Calligraphy may be the cure for sloppy handwriting Now that calligraphy, the art of formal handwriting, has become a popular hobby, enthusiasts are sharpening their pens to improve the atrocious scrawling of the rest of us. It will be a mighty task. In America, writing is the most neglected of the three Rs. The basic problem is that the letter forms taught were not designed to accomplish the necessary combination of legibility, speed and ease. At the start, schools ...

Turmoil in the oil-rich Middle East, combined with the nuclear crisis in Japan, has caused a lot of experts to recalculate the global energy algorithm for the future. But people need energy now, and with the ravenous economic growth of China, India and Brazil, demand has grown even more urgent. The problem is that the clean fuels of the future--solar and wind power--are not even close to scale: only about 1% of U.S. electricity needs is supplied by the combination ...

Michael Jackson feared his father so much he would faint or vomit sometimes when his father entered the room -- even when the pop singer was an adult, according to a book written by a former Jackson confidant. "The Michael Jackson Tapes" includes Jackson talking about his fear of growing old, his relationship with children, his friendships with Madonna and Brooke Shields, and his remarkable shyness around people that made his surround himself with mannequins. Jackson opened up to Rabbi ...