An interesting piece of legislation is now blasting its way through the chambers of the Maryland legislature. This legislation threatens to lay waste to Internet social networking as we know it, if not for the inclusion of one solitary line of text.

While it appears honorable and well-intentioned on it's face, Maryland's HB65 (pdf file) is meant to place severe restrictions on the practice of international marriage brokering. If signed into law, the bill will place strict and deeply invasive disclosure requirements on the clients and providers of international match making services. This legislation does not bode well for the likes of eHarmony and Match.com.

Vice-President Dick Cheney, he of the fourth branch of government, may be getting a new neighbor at his St. Michaels, MD estate -- he of the second branch of homo sapiens, Michael Jackson.

The Washington Post confirmed yesterday that that Thriller has been shopping the tony East Coast for a possible holiday home, a place to get away from the stress of Dubai. The St. Michaels area is already home to another public pariah, Donald Rumsfeld, who owns the all-too-appropriately named estate Mt. Misery (aka Guantanamo North).

I expect the local residents would open up their arms to Jackson and his entourage, if only to hold him securely while they apply New Jersey boots (the cement kind) to his feet. (And his little monkey, too). If that doesn't work, look for the Vice-President to invite him out for a little hunting.

Probably not coincidently, Jackson is due to release a new album later this year, his first in many years, under his own label.

Perhaps Jackson would be better advised to build his own gated community so he can hand-select his neighbors. I'd think O.J., Robert Blake, and Gary Glitter would be up for a time-share.

On July 12th, Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer's plan of auctioning $480 million in unclaimed property on eBay hit the papers as it was officially launched after a week of testing.

The property, comprised of collectible coins, stamps and jewelry has been piled up over 39 years from financial institutions, insurance companies and other corporations. These must turn over abandoned property to the comptroller's office after three years of being unclaimed. While Maryland performs yearly public auctions as mandated, they only attract 100-150 people.

Now, Maryland is running out of storage space and is doing exactly what I do every once in a while, selling excess items on eBay. The auctions are already attracting more bidders and selling items previously unsold in their auctions. While "All money collected from auctioned items is kept for the original owner (or rightful heirs) and can be claimed at any time," fees collected by eBay for these transactions, aren't.