Monday - 17 January, 2000
Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Day! The weather cooperated and so did several thousand marchers during the parade through Waikiki. I have never been in a parade before and this one turned out kind of nice. Most people were in a good mood and just waived. Of course, there are always a few malcontents out there who do not like Dr. King specifically, nor blacks in general, but I guess they took the day off (except for about 50 Republicans who decided to join the march, for what reason only they know for sure). But otherwise, a very well organized and well run march.
Dinner, for my birthday the night before with SWCNBD, was at a place called John Dominis. I'll explain the name some other time. For now, let's talk about the food. It is a seafood place and as such, seafood is what we had. Sort of. I started off with a smoked duck quesadilla (sp? I'm at home and I miss my Oxford Dictionary). She had the oysters Rockefeller (sp?). Skipping the soup (French onion or New England Clam Chowda') and salad we we went straight to the entrees. I had the opakapaka with pasta and she had the onaga stuffed with crab. We finished things off with the mud pie for me and fresh strawberries for her. Yum. The tab, including tip came to $180 USD.
I think I'll go and take a nap now so that's all for me.
Aloha!
Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
Tuesday - 18 January, 2000
Down with the Flue. I'm at home today due to the flu. All the regular symptoms. Sneezing, coughing, runny nose, slight fever, tired, achey, etc. So this will be a short one.
In line with Dr. King's Birthday, 46,000 people marched in Columbia, South Carolina to protest the flying of the Confederate flag at the state Capitol. When people tell you that there is no more discrimination in the South, you can tell them there is no less either. We, as a nation, including the north and west and east, still have a ways to go before we can say that we judge a person by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. We still have a ways to go before we can say; "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty we are free at last."
***** Noon Update *****
Transmeta Goes Live. The fabled, and infamous Transmeta Corporation goes live tomorrow. According to their website (here), there will be a ZDNet webcast at 9:00am PST and their web site goes live three hours later.
Product of the Year. Brian Livingston, InfoWorld columnist and author of "Windows98 Secrets" from IDG Books, shocked his readers today by naming Linux as the Product of the Year. See his column here. This man knows Windows. So when he says Linux is the POY, people sit-up and listen. This is on par with Cronkite saying the war is lost.
Aloha!
Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
Hump Day Wednesday - 19 January, 2000
Still Down. But not out. I'm still at home today and probably tomorrow. While I think I'm getting better overall, it seems as one set of symptoms gets better, another takes its place. Oh well, enough whining.
Houston, Crusoe and Transmeta have landed. I'm watching the news conference via ZDnet while I'm writing this. I did not get to the site for the start of conference but what I've seen so far is interesting. The chip is not operating system dependent and therefore will run Windows or Linux or apparently, anything else that an Intel chip will run. There is a manufacturing agreement with IBM to produce the chips but no details as to the number expected to be produced in the coming year. The Transmeta web site should go live later this morning (noon PST) so you can go here for more details.
Aloha!
Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
Thursday - 20 January, 2000
Bar the Doors! The state legislature opened yesterday amid the usual pomp and ceremony. I don't know how other states do it but Hawai'i turns the capital into "Little Waikiki" for a day. Including hula girls and knife twirlers (and that's just the Democrats, you should see the performers). But I digress.
Nothing much new was said by either side during the opening speeches. The Democrats say they are well prepared for the journey ahead (ha ha ha) and Republicans say they are agents of change (ha ha ha ha ha ha). The only new idea, however, did come from the Republicans. The answer to economic problems are, drum roll please, gambling! Such insight could only come from the Republicans </sarcasm>.
This is an election year and I don't think the Republicans have a chance of doing anything, much less gain the governership in two years (which they almost did last election) because it is indeed, "The economy, stupid!" And the Hawai'i economy is finally turning around and getting better. If the recovery continues, the Republicans will not have an issue to stand on and they will fade away. An interesting footnote to history.
Or, perhaps we should do what Fiji is considering. Legalizing prostitution! Fiji's Law Reform Commission is considering this change since, in the words of Commissioner Anthony Gates; "...prostitution can not be abolished" and wants a study to show how it can be controlled. Gee, I wonder how much a ticket to Fiji costs?
Internet Users Quadruple in China The number of inscrutable Chinese surfing the web increased last year from an estimated 2.1 million in 1998, to 8.9 million in 1999. See the China Daily story here [sorry - the link is no longer active].
Speaking of China. Dell and Compaq must think there is a market there (well, duh). Both invested a total of $57 million in TurboLinux. Why TurboLinux?
"We're very strong in doublebyte computing," noted President and chief executive Cliff Miller. Doublebyte computing creates bytes of 16 bits instead of eight in order to represent all the characters in languages with large numbers of characters, such as Chinese and Japanese.
See the full story here.
I think I'll be at work tomorrow, but for today, I'm at
home.
21.308106 N
157.860938 W
Or
21º 18' 29" N
157º 51' 39" W
Aloha!
Top / Home / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
Aloha Friday - 21 January, 2000
Back in the Saddle Again. I am back at work and so is the BOFH. I missed the inaugural issue but you can see it here. <clickety click>.
I am Not a Crook. And neither was Nixon. Or, maybe he was. You decide. 12 hours of the Watergate tapes have finally been made available to the public at-large. I'm sure someone will put up transcripts of the tapes sometime soon, but until then, you can order your set of cassette tapes here. The complete set costs $702 or $18 per half-hour recording. No extra charge for "accidental" erasing of any of the tapes. Another 200 hours to be released next month.
Footsteps in the Sand. Some of what Transmeta is planning to do with its chips is becoming clearer (see here). But, as Bo noted, this is a very crowded field and it is very unclear whether or not they will be able to find their niche. But even if they do, if they don't have a clear and viable long range plan, niche is all that they may ever be.
Hearts Aflutter Single? Unattached? Had a secret crush on that someone across the hall? Well, with Valentine's Day almost here, here's the place for you! Go to www.ecrush.com and sign-up for an anonymous service which emails sweet nothings to your object of affection. Who knows, maybe they feel the same way about you. If not, then no one will know except you.
This in from Bo on gambling:
From: Bo Leuf
To: Dan Seto
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 18:23:47 +0100
Subject: solutionsDan,
>The answer to economic problems are, drum roll please, gambling! Such
> insight could only come from the RepublicansHmm, you might want to know that the same proposals have been put forth in such diverse political climates as mainland China and social democrat Sweden (in fact several municipalities have recently received the go ahead for state.licensed casinos here). Hey, it's only money, and the govt plays the role of behind-front bank, raking in a steady cut no matter which way the dice roll. That Russia has free-for-all-mod-controlled gambling doesn't really count one way or the other, eh?
/ Bo
--
"Bo Leuf"
Leuf fc3 Consultancy
http://www.leuf.com/From: Dan Seto
To: Bo Leuf
Subject: Re: solutions
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 08:00:12 -1000Bo,
Of course you are right. Gambling knows no political nor ideological boundaries. Money is money. I was just indicating that a Republican brought it up on the first day of the legislative session. But political party aside, I think it's the "wrong" way to increase revenues. It is truly stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. I would much rather prefer a tax increase (YIKES!) than a hidden tax increase on the poor like gambling with the effects paid by everyone else (what with the increased need for social and police services). The figures I've seen indicate that it is a net loss, at this point, to join the bandwagon. Too many other places already have gambling and are diluting the pool of available suckers, I mean patrons...
Aloha - Dan
Last Week Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Next Week
Diary Index Link to the Daynotes Gang