Besides mutant mice, the lab also maintains a computer database, Mouse Genome Informatics (www.informatics.jax.org), which assembles most known information about the mouse.
Its principal activity is publishing a newsletter, Flightline, but it also maintains a computer bulletin board to let members exchange messages.
For 20 years, the International Food Policy Research Institute, a nonprofit group in Washington, has maintained a computer model to predict food supplies, based on population changes, farm policies and other factors.
It maintains a computer lab and this week launched a partnership with what is essentially an international, Internet-based book club for boys in the building.
ITS maintains a computer cluster with Macs and PCs on the lower level of Bass, all with the full suite of standard software supported by ITS.
Mr. Burgess, who maintains a computer database of shark attacks worldwide, instead recommended a few practical measures, including more lifeguards, faster emergency response and signs warning people of the danger.
It cannot be denied, for instance, that she maintains a computer database of more than 14,000 friends and acquaintances, along with their jobs, addresses, telephone numbers and any salient details, like where she met them and what they said.
There are many other factors that have increased costs over the last 20 years, among them the cost of building and maintaining a computer infrastructure; the costs of litigation over everything from intellectual property suits to grade disputes; and the vast increase in the number of highly paid upper-level administrators.
The implications are obvious, from huge online retailers like Amazon.com and eBay, to banks like Citigroup and Wells Fargo, or pretty much anyone maintaining a computer database of customer information and with customers who live in California.
LeBlanc maintained a computer list at her North Hollywood home naming customers, their sexual preferences and the amount paid for previous services, Berman said.
