Word: alabama
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...started tying financial incentives to their health-insurance plans. North Carolina this year became the second state to approve an increase in out-of-pocket expenses for state workers who smoke and don't try to quit or who are morbidly obese and don't try to lose weight. Alabama was the first to pass what critics call a fat fee, in 2008, and several state insurance plans have started imposing a $25 monthly surcharge on smokers...
...sportswriters, and indecipherable computer formulas to decide which two teams get to play each other in the national title game. This year, the picture is particularly muddled, as five schools have the potential to finish the season undefeated (Boise State, Cincinnati, Texas, Texas Christian University and either Florida or Alabama, who will likely square off in the Dec. 5 SEC title game). Why can't they determine who's best by - get this - playing each other on the football field...
...pirates are at it again - and with the same ship. Last April, they took over the Maersk Alabama off Somalia and held the ship's skipper, Capt. Richard Phillips, hostage for five days. The U.S. Navy rescued Phillips after SEAL snipers killed three of the pirates and took a fourth into custody...
...Wednesday, four would-be pirates in a skiff approached the Maersk Alabama some 650 miles off Somalia. This time, however, the crew aboard the Maersk Alabama had a brand new line of defense: a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). It's a $30,000 loudspeaker that is used to first verbally warn an approaching vessel that it is getting too close. If the intruder continues towards the ship, the LRAD can be cranked up, generating a painful high-pitched screech that can be aimed at the approaching vessel.(See photos of dramatic pirate-hostage rescues...
Despite the expensive new weapon, the pirate skiff plowed right through sound waves that should have sent the privateers scurrying in the opposite direction. Ultimately it took gunshots fired by a four-member security team to drive the pirates away after they came within 300 yards of the Maersk Alabama. The lesson: lead still beats loud...