Work nightmare No.1: The very bad boss

About a year ago, I bumped into a friend whose daughter, Amanda, used to drive me a little crazy when she was in high school. Not because she committed any of the typical teenage transgressions but because she was perfect. She got great grades, made captain of two teams, played violin in the school orchestra, and was completely down-to-earth and cheerful to boot

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Three Things Obama Could Learn From Thatcher

When Margaret Thatcher, then 53, appeared at the door of 10, Downing Street exactly 30 years ago today, hubris and self-doubt were not things that worried her. Having won the first of what would be three general election victories, her address to the British people was not modest and self-deprecating in the traditional fashion. She clothed herself, rather, in the words of a Saint — Francis of Assisi

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A Cold Case Gets Hot: Is This L.A.’s Westside Rapist?

Bob Kistner had given up hope of ever finding his great-aunt’s killer. The retired police sergeant was just a rookie at the Long Beach Police Department when Maybelle Hudson, 80, was beaten, raped and strangled in her Inglewood garage after returning home from choir practice one day in April 1976.

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Berlusconi ‘pained’ amid divorce reports

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to deny reports Sunday that his wife plans to file for divorce after finally running out of patience over his roving eye. Hours after newspapers said Veronica Lario had contacted a divorce lawyer and was seeking a quick separation after nearly 30 years of marriage, Berlusconi, 72, issued a terse statement Sunday that appeared to give credence to the reports. “It is a personal affair that pains me.

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Twittering in Church, With the Pastor’s Encouragement

John Voelz isn’t trying to brag, but it’s fair to say he was down with Twitter before most people knew it was a proper noun. Last year, Voelz, a pastor, was tweeting at a conference outside Nashville about ways to make the church experience more creative — ways to “make it not suck” — when suddenly it hit him: Twitter.

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Hysteria over swine flu is the real danger, some say

As the number of swine flu cases rises around the world, so is a gradual backlash — with some saying the threat the virus poses is overblown. By Sunday, 787 cases of the virus, known as influenza A (H1N1), had been confirmed in 17 countries, the World Health Organization said. The number of fatalities grew to 20

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