Country Culture Exploring

Update: National coverage of TourkGate: AP: San Francisco Mayor Admits Affair and S.F. Mayor Apologizes for Affair LA Times: San Francisco mayor admits affair Time: The Scandal of San Francisco Chicago Tribune: San Francisco abuzz over mayor's affair MS NBC: Mayor apologizes for affair with manager's wife

Update: Here's some more coverage from across the web: Pictures from UCSF's Raising Hope event from Wednesday night here. Wednesday night seems so long ago. The Binary Circumstance: Gavin Newsom's Campaign Manager Quits Over Alleged Affair The Left Coaster: Hit The Road, Mayor LA Observed: Mayor's affair gets messy Mother Jones: CBS Says: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Breaks "The Man Code" Bookworm Room: I guess this will kill the gay rumors I Fought the Law: Oh, Gavin...

Poll: Most support late night's return to television

The argument is that the lowest-paid employees would enjoy an annual pay boost and at least maintain their standard of living, and eliminating some of the lobbying and politics behind the minimum wage.

The Case of a Lifetime

Benitez as second chair, the legal team set out to develop new arguments about the real-world benefits of affirmative action, rather than relying on the idealism of social justice. The litigators assembled a massive body of evidence from psychologists, demographers, sociologists, educators, and historians."We presented concrete data on the benefits of diversity in education," Ms. Benitez says. "The experts came together, all to tell the story of how diversity helps all students."The court quickly grasped the argument. In her opinion for the majority, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote: "These benefits are not theoretical but real, as major American businesses have made clear that the skills needed in today's increasingly global marketplace can only be developed through exposure to widely diverse people, cultures, ideas, and viewpoints."One example of the arguments presented by Ms.

Introduction :: Mining uranium

Although uranium occurs naturally all over the world, only a small fraction is found in concentrated ores.

When certain atoms of uranium are split in a chain reaction, energy is released. This process is called nuclear fission.

In a nuclear power station this fission occurs slowly, while in a nuclear weapon, very rapidly. In both instances, fission must be very carefully controlled.

Nuclear fission works best if isotopes - atoms with the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons - of uranium 235 (or plutonium 239) are used.These isotopes have almost identical chemical properties, but different nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is known as a "fissile isotope" because of its propensity to split in a chain reaction, releasing energy in the form of heat.

When a U-235 atom splits, it emits two or three neutrons.

If you're buying jeans for a gift, help's on the way

Shoppers should be prepared to answer questions about whether the recipient's jeans typically gape at the waist or cause a "muffintop" above the waistline; whether she has small, average or prominent hips and thighs; what features she'd like to accentuate; and whether she wears flat shoes or heels to determine pant-leg length.

Zafu.com has an eight-question survey to help shoppers find the "perfect jeans in three minutes." Site visitors shouldn't be shy about disclosing information about their "saddle bags" or "stick legs" and need to determine whether they'd like the jeans to make their rear-end look "booty-licious" or make wider legs look "long and lean."

At Levi Strauss & Co., the company has phased out its glass "body scan" booths, introduced in 2005, whose technology traced a customer's body and suggested sizes and styles.

Stop Chasing High-Tech Cheaters

Opening up The New York Times last week, I stumbled across an article that outraged me. "Colleges Chase as Cheats Shift to Higher Tech" detailed the struggle of some academics against new, high-tech forms of "cheating" that are based in Internet use, iPods, cellphones, and PocketPCs. The tone of the article was one of dismay at the collapse of morality in education. As I watched the article climb the "most e-mailed list" on the Times Web site through the day, my outrage increased.

The enigma of Day-Lewis

It has already won him critics' awards, a nomination for a Golden Globe and talk of a second Oscar to go with the one for My Left Foot. All three New York Times movie critics chose him last week as their top candidate to win best actor this year.

People do cling to the 'mad bastard' stereotype of him, Day-Lewis acknowledges, as we settle in front of the fire. He laughs, a self-deprecating, chuckle at the irony of it all. 'How can you be a recluse,' he asks, 'in a house full of children, even if you had the inclination to be, which I don't? '

Before we go any further I should declare an interest. I've been in this house before, when researching a biography of Day-Lewis's father, the Anglo-Irish poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. We talked at length about the family history as Daniel went about his domestic routine, even offering at one stage to take me for a spin on one of his beloved motor bikes.

Introduction :: Mining uranium

Although uranium occurs naturally all over the world, only a small fraction is found in concentrated ores.

When certain atoms of uranium are split in a chain reaction, energy is released. This process is called nuclear fission.

In a nuclear power station this fission occurs slowly, while in a nuclear weapon, very rapidly. In both instances, fission must be very carefully controlled.

Nuclear fission works best if isotopes - atoms with the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons - of uranium 235 (or plutonium 239) are used.These isotopes have almost identical chemical properties, but different nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is known as a "fissile isotope" because of its propensity to split in a chain reaction, releasing energy in the form of heat.

When a U-235 atom splits, it emits two or three neutrons.