Etc...

Lick it, not ticket in K.C.

Motorists pulled over by the police in Kansas City aren't necessarily violators. Some, to their surprise, have been stopped recently to receive, not tickets but coupons - for free ice cream. It's a reward for good behavior, or safe driving, in this case. But the idea didn't sit well with everybody, including some citizens who've questioned the program rewarding things like wearing a seat belt, yielding to traffic, and using a turn signal. One driver said she was afraid that being stopped would make her late for work, and another said he could imagine good drivers being angered if they "were in the wrong frame of mind." As a result, the police department's legal counsel has suggested ending the practice and coming up with a new approach.

'Teensploitation' earns place in the dictionary
Each year, a new group of words achieve status as official entries in Merriam-Websters's Collegiate Dictionary. Among this year's additions is "teensploitation," an offshoot of "blaxploitation," which was coined in the 1970s to refer to the exploitation of blacks by filmmakers. "Teensploitation," or the exploitation of teens by teen-oriented films, has gradually made its way from entertainment magazines to mainstream publications. It usually takes 20 years or more of unofficial usage before a word cracks the Collegiate dictionary, although Internet use has shortening that time. Some of the newest entries and their basic meanings:

teensploitation: teen exploitation by moviemakers

pleather: leather-like plastic fabric
body wrap: body treatment in which gels and oils are applied to the body, which is then wrapped in a sheet
MP3: a computer file (as of a song)
lossless: done or being done without loss (adj.)
clafouti: batter-topped baked fruit dessert
darmstadium: artificially produced, short-lived radioactive element
S Res: Senate resolution

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