June 21, 2001 - Sleeping Policemen - From The Economist print edition. "One form of driver assistance which is sure to create a fuss is intelligent speed adaptation (ISA)-a technology for forcing the motorist to observe the speed limit. This works by building into the car a digital map marked with local speed restrictions. The addition of GPS (global positioning system) navigation tells the car what the maximum speed on any given stretch of the road should be. Cars are then slowed down , or prevented from accelerating, whenever they are at or above the speed limit. One way to do this is to starve the engine of fuel. Another is to add a measure of play (ie, slack) to the accelerator pedal. A third is to make the accelerator harder to push down. In future drive-by-wire vehicles, the software would refuse requests from the accelerator pedal when above the speed limit..."

June 30, 2001 - Naked Eye Comet - "Comet C/2001 A2 (better known as "Comet LINEAR") makes its closest approach to Earth on Saturday, June 30th.  Glowing at visual magnitude 4, Comet LINEAR is not spectacular like, e.g., Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997, but it will be easy to spot with the unaided eye. Astronomers have watched this comet intently in recent months as it repeatedly crumbled and brightened.  The capricious snowball from the outer solar system could yet hold surprises for observers in the days and weeks ahead..."

June 29, 2001 - Can smart antennas cure cell ills? - Stroll the canyons of Manhattan on a summer’s morning and, when the streets line up just so, you will be bathed in brilliant sunlight. As a wireless engineer would put it, you are now receiving a direct signal from the solar base station...

  June 27, 2001 - New York cell phone hysteria may infect your state next, Libertarians warn - WASHINGTON, DC -- New York politicians who just passed the nation's first statewide ban on automotive cell phones have greatly exaggerated the danger of the devices -- which actually cause fewer deaths each year than lightning, Libertarians say...