the decision to give $2.2 billion in emergency military aid during the October War triggered an Opec oil embargo that inflicted considerable damage on Western economies

the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act forbids the release of student disciplinary information

They're already thin on the ground -- a rare breed of truck drivers who also happen to be applied entomologists, amateur botanists, skilled nursemaids of cussed old machines, traveling salesmen, and Job-like nurturers of finicky, stinging insects that, when they're not mysteriously dying off, can suddenly swarm on you like something out of Hitchcock.

Fashion is made to become unfashionable.

For most people buying a home will result in their largest monthly bill (by far), and because they believe that it will bring them wealth or that they are "throwing away their money" if they rent, they often take on a much larger home debt than a prudent budget would allow.

The ancient Sumerians worshiped Ninkasi, a goddess of beer.

The richest one percent of U.S. households now owns 34.3 percent of the nation's private wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent.

I'm not gay, says toilet arrest Senator

with half a trillion dollars you could build enough wind turbines to produce almost a third of all the energy used in the Untied States

It's a comfort to know that if your child can't come up with her own insolent remarks, clothing manufacturers are there to help.

Our former nanny, a 26-year-old former teacher with excellent references, liked to touch her breasts while reading The New Yorker and often woke her lovers in the night by biting them. She took sleeping pills, joked about offbeat erotic fantasies involving Tucker Carlson and determined she'd had more female sexual partners than her boyfriend.

How do I know these things? I read her blog.

The material has been turned into a trivially narcissistic product for teen-age girls who want to feel indignant about wrongs they are unlikely to suffer.

I voted for George Bush

Not the second time, but the first. I was upbeat and hopeful and full of enthusiasm and now years later I think, how could I have been fooled so badly? I bear some personal guilt for what is happening to our country. I'm sorry and I could use some forgiveness.

today’s human population is descended from twice as many women as men

British Columbia is now home to the greatest number of organized-crime syndicates anywhere in the world

According to the Government Accountability Office, 70 percent of the money allotted to Plan Colombia never leaves the United States. It is used to buy U.S.-built helicopters and other weapons for the military, and a large chunk is paid to the security firm DynCorp.

The appeal of these -- forgive me, Webster -- WiFliances is plain from the company's perspective. With cell phone carriers moving most of the handsets in the US, companies are hamstrung in terms of the kinds of communications capabilities they can offer to consumers both by bandwidth limits and carrier fiat. However, are these products right for consumers? For one, they certainly have more appeal if you spend most of your days in an extended guest-friendly hotspot network or 'hotzone' such as a university campus or a metropolitan WiFi network like the one Google is now offering in Mountain View, CA.

Michael Osier, vice president for information technology operations and customer service, said he rejected cities like Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, which are known as call-center capitals, because of their high employee turnover rates. He settled on the greater Portland area because of the genial attitude on the part of most service workers.

"In hotels and coffee shops and the airport, it's amazing how consistent people are in their politeness and empathy," said Mr. Osier,

You had to live--did live, from habit that became instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

Asking why natural selection accounts for some phenotypic trait is really begging the question, because you haven't established that it is responsible for the trait in the first place.

Once, just once, I'd like to see a repentant war proponent acknowledge in a straightforward, non-weaselly way that Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Scott Ritter, Code Pink and, yes, The Nation--to say nothing of the millions around the world who demonstrated so ardently against the war--got it right.

The United States has rarely lost any conventional military battle since at least 1950. Nor has it, at the same time, ever won a war.

A child who can easily tap his funny bone is more likely to make strong friendships, be well-liked by peers, and as an adult get along with colleagues at work, manage frustration, diffuse conflict, and suffer less from depression. A sense of humor is also linked to intelligence, self-esteem, creativity, and problem solving.

Date: Aug 6, 2007 4:15 PM

Subject: Important reminder!

Body: Just wanted to take a second to remind everyone that at 5:30 PM and 9 seconds today, the date will be 8-6-7-5-3-0-9.

'Afghanistan is providing close to 95 percent of the world's heroin,' the State Department's top counternarcotics official, Tom Schweich, said at a recent conference. 'That makes it almost a sole-source supplier' and presents a situation 'unique in world history.'

"He taught me some very valuable lessons early in my career," Maddux said. "You learn that you don't beat hitters. You beat lineups. You can't let your ego get in the way of trying to win. No disrespect to the other guys, but this is Barry Bonds, and I'm not going to let him beat me, not after the fourth or fifth inning."

Among the Silicon Valley companies cheering the FCC's vote was eBay.
'Today's decision means that Skype and other applications have to be allowed on devices operating in the 700 MHz band,' said eBay spokeswoman Jennifer Caukin. Major carriers prohibit Skype from running on cell phone networks today.

Based on the measures which have come in since 9/11, and those now in the works, it seems safe to say that a sufficently murderous McVeigh imitator - whose attack would of itself be an insignificant pinprick on the mighty USA - could turn America into a total police state.

Death is permanent. Sometimes adults try to spare the feelings of young people by telling them that someone who has died has just “gone away,” or “gone to sleep.” They mean well; after all, they’re just trying to take away some of the sadness. But this type of explanation can confuse us and make us angry when we learn the truth, and the truth is this: Death is not temporary. It’s forever.