FOOTNOTED

The new version of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has done away with 16, 000 hyphenated words.

As Reuters reports, new communication and stylistic patterns have rendered the use of the “old fashioned” hyphen, a nuisance. Thus, ice-cream becomes ice cream, bumble-bee becomes bumblebee, and cry-baby becomes crybaby.

But this is not the end of the unpopular punctuation mark. The new changes affect mostly compound nouns, but the hyphen will still be used for compound adjectives.

Also, now it’s spelled cafe, not café; raccoon, not racoon; and fetus, not foetus (was it ever?).

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The Good - Saving the World from Itself: Former President Clinton draws world leaders, activists and academics to the 3rd annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

The Bad - Mi Casa es su Casa: Ahmadinejad visits Columbia University.

The Ugly - Sex Education: Chinatown brothel lures HS kids with pingpong tables and $35-$60 services.

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Have you ever seen an advertising campaign like this one?

Amnesty International Switzerland used these posters to “bring home” conflicts from around the world. Some of the places represented in the campaign were Liberia (top), Iraq (center), Abu Ghraib (bottom), Sudan, China, Myanmar and Gaza.

The campaign received an Outdoor Gold Lion award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June.

Click here to see more posters.

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A UK company is developing a new non-stick chewing gum that should launch sometime next year. If spat on a sidewalk, the new gum will wash away come the next rainy day.

The guys at Core 77 blogged about this long-awaited product, but a few questions remain unanswered:

1) Will this be a sugar-free gum?

2) Will I lose any molars chewing it?

3) And, what exactly will be washing away into our oceans?

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The MTA is conducting its annual survey of the New York City Subway lines. So far the results are in for the 7 and L trains.

Here’s the side-by-side comparison:

*The services in blue are the “Most wanted improvements” of those surveyed.

Click here to grade your line.

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How does a bill become a law?
Those who grew up with Schoolhouse Rock might think they know the answer to that question.

But they don’t.

Click below to watch our lawmakers in action.

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The Guardian reports that Britain will phase out the use of traditional light bulbs by 2011.

Britain joins other countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Australia in adopting similar measures to help reduce carbon emissions. However, critics point out that Britain’s new initiative is completely voluntary.

Meanwhile, American lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are working on a legislature of their own that, if passed, will phase out the old light bulbs in the U.S. by 2014.

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The Washington Post reports that months before the Iraq invasion there were signs that Saddam would be willing to step down in exchange for one billion dollars and information on weapons of mass destruction.

New details of the talks between the U.S. and Spain surfaced this week, when a Spanish newspaper published transcripts of a February 22, 2004 private meeting between President Bush and former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar.

According to the transcripts, Aznar was advising caution, but Bush insisted on the invasion because, he said, “I believe that I’m right. I’m at peace with myself.“

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Eyes rolled all around the world last Tuesday as Ahmadinejad claimed: “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”

But the Guardian reports, “Iran carries out more gender change operations than any other country in the world besides Thailand.”

These are LEGAL operations and some are even financed by the Ahmadinejad’s government.

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Developing stories from home and abroad:

1. 100, 000 protest in the streets of Yangon against the military junta

2. Israel to release 90 Palestinians from jail

3. United Auto Workers and GM talks near strike deadline United Auto Workers strikes against GM

4. World leaders meet at the U.N. for climate change talks

5. Ahmadinejad scheduled to speak at Columbia University

6. Gay football World Cup kicks off in Buenos Aires

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