I reorganized my Yahoo briefcase to make room for more picture. They include Andrea's and my trip to Solvang a few months ago and some random shots. I'll put the Monterey pictures back up when I get time.

Reporting from San Jose

I'm seeing Andrea for the first time in more than a month and she's doing just fine. Today we're going clothes shopping, then off to help a friend fix his wireless network, then off to an NFL playoff party by a bunch of Tennessee Titans supporters. We're supposed to give some moral support to Sarah and Geoff, who are Oakland Raiders fans (though both are from Tennessee).

The whole notion of rooting for a particular team is sort of silly. In ancient times -- when a team comprised people from a particular town or region, and people rarely moved far from their birthplace -- I can see identifying with a team. Its triumph over another team, after all, would seem to imply some sense of genetic superiority. But nowadays, a team has little to do with the town they happen to play in. It players change constantly, teams move, and not even the owners live there half the time. So the whole notion of home-team loyalty is a corporate construct. In other words: sports fans = suckers.

Game server flaw poses attack threat

Not good

'In an advisory posted to the company's Web site, security consultancy PivX Solutions stated that popular multiplayer games that have servers supporting the GameSpy network--such as "Quake 3: Arena," "Unreal Tournament 2003" and "Battlefield 1942"--could be used to magnify a denial-of-service attack, in some cases by as much as 400 times.

...

Other games that PivX believes are vulnerable are "Quake," "Quake 2," "Half-Life," "Tribes," "Return to Castle Wolfenstein," "Medal of Honour: Allied Assault," "NeverWinter Nights," and "America's Army." Versions of the game servers that are released on the Linux platform are affected as well."

The Republicans are in charge #6

White House Allows Limits on Emergency Coverage

U.N. team finds chemical warheads

It looks like we finally have some evidence.

Rumsfeld: Lack of evidence could mean Iraq's hiding something

You can't beat that kind of logic.

What was it Bush was saying about how Iraq treats its people?

Death, terror in N. Korea slave camps

Bush: 'Sick and tired' of Iraqi deception

We are not, however, sick and tired of North Korean deception.

The Republicans are in charge #5

House weakens rules on lobbyists

Apple releases its own Web browser

If this is the company's biggest product announcement for MacWorld, they're doomed. This might have been exciting about 10 years ago.

Proof still not given of first human clone

OK, it's official. Legitimate news organizations can stop giving these hucksters attention and credibility now. We have enough pseudoscience as it is.

Wow, those online gamers really get into it....

WinBeta.Org - L.A. Official Calls for Probe of Internet Cafes

"The investigation of the cybercafes, also known as 'PC bangs' or 'cybercafes,' came after a brawl erupted between rival groups playing in a tournament involving the online combat game 'Counter Strike.'
...
One unidentified teenager was shot in the leg on Monday outside an Internet cafe in Northridge, a suburb that is part of Los Angeles. A second youth was struck in the head, reportedly with a chair."

Happy New Year!

Let's hope this one is better than the last. Here are this year's resolutions:

1) Get to full-time reporter status.
2) Visit another country,
3) Cut debt in half and save $500 or more a month.
4) Learn some Portuguese.
5) Learn some C# programming.

Happy New Year!

Things look a bit cheerier than they this going into 2003. Let's hope it stays that way...

No, Virginia, Santa's dead

Turkish group demands Santa's bones

You gotta love CNN's illustration.

Damn you, Influenza!

I feel like crap today. No way to start the new year.

Chrismas vacation, continued...

I did pretty much nothing today. I tired doing some shoppng but didn't find the amazing deals the newspapers keep talking about in this so-called buyers market (see this on why this may not be the case). But I did use my Borders gift certificate to subscribe to Dwell magazine. I might do the same for Metropolis later. This wireless network of Mike's keeps disconnecting, so I'd better file this while I'm still online.

Christmas pics

Here are a few little scenes from our holiday...

Merry Christmas!

We've just opened all our presents and are getting ready to eat the traditional holiday lunch. We were up late last night inflating the 34-inch "Bigens" ball. It was a bastard to pump up, but getting the plug in was the hardest part.

I got a Star Wars II DVD and a Border's gift cetificate. I think I'll get an architecture magazine subscription with it, if they do that there. Otherwise, maybe just a programming book or something.

Lott: 'I fell into ... trap' set by foes

"When you’re from Mississippi and you’re a conservative and you’re a Christian, there are a lot of people that don’t like that. I fell into their trap and so I have only myself to blame," he says.

On the contrary, Trent, it was your fellow Southern Christian conservatives -- Bill Frist, George Allen, Don Nickles, John Warner, Robert Bennett, Mitch McConnell, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Christopher Bond, to name a few -- who most wanted you gone. So the religious right's knee-jerk cry of liberal oppression doesn't quite work this time.