Etc...

Have the fish fry without me

Years ago - OK, it was 1979 - Hollywood produced a comedy entitled "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh." Now comes word of more aquatic heroism. If it were to be made into a movie, it might be called "The Fish That Saved Linda Krienke's Classroom." As we pick up the story, the third-grade teacher left Trinity Lone Oak Lutheran School in Eagan, Minn., for the weekend, forgetting that a small candle was still burning on her desk. Hours later, the flame reached bottom and set a cardboard box on fire, then some workbooks, and finally the desk itself. But the heat also shattered a fish bowl on the desk, spilling enough water to douse most of the blaze. But there's more. Some embers could have flared up again, except that a small Asian Betta fish, splashing around in the inch or so of water that remained in the bowl was credited with keeping them contained so that arriving firefighters could put them out without further damage.

Technology stocks are making a comeback, and that has venture-capital investors taking a second look at financing companies that collapsed with the Internet bubble, according to Forbes. "Startups are out; restarts are in," the magazine says in releasing its "Midas list" of the most successful venture capitalists of 2004. Forbes's top 10, their respective firms, and last year's rank, if applicable (in parentheses):

1. Promod Haque, Norwest Venture Partners (2)
2. Vinod Khosla, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (1)
3. David Strohm, Greylock (7)
4. L. John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (3)
5. Lawrence Sonsini, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (4)
6. Michael Grimes, Morgan Stanley
7. Paul Chamberlain, Morgan Stanley
8. J. Peter Wagner, Accel Partners (54)
9. Charles Cory, Morgan Stanley
10. Seth Nieman, Crosspoint Venture Partners (29)