Parents who book family holidays during term time are to face on the spot truancy fines, the government warns. [BBC News | UK]

America is going daft panic-buying duct tape. Interesting WP story stating that 46% of all duct tape sold in the USA is manufactured by an Ohio-based company whose founder donated over $100,000 in the 2000 election campaign cycle to the Republican National Committee and other GOP committees.

Link to Washington Post story,

Google's recent purchase of Pyra Labs, maker of a weblogging tool called Blogger, has generated much speculation about why the popular search engine did the deal. One man who worked closely with Pyra thinks he knows the answer. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]

This article about London's commuter toll is inexplicably positive.  The plan is passed off as pro-environment, pedestrian's revenge on fat cat car owners, and a populist scheme to get more money for public transportation.  But the way I see it, here is what happened -- traffic was bad, and someone had the brilliant idea "things would be a lot better if we pass a law that says poor people are not allowed to use the roads" -- and they passed a law.

Birmingham give their survival dreams a major boost with a 2-1 defeat of Liverpool. If every one at the bottom of the league loses lots - they stay up! and who's smiling then?[BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

[New York Times: Technology]