Lead Stories
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Two teams of Canadian engineers are building small passenger rockets (one team, Canadian Arrow, has begun seeking astronauts for a 2003 launch) in hopes of winning the X Prize–a $10 million award for the first vehicle to carry three people at least 62 miles into space, then repeat the flight within two weeks. Such rockets are the Cessnas of the space industry, costing $3 to $5 million and generally measuring only 20 to 30 feet long. Canadian Arrow’s astronauts will be screened for health problems and receive some training, but its engineers admit the job is hardly for the risk averse.
Clothing trends in Asia, according to an October Wall Street Journal dispatch from Seoul, Korea: an aloe vera bra and underwear set that promises to lubricate the skin for up to 40 launderings; “Ki” business suits, which have a powder of charcoal and jade sewn into the armpits and crotch to boost energy and block computer-screen radiation; and “yellow earth” boxer shorts, made of fabric infused with a special soil that supposedly emits far-infrared rays that cut odor and improve circulation.
Least Competent Criminals
In October in Santa Cruz, California, a 32-year-old man was killed when he fell from a fifth-story hotel balcony; he’d been hanging off the edge and shouting to his friends, “Look at this.”
