I've been searching and searching the internet to see if I couldn't catch up to the doings of El Stevo King and I ran across this article in his home town newspaper.

Bangor, Maine -- Novelist Stephen King, who had expected 1.5 million people to download his e-book, The Plant, announced today he would publish an online sequel called The Virus, what he called the "true and ironically funny" story of 1.5 million people who unwittingly download an e-book planted with a malicious computer virus.

If The Virus is successful, King said he would release the third book in the trilogy, entitled "The Antidote". Selling for a flat fee of $100, The Antidote will contain only a few lines of code and will, he added, probably only be of interest to anyone who downloaded The Plant.

"Many people have said that publishing on the Web would never be lucrative," El Rey, the King of the 'giveaway E-Book'. "But I do think it's safe for me to say that I've figured out a way around that."

I've have been following the Microsoft Anti-Trust file religiously but then I seemed to have lost it in the muck and mire of the Supreme Court paper go-around only to find it surface again in some obscure lower court of our country's capitol.

Washingon, D.C. -- In a clarifying brief, Microsoft today urged the Supreme Court not to hear its antitrust case, but to send it to the jury from the O.J. Simpson criminal trial, a move that, Microsoft argued, would ensure that the software giant receive a fair hearing and eventually be found not guilty.

"This case has many factual and technical errors, and we believe the Supreme Court should leave the onerous task of reviewing the evidence to the O.J. jury, which would be in the best interests of finding us not guilty," Microsoft said in its filing. The O.J. trial jurors "would be ideal," the brief continued, noting that they proved to be deliberate, thoughtful, and inclined to ignore obvious guilt."

In response, federal prosecutors said they would file a brief tomorrow asking the Court to deny Microsoft's request, and instead send the case to the jury from O.J.'s civil trial.

I don't know about you but I'm getting sick to my stomach receiving those round disks announcing how much free service I would be receiving from AOL simple by signing on the dotted line. Considering that I'm into my senior years, I would say that I'm a pretty good risk. Hmmm! I wonder if they are using the AARP database for mail outs!

Dulles, Va. -- America Online, which recently launched a membership drive offering 700 hours of free Internet access in the first month, outdid itself today by announcing that new members can now get 25 years of free Internet access during the one-month trial period.

Analysts were skeptical, noting that a month, as a general rule, lasts for 30 days. But AOL called that "myopic" marketing. "You just have to look at this positively," said AOL spokesman Edith McCarthy. "For example, let's say you sign up Sept. 1 and you email a picture of your new baby girl to grandma. Well, 25 absolutely free years later, which would be Sept. 30, you can email that same daughter when she finishes grad school."

"Really, a whole lot could happen in 25 years," McCarthy added. "Heck, you could die in 25 years. That would be like getting free Internet access for one month for life! God, this is such a great offer!"

Why can't they get along? Certainly this is the best offer of peace that has hit the table since President Clinton locked them away for two weeks with Steve Crane hammering out the details of a Peace Treaty. Then they were only $.40 away from signing on the dotted line! You would think that a forty-cent increase from Sharon would have prompted Arafat to sign, wouldn't you?

Jerusalem -- Proposing a com- promise he hopes will ensure his nation's security, Israeli Prime Minister Ehun Barak announced Israel will allow the Palestinians to form an independent nation, but only on the Internet. The offer calls for the Palestinians to take up residence on a shared Israeli Web server, but otherwise allows them to "control their own destiny," insisted Barak, who added the Palestinians would be responsible for their own virtual police, their own education, and their own technical support. The Palestinians would pay Israel $49.95 a month to host the space, or $69.95 for the special "Deluxe Virtual Nation Package," which would include Microsoft's Site Server Commerce Edition 3.0. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is on record demanding that a separate Palestine be carved out of the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip, and eastern Jerusalem, quickly attacked the proposal.

"We have 'shared' our space with Israel long enough," Arafat said in a statement. "I will not sit down with Mr. Barak's government unless they guarantee us a fully-dedicated, independent server. And they must waive the $25 set-up fee!"