] The Federal Communications Commission decided yesterday
] not to allow educational institutions to sell their
] spectrum licenses, but the agency will allow them to
] continue leasing the valuable airwaves for commercial
] use, and it will move users around to reduce
] interference.

I'm not sure it would have made sense for schools to sell their spectrum at this time anyway. Radio spectrum is one of the absolutely limited resources, and the FCC has done what it can to make that even more true. I am happier with universities leasing their bandwidth rather than the big cell or communication players owning it all.

FCC Won't Let Schools Sell Airwaves (TechNews.com)

Motley Fool calls this a customer disloyalty program (http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2004/mft04060908.htm), and GM's dumbest move. I'm not sure about dumbest, although given that the entire page is in images not words...

Still, it is the next logical extension to the 24hr testdrive, or those "get $$ to testdrive a car" promotions.

The next obvious move is that they will subsidize your lease terms for a competitors' car. Yeah.

GM - $250 Challenge

] "We believe that pufferfish acquire poison by eating
] poisonous food, such as starfish and shellfish, rather
] than producing it themselves. So we fed them nonpoisonous
] food," Arakawa said.
]
] He and his colleagues kept about 5,000 fugu on a strict
] regime of mackerel and other nonpoisonous food at seven
] locations along Japan's west coast from 2001 to 2003.

But where is the fun in that?

Salon.com Technology | Scientists develop blowfish minus poison

] According to the report, Brown-Dancler pointed a 9 mm
] handgun at the Pizza Hut employee as he was entering his
] van.
]
] Brown-Dancler's gun carried a loaded 14-round clip but
] had no bullet in the chamber, Crawford told the Star.
] When confronted, Honeycutt pulled his own 9 mm from the
] back of his pants and fired until it was empty. He says
] he fired 15 times in about eight seconds. An autopsy
] revealed Brown-Dancler was hit at least 10 times.

Does kind of set an example. "I just wanted pizza" is not an excuse for pulling a gun.

WorldNetDaily: Pizza man saved by gun, but fired for packin' heat

] "My first thought was, that's a really big dolphin. But
] then I noticed it was swimming side to side rather than
] up and down," he said.

An article so California it hurts. "I thought I was dust".
Surfers staying out even after the attack. "That's the heaviest thing I've seen". Reasonable explainations that "the shark felt threatened".

Surfer goes toe-to-toe with shark / 'I thought I was dust,' he says of 5-minute ordeal off Bodega Bay

] The legislation argues that consumers own their vehicles
] in their entirety and should be able to access their
] onboard computers. Just how the codes would be released
] to car owners isn't addressed, but possibilities include
] publishing them on CDs or websites, or requiring
] carmakers to create indicator lights that would pinpoint
] problems instead of lumping them together under the
] generic Check Engine-type warnings

Neat. Although some of us have the option with our car to buy aftermarket computers that /are/ pretty accessible.

Wired News: Drivers Want Code to Their Cars

] Then we sat in front of the computer for a few hours and
] I made her a playlist of more songs she had loved as a
] small girl, the ones she'd remembered and the ones she'd
] forgotten, which led to our having The Conversation. You
] know, the one I've known was coming for the last
] almost-nineteen years.
]
] I dragged songs from her childhood over to the playlist
] -- "Barcelona" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "I Don't
] Like Mondays" and "These Foolish Things" and then came
] Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side". "You named me from
] this song, didn't you?" said Holly as the first bass
] notes sang. "Yup," I said.

Neil Gaiman

] Our concern is that derivatives in general, and interest
] rate swaps and total return swaps in particular, have
] helped make the economy and financial markets
] hypersensitive to short-term interest rates, much less
] the insanity of valuing long-term assets based on over-night
] interest rates. Nevertheless, the markets of late are
] reacting dramatically to the mere discussion of when a
] quarter-point increase in rates might occur. Liquidity
] and short-term rates have always been a factor in
] markets; however, the old rule of thumb was it took three
] increases by the Federal Reserve before markets took a
] hit. We believe that multiple factors have made the
] markets hypersensitive to short-term rates. The above
] mentioned derivatives, the emergence of the
] financed-based economy, the pervasiveness of the
] carry-trade, the leverage in hedge funds and margin
] accounts, and last but not least the debt-to-GDP of the
] U.S. economy. Even if we accept the low reported rates of
] inflation (which we question), real rates of interest are
] currently negative. A return to a more normal
] relationship between inflation and interest rates is too
] painful to contemplate.

Interesting emphasis on the Carry Trade, which does seem particularly vulnerable. And, of course, more questions on the hyper-derivitive financial environment (looming disaster?). In my Finance course, it is hard to maintain cognitive dissonance between the power and worship of derivitives, and the understanding and fear I've personally picked up from watching from the Berkshire side.

FNM, the Carry Trade, & other thoughts

] The creation of the Theme Park ScienceFictionLand was
] also the Producer's plan for the funding the film, Lord
] of Light.
]
] Fortune 500 companies around the world had been contacted
] to act as sponsors. Internationally acclaimed scientists
] were intrigued and several had begun work on Research and
] Development. Even 3M had already expressed interest in
] building a 1/2 mile high Floating Heated Dome (based upon
] Buckminister Fuller's original designs for NYC) over the
] entire park. The film's financing was contingent upon the
] development of the themepark.

Quite a story. Novel concept for funding a film and foundation. And wow, 3M wanted to build the floating Dome.

CIA- Lord of Light

] Jody Gorran, 53, said Thursday that he was seduced "with
] a bacon-wrapped cheeseburger" to blindly follow the
] Atkins Diet, which also made his cholesterol soar to a
] risky level.

This was clearly a cherry picked, opening salvo lawsuit. But it really sounds like maybe the next fads will have to have reading comprehension waivers in order to participate. Blindly following is a bad idea in anything health related.

This is made worse by the fact that South Beach, which is similiar in nature to Atkins, was developed by a cardiologist to /help deal with cholesterol/. It wasn't intended for weighloss, but it was published when it showed such behavior as well. My dad has significantly improved his cholesterol levels with it.

It sounds like the guy should have put the book down, anyway, if it really was a matter of being 148 pounds desiring 140. Atkins diet -- or "lifestyle" -- is /way/ too extreme for that.

Yahoo! News - Man Sues Atkins Diet Over Heart Problems