BetaNews - Stephen King Novel Downloads Break Records Internet distribution of The Plant, the new novel by Stephen King, topped 100,000 completed downloads in its first two days of online sales, Conxion, the Internet operator handling the e-book, announced. The download, the firm said, was a record for King's work, and a respectable figure for the digital delivery of books. Antonio Salerno, Conxion's CEO, said that King has become a pioneering author in digitally delivering his books directly to readers.

Fortune 2000 Retirement Guide: Introduction: Retire Rich None of it makes sense--the frantic saving, those grueling 18-hour workdays--without keeping the fantasy firmly in mind. The empty beach, soft as talcum under your toes. The breathtaking mountain retreat that's actually home, not a two-week hideaway. Retirement, on your terms. Yes, that's the goal. The task, however, is getting there in one piece.

Hey PDA! There's a penguin nipping at your ankles! I just bought a Handspring Visor Deluxe for my wife and while we're generally happy with it the screen takes some getting used to. That's hardware. This link points to an article concerning attempts to put Linux on Windows CE PDAs.

NASA Historical Archive for Manned Missions Want to know the what and why of the US space program? This NASA site has a wealth of information.

Edgar Governo, Historian of Things That Never Were A collection links to (mostly) other sites containing alternate timelines of fictional history. You might think that was a limited field, but he's collected 188 examples by now. Dune, Heinlein, Asimov, H2G2, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Highlander, Wing Commander, anime…the range is amazing

Add a little spice to your life Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages will tell you everything you evr wanted to know (and maybe didn't want to know) about spices from around the world.

Applause for IE's Cookie Catcher "Microsoft has started an important correction ... (in) its decision to make its Web browser stop and ask users before reporting data about them," said Richard Smith, a prominent security expert who has exposed several Internet privacy bugs.

Can light travel faster than light? For weeks, scientific circles have been buzzing about an experiment that pulsed light through a special chamber so fast that it left the apparatus before it fully entered it. The answer is no, light can't travel faster than light. It's a matter of interpretation of the theory of relativity. In other words, it's all relative. &;^)

Stephen King to post book on Web, sell it directly, bypassing publishers Stephen King plans to begin an experiment in direct publishing Monday by posting the first installment of a new novel online and asking readers to pay through the honor system. Installment one of "The Plant" will be posted on King's Web site on July 24 and installment two on Aug. 21. Part three will appear in September if "pay-through" equals or exceeds 75 percent, according to a message on his Web site dated July 11. Readers will be asked to send King a check or money order for $1 per installment in a direct transaction that King describes as a way to thumb your nose at the publishing industry.

The Constitution of the United States The work of many minds, the Constitution stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise.

Why Encrypt Your Email? Like a mile-long drift net that snatches up dolphins, corpses and fifty-five gallon drums of toxic waste along with tuna, the FBI’s new "data sniffer" equipment, Carnivore, doesn’t care whose email it snags and scrutinizes. The FBI demonstrated the technology weeks ago, which can examine millions of email messages in a short period of time, but admitted that it was in use for over a year before being publicly acknowledged."

DaveNet: Tom Matrullo on Napster "...Mozart once heard a piece of music so piercingly beautiful that he was moved to write it down from memory after hearing it performed in a church. He had no choice. The church believed it "owned" the music, and forbade anyone to copy it. So, Mozart pulled a Napster. The piece has been in the public domain ever since, for all to enjoy...." Just one small paragraph from an excellent essay.

Mp3 Discman MPTrip Discman. Now you can record the MP3 files to a 650 megabyte CD-R or CD-RW and play them directly on an MP3 player. Each CD-R or CD-RW can hold more or less 160 songs, which can be arranged in different directories in the order that you want. Of course it plays regular audio cds too.

The U.S. women's water polo team made it clear to the world that it is a gold medal threat come Sydney. The Americans went 6-0 in the 2000 Holiday Cup and defeated world powers in the process.

The Future of Energy What is needed is a system that generates electrical power locally, uses resources that almost everybody has in their backyard, and operates with minimal emissions of pollutants. And, while we're at it, let's say it should be as quiet as a household air conditioner.

Figure This One Out Two triangles formed using the same "puzzle" pieces, but in different positions. The triangles have the same dimensions but one has a "bite" taken out of it.

Speech recognition leaders aim to give PDAs a voice and ears "Excuse me - are you talking to me or your PDA?" Coming soon from the technology world: another inanimate object to talk with. Two leaders in speech recognition, IBM and Belgian speech technology giant Lernout & Hauspie, have each built speech-enabled prototypes of handheld devices that could be commercially available as early as next year.

UC Santa Cruz Puts Human Genome Online/Programming wizard does job in 4 weeks The human genome has been called the Book of Life, but it's one tome few have ever seen. That started to change yesterday, after the University of California at Santa Cruz unveiled a Web site -- http://genome.ucsc.edu/ -- where people can download the only completely assembled version of the human genetic code for free.

Dave’s Page of Bogus Science Many of us now use this time to whine about the very things that made it possible. Sadly, the typical American acquires most of his or her “science” knowledge from TV and movie stars, politicians, and cartoon characters. The result is a lot of bad, dangerous, and sometimes funny science.

How Fireworks Really Work As you ooh and aah at the dazzling explosions of a fireworks display, there are three things going on that you probably wouldn’t guess: The chemists who made those pyrotechnics designed most of them so they wouldn’t explode, you’re actually seeing nature conserving energy, and most peculiar of all, when things are at their flashiest, you’re actually seeing the fireworks as they’re cooling down.

The Victorian Internet It's a familiar story: A new high-tech "web" materializes seemingly out of nowhere and takes the entire world by storm. Barriers to communication are obliterated as city after city becomes wired, allowing people to send nearly instant messages to one another—even to "chat" online. Vast fortunes are created and destroyed as entrepreneurs wage fierce competitive battles, and scam artists fleece gullible investors. Subcultures form their own communities, with private codes and customs. Buying and selling of goods online becomes commonplace, and governments try—and fail—to control the new network, as it proves a hotbed for criminal activity and other forms of "subversion."

GO NAPSTER! Embattled online music-swapping company Napster has a simple message for the courts and for the record industry: Downloading songs online without paying for them is legal.

Adding an IE Favorites Icon Every Web browser has unique characteristics that distinguish it from the others. One of the interesting features of Internet Explorer 5 is that it will add a custom icon to the favorites of readers who bookmark your site.

Giant Fish Net Snags Gamma Ray Bursts Jul 02, 2000 — A virtual net cast from here to beyond the sun and over to the asteroids is now harvesting its first fish, gamma-ray bursts big enough for keepers.

The Ten Commandments for HMOs If you're thinking of joining an HMO, or of changing from one HMO to another, send out the "TEN COMMANDMENTS for HMOs" . Ask the HMO to respond with answers. If they don't answer, or if you don't like the answers, DON'T JOIN that HMO. Do the same with another HMO until you find one that answers your consumer concerns.

Does your fridge know how much you weigh today? (2/26/2000) Dave Barry essay on "smart" appliances. ROTFL

Senate Passes New Patients' Rights Bill Excerpt: "The legislation passed yesterday contains the Ashcroft external review provisions ensuring that patients get care when they need it, and that medical decisions are made by independent physicians of the appropriate specialty, not by insurance claims adjusters. His provisions would also mandate that HMOs abide by strict timetables and face penalties for non-compliance with findings by independent physician reviewers." (Sen. John Ashcroft's Office, via US Newswire)

Extra fat means more happiness, better sex - One of the world's most revered scientists has developed a theory that fat people are happier than thin ones. James Watson, the Nobel prize-winning geneticist who was jointly responsible for discovering the structure of DNA, believes that plumper women are also likely to enjoy a better sex life than their thin counterparts. Watson, who directed the successful human genome project, has moved into the controversial science of body image. He recently told an audience at University College London that his research suggested extra pounds had the biological effect of making a woman well-rounded in character and better in bed.