Build Date: Thu Oct 22 05:10:40 2026 UTC
I want a picture of my ass to travel to a comet and then back to Earth and then get put in a museum.
-- Mr. Bad
Calm Before the Storm
1999-12-24 14:16:57
Well, T'is the Day Before Christmas, and it's probably a good thing that you're dicking around on the Web rather than stressing over last-minute XMas shopping like I am. Enjoy it while you can, because next week is going to SUCK.
After tomorrow, the Great Unwashed will FINALLY start concentrating en masse about Y2K. There's only 7 days left, after all, which is just on the horizon of America's attention span. And, HELL, the nightly news isn't going to be talking about anything else for a while.
Despite the fact that the media's emphasis for "last-minute plans" for Y2K is on finding a good party or restaurant to welcome the new year, I suspect that a lot more people will start listening to that queasy feeling in their bellies instead and go on a survival-buying spree. Water, dry food, gasoline, generators, cooking fuel, etc. will probably be harder to find next week than they will in Feb 2000. I bet a lot of people who normally wouldn't care are going to get irate about 5-day waiting periods for guns and bans on sales of ammo around New Year's. You can't get armed before Y2K, folks. Just in case you were wondering.
I've had plans for about 18 months to write an article entitled "Panic Now and Beat the Rush -- A Procrastinator's Guide to Y2K." Well, it's too late for that. Panic now and JOIN the rush is more like it. Those folks who've got any brains in their heads are all huddling in mountain cabins listening to their hand-cranked shortwaves and smugly Reading the Signs. The rest of us have got to deal with the shitstorm, I guess. Ugh! See you at the riots, eh?

T O P S T O R I E S
John Dvorak has passed. I’m of mixed emotions. First off I’m more positive about his contribution to the overall technology journalism of the early PC days through the 90s, despite how many things he got wrong. He was a firebrand and commanded attention. (More...)
America's National Recording Registry Inducts Culturally Significant Artist - Weezer!
America's Library of Congress calls them "defining sounds of history and culture" and "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Weezer! (More...)
The Crossroads are real and The Blues is a place; The enduring myth of Robert Johnson (More...)
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
The Deep Dark Underbelly of the Star Wars Myth, or Ramayana Remembered
It's a fact: Star Wars is a blatant plagiarism of an ancient Asian legend, and the long lines of devout Star Wars freaks are really unscrupulous Asian copyright busters. From Indonesia to Thailand to Nepal, videos are available for sale or rent before they're even released in the US and UK due to this nerdy camcorder-clutching bunch. (More...)
It's not like I have a heroin problem, see. I'm just a self-indulgent brat who likes to live beyond her means. When I zip down to my corner Money Mart for a little cash-till-payday loan, I'm really not planning to spend it on drugs. I'll spend it on sushi. Seventy bucks of interest for a two-week $400 loan is perfectly reasonable, if you really need that hamachi. (More...)
Owner of 6 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Arrested
Reefer madness or a government fabrication? (More...)
Brother Wayne Lays Down the Truth
Flesh interviews Wayne Kramer of MC5. (More...)
Pigdog brings you SETI astronomer Seth Shostak to bring you the truth about Ay-leens (More...)
Our team of crack journalists went insane, and made the drive from Concord, California to Concord, New Hasmpshire on Interstate 80. Read the insightful observations of our intrepid travelers made on their journey into the heartland. (More...)