A father's long battle for his daughters

Luis Ernesto Rodriguez eyed the metal door as he waited for his little girls. Now 6 and 5 years old, they were his only children,...

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Geek Culture's 26 Most Awesome Female Ass-Kickers

Angelina Jolie extends her reputation as filmdom’s most compelling ass-kicker, Female Division, when Salt opens Friday. Midway through a summer freighted with testosterone, Jolie’s lithe Agent Salt is a potent reminder of the power of feminine fighters. A minority presence in sci-fi and action realms even in 2010, women warriors remain the exception to the guy-centric rule in film, TV, videogames...

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Judge who named Starr to probe Clinton to retire

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The conservative U.S. federal judge who helped to appoint Kenneth Starr as an independent counsel to investigate President Bill Clinton, prompting first lady Hillary Clinton to complain of a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” is planning a partial retirement in February.The decision by Judge David Sentelle, an anchor of the conservative side of the federal judiciary, will open a...

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Opinion: A Health Insurance Detective Story

I’VE had a long career as a business journalist, beginning at Forbes and including eight years as the editor of Money, a personal finance magazine. But I’ve never faced a more confounding reporting challenge than the one I’m engaged in now: What will I pay next year for the pill that controls my blood cancer? After making more than 70 phone calls to 16 organizations over the past few weeks,...

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As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price

In the end, the money that towns across America gave General Motors did not matter. When the automaker released a list of factories it was closing during bankruptcy three years ago, communities that had considered themselves G.M.’s business partners were among the targets. For years, mayors and governors anxious about local jobs had agreed to G.M.’s demands for cash rewards, free buildings,...

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Murder case against tennis umpire is dropped

From the beginning, the death of professional tennis umpire Lois Goodman's husband was beset by contradictions.When Alan Goodman,...

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The Cow Jumped Over the Moon (1957)

In June 1957, launch of the civilian U.S. Vanguard scientific satellite (image at top of post) was thought imminent. That month, Krafft Ehricke and George Gamow wrote in Scientific American magazine that, after Vanguard reached low-Earth orbit, the moon, 238,000 miles away, would be “the next interesting target in space.” They estimated that, with “luck and sufficient effort,” a...

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Putin aide denies Russian president has health problems

TOKYO/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin is in good health, his chief of staff said on Friday after Japanese media said Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had postponed a visit to Moscow next month because the Russian president had a health problem.A former KGB officer who enjoys vast authority in Russia, Putin has long cultivated a tough-guy image, and health issues could damage that. His condition though...

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Small union is causing big problems for ports

The small band of strikers that has effectively shut down the nation's busiest shipping complex forced two huge cargo ships...

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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Nov. 30

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle posted here.SPOILER WARNING:We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer....

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