| Tue, 21 Aug 2007 | | Imagine turning an idea you hatched during your morning shower into a $5 million business?in just three years. That is precisely how Don McNeill, the Wilmington, Delaware, inventor of You've Been Sentenced, conceived of his now wildly popular board game for kids ages 8 and up, which uses a deck of 540 pentagon-shaped cards to come up with ingenious and hilarious sentences. | | More information |
| Tue, 21 Aug 2007 | | Nothing says you mean business quite like an artfully done PowerPoint presentation. And when you're on the road, the best way to get your point across is with a portable projector. Whether you need to equip your sales staff, pitch your services to clients or present to investors, these slim projectors will fit right in with your laptop or PDA without weighing you down. Most of the projectors we reviewed use Digital Light Processing, or DLP, technology for crisp pictures and long life. Others use LCD technology, which can be quieter than similar DLP devices. In terms of price, the two technologies are very close. | | More information |
| Tue, 21 Aug 2007 | | The latest recall of lead-tainted toys has left parents wondering if any toys are safe for their children. The answer is yes, probably. But there are no guarantees. | | More information |
| Wed, 22 Aug 2007 | | To the Mexicans, it was emblematic of the six-plus years of the Bush administration: As the leaders of the United States, Mexico, and Canada concluded their summit in Montebello, Canada, on Tuesday, the first question by reporters was not about North American affairs but, rather, about Iraq. The question earned a lengthy, detailed response from President Bush, who defended his handling of the Iraqi government's weakness. But his replies to questions about North America tended to be shorter and more general. | | More information |
| Mon, 20 Aug 2007 | | DES MOINES?Sen. Joe Biden calls his new Iowa campaign ad "Cathedral," and in it he talks about how the cargo plane he took back from a trip to Iraq was transformed to a cathedral because it carried a dead soldier in a flag-draped coffin. | | More information |
| Mon, 20 Aug 2007 | | People buy health insurance for protection from financial responsibility if they fall sick. But, in what amounts to a Catch-22, being sick, whether it's something as mild as hay fever or as severe as heart disease, can be grounds for a health plan to deny coverage. The denial might apply only to the pre-existing malady and perhaps only for a specified length of time?or it might rule out health insurance altogether. | | More information |
| Tue, 21 Aug 2007 | | Denied! These conditions will typically make you "uninsurable" in the market for individual coverage:· amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; Lou Gehrig's disease)· anorexia· arthritis· brain or spinal cord injury· cancer (diagnosed or treated within the past five years)· chemical dependency· coronary heart disease· cystic fibrosis· diabetes· epilepsy· hemophilia· hepatitis C· HIV/AIDS· kidney disease· Lou Gehrig's disease (see above)· lupus· multiple sclerosis· muscular dystrophy· osteoporosis· paraplegia or quadriplegia· Parkinson's disease· pregnancy· stroke· transplanted organ | | More information |
| Sun, 19 Aug 2007 | | Once again, parents have been asked to purge their homes of toxic toys. This time, they included dolls with hazardous magnets and tiny Sarge trucks. On August 2, it had been Dora, Elmo, Big Bird, and Diego figurines. And in June, millions of Thomas and Friends trains were recalled. Many were adorned with lead paint. All came from China. And all were trusted brands like Fisher-Price and Mattel. Never before have parents on the receiving end of the global economy felt so defenseless. | | More information |
| Sun, 19 Aug 2007 | | Light at the End of the Tunnel, or Is It Just Another IED? | | More information |
| Sun, 19 Aug 2007 | | Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has bet his campaign on winning early in the primary season, and no place is more important to him than Iowa. He hasn't stopped running there, he says, since he finished second to John Kerry in 2004's first-in-the-nation contest. Though consistently in third place nationally behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the former North Carolina senator has had outsize influence on his opponents, staking out aggressive positions on issues from providing universal healthcare to rejecting contributions from lobbyists. During an Iowa bus tour last week, with his wife, Elizabeth, at his side, Edwards sat down with U.S. News. | | More information |
| Sun, 19 Aug 2007 | | Sometimes I worry that we're getting a little too popular over here at untrendy U.S. News. We've gotten quite a bit of attention over the past several months on our ranking of America's Best Colleges. Maybe you've seen some of the stories. The heads of a few liberal arts colleges have tried to organize a boycott of the rankings and received a lot of press coverage. They've accused us of all manner of sins, including oversimplifying complex institutions and, in one memorable quote, of exuding "real evil." | | More information |
| Sun, 19 Aug 2007 | | An opulent villa stands on a plot of farmland just north of the Chinese capital, close to where the Beijing Olympics will be held next August. The villa's architecture mixes classical Chinese features with modern steel and glass elements. But the real surprise is inside. The bedrooms are decorated in warm, soft tones that appeal to the residents--a group of young, attractive women chosen by the vice mayor of Beijing. They are his personal concubines, paid for by building contractors. | | More information |
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