IN the pantheon of virtues that made the U.S. great, none stands higher than the work ethic. As Richard Nixon defined it in a nationwide radio address: "The work ethic holds that labor is good in itself; that a man or woman at work not only makes a contribution to his fellow man but becomes a better person by virtue of the act of working." Lately the President has so often mentioned the work ethic—and so often suggested that it ...

A well-chosen art collection is a work of art itself; it has integrity and takes the pulse of an era. Such a collection is that of Dr. Arthur Hahnloser, who lived in Winterthur, near Zurich, until his death in 1936. In his Villa Flora, a large and angular house behind an iron fence on a faceless street, he gathered one of the choicest private hoards of post-impressionist art in the world . The Hahnlosers, Herr Doktor Arthur and Frau Hedy, ...

The death of Osama bin Laden comes at a time when al-Qaeda in Iraq has been shifting strategies in an effort to recoup from years of setbacks. A source within the security department of the Iraqi government tells TIME that according to Baghdad's intelligence work, "Al-Qaeda is setting up new plans in Iraq — changes in their leadership and locations, moving them from south to north, from one city to another. That makes us more worried that ...

Have you seen a shift in the past 20 years in the public's attitude toward service? I think so. I hope so. Many schools include a service project as part of their curriculum, and many corporations have in-house projects for their employees or give them time off to do volunteer work. There's a greater understanding about the importance of giving back. Presidents Carter, Clinton and Bush recently feted you for making volunteerism important. What was that like? First, it was a lot of fun to ...

Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs are dropping and employers may be hiring more workers. The Labor Department says the number of people seeking benefits dropped 10,000 to 382,000 in the week ending April 2. That's the third drop in four weeks. The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, declined to 389,500. See TIME's special "Out of Work in America." Applications near ...

With 85 million baby boomers and 50 million Gen Xers, there is already a yawning generation gap among American workers--particularly in their ideas of work-life balance. For baby boomers, it's the juggling act between job and family. For Gen X, it means moving in and out of the workforce to accommodate kids and outside interests. Now along come the 76 million members of Generation Y. For these new 20-something workers, the line between work and home doesn't really exist. They ...

Pliny Fisk III has been called a "mad scientist," a "dreamer" and a "visionary." His favorite word to describe the architectural work he does is "crazy." Spending a day with Fisk on his 18-acre work site outside of Austin, Texas is like riding a rocket blast into the future. "To be free to do what we're doing is absolute magic," Fisk recently told CNN. Pliny Fisk opened the non-profit Center for Maximum Potential Building (CMPB) in 1975 and ...

His father and uncle fall to the ground, crying uncontrollably. After 11 years of not knowing, relief of finding a child they thought had been lost forever pours out of them. That child is Christian Norris -- he's 17 now and he stood there unmoved as his father and uncle wept; perhaps because to him both men are distant memories. "I don't really remember my dad that much," Christian said quietly "I just remember my uncle, who raised me much ...

Customers of the printing company knew her as "Allissa." They spoke to her about graphic design, business cards and fliers, and describe her as professional, polite and responsive. "She was always good at getting us what we wanted," said Ben Daughdrill, who used to own a junk hauling business. "You got the feeling she was doing all the work." But "Allissa," authorities say, was really Jaycee Dugard, kidnapped 18 years ago from her home in South Lake Tahoe, California. ...

A Miami, Florida, man indicted earlier this month in the largest case of identity theft in U.S. history has agreed to plead guilty to 19 felony counts for his role in another massive credit-card data breach, according to a court document. The following are excerpts from the letter as read by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at Kennedy's private burial service Saturday in Arlington National Cemetery: "Most Holy Father, I asked President Obama to personally hand-deliver this letter to you. As a ...