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The term "acid rain" is commonly used to mean the deposition of acidic components in rain, snow, fog, dew, or dry particles. The more accurate term is "acid precipitation." Distilled water, which contains no carbon dioxide, has a neutral pH of 7. Liquids with a pH less than 7 are acid, and those with a pH greater than 7 are alkaline (or basic). "Clean" or unpolluted rain has a slightly acidic pH of 5.6, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form carbonic acid, a weak acid. Around Washington, D.C., however, the average rain pH is between 4.2 and 4.4.

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The biggest lie we tell ourselves in the area of action is, "I'll do it later." As C. Northcote Parkinson said, "Delay is the deadliest form of denial."

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The goal of earthquake prediction is to give warning of potentially damaging earthquakes early enough to allow appropriate response to the disaster, enabling people to minimize loss of life and property. The U.S. Geological Survey conducts and supports research on the likelihood of future earthquakes. This research includes field, laboratory, and theoretical investigations of earthquake mechanisms and fault zones. A primary goal of earthquake research is to increase the reliability of earthquake probability estimates. Ultimately, scientists would like to be able to specify a high probability for a specific earthquake on a particular fault within a particular year. Scientists estimate earthquake probabilities in two ways: by studying the history of large earthquakes in a specific area and the rate at which strain accumulates in the rock.

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You are not the only person asking this question! The answers heard from knowledgeable sources are as varied as our sources are. The debate over school uniforms is complicated, so here are some highlights from both sides for you to consider:

It's our body's vital fuel, a health drink from mother nature. It's calorie-free, inexpensive and easily obtained. Yet few people follow the old fashioned advice to drink eight glasses of water a day.

I have encountered several problems with PayPal when shipping items overseas since tracking numbers are not available when shipping via USPS. Unfortunately several of my buyers claimed that items were not received. Since I had no tracking info, I lost my payments through the automatic action taken by PayPal.

Lead has long been recognized as a harmful environmental pollutant. There are many ways in which humans are exposed to lead and most of the time we may not even be aware of it. Airborne lead enters the body when an individual breathes in lead particles or swallows some lead dust. Until recently, the most important airborne source of lead was automobile exhaust. Since 1975, there has been a 95 percent reduction in the use of lead in gasoline due to the Environmental Protection Agency's Phasedown Program and the replacement of older cars with newer cars that require the use of unleaded gasoline.

Writing and publishing a successful newsletter is perhaps the most competitive of all the different areas of mail order and direct marketing.

Five years ago, there were 1500 different newsletters in this country. Today there are well over 10,000, with new ones being started every day. It's also interesting to note that for every new one that's started, some disappear just as quickly as they are started - lack of operating capital and marketing know-how being the principal causes of failure.