This Wired article,Will the Hatemongers Survive?, is scary in its implications along with what it is reporting. I can see it being used to show a legitimate need for censorship of the Web.

CNN.com is reporting That Southern California Edison took $4.8 billion in dividends and transferred those dollars to their parent company Edison International between 1/1/96 and 11/30/2000. The company is now claiming they can’t pay their bills.

“Basically they took the money and ran,” Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, said late Monday night. “Had they not done that they would not be in the financial problem they are in. If ratepayers bail them out, ratepayers should get something in return, like power lines or something.”

If ratepayers don’t bail them out then the ratepayers are going to be without power until another entity can take Southern California Edison’s place. This is what happens when you kind of, sort of deregulate but leave monopolies in place.

According to The Dallas Morning News Fairfax County, Virginia may make it illegal to sleep anywhere other than a bedroom. Okay, they are attempting to address a legitimate problem of cramming 27 people into a two room apartment but this is a poorly conceived solution to the problem.

I’m sure all of you have heard of the Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Scams by now. I’ve seen faxes and hand written letters claiming to want help in moving $40,000,000 out of Nigeria using the recepient’s bank account in exchange for some percentage of the money. I’ve wondered about contacting these people, just out of curiosity, without actually giving them any information to see where this is going. According to the above link, don’t. These folks are involved in a scam that racks in billions every year. They are not above enticing you to Nigeria to kidnap you. The above link is an extremely interesting tale on a very interesting website.

Flying can be scary for some people. Personally, I’m more terrified waiting for the plane to get into the air than I could ever be while actually flying. This AVweb NewsWire (29-January-01) explains why. Runway incursions are becoming an ever increasing threat to air safety.

Do you lie to pollsters? Do you give out the number for the local weather recording when a sales clerk ask for your phone number just for the records? Well, bucko, this site may be for you. Rob’s Giant BonusCard Swap Meet allows you to swap barcodes with other Giant Foodstore BonusCard users. Why would you want to do this? It’s a privacy issue matter. The marketing people that want to give you a discount in exchange for data on your buying habits are going to go bonkers trying to figure out the demographics and shopping habits of these musical chair barcodes. You aren’t a Giant Foodstore customer? No problem, Rob is attempting to expand this swap meet to other stores. All you need to do is scan your stores card and email the graphic to him.

A report in The Register tells us that Microsoft may be able to learn, quickly, from its mistakes. It appears that they have offloaded at least some of their domain name services to Akamai Technologies whose DNS servers are geographically dispersed. Ironically these servers may be running Linux instead of Microsoft operating systems.

I’ve got mixed emotions about the Airline Passengers Bill of Rights that is being brought up again in congress. The aviation industry is going through a time where demand is far outstripping their ability to supply. Buying more planes and building more runways isn’t going to be all it takes to solve the problem. Pilots and flight crews and air traffic controllers are going to be needed to fly these new planes from one place to another and you don’t train these people overnight. I don’t see how customer service in the airline industry will ever get any better until the airlines are willing to admit up front that they may not be able to reliably get you to your destination on time.

Just title this picture: Stupidity at Home Depot

Some stories are just too weird. From CNN, Man Accidentally Saws off Hand, Then Shoots Nails into Head.

Searching For the God Within reports on the research by scientist attempting to explain, from a physiological standpoint, religious experiences. I’ve attempted to start some discussion on this message board about different perceptions of “God”. Maybe this article will spur the discussion on further.

Pillsbury Doughboy mauls techies. That’s right: Just when you think the battle over domain names and trademarks can get no more ridiculous, Pillsbury goes and ups the ante. I think I’m just going to go find a rock to hide under. There is no way in the world that engineers having a protocol bake-off is causing any type of economic harm to Pillsbury.

Cool. TheAmerican Library Association votes to challenge CIPA. While there is an awful lot of crap out here that kids don’t need to have access to I know of no filtering software that doesn’t also filter out content that our kids must have access to. I also don’t like the fact that the filters will also filter out content that an adult will have access to or that there is no good way to apply age-appropriate filters for each session. Kudos to the ALA and I wish them luck.

Okay, a few days ago I mentioned that scientist at Harvard had learned how to stop light. Actually what they did was trap light, not stop it. This paper, Entanglement of Atomic Ensembles by Trapping Correlated Photon States, describes what they are doing with light.

Hmm, Fox News is reporting that In Deal With Special Prosecutor, Clinton Will Not Be Indicted. It looks like all the special prosecutor is looking for is an admission of guilt and a five year suspension of Clinton’s law license. When was the last time he used that license?

“I tried to walk a fine line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now recognize that I did not fully accomplish that goal and that certain of my responses to questions about Ms. Lewinsky were false,” Clinton said in a written statement read by his spokesman, Jake Siewert, at a White House briefing. “I hope my actions today will help bring closure and finality to these matters.”

Well, at least that drama is over. I was getting tired of it.