The weaving of thread into cloth has been practiced for many thousands of years. As it is today, woven fabric was created by criss-crossing threads over and over again to form a tight mesh. Fairly early on, devices were constructed to make the task of...

A loom is a machine or device for weaving thread or yarn into textiles. Looms can range from very small hand-held frames, to large free-standing hand looms, to huge automatic mechanical devices. A loom can also refer to an electrical cable assembly or...

After a half-year of fruitless contract talks, the Service Employees International Union threatened a long-term strike of Valley and Desert Springs hospitals starting Dec. 4.The threat worked. Hospital officials have agreed to return to the bargaining table for three days, Nov. 27-29.It would be the...

Attention owners of primitive TVs: If you still use an antenna to watch "American Idol," your picture will disappear at midnight on Feb. 17, 2009, unless you buy something called a digital converter box.No one knows how much these boxes, which have yet to be...

The Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction was awarded Monday to Lawrence Wright for his book, "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11," a penetrating analysis of how Islamic fundamentalism has reshaped the modern world.Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff won the Pulitzer Prize for...

Election Central, the campaign-watching arm of the Talking Points web empire, has a post taking note of the Romney-ish repositioning of Katrina Swett, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican Senator John Sununu in New Hampshire. Swett, who is the daughter of California...