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MEMOIR BY CYNTHIA RYLANT

When I was living in my grandparents' small white house in Cool Ridge, West Virginia, I loved to comb my grandmother's hair. I was a thin, blondheaded little girl, and I would climb up on the back of the couch where my grandmother was sitting, straddle her shoulders with my skinny six-year-old legs, and I would gently, most carefully, lift a lock of her soft gray hair and make my little pink comb slide through it. This always quieted us both, slowed down our heartbeats, and we would sigh together and then I would lift up another lock.

We talked of many things as I combed her fine hair. Our talk was quiet, and it had to do with those things we both knew about: cats, baking-powder biscuits, Sunday school class. Mrs. Epperly's big bull. Cherry picking. The striped red dress Aunt Violet sent me. ...

The Phases of the Moon

The Moon does not produce any light of its own—it only reflects light from the Sun. As the Moon moves around the Earth, we see different parts of the near side of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. This causes the changes in the shape of the Moon that we notice on a regular basis, called the phases of the Moon. As the Moon revolves around Earth, the illuminated portion of the near side of the Moon will change from fully lit to completely dark and back again.

A full moon is the lunar phase seen when the whole of the Moon's lit side is facing Earth. This phase...

Ferguson case raises question: Where's the data on officer-involved killings?

By Michael Martinez, CNN November 15, 2014

(CNN) -- As a Missouri grand jury nears a decision on whether to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson, some people seethe with suspicion that, in the end, nothing will happen.

On the street where Wilson killed teenager Michael Brown and in surrounding neighborhoods, many say the officer won't be indicted because, they contend, cops rarely are.

"After what I witnessed from the 40 years I've been in St Louis, I would say I don't think there will be an indictment," protester Larry Miller said. "I consider the killing of...

Markus Persson and Jens Bergensten built a computer game without the gore or glitz of a typical hit. So why are millions of players addicted?

Since December 2011, Jacob Granberry and Will Blew have been overseeing a land-development effort of truly epic proportions. Covering more territory than the city of Los Angeles, it’s about 70% complete and already contains about 8,000 structures. It’s so sprawling and ambitious, though, that nobody knows for sure just what’s there. “I haven’t seen near everything, and I started the damn project,” says Granberry.

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Chemical weapons are said to "make deliberate use of the toxic properties of chemical substances to inflict death".^[68] At the start of World War II it was reported in newspapers that "entire regions of Europe" would be turned into "lifeless wastelands".^[69] However, chemical weapons were not used to the extent feared.

An unintended chemical weapon release occurred at the port of Bari. A ...

Markus Persson and Jens Bergensten built a computer game without the gore or glitz of a typical hit. So why are millions of players addicted?

Since December 2011, Jacob Granberry and Will Blew have been overseeing a land-development effort of truly epic proportions. Covering more territory than the city of Los Angeles, it’s about 70% complete and already contains about 8,000 structures. It’s so sprawling and ambitious, though, that nobody knows for sure just what’s there. “I haven’t seen near everything, and I started the damn project,” says Granberry.

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