In Briefs

American Airlines recently posted the largest loss in airline history, compounding the financial woes of the already ailing airline industry. With a drop in finances of $3.5 billion for 2002, the parent company of American Airlines-AMR Corporation-described the current situation as "treacherous."

"Clearly, results such as the ones we reported today are unsustainable," said Don Carty, AMR's chairman and chief executive, as reported on BBC.com. AMR Corporation blames the business slowdown on the recessionary world economy, terrorist threats and the crisis in Iraq.

American Airlines hopes to save $4 billion to weather the financial crisis. Rival United Airlines also plans to cut back expenditures significantly after filing for bankruptcy protection last year. President Bush is said to have plans to give $1 billion to NASA over a five-year period to develop functioning nuclear technology for space exploration. The U.S. space agency recently announced the initiative, calling it Project Prometheus after the Greek god who stole fire and gave it to humans. The initiative was launched in 2002 after NASA's chief, Sean O'Keefe, said that only with nuclear technology would deep space exploration be possible.

The technology was first investigated in the 1950s and '60s but was dropped for political and financial reasons.

Those in favor of nuclear space technology argue that the innovation will drastically affect how space is explored. With current conventional technology, a trip to Mars would take six months; with nuclear propulsion the trip to the red planet would take two months. It will be many years before the technology is viable, however.



The car, the microwave, the cell phone-all seemingly indispensable inventions to modern man. A new survey conducted by the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, found another invention deemed even more important...the lowly toothbrush. The survey asked 1,000 adults and 400 teenagers which of five inventions they could not live without. It was the toothbrush that rose to the top of the pile, beating out the car, the personal computer, the cell phone and the microwave, in that order.

The first toothbrush was reportedly built in 1498 by a Chinese emperor who put hog bristles in a bone handle. It became popular in Europe, but, due to its cost, most families had to share one brush. Then in 1938 DuPont introduced nylon bristles as a replacement for pig hair. Today, one would have a hard time finding an individual who does not tote a toothbrush wherever he or she travels.



"Bushisms," the colloquial term given to President George Bush's verbal faux pas, have garnered a lot of attention. The most recent notice is not a Saturday Night Live sketch poking fun at the President, but a list compiled by yourDictionary.com which places several Bushisms at the top.

"There are already 11,000 instances of 'misunderestimate' on the Web. The more people use words, whether jocularly or seriously, the more likely they are to enter the language and last for generations," said Paul J.J. Payack, chairman of yourDictionary.com, as reported on CNN.com.

The list of Bushisms, besides misunderestimate, includes embetter (the opposite of embitter), resignate (as in, "They said this issue wouldn't resignate with the people") and foreign-handed (as in, "I have a foreign-handed foreign policy.")

The 2002 list was made with the aid of visitors to the web site and the site's group of linguists, who spend their time noting the use of the English language around the world.



The Census Bureau recently announced that Hispanics have surpassed African-Americans as the largest minority population in the U.S. It has long been expected that Hispanics would one day outnumber blacks because birth and immigration rates are higher for Hispanics.

As of July 2001, the Latino population numbered 37 million, an increase of 4.7 percent from April 2000. In the same period the black population grew 2 percent to 36.1 million. The statistics are the first the Census Bureau has released since the results of the 2000 census were made public.

Hispanics comprise nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population while blacks form 12.7 percent. Whites, at 199.3 million, or approximately 70 percent of the U.S. population, are still the largest ethnic group.



Just before Christmas, Jose Luis Betancourt netted $7.5 million when he matched all six numbers in the Texas Lotto. Unfortunately, his luck ran out only a month later.

A U.S. Customs raid on his house found 1.63 kilograms of cocaine stashed away in the dishwasher and pantry of his apartment. Betancourt, 53, was charged with cocaine possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. To make matters worse for him, he has no chance of bond. The reason: his winnings.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Feliz Recio felt that, due to his winnings, Betancourt posed a flight risk. There is a chance that the government could seize the money as well. Lottery officials said a background check of Betancourt-something they do for every winner-came back clear.

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