Some things are more obvious than others. That's the thought that occurred to me this morning as I waded through the incoming datastream. One idea that's purely my own concerns the effect of our calendar on the economy. With both Christmas and New Year's falling mid-week on top of a shortened shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, commerce and government have to struggle with a Julian double whammy. Not good.

They Needed a Poll?

A survey conducted by ABC asked respondents whether they were more or less fearful heading into the upcoming year. Did they honestly expect people to say that things are Lookin' Good? The results are about what you'd expect:

Americans have grown sharply more fearful about the new year ahead, in terms of both their personal outlook and the world's in general, an ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll has found.

Over on the "Bright Side" of the ledger we have...a robust market for video games. Considering all this, it's a miracle that only 56 percent of Americans say they're "more fearful, rather than more hopeful" about 2003.

Danger Zone

While I generally hold that kids today have it pretty cush compared to when I was in high school, in some respects I'm willing to admit they may have it a bit rougher. Here's a report on Brooklyn's Lafayette High, where they're racking up a serious incident every three days.

Bullies and thugs roam the hallways of Brooklyn's Lafayette High School—and students and teachers say they face a daily gantlet of beatings or threats.

• Seven students were pounded so badly they had to be taken to local hospitals.
  
• Four students were granted "safety transfers" to other schools after they were terrorized in assaults. Several others are working on transfers.
  
• "I'm trying to get him out of there so I don't have to worry about him all day," said one mother whose 14-year-old son was hospitalized in October after being beaten and whipped in the head with a leather belt by three thugs on a staircase.
  
• Students, teachers and administrators were threatened, pummeled and robbed in the stairwells.
  
• Safety officers confiscated at least five knives, a sharpened screwdriver, a set of brass knuckles, a box cutter and "a pool ball knotted in a do-rag in the form of a sling."
  

I Seek You

By now, you'd have to be a pretty stupid adult to go into a chat room and try to seduce an adolescent. Because for every actual 13-year-old hanging out in #Teen Chat, there's about 20 FBI agents posing as "Amber," "Courtney," and so on. Set up that meet at Motel 6 and you're going to wind up in handcuffs. But there's a lot of stupid adults out there and they keep getting caught.

In Missouri, the authorities have enacted a new state law that creates a "felony crime of enticement" for any adult using the Internet to "lure a child under 15 for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct." Seems like a good idea. Up to now, they've been having problems getting a conviction in cases where the perp arranges a meet but doesn't show. In such cases, they haven't been able to establish intent to commit a crime. Now, the "enticement" alone is enough.

The law, effective Aug. 28, applies even if the person on the receiving end of a pedophile's computerized come-on is "a peace officer masquerading as a minor."

A Solution in Need of a Problem

David Millrod has succeeded in getting U.S. patent number 6,483,897 for a device that allows you to answer the phone without answering it. Yes, it sounds confusing, but here's how it works:

A user can shout, "Answer phone!" from across the room, and the phone will open the line and play a message telling the caller to hold on until the user can pick up the call.

The Name Game

We expect those people at Immigration and Customs to be checking lists of newcomers to see if any names cross-check with those of known terrorists and criminal masterminds, right? You figure if the State Department has red-flagged "Muhammed al Karkrash," then the passport-stamping dude should be able to nab him if he tries to slip past the gate. According to this story at NYT, it's not that easy.

"There are over 200 ways 'Mohammed' is spelled in our alphabet, but there's only one way in Arabic," said Dr. Hermansen. "You have to find all of them, if the guy is coming across the border."

11:00:04 AM