Things were better under the mob: Violent crime rose by more than 30% in Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County last year. That's according to the latest figures from the FBI, which show double digit increases in rape, robbery, and aggravated assault between 2005 and 2006.
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A.J. Jacobs read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and wrote about it. Now he followed every rule in the Bible for a year and wrote about it. The guy is good at finding novel book topics, and he's a pretty good writer and funny guy (based on his book, "The Know-It-All"). Excerpt from article:
Jacobs spent the year carrying around a stapled list of the more than 700 rules and prohibitions identified in the Good Book, and also consulted with religious leaders and spent time with the Amish, Hassidic Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses. He spoke to NEWSWEEK's Jennie Yabroff about his experience and his new book, “The Year of Living Biblically” (Simon & Schuster), which goes on sale Oct. 9.
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There's always something interesting going on in the former Communist bloc: Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil's Bible - a medieval manuscript said to have been written 800 years ago with the devil's help - has returned to Prague after an absence of 359 years. . . . According to myth, a Benedictine monk promised to write the book overnight to atone for his sins. When he realized the task was impossible, he asked the devil for help.
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Marriage proposals get more and more fancy, as marriage itself gets weaker and weaker. There are reasons (to wit, when the awesome nature of marriage's permanence is no longer so awesome, people want to spice it up somehow), but I can't take the time to explore the phenomenon right now. For now, just this anecdote: A man proposed to his girlfriend by persuading his local newspaper to compile and publish a special crossword puzzle.
