Posted 1:30 PM by Blah blah

Ellen usually finds the most interesting links! See The Date Project, "an exciting new effort by a [28-year-old] single man located in Portland, Oregon to find a girlfriend. Through this site, you will be able to see the issues and problems he endures and the success he (hopefully) finds." I wonder if this will turn out like that movie 20 Dates, where this guy Myles Berkowitz (an unsuccessful filmmaker) tries to boost his professional life and his love life at the same time. He does whatever is necessary to film himself going on 20 dates.

Michelle has this very funny page of actual responses to her ad, called Personals Hell. Check her out, too. She's witty and has a fantastic blog reading list.

Heather is also trying to date, too. This email reply she got from a personals ad just CRACKS ME UP!!!

Date 13-Jun-2002 22:21:00

Subject Hello

Message...

Hi Heather,

I was looking through the list of people and I was struck by your incredible beauty. Your picture reminded me of how my Mum looked when she was younger and as she is very important to me I thought it would be good to meet someone who is as beautiful as she was.

My name is Dan, and the rest you can read from my profile. I really hope you reply then we can meet and hopefully have sex.

With lots of love from

Dan

__________
Crackdown on Web cafes after Beijing blaze kills 24 (Reuters):

"At least 24 people were killed and 13 injured when a fire swept through a packed Internet cafe in a university district of China's capital, Beijing, on Sunday in the city's worst fire in 50 years....

China's tight controls on the Internet and Web cafes have driven many operators underground, where they operate illegally behind locked doors to avoid scrutiny in their rush to serve millions of people seeking Internet access....

Many Chinese youths turn to the illegal parlours because they cannot afford their own computer, and still others are lured by the freedom of anonymous Internet access in a country where teams of police monitor and track Web use from homes and offices.

A deadly blaze swept through an Internet cafe in the northeastern port city of Dalian earlier this year, killing 20 mainly young people who were trapped behind a locked door.

In his order to close Internet cafes in the city, Beijing's Mayor Liu Qi was quoted by Xinhua as saying:

"From now on, Beijing will not encourage the development of Internet bars. From today, all Internet bars should stop operation and departments concerned should stop issuing licences."...

In one cafe in the centre of Shanghai, 50 people crowded into a poorly ventilated single room, outnumbering the computers by two to one. They chain-smoked, snuffing out cigarettes on grimy ceramic floor tiles.

Andersen Guilty of Shredding Files in Enron Scandal (NY Times):

"A federal jury convicted Arthur Andersen today of obstruction of justice for impeding an investigation by securities regulators into the financial debacle at Enron. Soon afterward, Andersen informed the government that it would cease auditing public companies as soon as the end of August, effectively ending the life of the 89-year-old firm....

At bottom, then, the guilty verdict against Andersen on a charge brought because of the shredding of thousands of records and deletion of tens of thousands of e-mail messages was ultimately reached because of the removal of a few words from a single memorandum."

Alaska, No Longer So Frigid, Starts to Crack, Burn and Sag (NY Times):

"The leading Republican in this state, Senator Ted Stevens, says that no place is experiencing more startling change from rising temperatures than Alaska.

Among the consequences, Senator Stevens says, are sagging roads, crumbling villages, dead forests, catastrophic fires and possible disruption of marine wildlife.

These problems will cost Alaska hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

'Alaska is harder hit by global climate change than any place in the world,' Senator Stevens said."