3.17.2004 • 9:08 PM

Word o' the Day

Incestuous Amplification n. The reinforcement of set beliefs among like-minded people, leading to miscalculations and errors in judgment.

I was recently trying to describe the phenomenon that happened in Silicon Valley -- not just the dot com boom, but the thinking that everyone in the world was as high tech as the geeks in the Bay Area. I started thinking my roommate & I were NORMAL since we had both high-speed cable & DSL, 2 phone lines, cell phones, pdas and digital cameras. The phones came in handy...I didn't have to walk the 5 feet to the door to see if Anish was awake from his nap... much easier to call and "meet at the living room in a half hour". Oh, those were the days.

So was incestuous amplification the downfall of SV? Maybe. Why else would insane companies be created? Some engineering team thought EVERYONE needed home delivery of groceries and flooze to pay for it.

3.10.2004 • 5:30 PM

One Millllion Dollar Mullet



Alice Regina Pike, in this undated Newton County Sheriff's Department photo, who tried to use a fake $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise Friday, March 5, 2004, at Wal-Mart was arrested and police later found two more of the bills in her purse in Covington, Ga.

And of course, she was going to use the change to get a haircut.

3.04.2004 • 9:00 PM

Reward for Kebobs

This week's Survivor reward challenge featured players catapulting items into the air to win food on a stick.

"Kebob International" stock shoots up 25%.