Want a really cool souvenir from the dot.com era? How about an actual dot.com company? For the price of a nice Mercedes, you could own Webvan or for the price of a mid-priced computer (without monitor) you could own Scient.

On the list of Top 100 most frequently challenged books! Thought I'd post a list to this in honor of Banned Books Week, which runs from September 21-28, 2002.

I have read many of the books on the list for either school or pleasure ( I guess some could be considered both). It's sad to think that people have faught to keep them out of the schools and out of the hand of readers.

Some may deal with controversial issues or issues/actions that do not agree with their religion, etc., but understanding that people have different views and different experiences and learning about them is one of the great freedoms we have.

Simply banning anything that is not 100% in agreement with one's views is what the Taliban did. It's not what Americans should be doing.

Idiot father and son attack KC Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa during the 9th inning of the White Sox - Royals game at Comiskey Park last night.

I have to agree with Paul Konerko's comments wishing that "they had left the players out there to beat on them for an hour."

Two people's actions embarrass a team and a city.

His assets frozen, former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski may be headed to Riker's Island if he cannot post his $10 million bail by Thursday. I'm thinking they probably don't have $6000 shower curtains in the big house.

The NASDAQ redesigned their site a few weeks ago, and I think they dropped the ball on one section in particular. It take lot longer now to check the most active stocks since their redesign.

In the old days, one clicked on a link on the left navigation on homepage, and was taken to a page listing the Most Actice, Biggest % Gainers, and Biggest % Decliners all on one page. Click a text link and you're able to view the same on the NYSE. Click another link and there's the AMEX info.

Now, one must navigate the slow expanding DHTML cascading menu to get taken to a page with only the NASDAQ Most Active. Then one has to choose the exchange and category and click the GO button to view the next set of data. To view all the data, this has to be repeated 8 times. And one has to wait for the page to load each time.

So what once took 3 mouse actions to view now takes a minimum of 17 mouse actions and a lot more loading time.

I sent an email to the site's Webmaster a couple days after the site re-launch, and his answer for the change was that it reduced the amount of scrolling people had to perform on the pages. Don't know about you, but I'd much rather scroll a bit that have to navigate though all the steps required now to view the same amount of info.

How to build a fly-powered model airplane. I wonder if this really works! (via In My Experience)

A hilarious recap of one person's frustration with his wackyredneck neighbor. People like this neighbor is one of the reasons I decided I'd had enough of Georgia and returned to Chicago. Do miss Waffle House, though.

Not interested in somebody you meet, but hate telling them no to their face? As first seen in this article (via Obscure Store), the Rejection Hotline is a fake number you can give out that will break the news to the unsuccessful suitor. Numbers available in 14 cities and even internationally! Guess I'll have to remember the number for Chicago, so I don't end up a victim!

As a cool aside, the founder, Jeff Goldblatt, is a fellow 1999 Emory University grad.

After going 58-0 in international competition since they began using NBA players, Team USA lost their second straight game and are now out of the World Basketball Championships. Best they can do is finish 5th.

And Team USA has the home court advantage -- the Championships are being played in Indianapolis! How could this happen?

Well, when one scans the team's roster one fails to find the names of most of the NBA's biggest stars. No Shaq, no Kobe, no Iverson, no Kevin Garnett, no MJ, no Tracy McGrady, no Tim Duncan, no Rasheed Wallace, no Chris Webber, no Alonzo Mourning, no Jason Kidd...

I guess I would have thought that after September 11, maybe the NBA players could show a little patriotism and get up for playing on their nation's team, like NBA players from other nations do.

To combat the epidemic of dangerous driving in Chicago, the city is proposing a doubling of fines for infractions like going through red lights, rolling stop signs, and speeding.

Maybe if they'd actually enforce the existing rules, they'd be able to stop the madness. I agree that the problem needs to be fixed. I have near misses with overly agressive, dangerous drivers almost daily, and I know to look out for them (any guy driving a Camaro or Mustang is going to do whatever he wants!).

But I never see people pulled over for committing the offenses, even when they are done in plain view of a police car. I even see police cars, CTA busses and other city vehicles commit these infractions! The city needs to get its employees to follow the laws, and needs to crack down on those who break the law.

Giving twice the tickets, not doubling fines, is the better solution. Unless all they want to do is boost the city's coffers...