Free Republic

"...Children who turn 5 even in June or earlier are sometimes considered not ready for kindergarten these days, as parents harbor an almost Darwinian desire to ensure that their own child is not the runt of the class. Although a spate of literature in the last few years about boys’ academic difficulties helped prompt some parents to hold their sons back a year, girls, too, are being held back. Yet research on whether the extra year helps is inconclusive. Fueled by the increasingly rigorous nature of kindergarten and a generation of parents intent on giving their children every edge, the...

July 19, 2006 (Computerworld) -- Despite the criticism leveled at Microsoft Corp. after the recent rollout -- and rollback -- of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), experts say that effort was just the first phase in the company's latest antipiracy effort, dubbed the Genuine Software Initiative. In fact, the initiative -- which will include a similar campaign in the near term called Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) to fight piracy of Microsoft's dominant productivity software suite -- is tied in the long term with how Microsoft and other vendors will sell and deliver software. "It's getting to the point where we're getting...

Older but Mellower: Aging brain shifts gears to emotional advantage Bruce Bower Given all the bad news that science has delivered about brain cells withering and memory waning as the years mount, older people have a right to be cranky. But, instead, the over-50 crowd handles life's rotten realities and finds life's bright side more effectively than whippersnappers do. In no small part, that's because the aging brain makes critical emotional adjustments, a new study indicates. NEURAL FEEL. As people age, from 12 to 79 years old, they respond to fear with greater and greater boosts in medial prefrontal activity...

Despite a lackluster showing in 2005 elections for the GOP, the Republican National Committee raked in better than $100 million last year and enjoys its largest cash-on-hand lead over its Democratic counterpart in more than a decade. For the year just passed, the RNC brought in nearly $102 million -- give or take a few hundred thousand -- and had $34 million in the bank. The Democratic National Committee raised $51 million in 2005 but showed $5.5 million on hand at the end of the year. That cash disparity, which has led to grumbling and fretting by some people in...

The next time you visit the Web site of Microsoft Corp. to download some software, be prepared to let the world’s biggest software company have a look inside your computer. In a determined strike to quell the proliferation of counterfeit software, Microsoft is now requiring that all customers coming to its Web site for upgrades and other downloads submit their computers to an electronic frisking. If you use one of the estimated 100 million PCs running pirated software, don’t expect your upgrade. For Microsoft, the new policy is a stepped-up effort to combat the loss of billions of dollars’ worth...

Bob McEwen has been purposefully vague about one of his income-earning sources during his past 12 years in Washington (lobbying), and has not said anything about another one people know little or nothing about (speeches for and tapes sold to Amway-Quixtar reps), which may earn him more money than lobbying. Read why the known facts and questions raised make McEwen's election at least a big gamble, and perhaps more than that, at these posts: McEWEN CONNECTIONS POSTS: Part 6--The McEwens and Amway-Quixtar Part 5--The Amway-Quixtar (AQ) Business Part 4--Those "Self-Employed" Contributors Part 3--The Non-Disclosure Gambit (READ FIRST) Part 2--Jefferson Group...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Old people may hold the key to human civilization, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. They found evidence that, around 30,000 years ago, many more people started living into old age, in turn fueling a population explosion. Rachel Caspari of the University of Michigan and Sang-Hee Lee of the University of California at Riverside believe that groups in which old people survived better were more successful, in turn allowing more people to live into old age. "There has been a lot of speculation about what gave modern humans their evolutionary advantage. This research provides a simple explanation for...

Official Says U.S. Has Advantage in Iraq Sunday November 9, 2003 2:01 AM By SLOBODAN LEKIC Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A senior U.S. official insisted on Saturday that the U.S. military has the upper hand in the escalating war in Iraq, on a day when two paratroopers died in a roadside ambush and the international Red Cross said it was closing two main offices due to deteriorating security. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage described Iraq as a ``war zone,'' but noted that ``we have the momentum in this process.'' ``I'm absolutely convinced we have a very...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The three national Republican Party committees have collected $57 million so far this year, far outpacing their Democratic rivals in all but the closely divided Senate. And the GOP's spring fund-raising galas are still to come. The Republican National Committee raised $29.3 million from January through March and began this month with $16 million on hand and no debt, spokesman Jim Dyke said Wednesday. The Democratic committees raised about $20.6 million in all, with the Democratic National Committee collecting about $8.4 million in the first quarter. It also had no debt. The RNC raised nearly as much...

LOS ANGELES(AP) - A doctor who had his license revoked for catering to the prescription drug demands of celebrities including actress Winona Ryder took advantage of some of his more mentally unstable and chronically ill clients, a newspaper reported Saturday.

June 6, 2002 Nine for November:True Tossups Will Be Hard to Find This Year In a year when fewer than five dozen House seats are "in play," fewer than a dozen of them can really be categorized as tossups. With all 435 House seats on the ballot this year, I count a mere nine as true tossups, contests where both sides have an equal chance of victory. I'm not counting admittedly competitive races such as Rep. Bob Riley's (R) open 3rd district seat in Alabama, where the Republicans have a slight edge, or California's open 18th district, where the Democrats...