] An America Online customer service rep illicitly surfs
] the company's customer database, ferrets out private data
] on celebrity members and then hunts them down online
] under a false identity, seeking fame and fortune in
] Hollywood.
]
] Sound like a prelude to prison? Not in the case of
] Heather Robinson. The former AOL employee managed to
] parlay privacy violations into useful contacts in
] Hollywood. With the help of those contacts, Robinson, 25,
] landed a movie deal, and she's using her toehold in the
] industry to advance another.

...and the Computer Club is showing Hackers tonight. If only the story behinds its creation was as questionable.

Wired News: Hack Your Way to Hollywood

] But the standard structure of public ownership may
] jeopardize the independence [of Google]. Therefore, we
] have designed a corporate structure that will protect
] Google%u2019s ability to innovate and retain its most
] distinctive characteristics.

One of the better bits of coverage on the IPO. I guess this may be one of those opportunities where I agree with a dual-class control structure -- to fend off hostiles and the short-term junkies -- although I still would hope they will put a sunset clause on it. And if they can maintain the valuation types they are going for, control isn't going to be much of an issue anyway.

Google IPO, Google Foundation (Google Weblog)

] in a lot of ways we have the worst of both worlds: no
] security and no privacy. There are at least 50 federal
] laws and regulations regarding the handling of personal
] information. Programmers call that spaghetti code.

Interesting interview with Poindexter. I honestly do think he was doing some very novel and worthwhile things... not all of them, but some.

Wired 12.05: Poindexter Confidential

] A damning new report reveals that the Bush administration
] has quietly removed 25 reports from its Women's Bureau
] Web site, deleting or distorting crucial information on
] issues from pay equity to reproductive healthcare.

We started talking about this issue last week on TIA;
particularly because of the onerous robot.txt on the
whitehouse site (and others), there is almost no
automated accountability for inexplicable content
mutation or deletion. This is a particularly bad example.

Salon.com Life | Making women's issues go away

] It’s 180 square feet of pure parking paradise in a city
] where open spaces are as common as cactus. All yours for
] $160,000.

Value of Boston parking spots out of control

] One Slightly Used Size 12 Wedding Gown. Only worn twice:
] Once at the wedding and once for these pictures.

Another eBay ad phenominon

eBay item 4146756343 (Ends Apr-28-04 15:37:01 PDT) - SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE

] "Power lines were for electricity. Power lines can be
] used for broadband technology. So the technical standards
] need to be changed to encourage that," Bush said

Which... yeah, you go Mr. Politician. Because if you say it should be done, clearly the technology has stood still poised for your request.

Thankfully, he still can't handle those odd numbered offset counting bits...
] The U.S. ranked 10th in the world for high-speed,
] broadband Internet access, "10 spots too low, as far as
] I'm concerned," Bush said, "that's not good enough for
] America."
We'll be number 0! Yay!

Latest Forex News - FXstreet.com

] A Mexican man who got drunk, fell asleep on railroad
] tracks and was run over by a train slept through the
] entire episode and escaped unharmed, local officials said
] on Friday.

Yahoo! News - Drunk Run Over by Train, Lives

] "Pittsburgh is a city of lights for all the wrong
] reasons," Fink told about 20 people this morning at 8:30.
] "Standing on Troy Hill, you would think the steel mills
] are still going. The amount of it that's emanating out of
] Pittsburgh is absolutely phenomenal."

First, read the article because of the prospect of Pittsburgh with giant frickin laser beams.

But then I really like the direction it goes regarding light pollution. Light pollution issues /really/ bother me. It trips the aesthetic issues, as well as the little engineer going LOOK AT THE RAW INEFFICIENCIES ALL AROUND US. I would love to see Pittsburgh dark enough at night to see the stars... and the Giant Frickin Laser Beams

Three rivers may be a point of light

] (one of Joseph Schumpter key theories is that all things
] being equal, periods of revolutionary technological
] change are by necessity deflationary.)

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Joseph Schumpter wrote a two volume book, Business Cycles.

Revolutionary Technological Change