Changes

As you may have noticed, the format of the Skeptical Internationalist has changed slighty and has a less personal touch. This decision was undertaken to ensure the same high quality ranting on international issues you've come to expect from the SkepInt without compromising the job security of the editor.

Maine 

Putting Things in Perspective

From Harpers’s Index:
-Number of U.S. soldiers returned from Iraq in the last year who have been diagnosed with mental-health problems : 5,375
-Ratio of suicides worldwide in 2001 to war deaths : 7:2
-Ratio of Americans killed by lightning since January 2002 to those killed by terrorism : 3:2
-Estimated number of Afghans who died in last year’s pistachio harvest : 50
-Number of restaurants in Guizhou, China, closed in April for adding opium to their dishes : 215