What's new or surprising in science, technology, business, society, and opportunities

• newsmap not only links to news stories, but shows you what stories are getting the most attention online; it also categorizes news links by topic (the link here has been set to show only U.S. national, business, technology, and health items).

Daily updates

Kevin C. emailed me the URL bugmenot.com (here's their FAQ) which appears to help folks bypass the registration requirements on sites like washingtonpost.com. I haven't tried it myself, but offer it here for those who'd like to.

Once to several times weekly update frequency

Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or lengthier update frequency

• jrm&aFLUX; Newz&Viewz;

Miscellaneous sweepstakes news sites of varying frequency (also check the caveats described below)

CAUTION! Keep in mind that entering many sweeps will definitely increase your junk e-mail, win or lose. You also need to be wary and read the rules carefully before entering many such contests-- because sometimes there's Gotchas! in the fine print which would put you off the game if you were aware of them. For instance, that highly touted $10,000 prize might only be awarded in the form of a credit at Harry's House of Ceramic Shoe Collectibles-- and so of little value to many folks. At the other end of the scale are sweeps with huge non-cash prizes of super-expensive cars and homes, which could effectively bankrupt many winners who try to claim them, with enormous income tax bills. To make it worse, the homes are usually located 3000 miles away from where the winner would want to live, or the car is totally impractical for normal driving (a Rolls Royce or Lamborghini Countach for example), and the income tax bite on the prize's value alone may be about the same as what you'll be able to sell it for on the street. Heck, sometimes auto prizes incur tax penalties equal to that of a brand new model off the dealer lot, but there's no new car warranty to go with it! Yeah, some winners might manage to sell off such assets, pay the taxes, and still end up with a little profit on the side. But I bet you most won't. So keep in mind folks that minimum 20-25% tax bite on prizes, and the principle that cold cash is much easier to deal with than overpriced real estate or luxury autos.

One last good reason to carefully read the rules of contests before entering them: quite a few sites take months to take down entry pages after a sweepstakes has ended, still collecting personal info from poor saps who are unaware their entries are no good. There should be a law stopping this, but apparently there's not. So if you're too dumb or lazy to read the rules, you're going to be an automatic loser in lots of sweeps the very moment you click the last button for entry.

Better Business Bureau News and Alerts might help you steer clear of some sweep and contest scams.

Keeping all the above in mind, here's some miscellaneous links you can try, if you wish:

Lastly, this Mega Millions Lottery Simulator should be visited on occasion just to remind us all of the extreme odds against us in large lotteries.

Miscellaneous links currently under evaluation for long-term inclusion in this page (presented in random order)