id stringlengths 5 10 | title stringlengths 0 2.44k | text stringlengths 0 2.9k |
|---|---|---|
1163818_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1163824_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1163903_0 | So Why Punish Cuba? | To the Editor: Re ''To Have and Have Not: Cubans' Life With Castro'' (news article, Dec. 22): You describe the difficult life in Cuba, made all the more difficult by our trade embargo against a country where affection remains strong for a regime that has improved life for the very poor. A few pages away is an article (''Romania Sees Promise of Prosperity Slip Away,'' front page, Dec. 22) about a nation suffering the monstrous legacy of Nicolae Ceausescu's government. The United States did not impose sanctions on that Stalinist government, nor did we consider any kind of embargo. Have we applied a standard to Mr. Castro's Cuba that we apply nowhere else in the world? Is it not about time that we stop punishing the Cuban people? M. J. ROSENBERG Chevy Chase, Md., Dec. 22, 1999 |
1105647_3 | John Irving Tale, Halved but Big | is a tone deafness when it comes to the emotional universe in which its characters are supposed to dwell. As in ''Nickleby,'' too, the story of ''Cider House'' is laid out on a broad canvas with minimal scenery -- David Zinn's understated costumes and John Arnone's double-decker clapboard set convey the pleasing serenity of a Quaker meetinghouse -- and the speaking part of omniscient narrator is passed on from actor to actor. Though the time is the 1920's and 30's, the sensibility is unmistakably late 20th century: the production, like the novel, is an attempt to frame on both epic and human scale a contemporary pair of issues, abortion and adoption. This ambition is embodied by the play's two central characters, Homer and Dr. Wilbur Larch (Colm Meaney). Wilbur is an obstetrician turned abortionist who runs the St. Cloud's orphanage, the setting for much of Part 1 of ''The Cider House Rules'' (the title refers to a locale in the second half of the novel). Homer is a gentle and questioning orphan who after several failed adoptive tryouts becomes a ward of St. Cloud's and the presumptive son to the steady and principled Wilbur. The adapters of ''Cider House'' gamble heavily on our emotional investment in Homer and Wilbur; an extended flashback to Wilbur's young adulthood provides the backstory for his abortion advocacy, which will become a matter of contention between the doctor and the orphan, who grows up to work in Wilbur's infirmary. Still, as imagined by Mr. Parnell, Ms. Jones and Mr. Hulce, Homer and Wilbur never translate into complex or vibrant beings. Mr. Hamilton is a sweetly boyish Homer, but there is an essential blankness in the rendering of him -- he absorbs rather than acts -- that hardly makes him compelling over the long haul. Mr. Meaney's reserved Wilbur is more troublesome. His is a performance of such extreme Yankee stoicism -- remember this actor's bemused Irish father in ''The Commitments''? -- that it comes across as diffident. The flavors of a relationship allowed to marinate over so many stage hours must appeal to the entire palate; this one doesn't. Around this central pair orbit a multitude of secondary characters, some of whom spring agreeably to life, like the St. Cloud's nurses (Marceline Hugot and Peggy Roeder) and a prostitute from Wilbur's past (Leslie Hendrix). The orphans of St. Cloud's, like the outcasts of Dotheboys Hall |
1105792_0 | Link to City Most Obvious When It Fails | MARTA COLON will tell you that all is far from perfect with Access-a-Ride, the program of door-to-door transportation for disabled people that is managed by New York City Transit. She found out the hard way. Then again, Miss Colon has found out most things the hard way since she was born with cerebral palsy 17 years ago. On April 19, she was sitting in her wheelchair, waiting after school for an Access-a-Ride van to pick her up as scheduled outside Murry Bergtraum High School in lower Manhattan. It was supposed to take her a short hop to Broad Street, by the New York Stock Exchange, for computer instruction that she has received twice a week for the last few months. ''They teach me things like how to scan pictures and create my own Web site,'' Miss Colon explained. ''I like to work on computers. It's, like, my favorite hobby, and it's going to be my work. ''I want to be a secretary. You know how you put files in alphabetical order? I want to do that. I want to do files, and I want to work with computers.'' Before going any further, you have to understand how large this course looms in Miss Colon's young life. It is run by the Digital Clubhouse, which is at 55 Broad Street and teaches skills like how to prepare software programs and create CD-ROM's. With money from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, it has reached out to poor teen-agers who have physical or mental disabilities, people described by Jennifer Douglas, the clubhouse's executive director, as falling among the ''digital have-nots.'' Getting to and from Broad Street is no small issue for someone who is wheelchair-bound. Miss Colon travels by school bus between Murry Bergtraum and the apartment on Kelly Street in the South Bronx where she lives with her mother, Edith Colon. But to reach an after-school program like the clubhouse, she must depend on Access-a-Ride, whose clients are disabled people who cannot possibly cope with the subways or even, in many cases, more accessible city buses. On April 19, a van was supposed to pick up Miss Colon outside her school at 2:15 P.M. It did not come. ''Why would they leave me stranded out there?'' she said. ''I don't get it.'' She was hardly the first person in a wheelchair left in the lurch. But this time, the lapse had disastrous |
1105728_0 | Cleaning Up the Big Cars | The news from Detroit was heartening this week -- robust automobile sales, driven mainly by purchases of sport utility vehicles, minivans and a lot of those fancy pickup trucks that are beginning to look as comfortable as luxury cars. The news from Washington was equally heartening -- a set of tough new Federal regulations that, for the first time, will subject those very same vehicles to the strict pollution standards that apply to ordinary cars. For good measure, the Clinton Administration also announced new regulations that will force the oil companies to produce cleaner fuels. The new rules are designed to address two broad trends that threaten to reverse decades of steady improvement in air quality. One is that Americans are driving more miles every year -- from 1 trillion miles in 1970 to 2.5 trillion miles in 1997. The other is that standard cars are being replaced by so-called light trucks, a category that includes the popular S.U.V.'s, minivans and pickups that have done so much to bring the good times back to Detroit. Light trucks now account for half the vehicles sold in the United States. Until now, vehicles in this category have been allowed to produce up to three times as much pollution per mile as standard cars. Under the new rules, which will be phased in starting with the 2004 model year, both standard cars and light trucks will have to meet the same fleetwide average pollution level of 0.07 grams per mile of nitrogen oxides, which are the main contributor to smog and a significant factor in acid rain. The rules would cut allowable pollution from standard cars by more than two-thirds, and from some of the bigger S.U.V.'s by up to 93 percent. The rule requiring cleaner gasoline will make it easier for the car manufacturers to meet their new targets. Refineries will be required to cut the nationwide average of sulfur in gasoline by about 90 percent, beginning in 2004. This is vital because sulfur clogs up a vehicle's catalytic converter, the device that cleans car exhaust of pollutants. Americans will pay more under these new rules, although it is not clear how much. The emissions standards could add several hundred dollars to the cost of vehicles in the light truck category, and the sulfur rules could add several cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline. The automobile companies seem to |
1107429_1 | World Briefing | in October, explaining: ''I simply do not have the moral right to leave in the middle of the road.'' He vowed to press on with reforms to deal with Ukraine's ailing economy. Official nominations begin today, but opinion polls show President Kuchma trailing the Progressive Socialist Party leader, Natalya Vitrenko. (Reuters) SCOTLAND: TOP JOB IS FILLED -- Donald Dewar, who had responsibility in the British Cabinet for Scottish affairs, was elected to lead Scotland's new regional government. Mr. Dewar, whose Labor Party holds 56 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, was elected with support from the Liberal Democrats. His title is First Minister. (Associated Press) NORTHERN IRELAND: TALKS TO RESUME -- The British and Irish Prime Ministers will hold fresh talks with Northern Ireland's political leaders today in a new attempt to open up the province's logjammed peace process. Prime Minister Tony Blair played down hopes of breaking the stalemate over scrapping guerrilla arms, which has stymied the year-old peace agreement. (Reuters) AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA: VOTER REGISTRATION PROBLEM -- Election officials said they were concerned about a survey that found almost half of South Africa's seven million unregistered voters still intended to go to the voting booths on June 2. The pollsters warned that unregistered voters might even trigger violence. Suzanne Daley (NYT) ANGOLA: REBELS SEE GAINS -- Unita rebels have the upper hand in Angola's civil war and some of their forces are within 40 miles of Luanda, the capital, said a rebel leader, Lukamba Gato. A four-year truce collapsed in December. (Reuters) THE AMERICAS GUATEMALA: OPPOSITION LEADER ASSASSINATED -- The left-wing opposition leader Roberto Gonzalez of the Democratic Front of New Guatemala was shot dead as he was leaving his home. A political ally called the killing an ''act of intimidation'' before a referendum on Sunday in which voters will consider 50 constitutional reforms, many of which will increase Indian rights and lessen the military's power. (Agence France-Presse) MEXICO: WATER SUPPLY AT RISK -- The difficulties in supplying Mexico City's 18 million residents with water have become ''really critical'' because the city is pumping water from underground reservoirs much faster than they can be replenished and because crumbling water mains leak more than a third of the water through them, a senior metropolitan official told the City Council. Sam Dillon (NYT) ARGENTINA: EDITOR KILLED -- The editor of a weekly newspaper in Patagonia was shot once |
1110314_3 | On a Greek Odyssey by Land, Sea and Poetry | to the British Durrell and the American Miller, for whom alienation and literature were synonymous. But I risk giving them too much space. They are Professor Keeley's way into his theme and provide a lot of the fun; they are only part of it, though, and not its most memorable fun. As for the theme, ''Inventing Paradise'' observes that for more than a century after Lord Byron, travelers to Greece noted little but the remains and artifacts of its classical civilization. The living inhabitants were bothersome, unsanitary and irrelevant. The extreme of post-Byronism, though the poet criticized it, was the removal of the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon to sanitary and imperially relevant London. It was equivalent to the barbaric notion, to be voiced by later tourists, that France would be perfect were it not for the French, begging the question of who put France there and, day by day, keeps it there. Durrell and Miller were the first generation of those who, literally at least, restored the marbles. (In the next generation were the writers Patrick Leigh Fermor, Rex Warner and others including, though he barely notes it, Professor Keeley). They treated Greece not as a museum but a place where some of the spirit and genius that fill our museums and nourish our literature are found in the speech, gestures and passions of a living people. It was a great discovery or invention. (The author implies both, which is proper because what art creates is thereby created and becomes the object of discovery.) But it did not really belong to the foreigners; at most they were brilliant witnesses to what their Greek comrades were doing. Throughout the book, the author keeps returning to Seferis, Elytis, Angelos Sikelianos, Yannis Ritsos and other poets, citing letters, conversations and above all their poetry. With his commentary, this poetry, which he and Philip Sherrard had previously translated, is the heart of the book. The lengthy excerpts from the great poems of Seferis, in particular -- ''Thrush,'' ''The King of Asini'' -- close a magical double ring. They bring the power of the old myths and the ancient writers to bear, with the greatest naturalness and art, upon the dimensions of life today, Greek specifically but not exclusively. The poetry makes an elevated sense, in other words, of the contemporary experience. With these contemporary implications, it also gives a new and unexpected vitality |
1109156_0 | Law Weans Cabbies From Cell Phones | The notoriously garrulous New York City taxi driver is about to become a little less talkative. Acting on a rising number of passenger complaints, the Taxi and Limousine Commission passed a new regulation yesterday that prohibits cabbies from using cellular phones while driving. Drivers who violate the rule, passed unanimously by the agency's eight commissioners, will face a $200 fine and two penalty points on their licenses. The rule applies to the city's 90,000 taxi, car service and limousine drivers. ''We think a passenger has the right to get into a cab and not have a driver who is chatting on the phone,'' said the commission's chairwoman, Diane McGrath-McKechnie. ''They are entitled to a driver who is focused on the road, not the phone.'' The new measure would not apply to two-way radios that livery-cab drivers use to talk to their dispatchers. Although the commission does not keep a tally of accidents related to cellular phone use, Ms. McGrath-McKechnie said a recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that drivers who used a mobile phone behind the wheel had a higher accident rate. A Canadian study published in 1997 concluded that hands-free phones were no safer than hand-held phones. Most cabbies and passengers interviewed yesterday agreed with the new rule, saying that cell phone use by drivers is both rude and dangerous. ''I know how distracting it is because I've had a few near misses myself,'' said Mary Liz McDonald, 32, a film producer from Hoboken, N.J., who was stepping into a taxi at the Port Authority Bus Terminal last night. ''Taking a New York City cab is perilous as it is.'' But Ms. McDonald, who has orchestrated many deals while driving, would object to such a ban for everyone else. ''I couldn't exist if I wasn't able to drive and talk on the phone,'' she said. Farooq A. Bhatti, the director of Pak Brothers Yellow Cab Drivers Union, a fraternal organization, said he thought the ban was a good idea. Mr. Bhatti said that as he was driving from La Guardia Airport yesterday, he saw two limousine drivers who were both using cell phones get into a minor accident. ''They both got out of their cars yelling at each other and telling their callers to hold on,'' he said. ''It was ridiculous.'' Another driver, Mohammad Malik, 62, agreed, saying that he rarely uses his phone while |
1109155_5 | U.S. Aide Due in North Korea With Deal to Lift Sanctions | this plan has to have a plan about how to deal with the North if they turn this down. For a while it looked like the recommendation would be benign neglect.'' ''But it is clear,'' said Mr. Gregg, who now heads the Korea Society in New York, ''that if we leave them alone, they go back to building nuclear weapons and missiles.'' In his few public comments while he has been putting together recommendations for a new policy, Mr. Perry has said that he thought it was important to ''test the proposition that North Korea wants a more positive relationship'' with the United States, but to be prepared to respond if it continued on its current path. That path has been erratic. In 1993 and 1994 the United States and North Korea appeared veering toward a dangerous confrontation that Mr. Perry, the defense secretary in those years, has since said could have led to war. North Korea had taken steps that led American officials to believe it was about to harvest a load of plutonium at its nuclear facility at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, the capital. Washington was prepared to seek sanctions at the United Nations, a move North Korea had hinted could lead to military reprisals. Mr. Clinton was within hours of ordering additional troops to South Korea when Mr. Carter visited Kim Il Sung, the country's founder and its leader during the Korean War. Mr. Carter made the breakthrough that ultimately led to a freeze on production at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reprocessing facility. Kim Il Sung died the next month, but the accord went ahead. In return for the freeze, Japan and South Korea agreed to build two light-water reactors in North Korea for electricity production, and Washington agreed to provide fuel oil to help North Korea through its long winters. But Congress slowed those fuel shipments, and the construction of the plants has moved very slowly; financing is just now coming together. So last year North Korea returned to some classic provocations. First there was the huge underground construction site. The Administration said little about it to Congress, and the revelations about its existence in mid-August led to Congressional protests against Ms. Albright, who some members charged had misled them. That was followed by the missile test over Japan. However, North Korea appears to have abided by the production freeze, which is under constant international monitoring. |
1108605_0 | Even in Cleaner-Running Machines, Looks Will Count | The vroom is gone, or going. So is the heft of steel and the muscular body. Made of magnesium, aluminum and plastic composites, powered by sustainable-source fuels, the coming generation of pollution-conscious cars is ultraquiet and ultralight. They promise to change the rules of how a car feels, looks and operates, as well as how it affects the environment. The transition from combustion to alternative power parallels the shift a century ago, when the carriage dropped the horse on its way to becoming an automobile. What is the next leap forward in the evolutionary chain? Will there be funky Hush Puppy designs that wear their greenness on their fenders? Streamlined designs that slip through the air like a Brancusi? Conventionalized models that reassure buyers about the new technology? In July, the Museum of Modern Art will exhibit the tip of the iceberg to come in ''Different Roads: Automobiles for the Next Century,'' a show of eight energy-efficient cars more environmentally benign than their predecessors. Christopher Mount, a curator in the museum's department of architecture and design, has selected a range of modestly priced cars already on the road, in production or in prototype. A departure for MOMA, the exhibition does not display cars primarily as works of art, but as a preview of environmental issues relating to the potentially earth-devastating effect of the car in the next century, when developing countries develop. ''What happens when everyone in China gets a car?'' Mr. Mount asks. Two forces are driving the current redesign. The first is the new, alternative fuel-source technology itself. Smaller engines mean shorter or nonexistent hoods. Improved fuel efficiency demands lighter, more compact cars, including two-seat cars designed just for commuting. Because they don't have to be cooled, electric engines require no grille. But they do need no-nonsense streamlining to reduce drag and to maximize miles between recharge. The second force is market demand and design vision. ''Folks may be interested in the environment, but they're not willing to sacrifice for it themselves,'' said Robert Q. Riley, a car designer who wrote ''Alternative Cars in the 21st Century'' (Society of Automotive Engineer, 1994). ''Environment is a secondary benefit. Buyers still need to be seduced, and you don't do that by taking a conventional car and making it small and cheap. Environmentally friendly autos need to be friendly and fun in themselves; they have to be a new toy.'' Gerhard |
1108603_3 | Can Motor City Come Up With A Clean Machine? | the off-road vehicles to emit several times more pollution per mile than cars do. Ford is also buying junkyards, with a plan to reuse more auto parts instead of letting them clog landfills. Other auto makers are also taking voluntary steps. All of Honda's American-made Civics and Accords now meet California's strict emissions standard, and its Odyssey minivan and Passport sport utility vehicle have very low emissions, although the CR-V sport utility does not. DaimlerChrysler is working on a host of initiatives, like working on low-pollution synthetic diesel. And General Motors has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and market an electric car, while helping the Nature Conservancy to buy and then preserve the habitats of rare species. Perhaps most surprisingly, the auto industry did fairly little lobbying against the Clinton Administration's proposal earlier this month to require much lower tailpipe emissions, particularly from sport utility vehicles and pickups. Instead, it demanded, and got, new Federal regulations requiring oil companies to sell much cleaner gasoline -- a decision that will make it easier to produce clean-burning cars, but enraged the oil industry. Environmentalists are divided on how much credit to give the auto makers. Some, like John DeCicco, the transportation program director at the Washington-based American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, are fairly generous. ''The management of the auto industry is part of our American society, which has internalized environmental values over the last three decades,'' he said. OTHERS are more dubious. One is Daniel Becker, a vocal critic of the auto industry for nearly a quarter-century, first as an aide to Ralph Nader, and now as the Sierra Club's director for energy policy and global warming. Mr. Becker said that Ford's decision to clean up its sport utility vehicles was the only significant, voluntary step that Detroit had taken in recent decades to improve the environment, and he questioned whether other steps would come soon. The auto industry still bankrolls various groups, like the Coalition for Vehicle Choice, that criticize Federal fuel-economy rules and international efforts to limit global warming, Mr. Becker noted. Auto advertising executives continue trying to persuade Americans that relatively unregulated, high-profit sport utility vehicles are appropriate substitutes for cars, he said. Indeed, with profits on full-size sport utility vehicles running at $12,000 or more apiece, auto makers have increased production and sales in this category more than sixfold since the early 1990's. ''In |
1108725_2 | Ganderkesee Journal; Mulching the German Mark | on the mark's fate. ''But if you think that compost is a stimulus to growth, then it is quite a nice symbol.'' Perhaps. Still, it is mildly shocking, and more than mildly nauseating, to watch the famous bills -- shredded into 800 pieces each before 60 million marks ($34.2 million) were given to Mr. Vollmer-Heuer's Environmental Protection North plant in this northern German town on a trial basis -- sitting like confetti on a sea of putrid filth. The money consists of old bills that are being withdrawn from circulation. A man with a mask over the lower part of his face pulls impurities like glass and plastic from the muck. ''You wouldn't believe the things we pull out,'' Mr. Vollmer-Heuer said. ''Dead dogs, dead cats, old spades. People are crazy.'' Crazy is the word that Dirk Adolf, the technical director of a waste recycling company called G.F.U., thinks appropriate for the mark-to-compost proposal. He has another idea that came to him while treating labels from bottles. These labels, he found, are useful for making tiny bullet-like pellets about 10 millimeters long and 3 millimeters thick. Now what, it is legitimate to ask, is the use of tiny bullet-like pellets made from discarded bottle labels? Well, Mr. Adolf is able to sell them to the construction industry, which puts them into bricks. As the brick is fired, the pellets inside burn -- creating a lighter brick with unusual insulation qualities. Pellets made of bottle labels could equally well be made of billions of dollars' worth of shredded marks. That, at least, is Mr. Adolf's proposal. ''Compost is a lousy end for the mark,'' he said. ''It is cheap, it is degrading, it is smelly. What I propose is something clean, useful and solid.'' At the Bavarian State Central Bank, the marks-to-bricks idea is also getting appropriate consideration. If compost, at a stretch, can symbolize growth, bricks are an obvious symbol of stability, the very essence of the mark during its postwar life and the most desired quality for its successor, the euro. ''The stability of bricks is very interesting to us,'' Mr. Schnitzler said. ''This is a useful idea. We will make a decision on the two proposals by the end of the year. Of course, we could give some to compost and some to bricks.'' Such a fudge would, of course, have the advantage of symbolizing growth and stability, |
1107198_1 | Rich Struggle for British Phone Carrier | for high-speed data transmission. ''The overall play here is not just for the subscribers,'' said Steve Wreford, an analyst with Charterhouse Securities in London. ''It's for the growth that will take place over the next three years.'' If Deutsche Telekom succeeds in acquiring Telecom Italia, it would own mobile phone networks in Europe's biggest and second-biggest wireless markets. One 2 One would give it a national franchise in Britain, the third-largest market. Deutsche Telekom is in the midst of trying to raise about 20 billion marks, or $11 billion, to finance its international expansion. Though the company has refused to comment about One 2 One, people close to it say the German phone giant would love to acquire a base in Britain. Mannesmann, which obtained Germany's second mobile phone license and is slightly ahead of Deutsche Telekom in mobile customers, is a partner in the Italian wireless company owned by Olivetti and is supporting Olivetti's rival bid to take over Telecom Italia. At the same time, France Telecom may well be interested in blocking further expansion by Deutsche Telekom. The French company had a strategic alliance with its German counterpart, but was infuriated when Deutsche Telekom made its bid for Telecom Italia. France Telecom announced plans to sell its 2 percent stake in Deutsche Telekom and is threatening to take legal action. But at least as important as the desire for geographic expansion is the introduction of much faster data technology in Europe, some of it in the next few months. The technology is based on the European digital standard for mobile phones, called GSM, which is ubiquitous in Europe and most other countries, but not in the United States. Beginning this summer or fall, European carriers are expected to introduce ''high-speed circuit switching data,'' a technology that can transmit material at 56,000 bits a second -- almost as quickly as today's fastest modems over normal phone lines. Next year, carriers plan to offer a faster technology, called general packet radio service, which could transmit at 115,000 bits a second. Nokia, the big Finnish maker of cellular phones, plans to produce telephones equipped with the packet technology later this year, and Nordic countries may start offering the service early next year. And European governments are already beginning to distribute new radio licenses for a third-generation technology that would be fast enough to transmit video and high-resolution pictures. Britain has announced |
1104984_3 | Compulsive Gambling: Overlooked Addiction | manual lists addiction characteristics that include a need to increase the amount and frequency of the behavior to achieve the desired excitement (tolerance); discomfort upon being abstinent (withdrawal); inability to control the behavior, despite repeated efforts to cut down or quit; continuing the behavior despite the realization that it is causing serious problems; engaging in the behavior more often and for longer than intended and experiencing interference with other functions of life. Problem gamblers are driven by the need to be ''in action'' -- to feel the arousal and euphoria from betting that other addicts get from drugs or alcohol, said Dr. Sheila B. Blume, medical director of the alcoholism, chemical dependency and compulsive gambling programs at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, N.Y. Winning brings a high comparable to that of addictive drugs; losses result in acute distress driving a gambler to try to recoup the loss. Many compulsive gamblers have other addictions as well. About half who enter treatment programs have histories of substance abuse. Dr. Blume estimates that there are about 40 treatment programs for gamblers in about two dozen states based on approaches used for other addictive disorders. But she and Dr. Petry said that few professionals looked for gambling problems in their clients and few programs were prepared to treat them. A New Approach Gamblers Anonymous, patterned on the 12 steps and group support of Alcoholics Anonymous, is the most established program with documented effectiveness. Dr. Petry has begun a study of a different approaches that has shown early encouraging results and will soon receive the first grant ever awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health for the gambling addiction treatment. A total of 120 gamblers will take part in a study of behavioral therapy in which participants will learn how to identify the factors that set off their gambling behavior, identify gambling patterns related to life occurrences and develop obstacles and alternatives to gambling. A third of participants will go through an eight-week program guided by a therapist, another third will use a self-help manual on their own and a third will serve as the control group. All participants will also be referred to Gamblers Anonymous. Participants will also be shown how to manage financial problems. The group insists that gamblers pay off their debts, however slowly. Those interested in participating in Dr. Petry's free, confidential treatment study should call (860) 679-2177. PERSONAL HEALTH |
1105088_0 | Violent Games, Violent Deeds?; Indicting Mass Culture | To the Editor: A May 1 Art and Ideas pages article discusses the effect that Fredric Wertham's ''Seduction of the Innocent'' (1954) had on the Comics Code. Wertham, a psychiatrist, maintained that the brutal activity depicted in some comics created a culture of violence and encouraged antisocial behavior. Wertham believed that these comics exploited children and harmed their development. Technology has only made such influences more pervasive and accessible. The ethical dimension of Wertham's scientific and cultural studies brought him to indict mass culture because its accurate representation of violence only serves to celebrate and legitimate it. It is the litany of violent images, themes and narratives that has made brutal actions so alluring and perversely heroic. JAMES E. REIBMAN Providence, R.I., May 1, 1999 The writer is the author of a forthcoming biography of Fredric Wertham. |
1104986_2 | In Arizona Desert, a Bird Oasis in Peril | River, largely disappeared when the rivers were dammed and natural water flows were disrupted, Mr. Hardy explained. The San Pedro River sustains the largest surviving expanse of broadleaf riparian forest in the Southwest. Even in the driest spells, there is water in most of a 50-mile-long stretch of river that straddles the border. This upper section of the San Pedro River is kept alive by a vast underground aquifer that is estimated to contain more water than the combined capacity of the Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs on the Colorado River. But this abundance is both a blessing and a curse. The river depends on water that seeps into the river bed from the aquifer. But the high water table also means pumping is cheap and easy. And in Arizona, it is unregulated. For many years, Sierra Vista and the neighboring Fort Huachuca Army base, as well as farms and small towns on both sides of the border, have been pumping more water than is replenished by rainfall. The pumping has created what hydrologists call a ''cone of depression'' in the aquifer, which is much like the vortex in a drain. It draws water from the surrounding area into the main well fields that supply the city and Army base. The outer edge of that cone of depression is now beginning to suck water from the San Pedro. If the trend continues at the current rate, with an overdraft of 7,000 acre-feet (2.3 billion gallons) of water a year, the stretches of the river that have previously run all year will go dry in spring and early summer, when migratory birds visit. Some cottonwood and willow trees are already showing signs of stress with roots stranded in dry ground in the summer, according to research by Dr. Julie Stromberg, a University of Arizona hydrologist and study team member. If the groundwater drops another three feet, which is expected to happen in some stretches over the next decade, Dr. Stromberg predicted, half of the riparian forest will die. In order to keep the San Pedro flowing, the advisory panel recommended conservation and groundwater recharge projects that included buying land and conservation easements to restrict groundwater pumping and housing subdivisions. Ten years ago, roughly 40 miles on the United States side of the San Pedro was made into the first riparian national conservation area managed by the Department of Interior's Bureau |
1108389_12 | A Doctor's Drug Trials Turn Into Fraud | women with blood serums that showed low levels of estrogen and high levels of follicle-stimulating hormone -- signs that a woman is going through menopause. To make sure that the patients' tests qualified, Dr. Fiddes sent out a memo specifying the hormone levels required for the study. ''We need some serum that scores these numbers in the frig at all times,'' he wrote. Another study on an antibiotic required that patients have a certain type of bacteria growing in their ear. No problem for Dr. Fiddes. He bought the bacteria from a commercial supplier and shipped them to testing labs, saying they had come from his patients' ears. Dr. Fiddes's coordinators, paid bonuses for recruiting patients into studies, soon began improperly enrolling themselves and members of their families. Often, names were changed to avoid detection by drug company monitors. At times, family members took part in several studies at once -- a violation of the rules because studies require that participants not be taking other medications, so that the data obtained relate only to the drug under study. Employees ''were running around doing E.K.G.'s on each other, if the patient couldn't pass,'' said Sloan A. Bergman, a former study coordinator who quit working for Dr. Fiddes after less than a year because of ethical concerns. ''I wasn't happy, but I needed a job.'' Yet all the while, there were constant reminders that the true cost of the frenzied drug testing was being borne by sick and vulnerable patients. In the summer of 1995, the research institute began work on a study of Cozaar, a hypertension medication sponsored by Merck & Company. Among the patients enrolled by Dr. Fiddes was Arlene Roberts, a 70-year-old woman with high blood pressure. Instead of dropping, her blood pressure rose dangerously when she took the drug. Dawn Simons, the study coordinator, became alarmed and sent Ms. Roberts to see Dr. Fiddes. Rather than taking her out of the study, Dr. Fiddes prescribed two other hypertension drugs. The triple dosage not only violated the study rules, it made it impossible to gauge the effect of Cozaar. A few days later, Ms. Roberts returned. Her face was bruised, her speech was slurred and she had trouble walking. She told Ms. Simons that she had passed out over the weekend while bathing. Ms. Simons took her pulse and found that her heart was barely beating -- a result, |
1108289_12 | A Doctor's Drug Trials Turn Into Fraud | women with blood serums that showed low levels of estrogen and high levels of follicle-stimulating hormone -- signs that a woman is going through menopause. To make sure that the patients' tests qualified, Dr. Fiddes sent out a memo specifying the hormone levels required for the study. ''We need some serum that scores these numbers in the frig at all times,'' he wrote. Another study on an antibiotic required that patients have a certain type of bacteria growing in their ear. No problem for Dr. Fiddes. He bought the bacteria from a commercial supplier and shipped them to testing labs, saying they had come from his patients' ears. Dr. Fiddes's coordinators, paid bonuses for recruiting patients into studies, soon began improperly enrolling themselves and members of their families. Often, names were changed to avoid detection by drug company monitors. At times, family members took part in several studies at once -- a violation of the rules because studies require that participants not be taking other medications, so that the data obtained relate only to the drug under study. Employees ''were running around doing E.K.G.'s on each other, if the patient couldn't pass,'' said Sloan A. Bergman, a former study coordinator who quit working for Dr. Fiddes after less than a year because of ethical concerns. ''I wasn't happy, but I needed a job.'' Yet all the while, there were constant reminders that the true cost of the frenzied drug testing was being borne by sick and vulnerable patients. In the summer of 1995, the research institute began work on a study of Cozaar, a hypertension medication sponsored by Merck & Company. Among the patients enrolled by Dr. Fiddes was Arlene Roberts, a 70-year-old woman with high blood pressure. Instead of dropping, her blood pressure rose dangerously when she took the drug. Dawn Simons, the study coordinator, became alarmed and sent Ms. Roberts to see Dr. Fiddes. Rather than taking her out of the study, Dr. Fiddes prescribed two other hypertension drugs. The triple dosage not only violated the study rules, it made it impossible to gauge the effect of Cozaar. A few days later, Ms. Roberts returned. Her face was bruised, her speech was slurred and she had trouble walking. She told Ms. Simons that she had passed out over the weekend while bathing. Ms. Simons took her pulse and found that her heart was barely beating -- a result, |
1108301_2 | NEWS SUMMARY | already cost thousands of lives. Ethiopia said it had inflicted heavy damage, but Eritrea said no strategic targets had been hit. A8 Elections in Slovakia The Government's candidate, Rudolf Schuster, won the first round of Slovakia's presidential elections but will face a second-round runoff on May 29 against former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar. Mr. Meciar had campaigned heavily against NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia. A4 NATIONAL A12-18 Bob Dole Evaluates His Wife's Progress Bob Dole gave his first extensive interview about the progress of his wife's potential Presidential campaign. He conceded that it is only beginning to hit its stride and that while he is hopeful, he is not certain Elizabeth Dole will even enter the race. A1 Fraud in Drug Studies Drug-testing research fraud involving a doctor and several accomplices at the doctor's institute may have compromised study results and underscored weaknesses in the system for testing experimental drugs. A1 Jefferson Family Reunion The descendants of Thomas Jefferson took a small step toward accepting as their relatives people who claim as forbears Jefferson and Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. A12 A Dramatic Drop in Crime Crime in the United States fell last year, the seventh consecutive year it has fallen, according to preliminary figures released by the F.B.I. A12 G.O.P. Support for Gun Device Senate Republicans, speaking on news programs, supported a measure requiring that child safety devices be sold with handguns -- even though a similar proposal failed in the Republican-controlled Senate less than a year ago. A15 Gore Pushes Education Vice President Al Gore called for ''revolutionary change'' and Federal investment in education, speaking at a college graduation ceremony in Iowa. In what was his first policy speech of the Presidential campaign, he said education was the key to meeting the country's economic, social and moral challenges. A15 Cancer Choice Satisfactory Nearly 70 percent of women who took a drastic measure to prevent breast cancer, having both healthy breasts removed, are satisfied with their decision and would make the same choice if they had it to do over, a survey shows. A14 'Baywatch' Brings Hope ''Baywatch'' will begin filming in Hawaii in July. Its arrival is being heralded as a return to the heady boom years when ''Hawaii Five-O'' and ''Magnum, P.I.'' symbolized the state's international appeal and seemingly limitless growth. A18 NEW YORK/REGION B1-10 Wrestlers Run for Office In a Nod to Ventura Bob Backlund is |
1110207_0 | NEWS SUMMARY | INTERNATIONAL A3-17 NATO Bombs Disrupt Serbs' Water and Power NATO warplanes hit electrical power transformers throughout Serbia in an effort to cut off the Yugoslav military's communication and supply links to Kosovo, according to Pentagon and NATO officials. But the attacks also had what the officials said was the unintended effect of disrupting water service to civilians, because the pumping system uses electrical power. A16 American and NATO officials said President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia was using money in Cyprus bank accounts and barges that come from Ukraine through Bulgaria and Romania to get oil. A17 More than 10,000 ethnic Albanians fled from Kosovo into Macedonia overnight in the largest one-day exodus in three weeks. The rate of the expulsions suggested that Serbian forces might be making a final push to drive all ethic Albanians from Pristina, the provincial capital. A17 Gandhi to Lead Congress Party Sonia Gandhi sent word to the Congress Party of India that she would lead them once again. An emergency meeting of party members, which had been called to try to woo her back, is now likely to turn into a coronation of Mrs. Gandhi as the party's unquestioned leader and its candidate for prime minister. A1 Report on Chinese Espionage The Congressional report on Chinese espionage is to be issued today. Some officials at the Energy Department are challenging the findings that China stole nuclear weapons data and that the espionage is continuing at Government laboratories. A12 Changes in China Dam Project Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, making an implicit admission that severe problems bedevil the giant Three Gorges Dam project, announced a major change in strategy for the resettling of at least 1.3 million people who will be driven from their homes. A3 Chemical Weapons Cleanup The United States and Uzbekistan have negotiated and are expected to sign an agreement for American aid in dismantling and decontaminating one of the former Soviet Union's largest chemical weapons testing centers, according to Defense Department and Uzbek officials. A3 Albright Meets Iraqi Opposition Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright held her first meeting with leaders of Iraqi opposition groups. It came as the State Department announced moves to supply the opposition with ''nonlethal'' aid like offices and communications equipment. A4 Jordan Leader's View on Peace King Abdullah, ending his first visit to America since ascending the throne, said he believed that Syria was now ready to make |
1110169_2 | China Shifts on How to Resettle Million People for Giant Dam | Government, with the support of President Jiang Zemin and other Communist leaders. Mr. Zhu is a proponent of market-oriented economic reforms and closer ties with the West. Some Chinese and foreign experts have speculated that he has been seriously weakened in the anti-American atmosphere following the bombing of China's Embassy in Belgrade. The Three Gorges project is a special interest of Li Peng, the conservative former Prime Minister who remains No. 2 in the Communist Party, ahead of Mr. Zhu. The project will cost tens of billions of dollars and is intended to provide electric power and flood control. Although today's articles did not suggest that it should be halted, they differed markedly in tone from the usual glowing accounts of progress. The project has long been attacked by critics abroad who say the environmental and social costs will greatly outweigh the economic benefits. Only in the last few months have sporadic articles in the official press in China mentioned the problems. The relocation of at least 1.3 million people from a 400-mile stretch of the Yangtze River basin in central China, mostly in the crowded, mountainous province of Sichuan, has emerged as the most serious immediate obstacle. In the next four years, when the serpentine lake is to be partly filled, more than 550,000 people, including poor farmers and factory workers in hundreds of towns, must be moved and given new livelihoods. As many more people will have to be moved by 2008 when the project is competed. Officials assert that 160,000 people have already been relocated. But private reports indicate that some people have refused to move, that the slopes where farmers are being sent cannot support new farming and that the meager funds to help settlers have often been stolen or wasted. In February, a journal in Beijing published a searing critique by an anonymous Chinese sociologist who said the plight of uprooted people may become ''an explosive social problem.'' The article, in the journal Strategy and Management, also suggested that sending people to other parts of the country, the new answer offered by Mr. Zhu, will be no panacea. ''In China,'' the article said, ''all of the areas with better natural conditions were filled with people long ago.'' In his speech, Mr. Zhu urged other regions and cities to ''enthusiastically absorb and resettle migrants and make more contributions to the construction of the Three Gorges project.'' |
1109370_0 | NEWS SUMMARY | INTERNATIONAL A3-7 Clinton Pushes for Troops Along Kosovo Border The Clinton Administration announced that the United States would press its allies to move quickly to deploy what was described as a peacekeeping force of about 50,000 troops on the borders of Kosovo. A1 Yugoslavia insisted that it play a central role in negotiations within the United Nations to end the war and provide a political settlement to Kosovo. A7 Rebels fighting for Kosovo's independence claim to have killed a Russian captain in a battle with Serbian troops inside Kosovo, in a development that could complicate Russia's role in the Kosovo crisis. A7 NATO warplanes assigned to attack a military compound in northwestern Kosovo struck what Yugoslavia's official news agency described as a nearby prison, killing at least 19 inmates and guards. A7 Smallpox Elimination Delayed A World Health Organization panel in Geneva effectively decided to postpone eradicating the world's known remaining stocks of the smallpox virus until at least 2002. The recommendation reflected widespread agreement that more time is needed to study smallpox before it is irrevocably destroyed. A3 Indonesian Students Protest Students protested and demanded that former President Suharto be tried on charges of corruption as they marched on Parliament on the first anniversary of Mr. Suharto's resignation. The police fired warning shots and tear gas at 2,000 protesters in a scene reminiscent of the riots that drove Mr. Suharto from office after 30 years. A3 New Bombing Suspect The United States Government has taken another suspect into custody in the continuing investigation of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile charged in the bombings of two United States embassies in Africa last year. The suspect, Ihab M. Ali, was charged with perjury on Wednesday after he came to New York City. A4 Germany's Immigration Law Germany adopted an immigration law that will make it easier for many of the country's seven million residents of foreign origin to become citizens. The legislation will go into effect on Jan. 1. A3 World Briefing A4 NATIONAL A8-11, 14 House Democrats Seek Early Vote on Gun Bill House Democrats called for a gun-control vote within the next week, in a move to build on the momentum of the Senate's juvenile crime bill that includes firearms measures. A1 A handful of provisions in the Senate bill may do as much or more to curb the flow of illegal guns than the much debated measures |
1110853_1 | Spacecraft's Data Yield First Detailed Map of Mars | debris blasted from the crater would be enough to cover the United States in a blanket up to two miles thick, he said. The new map was generated with readings from an instrument aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which reached Mars in 1997 and began its science mission a year ago. The instrument, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, fires infrared laser light pulses at the surface and determines land elevations by measuring the round-trip time of the light. Using 27 million measurements gathered in March and April of this year and last summer, scientists constructed the revealing map. Dr. Carl Pilcher, NASA's science director for solar system exploration, said, ''This data will serve as a basic reference book for Mars scientists for many years and should inspire a variety of new insights about the planet's geologic history.'' The spacecraft continues to collect about 900,000 elevation measurements a day and that data will be used to compile an increasingly detailed map over the next two years, equal to one Martian year. An evolving map will be used to study Mars's evolution and the processes that shaped its surface, scientists said, and also to help select landing sites for future spacecraft missions. Researchers are already using this information to assess an area near the south pole where NASA's Mars Polar Lander mission is scheduled to set down on Dec. 3. Dr. Maria T. Zuber, a professor of planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and researcher on the project, said the dramatic slope from the south to north pole was a major finding relating to past water flow on the planet. ''It's all downhill from the south pole to the north pole,'' Dr. Zuber said at the briefing, and knowing Martian elevations helps track the paths of ancient water flows. In the northern hemisphere, there is a huge basin that slopes down to about six miles below the average elevation of Mars, she said, and this feature ''is consistent with the formation of a past ocean.'' However, she said, it remains to be proved if Mars ever had enough water to fill such a basin. While the area is smooth and featureless, as if once occupied by a sea, she said scientists had yet to detect any ''beach features'' indicating the edges of an ocean around the basin. ''The north basin is the smoothest surface known in the solar system,'' Dr. |
1110780_0 | AUTOS ON FRIDAY /Collecting; Cars With Obscure Spots in the Record Books | OF the thousands of automobiles that have been built in the United States, which ones deserve a place in history? That's easy, to a point: The Model T Ford, the Chrysler Airflow, the original Corvette and Mustang qualify as milestones by any measure, as do various Packards, Duesenbergs and Cadillacs, among others. What about cars whose legacy is less grand, but that nonetheless are exceptional in some way? Which ones belong in the record books for their exceptional dimensions, their extra wheels, their low price? Some of those standouts are shown here. The selections were gleaned from various sources including manufacturers' specifications and old magazines, but they are presented with a caveat: In the 100-plus years since backyard tinkerers coalesced into an auto industry, there have been so many participants and so much data lost to time that reeling in the rarest fish is to some extent a matter of faith. In these murky waters, there is always the possibility that a bigger (faster, longer) fish lurks in the shadows. Except as indicated, the records are for American models that entered regular production (as oppposed to one-of-a-kind cars); determining the superlatives among foreign cars would be a daunting task indeed. LOWEST-PRICED MASS-PRODUCED AMERICAN CAR -- 1925 Ford Model T Runabout, $260. GREATEST AUTO FINANCIAL FAILURE -- Ford's losses from the Edsel were estimated at $250 million ($1.38 billion in today's dollars). HIGHEST-PRICED FULL PRODUCTION AMERICAN CAR -- 1999 Dodge Viper GTS. $68,925. MOST EXPENSIVE USED CAR -- In 1986, Jerry Moore, a Texas developer, bid $6.5 million for a 1931 Bugatti Royale. CARS WITH THE MOST WHEELS -- The 1911 Reeves Sextoauto had six wheels. Just two were built. Milton Reeves also made one eight-wheeled Octoauto -- the ultimate sport utility. CARS WITH THE FEWEST WHEELS -- The 1947-49 Davis had three, like various other American three-wheelers from the early days of the auto. In Europe, there were many other three-wheelers produced more recently. LONGEST RUN OF THE SAME BASIC CAR -- The body of the Checker, used mostly as taxicabs, was essentially unchanged from 1956 through 1982. A 1965 model is shown. Worldwide, the record belongs to the Volkswagen Beetle. About 21.5 million have been built since 1938; production continues today in Puebla, Mexico. LIGHTEST CAR -- The 1916 Smith Flyer, 135 pounds. HEAVIEST STANDARD CAR --The 1938 Duesenberg SJ town car, 6,400 pounds. TALLEST CAR -- The 1924 |
1106642_5 | Reports Show Scientist Gave U.S. Radar Secrets to Chinese | committee led by Representative Christopher Cox of California. Submarine Detection And National Security The technology at issue in the Peter Lee case involves a radar ocean imaging program developed in cooperation with Britain. The former manager of the program, Richard Twogood, said in an interview that because the project was still in the developmental stage, there was a debate in the Government over its significance. Some see it as vital to American national security, since submarines and anti-submarine warfare are crucial to the defense of the United States. But others are uncertain about how useful the technology will prove to be, according to Dr. Twogood. It is also unclear how immediately valuable the submarine-detection technology would have been to the Chinese. China does not have a strong navy and has only a modest submarine fleet, but it has been looking for ways to improve its military power at sea. Dr. Twogood told the F.B.I. that the information Mr. Lee provided the Chinese in 1997 was ''classified and sensitive,'' court records show. The radar program seeks to detect the physical traces, briefly left as signatures on water surfaces, of the undersea motions of submarines. Remote sensing devices located, for example, on an airplane pick up the traces. ''The Navy has invested a lot in this area for 20 years and so by definition that implies it's important,'' said Dr. Twogood, currently the deputy associate director for electronic engineering at Lawrence Livermore. The Soviet Union worked hard to develop this technology during the cold war. Recent American advances suggested that Soviet assertions of success in anti-submarine measures should be taken more seriously, Dr. Twogood told Congress in 1994. The United States has made considerable efforts over the years to make sure its submarines are difficult to detect. Ballistic-missile submarines form a critical part of the American nuclear arsenal, and are especially valuable because they are extremely difficult to track when submerged. Submarines also are used to attack an enemy's surface ships and submarines and increasingly to launch other long range weapons, like cruise missiles with conventional warheads. Peter Lee was born in China in 1939. His father was an ardent anti-Communist and moved his family to Taiwan in 1951. They later immigrated to the United States. Mr. Lee became a naturalized citizen in 1975 after graduating from California Institute of Technology with a Ph.D in aeronautics. From 1976 to 1984, he worked |
1106644_3 | DRAWING UP PLANS TO PAY FOR PILLS FOR THE ELDERLY | poor. Thirteen states have programs to help the lower-income elderly who are not poor enough for Medicaid. Medicare does cover prescriptions for its beneficiaries in hospitals. Besides the third of all Medicare beneficiaries with no drug coverage at all, what worries some analysts are the signs of erosion in private coverage. The number of large companies offering their retired employees such benefits is declining, according to the Administration. Meanwhile, some health maintenance organizations are putting new limits on how much they will cover for prescription drugs. And some of the elderly have lost their drug benefits because their health maintenance organizations have pulled out of the Medicare market. ''I went through a period toward the end of last year when four of the eight H.M.O.'s that treat seniors pulled out of my area,'' said Representative Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland. ''So I had a town hall meeting and a huge crowd showed up.'' They were ''panicked,'' he said, over the loss of prescription drug benefits. With coverage limited, advocates say, the out-of-pocket costs for the elderly are substantial, because of both the rising prices of drugs and the greater use of them. Spending on outpatient pharmaceuticals this year is expected to average $942 per Medicare beneficiary, roughly half paid by insurers and half paid by the beneficiaries, according to the National Academy of Social Insurance. About 29 percent have out-of-pocket expenses of more than $500 a year. Dr. Jerry Avorn, a geriatrician and expert on drugs at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said a Medicare patient today might be a woman in her 70's, on medication for osteoporosis, cholesterol, high blood pressure and depression. ''She could easily end up with bills of three or four thousand dollars a year, primarily to prevent the occurrence of disability in future years,'' Dr. Avorn said. ''In that light, we're really in a new era of pharmacological therapy for the elderly.'' In contrast, Dr. Avorn said, ''When Medicare was first created back in the mid-60's, our understanding of drugs was quite different. They were primarily used to treat acute illness and made up a small part of the health care budget. In the three-plus decades since, medicine has become not just about the treatment of acute disease but about ongoing management of chronic illness, and even more about the lowering of risk status for things like hypertension.'' As a result, many advocates |
1111628_2 | Score Another One for the Behavior Police | razor's edge of liability, as they risk being sued if they monitor their students' private lives and also sued if they don't. Although Justice Kennedy's concern about the tension between sexual harassment law and free expression was welcome, it was also a little late. For the same invasions of privacy that Justice Kennedy predicted will become commonplace in schools and universities are already a fixture of public and private workplaces, thanks to a series of nearly unanimous Supreme Court decisions. These decisions are largely responsible for the breadth and confusion of harassment law. In addition to requiring schools to treat children like adults, the Court has also required employers to treat adults like children. Last year, Justice Kennedy agreed with the Court that private employers were liable for ''hostile environments'' created by their supervisors, but that they could avoid liability by adopting anti-harassment policies to prevent offensive speech and conduct before it occurs. A model policy recommended by employment lawyers warns that ''sexual harassment may include explicit sexual propositions, sexual innuendo, suggestive comments, sexually oriented kidding or teasing, [and] practical jokes,'' as well as physical contact. As a result, prudent employers are now forced to monitor the sexual expression of their employees in a way that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. A survey of nearly a thousand large companies by the American Management Association in 1998 found that 20 percent monitored the E-mails and computer files of their workers, and nearly half used other forms of electronic surveillance. A common justification that management lawyers offer for this monitoring is fear of liability for sexual harassment. Reasonable people can disagree about whether citizens should have different expectations of privacy at work and at home, in dorm rooms and in locker rooms. But these are distinctions that the Court has persistently refused to draw; its decisions now treat all sexual expression, from romantic overtures at work to sexual taunts in the schoolyard to pornography on the Internet, as potential evidence of a ''hostile environment.'' These threats to privacy might be minimized if the Court re-examined harassment law, a possibility that Justice Kennedy and three other Justices at last seem willing to entertain. Quid pro quo harassment, where employers demand sex from their employees as a condition of employment, should of course be illegal, and companies should be liable when it occurs. But unwanted advances and offensive speech, at work or |
1106182_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1106244_0 | Fighting the Good Fight Against Disease | GREAT changes are taking place in the horticultural world. Emphasis has been placed on environmental concerns and reduction in the use of pesticides. The result is the ever increasing importance of integrated pest management, known as I.P.M. This approach stresses managing a problem and does not advocate complete eradication of the problem as was the norm of yesteryear. Instructions for many of the standard garden practices include the seeking out and planting of disease-resistant cultivars. These plants really do exist and are worth seeking out. Some of the magic of disease-resistant plants can be attributed to genetic manipulation. But for practical application today, by dirt gardeners, most of the disease-resistant plants available have evolved from careful observation by professional plant people, planned breeding and just plain good luck. At the consumer end, we reap the bountiful good fortune. The first disease-resistant plants available were food crops, such as beans. Most varieties sold today are resistant to the many troubles bean growers had in the past. These include mosaic virus, mildew and anthracnose. Good qualities in bean varieties have evolved over many years of field observance, selection and breeding. Another vegetable crop that has benefited greatly from disease resistance is the tomato. Tomatoes had been subject to any number of problems including verticillium wilt, root-knot nematodes, tobacco mosaic virus and several leaf spots to name a few. Now, thanks to selection and breeding, tomato varieties are resistant to many of these troubles. Gardeners have learned to look for initials such as V.F.N. after a description of a tomato variety in seed catalogues or at garden centers. Those initials indicate resistance to common tomato troubles. Sometimes alert field observation is sufficient to recognize that a particular sort of plant is showing remarkable vigor while others close to it are not. This is probably how various varieties of bee balm (Monarda) were found to be somewhat resistant to mildew. This disease attacks the foliage of the delightful perennial with an ugly feltlike coating during the summer months. (The same thing happens to zinnias.) In the case of the bee balm, however, there have been several varieties that seem to show mildew resistance. Time will tell which of them proves to be the best fighter. Many growers now are betting on a bee balm called Jacob Cline that not only has beautiful red flowers but also a strong mildew resistance. While on the subject |
1106409_5 | Bolivia, at Risk of Some Unrest, Is Making Big Gains in Eradicating Coca | to move in large, cumbersome units. Fearing a guerrilla insurrection, the Government decided to send units of the Anti-Terrorism National Center, a C.I.A. trained and financed agency, into the anti-drug fight for the first time. The intelligence agents paid informers in the cocalero movement and captured code books, a list of terrorist leaders and maps that showed where booby traps were laid to protect the coca fields, officials said. By July, the rebellion had collapsed and the most militant cocaleros were forced to flee the Chapare. Over the next couple of months, the cocaleros marched on La Paz, but their demonstrations fizzled. ''The resistance has dropped,'' said Filemon Escobar, a longtime union leader who advises coca peasant leaders. American and Bolivian officials still predict future violence. But they say their security concerns have been reduced by changes in the international cocaine scene that have created a power vacuum at the top of the Bolivian drug world. Until five years ago, Bolivian coca was controlled by the Colombian Cali cartel, which did everything from dictating the quality of the product to shipping it to Colombia for refining to trafficking it to the United States. But under pressure from Washington, the Colombian Government jailed the top cartel leaders in 1995 and 1996. Meanwhile, a Peruvian policy over the last four years to shoot down drug trafficking planes persuaded emerging Colombian cartels to grow their coca at home rather than depend on faraway crops. Brazilian-organized crime groups have tried to fill the vacuum in Bolivia, but they have shown neither the experience nor the resources to organize an armed opposition to the new eradication efforts. Meanwhile, more peasants are learning how to farm tropical fruits and vegetables. Officials estimate that 9,000 families in the Chapare are growing legal crops, compared with only 5,000 in 1992. But that still leaves 10,000 families in the region who still primarily grow coca. Viewed overhead from a Bolivian Army helicopter on a recent morning, the Chapare's coca fields looked frantically busy. Hundreds of Government troops dug up coca bushes while in adjacent fields just a shout away hundreds more peasants picked their coca bushes just as fast as they could. The soldiers were under orders to let the peasants collect one last harvest to avoid any violence. On the ground, in the tiny settlement of California, a dozen peasants appeared to be in a teary daze sitting |
1106411_3 | Many Researchers Say Link Is Already Clear on Media and Youth Violence | the group, Rammstein, for example, or some rap music lyrics that seem to glorify violence against women -- or of violent video games, some of which allow a player to simulate murder. Both video games and explicitly violent lyrics are relatively recent phenomena and have not been widely studied. Professor Kunkel estimates that more than 1,000 studies on the effects of media violence -- in televised entertainment, television news or movies -- have been done in the last 40 years, in academic departments ranging from sociology to epidemiology. Some are experiments, in which different groups of children were shown different television shows and their playground behavior monitored immediately afterward, for example, or in which college students were given buzzers and told they could ''zap'' someone who had offended them and were found more likely to do so after having watched violent movies. Some are surveys, where parents recorded what their children watched and were interviewed at various stages about their children's behavior. Some are statistical analyses, showing the increase in crime rates in certain geographic areas after the introduction of television. So these studies must inevitably vary in reliability. But the general findings are consistent, and several meta-analyses -- which collate the findings of all known studies on a subject, calculating compensations for the different methods -- have found a definite link between watching violent entertainment and behaving aggressively. Professor Huesmann, the University of Michigan researcher, has done two longitudinal studies of the effects of television violence, one begun in 1960 that examined about 600 people at age 8, age 18 and age 30, and one he is finishing now that has tracked 750 Chicago-area elementary school children for three years. ''Boys at age 8 who had been watching more television violence than other boys grew up to be more aggressive than other boys,'' Professor Huesmann said in an interview, describing his first study, done with Leonard Eron. ''They also grew up to be more aggressive and violent than you'd have expected them to be on the basis of how aggressive they were as 8-year-olds.'' In his more recent study, Professor Huesmann has found that children who watched more violence behaved more aggressively the next year than those who watched less violence on television, and more aggressively than would have been expected based on how they had behaved the previous year. In both cases, he said, this was true even |
1106129_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1106242_0 | Fighting the Good Fight Against Disease | GREAT changes are taking place in the horticultural world. Emphasis has been placed on environmental concerns and reduction in the use of pesticides. The result is the ever increasing importance of integrated pest management, known as I.P.M. This approach stresses managing a problem and does not advocate complete eradication of the problem as was the norm of yesteryear. Instructions for many of the standard garden practices include the seeking out and planting of disease-resistant cultivars. These plants really do exist and are worth seeking out. Some of the magic of disease-resistant plants can be attributed to genetic manipulation. But for practical application today, by dirt gardeners, most of the disease-resistant plants available have evolved from careful observation by professional plant people, planned breeding and just plain good luck. At the consumer end, we reap the bountiful good fortune. The first disease-resistant plants available were food crops, such as beans. Most varieties sold today are resistant to the many troubles bean growers had in the past. These include mosaic virus, mildew and anthracnose. Good qualities in bean varieties have evolved over many years of field observance, selection and breeding. Another vegetable crop that has benefited greatly from disease resistance is the tomato. Tomatoes had been subject to any number of problems including verticillium wilt, root-knot nematodes, tobacco mosaic virus and several leaf spots to name a few. Now, thanks to selection and breeding, tomato varieties are resistant to many of these troubles. Gardeners have learned to look for initials such as V.F.N. after a description of a tomato variety in seed catalogues or at garden centers. Those initials indicate resistance to common tomato troubles. Sometimes alert field observation is sufficient to recognize that a particular sort of plant is showing remarkable vigor while others close to it are not. This is probably how various varieties of bee balm (Monarda) were found to be somewhat resistant to mildew. This disease attacks the foliage of the delightful perennial with an ugly feltlike coating during the summer months. (The same thing happens to zinnias.) In the case of the bee balm, however, there have been several varieties that seem to show mildew resistance. Time will tell which of them proves to be the best fighter. Many growers now are betting on a bee balm called Jacob Cline that not only has beautiful red flowers but also a strong mildew resistance. While on the subject |
1106093_22 | A Chance to Break the Pop Stranglehold | away. As for financing, well, if advances were stacked up against finance deals in other industries, they'd look a lot like usury -- except that they aren't even loans: once they're paid back, the label still owns the master. There is simply no worse conceivable form of financing. We can do better if we take charge of our own careers. But what about marketing? Can labels still do that? Of course they can, for a few big acts. But once you are established, your own Web site connects with your fan base better than the label can. Even if you are a huge artist, think whether in the course of your whole career, not just the next couple of years, you lose more money to pirates or to labels who will be taking most of your money for no reason at all? When somebody in a dorm room buys thousands of dollars' worth of gear and stays up all night hacking MP3's just to get ''free'' music, that's what you call an opportunity, not a problem. You have found yourself a new generation of fanatics. The only problem is that computer companies are making the money right now instead of musicians. Labels can't prevent piracy. No one can. I know computers as well as anyone on the planet, and I promise you, kids will break whatever copy protection scheme the labels come up with. And the industry knows it. In fact, the easier it is to copy music, the less of a threat piracy will become. When piracy gets easier, professional pirates have less to offer. The only pirates left will be fans. And there are lots of ways to make money from fans. The reason the Recording Industry Association of America and the labels are pushing anti-piracy laws and technologies has nothing to do with preventing piracy. They're doing it so that they can control the new digital music channels. To keep anyone else, like you, from sharing the power. They're doing it to rip you off. Period. You can make more money in the new era of ''free'' digital music. But only if you break free of label mind control. MUSIC Correction: May 16, 1999, Sunday An article last Sunday about the growing dissatisfaction of pop artists with major record labels omitted the given name of a musician who has established her own label. She is Jonatha Brooke. |
1106131_2 | THE GUIDE | will be offered, accompanied by ''major guests,'' at 8 P.M. at the center on Main Street, nobody (except presumably Mr. Brown) knows what or who it will be, a center spokeswoman said. Sessions on May 28 and June 4 complete the series (288-1500). Taking Summer Stock When it comes to longevity, the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport wins hands down in Long Island summer stock. The playhouse has been around since 1950 and is one of the few survivors of professional seasonal theater scene that once flourished on the Island. The venerable showcase, which has been modernized over the years, opens its 49th season on Wednesday with ''Meet Me in St. Louis.'' The 10-year-old stage version of the fabled 1944 Judy Garland movie musical, with a book by Hugh Wheeler and score by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine, runs through May 30, to be followed by ''Hot 'n' Cole,'' June 2 to 19; ''Show Boat,'' June 23 to July 25; ''A Chorus Line,'' July 29 to Aug. 21; ''1776,'' Aug. 25 to Sept. 11, and ''Titanic,'' Sept. 15 to Oct. 2 (286-1133). From the Chambers With both local groups and visiting ensembles performing five concerts, the coming weekend should satisfy chamber music enthusiasts. On Friday, the Juilliard String Quartet plays Beethoven, Mozart and Schoenberg at 8 P.M. at Staller Center on the Stony Brook campus of the State University (632-2787). Ridotto, the group that offers ''concerts with a touch of theater,'' contributes ''Music and Fashion of the Baroque,'' featuring music by Locatelli, Telemann and Vivaldi and a runway fashion show of period costumes. The concert, on Saturday at 8 P.M. at the Old First Church on Route 25A in Huntington, will be repeated next Sunday at 4 P.M. (385-0373). At Old Westbury Gardens, Music in the Red Room, a series of concerts in Westbury House, presents Poetica Musica in ''Those Fabulous French,'' with music by Debussy, Poulenc and Ravel. The concert at 8 P.M. will be preceded by a lecture on ''Artists, Poets and Painters From the French Salon'' at 7:30 P.M. (333-0048). Finally, the Omega Ensemble, a Manhattan-based group, with Mark Peskanov, violinist, and Audrey Tchekmazov, cellist, as guest soloists, plays Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann on Saturday at 8 P.M. at the United Methodist Church on Carpenter Avenue in Sea Cliff (676-2495). Orchestral Finales It's time for musicians in community orchestras to put their instruments away until next fall, and |
1106243_0 | Fighting the Good Fight Against Disease | GREAT changes are taking place in the horticultural world. Emphasis has been placed on environmental concerns and reduction in the use of pesticides. The result is the ever increasing importance of integrated pest management, known as I.P.M. This approach stresses managing a problem and does not advocate complete eradication of the problem as was the norm of yesteryear. Instructions for many of the standard garden practices include the seeking out and planting of disease-resistant cultivars. These plants really do exist and are worth seeking out. Some of the magic of disease-resistant plants can be attributed to genetic manipulation. But for practical application today, by dirt gardeners, most of the disease-resistant plants available have evolved from careful observation by professional plant people, planned breeding and just plain good luck. At the consumer end, we reap the bountiful good fortune. The first disease-resistant plants available were food crops, such as beans. Most varieties sold today are resistant to the many troubles bean growers had in the past. These include mosaic virus, mildew and anthracnose. Good qualities in bean varieties have evolved over many years of field observance, selection and breeding. Another vegetable crop that has benefited greatly from disease resistance is the tomato. Tomatoes had been subject to any number of problems including verticillium wilt, root-knot nematodes, tobacco mosaic virus and several leaf spots to name a few. Now, thanks to selection and breeding, tomato varieties are resistant to many of these troubles. Gardeners have learned to look for initials such as V.F.N. after a description of a tomato variety in seed catalogues or at garden centers. Those initials indicate resistance to common tomato troubles. Sometimes alert field observation is sufficient to recognize that a particular sort of plant is showing remarkable vigor while others close to it are not. This is probably how various varieties of bee balm (Monarda) were found to be somewhat resistant to mildew. This disease attacks the foliage of the delightful perennial with an ugly feltlike coating during the summer months. (The same thing happens to zinnias.) In the case of the bee balm, however, there have been several varieties that seem to show mildew resistance. Time will tell which of them proves to be the best fighter. Many growers now are betting on a bee balm called Jacob Cline that not only has beautiful red flowers but also a strong mildew resistance. While on the subject |
1106255_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1104868_0 | Low-Wage Businesses Add to Number of Uninsured Workers | A long-spreading gap between the wages of undereducated workers in menial jobs and those of skilled college graduates is contributing to another gap, in workers' health benefits, a research journal reports. Lending a new perspective on the swelling numbers of Americans without health insurance, an article to be published on Monday in the journal Health Affairs says that a phenomenon feeding the benefits gap is the proliferation of low-wage businesses, like stores and restaurants. ''Our findings,'' the authors say, ''strongly suggest that low-wage families'' can often protect themselves from losing health insurance ''if they find work in firms where a substantial share of the employees earn more than they do.'' John Gabel, the lead author, an economist and benefits specialist at the Hospital Research and Educational Trust, said in an interview, ''The pattern we see is that employers that have a high-income work force offer better benefits, no matter how you choose to look at it.'' The article notes that after taking inflation into account, wages for high school graduates fell 11 percent from 1973 to 1997, while those of college graduates rose 17 percent. The journal says that the rise in the numbers of uninsured Americans, from 38 million in 1992 to 43 million in 1997, has touched most segments of the population, but the poor especially. Over the five years, the study says, the percentage of heads of households with high school diplomas who lacked coverage rose to 28.6 percent, from 26.2 percent. But for those with college degrees, the percentage was much lower and barely budged, to 8.1 percent from 7.8 percent. The authors looked in particular at relationships showing that low-paid employees of companies with high proportions of well-paid employees were more likely to be offered benefits, and to get more choices in coverage, with smaller deductions from their pay, than those at businesses with few well-paid employees. The article does not identify the 2,763 private and public employers the authors examined. But the authors show that low-wage workers serving hamburgers in the cafeteria of, say, a General Motors or a Merrill Lynch, which have relatively few such workers, are more likely to have health benefits than those at McDonald's or Burger King, which have many low-wage workers. For the article, the authors used two surveys conducted last year. One, by KPMG Peat Marwick, the consulting firm, surveyed 1,583 small and large employers. The other, by |
1108856_7 | A World Of Choices To Plug In To the Net | can pretty much count on the fact that the larger I.S.P.'s are in heavy-duty competition to roll out high-speed access,'' Mr. Sherman said. ''The question is just when.'' Cable companies can now reach only about 23 million households. Their Internet service costs about $40 per month, said David Eiswert at the Strategis Group. D.S.L. lines are available to about six million households for about $50 a month, compared with a cost of about $20 a month for traditional dial-up services. ''That's in some ways going to be one of the things that allows dial-up I.S.P.'s to really fight off cable in the short term,'' said Mr. Shepherd, of Forrester Research. ''They're providing service at half the cost.'' Some people decide not to pay for any I.S.P. and rely on free Web services instead. ''People can take half-steps -- get a Geocities Web page and Juno E-mail account and access the Web through a machine at work or the local public library if they don't want dial-up service,'' said Mr. Cassel, of AOL Watch. Juno, Hotmail and Alta Vista mail are examples of free E-mail services that a user can log onto from a computer at a public library or Internet cafe. Free Web pages are available at sites like Geocities and Tripod. Many Web surfers, however, want Web access from home. Some choose their I.S.P.'s based on particular needs -- a frequent traveler might want to have access to the Internet service while overseas, for example, or a biology buff might need a large space on the Web to post a special page on the naked mole rat. Other customers choose a service like AOL because it provides something like a roped-off section of the larger Internet for children. There can be advantages in switching providers. ''Changing your E-mail address periodically and auto-notifying the sender to the old address with a message is a great way to get off of every spam list in the world,'' Dr. McGatney said. ''Each time we've moved, our junk mail dropped to zero for the next several months.'' Choices and Defaults Don Ho Entertainer (through his Internet director, Christopher Soares). ''We picked a local service provider based on price, service, tech support, dial-ups and personalized service, not necessarily in that order, mind you. We were with a local company. One of the partners, whom we started with, split and formed his own I.S.P. called |
1108437_0 | Weining Journal; Habitat Nearly Full Leaves People's Lives Empty | Deep in the ravaged mountains of southwest China, one of nature's jewels improbably endures, a shallow grassy lake that is a crucial wintering ground for dozens of species of migratory waterfowl. Declared a protected reserve by China, the lake and its surroundings seemed tranquil on a recent morning as families of rare black-necked cranes picked their way through the marshes, surrounded by gabbling flocks of ruddy shelducks and bar-headed geese. The occasional fisherman poled a skiff through the reeds. But the solitude was deceptive on this remote lake known as Cao Hai, situated three hours up slippery mountain roads from the nearest train stop in Guizhou Province. A large and growing population of desperately poor farmers wants nothing more than to convert the rich marshes into farm plots, making Cao Hai one of the most acute examples anywhere of a mounting worldwide problem: the competition between people and wildlife for scarce natural resources. In a creative effort to ease the conflict, Guizhou conservation officials, with aid from American groups, are providing loans to help some of those land-short farmers develop new sources of income -- money to buy chickens to resell in town, or for tools to make stoves out of discarded cans. ''We're trying our best to prolong the life of this lake,'' said Guan Yuhe, a reserve official. ''I know that in many countries parks are closed off to people, but that's impossible here.'' But the truce remains uneasy, and the effort to save nature here reveals the difficulties Beijing faces in remote spots when it tries to impose its social policies -- whether birth control, compulsory education or wildlife conservation. The hills around Cao Hai are anything but serene. Studded with the hulks of backyard zinc smelters abandoned by Government fiat only last year, much of the watershed would probably qualify in Western countries as a hazardous-waste site -- though the birds have managed to survive so far. Denuded slopes send topsoil into the lake, and the town of Weining pours in half its sewage. The main threat, though, comes from some 30,000 people living around the lake. These are some of China's most wretchedly poor: families that get by on what corn and potatoes they grow on a small fraction of an acre, plus the odd menial job. They are nearly all illiterate, and often cannot even afford a radio. Couples bear four, even five or |
1108435_0 | Insuring Our Children | To the Editor: Re ''Kids' Insurance Fund'' (letter, May 16): If states are having trouble finding children without medical insurance, they should print pamphlets about the program that schools could give to parents when they register children for school. No child's registration should be complete without proof that he or she has medical coverage from a private insurer, Medicaid or a state-subsidized program. ELLEN FREILICH New York, May 17, 1999 |
1108393_0 | OBSERVATORY | A New Role for Tobacco Tobacco has a deservedly terrible reputation. But a team of British scientists has developed a potential use for the crop that may prove beneficial. Genetically engineered tobacco, these scientists report, may be used to clean up soil that has been contaminated with explosives. The concept of using biology to clean up TNT and other contaminants around weapons factories is not new. But most research has focused on using bacteria or fungi, methods that often require excavation of the soil, an expensive proposition. It would be much more efficient to simply grow a detoxifying crop at the site. But plants have not been very effective at breaking down TNT. The new research, reported in this month's issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, essentially combines the two approaches. The scientists identified a bacterial gene that produces an enzyme that breaks down TNT into harmless components. Then they transferred the gene to tobacco plants. The resulting plants were able to grow in soil with levels of contaminants that would kill regular tobacco. And the engineered tobacco broke down the TNT much more rapidly than normal plants. The researchers are now planning field tests. Tracking Spacecraft Satellites do their share of peeking at people, but serious skygazers know that people can peek back. Many orbiting spacecraft are visible just after dusk or before dawn, when they are high enough to reflect sunlight even as observers below are in darkness. They appear like slow-moving stars traveling across the sky. The problem has always been knowing when and where to look. But the task has just been made easier by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which has developed software to enable observers to follow their favorite satellites, as well as space shuttle flights, Mir and the new International Space Station. The program calculates visible satellite passes based on the user's latitude and longitude and can display a sky chart showing the satellite's track. Called J-Pass, it is available via a NASA web site (liftoff.msfc .nasa.gov/RealTime/JPass/20/). Computer users can also sign up for an E-mail program that will alert them to passes of up to 20 satellites. Speaking of software, a program called SETI@home lets computer users participate in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is now available. Developed at the University of California at Berkeley, the free screen saver program uses spare processing time on PC's to analyze signals received by |
1108519_0 | Macho Literary Update: Big-Game Healer | YOU think you're traveling too much for work? Consider the life of Dr. William B. Karesh, a wildlife veterinarian. January, shlepping his usual 220 pounds of medical equipment, it was down to a Kaa-Iya National Park in Bolivia to advise about animal handling techniques, then to Patagonia to inspect seals and sea lions. March, it was the Central African Republic, to help develop preventive health care for gorillas. Then the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to anesthetize the 600-pound antelopes called bongos (right, bongos in the Congo) and put on radio collars. There are also those unscheduled trips, as when Dr. Karesh was in Congo last fall and got word of trouble in Mongolia. ''They had a big die-off'' -- this is zoological lingo for many animals dying off -- Dr. Karesh says. Gazelles. ''Probably tens of thousands of carcasses at 30 below zero. We get up, the sun is low, they're out there frosted with snow.'' A pause. ''Like powdered sugar. Everything was frozen. With the wind chill, it was 80 degrees below.'' Another pause. ''Maybe not. I love to exaggerate.'' Wearied, ladies, of those New York fellows who can brag only about bagging an account? You might be interested in Dr. Karesh, 44, who has been chased by elephants, bitten by penguins, nibbled by leeches, and who, given his rather melancholic reports of love in the wild, might be interested in you. An internationally recognized expert on wildlife conservation and disease, Dr. Karesh, whom everyone calls Billy, heads the Field Veterinary Program of the Wildife Conservation Society, which, in addition to managing the city's zoos, supports 300 research projects worldwide. Working out of his home base at the Bronx Zoo (his actual home is an apartment on City Island, furnished with a 15-year-old couch and a chair he got when his mother moved -- you get the picture?), he travels the world. When he's in New York, you might find him outside his office at the zoo, shooting empty darts at targets on the wall of the Wildlife Conservation Building, darts being used to anesthetize animals or do medical biopsies. Dr. Karesh has also written a book, ''Appointment at the End of The World,'' (Warner Books), which is to be published next month. AT first glance it looks to be that increasingly rare literary species, the manly memoir. The dedication lists half a dozen women's names, including Chloe |
1108425_0 | THE MARKETS: COMMODITIES | SUGAR FALLS SHARPLY. Sugar prices fell amid expectations that a recent increase in producer selling would continue at a time of weak demand. In New York, sugar for July delivery fell 0.27 cent, to 4.63 cents a pound. |
1107686_0 | Yugoslavia Fears Loss of Its E-Mail | Internet users rushed to send last-minute E-mail messages at a downtown Internet cafe today, after word circulated that the United States was going to cut off Yugoslavia from the World Wide Web. ''There was a rush here, and many people heard it was going to be shut down,'' said Borivoj Ivanovic, 23, a Web master at the Multimedia Center Maverick cafe. The loss of access is just a threat. But Internet providers here said they worry that a partial shutdown of the Internet -- the lone means of communication for many in Serbia -- is imminent. Behind the fears is an Executive Order by President Clinton that took effect on May 1, updating a 1998 order to prevent American companies from dealing in goods, services and technology with Yugoslavia. The effects have been almost immediate for companies like Informatika, an Internet provider and a software and hardware supplier in Belgrade. Its general manager said he had been notified by some American companies that he can no longer receive their services. The Administration denied trying to cut the flow of information to Yugoslavia and said it would not try to limit Internet access there. The National Security Council has said information services are generally exempt from embargoes, but electronic commerce is not. The Internet performs both functions. CRISIS IN THE BALKANS |
1107612_0 | Internet Access for Schools | In its start-up year, the e-rate program created by Congress as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act has helped tens of thousands of rural and low-income communities connect to the Internet. Given the growing needs, Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard has properly recommended that the program -- which subsidizes telecommunications services and Internet hook-ups for schools and libraries -- be financed at the maximum authorized level of $2.25 billion for the coming year. The commission is expected to vote on the plan this month. The e-rate subsidy provides a 20 to 90 percent discount on telecommunications services to schools and libraries depending on community poverty levels. The funds pay for telephone and Internet fees and wiring of classrooms, but may not be used to pay for computers, software or teacher training. New York State received $164 million in e-rate subsidies this year, with about half of that flowing to New York City schools, which are in desperate need of technological improvements. Despite strong support from schools and educators, the e-rate program has been politically vulnerable from the start. It is financed mostly by fees from long-distance phone companies as part of the bargain under the 1996 act. But the industry has complained loudly about the costs ever since. Under heavy pressure from lawmakers, the F.C.C. scaled down the program initially, awarding only $1.7 billion in the first 18 months, even though demand was much higher. More than 32,000 applications requesting $2.4 billion in subsidies have been submitted for the coming year. But Republicans in Congress are pushing to restructure and reduce the program. Senator Conrad Burns introduced legislation this week that would cut the program to roughly $1.9 billion a year for five years, to be financed by part of the current 3 percent Federal excise tax on phone service instead of the current e-rate fees. The rest of the excise tax would be eliminated. After five years, the aid would be financed through annual appropriations, and would be capped at $500 million a year. Their proposal would destabilize a program that works, and, worse, cut assistance even as telecommunications become increasingly important in education. |
1110559_1 | E-Mail Becomes Snail Mail | is now a visiting scholar at Stanford University. ''I came over here and was exposed to the whole Silicon Valley thing, with 75 to 80 percent of people with Internet access,'' Dr. O'Mahony said. ''In other parts of the U.S. and in lots of European and Asian countries, this would be more like 20 percent. A substantial number of people, like my parents' generation, will never get E-mail.'' His solution was Letterpost, which he developed with Patrick Hung, a Stanford doctoral candidate. Their project is a finalist in the Stanford Entrepreneur's Challenge (www.stanford.edu/group/bases /challenge99), a contest for developing business ideas and building new ventures. (The winner is to be announced today.) Letterpost (www.letterpost.com) was born in February and was redesigned a few weeks ago with an eye to greater glory. As at any self-respecting Internet start-up, though, red ink is a given, at least for now. Here is how it works: first you buy, on line, a $9.99 ''stamp token,'' good for 10 letters. (To charge a credit card anything less, the site says, would be unworkable. Dr. O'Mahony should know: he is co-author of a book called ''Electronic Payment Systems.'') To send a letter, you type in your ''stamp code'' and the recipient's address. Verbosity won't do; the letter must fit in a box that holds no more than a typed page. What about privacy? The site does say, ''We do not read the contents of your letter,'' but you might want to keep intimate secrets off line. When you finish, click on Post It and the letter is sent, depending on destination, to either San Francisco or Dublin, where it is printed and mailed. Dr. O'Mahony, 38, has a vision of ''handling millions of letters per year at multiple centers around the world.'' The business is low-tech now, with envelopes stuffed by hand. But automation is part of the grand plan.. Is the service just for those too technologically absorbed to put paper to envelope? Not at all. ''For expatriates, or those who mail abroad frequently,'' Dr. O'Mahony noted, ''there is an additional problem in that international mail either costs an arm and a leg or it takes forever. We get it into the destination postal system the next day.'' Dr. O'Mahony said he had no true rivals. ''At least three sites are offering free letters to India,'' he said. Aside from that, he said, he knows of |
1110558_2 | After a 20-Year Cleanup, a Brighter, Clearer 'Last Supper' Emerges | Apostles that one of them will betray him before dawn. In 1566, the Renaissance architect Giorgio Vasari complained that all he could see on the wall was a ''blinding spot.'' Charles Dickens, who viewed ''The Last Supper'' in 1845, was more dismayed. ''Apart from the damage it has sustained from damp, decay or neglect,'' he wrote, ''it has been so retouched upon, and repainted, and that, so clumsily, that many of the heads are, now, positive deformities.'' Hailed as a masterpiece as soon it was completed, ''The Last Supper'' was treated with far less reverence once the Renaissance waned. In the 17th century, a door under the painting was enlarged to ease passage from the refectory to the kitchens, cutting off Christ's legs and feet. Napoleon's invading troops used the refectory as a stable and amused themselves by throwing bricks at the Apostles' heads. In 1943 an Allied bomb fell on the building, causing the roof and one wall to collapse. The wall on which ''The Last Supper'' was painted was buttressed by sandbags and miraculously escaped intact. By the 1970's, art historians all over the world were concerned that what was left of ''The Last Supper'' could soon crumble altogether under the ravages of neglect, humidity and pollution. The Italian authorities decided to undertake a major restoration, and in 1978 selected Pinin Brambilla Barcilon, a respected art restorer, to direct the project. Like the wall painting she worked on, Mrs. Brambilla's appearance has lightened -- her once dark brown hair is now snow-white. ''It has been a slow and difficult climb that step after step, centimeter after centimeter, fragment after fragment, carried us to a new reading of the expressive intensity and colors we believed had been irretrievably lost,'' she told reporters this week. Leonardo, a tireless inventor, had wanted to work slowly, and he tried to paint ''The Last Supper'' as if it were a giant painting on wood or canvas, applying tempera grassa, pigment mixed with egg and linseed oil, to a dry plaster wall primed with lead white. The experiment quickly proved far less durable than traditional fresco, a rapid technique that binds color to wet plaster. In the course of stripping away grime and glue, the restorers say they resurrected buried elements, for example on the banquet table: rolls, finger bowls, translucent wine glasses, a fish platter, an orange. ''That was what was most new |
1110650_0 | COMPANY BRIEFS | BELL ATLANTIC CORP., New York, said its wireless division, Bell Atlantic Mobile, would buy one million digital wireless phones and accessories from Motorola Inc. to satisfy demand for its flat-rate calling plans. CD RADIO INC., New York, said it was back in negotiations with General Motors Corp., a month after saying it had ended talks toward an agreement to build G.M. cars that include CD Radio's satellite radio receivers. TOPS APPLIANCE CITY INC., Edison, N.J., the home-appliance and consumer-electronics retailer, agreed to acquire the Kitchen Place, a cabinet designer and retailer, for an undisclosed price. BELLSOUTH CORP., Atlanta, the regional Bell telephone company, said it had completed its planned repurchase of $3 billion of its shares. |
1110540_4 | Coming Era of High-Speed Net Access Is Here and Now on College Campuses | that it's O.K. to do it, and so everybody does it,'' said Fared Adib, a senior at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. But if the music is copyrighted -- and much of it is -- trade associations do not think that trading files without permission is O.K. at all. The Recording Industry Association of America is lobbying for the adoption of technology that would thwart illegal copying. The group has also started an education campaign for college students, called Sound Byting, to warn them about copyright violations. College administrators acknowledge that copyright infringement is an unfortunate byproduct of the quick downloading privilege that comes with fast Internet connections. ''Schools are seeing the problems that accompany speed and ease,'' said Virginia Rezmierski, director of the office of policy development and education at the University of Michigan. ''People are copying these things without thinking that this is someone's intellectual property.'' Jose-Marie Griffiths, chief information officer at Michigan, said she worried about what might happen if people outside college campuses got the same high-speed access without being educated about what could be copied legally and what couldn't. At that point, Ms. Griffiths said, ''others might do more damage, trading for commercial purposes rather than just playing around.'' But Ms. Griffiths and Ms. Rezmierski both stressed that high-speed access had also generated many educational benefits. Faculty members, as well as students, are able to collaborate more easily than ever before, by running large computational programs on line, teleconferencing over the Web or working on projects that require people to download large files routinely. Easy and constant Net access has also improved students' interaction with the library, said Christine Haile, associate provost for technology services for the State University of New York. She said that SUNY's libraries had found that electronic access to the library's card catalogue had led to increased use of the library's printed resources. ''It's not reducing library business or traffic,'' Ms. Haile said. ''In fact, it increases circulation.'' But libraries outside college campuses might still want to take note of another trend that has accompanied the installment of broadband access in S.U.N.Y.'s residence halls. When asked which students used more, access from dormitory rooms or elsewhere to the on-line databases provided by the university's library or the actual libraries standing on campus, Ms. Haile replied, ''There is no question that students are using on-line access to the library more.'' |
1105536_0 | How Pagers Receive Messages, Even ('Hello' Upside Down) | IN the digital culture of the late 90's, being out of reach is the ultimate faux pas; people have come to expect instant access not only to information but also to one another. As a result, business cards are overflowing with addresses and numbers for snail mail, telephones, cellular phones, Web sites, E-mail and, of course, pagers. Approximately 155 million portable electronic paging devices are keeping people connected worldwide. Cellular phones seem not to have bitten into the growing use of pagers. Over half our customers have cell phones, but they enjoy being able to leave their cell phone off, said Scott Hamilton, vice president for investor relations at Skytel, one of the more extensive paging networks. With a pager, they can receive notification and choose how or when to contact someone back. If humans are to become cyborgs one day, then the ubiquity of pagers represents some kind of evolutionary step. It's the next best thing to having a tracking chip soldered into your skull. Thanks to an elaborate network of transmitters, receivers and satellites, you can almost always be found if you wear a pager. This technology has been decades in the making. When pagers first appeared, in the early 1970's, they were designed for receiving messages within a city. To reach someone, a caller had to dial a number and tap in a numeric message. The person receiving the message was notified by a beep and had to call in to get the information -- not very efficient. In the early 1980's, the Mobile Communications Corporation of America introduced alphanumeric paging. Problem was, it didn't represent a direct channel of communication; an operator had to take the call, type in the message and send it on its way. Today such methods seem as antiquated as Morse code. Paging culture is no longer limited to corporate executives with clunky black boxes. Parents use pagers to keep in touch with baby sitters; doctors use them to track patients; high school students use them to make dates. (According to a recent poll by Motorola, one of the largest manufacturers of paging devices, 15 percent of the nation's teen-agers use pagers.) Pagers may have nearly as many uses as users. New systems allow callers to send voice messages (which can be converted into text), alphanumeric commands, faxes or E-mail. When someone calls a paging number, that code tags the message for |
1111186_5 | A Poetic Director Becomes a Cause To Champion | common. But it also speaks of the passage of time,'' he said. ''That's why there's that little conversation between two kids at the beginning: 'What is time?' asks one. And the response is that of Heraclitus: 'Time is a young child playing with stones at the edge of the sea.' But I would have rather used the definition of Parmenides, another ancient Greek: 'Time doesn't exist.' Now that I'm getting older, I would like that to be the case.'' AFTER studying law as a young man in Greece, Mr. Angelopoulos left the university on the eve of his final exams to perform his military service. After his release, penniless, he headed straight to Paris to study film. ''When I was very young, around 16, I wrote poetry and even had some of it published in literary reviews,'' he said. ''Then came the cinema, and it took me over completely, because it gives you the poetry and the image at the same time, and also because the cinema is an extraordinary adventure. Making a film, you live things that you couldn't live otherwise. And then it's also a microsociety, because I work always with the same team, the same cameraman, often the same actors, even the same machinists. So it's something familial.'' He lives in Athens with Phoebe Economopoulos, his producer and companion of many years, and their two daughters. He confesses that his plans remain hazy: ''Right now, there's nothing. I call the period before a film the humility period. You feel the humility, but you see nothing else clearly. But you know it will come, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow; it doesn't matter.'' The financing is not usually a problem, because the budgets are very small. ''That way I have my liberty,'' Mr. Angelopoulos said. ''I do have an audience, not a huge one, but a steady one. This film has been sold to 42 countries. So I don't complain. ''I know that my work is difficult for the mainstream public, but I make these films anyway, because it's the best that I can do. Every director in the world would like to have the largest possible audience. You get there or you don't. You have to be content with your own audience, whatever it is.'' FILM Peter Brunette is a contributing editor at Film.com. His latest books are ''The Films of Michelangelo Antonioni'' and ''Martin Scorsese: Interviews.'' |
1111122_0 | Where Have You Gone, Martin Dihigo? | THE PRIDE OF HAVANA A History of Cuban Baseball. By Roberto Gonzlez Echevarria. Illustrated. 464 pp. New York: Oxford University Press. $35. WHEN the Baltimore Orioles flew to Cuba for a game against the Cuban national team in March, ESPN beamed back images that surely surprised many fans in the United States. Havana has a stadium much like those in the major leagues. Its flag-waving fans were certainly just as fervent as Americans, probably more so. Scenes of the fiesta confirmed that America's so-called national pastime is also Cuba's national passion. Baseball has been a source of pride for generations in Cuba, its love affair with the game almost as long and rich as that of the United States. Cuba's main exports once were sugar and major league ballplayers. But after Fidel Castro's takeover in 1959, Cuban baseball plummeted into virtual irrelevance, with only the occasional recent defector (such as the Yankees' Orlando Hernndez) reminding the world of the baseball talent and history Cuba retains, hidden beneath Castro's protective dome. Roberto Gonzlez Echevarria ventures inside that bubble with his history of Cuban baseball, ''The Pride of Havana.'' Himself a Cuban exile who grew up watching stars like Orestes (Minnie) Minoso play in his nation's once-thriving professional league, Gonzlez Echevarria describes just how ingrained baseball has been in his nation since it arrived in the 1860's, and how intertwined it was with the American major leagues before Castro's revolution. Foggy names, such as Martin Dihigo (the only Cuban enshrined in the Hall of Fame), Adolfo (Dolf) Luque and Camilo Pascual, come into focus as Gonzlez Echevarria traces their exploits and reputations, emphasizing how those legends mean as much to Cubans as DiMaggio and Mays do to Americans. Though the book occasionally bogs down in drawn-out accounts of season after season of the Cuban league, this speed bump is overcome by Gonzlez Echevarria's passion for the subject. (He was a catcher in a semipro league and is the Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literature at Yale University.) He occasionally lapses into a schmaltzy first person -- Habana's home pinstripes and red, gothic lettering froze me in a fit of ecstasy the first time I saw the team on the field'' -- but they reinforce how much Cuban baseball mattered to him, and millions of his countrymen. ''Baseball is so ingrained in Cuba,'' Gonzlez Echevarria writes, ''that it has thrived as the |
1111311_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1111476_2 | U.S. May Try To Stop Loan Seen as Bad For Tibetans | annexed in 1959, but has traditionally been strongly ethnically Tibetan and is the birthplace of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader. Although Qinghai has been a province of China since the 17th century, critics see the proposed resettlements as part of a broader campaign by the Chinese authorities to weaken Tibetan national identity. Asked about the project during an appearance before the House Banking Committee last week, Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin said, ''We are enormously concerned about it,'' adding that the United States is ''inclined to oppose it.'' John Ackerly of the International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington-based organization fighting for Tibetan rights, said: ''This relocation, which the World Bank now proposes to help finance, is part of a larger Chinese policy which is now the greatest threat to the continued existence of the Tibetans as a distinct people and culture.'' Critics say the plan violates World Bank guidelines, which state that indigenous ethnic minorities should ''not suffer adverse effects from bank-financed projects and that they receive culturally compatible social and economic benefits.'' ''The proposed resettlement will make the indigenous Tibetans even more marginal than they are already,'' said Kate Saunders of the London-based Tibet Information Network, which first highlighted the dangers of the project. Critics also argue that the scheme is part of a broader plan to establish the infrastructure needed to exploit the region's mineral resources, which would inevitably attract additional inflows of non-Tibetans. For the moment, the World Bank is standing behind the project. In a briefing paper issued this week it defends the resettlement plan as an integral part of its efforts to reduce poverty in China, which has cut the number of rural poor from 280 million to 80 million over a decade. The farmers to be resettled, it argues, are ''among the poorest people in the world, with incomes of about $60 a year.'' But it admits that the resettlement would weaken the position of indigenous Tibetans and Mongolians in the area. In Haixi Prefecture, the Tibetan percentage of the population would fall from 11.1 percent to 10.3 percent, while in Dulan County it would decline from 22.7 percent to 14 percent. For Mongolians the declines are from 7.6 percent to 6.5 percent and from 14.1 percent to 6.7 percent. The number of Han Chinese in Haixi Prefecture would rise from 236,918 to 261,375 and in Dulan County from 27,977 to 52,434. |
1111304_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1104625_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1104435_0 | Artists' Debt To the Past More Than Passing | THE classical world, especially ancient Greece, continues to be meaningful and relevant. The attention being paid to the thoughtful, new skylighted Greek galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is more evidence of this. Coincidentally, the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College in Purchase, N.Y., pays imaginative tribute to that golden era in ''Contemporary Classicism.'' Occupying the Neuberger's two warehouse-size galleries, the show is a survey of works by contemporary artists that refer in some way to the classical past. But the curator Judy Collischan has chosen artists whose debt to the past is more than passing. In the works here, the classical content is never hard to find. But the show also reveals the range of art that can comfortably make the requisite allusions. In the exhibition, Jim Dine puts his formidable drawing skills to good use. In charcoal drawings of relics in an antiquities museum in Munich, Mr. Dine uses the tendency of charcoal to smudge and fade, giving drama to the drawings: the objects seem to disappear at times, then reappear with strength. Mr. Dine has also sculptured a Venus de Milo from wood. Mr. Dine has left a surface of angular chisel marks that are a strong counterpoint to that sculpture's essential curviness. Another Venus, also a torso without arms, is invoked in Judith Shea's sculpture, which involves making sharp comparisons between antique nudity and modern clothing; Ms. Shea was a clothing designer before she turned sculptor, and there is crisp resonance between the cast- stone Venus and the rudimentary, white paper dress on the wall behind her. The same goes for a bronze torso of Apollo and a folded black canvas coat shadowing it. If these pieces have a spectral aura, it is intensified in the two fabric and epoxy pieces by Muriel Castanis, which are all standing drapery (of a more flamboyant Roman sort), displayed with attitudes and gestures that proclaim that bodies were once underneath. An interesting comparison is all the folds in Ms. Castanis's sculptures with the clean, shallow, minimal contours of Howard Ben Tre. Mr. Ben Tre, well known as a glass artist, embeds vessels of cloudy cast glass in metal armatures that are in some cases shaped like rudimentary figures. As Ms. Collischan writes in the exhibition catalogue, ''Serene and reposeful, the vessels seem set aside in history, much the way specimens are shelved in a museum setting.'' Specimen-like |
1104643_3 | Ulster Lawyer's Killing Casts Suspicion on Police | constitute intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.'' He expressed particular concern that the police regularly ''identified solicitors with their clients and their clients' causes as a result of their discharging their functions.'' Mrs. Nelson opened her practice in Lurgan, 18 miles southwest of Belfast, only a month after Mr. Finucane's death. One case she took on was that of Robert Hamill, 25, a Catholic man who was beaten to death by a mob of 30 men as he walked through Portadown, a Protestant stronghold, in May 1997. She then challenged the arrest of a man detained in the killing of two policemen in Lurgan in June 1997, and succeeded in gaining his freedom. She became most widely known for taking up the cause of the residents of Garvaghy Road, a street intersecting Catholic housing projects on the outskirts of Portadown that is the scene of annual violent encounters over the insistence of the Protestant Loyal Orange Order to conduct its traditional parade there. She began to get regular death threats in the mail and over the phone, and clients told her repeatedly that police officers interrogating them told them she was a paramilitary herself and that she would be killed. They said police officers told them that a disfigurement on the side of her face had come from an I.R.A. bomb she had been carrying. In fact, it came from an operation to remove a birthmark. In Northern Ireland, people suspected of ''terrorist'' activity can be detained for up to seven days without charge and cannot have access to their lawyers for the first 48 hours. Lawyers are barred from that week's questioning. It was during such periods of detention, Mrs. Nelson told various investigating bodies, that officers made their menacing comments about her to her clients. She also said she was roughed up and insulted by police officers during the Garvaghy Road march of July 1997 when, as the lawyer retained by the residents, she sought explanations from ranking policemen. The Independent Commission for Police Complaints took up her reports of death threats and completed its report nine days after her death. The panel is known for seldom finding fault with police practices, but it listed 16 ''serious concerns'' about the Nelson inquiry. These included statements that police officers were hostile, evasive, disinterested and uncooperative, that one arrived for a hearing late and inebriated, that others read from prepared |
1104453_5 | Literacy Groups: Filling One of Life's Needs | of the Putnam/ Northern Westchester board, said the literacy program taught survival skills along with reading and writing. ''For English-as-a-second-language students, it can be mind-boggling living in our society,'' she said. ''We teach them about what the Super Bowl is, how to fill out a 1040 tax form, what does a report card mean, and if you're sick, how do you describe your symptoms?'' The Southern Westchester board runs a children's program called Reading Recovery for beginning readers. Children are assessed in the first grade, and those who are in the bottom 20 percent of reading proficiency are given a series of 30-minute tutoring sessions. Once the child has completed 60 lessons, he rejoins regular reading groups in his classroom. The program was offered in 17 districts last year and served 586 children. Elissa Morgan, site coordinator of Reading Recovery, said that in districts where Reading Recovery has been used, special education referrals have been reduced. ''If a kid isn't learning to read, the reasons can run the gamut,'' Ms. Morgan said. ''Very often it's not a special ed problem, it is just that he needed individualized attention.'' The Putnam/Northern Westchester board offers special training to teachers so they can help struggling children in grades 5 through 8. The effort, known as the Wilson Training Program, uses a multisensory approach to help children of normal intelligence who may have received a diagnosis of being dyslexic or have other learning problems. For instance, for children to master a new word, they not only see it in print but also hear it spoken, write it themselves and physically move blocks of letters to form it. ''Before this there were few programs to teach kids to read if they hadn't been caught by the fifth grade,'' said Adrienne Forbes, director of the Hudson River Teachers Center at the northern board. ''All the materials left were for very young children. This program does this, and it's very exciting.'' Among the Stacks The Westchester Library System is the place where many children and adults turn first when they want to improve their reading skills. Working with other groups, the library network provides space and books, tapes, videos and computers for literacy tutoring. In libraries in Port Chester and Tarrytown, special computer labs have been set up to complement courses in English as a second language. The library system also has discussion groups for adults that |
1104436_0 | Contemporary Tribute to Classical Past | THE classical world, especially ancient Greece, continues to be meaningful and relevant. The attention being paid to the thoughtful, new skylighted Greek Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan is more evidence of this. Coincidentally, the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College here pays imaginative tribute to that golden era in ''Contemporary Classicism.'' Occupying the Neuberger's two warehouse-size galleries, the show is a survey of works by contemporary artists that refer in some way to the classical past. But the curator Judy Collischan has chosen artists whose debt to the past is more than passing. In the works here, the classical content is never hard to find. But the show also reveals the range of art that can comfortably make the requisite allusions. The usual suspects are rounded up, including Jim Dine, who puts his formidable drawing skills to good use. In charcoal drawings of relics in an antiquities museum in Munich, Mr. Dine uses the tendency of charcoal to smudge and fade, giving drama to the drawings: the objects seem to disappear at times, then reappear with strength. Mr. Dine has also sculptured a Venus de Milo out of wood. Mr. Dine has left a surface of angular chisel marks, which are a strong counterpoint to that sculpture's essential curviness. Another Venus, also a torso without arms, is invoked in Judith Shea's sculpture, which involves making sharp comparisons between antique nudity and modern clothing; Ms. Shea was a clothing designer before she turned sculptor, and there is crisp resonance between the cast- stone Venus and the rudimentary, white paper dress on the wall behind her. The same goes for a bronze torso of Apollo and a folded black canvas coat shadowing it. If these pieces have a spectral aura, it is intensified in the two fabric and epoxy pieces by Muriel Castanis, which are all standing drapery (of a more flamboyant Roman sort), displayed with attitudes and gestures that proclaim that bodies were once underneath. An interesting comparison is all the folds in Ms. Castanis's sculptures with the clean, shallow, minimal contours of Howard Ben Tre. Mr. Ben Tre, well known as a glass artist, embeds vessels of cloudy cast glass in metal armatures, which are, in some cases, shaped like rudimentary figures. As Ms. Collischan writes in the exhibition catalogue, ''Serene and reposeful, the vessels seem set aside in history, much the way specimens are |
1104301_2 | U.S. Customs Shows A Friendlier Face | cocaine and heroin. And 28 travelers a day are chosen at random for a full interview and baggage examination, to determine whether statistics for compliance are holding up. Most other passengers come under scrutiny without knowing it. Information collected by the airlines during check-in is shared electronically with Customs officials, who review the passenger lists while the aircraft are still in the air. Once in the terminal, trained dogs sniff luggage for illegal drugs. And plainclothes inspectors, called rovers, mingle with arriving passengers, watching for curious or erratic behavior. For example, Mr. McGowan said, ''Genuine travelers are most interested in looking for where their baggage is.'' Suspicious travelers are more apt to be nervously sizing up the inspectors or the nearest exit. Without revealing secrets, Customs has embarked on a campaign to explain what it does and why. New signs describing what to expect have been posted at Miami and Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., as well as Kennedy, and will soon appear in each of the country's 15 largest airports. A glossy brochure titled ''Why Did This Happen to Me?'' tells passengers why some get stopped and what they can do about it. At 22 airports, including Kennedy, some supervisors have been reassigned to jobs as passenger service representatives to assist angry or bewildered travelers. ''The passenger can always call over a supervisor and passenger service representative,'' Mr. McGowan said. ''If you have a complaint, the passenger service representative will try to resolve it on the spot.'' The easiest way to clear Customs, he said, is to fill out the declaration completely, have passport and airline ticket in hand, and ask inspectors if you need help. Robert E. Hessler, the deputy director of passenger operations, also promised relief for travelers struggling with their Customs declaration. ''We're developing a new Customs declaration with simpler language,'' he said. ''We're trying to write it in English rather than in governmentese and make the type bigger.'' The Customs Service's desire to be helpful has its statutory limits, because it enforces 600 regulations for 60 Federal agencies from the Department of Agriculture to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Its tolerance does not extend to travelers sneaking in endangered wildlife or sausages made in the old country, much less heroin or cocaine. Nor are inspectors, should they stop you, likelier to overlook multiple wristwatches and other undeclared purchases exceeding the usual $400 duty-free limit. |
1104428_0 | Bid for Human Rights Panel Remains a Disputed Issue | NOT often in Westchester has an issue arisen that has polarized religious, political, civic and other organizations more than the proposal to establish a county human rights commission, which would include homosexuals among the groups protected from discrimination. On one side are the proponents: some of the county's Protestant and Jewish clergy, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League, the League of Women Voters, the Westchester Women's Agenda and most of the Democratic members of the Board of Legislators. On the other side are the Roman Catholic Church and some of its followers who object to the law on what they see as morality issues, an antitax group, a coalition of business and labor organizations and some County Legislators, mainly Republicans, who say they are concerned with the cost. ''I don't think we can legislate the human heart or human spirit,'' the Rev. Jack Silvey Miller, senior minister at the Presbyterian Church of Mount Kisco, a supporter of the proposal, said in an interview. ''I'm not that naive. But in taking steps like this to create such a commission we create important symbols for ourselves.'' Stanley A. Tompkiel 3d, president of the Catholic Coalition of Westchester, a lay group, which along with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has opposed the proposal, said, ''We feel that this legislation will establish public policy that will promote various types of sexual behavior that we consider to be inappropriate.'' The proposal to set up a human rights commission was first made last year by Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democratic County Legislator from Yonkers and chairwoman of the Board of Legislators' Legislation Committee. The proposal remains in the committee pending further study. Legislators have different views on whether it will be taken up this summer or after this year's elections, and it appears to lack the nine votes needed for approval. As proposed, the commission, which could cost the government up to $1 million a year, would have the power to investigate discrimination complaints -- race, age, national origin and sexuality -- and levy fines of up to $10,000. The state already has a Division of Human Rights, and some Westchester municipalities have human rights commissions, but those agencies have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints based on sexual orientation. Also, advocates of the proposed commission say that the state routinely takes four to seven years to handle a complaint and |
1104397_1 | In Chicago, Layers of History but Uncertain Future | 4,000 residents. Under court order, the Palace Car Company gave up its role as landlord by 1909, but its successor, Pullman-Standard, was building and refurbishing railroad cars here through the 60's. Red-brick workers' cottages and two-story flats still line Pullman's verdant blocks in neat, tight arrays. The Hotel Florence, a rambling Queen Anne dowager, still greets visitors with a deep veranda and a tiny mountain range of gables, dormers and chimneys. The abandoned market hall is ringed by four curving colonnades that recall the loggias of Renaissance Italy. Soaring over the town square is the steeple of the Greenstone Church, made of a stone that ranges in color from moss to lichen to jade, with stained-glass windows as delicate as doilies. The town stable, now an auto-repair shop, is still ornamented with two carved horse heads. But the clock tower, Pullman's cynosure, is a tumbled and charred ruin whose arched windows are now empty portals to the sky. ''It's swaying in the breeze,'' said Keith Herron, the assistant superintendent of historic sites in the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which owns the clock tower. The state plans to spend $2.1 million to stabilize the structure by wrapping steel bands around it and filling in the windows with wood braces to increase lateral stability. Preservationists in Pullman are encouraged by the renewed attention that has accompanied the catastrophe. After a long spell of what seemed like official indifference, the city and state are forming a task force to chart a fresh revitalization effort. The panel is to be headed by James R. Thompson, a former Illinois Governor whose administration bought the clock tower and hotel 10 years ago to create what Mr. Thompson called ''the greatest railroad museum in America.'' Although nothing came of those plans, great fires seem to have a galvanizing effect on Chicagoans. ''Isn't it sad that it has to be something tragic like this that has to be a catalyst?'' asked Deborah Bellamy-Jawor, executive director of the Historic Pullman Foundation, a nonprofit group concerned with preservation, restoration, education and research. ''But from now on, it's a bright future.'' The Florence (named for George Pullman's daughter) was already scheduled to undergo a $1.9 million stabilization later this year. And a $200,000 renovation is under way at the market hall. Restoring the public structures, no easy task in itself, may be the most straightforward challenge facing the task force. More |
1105909_10 | George Bush the Son Finds That Oil and Blood Do Mix | would be very good for our business.'' After a stock swap, Mr. Bush became chairman, chief executive and a director, with ownership of about 15 percent of the company, according to a Spectrum prospectus. Two years later, in 1986, world oil prices collapsed, plummeting to below $10 a barrel in April from $26 in January. Faced with the prospect of laying off Spectrum's 15 employees and liquidating its reserves while waiting for prices to recover, Mr. Bush and his partners decided to merge with the Harken Energy Corporation, a significantly larger conglomerate, based near Dallas. Unlike Spectrum, Harken was not willing to give Mr. Bush a daily management position. But it made him a director, and he received 212,152 shares of Harken stock, worth $530,380, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. By the end of 1989, Mr. Bush had accumulated 345,426 shares, or 1.1 percent of the company's common stock, often with the help of low-interest loans and stock options offered to directors. Shortly after the merger, Mr. Bush moved to Washington to help run his father's 1988 Presidential campaign. But Harken hired him as a consultant, giving him contracts for $42,000 to $120,000 in each of the next five years, according to a shareholder's document. Several current and former Harken executives declined to comment on Mr. Bush's role at the company. But they have in the past. In 1994, for instance, E. Stuart Watson, a Harken director, described Mr. Bush as an important asset during dark days for oil. ''We didn't have a fair price for oil, we just had George,'' Mr. Watson was quoted as saying in The Dallas Morning News. ''And George was very useful to Harken. He could have been more so if he had had funds, but as far as contacts were concerned, he was terrific. It seemed like George, he knew everybody in the U.S. who was worth knowing.'' That, of course, is why questions were raised when Harken, which had little experience with overseas or offshore production, announced in early 1990 that it had won a potentially lucrative contract to drill offshore for the Persian Gulf emirate of Bahrain. Many in the industry assumed that the Bahrainis had handed the concession to Harken to curry favor with the Bush White House. But by all accounts, the younger Bush played no role in pursuing or negotiating the deal, and he warned board members |
1105856_6 | The Study of Trauma Graduates at Last | a large study in California found that people who were exposed to traumatic events as children were much more likely to develop lung disease, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and drug and alcohol addictions. Yet even now, Mr. van der Kolk says, major institutions ''have resisted looking at how reality shapes biology.'' Trauma's sprawling character has made it difficult for universities to swallow. ''It doesn't fit into existing structure,'' said Mr. Figley, a Vietnam veteran whose antiwar activities got him interested in the field. ''That's why universities have been slow to move into this.'' With the field less than 20 years old, many questions about trauma remain unanswered. How does it affect the ability to learn? How does it cripple a child's development? Does trauma cause other mental disorders? Physical diseases? Is psychoanalysis an outdated approach for dealing with mass trauma? Both university professors and clinicians believe no single discipline has the answers. ''Psychoanalysis was never intended to be all things,'' explained Stevan M. Weine, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois who has worked with Bosnian refugees. One thing it certainly was never to be was a public health effort to address the social suffering of genocide survivors. Mental health work with survivors was influenced far less by psychoanalysis and more by the social psychiatry and the community mental health movement.'' As with women's studies and black studies programs in their early stages, intellectual breakthroughs have often come from outside the classroom. For instance, clinicians working with severely abused children developed techniques to deal with traumatic memories. In Bosnia, Ms. Herman said, it became clear that ''the SWAT team approach, the 'let's everybody get in a circle to talk about their rape,' is not the way to go.'' Counselors have to use the community and existing social networks, she said. It was crucial that the Muslim clergy stood with the women who were raped and said they should not be shamed or shunned. It may take years before comprehensive trauma programs are woven into the academic mainstream, said Mr. Saul, who also teaches in the psychiatry department of New York University School of Medicine. Still, Ms. Herman contends that there has been a lot of cross-fertilization between fieldwork and university research. It's just that ''sometimes academics don't understand how deeply dependent they are on the grass-roots activists and how indebted the whole field is to them.'' |
1111012_0 | Frank A. Gunther Dies at 91; Helped Create Radio Systems | Frank A. Gunther, a radio pioneer who helped create shortwave, two-way and FM systems, died on Monday at Bon Securos Hospital in Venice, Fla. He was 91 and lived in New York and Nokomis, Fla. Mr. Gunther often worked with the military, as well as with police and fire departments, devising some of the first radio communications devices. In 1932, for example, he built for the police department in Bayonne, N.J., what is believed to be the first two-way mobile police radio system. In 1928, Mr. Gunther also installed one of the first one-way radios used on an aircraft and, in 1931, he took part in the first public broadcast from an aircraft. A year later, he installed the first two-way radio system on an airplane. Frank A. Gunther was born on February 3, 1908, in Manhattan. He attended Wagner College, on Staten Island, and Columbia University. In 1925, he joined the REL Radio Engineering Laboratories, based in Queens, and helped construct and operate an experimental station that was one of the first shortwave broadcasting systems. In 1935, Mr. Gunther, along with Edwin H. Armstrong, gave the first public demonstration of frequency modulation, or FM transmission, a signal much superior in clarity to AM or shortwave. The next year, he designed and manufactured the early transmitter components for FM radio, and from 1939 to 1942, he designed and built more than 25 FM stations nationwide. In 1939, Mr. Gunther demonstrated the first FM mobile transmitter to the United States military, and during World War II, in which he served as a major in the Army Air Force, he began designing the first Loran navigational systems for the United States Coast Guard. Mr. Gunther, who was also a commercial pilot, became president of REL in 1960 and retired in 1982. Most recently, he worked as a consultant with his son, Robert, president of Highpoint Development of Staten Island, a developer of wireless communication towers. He was a former president of the Radio Club of America, which established the Frank A. Gunther Award in 1996. The award is given annually to people who make major contributions to the advancement of wireless military electronic communications systems. In 1992, he was featured in a Public Broadcasting Service documentary, ''Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio.'' Mr. Gunther's wife, Lillian Madden, died in 1997. In addition to his son Robert C. of Shrewsbury, |
1111014_0 | Resettlement on the Yangtze | There are new signs that China's top leaders are facing up to the destructive reality of the Three Gorges Dam. This month Prime Minister Zhu Rongji made a highly publicized speech about the difficulty of resettling 1.3 million people whose towns and farmlands will be inundated by the dam's 400-mile-long reservoir. The project is plagued with engineering and cost problems, but resettlement issues have been the most difficult to ignore. Critics of the project have argued that resettlement on this scale is impossible. Not only are flooded communities destroyed, but cities and towns that are forced to absorb the migrants would face economic and social upheaval. More than 150,000 people have already been uprooted, but many remain jobless and landless. An additional 550,000 have to be moved over the next four years alone. Chinese officials have long said that the people and factories would simply be moved up the surrounding hillsides above the Yangtze River. Mr. Zhu now seems to admit that is unrealistic. Instead he proposes to send the displaced to other regions. But resettlement of large numbers of people far from their native homes has been disastrous in the past. Many eventually drifted back to their home regions. Others lived for years as impoverished refugees. The only solution is to reduce the size of the dam, or better yet, abandon it altogether. |
1109479_0 | The Way We Live Now: 5-23-99: On Language; War Words | Every sailor enforcing a blockade knows the term of art for the warlike act of stopping a ship suspected of carrying contraband: board and search. However, in cutting off the supply of oil to Serbia, NATO's crack nomenclature specialists devised a more blockade-runner friendly term so as not to offend vessels being frisked. The new, sugarcoated pill of war: search and visit. As Naval Reserve Officer Seth Cropsey pointed out in The Washington Times: board and search ''is an invasive maneuver in which an armed naval vessel trains its weapons on the merchant ship and radios for it to stop and allow sailors to board to search. The sailors make their way by small craft . . . armed and loaded. It is not a relaxing situation.'' But Cropsey notes that ''search and visit sounds like what most of us do when we are on vacation in an unfamiliar place.'' Every war develops its own set of terms. The leader of the enemy requires consistent derogation. In the Persian Gulf war, Saddam Hussein of Iraq was a bloodthirsty dictator and the butcher of Baghdad, similar to the genocidal madman often applied to Adolf Hitler. Although many critics of Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia called him a war criminal, that term was unavailable to anyone in officialdom, because it prejudged a potential prosecution and also might make it awkward to negotiate with the one so called. The castigation of choice is thug. In 1991, The Boston Herald was first to refer to ''Slobodan Milosevic, the Stalinist thug who rules Serbia.'' Three years later, Anthony Lewis in The New York Times castigated ''aggression by a thug, Slobodan Milosevic.'' This year, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas joined many other Presidential candidates in using the phrase ''a thug like Milosevic.'' In the Dow Jones database, the name of the Serb leader and the word thug appear near each other 343 times. Thug may be the earliest word of terrorism, perhaps predating assassin, a member of the hashish-smoking terror group that struck at the Crusaders. The Hindi thag is the root, meaning ''deceiver,'' from the Sanskrit sthaga, ''thief.'' The Thugs were an organization of murderers and thieves in India who specialized in strangling travelers. The purpose of strangulation was to preserve the victim's blood, symbolically offered as a sacrifice to Kali, often called the Hindu goddess of destruction and pictured as a three-eyed deity smeared |
1109650_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1109704_0 | Heard It On the PC Grapevine | WHEN employees gossip about their jobs at the proverbial water cooler, the atmosphere is often one of hushed tones and over-the-shoulder glances. But no such discretion applies at the Electronic Watercooler, an on-line network of uncensored bulletin boards intended to attract employees and job seekers at more than 800 companies. The bulletin boards display office rumors, fears of layoffs, complaints about work hours and pay and responses to applicants' queries about salary and work life. ''Do we all realize that we'd be making at least twice as much $$ if we went to Goldman?'' asked one writer, identified as a Sullivan & Cromwell lawyer. ''We would definitely NOT be working any harder at Goldman than we do here.'' The network was started in March by Vault Reports, a New York company, to attract visitors to its Web site, which also offers job listings and employment matching services. To advise job hunters, Vault also sells books and reports on specific companies -- all of which are represented on the bulletin boards. The postings, which can be reached at www.vaultreports.com, have been coming in fast and furious, with more than 5,200 so far, including more than 1,000 in the last week. Some of the more active boards include those on Goldman Sachs, Andersen Consulting, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble. There are also more general ones for industries or types of careers. ''We're basically trying to take an age-old concept of gossiping at the office water cooler and exploding it globally,'' said Samer Hamadeh, co-founder of Vault Reports. The messages on the boards are generally anonymous -- often, authors say, to avoid retribution. But the anonymity allows anyone to pose as a company employee, job applicant or even a competitor. Visitors can only hope that some postings are fictional, like one person's score card of purported sexual exploits at a company training camp. Employment experts said the site should not be taken too seriously. ''It's really not the water cooler,'' said Mark A. Rothstein, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center who is an expert in employment law. ''It's almost like the bar across the street from the plant gate, because it involves not only people who are currently working at the company but former employees and total strangers, and there's really no way to verify whether these people have the insider information that they |
1109599_3 | From the Nude to the Nutty: There's an Attraction for Everyone | a waterway he had created. Then he added a rock museum and a wildlife exhibition. The state's executive director of tourism, Edward D. Dombroskas, volunteers the information that the River Bend operation is one of his favorite small attractions. Exit 88 East from Route 305 to Route 14A East about 5 1/2 miles. (860) 564-3440. Open daily until Oct. 11, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Charges to dig in the mine: $6.50, $5.50 for children. The Temple of Trash The temple is the opening exhibition of the visitors' center of the Mid-Connecticut Project of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority. It is a room with an entrance formed by two columns of old truck tires, with sides (inside and out) made up of all kinds of things that people throw away: cans, bottles, plastic containers, furniture, toys, games, pictures, stuffed animals. You name it, it's there. After viewing the temple, groups -- usually of children -- are taken through individual displays detailing how recycling works and what products can be recycled. Parents don't have to worry about the children getting dirty. Cheryl Burke, the director of the visitors' center, laughs about the father who asked what his child should wear to a Temple of Trash. ''It has hands-on activities, but no dirty work,'' she said. In actuality, it is very clean and orderly. One of the most engaging aspects of the center is a viewing area (behind glass) of huge bins loaded with plastic containers and the containers being sorted out and then transported along conveyors. It's a big hit with children but also a consolation for adults who have been faithfully bundling newspapers and collecting cans and bottles for years and might occasionally have wondered if they were really being recycled. Well, they are. The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority building is at 211 Murphy Road, Hartford, Exit 27 from Interstate 91 North or South. The building is open Wednesday through Friday from noon to 4 P.M. September through June, Tuesday through Saturday from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. July and August. (860) 247-4280. No admission is charged. The Nut Museum Half a century ago, Elizabeth Tashjian -- a painter, sculptor and classical singer -- settled into a house in Old Lyme dating from 1854 that has best been described as ''Gothic Victorian'' and for a couple of decades lived there quietly. By 1972, however, she had become enamored of nuts |
1106788_2 | U.S. Loses Hold on Submarine-Exposing Radar Technique | University who has worked on the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Chinese would most easily and plausibly use the secrets to change the depth and speed of their submarines. Secret knowledge of ''what we can and cannot do,'' he said, could help the Chinese dodge submarine spying. Since the start of the space age, most satellites have observed the Earth with cameras similar in principle to any tourist's. In 1978, however, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched a new kind of satellite that made images by bouncing radio waves off the planet. Known as Seasat, this radar craft saw land and sea in striking new ways, its images revealing narrow lines in the ocean -- tracings left by the passage of ships and subs. It somehow managed to distinguish signs of deep turbulence from the regular froth and heave of the sea. Seasat's feats came to an abrupt end in 1978 when the spacecraft failed unexpectedly after 100 days, with the Pentagon deeply ambivalent about its discoveries. ''There was concern about what we had done,'' recalled Gene Giberson, the project manager for Seasat at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Even though the Russians flew nuclear-powered radar satellites to spy on the oceans, the Pentagon -- the Navy in particular -- was loath to look closely at the phenomenon, experts say. ''The Navy resisted,'' said Dave McCurdy, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. ''They didn't want questions raised. There is a certain orthodoxy they didn't want challenged.'' Eventually, in the early 1980's, Congress forced the issue, setting up a research program independent of the Navy that had the issue closely investigated. In 1988, inspired by Seasat, the nation's spy agencies launched their first radar satellite. Mr. McCurdy, now president of the Electronic Industries Association, in Arlington, Va., said the research program found deep-sub imaging ''an incredibly difficult challenge'' that, among other things, required ''a lot of computing power.'' However, progress was sufficient that Britain and the United States kept up the investigations in the 1990's in a joint program. Richard E. Twogood, the program's technical leader, based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a weapons lab in California, told Congress in 1994 of the discovery of phenomena that ''appear to be very important to the sensing of surface effects produced by undersea disturbances.'' Dr. Twogood also complained that the Defense Department was withholding funds |
1106714_0 | Round 3 in Cancer Battle: A 5-Year Drug Regimen | Having completed the first two phases of treatment for an early breast cancer -- a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation therapy -- I have now begun the third and, in a way, the most exciting phase: five years of daily treatment with the drug tamoxifen. Unlike traditional cancer chemotherapy, tamoxifen does not kill cells and does not cause nausea and hair loss. Tamoxifen is more like a growth regulator. It is an estrogen-like compound that acts in the breast as an antiestrogen, preventing the natural hormone from stimulating the growth of breast cancer cells. Tamoxifen has been around for about 20 years. It was first used to treat advanced breast cancer, then to prevent recurrence of less advanced disease. Now it is being used to prevent breast cancer from occurring in the first place in women at high risk of developing the disease. Factors that contribute to a woman's risk of developing breast cancer include being over 60, having a family history of breast cancer, having had a noninvasive breast cancer or precancerous breast abnormalities, having begun to menstruate before the age of 12 and having had no children or a first child after age 30. The First Cancer Preventive I admit to being confused and disappointed when my surgeon announced gleefully that my cancer was highly sensitive to hormone stimulation, as indicated by a test for estrogen and progesterone receptors on the cancer cells. To me that meant I would probably never again be able to take postmenopausal hormones, which could protect my heart, bones and brain from premature deterioration and which prevented hot flashes and vaginal dryness. The surgeon was pleased because being estrogen-receptor-positive meant that my tumor was slower growing, and that I could reap the maximum protection from tamoxifen, which has been shown to cut in half the risk of recurrence of the original breast cancer as well as the development of a second cancer in the opposite breast. Estrogen receptors are found in about 65 percent to 80 percent of breast cancers in postmenopausal women and 45 percent to 60 percent of cancers in premenopausal women. The higher the level of estrogen receptors in a woman's tumor, the greater the survival benefit associated with taking the drug. Women whose cancers are estrogen-receptor-negative reap some benefit from tamoxifen as well, suggesting that the drug has other as-yet undiscovered actions. Studies have indicated that five years |
1107823_1 | How to Catch A Rising Star | benefits of your workplace, said Lou Adler, author of ''Hire With Your Head'' (John Wiley & Sons, 1998). Even the classified ads you place should focus on where a candidate can go, rather than on where she's been. ''Most ads say, 'Must have four years of this, two years of this, five years of this.' '' Mr. Adler said. But you need to give people a sense of the new skills they can gain with your firm. People are generally willing to earn a little less for a chance to grow, he added. You may also need to redefine your target audience. Don't go after people already earning $60,000 a year, Mr. Adler advised; instead, ''take someone just out of school or someone from a junior college who's a little older.'' Rather than focusing on alma maters and years of experience, list the core competencies you need -- teamwork, for example, or organizational or communication skills. Then get creative in your search. Where do potential candidates hang out? What organizations do they join? Try professional groups at area colleges, Mr. Adler suggested. As candidates arrive for interviews, remember your dual goals: to hire and keep a good employee. ''Make sure you spend time asking what their needs are and what they're looking for in a job,'' Mr. Klinvex said. When you find a winner, move fast. ''Star performers are on the market for about a day,'' he added. And once that dream employee comes aboard, keep the work challenging. ''That doesn't mean every task has to be exciting,'' Mr. Klinvex said, but people need to feel they're working together toward a shared vision. If your new employee thinks she's only pushing papers in pursuit of a paycheck, you can't expect her to stay when the chance for a bigger paycheck comes along. For the longer term, Mr. Klinvex said, build your company's profile. ''You should be writing articles, getting involved in community events, trying to get on local radio,'' he said. ''Go to local colleges and speak. You want people saying, 'I've definitely heard of this company before.' '' Michelle Cottle is a Washington writer. Each week, she responds to readers' questions about career and workplace issues. Send them by E-mail to working@nytimes.com or by mail to Working, Money & Business, The New York Times, 229 West 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. WORKING Michelle Cottle is a Washington writer. |
1107863_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1107891_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1107931_0 | PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL | |
1082729_1 | World Briefing | the mutual-defense treaty of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the confederation of nations that once made up the Soviet Union. The Uzbek Foreign Ministry said its decision was based on opposition to Russia's call for closer ties among members and Russia's stationing of troops in some nations. The defense pact expires in May. Michael Wines (NYT) VATICAN CITY: TALKS ON FEMINISM AND HOMOSEXUALITY -- The Pope's top theologian, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, is to hold a conference in San Francisco next week to ''better understand the reality of the religious situation in North America and Oceania.'' He is expected to discuss feminism and homosexuality with bishops from the United States, Canada and Australia, where Catholics often disagree with church teachings on such issues. Alessandra Stanley (NYT) THE AMERICAS CANADA: MORE SENSITIVE PEACEKEEPERS -- A joint project with the United States project to provide sensitivity training for mixed male-female peacekeeping forces from both countries has been blocked by Senator Jesse Helms. Mr. Helms, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he considered the $200,000 that was to be provided to Canada for the project a form of foreign aid. Anthony DePalma (NYT) MEXICO: OPPOSITION TO PRIVATIZATION -- Mexico's largest leftist party said it would organize protests against a proposal by President Ernesto Zedillo to open the state-run electricity sector to private investment. Several labor unions also announced their opposition, suggesting a prolonged political battle. Sam Dillon (NYT) ARGENTINA: PERONISTS REBOUND -- The governing Peronists have staged a big recovery in popularity in the run-up to the presidential election, which is expected in October. In a Gallup poll of 1,506 voters, 32 percent said they would vote for the Peronists, putting them in a statistical tie with the center-left Alliance. In December the Peronists trailed by 12 points. The report, in La Nacion, did not include a margin of error. (Reuters) ASIA CAMBODIA: KILLINGS CALLED 'HISTORICAL MISTAKES' -- A leading Khmer Rouge defector, Ieng Sary, has conceded that ''historical mistakes'' were made when more than a million people died under Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970's. But ''a tribunal to prosecute this or that person is not a solution,'' he said, adding that foreign powers were pressing for a trial in an attempt to destabilize Cambodia. Seth Mydans (NYT) INDONESIA: SUHARTO'S DAUGHTER IS INTERROGATED -- State prosecutors questioned the eldest daughter of the former President Suharto as they continued an investigation into |
1085630_0 | World Briefing | ASIA HONG KONG: DEPORTATIONS BLOCKED -- A Hong Kong court has blocked the deportation of 18 mainland Chinese who contend that they have the right to residency under a landmark ruling by the territory's Court of Final Appeal. The decision may further inflame relations with China, which has said the ruling is a mistake that must be ''rectified.'' A Hong Kong spokesman said Beijing and Hong Kong had ''narrowed'' their areas of disagreement. Mark Landler (NYT) CHINA: POPULATION RISE SLOWED -- China's population reached 1.248 billion at the end of 1998, according to the State Statistics Bureau, marking the first time the rate of population growth has been held below 1 percent. The figures reflect the impact of the country's stringent birth-control campaign, which includes a one-child-per-couple policy in urban areas. Erik Eckholm (NYT) INDIA: OUSTED OFFICIAL ARRESTED -- Rabri Devi, left, who was chief minister of Bihar State until the central Government dismissed her and took over governing the state, was arrested in Patna with her husband, the flamboyant populist leader Laloo Prasad Yadav, when they sought to lead a protest rally against central rule. The takeover was imposed after two massacres of lower-caste people by a private landlord's army. Celia Dugger (NYT) PAKISTAN: INDIAN'S TRIP PROTESTED -- Militant Islamic groups condemned an imminent bus trip to Pakistan by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India and threatened to erect a ''human wall'' at the border to stop him. Mr. Vajpayee is scheduled to travel from New Delhi to Lahore on Saturday in the inaugural trip of a new bus service. A Pakistani official said the route from the border to Lahore would be patrolled by the police and the military. (AP) AZERBAIJAN: EX-PREMIER GETS LIFE -- Former Prime Minister Suret Huseinov was sentenced to life imprisonment by the supreme court for plotting to overthrow and assassinate President Haydar Aliyev. A lawyer for Mr. Huseinov, 40, said he would appeal the sentence to the European Court of Human Rights. (Reuters) EUROPE BRITAIN: TOBACCO SUITS BARRED -- The Government moved swiftly to prevent the state-financed National Health Service from suing tobacco companies to recover the $2.77 billion annual cost of treating smoking-related illnesses, saying the move would be illegal. The Department of Health said a 1977 law barring such litigation could only be set aside by new legislation. Alan Cowell (NYT) NORTHERN IRELAND: ASSEMBLY BLOCKED -- A daylong debate on |
1085563_4 | New Study Finds Middle Age Is Prime of Life | care, and the desire of many Americans to play an active role in their own treatment. Menopause is often cited as a difficult transition for women, but the MacArthur study did not support this view. A majority of postmenopausal women said they experienced ''only relief'' when their menstrual periods stopped, while only 2 percent reported feeling ''only regret.'' As for the physical stresses of menopause, even among women in their 50's, the peak period for menopausal symptoms, half of those surveyed reported having no hot flashes at all; only 25 percent said they had hot flashes ''once a week or more,'' and 13 percent reported having them ''almost every day.'' Dr. Alice Rossi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who analyzed the menopause data, concluded, ''The Gail Sheehy image of the menopausal woman with sweat running down her face is just not true.'' A substantial number of survey respondents reported having made accommodations in their work lives to care for children. Not surprisingly, women were more likely than men to have cut back on work hours or switched to more flexible jobs, while men were more apt to report working longer hours to meet the cost of having children. Despite the high rate of divorce in the United States, a majority of the middle-aged Americans in the MacArthur survey reported that their marriages or relationships were stable and relatively happy. Ninety percent agreed that it was ''not very likely'' or ''not likely at all'' that their relationships would eventually break up. More than half responded ''never'' when asked how often during the past year they thought their relationship was in trouble. Still, the researchers found that women in the survey were much more likely than men to feel they shouldered the bulk of household chores and child care. And men were more likely both to overestimate their contribution and to underestimate how fairly chores were divided. One of the most striking differences between men and women in the MacArthur study appeared in their scores on the measure of psychological well-being developed by Dr. Carol D. Ryff, director of the Institute of Aging at the University of Wisconsin. Both women and men, as they age, show gains in the areas of personal autonomy and effective management of the surrounding world, Dr. Ryff said, but women gain in larger increments during the midlife years. In the areas |
1087332_0 | Walter Lini, 57, Clergyman Who Led Nation of Vanuatu | The Rev. Walter Lini, an Anglican priest who led the 83 Melanesian islands of Vanuatu and their 172,000 people to nationhood, died on Sunday. The former Prime Minister was 57 and had governed the country for 11 years before he stepped down in 1991. Father Lini was born on Pentecost, one of the larger of what were then the New Hebrides, a Y-shaped cluster of islands administered jointly by Britain and France. He had studied for the ministry in New Zealand and was serving as a priest and as leader of the New Hebrides National party when the colonial rulers announced plans to withdraw by 1980. Because his party dominated the colonial parliament, Father Lini was poised to become Prime Minister. But a month before independence, a French-speaking planter named Jimmy Stevens led 600 bowmen to take control of the island of Espiritu Santo. Supported by some local French-speakers, Mr. Stevens wanted to withdraw the island from the about-to-be-proclaimed nation of Vanuatu, which means ''our eternal land.'' Father Lini sought aid from Britain, which, over the objections of France, reluctantly sent 200 Royal Marines, who served as a peacekeepers on Espiritu Santo long enough for the independence ceremonies to proceed on schedule. Once the new flag went up, Father Lini signed a defense pact with Papua New Guinea, which sent forces to replace the British Marines, quickly arrested Mr. Stevens and put down the rebellion. The country Father Lini took over was poor in almost everything but fish. It had only 30 college graduates. Still, Vanuatu found itself vulnerable to geopolitical pressures. It sought to trade fishing rights to both China and Taiwan. Father Lini's Government angered France by its support for independence groups in New Caledonia and its opposition to nuclear testing in the Pacific. It irritated the United States by calling for a reduction in United States naval traffic, recognizing Libya, and welcoming Vietnam and Cuba to establish embassies while holding off the United States. But Father Lini scoffed at suggestions that he supported Communism. Acknowledging the need for international aid, he spurned any great leaps forward, declaring: ''We have a lot of resources that we have not exploited, but we are not so much in a hurry to exploit all of these. We lived here many years before Britain and France came, and we will continue to live here for many more years. Why should we use |
1087328_3 | For Orphaned Little Cubs, a Den Mother | like having a college student around,'' she said. ''They take an interest in their surroundings and start to investigate and really try to figure out what makes everything tick.'' Of course, she cannot be exactly sure of all those equivalents, she said with a laugh, since she herself never reared any children. ''I never wanted to have kids,'' said Ms. Maughan, who never married, either. ''I'm really not a people person. Let's just say I'm more of a bear person.'' Ms. Maughan lives in this Boise suburb with her 85-year-old mother, also named Sally, 18 cats (at last count), 2 coyotes (Pouncer, 10, and Sparkle, 8, who have successfully acted as foster parents to several orphaned pups in a program that returns coyotes to the wild as well) and a good 75 or so stray ducks. ''She's just been this way ever since she was a little girl,'' her mother said. ''She'd come home from school, and there'd be four or five dogs following her.'' In past years, Ms. Maughan has spent as much as $6,000 of her own money on the bears, which have a voracious appetite for a diet that includes dog food, fish, fruit (especially apples and frozen grapes), carrots, acorns, bees, wasps and, she said, ''an occasional mouse who tries to join the picnic.'' Ms. Maughan has never been injured by any of her bears. The closest she ever came was when one of the cubs, nicknamed Griz, grew agitated one day and gave her, well, a real bearhug. But he eventually let go, and she was fine. Every orphaned bear that is rescued and makes it back to the wild is a bear that in the past would have either died in the wild or most likely been put to death if found by wildlife officials. While black bears are common in many states, and while the North American population is not considered to be endangered, animal experts say Ms. Maughan's work should be applied to bear species around the world that are. Her nonprofit foundation recently received a $6,000 grant from the World Society for the Protection of Animals, based in London. ''On a global basis, there's no one doing what she's doing as well as she's doing it,'' said Chris Morgan, a bear specialist with the society. ''There's a lot to learn from her.'' Tara Wertz, regional wildlife habitat biologist with the Oregon |
1087284_1 | Biotechnology Treaty Stalls as U.S. and Developing Nations Quarrel | or soy beans, should be subject to the most important requirement of the protocol, which is that an exporter receive permission in advance from the importing nation. The United States, worried that tens of billions of dollars in annual farm exports would get tied up in red tape or blocked completely, maintains that commodities meant to be eaten or processed should not be covered since they do not enter the environment. From 25 to 45 percent of major crops grown in the United States are now genetically modified. But developing countries say commodities should be included because they contain seeds that can be planted or can accidentally escape into the environment. They also say there could be health risks from eating genetically modified food. The European Union, where there is much more concern about genetically modified food than in the United States, also wants commodities included. The United States is allied with five other agricultural exporters -- Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile and Uruguay. The latest draft of the treaty excludes agricultural commodities from the advanced approval requirements. But the developing nations want to include a provision that would allow individual countries, using the protocol, to require such advanced approval for commodities. Developing nations are also unhappy that other things have been excluded from the protocol. The latest draft has an exemption for pharmaceuticals, and one aimed at organisms used in scientific research. Another category exempted is products made from genetically altered organisms, which could include everything from corn flakes made from genetically engineered corn or blue jeans made from genetically modified cotton. ''We came here to negotiate a biosafety protocol,'' said Sateeaved Seebaluck, a delegate from Mauritius. ''It would seem that trade has taken over and what we have is something more resembling a biotrade protocol.'' While such exclusions are victories for the United States, there are other aspects of the draft that the United States and its allies and the food and biotechnology industries say would severely hamper exports and technology development. The chairman of the working group drawing up the treaty rammed approval of the draft through today. But many of the members immediately condemned the process and the draft. The draft now must be approved by the end of Tuesday by the parties to the 1992 biodiversity convention. But rough going is expected. The protocol must also be ratified by at least 50 nations to take effect. |
1084316_1 | Economic Scene; Tax-subsidized savings may not work out as many hope. | holiday for higher-income families and do virtually nothing to achieve its stated goal of rebuilding the nation's low savings rate. Even Jonathan Skinner of Dartmouth College, whose research backs the use of targeted tax breaks to increase savings, describes the Torricelli-Coverdell plan as ''wrong means to achieve a laudable goal.'' In the United States, the personal savings rate is pathetically low, hovering in recent months around zero. Low personal savings pose two important threats. For the economy at large, a low savings rate can lead to a low investment rate, leaving the future economy bereft of the factories, equipment and technologies it needs to create high-wage jobs. Low wages would intensify the burden on workers of supporting the growing ranks of retirees. But Mr. Skinner warns that tax-based savings incentives can do little to solve this problem. Consider, he says, what would happen if, magically, tax subsidies encouraged every household to save an additional $1,000. Under that implausibly rosy scenario, national savings would rise by about $100 billion, or 1.5 percent of aggregate income. That, says Mr. Skinner, would ''hardly make a dent in returning the personal savings rate to around 7 percent, the level it hit in the 1970's.'' The second problem posed by low saving rates is distributional. Half the population lacks an employer-based pension plan. Perhaps 40 percent have no financial assets to fall back on during retirement. Mr. Skinner points to studies that show for many of these families, consumption plummets by 40 or 50 percent once they retire. Mr. Clinton's plan does at least address the plight of low-saving families with modest incomes. He would create savings accounts of, say, $100 for workers. In addition, the Government would match a portion of each extra dollar that workers add to these savings accounts. Low-income families would receive a higher Government contribution than would middle-income families. William Gale of the Brookings Institution applauds its potential. ''One hundred dollars invested every year for, say, 40 years could amount to $10,000 by the time a worker retires,'' Mr. Gale said. ''If the worker contributes another $100, matched by Government, the nest egg at retirement could total $30,000.'' But Mr. Gale warns against undue optimism. How would the Government prevent families from borrowing on their credit cards to deposit money into the tax-advantaged accounts? Would Congress let people invade their retirement accounts for pressing needs like a medical catastrophe or |
1084342_2 | U.S. JUDGE ORDERS PILOTS IN SICKOUT TO RETURN TO JOB | sick list. ''We are going to scrupulously comply with the order,'' said Brian Mayhew, a captain and vice president of the union. ''That will not remove the elements of frustration and anger that is in the pilot group as a result of the fact that the company is not addressing our core concerns in the negotiations.'' The dispute between American and the pilots centers on how American integrates Reno Air, the carrier in Nevada that American bought in December for $124 million. American said it would take a year to 18 months to integrate Reno's 25 airplanes and 300 pilots into its operations. But the union says that American is violating its contract with the union, which requires all flying at the airline to be done by its members. It demands that American integrate Reno faster and pay all pilots as if the merger has been completed. American Airlines terminals at airports nationwide were largely quiet yesterday, though passengers continued to complain of long delays and poor service from American Airlines personnel. The airline estimated that about 90,000 passengers were inconvenienced by yesterday's cancellations and said that it was doing its best to accommodate passengers from canceled flights on later departures or on rival airlines. Among the flights canceled at Kennedy International Airport in New York yesterday were five to San Francisco, two to Los Angeles and two to London's Heathrow Airport. Peter Koumers said he had waited on the telephone for two hours Tuesday night to try to find out the status of his trip to the British Virgin Islands before finally giving up. He and his wife, Jackie, arrived at Kennedy from their home on Long Island yesterday morning with their two daughters, ages 1 and 3, only to find that their 11:30 A.M. flight to Puerto Rico had been canceled. American then booked them on a Tower Air flight departing at 11 P.M. ''We spent 60 bucks to get here in the limo with all the luggage and the girls,'' he said. ''Now they're going nuts. It's definitely a hassle, but we're going to go anyway.'' Karla Speed, a caterer from Dallas, and her husband got as far as Miami's airport on their way to Costa Rica to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. After spending the night in a hotel, they were hoping to get on a 6 P.M. flight yesterday. ''We had planned a very expensive |
1084239_0 | Baiting the Hooks; How Internet Merchants Keep Customers Coming Back | IF suckers are born every minute, there is a new technique every second to capture some of them on the Web. Here are some of the ways Web site designers lure people in and transform them from surfers into loyal customers. The first and most obvious -- and perhaps the most subtle -- is to make the visitor feel part of a community. Amazon.com is a place where book lovers can get thoughtful and often erudite advice about books (never mind that some publishers pay to have their books featured on the site). The Ebay chat boards welcome lovers of Elvis memorabilia to a place where they can send E-mail to other lovers of Elvis memorabilia, and Furby owners can send E-mail using their fuzzy dialects without anyone from the rest of the world raising an eyebrow. Much has been made of the Ebay model. What it really provides for some people is shopping as entertainment, which is why some people keep going back for more of both. Shopping sites may also offer user-friendly technology. Amazon.com has what could be called a Dwim -- ''do what I mean'' -- search function. If someone wants to find an Alanis Morissette CD, ''it doesn't matter how many n's, r's or s's you put in,'' said David Risher, senior vice president for product development at Amazon. ''We look at misspellings people have made the day before,'' he explained. That's smart technology -- basically learning from shoppers' dumb mistakes. Most sites worth their salt will send instantaneous E-mail messages to confirm an order, with periodic updates on the status of shipping. Amazon.com keeps track of the books you have bought and sends E-mail suggestions about new releases that might appeal to you. Even if the recipient doesn't buy, such E-mail messages can still sell books. ''I frequently forward them to other people,'' said Marnie Berk, a lawyer in New York. She said many of her time-pressed co-workers were addicted to Amazon because they did not have time to step out to visit a real-life bookstore. Many Web sites keep track of information about you, including credit card numbers, to speed sales. For customers who are wary of giving out credit card information, some sites provide a toll-free number and let you create an order on line and arrange payment by phone. Peapod.com, a grocery service, has a practice function that allows people in certain |
1084383_4 | ONE CITY, TWO CUBAS: A special report.; Miami's Exiles: Side by Side, Yet Worlds Apart | classmates in language school even if I have to go out of my way.'' Eduardo Marquez, 30, arrived in the United States after a year in American refugee camps Panama and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Only one of several distant relatives offered to put him up when he finally got here in 1995, and then only for two weeks. He said no thanks. ''They think we all steal,'' he said. Mr. Marquez, a painter and sculptor who sold his art on the streets of Havana, said his relatives had also painted too rosy a picture of life here. ''I thought that this was a wonderland, that you'd kick a rock and money would fall out,'' he said. Instead, he has bounced from job to job while struggling to start a pest control business. Mr. Marquez does not regret leaving Cuba. The island, however, still has the pull of the 7-year-old daughter and a brother. ''I'm not political but from a human standpoint, they're killing of hunger the people, not Fidel,'' Mr. Marquez said, explaining why he opposed the American trade embargo of Cuba. ''People here think that in Cuba a group could get organized to take Fidel out. That's really easy to say with a full stomach.'' The First Wave A Cuba Recalled, Then Recreated It is true that many older exiles have lost touch, living off of memories that may or may not be accurate. But full stomachs have not tempered the craving for their homeland of those who settled here in the 1960s, fleeing the radicalization of the island and fearing political persecution and Communist indoctrination of their children. They have recreated pre-revolution Cuba here, renaming streets after Cuban martyrs, reactivating Cuban social clubs, trade organizations and businesses, filling supermarket shelves with ''Cubano'' versions of coffee, cheese and bread. In this parallel Cuban universe, Jose Lopez-Silvero, 78, and Alfredo Blanco, 80, president and vice-president of the Sugar Producers of Cuba Inc., which represents those whose companies were nationalized by the Castro regime, can say exactly how much their former sugar mills are producing today and how much the workers earn. They have not seen Cuba since they left in 1960, but their information is all first-hand, gleaned from recent arrivals and letters from Cuba. Their ties, while no longer familial, remain emotional. The former sugar producers want to recover their nationalized properties, which had been with some families for |
1082051_0 | THE MARKETS: COMMODITIES | SUGAR FALLS NEARLY 5 PERCENT. Brazilian producers sold to take advantage of the strong dollar, compared with the weak Brazilian real; sugar is priced in dollars. The March contract fell 0.35 cent, to 6.76 cents a pound. |
1082073_2 | Orthodox Confront U.S. Reform Rabbis at Western Wall | a giant ultra-Orthodox synagogue.'' The Western Wall, the most hallowed Jewish site, has long been a battleground between traditional and less-traditional Jews. The prayer area directly in front of the wall is divided into men's and women's sections, as in Orthodox synagogues, with the men's area being much larger. The Reform and Conservative movements have petitioned the Israel Supreme Court for the right to hold mixed services before the wall. A group called Women of the wall has sought court orders to let them read from the Torah and wear prayer shawls there. Strictly Orthodox leaders here and in the United States have successfully fought all attempts to change the status quo at the wall. One Orthodox group, Am Echad, faxed a statement from New York today to condemn the Reform rabbis' trip as a provocation. The statement linked the visit to recent Supreme Court orders, growing out of suits brought by Reform and Conservative Jews, that grant new rights to non-Orthodox Jews. The letter, from Rabbi Avi Shafran, said in part: ''It is unfortunate and, sadly, all too telling that some members of the Reform clergy seem determined to create confrontation not only in the Jewish State's courts and legislature, but at what Jewish tradition considers the holiest spot in the world. ''We ask this morning's American visitors to turn their energies to constructive, not destructive, ends, to confront the plagues of assimilation and intermarriage that are raging in their own American communities, and allow Israel's Jews to preserve their own relationship with Jewish religious law and tradition.'' The confrontation boils down to a showdown between Jews over the legitimacy of Reform and Conservative Judaism, the dominant movements in the United States, which are very small here. Most Israelis are what the society here calls secular, meaning that they do not belong to a synagogue or obey Jewish law, although many observe the Sabbath and most celebrate all Jewish holidays. Last week the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Eliahu Bakshi-Doron, lashed out at the Reform movement, saying that by sanctioning assimilation it had led to the loss of more Jews than the Holocaust. He later apologized. But is not uncommon to hear such language. There is even what some would call hypersensitivity to historical references. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a new campaign slogan over the weekend that declared him ''a strong leader for a strong people,'' the opposition Labor |
1083000_1 | Beliefs | division has probably been between ''modern Orthodox,'' as they have termed themselves, who believe that a strict observance of Jewish law is compatible with an extensive involvement in the social, intellectual and professional life of contemporary America, and a more separatist, inward strand of Orthodoxy that rejects modernity in a much more sweeping fashion as incompatible with Jewish values. The two groups split sharply in their attitudes toward secular education. The modern Orthodox have valued the study of Western science, literature and art and have enthusiastically entered the professions. Yeshiva University has been their flagship institution in trying this synthesis between modern culture and traditional observance. The separatists, now labeled ultra-Orthodox by critics or, more neutrally, ''haredim'' (''those who tremble'' in fear of the Lord), have always rejected such secular pursuits as distractions. Most secular schooling should be limited to what is needed for young people to support a family and devote themselves wholeheartedly to religious study and practice. So what about this bifurcated Orthodox world has changed? Primarily, three things. The modern Orthodox have increasingly felt the pressure of demands for new roles for women not simply in organizational leadership but in areas of religious life where any reinterpretation of Jewish law is sure to be controversial. Orthodox leaders of all stripes have always insisted that the Reform and Conservative movements (to which the vast majority of American Jews adhere) are deviations from authentic Judaism. But recent developments -- the Conservative and Reform ordination of female rabbis, for instance, or the Reform movement's new acceptance of intermarriage and homosexuality, or the effort of both movements to get a legal foothold in Israel's religious life -- have turned the border between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox into a virtual free-fire zone. Anyone daring to reach across it, as some modern Orthodox have done, is in peril. Third, and most important, the ''haredim'' have increasingly become the dominant force in Orthodoxy. The causes and consequences of this ''turn to the right,'' as it has often been called, are brilliantly sketched by Jack Wertheimer, a professor of American Jewish history and the provost at Jewish Theological Seminary, in the February issue of Commentary magazine. Young people from modern Orthodox backgrounds, for example, now often spend a year or two in Israel, pursuing religious studies in settings where haredi influence is strong. Orthodox day schools, summer camps and youth programs are disproportionately staffed by |
1085438_4 | AT&T Fights for Control of Its Cable Lines in Struggle Over Internet Access | and immediacy they now enjoy as they retrieve television channels. Roughly half a million Americans now have high-speed Internet access at home through cable or phone lines; by 2002, according to Forrester Research Inc., that number is expected to grow to 16 million, about 80 percent through cable. ''It's like a fire hose as opposed to an eye dropper,'' said Gary Gardner, executive director of the Washington Association of Internet Service Providers (I.S.P.'s), a Seattle-based group of Internet companies around the state that want access to the cable lines. AT&T rejects the notion that it is developing any sort of monopoly on hookups to the Internet. ''Cable-modem technology is an attractive way of providing high-speed access, but it is by no means the only way,'' said Scott Morris, an AT&T vice president in charge of negotiations with Seattle officials. ''The sooner At Home is deployed, the more aggressively local phone companies will roll out D.S.L., and the more reasonably they will price it.'' D.S.L. technology, named for digital subscriber lines, is used for high-speed access over standard telephone lines. Clearly, the company has prevailed for now in hundreds of communities that have granted approval for it to take over their local cable franchises from TCI, but regulators in many of those places say they eventually want to impose ''open access'' rules on cable. In Seattle, the City Council, also due to vote on license approval on Tuesday, appears ready to say yes, with the general understanding that it may negotiate access rules later. ''It does absolutely no good for anybody in Seattle to have TCI and AT&T not invest money here, to have them stop because they're stuck in litigation,'' said Tina Podlodowski, a former Microsoft executive who now heads the City Council's public safety, health and technology committee, which oversees cable matters. Federal regulators have taken much the same position for now, saying they do not want to do anything that would deter companies like AT&T from upgrading cable lines. AT&T also says that providing for ''open access'' would be far more complicated and expensive than opening up its long-distance lines was, a contention that other Internet companies reject. ''Feasibility, schmeasibility,'' said Chris Miller, an employee of Mindspring, a rival Internet service provider, at the recent City Council hearing. Mr. Morris, of AT&T, said new regulations would hamper access for everybody and were unnecessary. ''The whole point here is, |
1085446_0 | Setting Rules for Biotechnology Trade | Delegates from about 170 nations are meeting this week to complete an international biotechnology safety treaty that the United States Government and many American companies fear could greatly restrict exports of food and other products made using genetic engineering. The Biosafety Protocol, which is being negotiated this week in Cartagena, Colombia, would require that exports of genetically modified organisms be approved in advance by the importing country. The negotiations are an outgrowth of the Convention on Biological Diversity drawn up at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. They are being held because of concern about the release of genetically modified plants and animals into the environment. In genetically altering an organism, genes from one species may be spliced into another to confer certain desirable traits, like resistance to blights or pests. One concern is that these enhanced organisms could overtake and displace native species, reducing the variety of the gene pool. But Washington and many American companies say such new rules could impede tens of billions of dollars of annual exports of seeds, grains and perhaps even products like breakfast cereal made from genetically modified corn, or blue jeans made using genetically modified cotton. ''It could create enormous disruption to existing patterns of international trade with no benefits to the environment or human health,'' said Val Giddings, vice president for food and agriculture at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group. ''Some of the proposals would put in place a draconian regime that we have never seen before except for highly toxic and hazardous substances.'' Washington thinks it is appropriate to have a treaty covering genetically modified seeds, said Rafe Pomerance, deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and development and head of the American delegation in Cartagena. What worries the Government and American companies is that some nations are proposing that the new rules cover not only seeds, plants and animals but also genetically altered corn, soy beans and other agricultural commodities. Some proposals would go even further and apply the treaty to products made using genetic engineering, like pharmaceuticals, cookies made from genetically altered grain, or even paper containing corn starch made from genetically altered corn. ''The protocol is being written to cover living modified organisms which have the potential to threaten the environment,'' said Steven Daugherty, director of government and industry relations at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, the world's largest seed company. ''It's hard to |
1088234_1 | State to Closely Monitor Integration Of Disabled In Preschool | ''integrated settings.'' Since the suit was filed, the state and city have enacted a series of reforms that have been reducing the number of students in segregated settings, spokesmen for the state and city as well as lawyers for the plaintiffs said yesterday. The settlement on Thursday, overseen by Judge Eugene H. Nickerson, largely sets up monitoring by lawyers for the plaintiffs and the state in an effort to insure compliance, said Roger Juan Maldonado, a lawyer who worked on the suit with Advocates for Children, a nonprofit group. Since 1975, the Federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act has guaranteed children as young as 3 the right to free and appropriate education in the least restrictive settings, leaving it up to the states to carry out the programs. Most preschoolers with disabilities have relatively mild difficulties like speech impairments, but the program also includes the severely handicapped and mentally retarded. To the extent possible, state regulations say, pupils who do not require special treatment should receive their services as part of regular day care or nursery school or at home. ''If you have a child with a speech impediment you do not have to put him in a classroom of kids all of whom have speech impediments,'' Mr. Maldonado said. ''They might benefit when the rest of the kids don't have a speech impediment because they might learn from them by mimicking them.'' More children are being mixed in with their general-education peers, according to the state, which enacted a law in 1996 that effectively required school districts to play a larger role in evaluating and referring children for treatment. Previously, private agencies handled much of that task, and critics say it drove up enrollments and costs. The state's preschool education program for disabled students grew from 18,000 students, at a cost of $226 million, in 1989 to 55,730 in 1995, costing $600 million. Of the approximately 20,000 3- and 4-year-olds with disabilities in New York City in the 1997-98 school year, 76 percent were not in general-education classes, compared with 84 percent the year before, according to a state report released last month. The report did not include the costs, which a state official said yesterday were still being collected. The settlement requires the state to collect more data on where the students were placed and to spell out guidelines more clearly for referring students to segregated programs. |
1088164_4 | When Ideas Get Lost in Bad Writing; Attacks on Scholars Include a Barbed Contest With 'Prizes' | ideas. There's something unfinished about it.'' Mr. Bhabha's work won second place in this year's Bad Writing Contest with an essay that included the words: ''If, for a while, the ruse of desire is calculable for the uses of discipline soon the repetition of guilt, justification, pseudo-scientific theories, superstition, spurious authorities, and classifications can be seen as the desperate effort to 'normalize' formally the disturbance of a discourse.'' He responded to winning the bad writing prize with what his critics might say was uncharacteristic brevity: ''I'm trying not to write bad sentences, particularly not ones that will be read in New Zealand,'' the home of Denis Dutton, the editor of the journal that sponsors the contest. Just why is there is so much of what some call ''bad'' or what others call ''demanding'' writing? Ms. Nussbaum says scholars are sometimes encouraged to write in obscure language. ''Graduate students in analytic philosophy often get the message that if you write in a way that is accessible to nonspecialists, it means you are going to hurt your career,'' she said. Ralph Hexter, dean of humanities at the University of California at Berkeley, who has written on difficult language in classics scholarship, says that some scholarly language is a result of an effort to make literary or cultural criticism ''a human science.'' He said, ''A more scientific approach creates an expectation that there might be a scientific vocabulary.'' Mr. Hexter conceded that sometimes a scholar who uses difficult language makes it ''harder to recognize good writing or bad writing.'' ''If you define good writing as clarity, limpidity,'' he said, ''most of this will be by definition bad writing.'' Both Mr. Hexter and Mr. Bhabha say that one reason academic writing is sometimes hard to understand is that the work of the new generation of scholars is heavily influenced by the Continental philosophers, Europeans like Sartre, Hegel and Jacques Derrida, who are practitioners of difficult language themselves. ''The basic orientation of Anglo-American philosophy has been very empirical,'' said Mr. Bhabha, who was born in India and trained at Oxford University. But ''South Asian and Continental traditions tend to be more metaphoric and symbolic in their use of language.'' Contemporary scholars, he added, are also ''interested in the process of language itself,'' that is, in the way in which words and sentence structure can distort meaning to fit ideological or political agendas. Indeed, the current |
1088261_4 | When Ideas Get Lost in Bad Writing; Attacks on Scholars Include a Barbed Contest With 'Prizes' | ideas. There's something unfinished about it.'' Mr. Bhabha's work won second place in this year's Bad Writing Contest with an essay that included the words: ''If, for a while, the ruse of desire is calculable for the uses of discipline soon the repetition of guilt, justification, pseudo-scientific theories, superstition, spurious authorities, and classifications can be seen as the desperate effort to 'normalize' formally the disturbance of a discourse.'' He responded to winning the bad writing prize with what his critics might say was uncharacteristic brevity: ''I'm trying not to write bad sentences, particularly not ones that will be read in New Zealand,'' the home of Denis Dutton, the editor of the journal that sponsors the contest. Just why is there is so much of what some call ''bad'' or what others call ''demanding'' writing? Ms. Nussbaum says scholars are sometimes encouraged to write in obscure language. ''Graduate students in analytic philosophy often get the message that if you write in a way that is accessible to nonspecialists, it means you are going to hurt your career,'' she said. Ralph Hexter, dean of humanities at the University of California at Berkeley, who has written on difficult language in classics scholarship, says that some scholarly language is a result of an effort to make literary or cultural criticism ''a human science.'' He said, ''A more scientific approach creates an expectation that there might be a scientific vocabulary.'' Mr. Hexter conceded that sometimes a scholar who uses difficult language makes it ''harder to recognize good writing or bad writing.'' ''If you define good writing as clarity, limpidity,'' he said, ''most of this will be by definition bad writing.'' Both Mr. Hexter and Mr. Bhabha say that one reason academic writing is sometimes hard to understand is that the work of the new generation of scholars is heavily influenced by the Continental philosophers, Europeans like Sartre, Hegel and Jacques Derrida, who are practitioners of difficult language themselves. ''The basic orientation of Anglo-American philosophy has been very empirical,'' said Mr. Bhabha, who was born in India and trained at Oxford University. But ''South Asian and Continental traditions tend to be more metaphoric and symbolic in their use of language.'' Contemporary scholars, he added, are also ''interested in the process of language itself,'' that is, in the way in which words and sentence structure can distort meaning to fit ideological or political agendas. Indeed, the current |
1086419_4 | Greek Pride Is Stung By Capture Of Kurd | a small county. We need money and protection. I feel like our old character, our Greek identity, has disappeared. I never expected this from a Socialist Government. My ideals are shaken.'' Mr. Emmanuel and his friends said they thought idealism was part of the national character. ''Ours is a history of struggle for democracy, and this is not in line with that,'' he said. Some saw the loss of face in slightly less idealistic terms. ''I felt frustration,'' said Jason S. Stratos, president of the Federation of Greek Industries. ''No matter what we do, Turkey manages to get the upper hand.'' Except perhaps for those who helped sneak him in, very few Greeks say they think that Greece should have offered Mr. Ocalan asylum, an act that would have been tantamount to a declaration of war with Turkey. Rather, they bemoan Greece's weakness, first in failing to prevent Mr. Ocalan's supporters from sneaking him into Greece clandestinely and then for lending him ineffectual secret support that landed him in a Turkish prison. The critics view the case as a failure that has more resonance to Greeks than anyone else. He came here as an ''iketis,'' Mr. Kapsis said, using a word meaning supplicant that is derived from a religious law in ancient Greece that required sanctuary be given to those who sought it in a temple. ''Once he got into our country, we were morally obliged to shelter him.'' Mr. Kapsis paused and added a more practical approach, saying: ''The mistake was letting him in. There was no moral obligation until he set foot here.'' -------------------- Protests Over Arrest Continue ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 19 (AP) Protests over the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan, persisted today in Turkey and in Europe, Canada and the Middle East. In the fourth day of demonstrations in Kurdish southeastern Turkey, security forces fired on Kurdish protesters in Kiziltepe, killing one person, said Aslan Yildiz, an official of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party. The Government did not comment. It has arrested more than 1,000 Kurdish demonstrators since Mr. Ocalan's capture, said the independent Human Rights Association. Outside Turkey, demonstrations in support of Mr. Ocalan continued, although on a smaller scale than on Tuesday, when indignant Kurds seized embassies and consulates in more than 20 European cities. Greek embassies were a particular target because Mr. Ocalan had been hiding at the Greek Embassy in Kenya before being captured. |
1086437_4 | Internet Changes Language For :-) & :-( | electronic communication, is almost overwhelmingly flat, punchy and declarative.'' Nor is Mr. Birkerts consoled by the evidence that people who would not ordinarily write letters take quickly to E-mail, or that those who would never write a book happily self-publish on the World Wide Web. It is precisely the Internet's seductive instantaneousness, he argues, that leads to the impoverishment of language. ''The fact that there are floods of five-line communiques going back and forth between the circuits has little to do with the health of the language,'' Mr. Birkerts says. ''Have we added anything to the world if a lot more people are dashing off written things in the key of casual conversation?'' To avoid the pitfalls of instant delivery, The Paris Review, a leading fiction journal, refuses to take submissions by E-mail. ''I like to encourage anything that causes writers to slow down and think about what they're doing,'' said Daniel Kunitz, its managing editor. ''With E-mail, it's too easy for them to throw anything that seems like less than a first draft at us.'' But Larry Friedlander, a professor of English at Stanford University, where a required humanities course for first-year students has been revamped to include E-mail and Web site design, says the informal nature of Internet communication has improved his students' language skills. As students discuss readings in on-line forums, he says, they are using the technology to develop what he calls ''collage text writing,'' incorporating fellow-students' responses and other resources into their own work. ''The skills you see emerging quickly are qualitatively different from the ones students had before,'' Mr. Friedlander said. ''They are learning to quickly formulate ideas into written language and create an argument. What gets lost is a certain kind of polish and formal organization. But what they're getting is a fluency in writing that they didn't have.'' The professors who organized the Stanford class also considered how language should be defined when technology is changing the ways people communicate, enabling them to mix words with graphics, sound and video. For example, Mr. Friedlander explains that by encouraging students to design Web sites to express their ideas, ''we're trying to accept what the conceptual cultural climate is and to move forward instead of acting like it doesn't exist.'' People forget that ''language is a tool,'' he said. ''It's a tool with which we bring things together and create intimacy in our lives.'' |
1084573_0 | Government Moves to Conserve Remote Areas of National Forest | The Clinton Administration today suspended the construction of logging roads in most of the undeveloped back country of the national forests, decisively shifting forest policy toward conservation after a year of heated public debate. The move sets the stage for a broader review of long-term forest policy. The Administration will study not only the remote areas affected by the suspension, but also other undeveloped areas excluded from the moratorium and the larger expanses crisscrossed by an estimated 400,000 miles of roads. ''Some frontiers are not to be conquered,'' Dan Glickman, the Secretary of Agriculture, said, expressing bluntly that the Administration no longer wanted to make logging and other development the main purpose of the national forests. Road building will be suspended for 18 months, temporarily protecting about 33 million acres of publicly owned land. Most of the undeveloped areas are in the West, but others are scattered throughout the country. In effect, the moratorium began in January 1998, when the suspension was proposed. The agency has since collected some 50,000 comments from the public and felt the ire of powerful logging interests and their allies in Congress, but built few if any roads in the undeveloped areas. Roads do more than open up areas to logging. The construction causes erosion that damages water quality and breaks up habitats, which endangers wide-ranging species. It also allows for the introduction of disease and pests into pristine areas. The timber industry and lawmakers from the West who favor logging and other development on public lands called the plan irresponsible. But environmental advocates said it was a first step toward permanently protecting all forests where there has been no logging, mining or grazing. ''I think their long-term vision is to accede to the extremists, which is, basically, to get everyone out of the forest,'' said W. Henson Moore, the head of the American Forest Products Association, a trade group that represents timber and paper companies. Mr. Moore said building roads in the national forests provides more than logging jobs. Other benefits include offering access to the land for recreation and other uses, including firefighting. Senator Larry E. Craig, a Republican who represents Idaho, which has huge undeveloped forests, said the proposal ''has been widely unpopular and severely disrupted Idaho's rural communities.'' Conservation groups said they would work to seek permanent protection for all areas without roads, and to shape the agency's policies in areas |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.