Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the January 2006 issue

Assets

Growth Fix

Multiple hurricanes and sky-high gas prices can't slow down the U.S. economy, which charged ahead by almost 4 percent in the third quarter of 2005. Consumer confidence is battered by the shocks, though.

Tokin' Gesture

Noticing that other branches of the federal government employ people who admit to having used pot, the FBI moves to relax its own policies a little. Distant marijuana use would be OK. Anything recent--back to the microbus, freak.

iPod People

The Foo Fighters, Switchfoot, and other bands fight their own labels' attempts to impose copy restrictions on consumers. The rockers are helping fans find ways to work around pointless campaigns to keep their music out of the formats listeners want.

Flexing Muscles

Brazilians turn to alcohol-based flex fuels to combat high oil prices. Using alcohol made from abundant sugar cane, the flex-cars also benefit from computerized engine sensors that can adapt to different fuel mixtures on the fly and still burn cleanly.

Green Piece

The former head of Greenpeace tells Forbes a little secret: "If you want to change the world, change it through the market." Paul Gilding now heads a $5-million-a-year consulting firm that helps corporate clients do things like conserve scarce--and expensive--water.

Classroom Space

The European Space Agency puts the first-ever student-designed satellite--the SSETI Express--into orbit. Built by 23 university groups collaborating via the Net, the effort also includes several pico-satellites, extremely small craft that can gather tons of useful data.

Liabilities

Hidden Protocol