* Winner: Novell Inc. has shed the red ink and layoffs of a year ago, reporting a net income of $102 million for the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31. This is a sharp contrast to the $78 million loss for the prior year. In addition, the Provo-based company received awards from trade publications PC Week, VAR Business" and PC Magazine.
The disclosure follows a successful promotional campaign at the annual COMDEX computer trade show in Las Vegas, where Novell built a 300-computer network, giving approximately 220,000 people attending the show access to computers to send and receive e-mail and access the Internet.Loser: How's this for a worst nightmare scenario: A person sleepwalks only to wake up in a muddy pond surrounded by alligators. The nightmare became a reality for 77-year-old James Curren. Curren wandered around in his sleep early Monday behind his Palm Harbor, Fla., home. When he awoke he was in several feet of water with his legs stuck in the mud. He quickly found he had company - alligators.
Fortunately a neighbor heard him yelling and called police. Curren was able to fend the 'gators off with his cane until police arrived and used lights to scare them away. There are no reports as to whether Curren has slept since.
* Winner: Snow College student leaders are drafting legislation to help Utah colleges and universities censor pornography from the Internet. Snow College has spent $10,000 to install an Internet censoring program that blocks access to pornographic sites.
Bruce Peterson, chief information officer for Snow, said that before the school installed the censoring program earlier this year, about 20 percent of all images downloaded on school computers were pornographic. Brigham Young University also requires Internet censoring for students who use campus computers.
Loser: What seems to be constant squabbling between Republicans and Democrats is having an adverse effect on both parties, particularly with young voters. Some say it's the way they were raised, noting that the under-30 generation was raised by parents who went through the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals.
Said Ron Faucheux, publisher of Campaigns and Elections Magazine: "I think by and large young adults, like many Americans, are disgusted, disenfranchised and disengaged. They're tired of politics as usual." A lot of older Americans are, too.