J.K. Rowling readies pen for final Potter book

LONDON (AFP) - J.K. Rowling, the British author of the record-selling Harry Potter series, said she plans to start writing the final book about the boy wizard next month and finish it some time in 2006.

"For 2006 will be the year when I write the final book in the Harry Potter series," the British author wrote on her official website.

"I contemplate the task with mingled feelings of excitement and dread, because I can't wait to get started."

Joanne Kathleen Rowling, 40, has spent much of the past decade writing about the adventures of Potter and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

On her website, she said she felt compelled to wrap up the gripping tale that has captured the imagination of millions of children and adults worldwide.

At the same time, Rowling doubted her ability to answer all the questions generated by the seven-part series.

The writer also wondered about her life after Potter.

"It will all be over at last and I can't quite imagine life without Harry," she said.

Turning to the task at hand, Rowling said she had been fine-tuning her ideas for the seventh installment of Potter's life and was ready to start work in January.

"Reading through the plan is like contemplating the map of an unknown country in which I will soon find myself," she said.

At times while writing the previous six books Rowling said she ran into trouble, such as chapter nine of the fourth one: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

In October, Rowling's literary agent said the boy wizard series had sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.

The six books published in the series so far have been translated into 63 languages. The first four have also been made into blockbuster movies.

Defining "conservative"

Because Merriam-Webster says:

Main Entry: ¹con·ser·va·tive
Pronunciation: k&n-'s&r-v&-tiv
Function: adjective
1 : PRESERVATIVE
2 a : of or relating to a philosophy of conservatism b capitalized : of or constituting a political party professing the principles of conservatism : as (1) : of or constituting a party of the United Kingdom advocating support of established institutions (2) : PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE
3 a : tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : TRADITIONAL b : marked by moderation or caution conservative estimate> c : marked by or relating to traditional norms of taste, elegance, style, or manners conservative suit>
4 : of or relating to Conservative Judaism
- con·ser·va·tive·ly adverb
- con·ser·va·tive·ness noun

Whoa, I had no idea that "conservativeness" was a word.

And well, this is kind of "Yikes"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Snow warned lawmakers Thursday that a legally set limit on the government's ability to borrow will be hit in mid-February and urged Congress to raise it quickly.

Failure to do so potentially risks throwing the country into its first default in history, Snow warned in what has become virtually an annual rite as U.S. borrowing needs spiral.

"The administration now projects that the statutory debt limit, currently $8.184 trillion, will be reached in mid-February 2006," Snow said in a letter to 21 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate released by Treasury after financial markets had closed.

Snow said that Treasury, if the debt limit was not raised by then, would have to take "extraordinary actions" to keep paying its bills for everything from Social Security to national defense spending.

Even if Treasury took "all available prudent and legal actions to avoid breaching the statutory debt limit, we anticipate that we can finance government operations no longer than mid-March."

The debt limit was last raised in November 2004 by $800 billion to its current level. The letter to Congress does not specify an amount the Treasury wants the ceiling set at this time [...]

The call for an increase in the debt ceiling typically provokes a round of criticism from opposition politicians over excessive government spending and the process is drawn out until nearly the last possible moment [...]

Among other factors, the Treasury cited increased spending for rebuilding Gulf Coast areas hit hard by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Well, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita were natural disasters. There's not much we can do except help with the rebuilding process (for some reason, I'm hesitant to use the word "reconstruction"). It's a lot of money, but that's okay. With the tax cuts, the government has plenty of money to spare. It's "simple math" (hehe- SNL).

And that had nothing to do with "conservativeness" but my family got a chocolate fondue bowl and I've been looking up ways to melt chocolate while going through the morning's headlines. Oh, this is utterly distracting.