] VERNON -- Two half-starved brothers who emerged from the
] bush two weeks ago are telling an astonishing tale of
] growing up in complete isolation in the remote backwoods
] of B.C.'s Interior.
]
] Initially, the story of Tom and Will Green seemed like
] Swiss Family Robinson fiction.
]
] But now a wide-ranging group, including a young mom, a
] lawyer, a counsellor, Salvation Army staff and the local
] Member of Parliament have come to believe it just might
] be true.
]
] "They are not like other street kids," says Carol Anne,
] who once ran a group home for runaways and now works as a
] receptionist for Okanagan/Shuswap MP Darrel Stinson.
] "They don't have that what's-it-to-you, in-your-face
] demeanour."
]
] The kind-hearted group of residents has put the brothers
] up in a hotel and given them food. They are also fiercely
] protecting the privacy of Tom, 22, and Will, 16. None
] would arrange an interview, for fear of spooking the boys
] back into the bush.
]
] Born in the wilderness, the brothers claim they were
] raised in complete isolation by their mom and dad, who
] call themselves Mary and Joseph Green. They believe they
] were born in Canada, but that their parents are American.

Will says he was ordered to leave home this summer when he became a vegetarian and his mother declared him an "alien influence" in the home, says Rhelda Evans, a case worker for Stinson.

National Story - canada.com network

By Janet Pak
The Associated Press

CHARLIE RIEDEL / AP
Sean Canady has kept a journal since he was in middle school, but the Kansas database assistant switched to an online version two years ago. He said writing online allowed him to overcome personal insecurities.

NEW YORK — Sean Canady used to record his frustrations, desires and other deep, personal thoughts in a black, spiral-bound notebook. Two years ago, he gave that up for something far less intimate — the Internet.

Canady is one of a growing number of people who are using online journals to share their triumphs and pains in hopes that other people will read them and respond. The largest such site, LiveJournal.com, has more than 1 million members.

While the sites are somewhat similar to online bulletin boards or chat rooms, Web journals aren't limited to a specific topic or discussions.

And unlike blogs, which are dated musings on certain subjects and often carry links to similar blogs, online journals are designed to be more like a coffeehouse, where a community regularly gathers, building friendships and connections as they share personal details.

Daily journals find a new home online

In July, San Francisco based Hand Held Entertainment (www.hheld.com) announced the
ZVUE!, a sub $100 portable video and MP3 player. Industry analysts and seasoned tech journalists were skeptical that a small start-up company could live up to their mid-summer PR hype.

An article in Gizmodo stated: Unfortunately, it looks like they're using their own proprietary video codec called HHE, which means the ZVUE! won't play MPEGs or DivX files, and that the only videos you'll be able to watch on it are probably ones you'll have to buy from them.
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/007531.php

A report on CNET.com declared: If that's true, the device will turn the portable-entertainment industry on its ear.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Music/4520-6450_7-5021424-1.html

On Thursday August 28, I became the first journalist to hold a battery powered (4 AA) fully functional, pre-production rubber mold ZVUE! prototype in my hand and watch videos on the 2.5” TFT color screen. Photos, audio interviews (wav, wma), product info and an interactive discussion regarding the technology and the pre-Christmas launch are available through the New Digital Reporter.

ZVUE: $99 Handheld Video Player On Track For Fall Release

] Jewel entertained at halftime of the Nets-Spurs NBA
] Finals game last Sunday - and did so again about a
] half-hour later.
]
] But she was accompanied by a laptop, not a microphone and
] fellow musicians, for the later performance. On press
] row, 15 feet from the Continental Arena court, the
] Alaskan-born pop star answered live questions online from
] fans on the NBA.com Web site.
]
] Welcome to the 21st century NBA, a league run by a
] commissioner nicknamed "Digital Dave" - Teaneck native
] David Stern - because of his fondness for the latest in
] telecommunications and high-tech gadgets.

Welcome to the 21st century NBA

] Bands come and go from record labels in a revolving door
] of euphoria and dejection, so when the news came out that
] Pearl Jam had fulfilled its contract and was leaving Epic
] after 12 years, many in the industry shrugged and went
] back to their Mocha Malt Frappucinos. But this is more
] than just another band leaving just another label.

The music biz in a Pearl Jam

] My son Peter Seebach, who goes by "Seebs" online, started
] a Web log last week.
]
] Oh, I know, him and about 30,000 other people. The online
] diaries called Web logs, blogs for short, are a thriving
] hobby and are rapidly self-organizing into a complex
] ecosystem. What made it interesting was that it took the
] Web search engine Google less than 48 hours to find his
] new blog.
]
] His first post to what he was then calling "Brain of
] Seebs" went up on May 22, a Thursday. When we talked on
] Sunday, he was no-end pleased that asking Google for
] "seebs blog" already went directly to this brand-new
] site.
]
] I stopped by the office on Memorial Day to pick up some
] papers, so naturally I tried it out. And I was reading
] "Brain of Seebs" when the phone rang.

LINDA SEEBACH: The vast new world of blogs

] Competition among $1.99 bottles of wine is getting so
] fierce so fast that officials of the California State
] Fair may have to add a new class to this summer's wine
] competition: Best of the Cheapest.
]
] First on the market last year was the Charles Shaw wines
] -- "Two Buck Chuck" -- made by Bronco Wine Co. of Ceres
] and sold only at the Trader Joe's chain of grocery
] stores.
]
] Then a few weeks ago the Beverages & More group of liquor
] stores introduced its own $1.99 wines under the Pacific
] Peak label, made by Golden State Vintners of Napa.
]
] Now the Raley's, Bel Air and Nob Hill family of grocery
] stores is leaping into the arena with three $1.99
] varietals marketed under the CA Arbor label, made by
] Black Oak Winery of Healdsburg.

I'm in Sonoma County for a couple of weeks and plan to visit Black Oak Winery in Healdsburg to get the dirt on the $2 wine trend sweeping across California.

Two-buck wine craze spills into Raley's chain

] SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- By now, most industry members are
] aware of the burgeoning trend in sales of $2 varietal
] wines that has apparently exploded on the West Coast, a
] result of the surplus of California bulk wine. The "Two
] Buck Chuck" phenomenon began last year at Trader Joe's
] chain of supermarkets, where Bronco Wine's Charles
] ["Chuck"} Shaw Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and
] Cabernet Sauvignon were selling for $1.99. Reports of
] waiting lines snaking out of the stores were not
] exaggerations. Indeed, one member of the California wine
] community recently told StateWays that she spent time in
] a store just watching consumers buying Two-Buck Chuck by
] the case -- mostly from two to five cases, and some even
] more.

Sales of $2 Wine Flying High

] The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association
] counted 140 million cellphone subscribers in this country
] in 2002 %u2014 a number that is sure to keep rising as
] cellphones become smaller, lighter and more versatile.
]
] One of the most popular new configurations is the
] cellphone with a built-in personal digital assistant. But
] that combination represents only a small fraction of what
] telecommunications or computer companies and independent
] inventors say cellphones can do.

New Functions for Cellphones

] LONDON, May 30 %u2014 A British soldier was arrested today
] after he left a roll of film at a photo store that
] appeared to show an Iraqi prisoner being tortured, the
] Defense Ministry said today.
]
] The film depicted a bound and gagged Iraqi inside a net
] that was suspended from a forklift, according to The Sun,
] which first reported the story this morning. The Sun also
] reported that the roll included pictures of soldiers
] performing sex acts near Iraqi prisoners.

Photos Raise Allegations of Torture