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A newcomer to tidal Potomac River bass fishing recently sent a blistering note to a popular Web site, the Bass Fishing Home Page. With tongue in cheek, the e-mailer wondered what happened to common boating courtesy on one of the nation's top bass fishing waters. He signed his name Tony, and although some sorely needed word clarification has been added, here is the note from www.wmi.org/bassfish: "[I] was wondering. Just moved or should I say [got] stationed here from Ala. [I] just want to get the rules right. Is there no common courtesy on the lakes and rivers here? Is...

Surat Al-Israa' was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in Makkah after his Night Journey from Makkah to Jerusalem. In verses 23–39 of this surah, Allah mentions some basic commitments of Muslims. Without fulfilling these commitments, no individual or group can succeed. Muslims have to live by these values and should invite humanity to these principles. These principles are not limited to one race, tribe, or group; they are universal in their scope and application. These are also called the hikmah or the teachings of wisdom. It is wise for everyone to follow them. If followed...

I came here in 1998 looking for conservative, logical, thoughtful conversation and debate on the things that matter to us the most. I was a Reagan Republican. One of those who had watched in horror as our embassy staff in Tehran was taken by fanatics. The answer should have been overwhelming force, but it was Carter, that limp-wristed, can’t-we-just talk-this-out, weakling who had made the military a shambles, and stripped it of its soul because of VietNam. I knew from the beginning that there was no room in this world for weakness and that was the beginning of my road...

c By MICHELLE FAUL The Associated Press Tuesday, May 31, 2005; 9:20 PM SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- They fed them well. The Pakistani tribesmen slaughtered a sheep in honor of their guests, Arabs and Chinese Muslims famished from fleeing U.S. bombing in the Afghan mountains. But their hosts had ulterior motives: to sell them to the Americans, said the men who are now prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Bounties ranged from $3,000 to $25,000, the detainees testified during military tribunals, according to transcripts the U.S. government gave The Associated Press to comply with a Freedom of Information lawsuit. A former...

There is a four-letter word, deriving from the French, that is, quite possibly, the most offensive word known to womankind. And it was used on me just last night. The exact quote was “Can I see your license and proof of insurance, ma’am?” I was ma’am-ed. Not to be confused with maimed, there was no slashing involved, but in that tiny part of the brain where a woman’s insecurities lie most of us would rather be maimed than ma’am-ed. Being ma’am-ed is tantamount to having our self-esteem maimed. A woman can be dressed to the nines in Dior with Harry...

'WOMEN ARE equals now. They can fend for themselves. To offer a perfectly healthy woman a seat simply because she is a woman, however well-intentioned, is creepy. At best, she'll think you're from another country; at worst she'll feel old, or overweight enough to be perceived as pregnant." And that is a lesson in modern manners, according to the new issue of GQ (with Clive Owen on the cover). Glenn O'Brien and other GQ scribes weigh in on e-mails, cellphones, gym etiquette, dressing for travel, how to handle chatty seatmates, sleeping with your friend's ex, online dating, wedding gifts and...

For Cindy Nooney's 3-year-old twin boys, playing with the Thomas the Train set at their local bookstore in Southern California is a major thrill. Jack and Sam push Thomas, Arthur and friends down the track, they run around the table, jump up and down — and, of course, they squeeeaal. Nooney expects as much in the children's section of the store. But on a recent afternoon, she was surprised by an employee who confronted her, calling her darling Jack a tyrant. "He was a little loud but this is a children's section," says Nooney. "They run a noisy, cavernous bookstore...

"Thank you." "No problem." Whatever happened to "You're welcome," the traditional response to "Thank you"? One handbook, "20th Century Words," says the "no problem" response first appeared in the 1960s as a "polite disclaimer to a suggestion that one has been troubled." And another, "Garner's Modern American Usage," says that by the 1980s, "You're welcome" apparently started sounding "a little stiff and formal" to some. As a result, the expression "no problem" became popular with many, especially young people, and its popularity continues today. "You're welcome" seems to "diminish little by little," Garner says, and though "old-fashioned speakers continue to...

I left my headlights yesterday at work and so I couldn't drive home. There were few people around, but I asked this group of people for a jump (I told them I already have cables). One guy said to call the wrecking company. I have no money for a wrecking company, I'm a father of 3 young kids and we barely squeeze by each month. They had their cars there, all they had to do was drive a whole 20 yards and pop a hood open to let me hook up the cable. It would cost them absolutelly nothing besides...

It’s the time of year when long-suffering tuition-poor parents get primped up and drive countless miles to stew in summer’s heat, sitting on excruciatingly uncomfortable folding wooden seats on damp fields, gnats biting at their ankles and ears. They do this for one reason: to see their offspring get their long-hoped-for diplomas. (After which the detritus collected over four or more years gets piled into the car with the offspring and returned home.)

Mind your manners BY DAVE BARRY (This classic DAVE BARRY column was originally published Nov. 24, 1996.) Today's etiquette topic is: Proper Table (burp) Manners. I have here a letter from Jean Gerdes, who teaches Family and Consumer Science to 6th-graders at the Donegal Middle School in Marietta, Pa. She states: ''I would like to ask your help in teaching my students the importance of good manners. I have found that if they can see how good manners might help them in their future, they are more motivated to learn and practice them. It would be a great help if...

New Yorkers are known to throw things onto the field at Yankee Stadium when the Red Sox are in town. At times they boo their own mayor at parades. Some refuse to surrender their seats to pregnant women on the subway, while others cut in line and never apologize. But somehow a city whose residents have long been scorned for their churlish behavior is now being praised for adopting rules and laws that govern personal conduct, making New York an unlikely model for legislating courtesy and decorum. From tighter restrictions on sports fans and car alarms to a new $50...

Imagine a luxury liner sinking into artic waters with too few lifeboats for its passengers. Who would get those seats? When the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, the answer was obvious: women and children had first priority. Why was this? Certainly, the male passengers could have over-powered most of the women and saved their own lives. What kept them from doing so? Chivalry. The idea that part of being a man (and certainly part of being a gentleman) is to sacrifice willingly to protect those who are more vulnerable. Of course, all those aboard the Titanic were equally vulnerable...

My parents had conflicting views about the nature and origin of good manners. My father took the Romantic view that they were the expression of man’s natural goodness of heart and that they therefore emerged spontaneously—that is, if they emerged at all. If they didn’t, it was because of the social injustice that inhibited or destroyed natural goodness. My mother took the classical view that good manners were a matter of discipline, training, and habit and that goodness of heart would, at least to an extent, follow in their wake. The older I grow, the more decisively I take my...

New paint blocks out cell phone signals ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 1 (UPI) -- A Rochester, N.Y., company has developed paint that can switch between blocking cell phone signals and allowing them through. "You could use this in a concert hall, allowing cell phones to work before the concert and during breaks, but shutting them down during the performance," said Michael Riedlinger, president of NaturalNano. Using nanotechnology, particles of copper are inserted into nanotubes, which are ultra-tiny tubes that occur naturally in halloysite clay mined in Utah. Combined with a radio-filtering device that collects phone signals from outside a shielded space,...

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The National Association of Theater Owners wants the Federal Communications Commission to allow the blocking of cell phone signals in theaters. John Fithian, the president of the trade organization, told the Los Angeles Times theater owners "have to block rude behavior" as the industry tries to come up with ways to bring people back to the cinemas. Fithian said his group would petition the FCC for permission to block cell phone signals within movie theaters. Some theaters already have no cell phone policies and ask moviegoers to check their phones at the door,...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Let's be good cosmopolitans and offer sociological explanations rather than moral judgments about students, The Washington Post reports, having sex during the day in high schools. Sociology discerns connections, and there may be one between the fact that teenagers are relaxing from academic rigors by enjoying sex in the school auditorium, and the fact that Americans in public soon will be able to watch pornography, and prime-time television programs such as ``Desperate Housewives'' -- and, for the high-minded, C-SPAN -- on their cell phones and video iPods.</p>

From road rage in the morning commute to high decibel cell-phone conversations that ruin dinner out, men and women behaving badly have become the hallmark of a hurry-up world. An increasing informality -- flip-flops at the White House, even -- combined with self-absorbed communication gadgets and a demand for instant gratification have strained common courtesies to the breaking point. "All of these things lead to a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, a descendent of etiquette expert Emily Post and an instructor on business manners through the Emily Post...

WASHINGTON -- Americans' fast-paced, high-tech existence has taken a toll on the civil in society. From road rage in the morning commute to high decibel cell-phone conversations that ruin dinner out, men and women behaving badly has become the hallmark of a hurry-up world. An increasing informality -- flip-flops at the White House, even -- combined with self-absorbed communication gadgets and a demand for instant gratification have strained common courtesies to the breaking point. "All of these things lead to a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, a descendent...

WASHINGTON -- Americans' fast-paced, high-tech existence has taken a toll on the civil in society. From road rage in the morning commute to high decibel cell-phone conversations that ruin dinner out, men and women behaving badly has become the hallmark of a hurry-up world. An increasing informality — flip-flops at the White House, even — combined with self-absorbed communication gadgets and a demand for instant gratification have strained common courtesies to the breaking point. "All of these things lead to a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, a descendent...