The firing tube is supported in a tripod-like design and fires roughly a 3-pound shell, some 14 inches in length and a bit larger than 2 inches in diameter.

NPR: Mortar Explosion In Nev. Kills 7 NC Unit Marines

The civic-minded Bea proves a bit too good at saying no, and at length saves herself for a well-dressed dotage.

ECONOMIST: New fiction

The latter looked like just getting there but Bust Out gave a little bit more to hole off the challenge by a length.

BBC: Like-A-Butterfly too strong

This process may take quite a bit of time and disk space depending on the quality and length of the video.

ENGADGET: How-To: Convert a DVD for your iPod (with video) in Windows

Mr Maalouf is a bit relentless in quoting poems, letters and official documents at considerably greater length than most readers can willingly digest.

ECONOMIST: Family history: Mount Lebanon’s children | The

With no pace in the wicket, and just a bit of swing and seam, Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus bowled too straight and struggled to find the right length, allowing Strauss and Alastair Cook to tick along smoothly enough.

BBC: England make solid start to Ashes

Rather than measuring the length of the tail, then, it seems that modern science is actually focusing on a tiny bit of it.

ECONOMIST: Is the web narrowing scientists�� expertise?