SATURDAY, 2/24/2001, 2:30pm HST by Raul

What is this? It's a solid gold toilet in a Hong Kong jewelry store. The shop owner says he was inspired by the writings of the Russian communist Vladimir I. Lenin, who wanted to build public toilets of gold after the triumph of socialism. But in a decidedly capitalist twist, the toilet, which isworth 38 million Hong Kong dollars (US $4.9 million), is available only for customers who spend at least 1,000 Hong Kong dollars (US $138).

Couple of interesting hockey stories in the last day or two:

• Alexei Kovalev scored his third hat trick this month in Pitt's win over the New York Rangers Friday.
• Detroit surpassed St. Louis for second-best record overall in the NHL with a 4-2 win in which Sergei Federov sustained a broken nose.

Well everyone has their thing, and this page proves it -- a page all about those wonderful inventions without which mankind could do little: LEDs (light emitting diodes). It does writeups and testing on many different types and colors of LEDs.

And what do you know, here's another "LEDs all day, all the time" page.

Speaking of which, have any of you seen the new LED streetlights? Man, those things are BRIGHT! Way too bright, if you ask me. I mean they are like colored street lights facing right at you.

Carmack on Geforce 3

A complex setup for a four-texture rendering pass is way easier to understand with a vertex program than with a ton of texgen/texture matrix calls, and it lets you do things that you just couldn't do hardware accelerated at all before. Changing the model from fixed function data like normals, colors, and texcoords to generalized attributes is very important for future progress.

What do you do when you're a midwest farmboy with technophile aspirations? You project yout favorite video game on the side of your barn!

FRIDAY, 2/23/2001, 11:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Deep Thoughts" Edition

What to do, what to do. And you thought it was over. Move Zig!

As some of you know, I went to Ancorage, Alaska in January. I encountered this place in the mall. And it was total crap.

The RIAA has taken to attacking ISPs to try and stop napster clones like Gnutella or OpenNap. Read about it here. Check out a review of the Napster-Clones here.

A new site is ready for you travel nuts to look at. The site is called QIXO. It's like a MySimon for travel site. Check it out next time you have to fly.

FRIDAY, 2/3/2001, 2:15am HST by Raul

Penfold must now write, "I will never make the index over half a megabyte again" 100 times.

Well the approach is kind of simplistic, and the spelling is terrible, but this is just plain funny nonetheless. Submitted by roch. I might have to Quark up a nice version of this for distribution on the streets.

GF3 announced .... where?!

TOKYO -- Providing the catalyst for a new graphics revolution, NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today introduced the world's most advanced graphics processor, the GeForce3TM GPU for the Macintosh® platform at Macworld Expo Tokyo 2001.

Firingsquab has a quick writeup on Motor City Online, an online-only racing game they describe as "Gran Turismo for the PC, except with classic American muscle cars." 'Nuff said. Go check it out.

Here's a Salon bit that talks about how the movie 'Traffic' has opened up the national drug debate to something other than the outdated notion of the 'War on Drugs.'

THURSDAY, 2/2/2001, 8:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Court Tommorow" Edition

Have to go to court tommorow. The Defendant is a real nut case.

Just when you though all the madness was over. Make sure to check out the bottom one.

Ooooh, chocolate.

Seems that the masses are beginning to complain about Paypal and their new anti-fraud measures. I still use it. Read about it here.

THURSDAY, 2/22/2001, 1:50pm HST by Raul

LEFT: Fisherman extraordinaire David Matsumoto finally bought up the big one -- a solid 79-lb. ulua caught on a live palani. Nikki, the Matsumoto family dog, is shown for (fish) scale.

RIGHT: Dino send this pic of his freshly lifted Toyota truck. In his own words: "I managed every thing for only 3 bills. 7" springs, no blocks, 36's and the 15x12 rims, and 5.71 gears. Scored a header, a front axle and rear axle too." Nikki shown for (lift) scale.

Well our intrepid journaller Ian Lind, whose journal has ruffled feathers on both sides of the news building, reports today he and at least three other staffers -- including editorial page editor Diane Chang -- will NOT be rehired by the 'new and improved' Star-Bulletin.

This is a really curious move for a paper whose motto is "We Make Waves." Lind is a longtime investigative reporter and self-described rabble rouser. According to Lind, the new SB will also not be picking up a sportswriter who criticized "one of the sacred cows of high school athletics" -- I assume St. Louis high football. I wouldn't be surprised if all this ends up blowing up in the new SB's face.

In some breaking news, University of Hawaii head football coach June Jones is in Queen's Medical Center today after being involved in a one-car accident on the H1 freeway. He is listed in critical condition. Check the news here. The Bulletin managed to get a picture, too. (Let me know if this link stops working please ...)

In one of the first truly major trades to happen this season, the Los Angeles Kings traded star defenseman Rob Blake and forward Steve Reinprecht to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Aaron Miller and forward Adam Deadmarsh, two near-stars in their own rights. This is huge news in the world of hockey. Imagine, Ray Borque and Rob Blake ... on the same line?!

WEDNESDAY, 2/21/2001, 8:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Poor Me" Edition

Pity me. Why? Hmmm, don't know really. Oh yes, I'm a target demographic, the Honolulu Advertiser is populist trash.

Bin Laden Superior, NSA Inferior

Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden has superior technology at his disposal than the National Security Agency, the head of the super-secretive spy agency has told an American documentary programme.

"A small cup above the testicles suggests that the vessel was used to contain liquid, possibly wine, beer or ale,"

A recent Playboy Mantrack survey found that 8 percent of men polled were having sex less often because of the time they spent not with the conventional definition of adult toys, but the new version--consumer electronics.

Hockey Time

Hockey for this week.

• ESPN2-23 Wed, Feb 21, 2001 11:00 PM "Florida Panthers at Pittsburgh Penguins"
• ESPN2-23 Wed, Feb 21, 2001 11:00 PM "Florida Panthers at Pittsburgh Penguins"
• ESPN2-23 Thu, Feb 22, 2001 5:00 PM "Los Angeles Kings at Calgary Flames"
• ESPN2-23 Thu, Feb 22, 2001 11:00 PM "Philadelphia Flyers at New York Islanders"
• ESPN-22 Fri, Feb 23, 2001 3:00 PM "St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings"
• ESPN-22 Fri, Feb 23, 2001 10:30 PM "St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings"
• ESPN2-23 Sat, Feb 24, 2001 3:30 PM "Boston Bruins at St. Louis Blues" .
• ESPN2-23 Sat, Feb 24, 2001 11:00 PM "Boston Bruins at St. Louis Blues"

WEDNESDAY, 2/21/2001, 3:45am HST by Raul

Poor Penfold is insecure about his place in the media food chain. As for me, I'm comfortable with my roles as a media producer, consumer, symbiont and scanvenger. Excuse me, post-consumer recycler. Heh.

• LEFT: Eric Lindros is in the news again, as the March 13 trade deadline nears. For the full situation on his possible move to Toronto, check here. While he was waiting to play this season, he cultivated quite a snatchface.
• CENTER: This one gets the "weird angle of the week" award. Kevin Stevens, Pittsburgh #25, jumps to avoid the puck being shot toward Colorado goalie Patrick Roy and appears to, well, see for yourself. Pitt lost 5-1.
• RIGHT: Ray Bourque is making a homecoming of sorts today as the Colorado Avalanche take on the Boston Bruins. Here he is again with the picture perfect follow-through on a shot.

Yeah, we hook it up. Normally, this would be a plain text posting about a girl whose science project was banned due to racial oversensitivity. Above, we got our hands on a picture of the actual science project for you to enjoy. Here's some political commentary on the situation that we happen to agree with.

Well Monday was Presidents Day, and some people gathered at Park Street Station in Boston to stage a rally in honor of President Bush. Some of these signs are right in line with my opinions.

XFL being shot to XFHell

It was supposed to be a marketing match made in heaven. In March 2000, NBC and the World Wrestling Federation pledged $100 million to launch the XFL, a new "smashmouth" football league. With the WWF's Vince McMahon and his golden raunchy touch at the helm, the XFL promised to lure young male viewers back to the network on Saturday nights with an outlandish mix of jackhammer hits on the field and bodacious cheerleaders off it.

TUESDAY, 2/20/2001, 8:58pm HST by Penfold
The "Getting Late" Edition

Painfully slow news day? I say feh, well maybe if your looking for stuff to put in a newspaper owned by a soulless corporation.

Alton Brown is a culinary god, not like the FoodTV hacks like Emeril. Check out the Good Eats Fan Page here.

What is this all your base crap? What is ZeroWing (hint: you're not going to find it in the Honolulu Advertiser)? Find out here.

Napster Offers Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO -- Napster Inc. offered $1 billion to major and independent record labels Tuesday in hopes of getting them to drop a copyright infringement lawsuit that threatens to shut down the free Internet song-swapping service.

Horny Goats?

Swaziland -- It's that time of year again in Swaziland -- late January through March -- when the nation is gripped by an insatiable lust for having sex and stealing goats. Visitors traveling down country roads are apt to see either couples fornicating right out in the open or police chasing down a wild-eyed livestock thief. Or both.

TUESDAY, 2/20/2001, 10:45am HST by Raul
Painfully slow news day

Well The Reg reports that the Radeon VE, the budged-line ATI Radeon card, is out on the streets. They also give linkage to a review on Anandtech.

Well it's that time again ... High Times is sponsoring the second-annual Stony Awards, which honors pot on film. Cheech and Chong to achieve lifetime achievement awards ...

Man, that post sucked. Blame the news gods.

MONDAY, 2/19/2001, 9:58pm HST by Penfold and Raul
The "One Day Late" Edition

This is quite late, was supposed to have gone up yesterday, but I got side tracked by getting a safety check and stuff.

Who would though that you could learn something from reading a beer label besides it's born on date.

Look familiar? Know a mullethead? What exactly is a mullet? Check it out here.

Looks like there will be a new Star Trek comming out this fall, as Voyager is about done. Read about it here.

Too Much, too much

HONG KONG (Reuters) -- A jilted Hong Kong woman pestered her former lover with more than 1,000 phone calls a day for three years, a newspaper reported Monday.

Unable to cope under the barrage of calls, the man switched jobs and changed his telephone, mobile and pager numbers in 1999.

But the woman found out the new numbers and resumed her calls a year later, topping it with another 500 faxes a day.

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