Chronology

Clean-air stickers: An article about clean-air stickers in the Jan. 24 Highway 1 section incorrectly reported the chronology of state programs that allow single drivers in certain vehicles to use carpool lanes. In fact, the alternative-fuel program came before the hybrid-vehicle program. The article also said the state initially granted 60,000 permits for hybrid vehicles in 2006 and then added 25,000 in 2007. The program actually began with 75,000 permits, and 10,000 were added later.

Wells Fargo & Co. on Monday added a chapter to its history that dates to California's Gold Rush in announcing a merger with Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp. The company was started in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, who were among the founders of American Express Co. in New York. The idea was to extend deliveries to California.

Think your office equipment is dated? You're right. Many of the tools of the "modem" office date back decades, even centuries. From the abacus to the Apple, here's a desktop view of five millennia of paper-pushing. 3000 BC: First writing systems appear in the Middle East and China. Babylonians develop the abacus, the ancestor of modern calculators and computers. 1800 BC: Egyptians invent papyrus. Royal scribes are among the first office workers.

Trading halts and computer problems on major U.S. stock markets are infrequent, and their causes in recent years have ranged from fires to squirrels. A rundown: * Nov. 10, 1989: The New York Stock Exchange opening delayed for 60 minutes because of a fire. * Nov. 27, 1990: NYSE trading halted for 64 minutes because of a power problem. * Dec. 27, 1990: NYSE opening delayed for 90 minutes because of a fire. * Oct. 22, 1991: NYSE trading halted for 24 minutes because of a power outage.