The AP reports that the Pentagon wants to let you bet on possible acts of terrorism.

Last year I wrote about a betting pool on when Mike Tyson would bite someone again, based on the Delphic Oracle described by John Brunner. The Pentagon scheme strikes me as a more perverse version of the Oracle. And more open to abuse.

Let's say someone, oh, for arguments' sake a retired Pentagon consultant, decides he wants to make a bit of money. He and a bunch of buddies place a large number of bets on one specific futures item, say the assasination of Yassir Arafat. They then contract with someone or a group of someones to actually do the assasination (they, of course, would not involve any of the shadowy US agencies, now would they?). Make a big enough bet and everyone comes out ahead, even after "expenses".

Brunner's Shockwave Rider gets more and more prescient as time goes by. Which is Not A Good Thing.

From a posting to the Linux-390 mailing list:

E-Mail: When it absolutely, positively, has to get lost at the speed of light.
Upon the Advice of My Attorney, This Sticker Bears No Message at This Time
Klein Bottle for Rent - Inquire Within
English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

The last is a favorite of mine. When I was in 9th grade, I wrote a paper about the origins of the English language. And yes, it's pretty much that way...