Here's kind of a fun article in the Modern Drunkard magazine: the Lush Lexicon is a dictionary of all those terms serious drunks toss around.

Someone has figured out how to hack together various controller configurations in the NHL 2003 demo. Check this thread.

Ultimate theme game

On Saturday, at Challenge Park Xtreme, visionary Forest Brown's two-year-old 150-acre extreme sports complex in Joliet, the aging-yet-ageless Shatner will resurrect his fictional alter ego for the last time as he leads Federation forces against swarms of heavily armed Klingons and Borgs in what is being billed as SPPLAT Attack!--the largest ever paintball game.

WEDNESDAY, 8/28/2002, 4:15am HST by Raul

The Content Motherlode

Someone got the inside line on the Ea Sports NHL 2003 demo on their FTP server. Apparently EA doesn't mind it being public despite the official site not being ready yet, but just in case, better download it now! I have only done some limited testing and my findings are that the graphics are by and large similar to 2002, with the demo rough in quite a few places that I'd expect polished by the final release.

The puck physics have changed a bit to ricochet differently off players and objects, and there seems to be an extra level of randomness around the net. The goalie animations are greatly increased, and yes, he will flop down to block shots.

Here are some screencaps from the demo, all are from FMV sequences, however, except the first one, which is the limited demo interface. It looks like EA will be pushing the online aspect more in the PC release (subscription fees? feh!!!).

Other tidbits: EA has brought back some special things that were ridiculously "lost" as the NHL franchise "matured," and there are reports that you can check players through the boards once again. You cannot configure your controller in the demo, so I found it impossible to get a good feel of the gameplay. It seems close to 2002, but the dynamic deking is really wild. There is also a "dive" button which sends you player sprawling out on the ice face-first, I don't know whether this is just to block shots and passes, or if you can draw penalties with it.

AGD has finally done it. They have solved the problem of Automag paint chopping. This may be the single most important refinement to Automag design since it was created. The LVL 10 Superbolt kit allows for a period of slow bolt travel with a pressure relief mechanism to vent the gas charge in the event of a ball pinch. The result is that the 'Mag should now be much, much easier on paint than ever before.

This was the greatest downfall to the Automag to me, and now that such a solution exists, I may have to return to my roots. Purchase it here, but the waitlist is 2-3 weeks long. Tom Kaye is the John Carmack of paintgun design.

Olympus has announced its latest high-end rangefinder, the C5050Z. The latest in the line of C-XXXX cameras, the 5050Z sports a 5-megapixel sensor, a TTL-capable (FL-40) flash shoe, a flip-out LCD similar to the E-series', and Smartmedia, xD picturecard and CompactFlash types I and II compatibility. Smart move by Olympus. This is clearly a Canon G-series-killer from the Oly camp.

Sidearm-style pistols are all the rage in paintball these days, and the Sidekick Short is the smallest paintgun ever made. The Sidekick series of guns are all-plastic bodies with brass internals. The semi models feature blow-forward designs. I just may have to get one of these. From Fordman, who also had a hand in the LVL-10 article.

ipKonfig has taken a look at a pretty James Bond-ish device called the P3 Camera Detector. Apaprently, it signals whether you are in close proximity to a device broadcasting radio signals in the range most remote video cameras use.

For you Halo junkies out there, of which I am rapidly becoming one, make sure you don't miss Halo.bungie.org, perhaps the most comprehensive fan site on the Web. You'll spend hours here. Then again if you're a Halo junkie, you've probably spent hours here already.

Well having been sued by Brass Eagle over its original Halo loader design, Odyssey Paintball Products has redesigned its loader and christened the Halo B, which uses a quite ingenious method of powering the feed mechanism with a spiral spring that is wound by an electric motor. I guess the "reflective sensor technology" is their way of skirting BE/VL's patent on the electric eye sensor. Be sure to check out the videos on Odyssey's page.

Dr Mikee's got a shiny new D60 and sent a few shots our way. Check out the bees in his trees over in the user gallery.

SUNDAY, 8/25/2002, 11:Ish am HST by Penfold

Got to be movin' on.

What happens when you let angry robots out into public without supervision.

Submitted by Evan S.

Since at least one of our readers seems to like this sort of content... A digital revolution with our high tech products await you. Try our vaporizer, which is the best way to consume the essence of plants. Since the dawn of time, humans have burned plants, which produces unhealthy compounds from the burning that aren't found in the original plant. The Vapir line of products changes all that, with our technology, the plant is unchanged even as the essence is consumed. Seems that a certain Tokenasian out there purchased on of these little puppies. Check a review of it here. While it is surely a high tech piece of hardware, it's for not for high volume party use. IMHO this style is better.

Yes, I am talking about that glowing red stuff that comes out of volcanos. So if you're ever on the big island and don't have a stove, try this.

At least he died with a smile on his face

BERLIN -- An aging Berlin playboy has come up with an unusual offer to lure women into his bed by promising the last woman he sleeps with an inheritance of about $244,000.

Rolf Eden, a 72-year-old west Berlin disco owner famous in the German capital for his countless number of sex partners, said he could imagine no better way to die than in the arms of an attractive young woman -- preferably under 30.

"I put it all in my last will and testament -- the last woman who sleeps with me gets all the money," Eden told Bild newspaper Wednesday.