What? Early? WTF? Yeah well its a weekend darn it. Here's that helping of stuff to read that will dramatically impact all of our lives. Myself as a responsible webmaster (heh) have made it my duty to bring it to your attention. Here is your afternoon public service announcement:

- Ah yes it is in fact official, pigs are flying. I think we confirmed this a while ago when Daikatana was released but in case you needed more proof... Thanks wumpus
- Hey even communists can appreciate the occasional supermodel. Thats like, cool or something.
- A little speculative bit on who exactly cracked Microsoft. The damage that was done still seems to be in question too.
- The junk email going around the net is getting worse as stated in this story. No kidding, my volume of junk email has nearly doubled in the past few months.

Lastly, if you feel like being a beta tester, here's a link to the new threading interface. (Click on a threaded reply to see magic) It only works for later versions of IE and there is still a bit of work to be done (caching issues, navigation issues etc) but it'll give you the basic idea.

Something for you guys to look at and ponder the evilness that is AOL. According to this report on News.com the latest version of the AOL software no longer has a homepage button. (Thanks Ghost in my Shell). Basically forcing people to leave their homepage as the AOL.com website, unless they know how to of course hax0r around it. (Which most AOL users dont).

"This is an outrageous business tactic that goes to the heart of our concern about how AOL Time Warner will be a digital monopoly," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Media Education. "AOL and Time Warner want to become the new gatekeepers of the digital age, and we have to resist that."

Man I just saw this story and couldnt resist. Remember Anna Nicole Smith? that Playboy model chick who got hooked up with some old millionaire guy just a little while before he passed away? Well after all this time she is still in court trying to get half the guys money.

Attorneys for stepson Pierce Marshall, who controls his father's estate, have accused Smith of being a gold digger who took advantage of an old man to get his money.

Keep in mind this isnt an invitation to post pics of her.. honest...

I've updated the Stupid Shack Contest #2 index yet again, the entries keep pouring in. It's been less than 48hours so far and it is up to almost 70 entries. A much larger turnout than the Contest #1 even.

A little update on the Stupid Shack Contest #2 for you guys already, since so many people have questions about it here you go. Firstly yes you may enter as often as you wish. Secondly, you are not required to use the templates provided.. just make sure it is the correct size. Thirdly please use .jpg or .gif formats. Lastly, here are the entries so far. I'll add more entries as they come in although usually in batches of 10 or so. Remember you have until Sunday night to finish up the entries.

What? Stupid Contest? Oh yes! In the spirit of Stupid Shack Contest #1 (Fake Doom2K screens) comes an equally dumb contest. Your mission should you choose to accept it:

- Create a gaming card (270 x 378 size) of your favorite gaming industry figure, same theme as these ones.
- Artwork can not be taken from PCGamer, I dont want their lawyers getting all upset.
- Email your entry to news@shugashack.com. The deadline is this Sunday the 28th at 11.59pm.
- Hopefully entries wont all be the JeffK style stuff. (That means you!)
- Entries that make personal attacks on people in the industry will not be accepted.

For those of you artistically challenged, here is a template by Bagpuss or a PSD file by Tabouh for the photoshop guys. you can base your card on. The prize will be that the winner gets their own werd posting for the day (or whatever they wanna call it).

Better late than never comes movie time! This week's movie was The Legend of Drunken Master. It's a Jackie Chan movie and is actually (I believe) Drunken Master 2 (released five years ago overseas). Anyway, like most Jackie Chan movies, it is really poorly dubbed, quite campy, and fun as hell. It's all about the fight scenes really, and they're excellent. I haven't had much exposure to Jackie Chan, but I enjoyed these scenes more than anything I saw in his other American theatre releases. Plus, the ancillary characters (such as his step mom and stepbrother) are actually very funny as well. The movie won't win an Oscar, but it's a really fun diversion.

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a LONG time. Go watch it NOW. Thanks g3rmz and the people in #shugahshack.

Hrm, I guess this might become a regular thing on weekends. Afternoon Reading! The red-headed stepchild of Evening Reading! Dont pick on this one too much though, they always end up growing up and driving those fancy cars. I would like to present to you guys several unrelated news items brought together by a single common bond, love!

- Another Drug "Czar" another failure. The Barry McCaffrey announced that he is calling it quits, claiming to have made progress in the war on drugs. Pshaw.
- Heh, check out this story on CNN. Talk about a goofup, if I were the campaign manager for whichever party it was I'd ask them to just yank the thing entirely. Thanks Ant
- Looks like Microsoft is finally acknowledging Linux, they have just sent out their first advertisement criticizing the open source OS. Thanks sexninja!!!

Lastly, I'm gonna call for people to start sending in some new Image of the Days. Here is the old index you can look through before sending in anything, there has to be some new stuff out there on the net by now?

Just because, here is a bunch of kind of interesting stuff to read for the lazy weekend. You have promise to be lazy all day though! The most activity permitted today is walking between the kitchen, couch, bathroom, and computer. If the TV remote isnt anywhere in between those tough. You are doing your part to conserve energy, save the ozone! Ok I'll shut up:

- Hey neeto, someone is using the Quake2 engine to help out architects and their clients visualize possible buildings in 3D. Thanks YUKi
- Here's a bit on economic standing and how many people have computers on the net. Over 50% of households right now have a net connection.. Wow.
- Maarten may be gone a little big longer, I think the cops are after him because of this little episode.

Lastly, I'm not quite sure but it looks like we're all gonna die. Shit. Thanks my pov.

Wassup. I been off having a life, and come back and can't help but notice "egads Brain, no Evening Reading!" Well I'm your sugar daddy and I'm hear to feed your need:

-Al Gore may have a new running mate, Woody Johnson! Ok, so maybe not. But the Drudge Report is saying that after a recent photo shoot, Rolling Stone magazine had to air brush the VP's uhmmm package. Looks like our Oval Office Nookie has only begun....

-Awwww. Poor lonely astronaut. Looks like this American guy goes up with a couple Russian guys and is somehow the 3rd wheel. Surprise surprise! He probably doesn't speak russian, can't hold his vodka and has bad gas. Serves him right for going to space! Poor guy just needs an IRC client.

-Ever do tech support? Sick of morons? Your company needs to adopt this policy on dealing with AOL users. I love this quote: "As a general rule, America Online users are not computer savvy or it seems, capable of the level of technical sophistication necessary to operate a computer outside of an AOL environment."

-Monkeys like the whacky weed too! Apparently tests show, when given the chance, monkeys will repeatedly dose themselves with THC. Do they get banana munchies?

Ah yes, domain wars. According to this recent article Madonna recently got an order from the WIPO for a porn site owner to release Madonna.com to her. If you guys remember something similar happened with Sting a while back. Sting lost though. Wonder if it had anything to do with this time Madonna.com was a porn page (Thanks emitecaps)

United Nations' copyright intellectual property agency, ruled that New York web developer Dan Parisi had no trademark right to the name and failed to provide legitimate interest in the domain name.

Showing boobies to the world seemed pretty legit to me...

Looks like a recent study has just discovered what I think we've all known for a long time. American teenagers are a bunch of lying cheating alcoholics. Thanks BlahBlahBlah for the link.

92 percent of the 8,600 students surveyed lied to their parents in the past year. [...] Nearly one in six students said they had shown up for class drunk at least once in the past year [...] "This data reveals a hole in the moral ozone," said Michael Josephson, founder and president of the Marina Del Rey-based organization.

Sigh, looks like I may be on for a longer ride doing news here at the shack than I expected. Found this tragic story about our pot-smoking, php writing, extraneous voweled friend, Maaaaaarten. Ya big stoopy. I told him that moonlighting was a bad idea. What does this teach us? Getting out from behind your computer is BAD. (btw, "Alvaro Burgos Goizueta" is his stage name. It is roughly translated "he who wears wooden shoes".)

update - Clay: And for those of you who have been asking, here's what I have been up to. Jack gave me the idea though.

I saw this story early this morning on ZDNet and thought you guys would find it interesting. The topic is a Federal DNA Database. Basically the government having an index of your DNA identifer to authenticate who you are. Kevin Mitnick thinks we should have one! If we could really trust the government (hah!) to only use the database for that purpose, I'd agree with him, but um.... Oh and you can read the interview summary with Mr Mitnick where he mentioned that here.

I think the government has to establish some sort of central database that uses biometric identifiers, such as your DNA, that can label you as you. This might eliminate a lot of identity theft, because anyone can apply for credit by supplying information over the phone."

Well, I must confess I didn't do the normal movie night activities. The normal movie night for a bunch of us turned into an anime night for a few (read: 2) of us. So I'm afraid I didn't get to experience what I'm sure are the cinematic masterpieces of The Ladies Man and Dr. T And The Women. Normally I try not to pre-judge movies, but The Ladies Man trailers were so devoid of humor, I really wouldn't want to see it extended into two hours. And that Dr. T movie... Ummm... Looks terrible. Now if it were Mr. T And The Women, that would be a completely different story.

So this time, I'm going to turn the tables and let you guys have at it with the movies! Any of you see any of these, or even Lost Souls or The Contender? Talk here.

Yeah I know the Last Babe Hunt was well.. called just that. But hey.. Due to overwhelming demand (heh) I'd like to invite you guys to dig up pictures of the hottest (read: exploited) women on the net. Keep it contained to the tasteful side though. Here are a few ground rules:

- 10 links max per post. Spamming multiple links all on the same website is frowned upon.
- The man (or woman) who digs up those most images from the most places wins.
- Hosting your own images is OK. (But not preferred)
- Accounts that are abusive will be blocked from posting without hesitation.

Just type out the http:// URL, the parser will link it for you. No need to use HREF tags. I have no idea what the winner will get, I do think we'll use a poll to determine the winner this time around though.

Btw.. yeah this is barely gaming related, but I do believe everyone here would be more than happy to play some 'games' with the young girls that will be linked today. Agreed?

Strictly for amusement purposes, you can buy a jacket that Bill Gates has signed. You excited yet? I knew it! Have a look at the rest of the stuff. Thanks Stomped

Well on this wonderful holiday why not marvel at just how much attention those silly internet hoaxes can get. We've all heard that whole e-mail tax from the USPS rumor about once every 3-6 months. Well a CBS correspondant actually believed it and asked for an opinion on national television from Mrs Clinton and Rick Lazio (NY senate candidates). All hell broke loose shortly after of course, even prompting the USPS to send out an official denial. Here is a bit more info you can read (Thanks /.)

Yikes, managed to screw up my sleep schedule in one fatal swoop. At any rate I woke up to this story in my inbox and I felt you guys may wish to discuss the sociological impacts of such things. Thanks Jeremy Horne

Last March, Gov. Lincoln Almond named Mr. Potato Head the official "spokespud" of Rhode Island and started putting up statues of Mr. Potato Head to promote tourism. [...] , the Associated Press reports that one of these statues has been deemed racist and will be taken down. The offending statue is the Tourist Potato.