SATURDAY, 12/23/2000, 9:58am HST by Penfold
The "Running Around" Edition

Got to get the mission on to Mililani and Costco to gather up all the stuff for the party. We have the main course set up, not sure about everything else.

This one is just too weird for words. You're going to have to check it out for yourself here.

Adultworld, Hustler and Sextopia are chain pr0n shops and are looking to take over the market in South Africa. Read the whole story here. I wonder what it would look like if one of these stores opened a warehouse outlet.

Poor Santa.

2cpu has a review of the Yamaha 16x cd-rw drive. The Yamaha uses a 8meg buffer instead of BURN-PROOF technology. Will the huge buffer keep up? Find out here. I really need a new cd-r drive, 4x just isn't cutting it anymore.

Remember Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne? I remember shoving quarters in to the coin op Dragon's Lair video game. Its laser disc based graphics was cutting edge for its time. And lead to the spin off game, Space Ace with that virtual hottie, Kimmy. Dragonstone Software is going to release a PC version next year. Check out a preview of it here.

SATURDAY, 12/23/2000, 3:00am HST by Raul
2 days till Xmas

Sorry for the postal parsimony lately, Christmas and working all week has got me running around. But finally, some days off. Don't forget the party tonight ...

Well, in the true spirit of the Advertiser (just kidding), I bring you yesterday's news today: the Advertiser is planning to add an afternoon edition. Lots of speculation about the whats and whys, but suffice to say that things are going to be different come March 16.

As a counter-move, the Bulletin announced it would add a morning edition. It's a full fledged war, and I'm in the middle of it. How fun.

In other newspaper news, Ian Lind's diary site will not be shut down after all.

Badazzmofo is singing the praises of Billy Dee Williams.

This one from Tef: Here's a truly outstanding Dale Chihuly installation art piece. Basically, he made a glass sculpture at the bottom of a pool then covered it in resin. Looks like you're swimming over a rainbow colored reef. Absolutely amazing. Here's another look.

Someone, go buy this book.

Looks like the Angel deal may fall through. No biggie, the cocker still works fine and I have some small bottles coming for it. Plus, I still want an Excalibur someday.

FRIDAY, 12/22/2000, 9:58am HST by Penfold
The "Penfold's Editorial" Edition

We have acquired a supply of crab for tommorow. We are going to grab the prime rib today, so the party is on for tommorow.

[rant] I've always wanted my own editorial page, so I guess this is the closest I'm going to get.

A student, who did what the school told him to do is now suspended for hacking the school's computer system. The teacher admitted to telling the student to hack the system and the student didn't even fully exploit the hack. I mean, next time he hacks the computer, he might as well take full advantage of it rather than telling the teacher if he's going to get into that much trouble. Read the whole story here.

Brings back some memories. Ah yes, the good old days of hacking the Iolani mainframe, though that was a wetware hack.

PS2, Yeah Right

GOVERNMENT SOURCES TELL NBC News an informant warned U.S. Customs a month ago that an organized group with ties to Iraq was buying thousands of PlayStations from toy stores in Detroit.

On a separate note, the story states, "Experts claim that the computer chip and 3-D video processor in a PlayStation are one thousand times more powerful than the most sophisticated computer on the consumer market today — turning toys, into potential weapons." Must be some really dumb experts.

Hit up the full story here.

Egghead.com officially gets my prize for the worst online merchant. Not only do I get stiffed on my RAM order, now news comes out that they got hacked and may have had their CC records accessed. Even worse, they don't even know which CC numbers may have been compromised. Now I have to watch to make sure that my CC bill isn't messed up. Were it not for their bait-and-switch tactics, my CC number would probably still be safe. I now pray with all my heart that they become the next Fucked Company.

Ironic isn't it. Ted Turner is offering to pay part of the US's debt to the UN since the Republicans can't get their heads out of their assess and approve appropriate funding. For the dumb assess in the US Congress, here's a quick lesson on UN funding. The UN Charter says that every nation should pay 1% of their GNP with a max of 25% of the total funding for the UN. Now if the US wants to use the UN for it's own purposes, they'd better damm well pay for that right. No other 1st world nation bitches and moans about their UN dues than the US even though they pay their full 1%. Read the whole story here.

iWon is offering some advice on how to avoid a holiday hang over. I have a really good suggestion, don't drink too much. A hangover is akin to natural selection. If it hurts that much, you won't do it again. So next time you're worried about having a hangover the next day, STOP DRINKING. Or try something that doesn't cause a hangover. Investigate the story here.

The best way to avoid the hangover the next day is to drink a lot of water before you sleep. And I mean a lot, 1.5L bottle is good. And when you have to wake up to piss in the middle of the night, drink more water. This method is officially endorsed by Tokenasians.com

I now return you to your normally scheduled irreverent postings.
[/rant]

THURSDAY, 12/21/2000, 1:30am HST by Raul

So I did some decorations around here. Yeah, it's cheesy, but that's my middle name. Maybe I'll tinker with it a little more later. The red is a little too glaring.

Well if any of you clicked on Ian Lind's Star-Bulletin diary, go take a look at the last entry in it, before it's too late. Apparently, SB management shut Lind down with the threat of firing him. Well that's his side of the story. In a memo, circulated on both sides of the hall (unknown whether it was intended to make it across to us), the SB CEO denies any such accusations. I wonder where the truth lies?

Hawaii legalizes it

People with serious illnesses can begin legally using marijuana under state law on Dec. 28, but the new law is vague on how patients can obtain the drug while state and federal regulations clash on its use.

Since Penfold has an unnatural obsession with big power supplies, here's one serious 650 watt (peak) power supply. You can tell it's hardcore because of the gold fan guards. Yeah.

Palm on fire

Palm gloated over its fourth straight quarter of triple digit sales growth today.

Don't touch my pr0n

An anti-censorship group Peacefire has released a program which disables porn-filtering programs.

This software, which only works on personal computers, is being released in response to the passage of a bill by the US Congress that requires the use of blocking software in schools and libraries that receive federal funds.

WEDNESDAY, 12/20/2000, 7:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Contemplating a Palm IIIc" Edition

Raul is going to buy an Angel now, and I thought my spending was out of control.

Brian Wansink, professor of nutrition and marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says that soup can tell a lot about you. My favorite is miso soup. I wonder what that says about me. Hmmm, probably that I like fermented soy beans. Read the article here.

Osaki had been eating for six hours, running up a $100 tab for the sushi and 10 cans of beer. Unfortunately he didn't have any money to pay for it. Read the story here. IMHO thats's a pretty small tab for 6 hours of eating sushi.

Remember her? She was the person who had her randy email forwarded around the world. Besides her now in hiding, nine others at the company also got canned for forwarding the email off site. Read the whole story here.

As a home brewer, I can say that this recipe will generate swill, very strong swill, but mind you, still swill. This would make any home brewer hang their head in shame. Read the story here. And if you decide to make some alcoholic beverage, use a better yeast at least.

I can't believe people are still playing Pitfall, let alone competing. Read the story about the race to be the Pitfall master here. I remember playing that game in elementary school. Hmmm, better not say anymore before I feel too old.

When Professors at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands lathered up the penises of 15 men with prilocaine/lidocaine, they found positive effects. I somehow suspect that the arousal was more the result of the really cute lab assistants. Read the story here.

Ask Raul about the significance of this cartoon.

WEDNESDAY, 12/20/2000, 12:45pm HST by Raul
5 days till Xmas

Not to be outdone, JT USA, enjoying the benefits of a Brass Eagle buyout, has rolled out a whole mess of new products, including the Elite-based nVader mask (with aggressive "stormtrooper styling" ... wait a minute, weren't storm troopers the bad guys??), the Gearsack (very crip, but $200 is a little ridiculous), the Slider integrated pants/leg pads ($100!) and a full line of protective gear (modeled by that JT chick).

It's a cheesy Photoshop job, but I guess it is appropriate for this site. But we have the real thing.

At left, Boston Bruins' Jason Allison sticks it to Philadelphia Flyers' Chris Thieren tuesday in Boston. The game ended in a 4-4 tie.

At right, Boston Bruins goaltender Byron Dafoe sprawls to protect the net as Philadelphia Flyers' Paul Ranheim attempts to get in position for a shot in the third period. Apparently, this was not a game in which Ranheim could score.

In other NHL news, the Flames beat the Avs, extending Colorado's winless streak to 4 games. The Avs are still on top of the league wuth 47, but the St. Louis Blues are only one point behind.

Something wicked this way comes, maybe.

TUESDAY, 12/19/2000, 7:58pm HST by Penfold
The "I Have Parking" Edition

Yes, I have acquired the most coveted of downtown perks, a covered parking space. Ah the yuppie life style. The ftp server is down again, so I'm not sure when this is going to make it up, but the time is correct.

CNet is writing up an obituary for the soon to be defunct 3dfx. Read it here.

For the Hawaii exPats, nothing says Hawaii like some Zippy's chili. Now you can get it in the mainland or the neighbor islands. How? Check it out here. Although I eat their chili, I loathe to eat there because it's soooo damm expensive.

The first round was kinda weak, but round two promises to be good. Yes, there will be a round two, this time filmed in Japan (probably in Kitchen Stadium). IMHO, you got to get the Japanese to do it because they do it right, all campy and shit. What, never heard of Iron Chef? Think of it as Julia Child meets WCW, right down to the monster egos. So Flay has no more excuses regarding the equipment and we won't have to listen to Jacqui Malouf's inane babble. Put the story under the knife here.

This Ang Lee film was at the HIFF this year and sold out incredibly fast. Ang Lee and Chow Yun-Fat in a martial arts film, should be the shiz bomb. Unfortunately, no theater will play it. Check out a review of the movie here.

This would be a really cool idea if someone would actually produce it. Check it out here.

Submitted by Stacey (she's just jealous because I could drink one of those and still make it to work at Legal Aid.)

Through time immemorial, women have been using sex as a way to get things done. Now the Chinese have taken it one step futher, sex as political bribes. At least our president got sex on his own accord. Probe the story here.

NEW YORK -- Marilyn Salisbury is seeing three men now that she finished the DateSmart course.

Here is a school that teaches people how to find dates. Now this school would have more enrollment if they used this person as their spokesperson. Get schooled here.

TUESDAY, 12/19/2000, 12:30pm HST by Raul
The "Penfold slacketh" edition

My apologies if any of the Palm IIIc/Palmpix links don't work; Outpost's ridiculous navigation system makes linking to individual items a real pain. I changed them to point to Outpost's main page.

I think they are all doing the same drugs. And to think -- we have four years of this to look forward to.

Is it just me, or is Karen Hughes the most annoying bitch in the whole world?

At left, we have an assorted check: Montreal Canadiens' Eric Landry checks New Jersey Devils' Colin White into the boards during the third period Friday night in N.J. The Devils won 2-1. At right, it's that pic of Manny Fernandez I promised. Nice save.

In other hockey news:

• Mighty Ducks' Paul Kariya broke his foot and is out for at least two weeks. The injury occurred on a blocked shot.
• Mario Lemieux returned to practice with the Penguins. He claims to be "in better condition than when (he) was at 22."

Elsewhere, I ran into this hockey site, Hockeybird.com, which does a daily hockey media roundup.

Irreconcilable differences

LONDON (Reuters) -- A British husband who walked out on a 38-year marriage because he could not stand his wife obsessively moving the furniture has been granted a divorce.

That is just a frightening picture. Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico is erupting, forcing residents in towns within several miles to flee. The volcano, dormant for 70 years, first showed new signs of life in 1994. If you took Spanish in college or high school, you may have read the legend of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl.

Here's an Iwon bit on how Norad tracks Santa every christmas. Check out the official Norad site at Noradsanta.com. Let's just hope no ICBM's come in over the North Pole on Christmas, or we may have some confusion.

Here's a harsh old ad blaming the wife for, uh, improper feminine hygeine. Courtesy of the good folks at ilovebacon.

MONDAY, 12/18/2000, 2:00am HST by Raul

Posting now because I know I'll be pressed for time tomorrow.

And how. Former Dallas Stars backup goalie Manny Fernandez really stuck it to his former team as the Minnesota Wild crushed the Dallas Stars 6-0 in Minnesota. It was a somewhat historic game, as the Stars used to be the Minnesota North Stars. It was a rude welcome back. I had a totally awesome picture of Fernandez making a save, but it is lost somewhere in the ether between work and home. I shall get it up as soon as I can.

This is an interesting deal that Outpost.com is running: a Palm IIIc with a "Free" Kodak Palmpix camera. Okay, so it's not outright free, but the deal is this -- you pay $379 for the IIIc and the Palmpix, get the $30 rebate Kodak and Palm are offering on the purchase, and get a $20 Outpost.com rebate. So the final price is $329, the cost of the IIIc alone. The reason I consider this a deal is that even without the rebates, it means you'd be paying $50 (or $80 if you consider the $299 price IIIc's carry in some places) for the Palmpix, which is, in fact, cheap. I wish I got this deal, damn.

Introducing Koni, the hyperactive token kitten. Owned by Fordman, the bad father. Click the image to see the cute kitty animation/photo montage.

Check it out at 3Dfiles, here. I have yet to install it. I'll grab some screencaps when I do.

Nevada party nugs

Carson City, NV -- The Nevada Supreme Court's Judicial Assessment Commission is urging the state legislature to lower the severity of simple marijuana possession throughout the state.

SUNDAY, 12/17/2000, 7:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Randinos Pizza" Edition

Went to Randino's pizza and I rate it 3/4 feh. A full review coming up soon.

This is kinda late, but WinAmp 2.71 is now available for dl. While it rapidly approaches the status of bloatware, it still is probably the best and most widely supported mp3 player around. Want to see real bloatware? Dl Windows Media Player or RealPlayer.

Samsung Licenses Palm OS for Phones

Samsung Electronics has licensed Palm Inc.'s operating system, which will enable the wireless phone maker to develop "intelligent phones." The phone will be able to use all Palm operating system-based applications, including web surfing and full data-management capabilities. A Samsung handset using the CDMA technology standard will be on store shelves in North America in the second quarter of next year.

Id to Release Quake III Source Code

In a .plan update, id's Robert Duffy has explained that the source code for Quake III: Arena and Quake III: Team Arena will soon be made available to the public.

Military Intellegence

DENVER (Reuters) -- The seven were being held at the El Paso County Justice Center after being arrested at the fort on Thursday, a few hours after the robbery at a McDonald's in Fountain, Colorado, near Colorado Springs.

The Denver Post reported that the group began planning the crime about a week ago at a Christmas party because they needed money before going on leave.

Watch What You Email

LONDON (Reuters) -- A young woman whose salacious e-mail to her boyfriend has been read by millions of people around the world has gone into hiding.

Hit up the full story here. Who is this Claire Swire? Find out here.

What makes a car a chick car and what makes a man car. See Cars.com opinion on the subject, Chick's Cars and Guy's Cars.

I happen to own the #1 Man Car Arrrr Arrrr.

Ooooh, poon for lunch and dinner. Can I get an order of poon to go?

SUNDAY, 12/17/2000, 1:30pm HST by Raul

Well CAI's done it again with its InnoculateIT for Palm OS. If you didn't know, CAI also makes an excellent free PC antivirus program which pretty much works better and is less obtrusive than all commerical antivirus software out there. The best part about the PalmOS version is -- it's only about 4.3k big.

Here is a neat little Salon piece about how much Dubya reminds us of Dan Quayle. I really like the part where it says the elder Bush "recognized in (Quayle) something of a son." Be sure to check out the ongoing laundry list of Dubya idiocies compiled here.

Couple items of interest: Pittsburgh Penguins' goalie Garth Snow was suspended for two games for punching Florida Predators' forward Peter Worrell Friday. It's always entertaining to see the goalie come out of the box and slug someone. Snow got a roughing penalty. In a related bit of trivia, Patrick Roy has three penalties this season.

"Super Mario" Lemieux is supposed to skate in practice with the Penguins on Tuesday. We'll see how that pans out.

I don't use PayPal that often, but last night I noticed two new features. If you are a verified user, they now do instant checking via eCheck -- basically debit rather than credit. I really like this feature. Also, you can now authorize Paypal to use your balance a mutual fund, which pays you back money. It's like investing for the clueless, of which I am one.

Okay time to go to 99 Ranch.