In an hour decrying judgmentalism in practically everything, how fitting that a movement should begin for euphemizing size in the women's clothing market. A Wall Street Journal reporter describes one retailer that "cultivates women of a certain age, 'avoirdupois,' and asset level with stylish private label clothing in just a few nonjudgmental sizes: zero (4-6), one (8-10), two (10-12), and three (14-16)."
The Canadian government has finalized an accord capping (at $16 million U.S.) sexual-abuse liability claims by Indians who attended government schools run by the Anglican, Presbyterian, United and Catholic churches. The costs of 560 settlements had threatened to bankrupt Canada's Anglican Church - with thousands more claims awaiting resolution. The accord means the church will pay up to $16 million and the government will pay the rest.
Until academics determined it as a fake, it seems likely that a 20-inch-long limestone burial box found in the Jerusalem area may be the earliest artifact corroborating biblical references to Jesus of Nazareth. The box bears the inscription, in stone: "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." Yet there is, and has been, little doubt that Jesus lived. Debate centers not on Jesus' historical existence, but his divinity.
The many services for the World Trade Center and Pentagon deceased, and the returning military dead from the terror war abroad, have brought bagpipers back into their own. Skirly Scottish renderings of "Will Ye No Come Back Again" and "Amazing Grace" can be as tear-yanking as a bugled "Taps." The words, too, often tell a haunting bagpipe story - such as these from "Minstrel Boy":
The minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him.
His father's sword he had girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him.