TNR Online | Recount by Jonathan Chait

A well-reasoned argument for a repeal of Bush's tax-cut plan.

It looks like the war honeymoon is over;

Simple Gifts - How Bush's shallowness makes him a good war president. By Jacob Weisberg

Also, see item below...

Daschle attacks Bush on deficits

Finally, someone noticed that last year's tax cuts were bad.

How's this for the start of a New Year: I woke up at 11:30 or so, played Tribes 2, went back to sleep, woke up, took a shower, and for a highlight, visted the giant downtown San Jose Fry's I didn't realize is there until about a week ago. It even has a cafe that serves a pretty decent Tuna Melt.

Last night was fun. I went down to Santa Cruz and met up with my buddy Murray and his wife for First Night, an arts program started in Boston that now includes 200 cities. We had an awesome dinner and saw a couple of performances, including a ska band and a blues duo.

But it's time to get back to work. I dread going back to the office tomorrow. But I guess I should be happy I have a job.

Happy New Year! Let's hope 2002 is better than 2001.

I've always suspected that the graphics department girls despise the reporters here, but now I finally know for sure: the one I really hate just asked who makes the Xbox, obviously having not bothered to read even one of several stories I've done on the subject. When my editor told her, the other graphics girl said "Really?"

I hate that department.

In case you were wondering, snakes do pee and poop.

Don't believe me? Ask Earl

It's so nice sitting around doing nothing...

I couldn't find a cheap flight out, so I'll fly back to San Jose tomorrow. What sucks is that I don't have any firm New Year's plans. It looks like I may go to Santa Cruz with Murray and his wife, but a friend from Orange County may be in town, and I'm sure she'll want to go to San Francisco.

After briefly debating whether to drive to Phoenix (in light of certain shoe-related events), I will go ahead and fly. But you can be sure I'll be sniffing the air for signs of sulfur.

Just one more gift to buy...

I know, I know. It's been awhile since I last updated. I've been really, really busy with end-of-year/Christmas madness, scrambling to get everything taken care of in terms of shopping, work, etc/ before I take off to Phoenix.

Nvidia finally released drivers for my 3D gaming glasses, but unfortunately, Tribes 2 is one of the games that doesn't work well with them. Sigh. But the 3-D versions of Quake 3 and Castle Wolfenstien are pretty cool.

Another cool thing I have to mention: for those of you who use multiple instant-messaging systems, Trillian is an excellent instant-messaging client that aggregates your Yahoo, AIM, ICQ and MSN accounts into a single application. No more having to run multiple programs just to keep in touch. You won't be able to use the most advanced features of your favorite instant-message systems, but Trillian does a superb job of handling the basics of sending and receiving messages -- and that's really the point, isn't it? One minor detail: my Yahoo"Web presence" indicator (the smiley-face under the "contact me" section of this site) makes it appear as if I'm offline, even when I'm not.

That's right, folks, the Newshounds (the Business Journal softball team) have actually won a game. It was a beautiful come-from-behind victory that left the other team so stunned and defeated that one player on the opposing team (Washington Mutual) threw her glove on the ground.

It was a great game, perhaps better than this year's World Series.

Okay, maybe not...

WE WON!!! WE WON!!

Details to come...

Who here remembers W.'s promises about the big tax cut?

The Deficit President - And how he's getting away with it. By Jonathan Chait

Of course, now he can blame bad economics on Sept. 11.

CNN.com - Taliban fighter from prison uprising says he's American - December 2, 2001

And of course, he's from Northern California. Actually, that explains a lot.

Well, it looks like they finally caught me. I tried to download a firmware update for my new 3Com wireless LAN card that includes 128-bit encryption, but got the following e-mail instead:

"Your request to download software from 3Com Web site has been denied because you have supplied invalid information or your company or name is listed on the U.S. Government's Prohibited Parties list. Federal regulations prohibit 3Com from engaging in business transactions with companies or individuals that are on this list."

Now let's hope John Ashcroft doesn't detain me.

Flak Magazine: Review of BBSes, 11-23-01

A nostalgic article for those of us who stil remember BBSs. May they rest in peace.

Spain Sets Hurdle for Extraditions

Ironic that the Europeans are forcing us to apply our own constitutional principles.

CNN.com - China plans moon landing

Hey China: bad idea.

I love holiday weekends, particularly those occurring near Christmas.

Yesterday, I had Thanksgiving dinner with Geoff, Sarah and Geoff's family, who are visiting from Arizona (if you can really call Sun City Arizona), Gregg P. and crazy Jamie. Afterward we all watched a DVD with the first season of the Simpsons. It was nice, but I would rather have been in Phoenix. I slept in until 1:30 p.m. and totally missed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Bummer.

Today, I went into work to find maybe four people in the whole building, so I went to the mall for lunch (Rubio's), visited the new Apple store and bought the new Castle Wolfenstien game. Naturally, I went home early. Awesome graphics and gameplay, but for multiplayer, I still say there's nothing better than Tribes 2, even when some dork calls you a "dumbass" for mounting an AA barrel on a turret to replace the ELF turret when it's clearly the better choice. But that's another story...

I saw "Shallow Hal" tonight. Not exactly challenging, but cute.

Wow, it's been a few days.

Comdex was good, though it seemed far less crowded and spectacular than in past years -- it was almost like a big trade show. I saw a few cool things, including a 3-D glasses system that' supposed to make any Direct X or Open GL game (that's just about any PC game made these days) three dimensional. I bought a pair, but Nvidia hasn't updated their drivers for Windows XP yet.

Speaking of graphics cards, I finally figured out what setting was causing all those lockups. I was so happy to have my games working again I ended up playing Tribes 2 until four in the morning.

Oh yeah -- the other cool thing I saw at Comdex was a 3Com 802.11b wireless card with a retractable antenna. I didn't see them for sale at the show, and haven't seen them at Fry's, Circuit City or MicroCenter, so I bid for one on eBay. So far, I'm winning the auction, so I may just get a refurbished unit for $50. Sweet!

Watched the Britney Spears concert tonight on HBO. I haven't seen anything that cheesy since the 1989 Debbie Gibson concert at ASU.