SATURDAY, 12/16/2000, 5:58pm HST by Penfold
The "ICQ and MS M" Edition

Christmas is coming up soon, so get out there and buy your gifts. I think I'm going to wait til the very end again.

Get Wise and Relegalize

Calgary, Alberta -- An Alberta judge this week not only cleared the way for a multiple sclerosis patient to legally grow marijuana for his own treatment, but stated if Parliament does not amend its marijuana laws to allow for a legal supply to medical marijuana patients within a year, it will be legal for anybody to grow cannabis in the province.

Soldier Comes Out of the Closet

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) -- A 15-year-old girl hid an AWOL soldier in her closet for 3 weeks in an Internet-born romance kept secret from her mother with whom she lived, the Columbus Dispatch reported Saturday.

This isn't nearly as odd as you might think. Moi all start off life as males and turn female as they grow older. I'll let you draw you your own parallels to humans. Read the story here.

First was Contours with the external silicon breast enhancements, now this. And women wonder why men stare.

SATURDAY, 12/16/2000, 11:30am HST by Raul

The Firingsquad has an interview with Brian Burke (ex-3dfx PR guy who apparently jumped ship at the right time) posted.

Voodooextreme has a few short comments from John Carmack posted:

Billy: I'm sure you've seen the news (nVidia buying up most of 3dfx; 3dfx closing their doors shortly), if you haven't been hit up yet for a comment, anything that you'd actually like to say on this? Does this mean GLide is dead (just kidding)...Do you think, with less competition, we'll start to see the video card market, or rather, video card technology, advance a bit more slowly. Anything else on the closure of 3dfx? I mean, hell, they've been a dominant force for so long, it's honestly kind of strange to see them go.

John Carmack: I have been on 3dfx's technical advisory board for a long time now, and it has been pretty frustrating. We had been meeting quarterly since before Voodoo2 shipped, and the product features we had been discussing the entire time still haven't shipped in a product (rampage).

It was painful to watch 3dfx slip from the archetypical kick-ass technology start up to where they wound up.

I think I would have been happiest to have the PC market divided up between three strong players that all had their act together, but at this point, I'm not too unhappy with the market simplification resulting from 3dfx exiting.

The folks over there have a preview of Realwar posted, which is a RTS based on real-life military units. Now you can leave virtual cluster bombs in virtual third-world countries to blow the limbs off virtual kids, and enrage virtual Amnesty protesters.

Dirty old man

ROME (Reuters) -- It took nearly a century, but an Italian retiree has discovered that experience and enthusiasm in the bedroom aren't necessarily the right ingredients for a happy marriage, an Italian newspaper reported Thursday.

Warpig has a bit on a Hollywood-produced "extreme sport" complex that will include some paintball fields. Parts of the X-games will be filmed there, so paintball should be getting larger national exposure in the near future.

TheSmokingGun has an archive of "concert riders" -- essentially demands from performers for items to be at their disposal, or, presumably, they won't show up. Check out a typical list from Christina Aguillera here. Be sure to get a load of page 4. Those dancers should have just requested some crack.

FRIDAY, 12/15/2000, 3:45am HST by Raul
10 days till Xmas

The big news today is the proposed sale of 3dfx's assets to NVIDIA. If you have been following PC gaming at all in the past year or two, you know -- this is HUGE. These are the two hottest graphics chip companies for PC and future console technologies. Read the CNN story here, a Reg piece here, and a very complete but poorly formatted [H]ardOCP piece here.

Strangely, this hasn't appeared on FuckedCompany yet. Maybe I can cash in.

You read the article, now win the USB network adaptor from LittleWhiteDog.

Now this is a nice 'Cocker. It's a Doc's Machine milling job with a PK anodize. Reminds me of the KAPP milling I like so much. And thank GOD it's not splashed, flecked, striped or otherwise ruined with a cheesy finish.

So earlier this week, we took not one, but TWO trips to that mecca of American consumerism, Wal-Mart. Here's a couple of the more interesting sights: The Baum and The Croc Hunter board game (crikey, Steve Irwin's gone big-time!).

FRIDAY, 12/15/2000, 10:58am HST by Penfold
The "I Really Should be Sleeping" Edition

Went to sleep at 2:30am and woke up at 8:30am, I really should be sleeping right now. The things I do for our readers.

Oh yeah, if Raul whines about having to work 7 days straight, this is the world's smallest violin playing a sad song for you. You're making more than me and you're not even an attorney.

The DEA is going after an alleged major Mexican marijuana importer Osiel Cardenas Guillen. If successful, expect a reduction in the amount of mexi weed. Hmmm, maybe that won't be such a bad thing after all. Smuggle the story out here.

Seems like President Bill Clinton left a English pub without paying his tab. The pub owner was annoyed at getting stiffed (hint, send the bill to 1600 Pennsylvania Av.)

The pub owner should be glad that Clinton didn't leave him a stiffy and leave a "deposit" for him. Skip out on the story here.

With the success of the bp6.com, someone has taken it upon themselves to start vp6-board.com, a web site devoted to Abit's newest dualie mother board. Check it out, because two at once is always better than one.

From the brilliant thoughts department, SpamMimic has come up with the idea of hiding encrypted messages in spam (no, not the food, though that amy be a more brilliant idea).

The idea of hiding something in plain site works quite well, like Raul's special water bottle. Having used it, it does generate quite a convincing piece of spam. Get your unsolicited email here.

News Flash, No Santa

LONDON (Reuters) -- Vicar Clive Evans has apologised for telling more than 200 schoolchildren that Father Christmas does not exist.

Parents were angry that the churchman had ruined the magic of Christmas for their children, aged between seven and 11, newspapers reported on Friday.

Santa's dirty little secret revealed here.

This one goes out to Gary who just turned in his finals yesterday.

I'm very mediocre and a man, so why aren't all the women flocking to me? Fall for the story here.

THURSDAY, 12/14/2000, 5:58pm HST by Penfold
The "I Wish We could do an IPO" Edition

We will be throwing a Christmas party this year, so save 12/23/00 for it. More news on it coming up shortly.

Not too much content, all the reporters went on vacation now that the president thing is over.

Spain's paraolympics (the olympics for handicapped people) basketball team has to return their gold medals. Why? Because most of the players weren't handicapped. What gave them away? Probably the fact that they could run up and down the court unhindered. Read the whole story here.

No Smoking, Anywhere

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An upscale suburb of Washington boasts the strictest anti-smoking rules in the United States after a Maryland county council on Tuesday voted narrowly to ban smoking outside.

Wireless internet, that's what I need, to go along with a wireless modem for the palm pilot. Check out HI.net wireless internet service here. Contrary to Raul's beliefs, the laptop is here to stay and will not be supplanted by the palmtop.

Mobile LAN party coming soon to your neighborhood. Neat idea, notice the game that the people are playing.

THURSDAY, 12/14/2000, 5:15pm HST by Raul
The "Wahine fall in four" edition

It was painful to watch. The Wahine went up against #1 Nebraska today in Virginia and didn't make it.

From the start, they didn't seem up to par. For the first 1 1/2 games, they could barely get anything going. Granted, Nebraska had a crushing block, and that may have thrown Hawaii off its game. But while the Wahine played with heart, they mustered few of the moments of brilliance needed to overcome the sheer physical mismatch.

The difference seemed to be right in the middle of the net. Nebraska was a minimum 6'2" across the front, and threw up monstrous 2- and 3-deep blocks that seemed to account for more points than Nebraska's offense. Their offense is anchored by a really tall setter that the Wahine just couldn't solve, nor do they even have a counterpart. Jen Carey is good, but she doesn't have the height to be on the same level as Shapiro (sp?), who is a setter, middle blocker AND an outside hitter.

On top of that, Carey and several other big-name players turned in somewhat lackluster performances that the Wahine could scarcely afford.

The ironic part is something that one of the announcers noted -- that if Hawaii doesn't come away with an NCAA championship, the season seems like a failure. But no, they do deserve the congratulations of the whole state for what was in reality a highly successful season that, judging by the youth of many of the best players, is only the start of things to come. Next up: recruit more HEIGHT!

A roundup of checking shots, from mild to wild.

1. Montreal Canadiens Gino Odjick is sent flying by Calgary Flames Brad Werenka in the first period on Wednesday in Montreal.
2. Carolina Hurricanes' Rob DiMaio, left, and Steve Halko gang up on Minnesota Wild's Aaron Gavey, center, and put a bone-jarring hit on him on Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning left winger Todd Warriner crashes into linesman Thor Nelson in the first period against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday in Denver. I tell you, watching the refs scramble to get out of the way is sometimes as entertaining as the game itself.

Ran across this site the other day, which contains an archive of Easter eggs found in widely known (and some not-so-widely known) computer programs, DVDs, audio CDs, etc. If you don't know what an "Easter egg" is, it's a little secret thing included by (presumably overworked and underpaid) programmers working on a large software project. The "Greg Nakai dancing alien" in Madonion's XLR8R program is an example of an Easter egg. A related site, Slipups.com, catalogs errors made in TV shows and movies.

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a live bait vending machine. You get a decent number of choices, too. If they only had one for 1-2lb aku ...

I'm not usually one who cares much for tricked-out computer cases, preferring function over fashion, but this case is just cool. Check out the rest of the CPL cases at [H]ardOCP

Our mystery guest today is .... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! It's a monster!!!

Chef Mario Batali of "Molto Mario" fame, doesn't take a break from his cooking duties over the holidays. Instead, Batali prepares feasts for family and friends. Here he is at Babbo with a soon-to-be-ex employee.

WEDNESDAY, 12/13/2000, 7:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Priceless" Edition

Since Raul is going to start off with one of those priceless pics, I thought I should too.

Raul and I just ordered DVD drives from Proton Computers. We ordered the ever so cool, slot loaded, Pioneer DVD-105S. Why did we choose Proton? Because they ship US Postal and when you do a lot of mail order from Hawaii, that can mean a big saving over UPS second day air.

I know why Raul wants to get his DVD drive already. So if someone from Proton Computers is reading this, ship them out quick before Raul stretches all his VHS tapes.

Palm has been talking about the newest version of it's OS. Read about it here. For those who think WinCE is a superior OS, I say feh.

Firingsquad has a preview of the upcoming game Tropico, where you assume the role of a third world dictator. Sounds like a fun game, bust out a fat cigar and check out the preview here.

MSNBC is reporting about the hack of creditcards.com and the liberation of many CC numbers. Check out the story here. Notice that there is a link there to the company's site that has a list of their biggest users. When I checked it this morning, it was accessible, now it's gone. Do they really think they can do damage control now? They'd be better served if the informed all of their customers of the problem. Hiding it is only going to make it worse.

We used to know someone that we named UniBaller. Wondering why? Check out this story here.

WEDNESDAY, 12/13/2000, 1:45pm HST by Raul

Well this device supposedly made an appearance at the Sydney games, but I didn't watch the Olympics. It's the Airboard, a one-person hovercraft. Apparently, though, it's still very limited in its usefulness. If they could get you over standing water, that would really be something.

This place has some good-looking and really cheap HIDs (human interface devices). Did I mention that they are really cheap? The racing wheel setup looks kinda nice, and the price is right.

You cheat, Dr. Olds

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - General Motors is expected on Tuesday to announce a restructuring plan of its Oldsmobile division that could eventually lead to a phasing out of the brand, according to a published report.

Here's a Snopes bit on "sex" appearing in a Lion King scene. Kind of like the phallic castle in Little Mermaid or "good kiddies take their clothes off" in Aladdin.

The line in Aladdin is actually, "Good kitty, now get up and go" With the audio quality of VHS, is is easy to see how someone looking for something prurient could get phrase. But with DVD, the line is clear. Now the phallic castle in the Little Mermaid cover, I can't explain.

Well I am quite late with posting up this link, especially because the situation is all but resolved. Star-Bulletin investigative reporter Ian Lind has been keeping a public journal of news, views and feedback on the whole Star-Bulletin thing. It's decidedly one-sided, but that's to be expected. So if you want a glimpse of what the last year has held for the SB, and what the future may hold, check the site out. He does daily updates.

TUESDAY, 12/12/2000, 4:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Quantum Tint" Edition

Got some new tint on my car, easily beats that old shitty charcoal tint I had.

Get your Transformers fix now. UGO has a tribute to the Transformers here. Feel the need for some Transformers music? Check out this site for some remixes of the classic Transformers.

Everyone has seen a Matrix bastardization done with screen caps. But this one does if with full flash animation.

Seems like the sane cow disease is spreadable to humans. These butchers have been infected with it and are giving away free beef. Read the whole story here.

Bored with nothing to do? Well, how about corresponding with people who also have nothing to do all day, inmates. Introducing JailBabes, your way to meet nice girls who happened to be incarcerated currently. For the other gender, JailDudes are also available.

The Register is reporting that NASA and the computer industry are working on a crash-proof computer to be sent off into space. Interestingly enough, MS is part of the working group. Guess they're there to tell them what not to do.

Boot up the whole story here.

Maybe Linux is the Answer

Santa Clara, CA -- A recent survey of Linux users found that the two main factors in their migration to Linux was its stability and that it made them feel intellectually superior. Developers promise that along with USB support there will be increased intellectual superiority in the upcoming 2.4 kernel release AKA the "Hubris" kernels.

Even the reindeer are getting into the Christmas spirit.

MONDAY, 12/11/2000, 2:00am HST by Raul

Hey, at least it wasn't a Vise-grip

NEW ORLEANS -— The Federal Bureau of Investigation Friday joined a New Orleans Police Department investigation of five city narcotics officers accused of using pliers to conduct an anal search of a drug suspect, police said.

Well our friends at Camp Chaos are at it again, this time coming up with some brilliant political commentary on the election. First up, they have a whole section set up for 2000 campaign commentary. The latest piece, which features a public statement by Dubya pretty much sums up how I feel about him. Be sure to download "Dubya's Soundbite Machine" and check it out, it's funny.

This is interesting, apparently Camels from Amsterdam, aside from being in a pretty colored box, are sold as "Smooth American Blend." So which is it, Turkish blend or American blend? Which country's consumers are getting fooled? Click the image for a larger view, courtesy of Consumption Junction.

Finally, someone has come up with a mask that may prove to be a viable alternative to the tried-and-true JT line of masks. Diablo, a company that first came onto the scene as a paint producer, has released two new lines of paintball masks, the Vforce and the Skul. The Vforce line looks a lot like JT Spectras, however there is a model offered called the "Shield" (above), which has a cool built-in throat guard. The Skul mask, below, seems to be mainly a cosmetic thing. Both masks feature wrap-around lenses, which are an absolute necessity these days if a mask is to be taken seriously. Sorry Balls, but I don't think anyone really takes the BE bubble mask seriously.

Check out the Vforce homepage for the cool Flash intro and all that crap.

I wasn't going to post this, but then I read the story and found it to be well-written and entertaining. The man with the Guinness-record World's Longest Fingernails is going to cut them off and sell them.

SUNDAY, 12/10/2000, 11:58am HST by Penfold
The "Index File is Getting Huge" Edition

If you already read Raul's last post, read it again because I put some comments in it.

The fire department responded to a fire alarm and discovered 52# of pot. Somehow I doubt that it was the stash itself setting off the fire alarm. More like the firemen were setting some of the pot on fire themselves. Hit up the story here.

You'd think that people could figure out not to light cigarettes in gas filled rooms. This sounds like the Bugs Bunny cartoon on the pirate ship. Check out the story here.

Have a neurotic cat (or cats) that is driving you nuts? Well it may be truer than you think. Read the story here.
Pookie is always stealing my spot on the couch and is making me all nuts.

Strippers on wheels, now there's a concept waiting to be exploited. Have an instant party anywhere you want. Read the story here about the unfun city of New York (maybe Hillary can get some of the fun back to the city).

So sue me, I'm not a l33t Photoshop Hax0r.

SUNDAY, 12/10/2000, 4:00pm HST by Raul

I'll archive tonight, I promise.

Well anyone who's been to Geery's room of sin has seen these Pepsi cans before, which allegedly were designed to spell "SEX" when stacked two-high. Well Snopes has a little writeup on it, with official comment from Pepsi that it was an odd coincidence. As if they would admit it if it wasn't.

Well it looks like Rage isn't a bunch of corporate sellouts after all. They posted a public apology and are even hosting a registry hack to get Napster users reinstated on their page. Really, it leaves no room to be angry or hurt; kudos to RATM for having the balls to do it.

They even included instructions on how to unban youself from napster. So take note and download the file in case a less friendly band decides to ban you from our beloved Napster. -Penfold

Japan Sumo Association on Dec. 4 approved a new set of winning moves for the first time in 40 years in an effort to enliven the tradition-bound sport. There are 12 new moves, which are variations on the 70 currently recognized by judges.

Now can anyone find a damn even quasi-official sumo homepage here in the US? Goddamit!

That's European Union Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler, talking about the latest EU moves to curb mad cow disease and its most, uh, insidious side-effect. *rimshot*

Finally, Bill

Los Angeles, CA -- This week, in an interview in Rolling Stone magazine, President Bill Clinton says he believes people should not be arrested for possessing marijuana.

Wonder if Uncle Ben C. is going to try something like that towards the end of his term. He seems like he's out to piss off the system. Maybe Fordman can pimp his Pop's union connections and have a few B rips with the Gov. -Penfold

Originally, I was doing to post a rant about how BBSpot really isn't that funny, and never really was. But then, the people who brought us Stiledot came through with this: AOL Technica. Maybe they do have it after all. If it doesn't make you laugh, I disavow any relationship, professional or otherwise, with you.