BY HARRY RING
Pst! - Hey kids, check out the new software program, "Prudence." It's designed so that other users of the computer don't know it's there, no less that it's monitoring and copying stuff from each web site they visit. You can use it to check if your parents are hitting porn sites and, if so, which ones.

Thieves failing out? - Israeli Supreme Court justices are getting irked at having to give advance approval to illegal acts of torture by the security force, Shin Bet. "Why does the high court have to pull the parliament's chestnuts out of the fire?" complained one jurist. According to an Israeli human rights group, Shin Bet arrests up to 1,500 Palestinians a year, and 85 percent of these are tortured.

Maybe they'll become extinct - "Police officers are twice as likely as other Americans to suffer heart attacks, strokes, and related cardiovascular diseases.... Researchers at Iowa State University cite the high stress of the job, and officers' tendency to smoke and eat at junk-food restaurants." - News item.

Reliving history - A London outfit is offering Diana Memorial Tours. A budget tour retraces the funeral route, stops at Buckingham and Kensington Palaces, and visits Harrod's department store. 19.50 (about $32.37). A more substantial tour does the funeral route, hits the palaces and Westminster Abbey, plus lunch at a royal garden. 58.50 (about $97.11).

Ooh - Tiffany is offering a "brilliant cut diamond engagement ring in the Tiffany classic six-prong platinum setting. From $850 to $850,000."

Viable program - The British Labour Party government has a "New Deal" plan to put single-parent welfare recipients to work. A 10-month test run covering 72,000 families turned up jobs for less than 2 percent.

Eh? - Reporting on the projected budget of the area's transit agency, the Los Angeles Times said it "concentrates on improving service while recommending layoffs and other austerity measures."

Really? - According to the European Union, the water at England's beaches are among the dirtiest in Europe (Only Sweden and Finland have worse.) Declared a delicate-tongued EU rep: "We are not saying anyone will die if they use these waters. But obviously, if the water is of insufficient quality you can say it's unfit to swim in."  
 
 
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