Stories of two-headed serpents and epic battles between Thunderbird and Whale, common among Northwest native peoples, have their root in the region’s earthquake history, according to research by scientists at the University of Washington, who have learned there was a huge Seattle fault earthquake around 900 AD.
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Ever since DNA testing has allowed us to find out who the father of a baby really is, we drive by huge billboards telling Dads they should get their babies tested before paying child support. There’s a reason for this: British researchers have discovered that about 4% of fathers are supporting a child who is not their own.
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The New York Timesreports that members of a classified military intelligence programcalled Able Danger contacted the FBI in 2000 with detailedinformation about a terrorist cell that involved theringleader of the 911 terrorist attacks, Mohammed Atta.
Lawyers at the Special Operations Command of the DefenseDepartment refused to allow Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer totransmit the crucial information to the FBI. The reasongiven was that they “feared controversy” if Able Danger wasrevealed to be monitoring people who were legally present inthe United States.
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As Groucho Marx once said, “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.” Rich people do tend to be happier than poor people, according to sociologists?but only if they’re richer than their (rich) neighbors. We all want to be able to keep up with the Joneses; the problem is, we all have different “Joneses.” Money only buys happiness if it buys you a better life than the people you’re in competition with, and no one else counts. This is why Enron executives were so surprised when no one wept for them when they were forced to sell their expensive vacation homes. It also explains why CEOs keep demanding astronomical sums of money, even though they already have more than they can spend in a lifetime.
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