Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the May 2005 issue

Assets

Drug Reaction

A South Carolina jury rejects a tenuous "Zoloft defense" offered by 15-year-old Christopher Pittman's attorneys and convicts the youth of murdering his grandparents.

New Money

Airline frequent-flyer miles have become an alternative currency for everything from hotel rooms to coffee pots. The Economist estimates their current global value tops $700 billion.

Privately Decent

Four months after the fact, the Federal Communications Commission confirms there is nothing indecent or profane about Saving Private Ryan. In November, 66 ABC stations opted not to broadcast the World War II flick for fear of offending maladjusted sociopaths.

Phones Home

Mergers between AT&T and SBC and between MCI and Verizon indicate that artificial divisions between long distance and local may be at an end. Phone service is phone service, and regulators should let subsidy schemes die a natural death.

Tuition Fruition

Scary stats on the cost of a college education--an 11 percent increase for public schools and 6 percent for private ones in April 2005--ignore the big picture: According to College Board data, once tax breaks and direct grants are factored in, the annual cost of college falls by about half for most full-time undergrads.

Apple Corps

McDonald's distributes fresh sliced apples as an alternative to fries in Happy Meals. The Apple Dippers are one of many fresh fruit offerings now found on fast food menus.

Liabilities

Download Duality