It all began 30 years ago today. The mother lode of all spam - the bane of everyone's online existence - was first sent out via the U. S. Defense Department's Arpanet by a salesman named Gary Thuerk. The first junk mail or "Spam" as we know it today, was an invitation for a demo of the new system-20 mini computers being marketed by the Digital Equipment Corp.

Albert Hofmann, the inventor of the mind-altering drug LSD, died Tuesday at the age of 102. Hofmann was a Swiss chemist who discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 by accident in 1938 while studying the medicinal ingredients in plants. One April day in 1938 a bit of LSD seeped onto his finger. That's when he discovered the psychedelic effects of the drug.

Heir to the British throne Prince William is once again in hot water for allegedly landing a $20-million military helicopter at a garden in Bucklebury, Berkshire -- the family estate of his girlfriend Kate Middleton, British press reported Monday. The Daily Mail reported that Royal Air Force Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy "erupted with rage" after finding out that Prince William landed the Chinook helicopter assigned to him during a training flight on his girlfriend's yard.

The U. S. military and a consortium of biotechnology research organizations are embarking on a program to regenerate damaged tissues and body parts of American soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq. InCytu Inc. , which develops tissue healing and regeneration devices, and Rutgers/Cleveland Clinic will constitute the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM).

At least four soldiers were killed and 59 others were wounded when lightening struck a group of solders near a military based in the country's north-central Polonnaaruwa district on Tuesday evening, officials said. "A group of soldiers was engaged in a routine training exercise when a lightening hit them, leaving four soldiers killed and 59 wounded at the Katukaliyawa Army camp in Minneriya on Tuesday around 5. 30 pm. (local time)," Military Spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara was quoted by the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) as saying.