For those of you that care, and I know you do, there's a new Mr. Wong episode out over at Icebox. Gotta hand it to the folks at Icebox, they come out with some fantastically produced stuff on a very consistent basis.

I can't believe someone beat me to implementing the PlamPr0n idea. I had it all worked out, Avantgo and all. Oh well, I guess it was kind of obvious.

TUESDAY, 11/28/2000, 7:58am HST by Penfold
The "Wintergreen Altoids" Edition

Went to Scoozie's today for lunch. They have a new menu now with some new dishes, go check it out.

This one is a little too weird for words, see it here.

DISTRIBUTED.NET, runners of the rc5 distributed computing project has entered a strategic partnership with United Devices, Inc. UD is another distributed computing company, but it's a commercial entity. Distributed promised to continue working on the rc5 projects, though they will now be employees of UD. Read their press announcement here.

In more distributed computing news, Stanford University's Chemistry department would like to borrow some of your spare computer cycles to do some modeling of folding proteins. Read the story here. The project is named Folding@home.

Think the v5-6000 with it's 4 vsa-100 chips is enough. Get this for your favorite gamer. Quantum3d, makers of some real high end hardware, has announced their new 16 vsa-100 video card. This new video is part of Quantum3d's flagship computer, the AAlchemy TX 8464. Specs include a gig of VIDEO ram and dual p3 933 processors. MSRP is 40k (though they'll probably cut you a deal if you actually want to buy one). Read 3DNews.net news clip about it here. I wonder if nVidia will be able to keep up.

No, I'm not going to bore you with news about chads or other esoteric matters, but you know it's getting bad when we're lectured to by a 3rd world dictator.

The problem is with the Congress and imperialist circles. The Congress ignores the realities of the world and it may declare a war on a country without even knowing where it is located.

For a third world dictator, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has a good bit of wisdom. Bet that most Congressional members think that Yemen is a made up country from Friends. Check out some of his comments here.

The Register has a story about filthy rich Brits Paul McCartney and Elton John going to bat against napster. Hmmmm, kinda like kids of super rich parents against the inheritance tax. Read the story here.

PS, to get revenge, I went on Napster to finish off my Paul McCartney and Elton John collection.

What happens when you pay minimum wage for employees and not much more for the managers at Taco Bell. Having worked at McDonalds way back in the day, when you pay minimum wage, you get minimal employees. How many times have I heard employers lament about the quality of their employees. Hello McFly, pay a reasonable wage and you'll get decent employees. How many good employees do you expect to find for $5.50 an hour?

Just when you though the sex content for the day was getting all limp...

Your favorite sexpot, Marge Simpson. Daily Radar has a story about why marge was such a hottie. Inspect her goods here.

Nookie is Good for You

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Men can halve the risk of a major heart attack or stroke by having sex three or four times a week, a specialist in cardiovascular disease said on Tuesday.

Yes, pr0n drives the entertainment industry. Look at what happened to betamax when pr0n producers decided to go with vhs. The PDA market is the next frontier for the pr0n business. PK Entertaiment, who provides PDA pr0n via Avantgo thinks so. Read their comments here.

Noticed the article didn't have the link to the PK Entertainment site? Through the use of a whois search, I managed to find their site (for purely investigative purposes, I promise). The things I do for our readers.

Oh, you want the url, ummm, well ok here is.

MONDAY, 11/27/2000, 1:30pm HST by Raul

Well, Florida's Republican secretary of state certified Bush the winner there, and he wasted no time in, uh, assuming the role of president-elect. Above, he tries his best to look presidential. But he only succeeds in looking like the mouth-breathing imbecile that he is, IMHO.

Rate my cookies

WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- A woman who police say greeted a company of returning soldiers with a plateful of marijuana-laced cookies has been charged with assault.

Also in the pot world: Supreme Court Takes On Medical Marijuana Dispute
I wrote a 45 page second year seminar paper on this exact topic in law school. -Penfold

Clueless

Italians seeking online information about the European Union could bump into a Web site hosting explicit pornographic images that certainly don't bear the imprimatur of European Commission President Romano Prodi, Italian lawmaker Alessandra Mussolini said Monday.

I have to cut this post short; I found out I work earlier than I thought.

SUNDAY, 11/26/2000, 1:30pm HST by Raul
The "Not just slow, but slow ass" news day post

Well Kingman International, the creator of the ever-popular Spyder paintball gun, has entered the electro-fray with its EM1, which they claim is capable of 20 balls per second. That would put it up there with the fastest-firing paintball guns. Question is, it is as, uh, well-made as a Spyder?

No Cubans here

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) -- Voters in a north Indian city, convinced by promises to eradicate corruption from civic offices and provide good roads, drainage and clean drinking water, have made history by electing a eunuch as their mayor.

So for those of you who know someone who is addicted to Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator and are looking for that perfect Christmas present, (Gary, nudge nudge) MS has just released Combat Flight Simulator 2. The Squab gave it a pretty good review. It would be the perfect excuse to get a little more hardware, too.

Downey and out

Actor Robert Downey Jr. has been charged with drug possession in Palm Springs, Calif., after being arrested in a hotel room with cocaine and methamphetamine, police said.

The Smoking Gun has posted some documents pertaining to the shenannigans of Jeb Bush's son John, aka "Jebby" in a Florida mall parking lot. Well the report says "sexual misconduct", but really, what the heck does that mean? He was doing something incorrectly?