Random Bits

• I see that seven bartenders at the Millennium Hotel have tested positive for Polonium.
• I heard on the radio today that it's critical for the space shuttle to launch soon because they don't want it in orbit over New Year's. They seem to be worried that the shuttle software can't handle the rollover. A Y2.006K problem. I don't believe it.
  
• Two things were interesting about this article in the NYTimes on real estate prices. First, when they put houses up for sale via an auction, the prices dropped by a lot more than the calming information about a "soft landing" we're all hearing. They attribute this finding to the use of the auction as a way to discover what people are really willing to pay, while the statistics you're always reading about exclude the houses that sellers are unwilling to drop the price on as they continue to live in denial. Second, it was all about house prices in Naples. House prices are ridiculous out here, but the speculation out there is just downright shameful. Any place that has a real estate channel to support all the speculators is in trouble.
• In the category of "necessity is a mother," I thought that the use of Silly String as a way to detect trip wires on bombs was innovative.