Fax

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Mark McGwire's retirement announcement: "Big Mac fanned on Sunday night. The retirement fax to ESPN was fine, but McGwire didn't play baseball for ESPN. "McGwire owed a phone call to Cardinal General Manager Walt Jocketty. And McGwire certainly should have informed his friend and longtime manager, Tony La Russa. "Then again, maybe there was a reason for McGwire's lapse in manners.

Coming Events SATURDAY Azusa: Pizazz Car Show, presented by Azusa Eagles, open to vehicles from 1920s through '70s. Proceeds benefit Make-a-Wish Foundation. Eagles Lodge, 1603 San Gabriel Canyon Road. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (626) 339-7571 or (626) 334-6107. Tujunga: Olde Town Street Faire Vintage Car and Motorcycle Show, open to pre-1973 vehicles. Presented by Merchants Assn. of Sunland-Tujunga and Sunland-Tujunga Rotary. Commerce Avenue at Foothill Boulevard. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (818) 353-6186.

A controversial technology under development by the communications industry that links Internet addresses with phone numbers has quietly picked up key government support as concern mounts among critics that the technology will broadly undermine privacy. The technology, known as e-number, or ENUM, would link phone numbers to codes that computer servers use to route traffic on the Web. Proponents say the technology would improve communication for consumers and marketers alike.

Remember faxes? Although no longer nearly as necessary in these days of e-mail, faxes still have a role, especially on those occasions when a non-digitized document has to be transmitted faster than snail mail. You can receive faxes free, at any time, directly into your e-mail. Several Web sites offer the service, and as long as they stay in business (not a guarantee in these turbulent times for dot-coms) you can get your faxes in the comfort of your home.

A California consumer advocacy group has sued two junk-fax companies and several of their clients who advertised through the service. The Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights filed lawsuits in Los Angeles Superior Court against FAXertise of West Lake Village and Communications 2000 Inc. of Torrance, alleging that their transmission of unsolicited faxes violated federal law.

In a narrow gray conference room not far from the Capitol, a team of state workers is spending $2 million an hour on a mission scrupulously hidden from public view. Their work space is spartan. Save for some doughnut crumbs, it holds nothing but computers, a fax machine and the all-important tool of their trade: the telephone. These are California's power buyers, stalkers who prowl the electricity market day in, day out, hunting for energy before most of us switch on the coffee maker.

At 10:34 a.m., the fax arrived from Marion County, horse country in central Florida: "We do NOT know how long this will take." Minutes later, there was another from Duval County, near the Georgia line: "This is tantamount to a guess." And one from Bradford County, near the college town of Gainesville: "We are in a bit of limbo." One by one, the messages--more than 100 pages from more than 30 of Florida's 67 counties--kept the fax machine humming Saturday at the Leon County Courthouse here.