The Da Vinci Code

Written by Dan Brown, "The Da Vinci Code" is a thriller in which the main characters must uncover clues they hope will lead them to an important religious relic. Although the book being fictional, many young and naive people have been persuaded into believing that the book's contents are actually factual. The book is one of the most successful as well as controversial novels of all time with sales of 40 million copies. Brown was involved this month in a British court battle with two historians who accused him of plagiarising their book.

The book itself revolves around the character named Robert Langdon who travels to the Louvre to discover a series of clues hidden in the Da Vinci paintings. As this novel grasped many with suspense, the Da Vinci Code has been made into a movie, starring Tom Hanks, which premieres in May at the Cannes film festival in France. The movie opens in May 2006 worldwide.

Gasper the Beluga

Each day, thousands of visitors press up against the acrylic glass at the Georgia Aquarium to watch a playful beluga whale named Gasper. Gasper takes center-stage at the viewing window, blowing bubbles and making faces at wide-eyed children who coo and laugh at him and his tank mates -- Nico, Natasha, Maris and Marina. But for the past week the front of the window has been noticeably empty. The 17-year-old male is out of public view so veterinary staff can attend to his suppressed appetite, raspy breathing and chronic skin disorder.

On Tuesday he showed signs of returning to his normal self. He'd had a good afternoon feeding and was up to his old "bubble trick."
"He's starting to feel better. So we're pleased about that, but cautiously optimistic -- the healing process takes a long time," said Eric Gaglione, the aquarium's husbandry manager, shortly after feeding Gasper. Gasper has not been especially healthy since arriving at the aquarium in October 2005. He came to Georgia from Mexico underweight and with skin lesions on his fin, tail and body. Gasper and Nico were on display at the LeFeria de Chapultepec amusement park in Mexico City, in a tank surrounded by a rollercoaster.

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.tel domain name $1

The internet department now considers the .tel domain name. More and more people are beginning to use the internet as a means to communicate. People are beginning to abandon the "out-dated" technology of cell and work phone numbers. Some people even have Web pages -- through their employer or Internet service provider, or perhaps a profile or two on MySpace.

To help people manage all their contact information online, the internet agency is considering a ".tel" domain name. If approved, the domain could be available this year. As proposed, individuals could use a ".tel" Web site to provide the latest contact information and perhaps even let friends start a call or send a text message directly from the site. Businesses could use a ".tel" site to determine customers' locations and route them automatically to the correct call center.

The domain ".tel" may also serve as a place from which the various people-finding services on the Internet could pull the latest contact information as individuals move about. Now, data typically come from third-party sources like phone listings, which may be old or incomplete, particularly if an entire household is listed under one name. There's nothing inherent in ".tel" that would enable these features; rather, its aim is to create a place to which people would know to go to find contact information.