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To brighten everyone's day...You have a black heart if you think this is not great.

Robert Anton Wilson, co-author of the cult classic "The Illuminatus! Trilogy," a science-fiction series about a secret global society, has died. He was 74. Wilson died peacefully of natural causes at his home Thursday in Capitola in Santa Cruz County, his daughter Christina Pearson said Saturday. Post-polio syndrome had severely weakened Wilson's legs, leading to a fall seven months ago that left him bedridden until his death, Pearson said. Wilson wrote 35 books on subjects such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, metaphysics, paranormal experiences, conspiracy theory, sex, drugs and what he called quantum psychology. He wrote the "Illuminatus" trilogy with...

WASHINGTON - FBI Director Robert Mueller told lawmakers Tuesday he still doesn't know how much it will cost to complete the bureau's computer overhaul, already well over budget and behind schedule. He also refused to state publicly the cost of the initial phase of the Sentinel system, the planned successor to a failed project that was supposed to greatly improve management of terrorism and other criminal cases. "There are certain sensitivities involved," Mueller told the Senate Appropriations Committee's Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee, explaining that the FBI soon would invite contractors to compete for the work. The FBI has yet...

February 4, 2005 F.B.I. Director Faults Himself for Delays of Software By MICHAEL JANOFSKY ASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - "Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the F.B.I., told a Senate panel on Thursday that he and a federal contractor were to blame for agents still not having software that would allow them to file investigative and intelligence information directly into their computers.Appearing before an appropriations subcommittee whose Democratic members did little to shield their irritation, Mr. Mueller also said the failed efforts to develop the program, known as Virtual Case File, or V.C.F., would cost taxpayers as much as $105...

California defense contractor warns employees following computer theft The Associated Press Feb 3 2005 3:16PM "Thieves stole several computers containing personal information on 45,000 current and former shareholders of defense contractor Science Applications International Corp., which began alerting those people on Thursday. SAIC is one of the nation's largest employee-owned companies. The computers stolen from an SAIC administrative building in San Diego contained the name, Social Security number, address and telephone number of current and former shareholders, including the number of shares bought, held and sold. The company said it had no evidence that the thieves accessed the information or...

WASHINGTON – "San Diego defense contractor SAIC said Thursday it had fixed flaws in heavily criticized software it developed for the FBI as part of a $170 million contract to help the agency track terrorists and manage criminal cases. "We fully conformed to the contract we have and gave the taxpayers real value for their money," said Arnold L. Punaro, executive vice president of SAIC. He blamed the FBI for the initial problems, saying the agency had a parade of program managers and demanded too many design changes. During 15 months that SAIC worked on the program, 19 different government...

Despite delays in meeting an accelerated schedule for a state-of-the-art computer network for the FBI, systems integrator Computer Sciences Corp. announced final delivery of the Trilogy computer system last week. "We hit a few bumps on this one, but ended it on a high note," Paul Cofoni, president of CSC's federal sector, told National Journal's Technology Daily in an interview. Working on Trilogy was "a career milestone for all of us involved." The FBI awarded the Trilogy contract to CSC in May 2001 to move the bureau from a largely paper-based information system with outdated information technology to a modern...

Updated: March 26th, 2004 05:30:23 PM FBI Nears Completion of Computer Upgrade ............ CURT ANDERSON Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI's effort to modernize antiquated computer systems, already more than $120 million over budget and nearly two years overdue, will be completed this summer, FBI Director Robert Mueller says. "I'm as frustrated, as impatient, as anybody to get our information technology to the point where we can be leaders as opposed to followers,'' Mueller told The Associated Press in an interview. The upgrade, known as Trilogy, is intended to move the FBI from decades of dependence on paper to...

Poison Pen Proves Autotoxic:CLINTON-WAS-AN-UTTER-FAILURE Containment Team Scheme Fails Yet Again by Mia T, 5.27.03 Click here to view today's PageSix column on one page May 25, 2003 -- CONSERVATIVE Washington insiders are lining up to give Sidney Blumenthal a kick in the pants over his latest tome, "The Clinton Wars." Blumenthal is a former White House communications strategist for Bill Clinton. His book - in which he exhaustively attempts to bolster the Clintons' "vast right-wing conspiracy" theory - charges that gay writer David Brock, once a right-wing hero, was "excommunicated" from conservative power circles after complaining about anti-homosexual statements...

`Lord' of racism? Critics view trilogy as discriminatory `Two Towers' film reflects tone of book Happily for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, director Peter Jackson stayed true to the fantasy author's artistic vision in "Fellowship of the Ring," the first film in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Unhappily, in "The Two Towers," Jackson may reflect the "Rings'" racial view of the world as well.