The Dangerous Legalese of Lawyers and Other Stories

Maybe I'm reading into it a bit, but to me this indicates an innate physical predilection toward good in addition to the natural evil that can result from pure self-interest.

When women feel emotionally close to a girlfriend, levels of the hormone progesterone increase, helping boost mood and alleviate stress. . . .

The conclusion supports a concept in evolution that is gaining momentum — that the hormonal basis of social bonds enables people to suppress self-interest when necessary to promote the well-being of another person. The research also helps explain why social contact appears to lead to improved health. . . .

Why women have good chemistry

-----

Assuming they have a good interview and selection process, I think someone's finally getting the right idea. The best and the brightest usually don't consider education as a profession because it's too much work for too little pay.

So what kind of teachers could a school get if it paid them $125,000 a year? . . .

The school, called the Equity Project, is premised on the theory that excellent teachers — and not revolutionary technology, talented principals or small class size — are the critical ingredient for success. Experts hope it could offer a window into some of the most pressing and elusive questions in education: Is a collection of superb teachers enough to make a great school? Are six-figure salaries the way to get them? And just what makes a teacher great? . . . .

The Equity Project will open with 120 fifth graders chosen this spring in a lottery that gave preference to children from the neighborhood and to low academic performers; most students are from low-income Hispanic families. It will grow to 480 children in Grades 5 to 8, with 28 teachers. . . .

Next Test: Value of $125,000-a-Year Teachers

-----

Torture? No such thing.

When Justice Department lawyers engaged in a sharp internal debate in 2005 over brutal interrogation techniques, even some who believed that using tough tactics was a serious mistake agreed on a basic point: the methods themselves were legal. . . .

That opinion, giving the green light for the C.I.A. to use all 13 methods in interrogating terrorism suspects, including waterboarding and up to 180 hours of sleep deprivation, “was ready to go out and I concurred,” Mr. Comey wrote to a colleague in an April 27, 2005, e-mail message obtained by The New York Times. . . .

U.S. Lawyers Agreed on Legality of Brutal Tactic