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A study that tracked drivers through a simulated task finds that not all conversations are equal: cell phones are far more distracting than having a passenger present.
Left to fend for himself after budget cuts, His tests cost over $500 a year to print, but this year he only got $316, one calculus teacher resorted to selling ads on quizzes and tests to cover his printing costs. $10 for quizzes, $20 for tests, and $30 for a final.
The cocktail was originally called the 'Red Snapper' because the term bloody was considered harsh for a drink in the 1930s. When Tabasco sauce was added to the drink the name 'Bloody Mary' became a household word. Cheers!
Half the workers and dealerships, three brands, lower market share and, possibly, a healthy operating margin.
The latest price for a spot in Vail?s Founders garage, located in the Village across from the Christiana, is $500,000. ?That?s what I think the going rate is going from now on,? said Buzz Schleper, the spot?s owner. ?There?s always somebody out there who has money to spend on a good Vail parking spot. I?m sure it?ll sell. There?s no hurry."
A recently identified ant which wipes out native species is finding new homes in northern Europe.
Detroit's automakers appealed to Congress with a retooled case for a huge bailout, pledging to slash workers, car lines and executive pay in return for federal aid. GM said it wouldn't last till New Year's without an immediate $4 billion.
President-elect Barack Obama promised swift action Tuesday on an economic plan "to solve this crisis and to ease the burden on our states," and he cast governors as his partners in crafting a recession-rebound strategy.
Just like you and I, rock stars all have parents too. In the deep dusty corners of the Life Magazine archives, these pictures have turned up - famous 70?s rock stars with their parents, taken in their parents? houses.Pictures of Grace Slick, Eric Clapton, Donovan, Jackson 5, David Crosby, Frank Zappa pictures all taken at their parents houses.
Detroit's automakers appealed to Congress with a retooled case for a huge bailout, pledging to slash workers, car lines and executive pay in return for federal aid. GM said it wouldn't last till New Year's without an immediate $4 billion.
President-elect Barack Obama promised swift action Tuesday on an economic plan "to solve this crisis and to ease the burden on our states," and he cast governors as his partners in crafting a recession-rebound strategy.
While UFC doesn't control their fighters in regards to what they say in the press, the fact remains that the organization will react to fighters who spout off against the company in media channels. Because UFC is the only game in town, it becomes much easier for fear to play a role in what fighters will say and will not say on-the-record.
It appears that Russian malware distributors were able to launch another iFrame attack on a subdomain of the cbs.com site so that it was serving remote malware to any visitors.
The genome of a squirrel-sized, saucer-eyed lemur from Madagascar may help scientists understand how HIV-like viruses coevolved with primates, according to new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The discovery could provide insight into why non-human primates don't get AIDS and lead to treatments for humans.
Struggling US carmakers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler ask the government for help worth a total of $34bn.
A group of atheists filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to remove part of a state anti-terrorism law that requires Kentucky's Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge it can't keep the state safe without God's help.
A group of atheists filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to remove part of a state anti-terrorism law that requires Kentucky's Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge it can't keep the state safe without God's help.
Ars tests the first beta release of KDE 4.2. The new version of the popular Linux desktop environment has lots of new features, including significant improvements to the panel and other Plasma components.
Boost your Gamerscore with points earned by being stupid
Nato agrees to a "graduated re-engagement" with Moscow,four months after talks were frozen over Russia's war with Georgia.
First identified in Japan a century ago, umami is a subtle flavour which makes certain savoury foods intensely satisfying. But it is only now taking Europe's kitchens by storm. By Andrew Shanahan
Close your eyes and picture the scene. The air is warm with adrenaline and fake-tanned flesh, and thick with name-dropped designer labels. The atmosphere is one of camaraderie, but also competition; the scent of hairspray and this season's cult perfume almost, but not quite, masks an underlying buzz of nerves. No, I'm not talking about a Premier League dressing room on a Saturday. I'm talking about the ladies loos in your office, or an office very near you, at around 6.30pm one night this week or next. Because we are about to face one of the toughest fixtures in the fashion calendar: the Christmas party. The top three all-time worst wardrobe-crisis-inducing moments, in no particular order, are: the job interview, the first date, and the Christmas party. But the Christmas party wardrobe crisis is, arguably, the worst of all. After all, if you dress really, really badly to a job interview or a first date, chances are you never have to see those people again. Dressing for Christmas parties is hard work for the same reasons that the parties themselves are often quite hard work. First, Christmas parties tend to be about getting drunk with people you already know, rather than meeting new people. It is much more difficult to impress people with your dazzling wit when they have heard all your funniest and most faux-self-deprecating anecdotes twice already. Second, there is the pressure to be all festive and twinkly and marzipan-sweet, and no one apart from Cheryl Cole manages to do this without sacrificing all fashion cred and sex appeal in the process. So it makes sense that the first coping strategy of getting dressed for a Christmas party is the same as for dealing with the actual party: fix yourself a large drink. Just enough to stop you taking the whole thing too seriously. Go slow on the top-ups - 'tis the season to be merry, not so hammered that furry antlers start to seem like an amusing accessory. The one unbreakable rule of Christmas parties is that festive-themed accessories - antlers, Santa hats, tinsel trims - are a bad idea. Not because I'm trying to be some sort of couture-obsessed killjoy, but because Dressing Up As Christmas screams of dumbed-down literal mindedness. In other words, it's not just that the Santa hat looks stupid, but that it actually makes you appear to be stupid. Beyond that, trust your instinct: the outfit that makes you look at your reflection a few seconds more, that makes you start to imagine yourself having a good time, is the outfit you should wear. And what's more: we think we've found that outfit for you. These party outfits are Christmassy in a Wonderful Life kind of a way, rather than a Four Christmasses kind of way. Some of them even have sleeves. Are we good to you or what? Why, I almost feel like wearing a Santa hat.FashionWomenChristmasWork & careersguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
#7. French Fry Cup Holder -- At what point does unhinged gluttony hit critical mass? If French fries have been such a staple in your daily routine that you need a device for your car designed specifically to chow down on the go, it might be time to reevaluate your dieting habits...
The entrance to Craters restaurant is guarded by a phalanx of bombshells, each as big as a man. Opposite, the Dokkhoune hotel boasts an even finer warhead collection. For tourists who have not cottoned on, the Lao town of Phonsavanh lies at the heart of the most cluster-bombed province of the most bombed country on earth.The haul of unexploded ordnance (UXO) is just a taster of that littering the countryside, or sitting in vast piles around homes and scrapyards. The deadly harvest from the US bombing of this landlocked country 30 years ago in the so-called "secret war" as the real battle raged in next-door Vietnam has become big business. Steel prices that surged on the back of soaring demand from China's go-go economy drove up scrap prices five-fold in eight years in impoverished Laos. It sent subsistence rice farmers, struggling make to ends meet amid spiralling food and fuel prices, scurrying into their fields in search of the new "cash crop".But it comes at a high price. At least 13,000 people have been killed or maimed, either digging in fields contaminated with live bombs or, increasingly, in their quest for lucrative scrap metal. Half the casualties are young boys, most killed by exploding tennis-ball-sized cluster bomblets - christened "bombies" locally - that are everywhere.The scale of the contamination is mind-boggling. Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bomb-load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and 1973. US bombers dropped more ordnance on Laos in this period than was dropped during the whole of the second world war. Of the 260m "bombies" that rained down, particularly on Xieng Khouang province, 80m failed to explode, leaving a deadly legacy.Overwhelmed by the immensity of the clear-up, Laos - which has dealt with just 400,000 unexploded munitions - had resisted the signing today in Oslo of a treaty banning cluster bombs and demanding that remnants be cleared within 10 years. But the country has had a rethink and will now be a key player in the ceremony.For Laos it could be a godsend, focusing world attention on its plight and bringing international resources to tackle the problem. With 37% of agricultural ground made unsafe by unexploded munitions in a nation where four-fifths of people farm the land, the scourge has stifled development.Yet farmers eking out a living below the dollar-a-day poverty line have no choice. Bombs unearthed as they gingerly peck at the soil are planted around, or moved to the side of the field."In the end the Lao people regard lack of food as much greater threat than unexploded bombs," said David Hayter, the Lao country director of British-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG). "It's just that each UXO death is marked by a big bang, but deaths from lack of food or poor water are less noticeable."Fatalistic acceptance of the danger is fostered by familiarity. Bomb remains are fashioned into everyday items: cluster-bomb casings become fencing; houses perch on stilts crafted from 500lb bombs; mortars with fins are used as table lamps. "People's familiarity is the most striking thing for me," said Jo Pereira, an occupational therapist with the Lao charity Cope, which fits UXO victims with prosthetic limbs. "They've lived with it for so long. Much of it is in their houses. Children think 'we've got those at home' and don't see the risks."So when scrap metal prices rocketed many saw it as a heaven-sent opportunity to boost meagre incomes. For those unable to grow enough rice to feed their families throughout the year, there is little choice but to collect UXO scrap despite the dangers."People have lived with this for two generations," said Gregory Cathcart, an MAG programme officer. "They don't view it as risky. It's simply a cash crop. The problem is the main scrap on the surface is gone, so they've to dig it up which is extremely dangerous."Cheap Vietnamese metal detectors costing as little as £7.36 boost the business. Landless families have turned full-time scrap collectors, earning up to £2.70 a day if they unearth six or seven kilos. Stumble on half a cluster bomb casing of "best Detroit steel" and they hit pay-dirt, worth £20 to £27.No such luck for Sher Ya, 25. He plonks a plastic bag of bullet casings on the scrap dealer's scales and anxiously eyes the needle. His teenage brother dredged the shells from their village rice field. It earns a welcome 40p. "My family grows only enough rice for six months," he said. "So when we're not planting or harvesting we collect bomb scraps. It's scary, but we've no choice."The trade is so lucrative that scrap dealers ferry collectors by truck to virgin forests every day. Sypha Phommachan, 45, need not to go to such lengths. Farmers around Thajok village beat a path to the scrap dealer's door. A pile of fragments, casings, and mortars is all she had left after the foundry took away nearly eight tonnes a few days before."That took me about three weeks to collect," she said. "That's quite slow because it's the rice harvest season and people are busy farming. In a couple of months they'll be out furiously collecting to raise cash for the Hmong festival." Yet she carefully inspects the bomb harvest, rejecting live munitions. She knows the risks. In the six years she has lived in the village, 10 people have been killed collecting scrap. One 50-year-old man died three months ago when he tossed half a "bombie" he believed safe into the wicker basket on his back. It exploded and the ball-bearings it threw out went clean through his chest, killing him instantly.Today's treaty banning the stockpile and use of cluster munitions is due to be signed by 107 countries - including the UK, which has been the third biggest user. Those holding out include the US, China, Russia and Israel. But Richard Moyes, co-chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition, is confident that the convention will change the climate. "We sense we'll see a dramatic decline in cluster munitions use even among states that don't sign."guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds