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Chilly Forecast - Worried about global warming? Maybe you should be. According to the science journal Nature, we may actually be in the early stages of a new ice age. Scientists in Antarctica, drilling more than two miles down through the ice, say there's evidence that the Earth has endured four long ice ages -- each lasting up to 100,000 years -- and that we appear to be about 18,000 years into a fifth. This, despite the fact that the temperature has been rising steadily now for 100 years. While industrial pollution is to blame for some of the temperature increase, at least part of it is caused by natural greenhouse gases which have always existed. Still, it seems at tad warm for being 18 millennia into an ice age. [Wired News]
China Air Crash - All 64 people aboard a domestic Chinese flight were killed Wednesday when their Russian-built jet exploded in mid-air as it was coming in to land at Wenzhou, a city in eastern China. The China Southwest Airlines flight was bound from Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Officials could give no reason for the crash of the Tupolev 154. [Wired News]
China Syndrome - With its military newspapers spewing bile and vitriol worthy of the most hackneyed kung-fu movie screenwriter, China put on a display of martial might unseen in those parts since the days of Tiananmen Square. Although the parade of tanks, missile launchers, and artillery tractors was billed as a dress rehearsal for a giant bash commemorating 50 years as a communist paradise, China made no bones about acknowledging it as an open threat to Taiwan, which continues to thumb its nose at its covetous brethren across the Formosa Strait. "All action attempting to split the motherland and block reunification of the nation will surely end in bloodshed as it smashes its head into this indestructible great wall of steel," penned one purple-veined military scribe. [Wired News]
Choppers Bound for Balkans - The Pentagon is sending two dozen tank-killing Apache helicopters backed by ground-based missiles and rockets to join the campaign against Serbian forces. A spokesman said the helicopter deployment was "absolutely not" a step toward an attack by NATO ground troops in Kosovo. About 2,000 soldiers will be deployed with the new force in Albania. [Wired News]
Civics Lesson - Ryan Green, a 15-year-old freshman at Harrison Central High School in Gulfport, Mississippi, is Jewish. That's apparently beside the point to the district school board, which refused to rescind a teacher's order to Ryan to stop displaying the Star of David he wears around his neck. After being told by the teacher to keep it inside his shirt "for his own good," the boy told his father, who went to the board. He was told that because at least one gang in the area uses a six-pointed star as its symbol, the district had no choice but to enforce the ban. Although the trustees declined to extend the ban to include Christian religious symbols, leaders from all faiths -- even televangelist Pat Robertson and conservative Baptist leader Jerry Falwell -- condemned the action. [Wired News]
Class Cut-Ups - You wanna be a computer programmer, you work with computers. You wanna be a doctor, you work with cadavers. Trouble is, computers are easier to come by than corpses, unless you happen to know the right people at the University of California at Irvine. Or make that "knew." According to the Los Angeles Times, as many as 30 premed students paid $300 apiece for a private -- but unauthorized -- course that let them work with fresh stiffs. When school officials got wind that a "special class" was being held in the basement lab of UCI's Willed Body Program, the joint was busted. It turns out that the program's director, no longer employed by the university, had business ties to the guy who offered the anatomy course. [Wired News]
Clearing Out the House - Your chance of actually winning is roughly the same as being struck by lightning in your bathtub, and the state of Wisconsin has had enough. The attorney general filed suit against Publishers Clearing House Thursday, accusing the company of using deceptive advertising to lure people into buying magazine subscriptions by implying that they're on the brink of winning millions of dollars. The bait has been effective: The suit cites the case of one Wisconsin man who has spent more than US$10,000 since 1989 trying to make the big kill. He's gotten a bunch of magazines and nothing else for his trouble. The folks at PCH, not surprisingly, think they've been wronged, saying that their rules are clear, most people understand them, and that no purchase is necessary to win. [Wired News]
Clinton's End Run - Mindful that conservative Republicans blocked his first attempt to appoint James Hormel, the first openly gay US ambassador in history, President Clinton waited until the Senate was away on its extended Memorial Day weekend before using an obscure presidential power to name Hormel envoy to Luxembourg. Although officials in Luxembourg welcomed the appointment, Clinton is already taking flak for using the so-called recess appointment to circumvent his right-wing opponents. "Clinton does unpopular things in sneaky ways," said Robert Knight, a spokesman for the Family Research Council. "This appointment was not going to fly, so he imposed it on the country. And it means that he's using this nation to make the case to the world for sodomy and adultery." [Wired News]
Clinton's New Dawn - A confident, upbeat President Clinton proclaimed "a new dawn for America" in his State of the Union address Tuesday, then went on to outline ambitious plans for the final 18 months of his presidency. Aside from revitalizing Social Security and Medicare for an aging America, Clinton has his sights set on improving public education, boosting the minimum wage, resolving the Y2K problem, and modernizing the military. He took time out to honor the first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who beamed down at him from the family gallery, where she was flanked by Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa (Hillary, a Chicagoan, is a rabid Cubs fan) and civil-rights heroine Rosa Parks. Impeachment trial? There was nary a mention, and the Republicans in attendance were respectful, if not warm. [Wired News]
Clipped - Well, if Al Gore really did create the Internet like he says he did, then maybe it's possible that Trent Lott actually invented the paper clip. That's what the Senate Majority Leader claimed in a tongue-in-cheek press release obviously meant to tweak the veep for his rather bald-faced statement the other day. "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the paper clip," the Mississippi Republican said, tossing Gore's own words back at him. "Paper clips bind us together as a nation." The Democrats managed a wan smile, but didn't back away from Gore's assertion that his support while a congressman played a major role in the Net's development. They also returned fire: "It's no surprise that Senator Lott and his fellow Republicans are taking credit for an invention that was created a long time ago. After all, they're the party whose ideas will take us back to the Dark Ages." [Wired News]
Closure - Following a brief service aboard the Navy destroyer USS Briscoe, the ashes of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette will be scattered at sea Thursday off the coast of Cape Cod. The three were killed last Friday when their small plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard. Their bodies were recovered Wednesday and brought ashore, where autopsies were performed and the remains cremated. A private Mass for Kennedy and his wife will be celebrated Friday in New York City, where the couple lived. A separate memorial will be held for Bessette Saturday in Greenwich, Connecticut. [Wired News]
Cold War II? - NATO is threatening swift action if peace talks between Serbia and ethnic Albanians break down because of Serbian intransigence, and that's got Russia aroused. Javier Solana, NATO's secretary-general, said the allies will bomb the Serbs if they block the peace process. Conversely, NATO will cut off weapons supplies to the Albanians if they don't cooperate in trying to solve the Kosovo mess. Russia, meanwhile, with its longstanding ethnic and cultural ties to Serbia, adamantly opposes any military action against the Serbs. "We won't let Kosovo be touched," Russian President Boris Yeltsin said. [Wired News]
Colombian Quake - Colombian officials fear that thousands of people may have been killed in Tuesday's devastating earthquake that leveled many communities throughout the country. Rescue workers had recovered 700 bodies by late Tuesday, but thousands more are known to be trapped in the rubble. Among the cities hardest hit was the Andean town of Armenia, where officials believe that as many as 2,000 people may have died. Relief was already rolling into Colombia through the International Red Cross: Germany, France, Canada, and the United States were among the first to respond to a worldwide appeal for aid. [Wired News]
Consumer Ed 101 - Johnny has three pairs of Nikes. He gives one pair to Annie and another pair to Tyrone. How many pairs of Nikes does Johnny have now? The latest flap over creeping commercialization surfaced in the area of school textbooks, some of which are now using recognized brand names -- Oreos, M Ms, Cocoa Frosted Flakes, and the ubiquitous Nike -- to illustrate various linguistic and mathematical concepts. The idea has both defenders and detractors, who stake out the usual positions. Advocates say that emphasizing consumer culture encourages fashion-conscious kids to at least crack a textbook now and then. Critics assail the American Textbook Council, which approved the books, for feeding shallowness and warped values. Johnny, meanwhile, is still a lousy reader. [Wired News]
Crafty Lefty - Actor Warren Beatty is so underwhelmed by Al Gore and Bill Bradley, the two main candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, that he's considering taking a run at the ticket himself. Why would Beatty, a former US senator (well, his character Jay Billington Bulworth was, anyway, in Bulworth), think he's qualified to be the next Great Helmsman? For one thing, he's been active in Democratic Party affairs since, like, forever. For another, he's an actor, and that's been done before, too. And finally, he comes right out and calls himself a liberal Democrat. That'll wow 'em in Peoria, yessiree. [Wired News]
Crash Course - Solemn mourners from Oakland to New York marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Henry Bliss on Monday. In 1899, Bliss got knocked down by a car, becoming the first of about 3 million Americans killed in automobile accidents. Organizers of a "national day of mourning" wanted motorists to shut off their engines at 5 p.m. for a silent vigil. Reports from around the country indicated many vehicles were at a standstill. But their engines -- and horns -- were far from silent. [Wired News]
Criminal DNA - Here's one that's guaranteed to raise the hackles of civil libertarians, privacy freaks, and their hangers on: Attorney General Janet Reno wants to study the legality of taking DNA samples from anyone arrested for a crime in the United States, not just sex offenders and violent felons. Lower courts have already upheld the right to take DNA from criminal suspects, agreeing that the government's need to solve crime outweighs privacy concerns. A commission convened to study the issue is expected to issue recommendations sometime during the summer. Stay tuned. [Wired News]
Cross-Swimmer - Transvestitism isnt just for humans anymore. According to New Scientist, the cuttlefish, a relative of the squid, has perfected the technique at a reef Down Under. If a male cuttlefish is too small to compete for a mate, he assumes the colors and pattern of the female. When cuttlefish couples pair off to mate, the male-in-tights tags along. While the bigger cuttlefish fights off other male suitors, the cuttlefish-in-drag reveals his masculine side to the female and woos her. He can revert back to his ruse if the big guy notices something fishy. The transvestite cuttlefish gives up the tactic as soon as he is big enough to compete with other male rivals. This tactic can also be observed at singles bars worldwide. [Wired News]
Crowded Planet - Just before 8:30 eastern time Sunday evening (if the US Census Bureau's world population clock can be believed) the 6 billionth person happened onto the scene. The folks at the Census Bureau are quick to point out that they don't consider their clock to be accurate to the nth degree; think of it as more of an hourglass than a digital quartz. But whether there are 6 billion people in the world now, or, as the United Nations believes, not until October, the basic point remains: The line for movie tickets just keeps getting longer and longer. [Wired News]
Crowds Attack US Embassies - Ugly mobs of Chinese protesters marched outside the US Embassy in Beijing for a second day Sunday to protest the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia. Saturday's blast killed three and injured 20. In China, rock-throwing demonstrators shouted anti-American slogans, and some bore signs with the ominous "A debt of blood must be repaid in blood." The American ambassador to China said he and his staff were confined to the embassy and were "essentially hostages." Other NATO nations' embassies in China were targets of similar protests. [Wired News]
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