News In Brief

THIS LOOKS LIKE A TYPO TO ME

Corporations hope their annual reports are read carefully, but they know full well many investors don't bother. Now, one company is trying something uniquely different. Volume 1 of its two-volume report is page after page of 0s and 1s, and what look like horizontal bar codes. "Couldn't read it?" it asks coyly at the end. "You must be linear." The company: Linear Technology Corp. of Milpitas, Calif., which makes advanced semiconductors. For those not literate in programming code, Volume 2 is the same material in traditional format - and plain English.

SO DON'T SEND ANY MORE, OK?

If you throw out mailings from credit-card marketers without a second look, it turns out you're in good company. The Wall Street Journal reports that in the second quarter of this year, the nationwide response rate to such solicitations - 0.4 percent - was the lowest since record-keeping began in 1988. Yet, postal patrons were swamped with a record 992 million solicitations.

New survey asks: Is the Holy Bible on your reading list?

Readership of the Holy Bible by adult Americans appears to have declined over the decade of the '90s, results of a new survey by the Gallup polling organization show. Its report, according to the Washington-based Religion News Service, found 6 in 10 respondents claiming to read the Scriptures "at least occasionally," compared with 73 percent at the end of the 1980s. The survey also found higher rates of readership among females, nonwhites, and those over 65. Some of its other findings, based on a sample of 1,024 adults between Oct. 6 and Oct. 9, and the percentage of respondents who said they agree with each question:

I read the Bible daily 16%

I read it at least once a week 21%

I read it at least once a month 12%

I believe it answers all or most of life's basic questions 65%

I belong to a Bible study group 14%

I never read the Bible 41%

- Religion News Service

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