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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jerome Bettis acted like a man ready to retire. He received two standing ovations, signed dozens of jerseys and footballs for his teammates and posed for pictures on the field for a half-hour after the game ended. What Bettis hopes is the Pittsburgh Steelers delay his anticipated retirement for four more games. It was over when ... The Steelers finally closed the book on the Lions with Jerome Bettis' final carry of the day, a 4-yard run with 3:10 to play. Game ball goes to ... Bettis. The Bus, in what might be his last game at...

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is one of Gaudí's most impressive works. This enormous church, as yet unfinished, is in some respect a summary of everything that Gaudí designed before, because the structural difficulties he faced and errors he committed in other projects are revisited and resolved here. A notable example of this is Gaudí's innovative "leaning columns" (that is, columns which are not at right angles to the floor and ceiling). Previously seen in Parque Güell, leaning columns form the structure of Sagrada Familia's temple. When designing the temple, Gaudí invented an extraordinary method for determining the correct angle...

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger smiles during a timeout late in the fourth quarter of a 21-9... PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The field was soft and muddy and the snow was falling heavily on one of those nasty-weather days most NFL offensive players despise. To Jerome Bettis, the conditions were next to perfect. Bettis, the NFL's No. 5 career rusher but a forgotten man much of the season, plowed through the muck and snow for two touchdowns and 101 yards and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat Chicago 21-9 on Sunday to end the Bears' eight-game winning streak. A season-long lack of...

Explorations in Arthurian History The figure of Arthur begins as a war hero, the praises of whom are sung in war poems by the Celts and the Welsh. Y Gododdin celebrates one particularly brave warrior, then says he "was no Arthur." The Triads are full of wonderful, courageous things Arthur did. The most important early source for Arthur's deeds is Historia Brittonum, written by the monk Nennius in the 9th century. Nennius calls Arthur dux bellorum and tells us of 12 great battles Arthur fought. Although Nennius tells us the location of each battle, those locations are hard to come...

Within a very short period of the formation of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, a new style of church architecture began to spread across Western Europe. The first examples of this are to be seen in France, where great Cathedrals such as that of Chartres sing loud the praise of what became known, much later as 'Gothic'. Whether or not the Knights Templar had any direct part in the creation of this revolution in religious building has always been something of a bone of contention, though it is clear that the fledgling organisation had...

A grotesque imitation of Superman fashioned out of lifeless matter. Clad in an invulnerable costume just like Superman's and endowed with all of his mighty super-powers, Bizarro possesses a dim copy of Superman's super-keen mind. His flesh is white, the color of chalk, and his face appears faceted, as though it had been chiseled out of rock. His black hair is matted and unkempt. He is well-meaning but witless, super-powerful but pathetic. His speech is illiterate and ungrammatical. Because Bizarro's mind is an imperfect imitation of Superman's, however, he is capable of flights of occasional super-genius. Because he possesses dim...

Lost in the hubbub of this week's excellent Supreme Court nomination and continued terrorist activity came two important rulings regarding complaints against me and my ministries. First, the Federal Election Commission unanimously dismissed a complaint that had been filed against me and Liberty Alliance, one of my affiliate organizations that is dedicated to promoting Judeo-Christian values in the political realm through lobbying efforts. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service closed the books on a complaint regarding a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel address wherein I endorsed President Bush's re-election. The FEC complaint arose after I sent out a July 1,...

Ruling elates schools' leaders Superintendents see new money funding smaller classes and higher teacher salaries, among other things. BY JOSH FUNK AND KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH The Wichita Eagle School officials were thrilled with the Kansas Supreme Court's ruling Friday ordering millions more for education. Officials with several districts said they were optimistic that the Legislature would comply with the court order. So they are already thinking about how this money might help provide smaller class sizes, more all-day kindergarten, better technology and higher teacher salaries. "We're dancing in the streets up here," Newton superintendent John Morton said. "It's just everything...

While we have our eyes on the Middle East and the recent good news out of there, a danger to democracy is brewing right here in our backyard. Venezuela, long one of Latin America's strongest democracies, is now under siege by its president, Hugo Chavez. Thanks to an ill-judged intervention by former President Jimmy Carter, Chavez narrowly survived a recall election and has now accelerated his subversion of Venezuela's democracy by a scummy deal with Fidel Castro. advertisement According to Miami's El Nuevo Herald, Chavez has granted Cuban judicial and security forces extensive police powers within Venezuela. Cubans are already...

A short and sweet question - does anyone know of a printable web page that lists SQLCODES and the explanation? I tried searching IBM's libraries, but maybe I am looking at the wrong pages.

PHILADELPHIA -- Running back Jerome Bettis said he'll return to play for the Steelers again next season, his 10th with the team and 13th in the National Football League. Bettis, 33, told The Philadelphia Inquirer of his plans Friday when he was in Philadelphia for an asthma awareness promotion. "My body didn't feel good after the season," he told the newspaper. "I felt pretty rough. It was difficult for me. As the days went by, my body started to recover and I felt better." Bettis led the Steelers with 941 yards rushing last season, and started in place of Duce...

This is a health warning to all the men out there regarding testicle cancer. I just returned from surgery to have cancer removed. I discovered it 2 months ago when bathing. I had my doctor check it, he sent me for an ultrasound and a cat scan, and a week later I was having it removed (hey, I still have a spare). This cancer is very treatable, but a lot of men are either embarassed or don't think it will happen to them. But it is somewhat common as cancers go. I still may have to go for follow up...

(10-31) 18:21 PDT PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The New England Patriots are no longer perfect, all because of a rookie quarterback who still is. Ben Roethlisberger, who doesn't know what it's like to lose an NFL game, drove the Steelers to four scores following uncharacteristic New England turnovers and Pittsburgh ended the Patriots' two long winning streaks with a remarkably easy 34-20 victory Sunday. The Patriots (6-1) had won 21 straight counting the playoffs and a league-record 18 in a row in the regular season, but were all but out of this one after Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes to Plaxico...

Roethlisberger keeps Browns off balance in 34-23 win PITTSBURGH - And to think Ben Roethlisberger might not be starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers if Tommy Maddox hadn’t injured his elbow. Roethlisberger, becoming more comfortable and more productive with each start, confused Cleveland with his running and creativity and the Steelers won their third in a row behind the rookie quarterback, beating the Browns 34-23 Sunday. Duce Staley complemented Roethlisberger by running for 117 yards — his third consecutive 100-yard game — and scoring on a 25-yard run following rookie Richard Colclough’s 59-yard return on the opening kickoff.

Widespread flooding was reported across Western Pennsylvania today as the remains of Hurricane Ivan dumped a one-day record rainfall on the region. Evacuations of low-lying areas began in the afternoon in Oakdale and Etna in Allegheny County, which designated seven emergency shelters. Major roads, such as McKnight in Ross, Route 51 in Overbrook and Route 8 in Shaler were under water. The Pirates canceled their game tonight with the Mets, and numerous high school football games were washed out. The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh issued a flood warning for Allegheny and many of the counties surrounding it through tonight....

Habay fined for using state workers to campaign State Rep. Jeffrey Habay is expected to be charged today with misusing public funds and violating ethics laws. The charges to be filed by the state attorney general's office come three months after the state Ethics Commission found that Habay used his state-paid employees, office and equipment for political purposes and then lied about it.

Employees of the University of Pittsburgh who sued for domestic partner benefits may continue their suit, despite an announcement by the school that it would extend health coverage to the same-sex and opposite-sex partners. The American Civil Liberties Union held a press conference at the Cathedral of Learning today with three of seven plaintiffs who remain at the school. While they were pleased with Pitt's decision, announced yesterday, that doesn't mean the case is over, said attorney B.J. Strassburger.

I am attending tech school on the 28th of June. I am signed up for residential and commercial electricity, but I am thinking CAD might be a better choice. So my question is - for anyone with any know how about either field, what would you recommend? I think I would enjoy both, but my main goal is employability. My programming experience would help me in CAD, but I have no idea how saturated the market is, or how to find out. My old job was a mainframe programmer, but since I don't speak Hindi and don't want to move...

I am wondering what your favorite science fiction authors are and who you would recommend. I have read all of Niven's books, some of Pournelles (need to order his on the Sauron system) and am now on William Gibson. I like RH's early work, especially "Farmer in the Sky" and "Farnhams Freehold" but I found his "classics" like Stranger in a Strange Land utterly boring (I didn't finish it). My current fav is William Gibson - I have re-read his series regarding Rydell, Yamazaki, and Chevette sever times and I always enjoy them.

For years, the hype surrounding genetic engineering and gene therapy knew no bounds. With the Human Genome Project -- publicized at the height of the dot com mania -- things went from bad to worse. The genome was "decoded," then fully decoded. Then a final draft was decoded one more time, fully and finally. That was last spring. And still they didn't know how many genes we have. Twenty thousand? Forty thousand? About as many as roundworms, some guessed. Something was wrong. But there had been a coronation, and now there was no going back. The genome was the marvel...