* From the newsgroup alt.food.lutefisk: Q. What exactly *IS* lutefisk, anyways? A. Lutefisk is a traditional Norwegian seafood dish made of cod, and either lye, or lime (the mineral, not the citrus fruit).

* Symbionese Liberation Army … The SLA was a terrorist group in California during the Viet Nam war era. They were most famous for having kidnapped Patricia Hearst - heiress to the Heart Newspaper fortune. Kathleen Soliah moved to Minnesota and lived as Sara Jane Olson until she was arrested a couple of weeks ago.

* The Field poll … the dates of the poll were August 16 - August 22. Quayle, Bauer, and Buchanan were tied at 3 percent apiece.

* For those of you who have been at the beach or the lake Warren Beatty, the actor, floated the idea of his running for President because the two major candidates - Gore and Bradley - are not addressing the issues of concern to the liberal wing of the Democratic party.

* As noted a nano-something is a billionth of that something. Nanostructures are in the news because engineers are trying to pack more data onto CD or DVD disks. They are experimenting with using electrons - which are nanometers across - rather than laser light because the wavelength of the light has become too wide. Aren't you glad you asked?