etc...

WE DON'T SELL THOSE HERE

Want a souvenir of last week's collapse of the World Trade Center towers? Don't look to eBay. Within hours, executives of the online auction site decided to yank what they said were hundreds of offers of concrete chunks, window glass, even videos of the terrorist act. The ban, which also covers Pentagon rubble, was declared out of respect for the casualties and survivors.

* * *

OK, HOW ABOUT $1.4 MILLION?

Speaking of auctions, the asking price - $1.5 million - seems reasonable. That would buy one of the world's most prestigious addresses: a sprawling two-house estate overlooking Lake Geneva near Lausanne, Switzerland, with a combined 15 bedrooms, an in-ground pool, and garage space for nine cars. Alas, it was left on the block at a liquidation sale last week after bidders snapped up hundreds of other belongings of the late owner, exiled dictator - and accused plunderer - of the former Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko.

* * *

America Online and the MSN- Microsoft Web sites received the most traffic during August, with almost 150 million unique visitors combined, according to New York-based, new-technology analyst Jupiter Media Metrix's list of top Web sites and digital media properties. Traffic increased noticeably on education sites as students headed back to school - particularly on those sites tied to universities or financial aid. Jupiter's top Web sites and digital media properties during the month of August, followed by the number of unique visitors (in millions):

1. AOL Time Warner Network 78.5

2. MSN-Microsoft sites 67.4

3. Yahoo! 64.7

4. Terra Lycos 38.8

5. X10.COM 34.6

6. About/Primedia 29.4

7. Excite Network 28.7

8. eBay 24.9

9. Vivendi-Universal Sites 23.0

(tie) Amazon 23.0

- PR Newswire