May 2011
60 posts
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“In the run-up to the predicted Rapture, non-believers prepared for a field day....”
– The scoffers proved correct. May 21st came and went with only the usual suffering of a day on earth.
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“The habit of the moose to wander across highways in the dark has made it a road...”
– Two Newfoundlanders paralysed in collisions filed a class-action suit in January claiming the Canadian government was not doing enough to protect drivers from the lumbering giants.
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Poker-faced →
A new study argues that poker is a game of skill, not chance.
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“If it is passed by voters, a local ballot measure in San Francisco will in...”
– A federal law and various state equivalents ban female circumcision, whether performed as a religious rite or not. “Intactivists” are asking why the cutting of a baby boy’s foreskin should be any different.
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“When something has been in the icebox for 40 years, there is no telling how it...”
– A human-rights activist worries what will happen to Syria if President Bashar Assad succumbs to the uprising there. The prospect of prolonged unrest, outright anarchy or sudden regime change confronts all Syria’s neighbours.
Have we learnt the right lessons from the... →
Our banking correspondent, Jonathan Rosenthal, is answering questions on Twitter now: you can watch the discussion (and his video) here, and pose a question using the hashtag #askeconomist.
Who should lead the IMF? →
Our guest panel of economists explain who they’re backing for the top job at the International Monetary Fund.
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“Ronald McDonald is a “force for good”, says McDonald’s, which started...”
– Health activists want to sack the world’s best known clown. McDonald’s says it has no intention of throwing Ronald McDonald, 48, into the deep-fat fryer.
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“The ball rose, travelled and fell; you were born, you did your best, you died....”
– Our obituary of Seve Ballesteros, Europe’s greatest golfer, who died on May 7th, aged 54.
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“Globally, road accidents were the ninth leading cause of death in 2004. By 2030...”
– Poor and middle-income countries account for more than 90% of road deaths, but just 48% of the world’s registered vehicles. The World Health Organisation aims to help.
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“Florida will not let you work as an interior designer unless you complete a...”
– America’s Licence Raj crushes would-be entrepreneurs.
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“We say it is higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans, stronger than...”
– Pakistan’s ambassador to Beijing describes the robust friendship between the two countries. Many suspect China has asked Pakistan for the remains of the American stealth helicopter abandoned during the bin Laden raid.
Students vs guns →
Texas seems likely to pass a new law allowing concealed weapons to be carried on all university campuses. This is, of course, contentious.
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“SIR – As H.L. Mencken put it, “Democracy is the theory that the common people...”
– A reader responds to our leader about California’s peculiar brand of ultra-democracy.
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“Korean teenagers are by far the unhappiest in the rich world. This is the result...”
– In Korea suicide is now the leading cause of death among those aged 15-24. Is the cramming culture to blame?
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“A local farmer claimed he was held for 25 days, then bailed out for a large sum...”
– Rhinos are flourishing in Nepal, but conservation has come at a cost. Authorities at one national park can convict and jail alleged poachers for up to 15 years.
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“People would literally “cough, go home and then die in two weeks,” says a former...”
– In New York in the early 1980s a mysterious illness was ravaging gay men. 25 years after its debut at the Public, “The Normal Heart”, Larry Kramer’s raging, rabble-rousing play about AIDS, has finally arrived on Broadway.
What do bosses do all day? →
The shocking truth can at last be revealed. Guess what? The longer they work, the better their companies do.
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