] Search engine Google Inc. announced Wednesday it will
] launch a free, Web-based e-mail service to compete
] against popular services from rivals Yahoo! Inc. and
] Microsoft Corp.
]
] Google's service, called "Gmail," will include a built-in
] search function that will let people search every e-mail
] they've ever sent or received.

Sweet! -LB

CNN.com - Google to offer 1 gig of free e-mail - Mar 31, 2004

fractal wrote:
] give it to the kids! spread it around!

I was given a "cold", "ulcer" and "mono" for my birthday! Giant Microbes rule - 'cept I have to keep fighting over them with my kids "those are MY germs!" -LB

RE: black death plush toy

] Brian Maxwell, founder of the multimillion-dollar
] PowerBar empire and a former world-class marathon runner,
] has died of a heart attack, friends said. He was 51.

Morpheus said it best... "Fate it seems, is not without a sense of irony." -LB

PowerBar founder Maxwell dies of a heart attack

] Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism
] coordinator, accuses the Bush administration of failing
] to recognize the al-Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11,
] 2001, terror attacks and then manipulating America into
] war with Iraq with dangerous consequences.

And the hits just keep on comin'! -LB

Former counterterror adviser slams White House, Rumsfeld

] Software billionaire Larry Ellison has given his new
] bride a pricey gift of 911,744 shares of his
] company's stock.
]
] Ellison, chief executive of software giant Oracle, gave
] the shares to his fourth wife, novelist Melanie Craft, on
] March 1, according to a filing Wednesday with the
] Securities and Exchange Commission.
]
] The shares were worth $11.9 million when Ellison parted
] with them. Oracle's stock has since declined by 9%,
] reducing the value of Craft's holdings to $10.8 million
] Wednesday, based on Oracle's closing price of $11.85 on
] the Nasdaq Stock Market.

If I were her, I'd say "thanks honey, but I'd rather have the cash!" and sell immediately. -LB

USATODAY.com - Ellison gives wife rich gift of Oracle stock

] As far as flying space rocks go, it's as close an
] encounter as mankind has ever had.
]
] A 100-foot diameter asteroid will pass within 26,500
] miles of Earth on Thursday evening, the closest-ever
] brush on record by a space rock, NASA astronomers said.
]
] The asteroid's close flyby, first spied late Monday,
] poses no risk, NASA astronomers stressed.
]
] "It's a guaranteed miss," astronomer Paul Chodas, of the
] near-Earth object office at NASA's Jet Propulsion
] Laboratory, said Wednesday.

Hopefully now people will wake up and realize more money needs to be spent on searching and indexing the orbits of Near Earth Objects (NEO's). -LB

CNN.com - NASA: 100-foot asteroid to fly by Earth - Mar 18, 2004

] All about shoelaces and shoelace knots, including my "Ian
] Knot", the
]
] World's Fastest Shoelace Knot (now celebrating it's 21st
] anniversary!).

/me thinks Ian needs to get outside more often. -LB

Ian's Shoelace Site

] MADRID, Spain - (KRT) - In a stunning upset triggered by
] last week's terror attacks, Spanish voters on Sunday
] dumped the nation's ruling party, which has been a
] staunch supporter of the United States in the war in
] Iraq.

Something about the timing of this smells funny...

KansasCity.com - The Kansas City Star, breaking local news, sports, entertainment, business

] On Sunday, Putin was helped by overwhelmingly positive
] coverage on Russia's state-controlled nationwide
] television stations, giving his competitors little
] opportunity to reach voters.
]
]
] Such media coverage drew criticism from Putin's
] opponents, international observers and U.S. officials,
] who said it gave the Russian president an unfair
] advantage.
]
]
] "You've got to let candidates have all access to the
] media that the president has," U.S. Secretary of State
] Colin Powell told "Fox News Sunday."
]
]
] "It's not entirely clear to me why they go out of their
] way to keep opposition candidates from fully
] participating in the electoral process," said Powell, who
] added that this does not mean there is yet cause to worry
] that democracy in Russia is crumbling.
]
]
] Putin's campaign manager, Dmitry Kozak, shot back on
] Sunday that democracy in the United States is far from
] perfect.

Touché.

Putin's victory criticized by foes

] Citing problems in last week's primary election, two
] leading senators Thursday asked the secretary of state to
] decertify the use of touch-screen voting systems for the
] upcoming November election.
]
] "California has a lemon law which protects consumers if
] they buy an automobile that doesn't work. So far,
] electronic voting in California is a lemon. It needs to
] be fixed," said Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine.
]
] Electronic voting machines have been controversial almost
] since their invention. Some computer scientists say the
] systems leave elections vulnerable to hackers, while
] other critics say that because most electronic voting
] terminals do not produce paper records, there's no way to
] ensure accurate recounts.
]
] There's also a concern that system problems in California
] could lead to voter confusion like that surrounding the
] 2000 presidential election in Florida.
]
] In the March 2 statewide election, where 14 counties used
] touch-screen voting systems, the number of system
] failures was "alarming," said Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland.

Lets hope this starts a domino effect trend into other states. -LB

USATODAY.com - Calif. senators want decertification of e-vote systems