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FORT WORTH, TEXAS - When the ax fell for about 400 workers at RadioShack Corp. this week, the bad news was delivered by e-mail.

LONDON (AFP) - A company has defended its decision to sack one of its staff by text message, claiming it was keeping in touch with youth culture. Katy Tanner, a 21-year-old sales assistant, received the message while she was off work with a migraine, the South Wales Echo newspaper said Friday. The text message said: "We will not require your services anymore...Thank you for your time with us." "I don't think it's right to just text someone. At least they should have talked to me face to face," Tanner said. "You're not allowed to text in sick, you have to...

LOS ANGELES - After a couple of false starts, "Superman" is ready to leap to the big screen again with a new director: "The Usual Suspects" filmmaker Bryan Singer. The role of "Superman" himself, however, has not yet been determined. Singer, 38, has already proven adept at comic-book adaptation with "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United." He said the original Christopher Reeve movie is a favorite. "My interest in 'Superman' dates back many, many years," Singer said in a statement late Sunday. "In fact, it was the (1978) Richard Donner classic film that was my day-to-day inspiration in shaping the 'X-Men'...

LOS ANGELES - Marvel Enterprises Inc., creators of such comic book superheroes as "Spider-Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" is suing The Walt Disney Co. in a royalty dispute over animation programs aired on Disney's ABC Family channel. Marvel is asking for nearly $55 million in compensatory damages, interest and other fees it says it is owed for royalties generated by made-for-television episodes of "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "The Incredible Hulk." The agreements at issue in the lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, were made before Disney acquired Fox Family Worldwide in 2001. The lawsuit claims Disney has...

After nearly five decades in academia, and five and a half years as a dean at a public university, I exit with a three-part piece of wisdom for those who work in higher education: do your job; don't try to do someone else's job, as you are unlikely to be qualified; and don't let anyone else do your job. In other words, don't confuse your academic obligations with the obligation to save the world; that's not your job as an academic; and don't surrender your academic obligations to the agenda of any non-academic constituency — parents, legislators, trustees or donors....

For America's multimillion-dollar Superman industry, it's a serious problem. This is a guy who's from outer space — he was born on the planet Krypton, let's not forget — but he's also from another time. He debuted in the 1930s, when Americans liked their heroes like they liked their steaks: tough, thick and all-American. Nowadays we prefer our heroes dark and flawed and tragic. Look at the Punisher (wife and kids dead), or Hellboy (born a demon), or Spider-Man (secretly a nerd). Look at Batman: his parents were killed in front of him, and he dresses like a Cure fan....

In Flynn's fifth "pastoral letter" since moving to the Twin Cities nine years ago from Lafayette, La., he exhorts his predominantly white flock of 800,000 to eradicate attitudes of racial superiority that lie beneath Minnesota Nice. "It has been my observation that racism in Minnesota is no less real and no less serious than that which I experienced in Louisiana," Flynn wrote.

NEW YORK - A year has passed since a gunman clad in black walked into the Queens recording studio of Jam Master Jay and — possibly after greeting the rap legend with a hug — pumped a bullet into his head. Since then, police say they have pursued "several significant leads," including some that suggest the rap legend died in a dispute over money. But Thursday's anniversary of a slaying that shook the music industry appeared likely to pass with the killer still at large. Homicide detectives in Queens — where the pre-eminent DJ and founding member of Run-DMC was...

Michelle Mark of Calgary Sun reports that a new study on heavy metal or hard rock music and depression shows teens who listen to those genres of tunes are more likely to be singing the blues. "Metal music often conveys images (for example) of death and violence," said University of Montreal psychologist and study author Dave Miranda. "We therefore expected that this musical subculture would be associated with a high level of depression." Miranda interviewed teens ages 15 to 17 and asked them to rank their musical preferences from a list of pop, metal, hip hop, jazz or classical and...

I’ve decided I am a terrible member of the gay community. Beside the fact that I prefer the sexual company of men, I have zero tolerance for fashion, rainbows, clubbing, drag queens (besides thinking they’re hysterical), Britney, Aguilera, ABBA or most anything else that is stereotypically associated with gay people. In fact, I sometimes loathe the people who flaunt their sexual preference with a swagger, hand gesture or lisp for merely reflecting that archetype upon my own lifestyle. I love baseball, football, beer, T-shirts, loose-fitting jeans (OK, so I’m one of those Bruce Vilanch gays), all music — including Eminem...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Princess Diana will be reincarnated as a mutant comic book superhero this autumn, according to publisher Marvel Comics. The character will appear in a five-series storyline called "Di Another Day" in Marvel`s "X-Statix" monthly comic, a spinoff from its popular X-Men, Marvel spokesman Brian Reinert said on Monday. "X-Statix" writer Peter Milligan said the late princess was "tailor-made" for the series because she is "someone famous for being famous." "At a glance, Diana may not resemble the flying, teleporting, lethally oscillating characters that populate my comic, but the strange power she exerts from beyond the grave...

<p>Seven years ago, a college student approached Carolyn Maloney, a congresswoman from Queens, N.Y., and asked her a question: Are tampons safe?</p> <p>The young woman, who was working on a class project, wanted to know whether the synthetic materials, chemical glues and dioxin residue from bleaching would cause health problems. Maloney didn't know the answer, so she did some digging.</p>

For years, the gay community has rejected gun ownership. Now, the Pink Pistols say it's time to move away from that thinking. BY RICHARD CHIN Pioneer Press Through the window of a firing range, self-described gay redneck Aaron Stevenson held up a paper target and grinned, pleased with the tight group of bullet holes he punched through the midsection of the target's torso with a .357 caliber revolver. In the lobby of the range, Stevenson's significant other smiled wanly in response. "The fact that he's proud of it and wants to show me" is a little disturbing, Ryan Durant said....

Call it obsessive, compulsive, or just plain crazy. A growing number of Americans are becoming addicted to online gaming. Video games like EverQuest and the recently-released Sims Online are turning real lives upside down. The games allow you to take on an identity in a “virtual” world, and interact with thousands of strangers around the world doing the same thing. In a recent survey of 4000 EverQuest players, 62 percent said they considered themselves addicted. Some are calling it an “underground epidemic.” Hudson, Wisconsin native Shawn Woolley logged in, then logged out -- of life. "He quit taking phone calls,...

It’s known as “cruising” – looking for anonymous sex in public restrooms – and police say it’s increasing on the University of Minnesota campus. Last week, a 28-year-old U of M student was arrested for having public sex in a bathroom at Willey Hall. "Last week during the day, we had a call come into our dispatch complaining of sexual activity in public in the men’s room on the West Bank," said U of M police officer Steve Johnson. Police say it happened in a bathroom at Willey hall. When they arrived, the alleged suspects were gone. "A short time...

I'm home for the summer from college, and I'm wondering what I could learn at in my free time. I already know Scheme, LabVIEW, and Matlab, and it'd be nice to study something that would be useful for electrical engineering. What should I get a book on? C++? Unix? Something else?

I live in MN, and I'm looking for something cheap yet reliable. Sorry, anything besides 56K dial-up (like cable or DSL) is not an option at this time.

I have a friend who has been accused of something he didn't do. I am very worried about him, and I was wondering if anyone had a prayer about it that I could pray for him.

It was great!

Message #1: CARNEGIE HALL CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Earlier this morning, a white, powdery substance was found in the stairwell of Carnegie Hall. As a precautionary measure, the St. Paul Fire Department has been called to investigate and the building will remain closed until further notice. Arrangements have been made to move Carnegie classes to a different location. Students and faculty who have classes in Carnegie should consult the bulletin board in the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center for information about their classes. We will continue to update the Macalester community as more information becomes available.