The April issue of The Atlantic Monthly came yesterday. As usual, it has a lot of neat stuff, like these:
At least one online bookie set odds for how the U.S. or Israel would deal with Iran. Odds from earlier this year:
4:1--Overt air strike by the U.S. or Israel by 6/30/2006
3:1--Overt air strike by the U.S. or Israel by 12/31/2006
2:1--Over air strike by U.S. or Israel by 3/31/2007
Among the four major sports in the U.S., the underdog in the MLB games wins the biggest percentage of games: about 43%. The underdogs fare worst in NFL games (winning about 36% of the time).
In a study of five urban public schools, 40 percent of new teaching positions were filled forcefully, meaning that the principal was required to hire the teachers due to union contracts. "Many of the teachers hired in these instances are 'poor performers' and are 'passed around from school to school instead of being terminated.'"
The issue even has this oxymoronic "cutesy" article: "How to Shampoo in French." It's about interpreting French shampoo labels, not about the French shampooing--which, of course, is a rarity. It reminds of the Lance Armstrong joke: "After the last Tour de France, French authorities raided Lance's room and found three banned substances: soap. shampoo, and underarm deodorant.
