Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.—Malachi 3:10. This ancient text on tithing still looks sensible to Quaker Perry Hayden, an energetic mill executive of Tecumseh, Mich. Five years ago Hayden launched a dramatic experiment ...

What's next for Microsoft Windows? With Windows 7 now nineteen months old, plenty of people are curious about its successor, a product which everybody's calling Windows 8 even though it hasn't been officially named yet. At the moment, however, all we know for sure is that we hardly know anything at all. Last month, for instance, the tech blogosphere was aflutter over leaked screen shots of a Windows 8 app store that looked very much like Apple's ...

It may be a functional space, but that hasn't stopped designers and architects from turning the humble toilet into a room of surprises. With breathtaking vistas, wacky themes or lavish materials, there are rest rooms out there that'll make you feel like a million bucks each time you spend a penny. SAPPORO Take a comfort break on top of the city's highest building. Toilets at the JR Tower's observation room are 160 meters above street level and walled with glass. According ...

Over my morning coffee , I read the news this week that a battle is brewing between Starbucks and McDonald's. According to the story, McDonald's is planning to capitalize on the public's willingness to pay $4 for a cup of coffee by hiring baristas and dropping espresso machines in 14,000 of their fast-food outlets. Meanwhile, Starbucks, with business lagging, is fighting back with an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy, by offering heated breakfast sandwiches ...

The campaign leading to Singapore's May 7 general election had the trappings of a larger political drama. Before the thronged gates of a suburban sports stadium, where a rally for the opposition Workers' Party was under way one hot night, vendors hurriedly pressed ice-cream sandwiches into the hands of the thousands pouring inside. Encircling the lit stadium were high-rise public housing blocks, from whose open windows and crowded outdoor passageways hundreds more were listening to the boisterous ...

THE Supreme Court had forbidden it, but they prayed defiantly in a school in Netcong, N.J., reading the morning invocation from the Congressional Record. In the state legislatures, they introduced more than 100 Draconian bills to put down campus dissent. In West Virginia, they passed a law absolving police in advance of guilt in any riot deaths. In Minneapolis they elected a police detective to be mayor. Everywhere, they flew the colors of assertive patriotism. Their car windows were plastered ...

After Harvey Milk became the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet, thousands of astounded people wrote to him. "I thank God," wrote a 68-year-old lesbian, "I have lived long enough to see my kind emerge from the shadows and join the human race." Sputtered another writer: "Maybe, just maybe, some of the more hostile in the district may take some potshots at you--we hope!!!" There was a time when it ...

Strikers congregated at five points in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital, for a noon march to the Plaza las Americas mall. Organizers said they expected at least 100,000 people to march and thousands more to stay home from work. University students and some clergy leaders also have joined the stoppage. By midmorning, thousands of protesters had gathered at the mall, many holding signs criticizing the job cuts. Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuo said Thursday he expected no problems ...

After months of talking about Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft is announcing on Tuesday that the first crop of phones to carry the Windows Phone brand are ready to hit the market. A host of new phones running the new operating system are expected to debut between now and the holidays, with many being announced later on Tuesday. AT&T has already announced two Windows Mobile 6.5-based phones -- the Pure and the HTC Tilt 2. In all, Microsoft has said ...

For nearly 20 years Jennifer Schuett has held onto every memory of the night she was abducted from her bedroom, raped and left for dead. It was August 10, 1990. Schuett was 8 years old and lived alone with her mother in the first floor of an apartment complex in Dickinson, Texas. The bedroom windows faced the parking lot. Investigators were never able to identify a suspect, but new DNA testing may change that. CNN normally does not ...