Mike's Minutiae

But, Breyer said, America's strength comes in part because of our ability to follow even the most hotly contested rulings.

"We've learned as a nation to follow decisions even when we think they're wrong," he said. "And in a country of 300 million people and ... 900 million points of view, that is a national treasure."

Commuters driving to work were greeted by an obscene message when they arrived at Crawley, West Sussex, on Thursday morning.

Digital roadside signs, which usually give information about parking availability, instead urged visitors to "F*** off" after hackers gained remote access to the displays. Three of the 11 Variable Message Signs on approach roads to the town carried the expletive.

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High Street

Parade Impresses Newcomers

"I was impressed with how long it was," Virginia Harp said. "Normal town parades don’t last two hours."

While the parade was lengthy, the variety of participants made it "well worth sitting out here," Harp added.

"The grassroots have been with us and we think, come Nov. 7, God willing, we'll be the next senator."

~~Florida candidate for
U.S. Senate Katherine Harris,
reported by Florida today.com

[President Bush] could also be heard on Jan. 9 lecturing students at an elementary school in Glen Burnie, Md., that their recent scores on math and reading proficiency tests were "unacceptable."

Having a president call something "unacceptable" is not the same as having him order U.S. troops into action.

Iraqi Shiite residents of Baghdad's Sadr City expressed anger yesterday over a picture of a grinning Jesus they mistook for a Shiite holy figure that appeared in the area after a joint US-Iraqi operation. Residents found a picture of "Buddy Jesus" from the 1999 film "Dogma" posted in the streets, accompanied by a badly photocopied pamphlet bearing a crude approximation of a US military crest and outlining a US "plan" to subjugate the neighbourhood. "That picture abuses our Imam Mahdi and his holy character, and mocks our sacred figures," said resident Abu Riyam, apparently mistaking the satirical movie still of Jesus for one of Shiite Islam's historical imams, whose images adopt a Jesus-like iconography.

Mr. Luce has been organizing these stadium extravaganzas for 15 years. The event in Amherst was the first of 40 that Teen Mania is putting on between now and May, on a breakneck schedule that resembles a road trip for a major touring band. The “roadies” are 700 teenagers who have interned for a year at Teen Mania’s “Honor Academy” in Garden Valley, Tex.

More than two million teenagers have attended in the last 15 years, said Mr. Luce, a 45-year-old, mop-headed father of three with a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard and the star power of an aging rock guitarist.

“That’s more than Paul McCartney has pulled in,” Mr. Luce asserted, before bounding onstage for the opening pyrotechnics and a prayer. [emphasis added]

That's one small word for astronaut Neil Armstrong, one giant revision for grammar sticklers everywhere.

An Australian computer programmer says he found the missing "a" from Armstrong's famous first words from the moon in 1969, when the world heard the phrase, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Both Sgt. Daniel Guthrie and Officer Bryan J. Mulholland received their new police department pins when they appeared before town officials, apparently proud family members and friends, and police superiors and colleagues at the Borough Council's Sept. 13 public meeting.