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0 Comments | Insight on the News, July 1, 2002 | by John Elvin

* Women seeking men through lonely-hearts advertising tend to emphasize "good-provider" aspects if they reside in large cities, while those in smaller towns emphasize personal qualities such as honesty, compassion or sincerity (Environmental Predictors of Geographic Variation in Human Mating Preferences, a study by biologist Kevin J. McGraw of Cornell University).

* The General Accounting Office (GAO) has questioned a number of purchases made by the U.S. Air Force and Army during the last two years, including $4,600 worth of white beach sand for a site in the Arabian Desert, a $4,300 sumo-wrestling outfit, a $35,000 golf cart, a $24,000 love seat and armchair and $19,000 worth of decorative river rock (GAO report as noted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

* The federal government is running a $66.5 billion deficit for the first seven months of fiscal 2002 (Citizens Against Government Waste, lambasting a congressional "spending binge" based on Treasury Department figures).