The range and variety of Jane Smiley's work as a writer of fiction have resulted in a great deal of critical attention, a wide and committed readership, and several different perceptions of her achievement. Smiley's novels, particularly those following T...

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Jane Smiley has also won acclaim for her work as an author of short fiction. In The Age of Grief: Stories and a Novella (1987), Ordinary Love and Good Will: Two Novellas (1989), The Life of the Body: A Story (1990), and...

MOOs and MUDs were developed by aficionados of computer games in order to make the games more interactive. The first such environments, developed by Stephen White, were called Multiple User Dragons, or MUDs. Later, these environments were enhanced and...

A MOO, an acronym for (MUD object oriented), is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time. The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses. One is to refer to those programs...

A judge on Monday granted a reprieve to Shambo, a sacred bull at a Hindu monastery who had been threatened with slaughter because he is suspected of carrying bovine tuberculosis.Shambo's plight raised intense arguments about whether public health concerns superseded religious rights. His caretakers at...

The decision to slaughter a bull revered as sacred by his Hindu caretakers is justified, a British court ruled Monday, overturning a decision by a lower court last week.The ruling could spell the end for Shambo, a 6-year-old Friesian bull, whose life has been in...

The decision to slaughter a bull revered as sacred by his Hindu caretakers is justified, a British court ruled.The ruling Monday could spell the end for Shambo, a 6-year-old Friesian bull, whose life has been in jeopardy since he tested positive for bovine tuberculosis in...