Lifetimes of Heavy-Flavour Hadrons -- Whence and Whither?

A theoretical treatment for the weak decays of heavy-flavour hadrons has been developed that is genuinely based on QCD. Its methodology as it applies to total lifetimes and the underlying theoretical issues are sketched. Predictions are compared with present data. One discrepancy emerges: the beauty baryon lifetime appears to be significantly shorter than expected. The ramifications of those findings are analyzed in detail.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, LATEX, two references added and new information concerning a lower charm content in B decays incorporate

Down to earth relativity

The basic concepts of the special and general theories of relativity are described. Simple examples are given to illustrate the effect of relativity on measurements of time and frequency in the near-earth environment

Hadronization -- the Unsung Hero rather than the Alleged Villain in the Tale of CP Violation

The novel successes scored by the Standard Model of High Energy Physics in the last few years concerning heavy flavour dynamics do not weaken the case for `New Physics' around the TeV scale. They do suggest however that one cannot {\em count} on that New Physics impacting heavy flavour decays in a numerically massive way. Yet studying this impact will be essential in diagnosing the features of the New Physics. In particular the decays of beauty hadrons have to be analyzed with considerable precision on the experimental as well as theoretical side. While hadronization effects often represent the main bottleneck in our understanding in the short run, they will provide powerful and discriminating tools in the long run, when applied comprehensively and judiciously. The expertise required to exhaust the discovery potential in $B$ decays does exist in the hadron physics community or can be developed without needing a new breakthrough -- yet a greater effort has to be made to communicate it to the heavy flavour community.Comment: 15 pages, no figures; Invited Talk given at Hadron 05, Rio de Janeiro, August 22 - 26, 200