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ABC has a test at the below address to see who's campaign statements, McCain's or Obama's, you agree with most. They don't tell you who made the statements, of course, but a statement made by each candidate on the same topic (economy, immigration, judiciary, etc.) will be side by side. You just pick which statement you agree with and, after selecting all 13, you'll find out which candidate's philosophy you support. Try it at:

test

I have not seen a new thread in four hours.

Reading and math scores for New York students in grades three through eight showed extraordinary gains across the state since last year, with particularly striking leaps in the large urban areas, including New York City. The gains were apparent for nearly every grade tested in both subjects, in some cases with double-digit increases in the percentage of students performing at grade level or above, according to the scores on the annual statewide exams released by education officials on Monday. The improvements were so substantial that several education experts expressed skepticism, noting that large gains were posted even by cities like...

Online civics test at the link for any interested.

The Copernican principle states that the Earth is not the center of the universe, and that, as observers, we don’t occupy a special place. First stated by Copernicus in the 16th century, today the idea is wholly accepted by scientists, and is an assumed concept in many astronomical theories.However, as physicists Robert Caldwell of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Albert Stebbins of Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, point out, the Copernican principle has never been confirmed as a whole. In a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters called “A Test of the Copernican Principle,” the two researchers...

<p>Why are our owners so obsessed with finding out how intelligent we are? All they need to know is that we got it going on upstairs. How else to explain us living in their homes, eating their food and having them pick up our feces? And all of that without us paying them a dime.</p>

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Federal researchers say they've developed a human identification test that's faster and possibly cheaper than DNA testing. It would be a handy new weapon in the arsenal for detectives, forensic experts and the military, though no one expects it to replace DNA analysis - and its promoters say it is not intended to. The new method analyzes antibodies. Each person has a unique antibody bar code that can be gleaned from blood, saliva or other bodily fluids. Antibodies are proteins used by the body to fend off viruses or perform routine physiological housekeeping. "DNA is...

The Detroit Police Department has suspended all firearms investigations conducted by its crime lab and ordered it to undergo an independent audit.

When the dust finally settled, Army officials sought to put the best face on a sandstorm test that humbled Colt Defense's vaunted M4 carbine. The tests were conducted at an Army laboratory in Maryland last fall. Ten M4s and 10 copies each of three other carbines - the SCAR from Belgium's FN Herstal, and the HK416 and the XM8 from Germany's Heckler & Koch - were coated in heavy layers of talcum-fine dust to simulate a sandstorm. Tens of thousands of rounds were fired through the rifles. The M4s malfunctioned 882 times. Bullets that didn't feed through the rifles properly...

One Egyptian was killed and two wounded when a US military ship about to cross the Suez Canal opened fire on barges of hawkers that approached their boat on Monday, a security source told AFP. The ship, Global Patriot, was preparing to travel from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean when a group of Egyptians seeking to sell merchandise approached the boat on small barges, the source said. Americans on board told the barges to stop and opened fire when they continued to approach.

*Estimations based on averages taken from advertised male and female private escort sites

Skin test shows if you're late or early riser By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 10:01pm GMT 28/01/2008 A simple skin test could reveal if someone who hates getting up is lazy, or whether their body clock is badly out of step with that of other people. In recent years, scientists have found that genes can influence a person's preference for rising extremely early, when they are known as "a lark", or late in the day, "an owl". Now a simple skin test to diagnose people with these genes has been devised which, in the longer term, could help...

Thinking about next year's election ... already made up your mind? still deciding? Try this fascinating website! This is a simple, non committal, eleven question quiz for you to take regarding the presidential candidates - all of them The subject of the quiz is the Presidential Candidates - very interesting analytical tool This quiz Takes about 1-2 minutes. Having trouble deciding who to vote for in 2008? This quiz will compare your answers with "ALL" candidates - Republican, Democrat, Other and what they support. From your answers the candidates will be scored and placed in an order that best reflects...

POLK CITY, Fla. — The Republican presidential contest entered a new phase on Sunday as the campaigns descended on Florida for the first primary in which all the candidates are participating full force, using as their stage a state famous for divisive election battles. Four major candidates — Senator John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mike Huckabee — all have a claim to different segments of the Republican electorate in this culturally and geographically diverse state. And in a rare moment of political consensus, all of the campaigns see the primary in Florida, the fourth most populous state...

CLICK HERE to take a 25 question test to see which of the major party candidates most closely matches your political philosophy and preferences. Clicking the link will open to a new window.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force successfully flight tested its first Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN)-built Standard Missile-3. The SM-3 Block IA missile engaged and destroyed a medium-range ballistic missile target more than 60 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Personnel at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai launched the ballistic missile target while the crew of the Japanese destroyer JS KONGO (DDG-173) fired the intercepting missile. "Today's intercept truly paves the way for Japan to deploy a sea-based ballistic missile defense system," said Ed Miyashiro, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president. "The U.S. has gained an important ally that can...

Japan shoots down test missile in space: official by Miwa Suzuki 47 minutes ago Japan said Tuesday that it had successfully shot down a ballistic missile over the Pacific as part of joint efforts with the United States to erect a shield against possible attacks from North Korea. Japan tested the US-developed Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) interceptor from a warship in waters off Hawaii, becoming the first US ally to successfully intercept a target using the system. Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba described the successful test as "extremely significant." "We will continue to strive to increase the system's credibility," he told...

Stalemate at Bali talks on emissions cuts U.S. and European delegates to the Bali conference on climate change remained deadlocked Tuesday on specific targets on emissions cuts. A draft plan put forward by the United Nations, backed by the European Union and some developing countries, calls for talks in the next two years based on 25 to 40 percent cuts below 1990 levels, The New York Times reported. The United States refused to drop its position that India and China also must take steps to cut emissions before targets can be set and some other countries, such as Japan, were...

In his preface to the new 99-page report Dana Gioia, chairman of the endowment, described the data as “simple, consistent and alarming.” Among the findings is that although reading scores among elementary school students have been improving, scores are flat among middle school students and slightly declining among high school seniors. These trends are concurrent with a falloff in daily pleasure reading among young people as they progress from elementary to high school, a drop that appears to continue once they enter college. The data also showed that students who read for fun nearly every day performed better on reading...