U.S. forces recently destroyed six Iraqi GPS jamming systems that Iraq was using to disrupt enemy satellite positioning equipment. The Global Positioning System was designed in 1978 by the U.S.
Last Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared illegal the importation and interstate transportation of live snakehead fish or their eggs in response to growing concerns that the predatory fish, native to southeastern Asia, poses significant risk to the fish and wildlife populations of the United States. In July, nearly 100 juvenile northern snakehead fish were found in a pond in Crofton, Md.
In the wake of Sept. 11, airports are scrambling to revamp their security systems and assure passengers that flying is again safe. An electrifying incident last December, in which British passenger Richard Reid attempted to set off plastic explosives hidden in his shoes while on a flight from Paris to Miami, suggested airports still must work to strengthen security measures. U.S.
If television were a chemical, it probably would be America's favorite drug. According to some experts, Americans glued to the television face a greater risk of experiencing stress in their family relationships as well as psychological discomfort. Health experts carefully avoid using the word "addiction" to describe long hours in front of the tube. "Drug addicts might readily steal or commit crimes to get money to buy drugs whereas people might not rob a convenience store to watch television," said Gary Miller, a pharmacology and toxicology professor at the University of Texas-Austin. TV-Free America conducted a survey in 1999 revealing the average American spends the equivalent of 11 years in front of a television set over an average lifespan of 72 years. According to the group's survey, the average American watches 3.7 hours of television a day, which amounts to an astonishing figure of 56 days a year. The average American household owns 2.5 televisions, collectively switched on for six hours and 47 minutes every day.
