five minutes

Hundreds of elementary school students in Southern California were supposed to be done with school on Thursday, but will have to make up 34 days or risk losing $7 million in state funds.

The schools' occasional short days - taken to allow teachers time for preparation - were five minutes too short under state law, and don't count at all, even though the time missed could be made up in one or two days.

Toy packaging has gotten awfully sophisticated when the manufacturer has to provide instructions for removing the toy from the package.