Etc...

Keep out: this means you!

For all the money it doles out to needy countries, the International Monetary Fund may be the most unpopular institution in the world. And perhaps nowhere else is it disliked as much as in distressed Argen-tina, which owes the IMF billions of dollars in loan payments but wishes it didn't due to the unappealing conditions attached. Against that backdrop, a visiting IMF official called at the Economy Ministry in Buenos Aires earlier this week to review the loan package ... and was sent away by a receptionist. She apparently failed to recognize him, an embarrassed ministry official explained, and mistook the agency's acronym in Spanish for that of a popular local radio station, which would have had no occasion to be there.

Forty-one years ago, while a teenager, Gulli Wihlborg lost her wallet on a street in Trelleborg, Sweden. In it was $6.17, half a month's rent for her furnished room, and - to her - a small fortune. Earlier this month, accompanied by an unsigned note, the wallet arrived in the mail, with its contents intact. Said the note: "Dear Gulli, Greetings from Trelleborg. Here's your wallet. You should never give up hope."

If you haven't said it yourself, you've probably heard others utter the refrain, "If only I had more time..." Well, this being a Leap Year, you get an extra 24 hours Sunday. So how will you use it? Attend a concert? Take a hike? Perhaps clean out the garage? Smithsonian magazine asked its readers how they expected to spend their time. More than a thousand responded. Their preferences, with the percentage who voted for each:

Travel 16%
Spend time with family or friends 15
Take in a museum or cultural event (tie) Read 14
Sleep/sleep late (tie) Outdoor activity 10
Watch or play sports (tie) Dine out 7