Old and fake; these are scans from a marketing campaign for Gameboy (lite? color?). I've got the glossies in a Nintendo Power somewhere.

@6:

You can pre-order volume 2 of Shooting Game Historica here:

http://www.shopncsx.com/shootinggamehistoricavol2.aspx

You may still be able to find volume 1 on eBay.

I ordered five of these and got three Silver Hawks. I still covet R-9 goodness.

@2:

They're bits. depending on the type and ship, they do different things. God I loved R-Type Final; it was like Pokemon for shooting fanatics.

I was fumigated on British Airways on the way back from Mumbai a month and a half ago. I'm not sure why this was the case, since I've been to Asia a few times without this ever happening. This is not a strictly NZ thing, and frankly, not news.

Yes, you consent to it in the tickets. We actually first heard about it when we got our immunizations at the travel clinic; it was in the paperwork. No, a single exposure probably won't give you cancer, but the literature did warn about anaphylactic shock; given the state of peoples' immune systems these days, it's something to take seriously.

In any case, I don't think this is doing anything to protect 'fragile ecosystems,' since walking down the aisle spraying the stuff in the air doesn't, as Darsal (@10) implies, get into your shoes or bags or whatever where insects would be most likely to be.

So, while it may not be detrimental to the majority, it's not effective... so why do it? It seems like a pretty half-assed solution.

Oooh! Oooh! Instead of disemvoweling, you should use this algorithm!

http://www.stevesachs.com/jumbler.cgi

It's frnasuttrig to raed conemtms wthoiut veowls, and by rimnpag up diffcltuiy, you dirscaouge the cemmnot form bineg raed. Mabye taht's the ientnt, but I tinhk "dtepnerciag" cmntemos in tihs way geos aasgint the sirpit of tihs stie. Uinsg tihs metohd, hevweor, kepes the txet pttery raelbade whlie dtlfieang all ssneeriouss. Three's a Dvae Alttel bit wrhee he takls auobt how hrad it is to win an amuenrgt wehn yuor dcik is sniiktcg out of yuor paaamjs. Liwekise, It's hrad to mkae a seoirus arumnegt wehn yuor cnemomt is rdnereed in LOLCAT.

Please reconsider the disemvoweling.

@#2: LAWL

Thank you.

For the past few years my friends and I have ended up in Outback for Independence Day. I mean, hey, why not.

In 2005 I instituted what became the Cheese Fry Challenge... that is, to finish a whole plate of cheese fries individually. Not surprisingly, this has been less of a competition between friends and more a battle of personal attrition.

Seriously, what better way to honor the US than orgiastic excess in a sham restaurant.

Disclosure: I am not patriotic.
Obviously: I am fat.

Awesome photoshop to commemorate the the first annual here.

I just posted the pictures from my visit on Friday to my Flickr account; the set is here.

Mostly this stuff gets sent submitted to IAFIS via email. Fingerprints and such are wrapped up in a binary format, the specification of which can be found here:

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/iafis/efts71/cover.htm

The problem I have is the societal component, that you're a jerk/cheapskate/a-hole for not buying into the cultural norm of shelling out for an arbitrary symbol. It's not just that it's an expensive gift, it's expensive AND you are expected to comply. Nothing like being guilted into something.

Try giving zirconium, quartz, or even glass as a push present or engagement ring, no matter how beautifully crafted it is.