SUNDAY, 2/18/2001, 6:35pm HST by Raul

This is somewhat old news, but I heard about it late and it's bumming my whole day. Dale Earnhardt Sr. died today after a final-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500. This has got to be the most tragic moment in motorsports ... maybe, ever. In an era when the safety features of cars keep drivers in the sport long enough to have extensive, fruitful careers -- Earnhardt is a name a lot of us grew up hearing. The crash wasn't especially spectacular, but as has happened in the past, the great ones die in deceiving wrecks. Anyway, here's the media on it:

• Nascar.com story (see the main page for video of the crash)
• MSNBC.com story

SATURDAY, 2/17/2001, 1:00pm HST by Raul and Penfold

A Tokenasians semi-exclusive: the Star-Bulletin has been sending out this, reportedly a mockup of the new A.M. edition. It is basically a piece of marketing propaganda, touting the usual SB David-and-Goliath spiel and promising what's in store for advertisers if they sign on to the bandwagon. So we snagged a spy shot, complete with the poor image quality, for all who might be interested. Keep in mind that this is not a confirmed mockup, so it could be crafty misdirection. But I somewhat doubt it.

More Napster crap

Napster has announced a deal with digital rights management outfit and Bertelsmann subsidiary Digital World Services to use copy protection in P2P swapping, to inhibit burning MP3s to CDs, and so appease the savage army of recording industry lawyers arrayed on all fronts.

Also from The Reg: Napster finds an unlikely ally in Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

So the Daily Radar has a ongoing section called the Freeware scene that gives the once-over to games that come at everyone's favorite price -- free!

Funding the snip-and-clip

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -- San Francisco plans to become the first U.S. city to finance sex change operations for city workers under its health care benefits program, officials said Friday.

Prohibition sucks

LONDON -- Data from the United States and abroad indicates that removing criminal penalties for marijuana possession will not lead to increased drug use, according to findings published this month by the British Journal of Psychiatry.

FRIDAY, 2/16/2001, 7:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Julie's Out" Edition

As you can see, Julie is back online. So make sure to hassle her a little bit (she likes it).

Yeah, it's a cheap shot, but its still pretty funny. Stolen from Little White Dog.

Also stolen from Little White Dog.

Want a little more kick out of your Tippmann 98? Try out one of these babies, a drop in reactive trigger.

What happens when you give a woman an unlimited supply of money? This.

FRIDAY, 2/16/2001, 11:58am HST by Raul and Penfold

If you've been doing any sort of surfing on certain sites around the net, at one time or another you've probably heard the phrase "All your base are belong to us." You might have seen this flash bit (at least two of you submitted that). Well have a look at this page for some explanations and other allyourbase madness, which for some reason I find really hilarious. Love the Yoda one. And do NOT go to www.allyourbase.com or www.allyourbasearebelongtous.com because there's nothing there but some amateurish crap. I won't even link them.

The latest stir about hacking, hacked sites, attrition.org and the message. This time, it was the New York Times site.

Bush steps up efforts to revitalize military

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- U.S. and British warplanes attacked targets in Baghdad on Friday in what Iraqi television said were the first Western strikes against the capital since December 1998.

As a service to our readers, we'll rewrite the lede the way we think it should be:

WASHINGTON (Tokenasians) -- Newly falsely "elected" U.S. President George W. "Cokeman" Bush today forced the issue of "revitalizing the defense industry" by clearing out some old weapons stock over Baghdad, making way for increased defense spending as these weapons are replaced, possibly with newer, higher-tech weapons -- yet to be developed -- that the Bush administration can hit Congress up for funding for.

So Penfold and I were ogling high-dollar digital cameras today, and I noticed that Nikon has one called the D1X ... a 5.47 megapixel SLR monster. Now with its 2.47 megapixel brother, the D1, checking in at $5,000, I shudder to think how much this beast costs.

Ok gotta go to work early today so that's all you get for now ...

THURSDAY, 2/15/2001, 7:58pm HST by Penfold
The "One Day Til Friday" Edition

Yay, 3 day weekend coming up. I feel like such a wage slave.

Want to work for Jack? He's recruiting for secret eaters to review his restaurants. Check it out here.

Nothing new, but at least they got a really nice picture of the new 2003 Marauder. Check it out here.

Firingsquad.com has a review of of two of the new dualie mother boards. Check it out here. Sight, it's so lonely being the only dualie freak.

United Airlines seems to be having problems with their reservation system. Seems that they were selling r/t flights to Paris, France for $25. Now they are refusing to honor those tickets. Check it out here. Bastards.

THURSDAY, 2/15/2001, 1:30am HST by Raul and Penfold

Well if you've been in the forum lately and noticed a popup ad, know that it is NOT supposed to be there, and what is happening is that Network54's ad service is slipping those in there like the devious bitches they are. Network54 knows of the problem and is working to get rid of it. I hope they can, otherwise I will have to 86 the service.

Also, Tokenasians celebrates its 10,000th hit today, at least according to the less-than-accurate Fastcounter down there in the left column. If you managed to get that screenshot, send it in; if not, more for me and Penfold.

Well, if you were interested, and even if not, here's a writeup on the 256MB PC133 CAS2 AZZO memory sticks me and Penfold bought.

For all you dying to know, and I know that's all of you, here's an article on which states have decriminalized marijuana.

No, they're not the latest worm-weight design. It's the P.U.D. -- the Penile Uncircumcising Device. Not much more I can say, check out the link, check -- out -- the -- link.

This is a funny death-ish screaming-ish metal parody called Lobster Magnet.

Here's a somewhat gross site called Bathroommess.com which, if you can get past the utter pukeness of it all, is pretty funny.

Here's a rather tweaky modification to put USB ports at the front of your case ... and a 12v cigarette lighter, hehe.

WEDNESDAY, 2/14/2001, 8:58pm HST by Penfold
The "V Day Almost Over" Edition

Awwwwwwwwww, Valentine's Day is almost over, so if you have a SO, I hope you had a good time. If you don't, who needs 'em anyways.

Were you trying to pick a card today? FoxNews has a little Puffball story about finding the perfect Valentine's Day card. Check it out here.

Kinda late, but DailyRadar.com has some ideas about what you can do for your SO next year. Note: this is mainly addressed to guys. Check it out here. Hmmmm, bad, very very bad.

Who Mourns for the RIAA?

Music companies, the court has ruled, have the legal right to sit on their copyrights and demand that the world stop changing around them. But that won't win them any friends as they try to turn Napster devotees into paying consumers: It's hard for a business to thrive when it is engaged in legal combat against its own best customers.

Ok, better stop ranting now before I sound like Raul. Hit up the full story here.

WEDNESDAY, 2/14/2001, 1:45pm HST by Raul and Penfold

Julie's love advice: Do something unexpected at an unexpected time.

What better way to start off the post than with the pic I promised a while ago of a new Porsche (911 Turbo to be exact). If anyone wants a desktop-sized version of this picture, that can be arranged.

So LittleWhiteDog has posted Evil Windows Tips and Tricks part 2, a collection of dirty practical jokes you can play on your less computer-literate friends (soon to be ex-friends). Then I remembered that I never even posted part 1. My bad.

Well, will we ever have performance penalty-free FSAA? The Squab seems to think so. Check out their writeup on the latest FSAA techniques here.

Well Twingalaxies is at it again, this time they are taking nomiations for the world's best gamers for a special edition of their paper publication, Twin Galaxies’ Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records. Check it out here.

Now this is interesting. Penfold found that Fuji makes a special disposable golf gamera that takes a series of 8 shots of your swing. You can then send it in to a swing analyst and have your swing analyzed.

The rich vs. the rich

The father of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has initiated a high-minded petition to fight Dubya's proposed estate-tax cuts and has enlisted support from some of America's wealthiest Vulgarians, though not his own son, the New York Times reports.

Pay phones live

It turns out that people who don't have mobiles or fixed landline phones use payphones more than any other group.

This earth-shattering fact is just one of an array of useful conclusions draw by Oftel researchers from their latest research into the telephone habits of the average Brit.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot, NVIDIA sent out a press release saying that two of the major Xbox chips have been sent for fab. Notice the .15 micron process!

TUESDAY, 2/13/2001, 8:58pm HST by Penfold
The "T minus one" Edition

One day until Valentine's Day, so I hope you got you SO something by now. It's going to be hell tommorow if you didn't.

This is an interesting way to pan handle for some money.

Who'd have thunk it. But now, Professor Charles George, the medical director of the British Heart Foundation is endorsing sex a a means of aerobic exercise. Hey, what ever gets you where you need to be. Read about it here.

The Tongkat ali plant of Malaysia, reputed to be a potent aphrodisiac, is endanger of being wiped out in Malayasia. Read about the poor plant here.

If you've read all they way down to here, here's a bit of advice for the guys from Laura on how to keep your woman.

Do for your woman things that you don't want other guys to know that you did.

OR

Do what you don't want to do, but really do want to do.

TUESDAY, 2/13/2001, 1:30pm HST by Raul and Penfold

Well I have now downloaded more in 24 hours from Napster than I have in the entire time I have been using it before this. By the time I'm done, I'll probably have downloaded more than I ever would have, had Napster not been threatened like this. Yet another failing of the RIAA.

Well nVnews has some info on some almost in-the-flesh spottings of the much-awaited (heh) GeForce 3 card ...

Here's a funny page chronicling one man's attempt to take Nike up on an offer to print your own message on your shoes.

In-car CD-based MP3 players are coming of age, and Neoseeker.com has posted up a little bit on the AIWA CDC-MP3 player. Well they have been around for a while but only now are they anywhere near available.

As an aside, it's somewhat ironic that, IMHO, Napster is one of the biggest forces behind the skyrocketing popularity of MP3s which has brought these players around.

Techextreme has some pages up called amazing computer stories, stories about mistakes made by computer newbies, some of which sound awfully familiar.

So here's a site from a guy who claims to have discovered the secret to immortality. Check out a SFWeekly writeup here. Don't ask me how, but I found this page as a link from this uh, informational page about dolphins.

Anand hacked

Leading hardware site Anandtech has been defaced, apparently by the same group that also sprayed tasteless graffiti on Gateway's site in an earlier attack.

MONDAY, 2/12/2001, 9:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Nothing on TV" Edition

I got cable TV in the room and alas, nothing good on TV.

Hockey for the week of Feb 11.

• FSWH-21 Tue, Feb 13, 2001 10:00 AM "Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings"
• ESPN2-23 Wed, Feb 14, 2001 2:30 PM "Carolina Hurricanes at Detroit Red Wings"
• FSWH-21 Wed, Feb 14, 2001 3:30 PM "Los Angeles Kings at Dallas Stars"
• ESPN2-23 Wed, Feb 14, 2001 5:30 PM "Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Mighty Ducks"
• ESPN2-23 Wed, Feb 14, 2001 11:00 PM "Carolina Hurricanes at Detroit Red Wings"
• FSWH-21 Thu, Feb 15, 2001 10:00 AM "Los Angeles Kings at Dallas Stars"
• ESPN2-23 Thu, Feb 15, 2001 2:30 PM "Toronto Maple Leafs at Philadelphia Flyers"
• ESPN2-23 Thu, Feb 15, 2001 11:00 PM "Toronto Maple Leafs at Philadelphia Flyers"
• ESPN-22 Fri, Feb 16, 2001 3:00 PM "St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks"
• FSWH-21 Fri, Feb 16, 2001 3:00 PM "Los Angeles Kings at Minnesota Wild"
• ESPN-22 Fri, Feb 16, 2001 10:30 PM "St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks"
• ESPN2-23 Sat, Feb 17, 2001 2:30 PM "New York Rangers at Tampa Bay Lightning"
• ESPN2-23 Sat, Feb 17, 2001 11:00 PM "New York Rangers at Tampa Bay Lightning"

For those who dled the Quakemaster song, here is the web site for MC Hawking.

MONDAY, 2/12/2001, 12:45am HST by Raul

So the big news today is a decision handed down by a group of moneyed old white people (who don't understand the technology they are passing judgment on) that conveniently ignores precedent in an attempt to preserve the right of big business to rape the masses at the expense of artists. Can you guess where I stand on this issue?

If you've been under a rock all day, I'm talking about the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Napster is, indeed, responsible for the actions of its users, despite the fact that no hard evidence was ever produced about a single person downloading a song he or she did not purchase already in the form of an album.

Here is some online media about this: Reg bit (Penfold-approved legal analysis), Iwon/Reuters bit, Salon bit, and CNN (a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Napster) bit, includes link to actual pdf of decision.

So, in honor of the efforts of the recording industry to anally violate me, I am downloading from Napster with wild abandon. I suggest you do the same, before it's gone.

While you're at it, check out metallicaisgreedy.com, RIAAsucks.com, KMFLU, with good links to Napster alternatives, The Grinch Who Stole Napster and our old favorite Camp Chaos (which I'm sure is working feverishly on a new toon about this).

Illegitimacy protest

Americans are using the Net to organise a series of protest rallies against the election of George Dubya.

The "Not My President's Day" event will take place in New York this Sunday, the day before the US's official President's Day. There are also other protests planned across the country on the same day, which aim to combine speakers, music and street theatre

This one's from Tef, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. It's Mike's Lego CAD, which helps you design Lego models. Not sure if any other software is needed.

SUNDAY, 2/11/2001, 7:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Laura's Out of the Hospital" Edition

Laura went into the hospital yesterday morning and get her spleen cut out. And today, she's out and about. She somehow convinced the Dr. to let her out a day early. So if you see her online, ask her how she conned the Dr. into letting her out.

SUNDAY, 2/11/2001, 12:45pm HST by Raul

Found this one on a little site called Geetrish.com, which occasionally has little gems like this beer commercial.

Napster ruling due

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- With a possible court-ordered shutdown of Napster's popular music swapping service looming on Monday, fans of the online song-swapping service said they planned to spend the weekend downloading music.

Kitty in a bottle

The FBI is reported to be investigating BonsaiKitten.com, the spoof Web site which has got animal lovers and anti-cruelty campaigners in uproar.

Well, at least equal time is given to the right.

So it's not just my imagination that a lot of rebates never arrive or are otherwise not fulfilled. For quite some time I've had this idea of making a database Web site that tracks which companies make good on their rebates and which are deadbeats, but I don't know how I'd find time to do such a thing.

Blaze of glory

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- A small group of space enthusiasts plans to charter an aircraft to witness up close the event of a lifetime -- the fiery death next month of the Russian Mir space station as it hurtles into the south Pacific.