This is a little sick, but funny. If a persistent vegetative state can be leveraged for political gain, why can't progressive causes play, too?

Update: The item seems to have been deleted. It was a Living Will giving the author's next of kin permission to keep them alive in a persistent vegetative state if doing so would persuade the US government to build inner city schools, negotiate debt relief for the developing world, etc.

Yes, it's very sad that David Myers, former controller of WorldCom, has to explain to his son that he might be going to jail. Maybe he could have thought of that before he participated in an $11 billion fraud? Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

(Wall Street Journal link, paid subscribers only.)

It's official. The semiconductor business has matured. Both KLA-Tencor and now Applied Materials have announced dividends. High growth companies have better things to do with cash than return it to shareholders.

(Wall Street Journal link. Paid subscribers only.)

Hindsight is 20/20. CNET lists the ones that got away: technological advances that became huge businesses for someone other than the inventor.

No matter where you land on the Terry Schiavo case, it has made one thing abundantly clear. If you have an opinion about the medical measures that should or should not be used on your behalf, then run, do not walk, to a lawyer to draw up a living will and a health care proxy. Do not trust your family to know what you want: they can't read your mind, and they'll be making impossibly difficult decisions in the most stressful possible circumstances.

Special announcement for readers from the Boston area. My aikido dojo is having a fundraiser and demonstration this Friday evening. I'm among those scheduled to demonstrate. No RSVP needed, but if I know you please drop me a line so I'll know to look for you.

6,150 words since my last update. That gives me 10,500 for March so far, and 39,000 for the year so far.