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Home / News / Online Archives / Wired / 1999 / Worldwatch
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- 'I'm Dead, Jim' - Star Trek's Leonard McCoy was just a simple country doctor who, thanks to the marvels of 23rd century medicine, could dispense with barbarities like the surgeon's scalpel and instantly heal the horrific injuries inflicted upon crewmembers of the Starship Enterprise by Klingons and other malevolent life forms. Alas, the actor who portrayed him, DeForest Kelley, was merely a 20th century man whose allotted span in this mortal coil ran out on Friday. Kelley, whose character represented our basic humanity, is being mourned today by Trekkies the world over. Even Mr. Spock must be inwardly grieving. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20206.html
- 'Jenny Jones' Must Pay - A Michigan jury has decided that the producers of the Jenny Jones talk show must pay US$25 million to the family of a gay man murdered following a guest appearance on an episode dealing with secret admirers. The jury found the producers liable for the 1995 death of Scott Amedure, who revealed on TV that he had a crush on a friend, Jonathan Schmitz. Schmitz, who appeared on the show with Amedure under the impression that his secret admirer was a woman, shot Amedure to death three days later. The defendants argued that, while they may have given Schmitz the impression that his admirer was female, they could not have anticipated his violent reaction to the surprise. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19568.html
- 'Out' for a Walk - Prince Charles' popularity is soaring again in Old Blighty, so the future king of England decided to test it by taking "The Rottweiler" out for a very public walk. That would be longtime mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, who was given that unflattering sobriquet by the late Princess Diana. That Charles and Camilla are an item is hardly news to the British public, but they've been very discreet since Diana's death 16 months ago. The wraps came off Thursday night, when the couple staged a very public exit from London's Ritz Hotel, where they attended a birthday party for Camilla's sister. The press jackals were out in full force, and Charles and Camilla stopped, smiled, and waved to the flashbulbs before stepping into their carriage, a black limousine, and disappearing into the London night. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17620.html
- 'Poppa' Popped - "Big Poppa" will pay his debt to society. The pro wrestler was sentenced to five weekends in the county clink for trying to mow down a Georgia highway worker last year. Seems that "Big Poppa" (or Scott Rechsteiner to the state of Georgia) took umbrage after the worker, Paul Kaspereen, told him that a freeway exit was closed. Rechsteiner hit Kaspereen twice with his truck before speeding away. He only winged him, and Kaspereen managed to get the license number as "Big Poppa" took off. The law arrested him at home. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18618.html
- 'Smile, You're Busted' - It's bad enough when the cops come crashing into your apartment at 3 a.m., armed with a search warrant and looking for drugs. But do they have the right to bring the bright lights of the media along? The Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of this when it rules on two cases, one from Maryland and the other from Montana. In the Maryland case, sheriff's deputies entered a home with a Washington Post photographer in tow, who got some nice shots (never published) of the suspect's father in his underwear. In Montana, CNN was invited to accompany police searching for evidence of eagle poisoning. With the cameras rolling, they burst in on 71-year-old Paul Berger, who was suffering from high blood pressure and recovering from pneumonia. Berger's attorney was not amused when he subsequently discovered that a Fish and Wildlife agent was equipped with a hidden microphone to help CNN get an audio feed. The court must decide whether the Fourth Amendment has been trashed in these cases. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18687.html
- 'World' Ending - Another World, perhaps the most venerable of television soap operas, goes off the air Friday after a 35-year run, the victim of changing demographics that bode ill for the entire industry. The soaps, which have seen their ratings fall steadily for a decade now, are finding it difficult to sustain viewers as more women go to work and the likes of Jerry Springer vomit publicly and gobble up audience share. Another World's producers are promising a boffo finale. Might as well go down with your guns blazing. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20326.html
- 23 Bids Adieu - Michael Jordan, maybe the greatest basketball player of all time but a first-rate pitchman in any case, made his retirement from the NBA official at a press conference Wednesday in Chicago. Jordan, who leaves the NBA after playing 13 seasons and leading the Bulls to six titles, thanked Chicagoans, adding (oddly) that he was glad he could help erase the "gangster image" associated with the Toddlin' Town. He also thanked NBA commissioner David Stern and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf who, until last week, were on the other side of the acrimonious NBA labor quagmire. What's next for Mike? Well, not baseball. He promised he wouldn't try that again. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17312.html
- 9 Die in Jet Crash - As many as nine people are dead and another 80 injured after an American Airlines jet skidded off a rain-slickened runway at the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas late Tuesday and broke apart. Flight 1420 from Dallas-Fort Worth was attempting to land in bad weather when the accident occurred, FAA officials said. Winds of up to 87 mph were pounding the Little Rock area, and hail and lightning also hampered the pilot of the MD-80 aircraft. The flight carried 139 passengers and six crew. While FAA investigators won't say the crash landing was caused by the weather, there was no distress call from the pilot before the landing. The deaths were the first involving a US carrier in two years. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19982.html
- A Bee Siege - A truck carrying millions of bees overturned, releasing a black cloud of angry bees that closed a highway in Maine for eight hours. Firefighters were helpless to deal with the situation until professional beekeepers gave them some good advice: Spraying the hives with water calmed the bees so crews could load them onto another truck. One officer explained the bees were fooled into thinking the weather had changed and stayed in their hives to wait out the rain. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19592.html
- A Goofy Idea? - In the astronomical equivalent of getting impeached, scientists are considering stripping Pluto of its planetary status, arguing that it's too small and has a weird elliptical orbit. Poobahs from the International Astronomical Union are weighing that possibility, along with a suggestion to reclassify Pluto, which is smaller than Earth's moon, as a "minor" planet. Pluto was spotted in 1930, and many astronomers argue that if the discovery occurred today, there's no way it would be classified with the other so-called Big Eight. In space, it seems, size matters. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17459.html
- A New Homeland - With the thermometer locked up at 45 below zero, it might not seem like much of a prize. But to the Inuit, or Eskimos, this land in the Northwest region of Canada is a place they have always called home. And now they can finally point to themselves on a map. At midnight, as Thursday became Friday, a new territory was born in Canada: Nunavut. Roughly the size of Western Europe, the land used to be part of Canada's Northwest Territories. The creation of the new territory represents a gesture by the Canadian government to balance the books with its native population. Nunavut has an Inuit majority and will be nominally ruled by a native government, although Ottawa still calls the shots on the big things. While some Canadians have opposed Nunavit, arguing that the only thing it creates is a spirit of racial tribalism, the territory's new governors insist that they intend to represent all residents equally. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18929.html
- A Piece of Elvis - Hey, Elvis impersonators.... Why wear a cheap knockoff of one of The King's sequined jumpsuits when you can own the real McCoy? That's right, you can own an actual jumpsuit that once encased the corpulent frame of the Tupelo Torpedo himself, or any of nearly 2,000 other personal Pelvis possessions. Icollector.com has cut a deal with Elvis Presley Enterprises to auction off all kinds of items once owned by Mr. Blue Hawaii, from his address book to his Social Security card to a 1971 Cadillac from his car collection. The online auction will take place over three days in October, although a catalog will be available beforehand and bids can be submitted by email. You all shook up? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20870.html
- A Royal Licking - The Mirror of London says new British stamps featuring Prince Edward and his bride-to-be are sucky. Or, to be precise, the tabloid says two cheek-to-cheek portraits of the couple, looking self-satisfied in matching polo shirts were "the cheesiest of royal pictures yet taken." That's saying something. The Mirror had one word for the new stamps in its front-page headline: "Yuk." Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones are to be married in June. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19637.html
- A Two-Star Sport - Baseball season opens today (OK, it actually began Sunday night with the Padres losing to the Rockies in Monterrey, Mexico), but it's worth noting that the Anaheim Angels concluded their exhibition slate with a game against Cal State Fullerton. At shortstop for the Titans, Kevin Costner, a Fullerton alum, who has made two baseball movies (Field of Dreams and Bull Durham) and is just completing a third (For the Love of the Game). Although Costner went hitless in three at-bats and dropped a pop fly that cost the Titans the ballgame, he impressed the big leaguers, making a fine backhand play at short. He also pitched two-thirds of an inning, striking out rookie Jeb Daugherty and retiring Angels manager Terry Collins on a grounder. The guy you really have to feel bad for is Daugherty. Struck out by a 44-year-old actor? See ya, kid. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18952.html
- A Votre Santé - There's new evidence that a glass of wine with dinner may be good for your health. A study of 36,000 middle-aged Frenchmen found that moderate wine drinkers had roughly half as many fatal heart attacks as teetotalers. Previous studies have shown that up to three glasses of wine daily can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The latest research also showed that wine drinkers were less likely to suffer fatal diseases such as cancer or, for that matter, violent death. While any alcohol consumption increases the chance of cancer, wine contains cancer-fighting compounds such as resvaratrol, that appear to offset the risk among moderate drinkers. The study showed that excessive drinking doubled the risk of cancer. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21714.html
- Acquitted - In the end, it wasn't even close. The US Senate voted Friday to acquit President Clinton on both impeachment articles, meaning he will serve out the balance of his term. On the article of perjury, senators voted 54-45-1 for acquittal, with eight Republicans joining a solid Democratic bloc for the president. By voting "not proven" on perjury, Republican Arlen Specter forfeited his vote, but made his point. For obstruction, the Senate split 50-50, with five Republicans -- including Specter -- crossing over to vote not guilty. In both cases, a two-thirds majority (67 votes) was needed for conviction. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17892.html
- Aiming at Guns - Can gunmakers be held liable for gun violence? A federal jury in New York begins deliberating the question Thursday, and the decision could have lasting repercussions for one of America's hot-button issues, gun control. Gunmakers argue that their product is legal, that they can't stop illegal firearms from entering the country, and that they can't control criminals. Plaintiffs -- including several families who have lost relatives to gun-related deaths -- counter that manufacturers knowingly sell their guns in markets with lax laws, guns which later turn up on the black market. Several American cities -- Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, and Bridgeport, Connecticut -- are suing the industry. Others, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, are considering it. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17730.html
- Air-Brained Scheme - Like a lot of people, Peter and Marguerite Harrison decided to celebrate the millennium by taking a trip to someplace special. The Harrisons, who live in London, settled on Australia. But they were smart about it, reserving their tickets well in advance. As a result, they managed to snag a couple of first-class return tickets to Sydney for a mere 999 pounds (US$1,607) apiece. If they'd bought those tickets last week, they would have paid 5,773 pounds ($9,240). Let that be a lesson to you. It pays to shop early, like the Harrisons did when they bought their tickets ... in 1983. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21292.html
- Alabama Killings - Police have released the names of three men shot to death Thursday by a disgruntled former coworker in Pelham, Alabama. Lee Holbrooks, 32, and Christopher Yancey, 28, were employed by Ferguson Enterprises and Terry Jarvis, 39, worked for Port Airgas. The suspect, whose age was given as 34 and remained unidentified, was a former employee of both companies. He was arrested by police following a car chase. The shootings occurred one week after a daytrader killed 9 people at two Atlanta brokerage houses. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21130.html
- Alaskan Avalanche - An avalanche in the mountains 50 miles south of Anchorage killed three snowmobilers Sunday. Three more were injured and two people remained missing. Alaska state troopers were probing the snow at sundown, trying to find survivors. It's been nine days since another avalanche partially buried skiers at an Alaskan resort. Those victims esaped injury. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18626.html
- American Kristallnacht - A commission will decide next week what, if any, reparations should be awarded to the few survivors of one of the worst race riots in American history, CNN reports. On 31 May 1921, whites and blacks clashed in Tulsa, Oklahoma after the attempted lynching of a black man accused of assaulting a white woman, a charge which was later proven to be false. In the bloodbath that followed, anywhere from 300 to 3,000 people -- mostly black -- were killed, although the official history puts the death toll at under 100. However, archaeologists using ground-piercing radar have discovered evidence of a mass grave outside a Tulsa cemetery. The survivors, most of them in their 80s and 90s, aren't interested in money. But they think an apology would be nice. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21081.html
- And the Winners Are ... - The 1998 Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded Monday to The Hours by Micheal Cunningham. Set in New York, the novel is based on Virginia Woolf's classic, Mrs. Dalloway. Also honored was Margaret Edson, a 37-year-old kindergarten teacher who was cleaning her classroom when she learned of winning the drama award for Wit, her unsentimental play about a woman's fight with ovarian cancer, and Duke Ellington, who was posthumously awarded a special music citation, for his "indelible contribution to art and culture," on the centennial of his birth. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19087.html
- Ankle Oglers - Capri pants, that unfortunate legacy of the '50s now hugging the hips and exposing the ankles of fashion-conscious women in the '90s, may go unisex by next spring, a leading men's fashion association predicts. Men's pantlegs will be moving up the leg, mavens say, from just above the ankle to just below the knee. Like those black, horned-rim glasses and ugly plaid, short-sleeved shirts men sport today, the idea is, in the words of one flack, so square that it's hip. That's a matter of opinion. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/22070.html
- Anniversary Day - On this day in 1945, Major General Alfred Jodl signed Germany's surrender in a little schoolhouse in Reims, France, ending World War II in Europe. Nine years later, the French grip on its colonial possessions in Asia was dealt a fatal blow with the crushing defeat at Dien Bien Phu. While the anniversary of Germany's surrender is passing quietly in Europe, the Vietnamese marked the 45th anniversary of their decisive victory with a colorful, patriotic celebration at the site of the old battlefield in the Vietnam highlands. To the stirring strains of martial music, medal-bedecked veterans of the battle, wearing their distinctive green pith helmets, paraded before thousands of cheering spectators. For Americans, Dien Bien Phu is of more than passing interest, for it was they who stepped into the void left by the French. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19564.html
- Another School Shooting - Two gunmen in black trenchcoats and wearing ski masks opened fire in a Littleton, Colorado high school Tuesday, wounding at least 16 students, according to first reports. SWAT teams, joined by more than 100 police officers, surrounded Columbine High School, where the gunmen are believed to be holding hostages. CNN reported that explosions and gunfire could be heard coming from inside shortly after the gunmen stormed the school around 11:30 a.m. local time. One of the victims, a girl, was reportedly shot nine times in the chest. No fatalities have been confirmed. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19228.html
- Another View - Ah, the Brits, lord love 'em. Never miss a chance to tweak their knuckle-dragging cousins across the Pond. British journalists took their most recent pot shot after watching with bemusement as Americans along the Eastern Seaboard panicked and fled in the face of Hurricane Floyd, which turned out to be a tempest in a teapot. The British press -- that bastion of restraint -- chided the US media for overreacting and stampeding the herd. "In evacuating 1 percent of its population, the most powerful nation in the world has demonstrated an astonishing ability to mobilize its people, even in a near-pointless cause," wrote Bronwen Maddox in The Times of London. "At the same time, the latest gun massacre shows America's inability to tackle one of the gravest threats to the lives of its citizens." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21825.html
- Apparent Suicide - The actor who played Todd, a character on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan, apparently hanged himself in a Las Vegas motel room. David Strickland's body was discovered by an employee of the Oasis Motel on Monday, hanging from a bedsheet strung from a beam. A chair and an empty six-pack of beer were nearby. Strickland, 28, joined the cast of Suddenly Susan three seasons ago. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18657.html
- Assassination in Paraguay - Gunmen shot Paraguay's vice president to death Tuesday as he entered his office in the capital of Asuncion, the Associated Press reported. The slaying of Luis Maria Argana, the country's former foreign minister under dictator Alfredo Stroessner, comes only a month after the Paraguayan congress began impeachment proceedings against President Raul Cubas. Paraguay, a dictatorship for 35 years, returned to democratic rule in 1989. Argana's killers fled after the shooting. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18660.html
- Assassins Foiled - A bomb shattered a bridge Sunday, killing four people shortly before Pakistan's prime minister was to cross it. A delayed trip saved the leader and his family from the assassination attempt. The explosion could be heard for miles around Raiwind, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lives. The government said the bombing, which also left three people wounded and two missing, was carried out by an ethnic party formerly allied with Sharif. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17100.html
- Assault by Air - The United States has Slobodan Milosevic surrounded. Not by ground troops -- which may ultimately be necessary to settle things in Yugoslavia -- but by radio transmitters, which the Americans are using to beam NATO's perspective on the fighting to the Serbs. Circling the country with FM transmitters makes it more difficult for Serbian authorities to jam the signal, even though the FM frequency is easier to disrupt than an AM signal. Serb speakers working for Radio Free Europe have been enlisted to broadcast to their countrymen in the hopes of undermining Milosevic's hold on Yugoslavia. The smart money says don't bet on it. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19031.html
- Atlanta Slayings - Police are still piecing together the details of Thursday's shootings in Atlanta, where Mark Barton, a day trader apparently sparked by stock market losses, went on a shooting rampage, killing nine people. He also bludgeoned to death his wife and two children, and had designs to kill several more victims before he was cornered by police and committed suicide. In-depth coverage from Lycos [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21022.html
- Attacks Underway - NATO air strikes against Serbian military targets, which have been threatened for weeks, began Wednesday, President Clinton said in a national address. Clinton told the American people that the allies hope to achieve three main objectives through these operations: to deter further Yugoslav military action against the Kosovo Albanians, to demonstrate NATO's commitment to peace in the region, and to undermine the Serbian army's capacity to wage war. CNN correspondents on the scene in Belgrade and Pristina, Kosovo's capital, reported hearing heavy explosions and small-arms fire but could not confirm any damage. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18701.html
- Austrian Avalanche - Seven people are confirmed dead, 20 have been rescued, and the rest remain missing after an avalanche struck near the Austrian resort town of Galtuer Tuesday afternoon, burying 55 people. Rescue workers said that most of those saved were badly injured by the avalanche, which struck around 4 p.m. local time. Blizzard conditions prevailed, keeping the injured from being evacuated and additional rescuers from being flown in. With fatal avalanches on Monday and Tuesday, Austria joins the list of Alpine countries hit hard by avalanches during a very hard winter in Europe. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18091.html
- Baby Boom - Reuters reports from Moscow that "a tipsy Russian priest accidentally set off a hand grenade after a weekend christening..." The explosion may have been unintentional, but it does leave some questions unresolved. Like what was a priest doing liquored up and waving around a hand grenade? The baby was unharmed in the "accident" but the priest and the baby's grandmother suffered some injuries. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17258.html
- Back to Berlin - A celebration tempered by the weight of history welcomed the German parliament home to Berlin Monday, a major step in returning the seat of government to the once and future capital. Legislators, led by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, entered a lavishly restored Reichstag building, unused by the German government since Adolf Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich in 1933. Schroeder assured his countrymen, many of whom opposed the restoration of Berlin as the national capital, that democracy remains strong in Germany and that its continuity will not be broken. An irony of Monday's move is that it coincides with Germany's participation with other NATO countries in the war against Yugoslavia, the first time German troops have attacked a sovereign nation since World War II. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19200.html
- Bad Apple - Parents often disapprove of failing grades. But when Dale Robinson saw his daughter's report card, he took matters into his own hands. Robinson was charged Wednesday with beating up his daughter's math teacher and breaking some of his teeth. Teacher Antonio Centeio had given Robinson's daughter a D-minus in math and a D in effort. Robinson, a self-described minister and youth counselor, pleaded innocent to assault and battery charges. School officials said it wasn't the first time that Robinson had visited the school. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18263.html
- Bad Dog - Police in the southwestern German town of Bad Urach ruled out both suicide and foul play in the shotgun death of a 51-year-old hunter, whose body was found alongside his car earlier this week. Left with no other scenario, the Polizei concluded that the man -- who was not identified in news reports -- must have been killed when his dog jumped onto the shotgun laying on the front passenger's seat, causing it to discharge. The NRA may want to amend its assertion that "guns don't kill people. People kill people." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21326.html
- Bad Vibes - What's approved for use -- even encouraged -- in China, but might result in a US$10,000 fine and serving some hard time in Alabama? A dildo, that's what. At least 14 states in the United States have passed laws banning the use of so-called marital aids. Now, four women are challenging the law in Alabama but according to a report on ABC.com, their chances of winning are slim. Sex toys have been banned for being both "obscene" and "harmful," although sex therapists dismiss the first as inane and the second as completely untrue. But with Georgia and Texas already having had their sex-toy bans upheld in court, it looks like a lot of long, lonely nights ahead for those Alabama ladies. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18026.html
- Bang for the Buck - The B-2 "stealth" bomber, heavily criticized for its costliness when unveiled as the eventual replacement for the B-52, made its combat debut in the skies over Yugoslavia Wednesday. A pair of B-2s took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, refueled over the mid-Atlantic, and hit targets in Kosovo after being airborne for 15 hours. The plane's primary tactical advantage is that it's nearly impossible to detect by radar. It carries a payload of 16 2,000-pound bombs, which can be individually directed to selected targets. The B-2, built by Northrop Grumman Corp., is indeed costly: roughly US$2.2 billion each. Total cost for the projected 21-bomber fleet is estimated at $44 billion. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18725.html
- Baseball Diplomacy - More than 50,000 Cuban fans, including baseball-lover President Fidel Castro, packed a Havana stadium Sunday to watch a US major league team take the field against a Cuban team for the first time in 40 years. The Baltimore Orioles defeated their hosts 3-2 in an 11-inning game that lasted four hours. But the home team was at a disadvantage, having never before played a game with wooden bats. In defiance of the longstanding trade embargo, wooden bats were brought in through a third country for the American exhibition game. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18786.html
- Battle of the Bimbos - Granted, it's not like being the queen of England or anything, but inquiring minds want to know: Just who is "Queen of the Internet" anyway? A story in The Wall Street Journal (of all places) says it's Pamela Lee. This drew instant fire from Cindy Margolis who, like her rival, is blonde and built. Cindy, whose prior claim to fame was working as the "prize pointer" on The Price Is Right, was royally peeved and the webmistress of her site made no bones about which babe is top dog online: "I don't know where Pamela Lee gets off," she fumed with righteous Hollywood indignation. "There's no question who rules the Internet." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19129.html
- Bayer's Big Headache - A federal lawsuit filed by a Holocaust survivor claims the German pharmaceutical giant paid Nazi doctors to perform experiments on Jews at Auschwitz. A lawsuit filed in US District Court in Indianapolis says Bayer supervised experiments in which prisoners were injected with germs to test the effectiveness of the company's drugs. Eva Kor of Terre Haute, Indiana, says her twin sister died from experiments she was subjected to as a child. Bayer has denied any involvement in the tests. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18038.html
- BBC Newscaster Slain - The Daily Mirror reports that a professional hitman may have murdered top BBC television personality Jill Dando, 37, who hosted a program that tracked down criminals. Police say the newscaster was killed by a single gunshot to the head outside her London home. Neighbors told police they saw a well-dressed man with a cellular phone fleeing the scene. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was deeply shocked to hear the news, calling Dando "totally charming and hugely talented." There had been press reports last year that Dando was being harassed by a stalker. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19332.html
- Beatles Reunion - The four lads from Liverpool will be reunited one last time -- if not in person (which would be a bit difficult) then at least in song. The three surviving Beatles plan to release a previously unpublished single later this summer. Recorded during the Yellow Submarine sessions in 1968, the song, with John Lennon singing lead, is described by a Beatles spokesman as "a real rocker." Unlike the 1995 single, "Free As a Bird," it will not be remixed and will be released in its original form. And once it's out, that's it, vow Messrs. McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. There will be nothing more from the most famous rock and roll band in history. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19599.html
- Beatles Reunion - Well, not really. But the three surviving Liverpool Lads are getting together to drum up publicity for a digitally enhanced reissue of Yellow Submarine, the animated Beatles feature movie from 1968. On 8 September, a specially painted yellow train will carry Paul, George, and Ringo from London to Paris (via the Chunnel) to coincide with the film's release. Digitally enhanced? The original, as we recall, was psychedelically enhanced. More from Lycos [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21090.html
- Beauty Scandal - It's not exactly the Dreyfus Affair, but sometimes you take what you can get. When Mareva Galanter won the title of Miss France, some French TV viewers smelled a rat. It turns out that Galanter, who hails from Tahiti, is related to popular French singer Sacha Distel, chairman of the jury that crowned her last December. On top of that, her grandmother was hatmaker to the pageant's chief organizer. And not only that, but a side jury of television viewers decided that the runner-up, Amelie Rudler, was prettier than Galanter anyway. Now, Galanter's detractors have retained an attorney and gone to court to have the poor girl stripped of her title. A ruling is expected next week. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20404.html
- Beavers Busted - They're busy, all right. A family of buck-toothed rodents has been gnawing Washington's famous blossoming cherry trees. Authorities have arrested two, and a third has been spotted between the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. The National Park Service called in a trapping company to catch the beavers, who have destroyed or damaged 14 trees since their attack began 1 April. They've brought down four cherries, five white cedars, and one holly. Four more cherry trees have been damaged and officials say two others might not survive. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19061.html
- Bedroom Eyes - Americans are lousy in the sack. Or a lot of them are, anyway. A study in the current Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that nearly one third of men and 43 percent of women suffer from some sort of sexual dysfunction -- either they don't like it, don't want it, or aren't any good at it. The study, billed as the most significant survey of American sexual behavior since the landmark Kinsey report in 1948, details a smorgasbord of hang-ups and physical problems: lack of desire, difficulty in becoming aroused, premature orgasms (or no orgasm at all), pain during sex, fear of failure, and sex without pleasure. So that's why Viagra's sales are skyrocketing. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17846.html
- Big Boost for Big Al - He hasn't announced his candidacy yet, but Al Gore is already running for president. If there were any lingering doubts, the vice president drooling in the background on Monday while House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt endorsed his candidacy should remove them. Gephardt, who loomed as Gore's most formidable rival for the Democratic nomination, decided to remain in Congress and work to secure a Democratic majority in the House, a goal that looks very obtainable come 2000. That leaves New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley as Gore's only declared obstacle, although you can't rule out Jesse Jackson, who seems bent on becoming the Harold Stassen of the '90s. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18482.html
- Big Bucks Breakup - One of those messy little divorce cases involving a scandalously wealthy couple -- the kind that makes good tabloid reading -- won't be going to court after all. When Paloma Picasso and her Argentine husband called it quits, he sued for half her fortune, estimated at around 500 million pounds ($815 million, give or take). Rafael Lopez-Cambil claimed that he helped his wife, daughter of Pablo, build her cosmetics business and was therefore entitled to half of everything. Now comes word that the couple, married since 1978, has agreed to settle matters outside the courtroom. No terms were disclosed. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17897.html
- Big Mac Attack - For McDonald's to prosper, cows must die. Be that as it may, the hamburger-slinger has been in discussions with an animal-rights group -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- to see how the fast-food monolith might help promote animal-rights issues within the industry. Those talks have gotten nowhere, apparently, and now the folks at PETA have lost patience. They're planning to launch a billboard and bumper-sticker campaign, chiding McDonald's for its foot-dragging. This doesn't sit well with CEO Jack Greenberg, who said he was "disappointed ... because we at McDonald's are sincere in our desire to provide leadership in the area of animal welfare." Yeah. Kill 'em with kindess. [Wired News]
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- Big Macs Under Attack - Those golden arches don't fall easily. Three McDonald's fast food restaurants in Belgrade, vandalized after NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia began 24 March, handed out 3,000 free burgers to celebrate their reopening over the weekend. Anti-war protesters had painted big bull's eyes on the buildings, identified with the NATO allies. A sign posted Saturday at one location said, "This restaurant is a target, as we all are. If it has to be destroyed, let it be done by NATO." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19194.html
- Birds Brained - Migrating songbirds are being killed at the rate of about 4 million each year, not by hunters or cats or other predators, but by radio transmission towers. According to a story in USA Today, the birds, which tend to fly after sundown, are attracted by the flashing beacons sitting atop the towers, which transmit TV, radio, and cell-phone signals. As a result, many soar headlong into the towers themselves, or into the guy wires, or into each other. The greatest toll is taken among the warblers, vireos, and thrushes, all champion flyers who migrate thousands of miles a year. Scientists have counted more than 42,000 dead birds at one tower alone -- a 1,000-foot structure in Florida -- over a 25-year span. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21554.html
- Bit o' the Grape - The wine industry -- armed with a few supporting studies -- has been singing the praises of its product as an aid to health. The US government is apparently convinced, since it's given the green light for vintners to put labels on their bottles touting the health-giving properties of wine. Studies do indicate that moderate amounts of red wine appear to reduce the risk of heart disease in some people. Of course, the key is moderation. If you don't believe it, ask a wino. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17770.html
- Biting Back - Hundreds of anglers armed with rod, reel, and raw steak flocked to the Brazilian town of Aracatuba in S o Paulo on Sunday for a one-day piranha fishing tournament. The townspeople have declared open season on the flesh-eating fish, which have decimated other species in the local river. The prize for Sunday's tournament was an outboard motor. But most fishermen were content to go home with plenty of piranha, reputed to be a powerful aphrodisiac. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19956.html
- Bitter Chocolate - Maybe they really do mean it as a compliment, but this being the '90s and all, feathers are easily ruffled. In any case, the Philippines is officially protesting a chocolate-covered cookie made in Spain and sold in Europe under the name "Filipinos." The former Spanish colony says the name is racist, but Nabisco Iberia SL, which makes the cookie, denies the charge. "It's a product of very high quality," said Nabisco, "along the lines of Colombian coffee, Swiss cheese, or Belgian waffles." Filipinos must have been doing a long, slow burn over this, seeing as how the cookies have been sold under that name in Europe for more than 10 years. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21493.html
- Black Farmers Win Suit - The US government will pay up to black farmers who say the Agriculture Department discriminated against them for decades in awarding loans and other aid. A deal reached Tuesday will give as many as 4,000 farmers a tax-free cash payment of US$50,000 and erase their USDA debts. The farmers have long complained they were denied government loans, disaster relief, and other aid because of their race, and did not get fair hearings from the USDA when they appealed. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17172.html
- Black Magic - Burkittsville, Maryland, a small town sandwiched between two Civil War battlefields, is the setting for The Blair Witch Project, the pseudo-documentary/horror film that goes into general release this week. But get this through your heads, people: While Burkittsville is real enough, the movie is a hoax. A fabrication. A FAKE. Law enforcement officials in Frederick County, where Burkittsville is situated, have been inundated by calls from moviegoers wanting to learn more about the evil, child-stealing witch who inhabits the area. Once again, folks, there is NO child-stealing witch. It's just a freakin' movie. [Wired News]
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- Blanket Coverage - What's good for the gander, in this case, is apparently good for the goose as well. Influenced by the fact that insurance companies are covering Viagra prescriptions, several state legislatures have passed measures requiring carriers to cover women's contraceptives, too. Eight states have already passed so-called "contraceptive equity" bills and a number of others, including California and New York, have them in the pipeline. The basic issue is fairness: Thinking legislators were struck by the fact that Viagra received coverage as soon as it became available while the birth-control pill has been ignored by insurance companies for 40 years. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20522.html
- Bodies Found - The bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette were found Wednesday off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, along with a large portion of the plane's fuselage. The bodies, along with the wreckage of the Piper Saratoga, will be retrieved by divers and brought aboard the USS Grasp, a Navy salvage vessel. A private mass for Kennedy and his wife will be held Friday morning in the New York City church that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis attended. A service for Lauren Bessette will be held Saturday in Greenwich, Connecticut. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20858.html
- Bombing Continues - NATO bombs continued to fall on Yugoslavia after generals representing the Belgrade government balked at the US-led alliance's stringent terms for withdrawing their troops from the breakaway province Kosovo. Talks between the two sides in Macedonia were recessed so that the Yugoslav officers could confer with their government. Their chief objections: the alliance's insistence on placing NATO troops in Kosovo, the rapid timetable for Yugoslav withdrawal, and the potential threat posed by Kosovar guerrillas. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20057.html
- Breaking Ranks - Two moderate Republican senators -- Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Vermont's James Jeffords -- have heard and seen enough. They said Wednesday that they'll vote to acquit President Clinton, basically because the evidence doesn't support a conviction. Actually, the Republicans just seem anxious to get it over with. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott is calling for a vote by 5 p.m. EST Thursday. Meanwhile, hopes for a censure appear to be fading as well. Jeffords, who says he'll vote against both articles of impeachment and expects at least 12 other Republicans to join him, doubts that the prosecution will get a simple majority for either article, let alone the two-thirds needed to convict. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17853.html
- Bringing Up Baby - According to a national study, Japanese fathers spend an average of 17 minutes a day with their kids, the International Herald Tribune reports. The findings, which prompted the Japanese government to begin urging men to get more involved with child rearing, have touched off a tempest in old Nippon. A lot of Japanese women think it's high time the old man spent more time at home and less time working and carousing with his cronies. A lot of men in this fiercely patriarchal society would just as soon the government mind its own business. But the times they are a changin': More women are in the workplace than ever before and equality issues have moved to the front burner. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19581.html
- Buck(ingham) Naked - Five men were arrested Tuesday after staging a nude demonstration outside Buckingham Palace. Authorities said the five were members of a group called The Right to Be Naked, about 20 of whom took turns disrobing. Four of the men were later released, but a police spokesman said a fifth -- who climbed naked onto a statue of Queen Victoria -- remained in custody. It was not clear whether Queen Elizabeth witnessed the demonstration. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20097.html
- Bull's Eye? - If a respected English literature professor has it right, Robin Hood and his "band of merrie men" really were, well, merry. According to Stephen Knight, a professor at England's Cardiff University, the legendary folk hero -- who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor -- was gay. Knight reached his conclusion, which has touched off a tempest in Old Blighty, after studying 14th century ballads that are the earliest known records of Robin's deeds. Because the 14th century was more circumspect than the 20th, there's no overt reference to Robin's sexuality. But, says Knight, the ballads "do contain a great deal of erotic imagery. The green wood [of Sherwood Forest] itself is a symbol of virility and the references to arrows, quivers, and swords make it clear, too." And what of Maid Marian, Robin's reputed love? A fabrication, asserts Knight, who maintains she was a 16th century invention to make the man in tights a bit more manly. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20676.html
- Bummer - Peace and love only go so far in the '90s, it seems. During the '60s, they managed to milk a whole summer out of the concept but now, at the century's close, they couldn't even sustain it for four days. The riot-and-arson spree that marred the close of the four-day "return to Woodstock" festival over the weekend was the handiwork of around 500 morons who let their Lord of the Flies mentality get the better of them. A few defended their action, calling it a reaction to the price gouging by food and souvenir vendors. You can bet some of them are home today, swilling their $3 lattes without batting an eye. The '90s ain't the '60s, honey, so don't bother trying. [Wired News]
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- Bummer, Man - It's a great local story: A rehabilitation house for addicted mothers is opening next month in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, hallowed hippie ground during the Summer of Love. The San Francisco Chronicle gleefully reported Thursday that the rehab center would be housed in the same Victorian once occupied by Janis Joplin, who by then was downing a quart of Southern Comfort a day to give her singing voice that nice, raspy edge. Great human interest, Scoop. Except the Chronicle, and the other media that latched onto it, got it wrong. Joplin actually lived in the house next door, where she hung out regularly with her neighbors: Jimi Hendrix, Country Joe McDonald, and the Jefferson Airplane. The newspaper made a playful retreat on Friday, blaming the error on the vagaries of hippie history. Sort of a "Purple Haze defense." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19822.html
- Business as Usual - A White House spokesman says President Clinton will go ahead with his State of the Union address, despite calls that he postpone it because of his impeachment trial. With the trial set to resume later this week, Clinton faces the daunting challenge of addressing Congress on 19 January in the midst of Senate proceedings that will determine whether he is removed from office. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17251.html
- Business is Booming - What's the business angle on a war? The Dow Jones service led a story on the Kosovo conflict this way: "A large-scale troop deployment in Yugoslavia might be a NATO foot soldier's worst nightmare. But to Brad Spahr, it doesn't sound so bad." Spahr, it turns out, runs a California company that manufactures rotary blades for the US Army's Apache helicopter, which figures to see plenty of action if ground troops are forced to go in after Big Bad Milosevic. Assuming some of the choppers go down, or at least foul some blades, a protracted war in the Balkans could mean a nice flow of black ink for Spahr's ledger. As for the flow of red blood, well, that's just an unfortunate byproduct in this line of work. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18922.html
- Campaign Trial - In a local TV interview, a Republican mayoral candidate in Baltimore had plenty to say about crime and discourteous cops. The cops had a few things to say about her, it turned out. A police officer watching the show recognized Dorothy Joyner as the woman he'd issued a warrant to last year for misdemeanor burglary. During her segment on Newsmaker Ms. Joyner described herself as a churchgoer with 30 years experience in education. Afterward, she made a second appearance for cameras as officers waiting outside the studios of WBFF-TV led her from the station in handcuffs. [Wired News]
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- Can I Get a Witness? - Congressional prosecutors said Thursday that President Clinton repeatedly put himself above the law and betrayed his oath of office in trying to hide his affair with Monica Lewinsky. During the first day of the impeachment trial, the House managers urged the Senate to call half a dozen witnesses. Democrats and the White House do not want witnesses called, saying there is already a mountain of evidence on record. White House lawyers will present their defense case beginning Tuesday, the same day the president is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17356.html
- Can I Get a Witness? - So much for civility. Senate Republicans say they have the votes to call witnesses at President Clinton's impeachment trial, and the White House is vowing to drag out the trial for weeks if they do. The Senate votes on the issue Wednesday, and Republicans expect a few Democrats to break ranks and agree to depose witnesses. Meanwhile, a Democratic motion to dismiss the charges is expected to fail along party lines. It looks like the gloves are coming off. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17561.html
- Capital Idea - Germany, as of Tuesday, is being governed from Berlin for the first time since the reign of Adolf Hitler. Rather than dwelling upon those unpleasant echoes lawmakers are looking to the future, and the move eastward says a lot about where the future of Europe is headed. With the former Communist-bloc nations chomping at the bit for admission into the European Union, Germany is well-placed -- and very inclined -- to help them. But the government's return to Berlin is also heavily symbolic, representing as it does the final restoration of Germany as a political -- and not just economic -- leader in Europe. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21613.html
- Cartman Goin' South? - Apparently there's a limit to the amount of bad taste people will tolerate, even young males. Ratings for Comedy Central's South Park series, which enjoys a strong following among that demographic, have dropped a whopping 46 percent since last season, from a 7 to a meager 3.8 percent share. Can the end be far off? Don't bet on it. "We never expected the show to sustain 6, 7, and 8 ratings," said a Comedy Central veep in charge of programming for Comedy Central. The numbers may be way down, but South Park remains the highest-rated "scripted entertainment series on cable television," she assured us. Whatever that means. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19339.html
- Castro Courts US - Fidel Castro has again beseeched the United States to ally itself with Cuba in a war against drug trafficking that El Jefe says imperils hundreds of thousands of young Americans. Castro, who has been rebuffed in previous attempts by the powerful anti-Castro lobby in Washington, told an audience in Havana that these people -- many of them Cuban exiles -- are "sabotaging an agreement that would objectively become one of the greatest alliances against drug trafficking." Cuba has stepped up its war against traffickers recently, even imposing the death penalty on Communist Party officials found guilty of the crime. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20957.html
- Century's Top Story - What was the top news story of the 20th century? If you said the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then you're in agreement with the panel of US journalists and historians who convened to select the top 100 news stories of this action-packed century. Second on the list was landing a man on the moon (1969); the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (1941) came in third. That last one is a bit surprising, since it can be reasonably argued that Pearl Harbor wasn't even the biggest event of the Second World War. And the advent of the World Wide Web? That finished 32nd. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18121.html
- Change in Israel? - Monday is election day in Israel and if the latest poll is accurate, Benjamin Netanyahu's reign as prime minister may be about over. The latest figures show Labor candidate Ehud Barak holding a commanding 49.9 to 35.1 percent lead over the beleaguered Likud PM. Two other candidates -- including Arab Azmi Bishara -- complicate matters, but if Bishara drops out of the race as expected, that may sink Netanyahu's boat altogether. Should Barak finish with more than 50 percent of the vote, he'll avert a runoff and win the race outright. And since Bishara will almost certainly throw his weight behind Barak, the good ship Netanyahu has taken on a heavy list. To starboard, naturally. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19702.html
- Character Reference? - Unless something happens, 22 major-league umpires will be unemployed after the conclusion of Wednesday's games. In a last-ditch attempt to save those jobs -- lost when the umps resigned in protest then tried unsuccessfully to rescind their resignations -- the umpires' union filed suit, seeking an injunction to keep the blues employed. As part of its plea, the union used this quote: "The leagues should recognize that umpires have a special relationship to the game, which is different from that of players. Umpires should not be treated as employees but as judges who are independent of both players and owners, whose primary responsibility is to maintain the integrity of the game." Words to gladden any ump's heart, until you consider the source: Richard Nixon, who arbitrated a dispute between umpires and baseball in 1985. On the other hand, Tricky Dick knew a thing or two about resigning, didn't he? [Wired News]
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- Charlie Hustler - Ten years after being banned for life on gambling charges, Pete Rose is back in professional baseball. Rose, the all-time major league hit leader, accepted a job as batting instructor with the Sacramento Steelheads of the Western Baseball League, which has no affiliation with Major League Baseball. Interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Rose, as usual, was unrepentant. He said he told his young players: "If you gamble, baseball really frowns on it, but if you take drugs, they just pat you on the back and say, 'We'll take care of it' and get you some rehab, and turn you back loose again. I don't want you to do either one, but if you're going to do one of the two in baseball, you better do drugs, because even if you have a bad night, you might forget what happened." A .330 hitter with a .130 brain, ol' Pete is. [Wired News]
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- Cheese, No Crackers - Chasing wheels of cheese down a steep slope can be a dangerous sport. Dozens of injuries in 1997 forced last year's cancellation of a centuries-old tradition in Brockworth, England. There were crash barriers and a rescue team at this year's race on Monday. And moving the race to noon kept contestants from drinking too much before race time. The result? A few bumps and bruises to rollers and fans, but nothing serious. The winner, 30-year-old Stephen Brain, went home with an eight-pound wheel of double Gloucester cheese. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19953.html
- Chilly Forecast - Worried about global warming? Maybe you should be. According to the science journal Nature, we may actually be in the early stages of a new ice age. Scientists in Antarctica, drilling more than two miles down through the ice, say there's evidence that the Earth has endured four long ice ages -- each lasting up to 100,000 years -- and that we appear to be about 18,000 years into a fifth. This, despite the fact that the temperature has been rising steadily now for 100 years. While industrial pollution is to blame for some of the temperature increase, at least part of it is caused by natural greenhouse gases which have always existed. Still, it seems at tad warm for being 18 millennia into an ice age. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20030.html
- China Air Crash - All 64 people aboard a domestic Chinese flight were killed Wednesday when their Russian-built jet exploded in mid-air as it was coming in to land at Wenzhou, a city in eastern China. The China Southwest Airlines flight was bound from Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Officials could give no reason for the crash of the Tupolev 154. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18102.html
- China Syndrome - With its military newspapers spewing bile and vitriol worthy of the most hackneyed kung-fu movie screenwriter, China put on a display of martial might unseen in those parts since the days of Tiananmen Square. Although the parade of tanks, missile launchers, and artillery tractors was billed as a dress rehearsal for a giant bash commemorating 50 years as a communist paradise, China made no bones about acknowledging it as an open threat to Taiwan, which continues to thumb its nose at its covetous brethren across the Formosa Strait. "All action attempting to split the motherland and block reunification of the nation will surely end in bloodshed as it smashes its head into this indestructible great wall of steel," penned one purple-veined military scribe. [Wired News]
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- Choppers Bound for Balkans - The Pentagon is sending two dozen tank-killing Apache helicopters backed by ground-based missiles and rockets to join the campaign against Serbian forces. A spokesman said the helicopter deployment was "absolutely not" a step toward an attack by NATO ground troops in Kosovo. About 2,000 soldiers will be deployed with the new force in Albania. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18949.html
- Civics Lesson - Ryan Green, a 15-year-old freshman at Harrison Central High School in Gulfport, Mississippi, is Jewish. That's apparently beside the point to the district school board, which refused to rescind a teacher's order to Ryan to stop displaying the Star of David he wears around his neck. After being told by the teacher to keep it inside his shirt "for his own good," the boy told his father, who went to the board. He was told that because at least one gang in the area uses a six-pointed star as its symbol, the district had no choice but to enforce the ban. Although the trustees declined to extend the ban to include Christian religious symbols, leaders from all faiths -- even televangelist Pat Robertson and conservative Baptist leader Jerry Falwell -- condemned the action. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21350.html
- Class Cut-Ups - You wanna be a computer programmer, you work with computers. You wanna be a doctor, you work with cadavers. Trouble is, computers are easier to come by than corpses, unless you happen to know the right people at the University of California at Irvine. Or make that "knew." According to the Los Angeles Times, as many as 30 premed students paid $300 apiece for a private -- but unauthorized -- course that let them work with fresh stiffs. When school officials got wind that a "special class" was being held in the basement lab of UCI's Willed Body Program, the joint was busted. It turns out that the program's director, no longer employed by the university, had business ties to the guy who offered the anatomy course. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21943.html
- Clearing Out the House - Your chance of actually winning is roughly the same as being struck by lightning in your bathtub, and the state of Wisconsin has had enough. The attorney general filed suit against Publishers Clearing House Thursday, accusing the company of using deceptive advertising to lure people into buying magazine subscriptions by implying that they're on the brink of winning millions of dollars. The bait has been effective: The suit cites the case of one Wisconsin man who has spent more than US$10,000 since 1989 trying to make the big kill. He's gotten a bunch of magazines and nothing else for his trouble. The folks at PCH, not surprisingly, think they've been wronged, saying that their rules are clear, most people understand them, and that no purchase is necessary to win. [Wired News]
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- Clinton's End Run - Mindful that conservative Republicans blocked his first attempt to appoint James Hormel, the first openly gay US ambassador in history, President Clinton waited until the Senate was away on its extended Memorial Day weekend before using an obscure presidential power to name Hormel envoy to Luxembourg. Although officials in Luxembourg welcomed the appointment, Clinton is already taking flak for using the so-called recess appointment to circumvent his right-wing opponents. "Clinton does unpopular things in sneaky ways," said Robert Knight, a spokesman for the Family Research Council. "This appointment was not going to fly, so he imposed it on the country. And it means that he's using this nation to make the case to the world for sodomy and adultery." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20048.html
- Clinton's New Dawn - A confident, upbeat President Clinton proclaimed "a new dawn for America" in his State of the Union address Tuesday, then went on to outline ambitious plans for the final 18 months of his presidency. Aside from revitalizing Social Security and Medicare for an aging America, Clinton has his sights set on improving public education, boosting the minimum wage, resolving the Y2K problem, and modernizing the military. He took time out to honor the first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who beamed down at him from the family gallery, where she was flanked by Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa (Hillary, a Chicagoan, is a rabid Cubs fan) and civil-rights heroine Rosa Parks. Impeachment trial? There was nary a mention, and the Republicans in attendance were respectful, if not warm. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17434.html
- Clipped - Well, if Al Gore really did create the Internet like he says he did, then maybe it's possible that Trent Lott actually invented the paper clip. That's what the Senate Majority Leader claimed in a tongue-in-cheek press release obviously meant to tweak the veep for his rather bald-faced statement the other day. "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the paper clip," the Mississippi Republican said, tossing Gore's own words back at him. "Paper clips bind us together as a nation." The Democrats managed a wan smile, but didn't back away from Gore's assertion that his support while a congressman played a major role in the Net's development. They also returned fire: "It's no surprise that Senator Lott and his fellow Republicans are taking credit for an invention that was created a long time ago. After all, they're the party whose ideas will take us back to the Dark Ages." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18480.html
- Closure - Following a brief service aboard the Navy destroyer USS Briscoe, the ashes of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette will be scattered at sea Thursday off the coast of Cape Cod. The three were killed last Friday when their small plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard. Their bodies were recovered Wednesday and brought ashore, where autopsies were performed and the remains cremated. A private Mass for Kennedy and his wife will be celebrated Friday in New York City, where the couple lived. A separate memorial will be held for Bessette Saturday in Greenwich, Connecticut. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20885.html
- Cold War II? - NATO is threatening swift action if peace talks between Serbia and ethnic Albanians break down because of Serbian intransigence, and that's got Russia aroused. Javier Solana, NATO's secretary-general, said the allies will bomb the Serbs if they block the peace process. Conversely, NATO will cut off weapons supplies to the Albanians if they don't cooperate in trying to solve the Kosovo mess. Russia, meanwhile, with its longstanding ethnic and cultural ties to Serbia, adamantly opposes any military action against the Serbs. "We won't let Kosovo be touched," Russian President Boris Yeltsin said. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17983.html
- Colombian Quake - Colombian officials fear that thousands of people may have been killed in Tuesday's devastating earthquake that leveled many communities throughout the country. Rescue workers had recovered 700 bodies by late Tuesday, but thousands more are known to be trapped in the rubble. Among the cities hardest hit was the Andean town of Armenia, where officials believe that as many as 2,000 people may have died. Relief was already rolling into Colombia through the International Red Cross: Germany, France, Canada, and the United States were among the first to respond to a worldwide appeal for aid. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17560.html
- Consumer Ed 101 - Johnny has three pairs of Nikes. He gives one pair to Annie and another pair to Tyrone. How many pairs of Nikes does Johnny have now? The latest flap over creeping commercialization surfaced in the area of school textbooks, some of which are now using recognized brand names -- Oreos, M Ms, Cocoa Frosted Flakes, and the ubiquitous Nike -- to illustrate various linguistic and mathematical concepts. The idea has both defenders and detractors, who stake out the usual positions. Advocates say that emphasizing consumer culture encourages fashion-conscious kids to at least crack a textbook now and then. Critics assail the American Textbook Council, which approved the books, for feeding shallowness and warped values. Johnny, meanwhile, is still a lousy reader. [Wired News]
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- Crafty Lefty - Actor Warren Beatty is so underwhelmed by Al Gore and Bill Bradley, the two main candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, that he's considering taking a run at the ticket himself. Why would Beatty, a former US senator (well, his character Jay Billington Bulworth was, anyway, in Bulworth), think he's qualified to be the next Great Helmsman? For one thing, he's been active in Democratic Party affairs since, like, forever. For another, he's an actor, and that's been done before, too. And finally, he comes right out and calls himself a liberal Democrat. That'll wow 'em in Peoria, yessiree. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21250.html
- Crash Course - Solemn mourners from Oakland to New York marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Henry Bliss on Monday. In 1899, Bliss got knocked down by a car, becoming the first of about 3 million Americans killed in automobile accidents. Organizers of a "national day of mourning" wanted motorists to shut off their engines at 5 p.m. for a silent vigil. Reports from around the country indicated many vehicles were at a standstill. But their engines -- and horns -- were far from silent. [Wired News]
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- Criminal DNA - Here's one that's guaranteed to raise the hackles of civil libertarians, privacy freaks, and their hangers on: Attorney General Janet Reno wants to study the legality of taking DNA samples from anyone arrested for a crime in the United States, not just sex offenders and violent felons. Lower courts have already upheld the right to take DNA from criminal suspects, agreeing that the government's need to solve crime outweighs privacy concerns. A commission convened to study the issue is expected to issue recommendations sometime during the summer. Stay tuned. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18186.html
- Cross-Swimmer - Transvestitism isnt just for humans anymore. According to New Scientist, the cuttlefish, a relative of the squid, has perfected the technique at a reef Down Under. If a male cuttlefish is too small to compete for a mate, he assumes the colors and pattern of the female. When cuttlefish couples pair off to mate, the male-in-tights tags along. While the bigger cuttlefish fights off other male suitors, the cuttlefish-in-drag reveals his masculine side to the female and woos her. He can revert back to his ruse if the big guy notices something fishy. The transvestite cuttlefish gives up the tactic as soon as he is big enough to compete with other male rivals. This tactic can also be observed at singles bars worldwide. [Wired News]
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- Crowded Planet - Just before 8:30 eastern time Sunday evening (if the US Census Bureau's world population clock can be believed) the 6 billionth person happened onto the scene. The folks at the Census Bureau are quick to point out that they don't consider their clock to be accurate to the nth degree; think of it as more of an hourglass than a digital quartz. But whether there are 6 billion people in the world now, or, as the United Nations believes, not until October, the basic point remains: The line for movie tickets just keeps getting longer and longer. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20817.html
- Crowds Attack US Embassies - Ugly mobs of Chinese protesters marched outside the US Embassy in Beijing for a second day Sunday to protest the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia. Saturday's blast killed three and injured 20. In China, rock-throwing demonstrators shouted anti-American slogans, and some bore signs with the ominous "A debt of blood must be repaid in blood." The American ambassador to China said he and his staff were confined to the embassy and were "essentially hostages." Other NATO nations' embassies in China were targets of similar protests. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19586.html
- Cubs Lose Wood - Nothing good ever happens to the Chicago Cubs, so why should 1999 be any different? On Tuesday, baseball's perennial saps found out that they have lost pitcher Kerry Wood for the season, and possibly two seasons. Wood, the 1998 National League Rookie of the Year, blew out his arm in an exhibition game. According to the Cubs, the hard-throwing righthander damaged the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow after throwing just 26 pitches against the Anaheim Angels on Sunday. Although Wood has yet to undergo an MRI, the Cubs have written him off for the '99 campaign. So has the Chicago Sun-Times, which reported Tuesday that Wood will need the "Tommy John" surgery, an elbow-reconstruction job. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18505.html
- Cupboard Is Bare - Light-years from the world of inflated stock values and overnight millionaires, an estimated 1.5 billion people -- a quarter of the world's population -- live on less than a dollar a day. A United Nations report released Thursday said that while the gross domestic product rose about 2 percent in developed nations in 1998, the GDP rose only 1.7 percent in poorer countries, meaning that the gulf between rich and poor is widening. "Adjustments in real economic sectors will take a much longer period of time to be implemented and to bear fruit than changes in financial and monetary indicators," it said, meaning that the little guy takes it in the shorts again. [Wired News]
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- Dark Cloud - With the economy booming, Americans are living large right now. However, there's a downside to all this conspicuous consumption: Americans are cramming their driveways with BMWs and piling Sony stereo equipment on their shelves faster than the Germans or Japanese or anyone else is stocking up with American-made consumer goods. That's called a trade deficit, folks, and economists are alarmed after watching the US deficit bloat to a record $24.62 billion at the end of June. The biggest trade gap still exists with Japan, but the latest figures established all-time highs with Western Europe and Mexico as well. [Wired News]
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- De-Evolution - While Kansas was busy Wednesday deleting the teaching of evolution from the state's science curriculum, schools in rural eastern Kentucky began posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom to begin countering what some local ministers described as the nation's "moral decline." The plaques, paid for and installed by volunteers, went up with virtually no opposition. One school superintendent defended the decision as an antidote to "all the violent issues that have been showing up." Odd, then, that the idea of gun control hasn't really caught on the Bluegrass State. [Wired News]
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- Deadly Copycat - A 14-year-old boy is in custody after shooting two students at a rural high school near Calgary, Alberta, Wednesday in what witnesses described as a copycat attack that mirrors the massacre at Columbine High School last week. One victim died and the other is in critical condition following the noontime shooting at W.R. Myers High School in Taber, a small farming community 275 kilometers southeast of Calgary. The suspect, who was not identified because of his age, was wearing a blue trench coat, which he used to conceal a .22 caliber, sawed-off rifle. He was described to a reporter from the Calgary Herald as "a real loser type." The dead teen was identified as Jason Lang, 17. Shane Christmas, also 17, was wounded in the attack. [Wired News]
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- Death Penalty Ban? - What's up with Boris Yeltsin and this bucking of tradition all of a sudden? First he wants to pull Lenin out of his mausoleum and bury him in the ground. And now he wants to get rid of capital punishment, which has a tradition of what, 600 years in Russia? Although Russia pledged to abolish the death penalty within three years of joining the Council of Europe in 1996, the average Russian supports capital punishment -- traditionally carried out by a single shot to the back of the head -- believing it a deterrent to violent crime. Yet interestingly enough, violent crime has surged in Russia since a moratorium on executions was imposed in 1996. So if Yeltsin has his way, will it be a kinder, gentler Russia -- for criminals, anyway? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21156.html
- Defining 'Hate' - President Clinton on Tuesday urged Congress to expand the list of hate crimes covered under federal law to include cases involving sexual orientation, gender, and disability. "The Hate Crimes Prevention Act would ... send a message to ourselves and to the world that we are going into the 21st century determined to preach and to practice what is right," he said. Currently, only crimes based on a victim's race or religion can be prosecuted as hate crimes. And while most states have hate-crime laws, only 21 include sexual orientation. Twenty-two cover gender, and 21 cover disability. Clinton drew parallels between the hatred in the United States and the religious and ethnic persecution in Kosovo, and urged Congress to support the initiative. "We should remember that each of us ... wakes up every day with the scales of light and darkness in our own hearts, and we've got to keep them in proper balance." [Wired News]
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- Dennis the Menace - The bad boy of basketball has played just nine games for the Los Angeles Lakers. But Dennis Rodman apparently feels he's earned some time off. He's taken an indefinite leave from his new team, citing personal reasons. Club management knew taking on the rainbow-haired Rodman was a gamble, that the NBA rebound wizard marches to his own drummer. Says Lakers head coach Kurt Rambis, "It's just something we're going to have to deal with." [Wired News]
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- Desperate Times - A former Russian army colonel walked into a branch of Rossiisky Kredit in downtown Moscow Friday, brandished a rifle, grabbed a hostage, and demanded money. From his own account, that is. Turns out the ex-colonel wasn't a whacko at all, but merely another poor Russian mired in his country's financial morass. Rossiisky Kredit is one of many Russian banks that blocked depositors' access to certain accounts after last August's financial crisis. The man's wife needed surgery, and he couldn't retrieve the money to pay for it. He released his hostage and surrendered after being promised funds from his account. Police quickly arrested him. [Wired News]
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- Development Canned - Even though John Steinbeck wouldn't recognize the place anymore, the city council in Monterey, California decided to save what little remains of the original spirit of Cannery Row by voting down a major development there. The US$50 million plan would have plunked down a complex of ocean-view condos, restaurants, and shops into the heart of what was once a bustling canning industry, immortalized in Steinbeck's novel Cannery Row. A small victory, perhaps, for those who prefer their historical places to resemble something other than a shopping mall. [Wired News]
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- Dial Tone - After more than a century on hold, residents of Kennedy Meadows, California, have finally placed their first telephone calls. It was a big event for the Tulare County community: Folks gathered at Grumpy Bear's Tavern over the weekend to watch Jan Gant dial the first number and hear her leave a message when she reached an answering machine. Five residents are connected to the new phone system, which comes 123 years after the invention of the telephone. [Wired News]
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- DiMaggio 'Grave' - When Joe DiMaggio walked out of a Florida hospital on his own last week, it appeared that a miracle had occurred. But like most miracles, this one turned out to be illusory. DiMaggio, 84, was released because the hospital could do nothing else for him. He has lung cancer, but doctors say he's too weak to undergo chemotherapy. So it appears that time has nearly run out for one of America's last genuine heroes. In fact, Dateline NBC thought it had: It reported late Sunday that DiMaggio had died, then retracted the report 20 minutes later. [Wired News]
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- Ding-a-Ling - Mental health hospitals have more to worry about than just monitoring their patients' moods and medications; they should also be keeping tabs on their employees' phone use. A secretary in the Los Angeles County Mental Health department pleaded guilty Thursday to making 2,600 county-billed phone calls to a "Psychic Hotline," totaling US$118,000 in charges, prosecutors said. Cheryl Burnham pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft in Los Angeles Superior Court. Deputy District Attorney Robert Dver said Burnham will be sentenced to 30 days in jail, ordered to pay restitution, and placed on five years' probation. Burnham made most of her calls on nights and weekends, using a computer to bypass a county block on such calls. [Wired News]
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- Diplomatic Mess - Was Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's father an art thief? According to a story in the Times of London, Albright's father, Czech diplomat Josef Korbel, stole paintings worth millions of dollars, along with antique furniture and silver, from the house of an ethnic German who left Prague as World War II drew to a close. Descendants of Karl Nebrich appear ready to sue Albright's family for the return of the artwork, which may have been smuggled out of Czechoslovakia in a diplomatic pouch. The paintings are by European masters, and some date from the 16th century. An Albright family attorney denies that the paintings were obtained illegally. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19760.html
- Diplomatic Precautions - Like antelopes downwind from a prowling leopard, the United States and Great Britain are bolting for safety. Both nations have shuttered several embassies or diplomatic missions in Africa for the weekend after receiving information leading them to believe that a terrorist attack may be imminent, the International Herald Tribune reported. The United States closed six embassies -- in Gambia, Togo, Madagascar, Liberia, Namibia, and Senegal -- while the British shut down missions in Gambia, Madagascar, Namibia, and Senegal. A US State Department spokesman said a decision would be made over the weekend whether to reopen the embassies on Monday. The British, meanwhile, declined to say when their facilities might reopen. [Wired News]
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- Disney's Secret Porn URL? - Who owns the domain name "mybigstiffy.com?" Would you believe Disney? A faxed statement from Disney's Touchstone Pictures said Buena Vista Pictures Marketing -- Disney's film distribution arm -- says that Walt Disney registered the name "at the request of one of our filmmakers" that worked on a PG-13 rated movie Mafia. "It referred to a joke in the end credits" of the movie, said the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified. But don't look for Walt's Stiffy Site anytime soon. "After careful review, the name was deemed inappropriate and the link to the 'Mafia' Web site has been discontinued." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18891.html
- Ditto, Baby! - Dr. Evil's got nothing on Madeline Albright. The US Secretary of State took a page from the Austin Powers villain's playbook this week, cloning herself to perform for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference while she jetted off to the Balkans. In a videotaped address preceding the typically zany dinner skit, the original Albright introduced Madeline II -- actually Assistant Secretary of Defense Kurt Campbell in drag -- as melding "the modesty of [ex-Secretary of State] Henry Kissinger with the shyness of Madonna." In a parting jab, sung to the tune of "Home on the Range," Not-So-Mini-Madeline sang, "And to old North Korea/We really don't fear ya/'Cause your missile is called the No Dong." [Wired News]
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- Dogfight - More shooting in Iraq, this time between US and Iraqi warplanes. Four US jets from the carrier USS Carl Vinson fired missiles at Iraqi planes, defying the so-called no-fly zone in southern Iraq. No planes were hit, but one Iraqi jet may have crashed after running out of fuel. It marked the first time since the Gulf War in 1993 that the two sides have engaged in aerial combat. [Wired News]
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- Dogged Research - We knew those Harvard docs were smart cookies, but who could have anticipated this? Now they're growing fully functional dog bladders using tissue engineering and can report that they're still working a year after being implanted in subject animals. That's good news for people with elderly dogs, of course, but it may also be a harbinger of better days ahead for the estimated 400 million people worldwide who suffer from bladder disease. The study was published in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17628.html
- Don't Lose Heart - Mom always threatened dire consequences if you flunked out of high school. But death? Maybe, according a study by the American Medical Association. Researchers found an increased risk of congestive heart failure in people who, for one reason or another, failed to complete high school. While the education level itself was not seen as a factor, the poor socio-economic conditions often associated with a substandard education are. High blood pressure, excessive weight, smoking, and physical inactivity are all contributors to congestive heart failure, the study said, and all are associated with people on the lower rungs of the education ladder. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18744.html
- Down the Hatch - "Gimme a cuppa joe. Black." If you utter those words every morning down at the local Waffle House, you'll be making a wise health choice, a new study declares. After 10 years, researchers at Harvard have determined that two cups of coffee a day helps to reduce the risk of gallstone disease in men by up to 40 percent. Drink four and the incidence of disease is cut in half. Researchers are pretty sure that women, who are at greater risk of contracting gallstone disease than men, will benefit by drinking coffee, too. But that's only an educated guess. None of the 46,008 subjects participating in the project were women. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20104.html
- Dubious Distinction - Toyota and Honda make popular cars. According to CCC Information Services, they're really popular -- with car thieves. For the first time ever, the two Japanese carmakers swept the board, holding all 10 spots on the thieves' Top 10 list. The 1989 Toyota Camry tops the list (as it did last year), followed by the 1988 and 1990 Camrys. Five of the next seven spots are held by Honda Accords of different vintages. No American cars made the top 10, and only four models -- two Fords and two Chevys -- were in the top 25. Most stolen cars are stripped for their parts. The good news: Car theft dropped 22 percent last year, CCC reported. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18046.html
- Dumb and Dumber - A media watchdog group is railing against the poor quality of prime-time television again, claiming that despite a voluntary ratings system in place to warn parents about objectionable content, shows contain more sex, violence, and crude language than ever. Of course, the group studied shows aired during TV's sweeps period, when programming is even more inane and profane than usual ... if that's possible. But maybe the question to ask is why is there more sex, violence, and crude language on TV? Two possible answers come to mind: 1) The average American viewer laps it up with a spoon, and 2) Hollywood is bereft of real writing talent, so why bother with an intelligent story? Either possibility seems plausible. [Wired News]
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- Dumb Ass - You're 21 years old and you're on your way back into Cape Town after spending Tuesday visiting a nearby South African town renowned for its wine. You're in the back of the bus, happy as a potted plant, when you suddenly get the urge to drop your pants and moon the passing motorists. It's a great idea, until you press your flesh a little too tightly against the bus window -- which turns out to be an emergency exit. Next thing you know, your raw butt is bouncing along the highway, cars are swerving around you, emergency lights are flashing, sirens are blaring, and you're in the hospital -- in stable condition, totally mortified, but lucid enough not to give out your name. You, young man, are an idiot. [Wired News]
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- Dutch Treat? - The Dutch have never been renowned for their cuisine, and now maybe we know why. The European Commission is investigating a report that treated sewage sludge has been added to animal feed there, where it is presumably gobbled up by livestock that eventually finds its way onto dinner plates in Amsterdam, Utrecht, and other locales around the Zuider Zee. If that weren't bad enough, the EC believes the use of sludge may not be limited to the Netherlands; investigators will soon be on their way to neighboring Germany as well as other European nations to look into similar allegations. [Wired News]
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- Early Withdrawal - It's well known that Pancho Villa, the famous bandit who led a revolution in Mexico early in this century, relied on robbery to fund his army. It's also known that Villa's biggest heist came on 9 April 1913, when he and his men waylaid a train in northern Mexico and made off with 122 silver bars worth about $2.6 million in today's dollars. The mystery is how Villa managed to exchange the bars for the hard cash needed to pay his men and buy arms. Turns out the old rapscallion had a banker: Wells Fargo. Letters and memos obtained by the Bancroft Library prove that the bank's Mexican subsidiary acted as an intermediary between Villa and the owners of the silver, who agreed to pay him for the return of the bars. Wells Fargo's reaction, 86 years later? Yeah? So what? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19530.html
- Easy Go, Easy Come - When Jimmy Johnson said he was resigning as head coach of the Miami Dolphins Wednesday, he sounded like another burnout case. His father applauded the decision and said his son intended to lie low for awhile and work on his house in the Florida Keys. Well, forget it. Johnson's retirement lasted just long enough for Dolphins officials to talk him out of it and he'll be back on the sidelines next season. But he'll have some help: Miami also hired Dave Wannstedt, sacked recently by the Chicago Bears, to be the assistant head coach. [Wired News]
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- Eat Your Greens - You wanna be smarter? You wanna evolve along with all the other pre-humans and double your body size in a few million years? Well, build a fire, then cook and eat your vegetables. Researchers writing in the journal Current Anthropology conclude that it was vegetables, rather than meat, that gave the major boost to human evolution. Over the eons, our ancestors gradually evolved a more refined palate, one that eschewed seeds and nuts and raw meat in favor of a healthier diet centering around vegetables. The result was Homo erectus, a taller, heavier hominid with a better brain. Now we've all become Homo sapiens, although there are certain bowling alleys where the odd Homo erectus still turns up. [Wired News]
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- English Spoken Here - Life Is Beautiful, written by Robert Begnini, who also directed and starred in it, tells the tale of an Italian father who tries to shield his son from the horrors of the Holocaust by turning concentration camp life into a game. It won the Oscar for best foreign film, while capturing a meager 13 percent of the American moviegoing public. Miramax thinks it knows why: It was subtitled, a turnoff for many American viewers. So the company is preparing to re-release the film, dubbed in English, betting against the possibility that the real reason Life Is Beautiful did so poorly is that Americans prefer idiotic action films to real filmmaking and real storytelling. Good luck. [Wired News]
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- Enshrined - Baseball writers on Tuesday sent three greats to the game's Hall of Fame: Ageless fireballer Nolan Ryan; sweet-stroking third baseman George Brett; and Robin Yount, who gained stardom despite spending his entire 20-year career in obscurity (Milwaukee). No player has ever been ticketed to Cooperstown on a unanimous vote, but Ryan came close, gaining a 98.79 percent endorsement, second all-time to Tom Seaver's 98.84 in 1992. [Wired News]
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- Ex-Cowboy Dies - Mark Tuinei, who played on a Dallas Cowboys team that won three Super Bowls in the early '90s, died early Thursday after being found unconscious in his car. He was 39. Investigators said they found no evidence of foul play, drugs, or alcohol. Tuinei, a 6-foot-5, 320-pound left tackle, played 15 seasons with the Cowboys, blocking for quarterback Troy Aikman and opening holes for running back Emmitt Smith. He and his wife, Pono, were getting ready to return to their native Hawaii, where Tuinei had taken a job as offensive line coach at his old high school, Punahou, in Honolulu. [Wired News]
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- Exits - In Russia, President Boris Yeltsin sacked his prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, leading to fears that an internal crisis will prevent the Russians from helping broker a settlement in the Balkans. Yeltsin said Primakov was paying the price for failing to stabilize the economy, but the move is widely seen as a retaliatory one. Yeltsin is facing an impeachment hearing and Primakov is cozy with many of his opponents. Meanwhile, in the United States, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin is resigning after more than six years in the Clinton administration. His departure, rumored for weeks, has no controversial aspects. Rubin simply wanted out. [Wired News]
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- Falcons vs. Broncos - Everyone expected the Denver Broncos to be in Super Bowl XXXIII, and so they will. Anyone who claims to have picked the Atlanta Falcons back in September is a liar. But thanks in part to Gary Anderson's first missed field goal all season, it will be the Falcons, and not the Minnesota Vikings, representing the NFC in Miami. Atlanta's come-from-behind, 30-27 win at Minnesota Sunday is the culmination of a remarkable turnaround: Since beginning last season 1-7, the Falcons have gone 21-4. If you happen to be a Falcon diehard who bet 100 bucks on your club to reach the Super Bowl before the season started, you're buying a round for the house today. Atlanta was 100-1 to make it to Miami. The early line on Super Bowl XXXIII: Denver by 7. [Wired News]
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- False Advertising - The annual Harlan Page Hubbard marketing awards were doled out Thursday and, as usual, none of the 10 winners bothered showing up to claim their statuettes. This year's recipients included the automaker Saturn and the beermaker Miller. Saturn won for promoting a three-door coupe showing a child getting into the car using the specially designed third door on the driver's side. (That would be the street side, where all the traffic is.) Miller was cited for its ad showing a bunch of beer drinkers frolicking with a puppy, proclaiming its product to be "Man's other best friend." The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence was moved to ask whether beer is really a friend to America's estimated 8 million alcoholics. The Harlan awards, incidentally, recognize the most misleading, unfair, and irresponsible ad campaigns of the year. [Wired News]
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- Fast Times in the Northeast - The Northeast is getting a little smaller, thanks to Amtrak and one of those fast trains Americans tend to associate with the Europeans and the Japanese. Starting in October, the Amtrak Acela will begin service between Washington and Boston, traveling at a top speed of 150 mph. This is expected to cut 90 minutes off the trip between New York and Boston, which takes four-and-a-half hours on a regular train. The train will have some nice touches for business travelers, including outlets for computers and larger business-class seats, with a skosh more room. The project costs US$2 billion, but if it gets some cars off of I-95, it's money well spent. [Wired News]
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- Fat Chance - Fiji was an island paradise until 1995. That's when the South Pacific nation was introduced to television, and it's been downhill ever since. According to ABC.com, it used to be a compliment when a friend in Suva noticed you'd put on weight. Now -- with the advent of TV and all those skinny blonde models and imported American beauty values -- Fijians are fretting about their fat. While ABC's report said that no studies are conclusive, there is this stark reality: Before TV got there, Fijians had a good self-image. Now they think they're fat. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, does it? [Wired News]
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- FedEx Flunks Out - Thanks to a fumble by Federal Express, 675 high school students in southern California will have to retake their college entrance exams and, boy, are they happy about it. Seems that the courier picked up the SATs after testing was completed in early June, but somehow managed to lose them between LA and the New Jersey offices of the Educational Testing Service, where the exams are scored. Since you can't go to college without taking the SAT, the kids will have to do it all over again. And they'll want to do well, so they can go to a good college ... and not ending up in some dead end job, like delivering packages. [Wired News]
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- Fewer Like It Hot - No wonder they're tired and cranky. Only 45 percent of the coffee-drinking public had a regular cup of joe yesterday. That's the lowest level in the 50 years that the National Coffee Association has been keeping track of coffee drinking trends. The high was in 1962, when 70 percent of survey participants reported drinking "regular" coffee, which includes regular, instant, and decaf coffee. The survey also shows that Americans are fussier about the coffee they drink. Nearly 5 percent of the nation's coffee drinkers are ordering espresso, cafe au lait, and double decaf soy milk lattes. [Wired News]
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- Filipino Executed - A 38-year-old house painter convicted of raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter became the first person to be executed in the Philippines since 1976 when he went to his death Friday in a prison outside Manila. Leo Echegaray, who steadfastly maintained his innocence since being convicted in 1994, died by lethal injection. The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 1987 but concern over a rise in violent crime led to its restoration in 1994. Philippine President Joseph Estrada, a strong advocate of capital punishment, said Echegaray's death would serve as a warning that the government means business. [Wired News]
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- First Homebuyers - Their lease on the White House set to expire in 2001, the first family is in the market for a new home. President Clinton, his wife, daughter, and mother-in-law spent Sunday touring multimillion dollar properties in Westchester County, New York. Among the prospects: a US$2.3 million estate on four acres in Rye Brook and a seven-bedroom colonial in Edgemont, priced at $1.7 million. The top three criteria, as any real estate agent knows, are location, location, and location. Hillary Clinton has to establish New York residency if she's going to campaign for the US Senate. [Wired News]
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- Fish Story - Are marketing people weird? You decide: Pepperidge Farm, which makes the fish-shaped snack cracker called Goldfish, took umbrage when competitor Nabisco said it would market a cracker based on the cartoon show Catdog. The cracker, shaped like a fish, was said to represent Catdog's "favorite snack." Pepperidge Farm threatened to sue but Nabisco got in first, filing suit to get the court to rule that a fish shape is generic and can't be trademarked. Two fish in court, duking it out with legal sharks behind them. [Wired News]
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- Fleeing Floyd - Residents along 400 miles of coastline -- from Miami to New Brunswick, Georgia -- are bracing for the onslaught of Hurricane Floyd, which is moving westward across the Atlantic and expected to make landfall sometime Wednesday. Floyd, currently packing winds of up to 155 mph, is on the verge of being declared a Category 5 hurricane, meaning that it is capable of inflicting catastrophic damage. Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated inland from the Florida coast and NASA is considering shutting down the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Forecasters expect Floyd to pack a bigger wallop than Hurricane Andrew did in 1992, when scores of people were killed, 160,000 were left homeless, and the damage was estimated at US$25 billion. [Wired News]
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- Flight of Fancy - Suddenly bolting past a security checkpoint and vanishing into a crowd, he eluded the cops, who eventually gave up and shut down United's terminal as a precaution, canceling 131 flights and stranding more than 6,000 passengers. Things had still not returned to normal Friday morning, and airline officials said they expect confusion to reign until at least the afternoon. Meanwhile, the mystery streaker remains at large, leaving us with the disturbing image of a dozen donut-gorged cops sweating profusely as they try to catch the guy. The halt in pursuit of the lame, if you will. [Wired News]
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- Flight of Fancy? - Thanks to Europeans who liked to stick its tail feathers in their hats, the Huia bird of New Zealand has been extinct since the 1920s. Now, there's talk of reviving the species by cloning DNA taken from preserved specimens, just like scientists did with dinosaurs in Michael Crichton's science-fiction thriller, Jurassic Park. If the Huia ever reappears -- and there's a passionate ethical debate raging over the possibility -- scientists say that it won't be anytime soon. So all you milliners along the Rue St. Honore can just cool your jets. [Wired News]
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- Flipper Exposed - From the time of Aristotle, humans have looked to the dolphin as a peaceful and benevolent guardian of the sea. But that perpetual grin of the beloved marine mammal belies a seamy underbelly of disturbing behavior. Scientists have followed a bloody trail of clues to find that dolphins are cold-blooded killers, stabbing porpoises to death by the hundreds and smashing the skulls of their own offspring. What's worse, the killings aren't motivated by a need for food (most animal killers eat their prey) but by apparently murderous urges. Looks like they're more human than we ever imagined. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20586.html
- For the Record - With President Clinton's acquittal a foregone conclusion, you'd think the Senate would have the decency to keep it brief. But oh, no.... There will be no final impeachment vote on Thursday, as many had hoped, because the windbags in the Senate are dragging things out. Senators, it seems, have their eyes firmly fixed on their place in the history books: One freshman senator, a former congressman, called the session "one of the finer debates I have heard in 18 years in the House." Another described it as a "rewarding" experience. With everyone seemingly intent on coming off sounding like Daniel Webster, the vote is not expected until Friday. Time will tell. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17880.html
- Foul Ball - That ridiculous disruption in the baseball season known as interleague play begins this weekend, a marketing gimmick that brings National and American League teams together during the regular season under the pretext of encouraging geographical rivalries. This is Year Three of interleague play, but the players are beginning to grumble. "It's kind of weird," says Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Shawn Green. "We play Montreal six times and some American League teams only seven or eight games." If you're in third place, it's hard to pass the two teams ahead of you when you only see them seven or eight times all year. And with so few games, it's hard to foster rivalries of any kind. Heck of a way to run the national pastime, Bud. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20021.html
- French Avalanche - Two avalanches hit the town of Le Tour in the French Alps Tuesday, burying 11 chalets and raising fears that scores of people may have been trapped inside. Residents of Le Tour, near the popular ski resort of Chamonix, helped police and sensor-equipped rescue workers search for survivors. According to an Associated Press report, the avalanches occurred in mid-afternoon, only minutes apart. Heavy snows have caused problems in Europe since Friday: Tourists are reported snowbound in the Tirol region and emergency supplies have had to be flown into areas cut off in parts of Austria. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17832.html
- French Minister Dies - A week after suffering a heart attack during a live television broadcast of a French National Assembly debate, veteran MP Michel Crepeau died Tuesday in a Paris hospital. The assembly observed a minute of silence for Crepeau, 68, the head of the center-left Radical Left Party. President Jacques Chirac hailed him as a figure of French public life and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said, "I have lost a friend." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18823.html
- From East to West - Three former stalwarts of the once formidable Warsaw Pact -- Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic -- joined NATO Friday, extending democratic hegemony in Europe up to the borders of Russia itself. Besides swelling the ranks of NATO to 19 member states, Friday's ceremony marks the first time that former Soviet bloc nations have joined the organization, founded in 1949 as a bulwark against communism. (Well, East Germany went in, too, but as part of a unified Germany.) While champagne glasses are clinking in the West, the Russians are not pleased. "The enlargement of the North Atlantic alliance will not promote a strengthening of trust and stability in international relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "On the contrary, it could lead to the appearance of new dividing lines. We do not want this to happen because it is not in the interests of the peoples of our continent." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18424.html
- Frozen in Time - Discusses three, well-preserved, 500-year-old mummies discovered by archeologists in the high Andes Mountains.
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18984.html
- Funny Money - To the battleship, cannon, dog, horse and rider, iron, shoe, thimble, top hat, wheelbarrow, and race car, you can add a sack of money. Monopoly -- the venerable board game born during the Depression that teaches Americans to suckle at the breast of capitalism -- added its 11th game piece, and first in 47 years this week. "It was the release of the sack of money that sent the Dow over 10,000," joked Glenn Kilbride, Hasbro Games vice president, at a news conference Tuesday at the Museum of American Financial History near Wall Street. "We like to think we played a small part." Whether they did or not, the sack of money seems an apt metaphor for America's current financial climate. It was chosen in a public vote, beating out a biplane and a piggybank. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18527.html
- Geezer Squeezer - The 82-year-old actor who made a career out of warning supermarket shoppers "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" is making a comeback as Mr. Whipple. In 1978, television viewers ranked bathroom-tissue pitchman Dick Wilson as the third best-known American, behind former President Nixon and the Reverend Billy Graham. And why not? Mr. Whipple appeared for over 20 years in more than 500 commercials. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20196.html
- Go, Canada - Canadians have it better than people anywhere else in the world. That's according to a new United Nations survey of the best places to live on earth based on the quality of health care, life expectancy, education, income, and gender equality. Norway ranked second, followed by the United States, Japan, and Belgium. The five worst nations of the 174 countries surveyed? Sierra Leone ranked last, followed by Niger, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Burundi. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20669.html
- Good Fella - There is still the formality of a runoff election, but Oscar Goodman isn't terribly concerned. He's going to be the next mayor of Las Vegas, and that's all there is to it. Goodman, who narrowly missed winning the job outright from a field of nine candidates, told supporters Tuesday night that "the result of this election is a foregone conclusion. I will be your next mayor." If that sounds a little brash, consider that Goodman, an attorney, made his reputation defending mob figures like Meyer Lansky and Tony "The Ant" Spilotro. Martin Scorsese liked Goodman enough to cast him as himself in the movie Casino. Brash? Certainly, but in a city like Vegas, brash just might fit the bill. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19513.html
- Gore Tosses Hat in Ring - Saying that he will deal with policy, not platitudes, in his campaign, Vice President Al Gore formally announced his candidacy for the top job Wednesday at a press conference in Carthage, Tennessee. Gore, saying he's been anxious to get the ball rolling for some time now, denied that the fast start by Republican contender George W. Bush had anything to do with the timing of his announcement. While only Bill Bradley stands between Gore and the Democratic nomination, Bush -- expected to easily win the GOP bid -- presents a formidable challenge. Some polls give Bush a 16 percentage-point lead over Gore in their projected head-to-head match-up. On the other hand, there are also 17 months until the presidential election. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20252.html
- Government Seeks Strippers - Stuart, a town on the Florida coast, faces such a critical exotic dancer shortage that it wants to import overseas talent. But as the high-tech industry found out when it tried to hire engineers from abroad, there are laws about things like that, namely the US Alien Labor Certification Program. Designed to protect American workers from losing jobs to foreigners, the law requires employers to search locally for help before looking abroad. So the state of Florida finds itself in a rather compromised position -- the state government is having to post a help-wanted ad on Stuart's behalf: "Exotic dancer 40 hrs per week, 7pm-3am. Four years experience in the job offered. Perform modern and acrobatic dances, coordinating body movements to musical accompaniment. Choreographs own dance movements." Interested? Just contact the Florida Department of Labor. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19177.html
- Graf Retires - Saying that she's done everything she wants to do in tennis and that the game isn't fun anymore, Steffi Graf made it official Friday: She's retiring. Graf, 30, who bridged the era between Martina Navratilova and Martina Hingis, was 13 when she turned pro in 1982. Her punishing stroke earned her the nickname "Fraulein Forehand" and carried her to 22 grand slam titles: seven Wimbledons, six French Opens, five US Opens, and four Australian Opens. Graf spent a record 377 weeks as the top-ranked woman player in the world. More coverage from Lycos. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21257.html
- Grass Takes Nobel - Guenter Grass, the 71-year-old German author famous for his candid writings about postwar Germany and the shame of Nazism with books like The Tin Drum, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. [Wired News]
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- Green Acres - If you're a parent, a prospective parent, or even thinking about becoming a parent, then New England is the place for you. The Children's Rights Council released its latest list of the best places to raise kids and New England -- led by Maine -- swept the top five; Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire followed in that order. Louisiana, along with the District of Columbia, finished dead last. The New Englanders were cited for their superior schools and relatively low poverty levels and teen birth rates, among other factors. Of course, your kids will grow up rooting for the Red Sox, which means enduring a lifetime of crushed hopes and unfulfilled dreams. [Wired News]
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- Green Monkeys - If everything works out, in about six months' time we will see some baby rhesus monkeys sporting a green glow, like jellyfish. That's because a lab in Oregon is hoping to prove that it's possible to successfully mingle foreign genes -- in this case, jellyfish -- with those of higher primates. Researchers believe that achieving this will advance health research in humans. Animal rights activists -- noting that genetically manipulated embryos and fetuses often die and that birth defects are common in survivors -- are bitterly opposed. Meanwhile, those of us accustomed to seeing middle managers at work in an office setting wonder why anyone would bother implanting jellyfish genes in primates at all. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21386.html
- Gretzky's Swan Song? - With only two games left in the New York Rangers season, the question is being asked: Is this the end for Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player in history? Speculation has heated up that Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, will hang up his skates after this season, and the Rangers have already been eliminated from playoff contention. There is some reason to believe he will retire; advancing age and lingering injuries definitely slowed the Great One during the 1998-99 campaign. But friends say that whatever Gretzky plans to do, he isn't talking. Yet. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19108.html
- Gridder's Daughter Slain - The daughter of NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff was found slain Tuesday in San Mateo, California. The body of Tracey Biletnikoff, 20, was recovered from the bottom of an embankment at Ca ada College, where she had been dumped. Police, acting on a tip, arrested her boyfriend, 23-year-old Mohammed Ali, at the Mexican border, where he was apparently trying to flee the country. Ali, a convicted kidnapper, was driving the woman's car. He has been charged with murder. Fred Biletnikoff starred with the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s and '80s and is now an assistant coach with the team. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17959.html
- Grounded for Good? - Debonair, the London-based discount airline that launched in 1996, bit the dust on Friday, becoming what the Associated Press called "a victim of fierce competition in the discount flights market." Its 14 planes were grounded as officials scrambled to accommodate passengers. "Our primary concern now is to try to secure continued operations or to make alternative arrangements for passengers who have already purchased tickets," said Nick Dargan of the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, which has been called in to try to save the company. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/22043.html
- Guilty - A Texas jury took less than three hours Tuesday to return a guilty verdict against John William King, one of three white men charged with killing a black man by chaining him to a pickup truck and dragging him to his death. King, who could receive the death penalty, was convicted by a jury of 11 whites and 1 black of murdering James Byrd Jr. last June. The same jury will now decide whether to sentence King to death or to life imprisonment. Two other defendants, Lawrence Brewer and Shawn Berry, will be tried for murder later this year. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18086.html
- Gun Nuts - The National Rifle Association, which has kept fairly silent in the wake of last week's massacre in Littleton, Colorado, went ahead and shot itself in the foot anyway, ignoring local opposition and a request from Denver Mayor Wellington Webb to cancel a long-planned convention in the Mile High City, set for this weekend. The NRA's only concession to the carnage -- carried out with firearms and explosives -- was to scale back the event, which didn't wash with Webb. The mayor has called a press conference to rip the gun-toting fun seekers, and area students -- including plenty from Columbine High School -- plan to protest in front of the Denver hotel where the NRA is holed up. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19422.html
- Gun Supplier Arrested - A 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged with providing a handgun to the two teenagers who went on the killing spree at Columbine High School two weeks ago. Police in Littleton, Colorado, arrested Mark Edward Manes and booked him into Jefferson County jail Monday for allegedly providing Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold with the TEC-DC9 handgun used in their deadly attack. If convicted, Manes could face between two and six years in prison. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19470.html
- Happy Birthday, Comrade - Kim Jong-il turned 57 on Tuesday, and North Korea threw a huge birthday celebration for its leader, the last of the Stalinist dictators. The prime minister's congratulatory radio broadcast lauded Kim for giving absolute priority to building the army. "The Korean People's Army has grown to be a loyal and filial army of the party and an invincible army," gushed Kim Yong-nam with the kind of Communist hyperbole rarely heard these days. To the alarm of the rest of the world, the army is indeed growing, despite the fact that North Korea's economy is in shambles and half its people are starving to death. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17945.html
- Happy Birthday, Eudora - Eudora Welty, the legendary -- and intensely private -- American short story writer, turned 90 Tuesday. Her finely crafted evocations of the South have earned her a place in the literary pantheon alongside her hero, fellow Mississippian William Faulkner. Although her life has been largely a reflective one, Welty has produced a body of work unflinching and unerring in its innate understanding of the human condition. Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter published in 1973, won the Pulitzer Prize. And while Welty is definitely an oak of an earlier generation, she has not been forgotten by the current one. Even an email program, Eudora, is named for her. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19093.html
- Heal Thyself - A Minnesota anesthesiologist, cut off by an elderly woman as she merged into highway traffic, is accused of punching her in the face and telling her to "get off the road" before driving off in a huff. Well, actually he drove off in a BMW Z3 convertible, which doesn't do much for the image of arrogant Beemer drivers. In any case, Thomas Valente faces a misdemeanor assult charge which could land him in the county lockup for 90 days. The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice won't say whether it's investigating the allegation, but its director said that Valente didn't appear to have violated the medical malpractice act. Let's just hope he doesn't use the same technique for knocking out his patients in the operating room. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21558.html
- Health Nuts - For those of us who swear by Nyquil, this is divine justice indeed: A Seattle researcher has determined that echinacea, hailed by the roots-and-berries crowd as a magic herb for warding off colds and viruses, not only fails to prevent respiratory illnesses but may actually increase your chance of getting sick. In a six-month study involving 200 subjects, Dr. Carlo Calabrese found that those receiving echinacea developed sore throats and runny noses 20 percent more often than those who received placebos. The doctor told ABC News that he wasn't surprised to find echinacea did nothing to prevent illness. But he was at a loss to explain the herb's negative effects, suggesting that perhaps it somehow weakens the immune system. By the way, Nyquil comes in a nifty cherry flavor. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19354.html
- Healthy Roots - What Viagra does for impotent men, it can also do for plants, fruits, and vegetables, an Israeli researcher says. Yaacov Leshem, a plant physiologist at Bar-Ilan University, says that the lifespan of flora can be extended -- even doubled -- with a dose of Viagra. He found that 2 or 3 milligrams dissolved in water helps slow down the emission of ethylene, a hormone that leads to spoilage in plants. "Plants aren't all that different from people," Leshem said, adding, apparently with a straight face, that "it helps them stay erect." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20827.html
- Hell on Wheels - Introducing the Ford Excursion. Simply stated, the thing is a monster. It's 230 inches long -- more than 19 feet -- weighs nearly 4 tons, and you can get it with a V-8 engine, but only if you're trying to buy on the cheap. For something this big, the V-10 is a better bet. It seats nine passengers and is so big that it may not fit in some garages. Of course, not all the numbers are so impressive: You're gonna get about 12 miles per gallon, which was OK in 1970 when gas cost 29 cents a gallon. The basic Excursion will run you about 30 grand; it's closer to 40 fully loaded. Unsurprisingly, this mother of sport utility vehicles has drawn fire from environmental groups horrified by the behemoth's gas guzzling ways and potential as a polluter. It seems like an odd strategy for Ford in this age of holes in the ozone layer and global warming. But sure as the sun rises in the east, some good ol' boys are gonna buy 'em and run roughshod over hill and dale. The Excursion goes to market in the fall. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18169.html
- Hello, Mr. Chips - A survey out of the sultry Midwest suggests that students may sexually harass their professors at undreamed of levels, and not only at Illinois State University, where the research was conducted. Sixty-three percent of ISU students surveyed admitted to having harassed a professor sexually at least once -- sexual harassment being defined as insulting behavior, trading sex for grades or some other favor, or making an unwanted sexual advance. Among the profs, 53 percent said they had been the subject of such harassment. And according to the survey, harassment is about evenly split between male and female students. Don't they know that those who can't, teach? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21410.html
- Her Majesty's Zine - The British royal family's Web site has been a smash hit -- attracting an estimated 3 million hits a week -- since launching a couple of years ago. Now, that ol' webmaster, the Duke of York, aka Prince Andrew, is getting ready to launch a webzine (updated monthly) that will chronicle the triumphs and travails of the Family Windsor. According to the Royal Press Release, the zine will be "fresh, distinctive, and contemporary." So ... no retrospective on Henry VIII. Or other more recent tawdry tales. The zine promises to be interactive as well. So email Queen Elizabeth and ask her what she finds so endlessly fascinating about those loathsome little Welsh corgis. The site is as yet unnamed, and no address has been released. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18939.html
- Here They Come - The field of Republican contenders for president should get a little more crowded Tuesday if, as expected, Texas Governor George W. Bush and conservative commentator Pat Buchanan throw their hats into the ring. Buchanan, who took a run at the nomination in 1992 and 1996, represents the right wing of the party, which is saying something. Bush, son of former President George Bush, is more of a moderate. Although only one Republican challenger -- Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire -- has actually announced his candidacy, a number of candidates are virtually certain of running: Elizabeth Dole, Dan Quayle, philanthropist Steve Forbes, and former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18210.html
- Hibernation Over? - Russia's antics in the Balkans -- moving troops into Kosovo ahead of NATO, then denying the peacekeeping force access to the airfield at Pristina -- have Eastern Europeans worried, reports the International Herald Tribune. Although US and allied officials downplay the Russians' provocative move, those who until recently lived under the Bear's heel aren't so sure. Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary also don't like that Moscow has been pressuring them to grant land and air passage to Russian troops en route to Kosovo. "The Russians are sounding like Khrushchev all over again," complained one Bulgarian diplomat. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20270.html
- High Tech Politics - Saying that San Francisco's technology workers are ignored by the city bureaucracy, the founder of a popular community Web site says he'll challenge incumbent Willie Brown in the mayoral race this year. Craig Newmark, whose nonprofit List Foundation grew out of Craigslist, a job-search mailing list, said he originally thought of his mayoral bid as symbolic but has been encouraged to make a serious run because of all the support coming his way. San Francisco's Multimedia Gulch is a center of the high tech industry and a major factor in the city's current robust economy. Brown, whose popularity has declined during his first term, would appear vulnerable to a serious challenger. Even so, the inexperienced Newmark has to be rated a long shot, at best. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18975.html
- High-Seas Drama - When a very pregnant Iraqi woman went into labor aboard a ferryboat in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, medics from nearby US and Australian warships -- in the Gulf to enforce UN sanctions against Iraq -- boarded the ferry and helped deliver a healthy baby. Doctors from the USS David R. Ray and the HMAS Melbourne were dispatched after receiving a call for medical assistance from the Jabal Ali 1 ferry service, whose boats ply the Gulf between Iraq and Dubai, a trip which takes 36 hours. Mother and child were reported to be doing fine. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21074.html
- Higher Learning - If it seems like every doctor, lawyer, and CEO went to Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, there's a good reason for it. Once again, those august institutions topped US News World Report's annual list of the leading graduate schools in the United States. Harvard was the top-ranked medical school, Yale took the brass ring in law, and Stanford's business school is aces. MIT was the top engineering grad school, with Stanford nipping at its heels. In fact, Leland Stanford Jr.'s little California idyll was the only university to finish in the Top 10 in all four categories. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18593.html
- Hillary's Turn - The first lady may be through playing second fiddle to her husband. With the impeachment trial over, Hillary Rodham Clinton is being urged to consider a run for the Senate in New York in 2000. Democrats and Republicans alike predicted a terrific race if she steps in, especially if she's pitted against New York's Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a notoriously tough campaigner. Following a meeting with Mexico's President Ernesto Zedillo on Monday, President Clinton said his wife has made no decision. But he couldn't resist adding, "She would be great if she did it." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17915.html
- Hingis Whipped - Few tears were shed for Martina Hingis, who's quickly earning her spurs as the most disliked figure in professional tennis. The world's No. 1 woman player and top seed at Wimbledon was knocked out of the venerable tournament Tuesday by Jelena Dokic, a 16-year-old qualifier, in her opening round match. Hingis, who has taken flak for her outspoken remarks about lesbianism and the disrespect shown to Steffi Graf (who beat Hingis at the French Open), took her 6-2, 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Dokic in stride. Telling the press that she wasn't "that disappointed" to lose at Wimbledon, Hingis promptly took off on vacation. [Wired News]
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- Hit Parade - Mike Tyson, serving a year in the slammer for assault, is making a career change. Good thing, since his boxing career appears to be over. According to a report out of Britain, Iron Mike has cut a deal with hip-hop company Def Jam to create Tyson Records, a rap and R B label. And the ol' penitentiary pugilist has even signed some talent: Doni, a 16-year-old girl, and Centell, an 18-year-old singer described as a "crooner." Tyson Records' manager says that "Mike found Centell." Found him where? Making license plates? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19072.html
- Hitler's Art Show - Artwork collected by Adolf Hitler during his reign as F hrer of the Third Reich will go on display in Weimar, Germany, beginning Sunday. Hitler, who failed in his ambition to become an artist before turning to other pursuits, favored German "folk art," which celebrated such themes as the toiling peasant and idealized depictions of Teutonic home life. The organizers of the show, The Rise and Fall of the Modern, say that Hitler's taste is evidence of "the monstrous banality of National Socialist art production." Perhaps, but realistically, what else would you expect them to say? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19653.html
- Hoe Down - Tastelessness being a staple of American radio programming these days, it is perhaps no surprise that Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps, a couple of disc jockeys on Los Angeles radio station KLOS-FM, thought they were being clever with their "Black Hoe" promotion last year. Listeners of the "Mark Brian" show could win black, plastic gardening implements as gag prizes -- a black hoe, if you will -- but the double entendre was clear. Black groups reacted angrily and the promotion was dropped, but no apology from the station, or the parent company -- Walt Disney Co. -- was forthcoming. When civil rights groups assembled in LA on Tuesday to call for a boycott of Disney they got their apology, but the feeling is that it's too little, too late. And the boycott is going forward. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21427.html
- Hopping Mad - A judge has ruled that the Energizer battery folks -- whose drum-beating bunny just keeps going, and going, and going, can't use their pink rabbit to attack competitors' products. Gillette, which is behind Energizer's main competitor, Duracell, filed suit to deep-six the bunny's latest ad campaign, which implies that the Energizer battery is superior to anything Duracell makes. Despite tests that seem to back up the claim, a judge ruled for Gillette after concluding that the tests were unscientific. Energizer got a charge out of that, and an appeal is being considered. They just keep suing, and suing, and suing.... [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19692.html
- Hot Pants - Women legislators, incensed at the overturning of a rape conviction by a court that ruled it is impossible to rape someone wearing jeans, wore the offending garment into the Italian parliament Thursday as part of an emphatic protest. Their anger was stirred after a court accepted the argument of Carmine Christiano, a 23-year-old driving instructor, who claimed that he couldn't have raped an 18-year-old girl because she was wearing jeans. He claimed the sex was consensual. The legislators, led by rightist deputy Alessandra Mussolini, threatened to continue their noisy protests until the Constitutional Court restored Christiano's original two-year, eight-month prison sentence. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17886.html
- Hot Seat - The Tokyo Fire Department has alerted the public to cast a backward glance when using the "Washlet" toilet. The high-tech toilet, which is used in nearly 40 percent of Japanese households, is apparently putting users in an uncomfortable position. Four fires in the past year have been traced back to the toilets, which boast heated seats, a dizzying array of buttons, and automated warm-water bidets. Fire Department officials say that worn-out wiring on older models is sparking the problem. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20602.html
- Hot Time in Beantown - "Sex" and "Boston" are not two words normally found in the same sentence, but there are at least eight Beantowners whose carnal meters are set higher than "tepid." On Friday, four couples checked into a downtown hotel (separate rooms) to go about the business of becoming the first parents of the new millennium. If one of them actually succeeds, they'll win a million bucks for their trouble, courtesy of WJMN. The radio station sponsored the copulation contest after reports that 9 April was the optimum day to conceive a baby likely to be born on 1 January 2000. Obstetricians dismiss it all as bunk, and you have to figure that the odds of one of these couples grabbing the brass ring are about the same as the Red Sox winning the World Series. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19047.html
- Hsing-Hsing Sick - Hsing-Hsing, one of two giant pandas presented to the United States by China during President Nixon's historic 1972 trip to Beijing, is suffering from kidney dysfunction that may be incurable, veterinarians at the National Zoo in Washington, DC say. Hsing-Hsing, who at 28 is very old for a panda, has had a number of health problems in recent years, including a cancerous testicle removed by surgery two years ago. His mate, Ling-Ling, died of heart failure in 1992. There are an estimated 1,000 giant pandas remaining in the wild in China. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19986.html
- Hussein 'Critical' - His second bone-marrow transplant a failure, a critically ill King Hussein of Jordan is returning home from the Mayo Clinic to undergo further treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. President Clinton, realizing that one of his strongest Mideast allies may be dying, praised Hussein at a Washington prayer breakfast Thursday, calling him a friend and "a champion of peace." Hussein received the transplant last week and underwent a round of chemotherapy after doctors found evidence that his lymphoma, discovered last year, had recurred. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17740.html
- Hussein Near Death - King Hussein, who has ruled Jordan since 1952, is on life support and near death after returning from the United States, where he was receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. According to a Jordanian official, there is no hope -- the king is in a coma, his liver and kidneys have failed, and his brain is no longer functioning. He will probably be removed from life support sometime Friday. The important thing was getting him home alive. "He wants to die in his own country," the official said. Hussein is the longest-serving ruler in the Middle East. Under him, Jordan has been a model of stability in a strife-torn region. He has also been a key figure in Mideast negotiations. Hussein's son, Prince Hassan, is set to succeed him. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17754.html
- IE5 on the Way - The next major release of Microsoft Internet Explorer will be 18 March, Redmond said Monday. Consumers can obtain a CD-ROM of the software via snailmail, which Microsoft hopes will alleviate the expected excessive download demand. Users can order the CDs from the Internet Explorer Web site for US$6.95. The new browser will be available for all versions of Windows, plus the Sun Solaris and HP-UX operating systems. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18047.html
- Ignorance Isn't Bliss - Now and then, we throw up our hands. Like when David Howard, a white aide to Washington DC's black mayor, Anthony Williams, resigns for using the word "niggardly," which was promptly mistaken for a racial slur. And when the mayor, with barely a thought to what he's doing, accepts it. But then our faith is partially restored when Julian Bond, head of the NAACP, chides Williams and others for their ignorance. "You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people's lack of understanding," Bond told the Associated Press. "The whole episode speaks loudly as to where we are on issues of race." For the record, Webster's New World tells us that "niggardly" has its origins in old Norse and means "stingy," or "miserly." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17599.html
- Impeachment II - Bill Clinton is off the hook, but now it's Boris Yeltsin's turn to twist in the wind. A special panel returned guilty verdicts on five separate charges against the beleaguered Russian president Friday and will submit them to the State Duma later next week. The Communist-led panel, convened last summer to investigate the charges, found Yeltsin guilty of instigating the collapse of the Soviet Union, ruining the Red Army, using force against hard-line lawmakers, leading Russia to war in Chechnya, and -- most remarkable of all, considering the source -- committing genocide against the Russian people. The latter charge, especially, stirred an angry backlash against the Communists who, under Josef Stalin, were responsible for the deaths of millions of Russians during the 1930s and '40s. As in the United States, it takes a two-thirds majority vote of legislators to force Yeltsin from office. The possibility of an actual conviction is considered remote. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17906.html
- In 'n' Out - The families of the three US servicemen freed by Yugoslavia over the weekend were flown to Germany for a reunion on Monday. Vivian Ramirez noticed that her son looked thin, so she took along a bag of his favorite hamburgers. The soldiers were taken captive while patrolling the Yugoslav-Macedonian border. The Reverend Jesse Jackson arranged for their release and accompanied them to freedom. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19450.html
- India Rail Disaster - Hundreds of people are feared dead following the head-on collision early Monday of two trains in eastern India, according to the BBC. Early reports indicated that as many as 500 people were killed and another 1,000 injured in the crash, which may have occurred because of a signal failure. Officials dismissed the possibility that an explosion aboard one train may have triggered the accident, but a BBC report saying that one train was carrying explosives was not refuted. The accident occurred around 1:30 a.m. local time, on the line between New Delhi and Gauhati. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21050.html
- Intel Execs Slain - The two Americans among eight foreign tourists massacred at a game preserve in Uganda Monday were senior executives at Intel, the chipmaker confirmed Tuesday. Rob Haubner, 48, and his wife Susan Miller, 42, were hacked to death along with four Britons and two New Zealanders after being kidnapped by an armed band of guerrillas, identified as Rwandan Hutus. Haubner, Intel's global chief of customer support, and Miller, a senior trade show manager, worked at the company's Hillsboro, Oregon office. They were vacationing with two other Intel employees, who managed to escape. Their killers are believed to be remnants of the force responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that claimed an estimated 800,000 lives. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18240.html
- IPO Body Slam - Maybe "Stone Cold" Steve Austin will be able to retire to the Caribbean with the stock options he'll be getting when the World Wrestling Federation goes public. The WWF, that cultural beacon for millions of Americans, filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday. The US$172 million that the WWF hopes to raise will be used for working capital (new, cool costumes and extra folding chairs?) and general corporate purposes. If the SEC gives its blessing, WWF stock will trade on the Nasdaq, for some reason. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21070.html
- Iran Protests - In the largest anti-government protest since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, nearly 10,000 Iranians defied a ban against public demonstrations and marched to the gates of Tehran University on Tuesday. After their orders to disperse were ignored, police fired tear gas into the crowd and arrested scores of demonstrators, mostly students. Agitation began last week following the government's closing of a reformist newspaper that supports Iran's moderate president, Mohammed Khatami. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20697.html
- It's a Small World - Jerry Lewis will laugh and sing and sob his way through another Muscular Dystrophy telethon on Labor Day, his 34th. Like last year, this one will be webcast as well as telecast, but there's a new wrinkle: In addition to English (rumored to be Jerry's native tongue), there will be streaming audio available in Japanese and Spanish, too. They won't be doing it in French, which must be a profound disappointment to all those people over there who consider Lewis a comic genius. On the other hand, do you really want to hear Ed McMahon trying to sound like Maurice Chevalier? Maybe in Japanese, he'll sound like Sessue Hayakawa. Check it out. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21588.html
- It's LA's Fault - Another reason to love the oil companies: For years, geologists have believed in the existence of large earthquake faults running directly under the city of Los Angeles, but have been unable to confirm it. For years, oil companies drilling in the area have conducted tests that could have provided that confirmation ... and kept their mouths shut. The current issue of Science reports that two researchers, using oil company data that only recently became available, finally confirmed the existence of a large fault -- measuring 250 square miles on the surface with a depth of nine miles -- smack dab under the Hollywood Freeway. Why did the information suddenly become available? With Southern California essentially depleted of natural oil and gas and tougher environmental laws in place, the oil companies are pulling out. So they no longer consider their data proprietary. Thanks, fellas. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18296.html
- It's the Pits - Next time you're feeling kind of blue, go stick your nose in the armpit of an old lady. According to researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, the armpit odor given off by elderly women can have a "mood enhancing" effect on those fortunate enough to be within sniffing distance. The researchers somehow recruited 300 university students to sample the armpit bouquet of six different age and sex categories: young girls and boys, young men and women, and men and women in their 70s. Sniffers were given gauze pads that the subjects had worn under their arms for six days and told to breathe deeply. The point, apparently, is to establish whether or not hormones can change body odor, which in turn might indicate an individual's aggressiveness or approachability. Young men, incidentally, exude the most unpleasant odor. But we already knew that. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20530.html
- Italy's Capo di Capo? - Government lawyers in Italy are recommending 15 years behind bars for seven-term Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. The recommendation came during final arguments in Andreotti's trial for alleged Mafia ties. His underworld association has earned him the nickname Mr. Italy. But Andreotti claims the charges are part of an elaborate Mafia plot to punish him for his crackdown on organized crime. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19023.html
- Jackson to Lakers? - Phil Jackson, who coached the Chicago Bulls to six championships in nine seasons, is reportedly ready to return to the NBA as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. According to the New York Post, Jackson has agreed to a four-year deal worth just over US$6 million a year to take over the Lakers, an underachieving team of superstars that was swept out of the 1998-99 playoffs by San Antonio. Jackson, who is vacationing in Alaska, is expected at a Tuesday press conference in Los Angeles. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20167.html
- Jail for Child-Porn Reporter - Even if he was researching a story about child pornography as he claimed, the judge was not impressed. Larry Matthews, a producer for National Public Radio, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment Monday for distributing kiddie porn online. Matthews pleaded guilty to accessing child pornography, but claimed he was gathering research for a freelance article about child molesters. In passing sentence, US District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. said, "I believe Mr. Matthews crossed the line. I also believe that it was immoral." Williams did not allow Matthews to claim First Amendment protection, ruling that reporters can't break the law in pursuing a story. Matthews has 60 days to surrender. His attorneys will appeal. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18337.html
- Joining the Troops - Not every girl gets to be a Girl Scout. When Dianne Donovan approached the local Girl Scout council looking for a troop for her HIV-positive daughter, she received an enthusiastic response. But she said she was later rejected by troop leaders, who individually hold the power to decide who joins their troops. The Legal Action Center of New York City filed a complaint on Wednesday against the Girl Scouts for initially denying membership to Quashawn Donovan. The complaint seeks unspecified damages to compensate Donovan for the emotional distress she suffered when she was rejected by troop leaders. The complaint accuses the local Girl Scout council of violating the state's human rights law. The national organization, Girl Scouts USA, is accused of "aiding and abetting" that discrimination. An administrative judge will hear the complaint. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18404.html
- Joy Rides-R-Us - A six-year-old boy managed to escape from his preschool, nab a battery-powered toy truck on the way out, and cruise nearly a mile on open highway before being reported by a flabbergasted motorist, police said Tuesday. The boy walked out of the Kiddie Kampus Pre-School and Day Care Center in Fairfield, Ohio, and came upon the toy truck parked outside a second-hand children's store. Although the truck's wires had been unhooked, the child reattached them, pulling off the price tag for good measure. Police later accounted for his familiarity with the escape vehicle's specs when they discovered he had the same truck at home. The truck was returned to the store unscratched and quickly found an amused buyer. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20728.html
- Judgment Day - President Clinton's impeachment trial -- only the second in American history -- gets underway Thursday in a sea of confusion. Senate inquisitors must still decide on how long the trial will last and whether they will call witnesses. The Republicans are in a tougher spot than the Democrats; their strategy -- whether to push hard for conviction or to begin backing off -- remains unclear. Clinton, charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, is assuming a presidential mien: "My opinion is not important here," he said. "I should be doing my job for the country." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17335.html
- Just Another Joe - Joe, a general interest magazine that, in the words of its managing editor, will explore "the important, the beautiful, the funny, and the provocative," made its debut at Starbucks on Tuesday. The chain store, which has done for the traditional coffeehouse what the Dust Bowl did for Oklahoma, wants to be a literary force as well. "It is our wish that Joe magazine ... create conversation in the tradition of great coffeehouses," said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who formed a partnership with Time Inc. to launch the mag and its accompanying Web site. Now you can get generic ideas served up with generic coffee in wonderfully sterile surroundings. It's a perfect metaphor for the '90s. Who needs a real coffeehouse, anyway? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20376.html
- Keeping the Faith - The leaders of the world's two largest monotheistic religions got together in Rome Thursday, as Iranian President Mohammad Khatami spent a historic half-hour with Pope John Paul II during a state visit to Italy. Khatami, a moderate Shiite Muslim cleric, told the leader of the Roman Catholic Church that he hoped their two faiths could work as partners in building a "more equitable world order." Between them, Christianity and Islam claim more than 2 billion adherents worldwide. Khatami's visit offers another tangible sign that Iran is beginning to pull away from the more hard-line clerics, who have run the country for the past 20 years. It should be noted, however, that they still control the military, the judicial system, and the media. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18425.html
- Keeping Tom - Well-known as a man of logic and reason, it appears Thomas Jefferson was also a sentimental son of a gun. This summer, a West Point professor discovered four small leather-bound scrapbooks while doing research at the University of Virginia. And scholars have determined that handwritten notes on some of the pages were in Jefferson's own hand. An oak leaf was pressed into one book along with an article on friendship. Scholars believe it's a souvenir from the oak tree where Jefferson studied with Dabney Carr, his boyhood friend. Carr was buried beneath the tree, which later became the site of the family graveyard at Monticello. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/22019.html
- Kevorkian Sentenced - Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 25 years imprisonment for killing a Michigan man in a physician-assisted suicide which was taped and later aired on 60 Minutes. Kevorkian, 70, was convicted last month of second-degree murder in the death of Thomas Youk, who was in the advanced stages of Lou Gehrig's disease and wanted to die. In sentencing Kevorkian, the judge ignored pleas of mercy from Youk's relatives, saying that while laws can be criticized, they cannot be broken. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19107.html
- Kill Your TV - It's been common knowledge for years that, for the most part, TV is a purveyor of mediocrity and that the average viewer drinks it in like mother's milk. But now comes a warning from the American Academy of Pediatricians that little kids shouldn't be watching TV at all, and not just because prime-time programming is inane. The docs are concerned that children younger than 2 will have their development stunted by television, since it's been proven that babies need direct interaction to stimulate brain growth. Otherwise, they might grow up to become television executives. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21088.html
- Kill Your TV - Kids who watch a lot of TV before turning out the light are more difficult to put to bed and don't sleep as well when they are finally subdued. They actually funded an Internet study to determine this, although any parent could have told 'em for free. Nevertheless, some interesting statistics emerged: 76 percent of parents let their kids watch TV before going to bed and around 15 percent of children fall asleep in front of the tube at least twice a week. Forty percent of the TV watchers resist going to bed, have trouble falling asleep, or wake up during the night. Given the quality of prime-time fare, is it any wonder the kid gets a touch of gas now and then? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21638.html
- Killed with Kindness - The US Army's new tungsten bullet will still splatter your guts against the wall, but at least the environment will be spared all that icky lead contained in the traditional slug. According to Reuters, the Army is replacing its lead bullets -- which leave a residue harmful to sediment, surface water, and groundwater -- with tungsten-based slugs. Since the pulverized organs of an enemy soldier are completely biodegradable, this appears to be a win-win situation for all concerned. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20843.html
- Killer Surrenders - Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, the subject of an intensive manhunt in connection with slayings in Illinois, Kentucky, and Texas, surrendered to the FBI Tuesday in El Paso, according to NBC News. Resendez-Ramirez, a 38-year-old Mexican drifter with a long criminal history, was wanted for a string of serial killings that led the media to dub him the "Railroad Killer," since he is believed to have been riding the rails and finding most of his victims near rail lines. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20700.html
- Killer Will Die - The white supremacist convicted of murdering a black man by chaining him to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him to his death has been sentenced to die by a Texas judge. Judge Joe Bob Golden agreed with the jury recommendation, that John King should die by lethal injection rather than be sentenced to life imprisonment, for the murder of James Byrd Jr. In a poignant moment after the sentencing, one of Byrd's daughters embraced King's father, who had broken down in tears. The elder King, who said he didn't agree with his son's racist views, is wheelchair-bound and suffering from emphysema. "I told him God bless him," Byrd's daughter said. "It wasn't his fault." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18134.html
- Killings 'Justified' - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the shooting deaths of three Kurds -- who were among dozens of protesters who stormed the Israeli consulate in Berlin -- saying the security guards acted in self-defense. "We are sorry when lives are lost, but we are committed to protecting Israeli citizens wherever they may be and Israeli facilities anywhere in the world," Netanyahu told a news conference in Jerusalem Wednesday. The three victims were part of a general Kurdish uprising across Europe, triggered by Turkey's arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. The Kurds accused Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, of helping the Turks track down Ocalan. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17974.html
- King's Ransom - Horror writer Stephen King was in serious but stable condition after surgery early Sunday for injuries sustained when he was hit by a minivan while walking near his home in Maine. King sufered a collapsed lung, a broken leg and hip, and lacerations. But hospital officials said the novelist was feeling well enough after the surgery to joke with the staff and to inquire about his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20322.html
- Korean Thaw - If Woo Yong-gak walks out of prison this Thursday -- and it's looking very much like he will -- it means freedom for the world's longest-serving political prisoner. Woo, 71, has been imprisoned by South Korea since being captured while leading a North Korean commando raid against the south in 1958. Woo would be released as part of an amnesty announced Monday in Seoul that will eventually free 9,000 prisoners. The amnesty represents one of the first concrete steps toward reconciliation between North and South Korea, who have remained technically at war since the Korean conflict ended in 1953. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18044.html
- La Resistance - If the French had fought this hard during World War II, maybe they would have lasted more than six weeks on the battlefield. But that was merely war; this present fracas threatens the very soul of France itself, involving as it does, food. Reacting to a European ban on the importing of hormone-treated beef, the United States and Canada levied customs duties of 100 percent on such (mainly French) delicacies as fois gras, Roquefort cheese, and shallots. The reaction to that was swift and brutal: Farmers in southwestern France staged a two-day occupation of a McDonald's restaurant in Auch, while a pancake house in Dijon jacked up the price of a single bottle of Coca-Cola to 50 francs, or about $8. Thus, honor is served. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21023.html
- Last Gasps - Republican prosecutors, having all but given up hope of actually forcing President Clinton from office, have decided to at least go down defiantly. In closing arguments to the Senate Monday, Rep. James Sensenbrenner told senators that "the truth is still the truth and a lie is still a lie." The Wisconsin Republican said the evidence clearly shows Clinton knew what he was up to and was engaging in some big-league spin control. After the prosecution has its last whack, the defense will wrap up its end. The trial is expected to end this week. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17797.html
- Le Blackout - The owner of the French domain altern.org pulled the plug on 47,634 accounts on his Web page hosting service Thursday. Valentin Lacambre made the decision after a judge flayed him for allowing nude pictures of Estelle Hallyday, a French model, to appear on a site within the domain. The court said that Lacambre should be held responsible for the content of his servers -- a decision that has upset netizens in France and prompted criticism from the European Parliament. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18149.html
- Legislating Etiquette - Lawmakers in Louisiana think they have the answer to the "national problem" of kids showing no respect. The state's Republican governor has just signed into law the nation's first attempt to polish students' manners through legislation. The law requires students in grades K through 5 to address teachers as "sir" or "ma'am," or with the correct title of Mr., Mrs., Miss, or Ms. It does not, however, mandate any punishment for a slip of the tongue or lapse in politesse, leaving that to the discretion of the individual school districts. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20599.html
- Less is More - The bleeding of patients was a common practice by doctors in the Middle Ages. Turns out they may have known a thing or two. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that critically ill patients with mild anemia fare better with less blood, not more. Statistics show that patients receiving red-cell transfusions for anemia run a greater risk of dying than those where blood was withheld. No one is quite sure why, but it may be that the introduction of additional red cells weakens the immune system in some cases. Doctors were quick to point out that in certain instances -- cardiovascular disease, bleeding, and emphysema -- transfusions are still necessary. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17893.html
- Let There Be Light - It's a Herculean task, but after years of stalling it's finally underway: The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse -- all 4,800 tons of it -- is being moved 1,600 feet inland from the Atlantic Ocean. The structure, which at 208 feet is the tallest lighthouse in the United States, has been a landmark on North Carolina's Outer Banks since 1870. It was originally 1,600 feet from the ocean, but erosion caused by the powerful surf has brought the Atlantic to within 150 feet of the distinctive tower. The move, expected to take about two months to complete, involves dragging the lighthouse using a sophisticated hydraulic system. Because of the curving coastline, the Hatteras Light will actually be dragged about 2,900 feet from its original spot. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20311.html
- London Blast Kills 2 - A nail bomb that exploded in a crowded gay pub in the Soho district of London Friday, killing two and injuring scores, may have been planted by right-wing extremists, police say. It was the third such attack in two weeks, and white supremecists have claimed responsibility for the other two -- one aimed at blacks and the other at Bangladeshis. The bomb exploded shortly after 6:30 p.m. local time at the Admiral Duncan pub, causing what one witness described as "absolute carnage." Two patrons were confirmed killed in the blast and as many as 40 were injured, Reuters reported. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19434.html
- Lookin' for Work? - Any American kid, the saying goes, can grow up to become president of the United States. But who would want to? According to the Jobs Related Almanac, it's a high-stress job in a lousy working environment, and it finished 229th in a ranking of 250 jobs. Not surprisingly, blue-collar jobs and seasonal workers fared the worst, but some of the so-called glamour jobs -- actors (218th) and pro football players (211th) -- didn't do so hot, either. Les Krantz, author of the almanac, rated careers according to income, stress levels, physical demands, job security, growth potential, and the working environment. In the world according to Les, you're better off working in the math and science fields. The top job? Web site manager. The man must be crazy. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18536.html
- Looking Ahead - After she's through being first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton says she plans on living in New York, even if she doesn't run for the Senate there. In an interview taped for the TV news magazine 60 Minutes II, Mrs. Clinton gave no inkling about her political intentions -- although it is widely assumed that she'll run for the Senate seat vacated by Daniel Moynihan. Since she wouldn't discuss the meat-and-potatoes stuff, like whether her husband might be coming along, her interrogator was left to ask which New York baseball team she planned on rooting for. Mrs. Clinton, a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, said she'd root for both. That sounds like someone getting ready to run for political office. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19863.html
- Looking Back - They're Zeiss glasses -- the best -- and they're stamped with the emblem of the Kriegsmarine, as the German navy was called during the Third Reich. That alone would be enough to make them valuable to a collector of militaria, but these particular binoculars have a singular distinction that sent the bidding price into the stratosphere: They were once the property of Adolf Hitler. Der F hrer's glasses, taken from his yacht at the end of the war, sold at auction to an anonymous bidder Thursday for US$44,800. Just the thing for a spot of bird watching. In Poland or France. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20283.html
- Lost in Space - If was a horse, they'd shoot it. But it's not a horse; it's the Mir space station, the Russians are very fond of it, and they want to keep it aloft, even though the old tub has long outlived its usefulness. But they've always kept it manned, too, and now that they're not, there are new worries. Cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev, commander of the last regular crew to serve aboard Mir, said the aging space station might begin to deteriorate without the constant attention that's been lavished on it for 13 years. A cleanup crew is supposed to go up to Mir next year to prepare it for its gradual descent and eventual breakup in the atmosphere. But upon his return to Earth over the weekend, Afanasyev expressed fears that Mir might not be in any condition to receive a docking craft next year. Maybe they should just dispatch it with a photon torpedo. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21521.html
- Low Finance - It's estimated that there are 200 billion pennies in circulation out there, but thanks to people hoarding them in jars, piggy banks, and socks, there's actually a shortage of the damned things. Although small merchants and banks feel the pinch first, a penny shortage is believed to be symptomatic of a robust economy, CNN reports. It's when you've got them coming out of your ears that you should start to worry. So a penny for your thoughts. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20951.html
- Lusty Canucks - Is it the mating season in the Great White North? Whatever the reason, American cities and towns bordering Canada are being inundated by hordes of randy Canadians on the prowl for Viagra, the sex drug that remains unavailable in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and those other hotbeds of carnal craving. According to the Associated Press, Canadians account for as much as 80 percent of Viagra sales at US pharmacies near the border. What's going on up there, anyway? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17589.html
- Main Man - William Shakespeare, picked as Britain's man of the millennium in a poll of BBC radio listeners, was hailed Saturday as an international superstar. But scientists felt Charles Darwin or Isaac Newton should have taken the prize. As one said, Shakespeare told us "what we already know but in a very beautiful way, whereas Newton and Darwin transformed the way we thought about humanity and the world."b [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17102.html
- Mall Rats - In an attempt to rid an Australian mall of loitering teens, the Wollongong shopping center south of Sydney is hitting teenagers where it hurts. Mall-goers are being treated to a musical diet of all Bing Crosby, all the time. The mid-century crooner seems to be working like a charm. Teens are leaving the mall in droves, calling the music "damn annoying." For those who are braving through the endless renditions of Crosby's "My Heart Is Taking Lessons," the mall-owners have another trick up their sleeve. Pink fluorescent lights that highlight pimples. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20645.html
- Managing Monica - House prosecutors grilled Monica Lewinsky for a couple of hours on Sunday, characterizing the session as "very constructive" even though she offered no revelations. As agreed, no sexual details were discussed. Instead, they asked about the timing of President Clinton's gifts to her and conversations between her and Clinton about how Lewinsky would respond to a subpoena in the Paula Jones case. The real point, though, was to establish the need to call witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, and that issue may be decided Monday. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17509.html
- Mandela Farewell - Nelson Mandela exited the world stage Wednesday, hailed as a man who chose reconciliation over revenge, thus easing South Africa's transition from apartheid to majority rule. Mandela joined the country's new president, Thabo Mbeki, at the latter's swearing-in ceremony in Pretoria, a gala that was attended by a number of world leaders. Mbeki praised the 81-year-old Mandela as the man who "pulled our country out of the abyss and placed it on the pedestal of hope on which it rests today." As Mandela heads off on a "secret holiday retreat" arranged by his wife, Mbeki must now contend with South Africa's welter of problems, including widespread poverty and a soaring crime rate. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20250.html
- Many Hats, One Ring - Lamar Alexander has taken the plunge, while Elizabeth Dole continues advancing steadily, if slowly, toward announcing her candidacy for president. Alexander joins former vice president Dan Quayle, New Hampshire senator Bob Smith, and conservative gadfly Pat Buchanan in an increasingly crowded Republican field, while Dole and Texas Governor George W. Bush pussyfoot around with exploratory committees. On the Democratic side, Al Gore has done everything but confirm that he'll be running, and he'll be the odds-on favorite for the nomination when he does. On Tuesday, Gore said his campaign (if there is one) will be "about the American people." That's probably vague enough to get the ball rolling. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18387.html
- Market Watch - US stocks surged in early Monday trading, led by computer and Internet-related stocks, on optimism about the growth of the economy in the new year. The Wired Index rose 12.07 to 579.31, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 125.39 to 9306.82, and the Nasdaq advanced 31.22 to a record 2223.91. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17115.html
- Market Watch - US stocks rose in early Tuesday trading, again led by computer-related stocks, on optimism of robust earnings growth for the high-tech industries. The Wired Index rose 5.98 to 581.61, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 40.42 to 9224.69, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 15.24 to 2223.29. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17144.html
- Market Watch - US stocks rose to record highs, led by computer-related stocks, as institutional investors continued to buy up shares. The bidding war over AirTouch also sparked talks that more acquisitions are on the way. The Wired Index jumped 23.92 to 614.11, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 125.39 to 9436.58, and the Nasdaq rose 44.18 to 2295.45. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17174.html
- Market Watch - US stocks were mixed in early Thursday trading as computer-related stocks continued to rise, but were offest by several retail companies warning of lower than expected earnings for the quarter. The Wired Index rose 2.55 to 616.89, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 49.17 to 9495.80, and the Nasdaq rose 1.15 to 2322.01. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17199.html
- Market Watch - US stocks were mixed in early Monday trading, as gains by computer-related stocks, particularly Intel, were offset by losses elsewhere. The Wired Index jumped 9.97 to 638.59, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26.26 to 9617.06, and the Nasdaq rose 27.05 to 2371.46. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17261.html
- Math Is Hard - Just when you thought it was safe to do your taxes, a 100-year-old mathematical law has cropped up that'll help the IRS ferret out fraud. Benford's law shows that around 30 percent of numbers will start with a 1, 18 percent with a 2, and 4.6 percent with the number 9. Nature's propensity for certain numbers means that doctored company ledgers will stand out like sore thumbs under mathematical scrutiny. The US Institute of Internal Auditors is about to begin training sessions on how to apply Benford's law to fraud cases. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20632.html
- Mayday! Mayday! - Next time you feel like a little attitude adjustment, may we suggest surviving a plane crash? A study of 15 air-crash survivors indicates that the experience changed their perspective on life, and for the better. According to researchers, the magnitude of the accident made them realize that a lot of other things they use to fret about were really just penny-ante stuff. In terms of anxiety levels and depression, crash survivors actually seem better adjusted than those who had never been involved in an aviation accident. So go ahead. Get your boss a ticket to Paris, and hope for the best. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21377.html
- Mea Culpa - Catholic guilt appears to be catching up with the Church as the millennium comes to a close, and Pope John Paul II wants to begin the next thousand years with a clean slate. So the pontiff, addressing his regular weekly crowd at the Vatican on Wednesday, apologized for past excesses and set aside 8 March 2000 as "Request for Forgiveness" day. Although he didn't specify which sins the Church would like to purge, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of history can probably think of a few: its shoddy treatment of the Jews, its failure to protect human rights in a thousand different places, and the less-than-stellar people skills exhibited by its missionaries during the forced conversions of the heathen. Oh, and then there's the Inquisition. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21540.html
- Metal Symphony - Crossover -- where musicians in one genre "cross over" into another -- is an increasingly popular concept in marketing music these days. Yo-Yo Ma jamming with country fiddlers, Michael Bolton singing opera arias -- you get the idea. But this one takes the cake. The San Francisco Symphony is laying it on the line with Metallica. The ultimate culture clash occurred Thursday, when the orchestra and the heavy metal band got together for a two-hour concert in the Bay Area that, if the San Francisco Chronicle is to be believed, was a rollicking success. The music was all Metallica's, which figures -- and in terms of sheer volume, Metallica won hands down. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19292.html
- Method Actor - It's been a bad week for all things Woodstock. First the riots, and now this: Rydwyn Davies, a 21-year-old actor portraying Sir Henry Greene in an Elizabethan drama called Thomas of Woodstock, got himself skewered during a sword fight when he failed to step out of the way of his opponent's thrust. Although the blade was rounded and dull, it still punched a two-inch hole in Davies, who managed to walk offstage and was driven to a nearby hospital where he was treated and released. Fortunately, Sir Henry Greene, was supposed to die anyway, so the Hampshire Shakespeare Company went on with the show. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20970.html
- Mexican Quake - First Turkey, then Taiwan, and now Mexico. Thursday's earthquake, which hit the southeastern state of Oaxaca at 12:31 EDT, measured 7.5 degrees on the Richter scale, according to the US geological survey. Three people have been reported killed, electricity in the city of Oaxaca was completely cut off, and there has been widespread damage to buildings. The last quake close to this magnitude hit Mexico on 16 June when a temblor measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale killed 18 people, most of them in the city of Puebla just east of Mexico City. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/22028.html
- Mexico in Shock - The slaying Monday of Francisco "Paco" Stanley, a popular comedian known as Mexico's Johnny Carson, shocked the nation and had radio and TV commentators calling for the resignation of top law enforcement officials. Stanley, 56, was killed in a hail of gunfire on a Mexico City street in an attack that, according to news accounts, lasted several minutes. A bystander was also killed. The slaying provoked outrage in Mexico City, which is plagued by a high crime rate, and several TV and movie stars publicly criticized the city's mayor, as well as Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20083.html
- Midwest Carnage - At least 45 people are dead and the toll is expected to rise in the wake of Monday's devastating series of tornadoes that cut a swath through Oklahoma and Kansas. Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who described the twisters as "the worst ever," declared his state a disaster area, as did the governor of Kansas. The biggest tornado was enormous -- estimated at a mile wide -- generating winds of more than 200 mph. Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Wichita were all hit hard, as were a number of nearby communities. Officials at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said at least three dozen twisters were generated by the system, which stretched from north Texas into central Kansas. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19483.html
- Milestone Night? - Ordinarily, this would be just another ballgame between a couple of mediocre clubs; maybe a nice place to take the kids on a muggy St. Louis evening. But Thursday's game between the hometown Cardinals and the San Diego Padres could turn out to be an historic occasion for two of the game's most illustrious players. With one more home run, Cards' slugger Mark McGwire will have 500 for his career, while the Padres' Tony Gwynn is only two shy of the magical 3,000-hit plateau. A sellout crowd is expected at Busch Stadium. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21117.html
- Milosevic Critic Ousted - It may be honest and it may be right, but it's not usually very smart to openly criticize your boss. Especially if your overseer is Slobodan Milosevic. But that's exactly what Yugoslavia's deputy prime minister, Vuk Draskovic, did the other day, saying that Milosevic should accept a UN peacekeeping force and quit lying about the military and humanitarian situation in the country. To nobody's great surprise, Draskovic got the ax on Wednesday. "My voice of reason has now been silenced," Draskovic told CNN, adding that he will return to his former post as opposition leader. Unless he goes under the wheels of a tractor first. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19388.html
- Milosevic OKs Accord - Yugoslavia accepted an international peace plan for Kosovo on Thursday, one that might actually meet all of NATO's key demands for ending the alliance's punishing 72-day air campaign. The accord -- brokered by Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin, and accepted by President Slobodan Milosevic and the Serbian parliament -- calls for a Yugoslav withdrawal from Kosovo followed by an international security presence under united command with a "fundamental" role for NATO. NATO had no immediate comment, but British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook insisted the alliance would not stop its bombing campaign until there was a "verifiable withdrawal" of Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20005.html
- Mission Aborted - Following in the footsteps of a tradition at least three generations old, a seventh grader at Desert Sky Middle School in Glendale, Arizona, built a rocket as a science project. Inspired by the movie October Sky, David Silverstein built himself a nifty little one-stage projectile, using an empty potato-chip can for the fuselage. Target: An A in science. Instead, his rocket never made it to the pad. It's a sad commentary on modern times that school officials took one look at young David's project sitting in his locker and suspended him for the rest of the year. For "carrying a firearm," dontcha know. Didn't know you could fit multiple warheads onto a Pringle's can. But it may all end well. The forces of good, including Homer Hickam, the subject of the movie, are rallying to David's cause. Expect school administrators to fold at the knees. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18653.html
- Mission Accomplished - Crystal-clear images of the Liberty Bell 7 show the space capsule sitting upright and intact three miles down in the Atlantic Ocean, where it sank on 21 July, 1961 after carrying astronaut Gus Grissom on a 15-minute, suborbital flight. The successful mission ended disastrously when something -- possibly a blown hatch cover or a mistake by Grissom -- caused Liberty Bell 7 to fill with water and sink before it could be retrieved. Grissom, who nearly drowned, maintained until his death that he had done nothing wrong. The plan now is to retrieve and restore the capsule before putting it on permanent display, a plan steadfastly opposed by Grissom's widow, Betty. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19455.html
- Mom Freezes - The mother of Russell Henderson, one of two men charged in the killing of a gay college student in Wyoming last year, apparently froze to death after leaving a bar in Laramie Saturday night. Cindy Dixon, 40, was reportedly intoxicated when she walked out into the sub-freezing night wearing only a light jacket. Her body was found alongside a road the next morning, 8 miles out of town. Her 21-year-old son is awaiting trial in the kidnapping and murder of Matthew Shepard. Police say Dixon's death appears to be unrelated. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17175.html
- Money Talks - A top Republican lawmaker says the president ought to get a raise. Representative Paul DeLay of Texas notes that the nation's CEO has been making US$200,000 for the past 30 years, and the job is worth twice that. DeLay is far from a fan of President Clinton, but he's likely also bucking for a raise for Congress, whose members make a paltry $133,000. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19719.html
- Monkey See, Monkey Do - After 150 years of observing chimpanzees in the wild, the science world has determined that cultural variation is no longer the sole province of the human race. It turns out that human characteristics exhibited by chimps vary a great deal, and geography seems to be a determining factor. While East African chimps have fastidious eating habits, their brethren to the west wolf their food like frat boys at a smorgasbord. Courting rituals differ by region, too: You've got your suave chimp, who artfully swishes branches around to attract a mate, and you've got your basic singles-bar lout, who bangs loudly on tree trunks and expects 'em to come running. Unfortunately, like their human counterparts, they frequently do. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20280.html
- Moonstruck - Brian Trochelmann pleaded guilty Thursday and may face up to five years in prison for trying to sell a fake moon rock. Trochelmann had maintained for years that his pet rock was obtained by John Glenn and then given to his father by the famous astronaut in recognition of his invention of a space food-packaging process. Trochelmann and his brother Ronald were found out in 1995 when they negotiated an agreement with a Manhattan auction house to sell their extraterrestrial rock for millions. Not only did the brothers fabricate the story about their father's invention and his connection with Glenn, but they were told by at least three scientists with lunar expertise that the rock was your basic garden variety earth rock. Ronald Trochelmann is scheduled to go on trial in November. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21935.html
- More Shooting - A month to the day after the shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a lone gunman opened fire at a high school in Conyers, Georgia, wounding six students. The shooting began around 8 a.m. Thursday at Heritage High School when the gunman, believed to be a student at Heritage, opened fire in a common area with a .22-caliber hand-pump shotgun. Authorities said the suspect, who was not identified, was taken into custody almost immediately after the shootings. The victims were taken to area hospitals. None of the wounds are believed to be life-threatening. Meanwhile, President Clinton is visiting the families of the Columbine massacre victims. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19791.html
- Moscow Blast - At least 20 people are confirmed dead and rescuers expect to find more bodies in the wake of a blast that destroyed a nine-story apartment building in the outskirts of Moscow early Thursday. Although authorities first suspected a natural-gas explosion, they now say that they haven't ruled out the possibility of a criminal act. More than three dozen people, including 12 children, were pulled from the rubble and taken to hospitals, and rescue workers continued combing through the debris, although they say the odds of finding more survivors are slim. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21657.html
- Mosque Pit - They didn't kick out the jams, exactly, but you gotta start someplace. Iranian officials swallowed hard over the weekend and tolerated the first pop-music festival since the Islamic revolution 20 years ago. There was no sign of Mick Jagger or Marilyn Manson -- the headliner was Khashayar Etemadi who, according to the Reuters correspondent, regaled the well-mannered crowd with pop tunes "singing the praises of Shiite religious figures [while flirting] cautiously with the overt romantic themes of Western-made Iranian pop music." But even if Etemadi toed the line, Iran's religious traditionalists were not pleased. If anything, the concert served to underscore the growing rift between reformers and fundamentalists. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17805.html
- Most Wanted - There might be a certain cach involved, but it's not generally a list you want to make. But terrorist Osama bin Laden and accused abortion-doctor killer James Kopp have been added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. The G-men would like to apprehend bin Laden for the bombings of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last year. As for Kopp, he's wanted in the slaying of Dr. Barnett Slepian, shot dead by a sniper last August as he stood in his kitchen. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20066.html
- Mother Nature's Tears - Tears, saliva, and the urine of pregnant women -- they all contain a powerful protein that laboratory scientists have successfully used to kill the AIDS virus. A New York University biochemist said the protein, called lysozyme, may one day yield more effective AIDS drugs since lysozyme is a natural human compound. The new study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The search for the anti-HIV protein began when scientists realized the babies of HIV-infected women were somewhat protected from the virus and speculated that pregnant women made more virus-killing proteins to protect their developing babies. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18490.html
- Move It, Tubby - You may not have the sleekest body on the block, but you don't have to be a gym rat to have a healthy heart and lungs. A pair of studies published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association conclude that performing routine household chores -- like raking leaves -- and walking more can lower cholesterol and body fat levels while keeping your vitals fit and happy. So the next time you run out of beer, walk to the mini-mart. OK? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17575.html
- Move Over, Tinky - Jerry Falwell has apparently tired of Tinky Winky, and has found something new to hate: Lilith Fair. Lesbianism rates highly on Jerry Falwell's hit list, so it's hardly surprising that an essay in his National Liberty Journal zeroes in on the women's music festival that plays 40 dates across North America beginning 8 July. The Journal essay attacks both the fair's symbolism (Lilith, according to the writer, is a "pagan figure" often depicted "in lewd poses ... kissing a female demonic figure") and the fact that it supports Planned Parenthood. Concert organizers were also taken to task for distributing condoms at the door. The point was lost on Falwell, however, that if they're handing out condoms, perhaps the concert-goers aren't all of the Sapphic persuasion. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20332.html
- Mr. Potatoe Head - "I am uniquely positioned and prepared to be president." With that declaration to the Indianapolis Star News, former Vice President Dan Quayle set the stage for his announcement that he'll be making a run for the White House next year. Quayle, that notoriously poor speller and master of the malaprop, told the paper that he'll announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination on Thursday's edition of The Larry King Show. "I can assure you I am serious," he said. "I am committed." Well, he should be. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17458.html
- Mr. Potatoe Mashed - Dan Quayle is dropping out of the Republican presidential race, according to a Quayle campaign worker who says the former vice president can't raise enough money to mount a serious challenge to George W. Bush. With 9 percent of the vote, Quayle is a distant second to Bush. It's not clear whether the Texas governor is a better speller than Quayle. But Bush has already raised US$50 million dollars, and that's five times as much as any other GOP candidate. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21961.html
- Mrs. Candidate? - Elizabeth Dole is stepping aside as head of the American Red Cross, and political supporters hope she'll campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Leaders of the "Draft Elizabeth 2000" campaign say the wife of 1996 GOP nominee Bob Dole would also be a strong vice presidential candidate. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17109.html
- Mucho Bucks - If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That seems to be the attitude of Argentine President Carlos Menem, who has suggested that his country seriously consider ditching its national currency and adopting the US dollar instead. And the idea is receiving serious consideration at the highest levels in Buenos Aires. Inspired perhaps by the advent of the euro, and cognizant of the fact that the Argentine peso is not exactly a robust currency, Menem sees the dollar as a sheet anchor against the kind of ruinous inflation that crippled the country in the late 1980s. Not everyone in Argentina is thrilled by the idea -- there's a considerable amount of national pride at stake -- but economic stability is a potent lure. Count on hearing a lot more about this. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17395.html
- Nach Paris! - It's an old joke. Question: Why does the Champs d'Elysees have so many trees? Answer: So the German army can march in the shade. Those fears appear to be rising again in France, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune, which quoted the permanent secretary of the French Academy as saying that Germany poses the biggest threat to European peace in the 21st century. Maurice Druon dismisses the recent history of warm relations between the two old antagonists, saying that the Germans are re-emerging as an imperial, dominant force in Europe. With Germany assuming a more prominent role in continental politics, and with Berlin once again the most important capital east of the Rhine, Druon is not the only Frenchman hearing jackboots in his sleep, the Herald Trib said. Better start sewing those white flags, Maurice. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21646.html
- Napalm Ribs - Whatever Col. Johnson puts in his BBQ sauce, it works. Col. Johnson's Thermo-Nuclear Sauce won first prize at a "ribfest" in Naperville, Illinois earlier this month. Now, a couple of bottles of the stuff have reportedly exploded in separate homes in suburban Chicago, injuring no one but wreaking havoc, spewing sauce as far as 12 feet from ground zero. At least no one can accuse the colonel of false advertising. It's right there on the label: "I Survived Col. Johnson's Thermo-Nuclear Sauce, No Guts, No Glory." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20898.html
- NATO's Green Light - Slobodan Milosevic's intransigence has finally pushed the Europeans to the limit. Saying that all attempts to reach an accord with the Yugoslav president over Kosovo had failed, NATO's secretary-general authorized air strikes against Yugoslavia late Tuesday. When the bombs will fall remains uncertain, but the Yugoslavs reacted by declaring a state of emergency. The Russians, too, reacted sharply. Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, en route to the United States for an official visit, literally ordered his plane turned around over the Atlantic Ocean and returned to Moscow. The Russians, traditional allies of the Serbs, have steadfastly opposed allied intervention in the Kosovo crisis. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18676.html
- NBA Settlement - It won't be much of a season, but at least there'll be one. With a drop-dead date staring them in the face, NBA players and owners finally hammered out an agreement Wednesday that will salvage what's left of the 1998-99 NBA season. Players' union head Billy Hunter and league commissioner David Stern, who have been avoiding each other like the plague, did the deal even as the rank-in-file was convening in New York to vote on a proposal to reject management's final offer. No details were immediately available. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17176.html
- Near Miss - When Miss America 2000 glides down the runway in Atlantic City next year, her mascara running and her rhinestone tiara glittering in the klieg lights, it's possible that she'll still be recovering from an abortion. Or getting over a nasty divorce. That's because the Miss America Pageant is relaxing its stringent 60-year-old rules that required a contestant to have never been married or pregnant. Starting next year, she'll only be asked to sign a document affirming that she's not currently married or pregnant, and is not a parent of either a natural or adopted child. In the end, it's not a case of the pageant waking up facing the new realities of womanhood; court documents make it clear that the rules were changed to avoid getting tangled in New Jersey's discrimination laws. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21743.html
- Net Romance, Suicide - A romance that blossomed over the Internet ended tragically when a 28-year-old French woman apparently committed suicide after being kicked out by her erstwhile lover. Police are calling Julie Yada's death a suicide, although the actual cause of death has not been established. Yada reportedly flew from Paris to the United States to meet a 24-year-old man with whom she had begun an Internet romance with six months ago. After spending a couple of nights together in a motel in suburban Detroit, the man threw her out. Police did not identify the man, but the police chief of Farmington Hills, Michigan didn't mince any words: "It's an extremely sad story. This woman comes all the way from Paris, is unstable and suicidal, is used for sex and thrown out the following day, and gets no help whatsoever." Although the man has not been charged with a crime, an investigation continues. You get the feeling it might last a while. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18310.html
- Netanyahu Defeated - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conceded defeat to Labor Party leader Ehud Barak shortly after the voting ended Monday. Separate exit polls gave Barak nearly 60 percent of the votes to roughly 40 percent for the incumbent. Netanyahu also said he intends to step down as leader of the right-wing Likud party. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19735.html
- New Red Menace - China has been so successful at stealing US nuclear secrets over the past quarter century that it may be less than a year away from testing weapons that will enable it to match American nuclear capability. A House investigative committee report released Tuesday concludes that a systematic espionage operation, begun in the 1970s, accelerated China's ability to develop strategic nuclear weapons. Specifically, Chinese spies managed to infiltrate four government research laboratories and steal the design secrets for seven nuclear warheads, including every weapon in the US arsenal. Combined with the sophisticated computer systems that it has been buying from US companies since 1996, China will be able to upgrade its nuclear capability very rapidly, the report warns. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19862.html
- New Rules - With Clinton's impeachment trial under way, the Senate is scrambling to set up procedures for a process that last occurred 131 years ago. Democrats and Republicans gather Friday morning to discuss such issues as when opening statements will be heard and whether witnesses are called. A vote on how to proceed is tentatively scheduled for Friday afternoon. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17219.html
- New Year, Old Tune - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says her country deplores the continuing human rights violations in China. Her Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, politely invited Albright to mind her own business. And so, another round of high-level US-China talks is underway in Beijing, this one aimed at gaining China's membership in the World Trade Organization. According to the State Department, which monitors these things, China remains a lousy place to be a dissident. Another one was recently shipped off to a labor camp for 18 months on what the State Department called a "trumped up" charge. For its part, China says that internal instability justifies its harshness. And, again, that it's none of America's business. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18187.html
- News from the Top - Members of an expedition trying to determine whether Englishmen George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were the first to climb Mount Everest say they've found Mallory's body near the summit. Mallory and his climbing companion disappeared in 1924. The expedition is still searching looking for evidence that the two conquered the world's highest peak 29 years ahead of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Members of the expedition identified Mallory by a nametag in his clothing. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19449.html
- NFL Tabs LA - Like a debutante with her choice of swains, the National Football League pretended to dither for a while before batting its eyes in the direction of Los Angeles, the league's preferred choice for expansion all along. By a 29-2 vote, NFL owners voted to award the league's next franchise to the City of Angels, without actually shutting the door on runner-up Houston. If LA fails to put together an acceptable ownership group and a plan for a new stadium within six months, the Texans will get the nod, they were told. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18531.html
- NHL Player Killed - Steve Chiasson, 32, a defenseman for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League, was killed early Monday when his pickup truck flipped over on a highway outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. Chiasson was ejected from the truck and died at the scene, state troopers said. The Hurricanes had just returned from Boston, where they were eliminated from the playoffs by the Boston Bruins. Chiasson, a native of Barrie, Ontario, was a 14-year veteran, playing for the Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames before being traded to the Hartford Whalers, which subsequently relocated to North Carolina. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19468.html
- Nicked at Nite - Are Bill and Hillary Clinton becoming the '90s version of Ralph and Alice Kramden? Granted, Ralphie Boy didn't go chasing every skirt that climbed aboard his bus, but the Clintons' public bickering bears a certain resemblance to The Honeymooners. Just as Alice used to forgive her hubby for acting like a shnook, only to have him do something equally inane almost immediately, Hillary has gamely covered for Bill's slightly less humorous antics, with similar results. Hillary: My husband's infidelities are the result of a traumatic childhood that scarred him forever. Bill (through his press secretary): "There was no physical abuse. He was blessed with love and a wonderful life." In other words, howdja like to go to the moon, Hillary? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21056.html
- Niger Coup? - Tanks surround the presidential palace, soldiers roam the streets, and a military coup appears to be underway in Niger, according to news reports from Niamey, capital of the West African nation. An early Reuters dispatch said that President Ibrahim Mainassara had been ambushed and shot by army troops, but a later report merely stated that Mainassara was away from the capital. The country has been in turmoil since some shaky local elections in February. The opposition called for Mainassara's resignation Thursday after the Supreme Court ordered a recounting of ballots in most of the districts. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19032.html
- Niger President Slain - Earlier reports that Niger's president, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, was assassinated Friday have apparently been confirmed by foreign diplomats, the Associated Press said. Niger's prime minister, talking to the nation on television, said Mainassara had been killed in "a tragic accident," but other Niger officials said he was shot by members of his own bodyguard. Meanwhile, a military coup appears to be underway in the West African country. Mainassara, who seized power in a 1996 coup, successfully put down several attempts by the military to topple him. Until Friday, apparently. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19035.html
- No Beef with Meat - It looks like beef, it tastes like beef, and -- dang it -- it actually is beef. But it's cloned beef and fears abound that consumers won't be in any hurry to line up for the stuff. In Japan, however, they ARE lining up to buy cloned beef (mainly because it's cheaper than genuine Kobe beef), and the first returns from test markets indicate the average Japanese consumer likes it, too. One patron at a Tokyo rib joint, Takashi Kimura, seemed to sum up the general feeling: "I don't really know much about beef, but if we can have top quality meat for a lower price, I'm for it," he told a reporter. If this catches on, what's next? Cloned beef on rye? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21702.html
- No Bull: Cepeda's In - Orlando Cepeda, whose 1975 drug conviction overshadowed his prodigious achievements on the field and kept him out of baseball's Hall of Fame for years, is an outsider no more. The Hall's Veterans Committee voted Tuesday to enshrine the Baby Bull, making him only the second Puerto Rican player -- Roberto Clemente was the first -- thus honored. The numbers for Cepeda, who played 17 seasons, mostly with the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, tell the tale: He hit .300 or better nine times, compiling a lifetime batting average of .297; he was Rookie of the Year in 1958 and the National League MVP in 1967; he hit 25 or more homers eight times, finishing his career with 379; he had 1,365 lifetime RBIs; he was a nine-time All-Star. After the announcement, the Giants announced that they would retire his number 30. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18243.html
- No Escape - Urban Americans who think they're escaping the pollution of the big city when they beat it out of town are deluding themselves, according to a report by two environmental groups. Actually, pollution levels "out there" are often worse than in town, a CNN story said. To wit: Cape Cod National Sea Shore has higher pollution and more bad air than Boston; Maine's Acadia National Park's pollution levels have equaled those in Philadelphia this year; the Amish farmland and the nearby city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania has had twice as many dirty days as Philadelphia in 1999. Probably all those damned looms. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21134.html
- No Gore, No Glory - Velcro-covered American bulls appeared to suffer less than humans in a bloodless bullfight in Montreal. The animals were covered with blankets of the sticky fabric to which cavaliers on horseback tried to affix Velcro-tipped sticks, or banderillas. Animal rights activists weren't mollified, however. They plan to file charges of animal brutality on the grounds that bullfighting of any kind traumatizes the bulls. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21381.html
- No Morse Code - After 100 years of signalling distress at sea, the Morse code warning SOS is being replaced by a satellite system. The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System can pinpoint the location of any vessel on the high seas within 200 yards. Dots and dashes were first used for a marine rescue off Dover, England. But it was the Titanic disaster of 1912 that prompted the adoption of SOS -- three dots, followed by three dashes and three more dots -- as an international distress signal. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17641.html
- No Rosy Romance - An Italian lover and a mountain of roses failed to persuade a woman to reconsider her broken engagement. Spurned lover Roberto decided to send Alessandra 1,480 roses, one for each day the couple had been engaged. He delivered the final blossom on horseback, along with an impassioned plea for Alessandra to change her mind. Roberto was crushed when she said no, but his grand gesture was worth US$6,000 to a Verona florist. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17101.html
- No! Not the Face! - Fabio, the hunky guy with the flowing mane, literally got the bird Tuesday. In Virginia to promote the opening of a roller coaster ride at Busch Gardens, the Italian heartbreaker, who became famous modeling for the covers of romance novels, was hit in the face by a flying bird while the ride was in progress. It was an inglorious finish to the promotion, which began with Fabio surrounded by adoring, toga-clad nymphets (the ride is called "Apollo's Chariot"), and ended with the Ligurian Lothario staggering away to an aid station with a bloodied face. It wasn't a pretty sight, but the plucky Roman ramrod survived his ordeal no worse for wear. No word on the bird's condition. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18878.html
- No-Mow Lawns - For some people, mowing the lawn is right up there with cleaning the toilet. That is to say, they'd rather not. In a few years, they might not have to. Improved versions of plant growth regulators -- long used for golf courses and sports fields -- are entering the market and may eventually be sold to homeowners. One new product works by shifting the plant's growing energy from up to out. Instead of taller shoots, grass plants produce branches, making a thick turf that might need mowing just twice a summer. Now if they could just do something about the toilets. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18950.html
- Nobody's Waffling - There's trouble brewing at the Waffle House in Mobile, Alabama. One of Tonda Dickerson's regular customers left her a lottery ticket as a tip and -- you guessed it -- she got a winner. Tonda, a 28-year-old waitress, suddenly found herself US$10 million to the good. Unfortunately, it turns out that Tonda and her co-workers were fond of indulging in the "what I would do if I won the lottery" game. The five agreed to split the prize if one of them actually did grab the brass ring someday. So now Tonda's (former) friends are suing her, claiming that the agreement is binding and they're entitled to a share. Tonda disagrees, the matter is going to court, and the Waffle House will never be the same. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19220.html
- Nominated - Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan topped the list of Oscar nominees announced Tuesday, receiving 13 and 11 nominations respectively. Joining those films as Best Picture nominees are Life is Beautiful, The Thin Red Line, and Elizabeth. For Best Actor: Tom Hanks, Roberto Benigni, Ian McKellen, Nick Nolte, and Ed Norton. For Best Actress: Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Fernanda Montenegro, and Emily Watson. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17817.html
- Northern Exposure - The British tabloids, never the paragons of journalistic virtue anyway, are back in hot water after The Sun, Britain's top-selling rag, published a 10-year-old picture of Sophie Rhys-Jones -- soon to be the missus of Prince Edward -- exposing a breast as she frolicked on a Spanish beach with TV star Chris Tarrant. "SOPHIE TOPLESS," screamed The Sun's banner headline, while the caption under the picture inside explained helpfully: "Sophie Rhys-Jones bared a boob when joker Chris yanked her bikini." Sophie and Edward are due to tie the knot at Windsor Castle on 19 June. No riposte yet from the Buckingham Palace press office, which had closed for the day by the time The Sun's big scoop appeared. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19887.html
- Not Knot-Tying - If marriage is the foundation of our society, as conservatives like to claim, we're headed for trouble. The Census Bureau said Thursday that 56 percent of American adults were married and living with their partners in 1998, down from 68 percent in 1970, 62 percent in 1980, and 59 percent in 1990. And more to disturb traditionalists: About 28 percent of children now live with just one parent, a huge rise from 1970 when 12 percent were raised by single parents. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17194.html
- Not with a Whimper - Particle scientists have brought us the A-bomb, the H-bomb, and the neutron bomb. Now, physicists at Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island are worried that they could collapse the Earth into a black hole. An upcoming experiment at the Heavy Ion Collider will smash gold nuclei, going almost the speed of light in opposite directions, into one another -- generating trillion-degree explosions and releasing more strange quarks than have been in one place since the Big Bang. Scientists are concerned that the high density at the explosion could either form a chain reaction, turning nearby matter into strange quarks, or form a small black hole that could eat the Earth. Further study is needed. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21443.html
- Nursing a Grudge - If you don't think it's expensive to send two kids through school, consider the case of George and Tracy Miller, a couple of on-call nurses at a Scottsdale, Arizona, hospital. In order to help build a college fund for their children -- one 11 and the other 5 -- the enterprising Millers created a pay-per-view Web site. What you're paying for is the chance to see the couple having sex. Some of their colleagues got wind of it, the hospital administration found out about it, and the Millers haven't been called to work a shift in more than two weeks. George, for one, isn't going to take this, er, lying down. "We're not giving up. I'll fight this until my heart stops." And since he's a nurse, he'll know when that is. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20793.html
- Nuts About Guns - Columbine High School reopened for the fall term Monday, with students and administrators determined to put the bloody campus rampage that left 15 people dead behind them. The echos of the April slaughter didn't extend to Mancos, Colorado, however, where the local Lions Club sponsored a gun show over the weekend at the high school there. Only one teacher in the town of 1,000 people even bothered protesting, calling it inappropriate to hold a gun show at a high school in light of what happened at Columbine, which is about 240 miles from Mancos. The show was well attended, too; at 3 bucks a pop, the Lions raked in around $2,000. Now that's a fine take, don't you think? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21286.html
- Ocalan to Die - Abdullah Ocalan, the rebel leader blamed for 37,000 deaths during a 15-year struggle for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey, has been sentenced to death by a Turkish court. Ocalan, convicted of treason, has been bargaining for his life while on trial, promising that his Kurdistan Workers Party would work for peace if he is spared, while warning of a terrorist bloodbath if he is hanged. Turkey is on a heightened state of alert, as are a number of European countries with large Kurdish minorities. Meanwhile, Ocalan's defense lawyers say they will appeal his conviction to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20478.html
- Off and Running - Anticipating a protracted struggle with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for a vacant New York Senate seat next year, Big Apple Mayor Rudolph Giuliani launched HillaryNo.com over the weekend. The Web site features a picture of a smiling Hillary sitting above what may become Giuliani's battle cry: "US Senate: For Proven Leaders, Not a Proving Ground." Giuliani is having his own problems right now, with polls showing that his approval rating has slipped in the wake of the NYPD slaying of an African immigrant. Nevertheless, the same poll shows that the Republican mayor has managed to gain ground on Mrs. Clinton in their projected Senate race. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18864.html
- Off the Mark? - Americans like their guns, and even last week's bloodbath in Littleton, Colorado, can't change that. President Clinton, pushing for tougher gun-control legislation in the wake of the slaughter at Columbine High School, pleaded with gun owners not to oppose his new crime-fighting package that includes new restrictions on firearms. One part of the plan already drawing fire would hold parents responsible for gun crimes committed by their children, which some legislators think is not only unduly harsh, but legally tenuous. Clinton's bill would also raise the age for buying explosives or guns from 18 to 21 and require that background checks be run on anyone purchasing firearms, even if it's from a gun show. An (unscientific) ABC.com poll accompanying the story shows that while Americans may have been shocked by last week's events, they remain steadfastly opposed to gun control: Fully two-thirds of the respondents said they think Clinton's bill goes too far. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19365.html
- Off the Racks - JCPenney has yanked a line of young men's basketball shirts with trash-talking messages about girls. A spokeswoman for the feminist Center for Advancement of Public Policy says lines like "Your game is as ugly as your girl" are insulting and dehumanizing to women. It's the second time this year the retailer has yielded to customer concerns about its clothing. In April, Penney's pulled a line of South Park shirts that featured messages by the TV show's notoriously foul-mouthed characters. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20581.html
- Office Shootings: 3 Slain - A 34-year-old man is in custody following a shooting rampage at two businesses in suburban Birmingham, Alabama Thursday that left three employees dead. The suspect, who has not been identified, was arrested following a car chase down state Highway 31 in Pelham. The victims were reportedly employed by Post Airgas and Ferguson Enterprises, both located in Pelham, a town of about 12,000 located 15 miles south of Birmingham. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21120.html
- Oh, Behave, Baby ... - Believe it or not, there's an 11-year-old kid out there who doesn't know what the word "horny" means. That's his mom's story, and she's sticking to it after filing a complaint against Toys 'R' Us for marketing an Austin Powers action figure that asks the question: "Do I make you horny, baby?" Tamara Brannon, who lives in a suburb of Atlanta, said she was compelled to explain the meaning of the word after her son picked up the doll at the store. "I feel this toy had basically pushed us into a vocabulary word that he would never had known to ask," Brannon said. If young Master Brannon has seen Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, it must be presumed that he knows what "horny" means. And a few other words besides. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20370.html
- OJ and the Law - Given the low esteem with which attorneys are already held by the average American, OJ Simpson seems a queer choice to pitch a legal referral service, but there you are. Simpson, who certainly can't deny getting some pretty decent legal help in a pinch, made a video appearance on behalf of Justice Media, saying he believes all defendants have the same right to competent legal representation. He's not getting paid, beyond expenses, and says his motives are altruistic: Justice Media is aimed at minority defendants. Simpson says he's been reading a lot lately about cases where people serving long sentences have been subsequently released when their innocence was finally proven. Wistfully, no doubt. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18586.html
- OJ on the Block - Before becoming famous as an accused murderer, OJ Simpson was known as a pretty good football player. The detritus of that former life -- including the Heisman trophy he won in 1968 as the nation's top college player -- goes on the auction block Tuesday night to help raise the money he must pay to settle the wrongful-death judgment awarded to the family of his late wife. Butterfield and Butterfield will auction the memorabilia from its Los Angeles digs, but at least part of the proceedings will be conducted online, from Butterfield's Web site. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17935.html
- Okie Pokey - Tulsa is not exactly a town renowned for its fleshpots. But how blue can a bluenose be? Two sorry saps in the Oklahoma burg are a little closer to finding out, after a judge ruled that they can be prosecuted for selling copies of Penthouse magazine, for gosh sake, to some undercover cops. William Gregory, 29, and Darrell Penn, 32, face up to 15 years in the slammer and a US$25,000 fine for violating the state's obscenity laws, which specifically proscribe selling depictions of sexual intercourse or "unnatural copulation." This is the same state -- Oklahoma City, to be precise -- where the cops went door to door, scooping up copies of the Oscar-winning film, The Tin Drum, because of a scene that depicted a minor having sex. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17829.html
- Old Bones - Fossils of an apparent human ancestor believed to have lived 5 million years ago have been discovered in Ethiopia. A team of researchers found the fossils in the Awash Valley, where the 3.2 million-year-old partial skeleton of an early hominid called Lucy was discovered in 1974. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17255.html
- Old Dog, New Tricks - If your aging hound is showing symptoms of canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (or senility, in little words), take heart. A new drug, Anipryl, has been approved for use after helping reduce the symptoms associated with canine senility: confusion, loss of sleep, pacing, uncontrolled urination, and estrangement from family members. Another drug, Clomicalm, reportedly helps dogs deal with separation anxiety, a common problem. Now that's something to bark about. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17163.html
- Old Fossil - Alas, it wasn't Jimmy Hoffa's skull that turned up at Maxilla and Mandible, Ltd., a Manhattan shop specializing in natural history curiosities, but in the end it will probably prove to be more valuable. According to The New York Times, the fossilized skull -- which includes most of the cranium but is missing the upper and lower jaws -- probably belonged to a young man from the Indonesian branch of early Homo erectus. The specimen is roughly half the size of a modern skull and the evidence suggests that this fellow lived at a time when humans were just beginning to develop the capacity to speak. While that may sound like a Teamster boss, the timing isn't right. Scientists believe the skull may be a million years old. Hoffa only disappeared in 1975. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21618.html
- Oliver Stoned? - Film director Oliver Stone was arrested in Beverly Hills Wednesday for drunken driving and possession of hashish. Los Angeles police spotted the erratic driver shortly before midnight and "an enforcement stop" was made, at which time they discovered the pot. Stone posted bail and is scheduled to appear in court on 16 July. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20186.html
- Out of Fashion - Sears has pulled a shotgun-toting doll from its catalog after complaints that it bears a disturbing resemblance to the Columbine High School killers. The doll, known as "The Villain," wears a black trenchcoat and comes armed with a shotgun and a rifle (in case the shotgun runs out of buckshot). It is marketed to kids 5 and older. 21st Century, the company that makes the doll, hauled "The Villain" back for a wardrobe change, but the president was stung by the criticism. "It was just an unfortunate coincidence for us that those idiots at Columbine were wearing trench coats," said Scott Allen. Yeah, lousy break, man. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21867.html
- Out of Sight - In a rare closed-door session Monday, senators debated a motion by Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) to dismiss the articles of impeachment against President Clinton. The vote on dismissal, to be taken after the Senate hears arguments Tuesday on a motion to depose witnesses, is expected to fail. The American public appears to favor a different outcome -- in a poll by CNN, USA Today, and Gallup, released Sunday, two-thirds of Americans said they wanted the trial to end immediately. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17531.html
- Outconned - A con artist trying to cash in on the recent Beanie Baby craze may have outconned himself by allegedly insulting his Internet victims. James Denlinger was arrested Wednesday in Sonoma County, California, after detectives -- responding to a complaint by one of the victims -- spent a month following his trail. By auctioning off the rare Beanie Babies for up to US$1,000 each on the Internet, Denlinger may have conned over $100,000 from his victims. Denlinger posted a message on a Internet bulletin board saying: "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Never see the person, never meet the person, never speak with the person and then get upset when you get ripped off. You must be a bunch of morons." Now who's the moron? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21047.html
- Pachyderm Peril - The specter of rogue elephants trampling hapless bystanders to death was apprarently too much for California Congressman Sam Farr to bear, so he's introduced legislation banning the use of elephants in circuses, traveling shows, and rides nationwide. Farr says he decided to push the ban in response to the increasing number of elephant rampages that have injured and killed dozens of animal handlers and spectators. Of course, there's always the possiblility that Farr, a Democrat, isn't all that fond of elephants anyway. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21983.html
- Party Pooper - This weekend was supposed to be NATO's big 50th birthday bash, a time for the Europeans and North Americans to slap each other on the back and hoist a few for being a bulwark against tyranny for half a century. Instead, NATO leaders have convened in Washington DC, fearful of the possibility of waging a land war in Yugoslavia and even beginning -- quietly -- to question the relevance of NATO. It wasn't supposed to be like this at all. Leave it to Slobodan Milosevic to ruin a good party. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19304.html
- Party Poopers - The 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre is almost here, and China is pulling out all the stops to mark the milestone -- detaining activists, disabling Web sites, blocking Western news feeds into the country, and defiantly proclaiming that the bloody crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators on 4 June 1989 was not only justified, but necessary. So far, in the weeks leading up to the anniversary, China has detained at least 80 dissidents, declined to issue permits for a candlelight vigil, and marched troops through the square on a regular basis. The government also closed all hotels and businesses in Beijing that have TVs capable of carrying CNN broadcasts. They will remain shuttered until 8 June. Other than that, it's just business as usual. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19995.html
- Passage: Akio Morita, 78 - Akio Morita, Sony's co-founder and the father of the Walkman, died of pneumonia Sunday in a Tokyo hospital. Morita was the marketing genius behind some of the company's greatest innovations. "Made in Japan" was a pejorative term when Morita and Masaru Ibuka started their consumer products business more than 50 years ago. Sony has gone on to become a giant in the electronics and entertainment industries. Morita has been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 1993. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/22064.html
- Passage: Al Hirt, 76 - The legendary "King of the Trumpet" was the toast of the jazz world during the '50s and '60s, performing at John F. Kennedy's inauguration and headlining at Carnegie Hall. Hirt, whose name was synonymous with New Orleans jazz, was nominated for 21 Grammys in a career that spanned 50 years. He was also prodigious in the studio, recording more than 50 albums. Four went gold and one -- "Honey in the Horn" -- went platinum. Hirt, a friend of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, topped the magazine's poll as best jazz trumpeter for 16 consecutive years. A powerful soloist renowned for his technique, Hirt also played off and on for many years with another New Orleans fixture, clarinetist Pete Fountain. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19377.html
- Passage: Alice Adams, 72 - The nationally acclaimed novelist and short story writer died in her sleep Wednesday night, after returning to her San Francisco home following a weeklong stay in the hospital for a heart problem. Adams, who began her literary career in the '50s, wrote 10 novels and five collections of short stories, including most recently The Last Lovely City. Her last novel, After the War, was completed shortly before her death and will be published by Knopf. Adams, a native of Virginia, grew up in the South before moving to California after World War II. Most of her stories, which often dealt with alienation and lovelessness among the well-to-do, were set in those locales. Adams' stories appeared in numerous O. Henry Awards collections, as well as several anthologies. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19932.html
- Passage: Allen Funt, 84 - Allen Funt, the master of the hidden camera who taught Americans not to take themselves too seriously, died Sunday of complications from a stroke. The creator and host of the TV classic Candid Camera, Funt captured human reactions to baffling situations, then surprised his subjects with his famous punch line, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera." After his retirement in the late 1970s, Funt ran a cattle ranch in California. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21604.html
- Passage: Andre Dubus, 62 - The New England condition was his canvas, and his work won him a reputation as one of the best short-story writers of his generation. Dubus, who lost a leg in 1986 after being struck by a car when he had stopped to help a stranded motorist, wrote poignantly about his miseries in Meditations From a Movable Chair, a collection of essays which appeared last year. Another collection of stories, Dancing After Hours, was a National Book Critics Circle award nominee. Dubus spent much of his later life holding free writing workshops in his Haverhill, Massachusetts home. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18150.html
- Passage: Anthony Newley, 67 - The versatile Newley was an accomplished actor, singer, playwright, composer, and lyricist, best known perhaps for co-authoring and starring in the musical hit Stop the World, I Want To Get Off. His portrayal of the Artful Dodger in the 1948 movie Oliver Twist made him an international star and he cemented his fame in the movies (Dr. Doolittle, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), as a songwriter (The Candy Man, the theme from Goldfinger), and as a regular visitor to the Las Vegas showrooms. Newley wed three times, including a stormy marriage to actress Joan Collins. He died in Florida following a lengthy battle with cancer. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19157.html
- Passage: Cal Ripken Sr., 63 - His son achieved baseball immortality by breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games-played record, but Ripken Sr. was a solid baseball man in his own right. As a player, coach, manager, and scout, Ripken spent 36 years in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Two sons, Cal Jr. and Billy, became major leaguers and the elder Ripken is the only man in baseball history to manage two sons at the same time. Both were at his bedside Thursday when he died of lung cancer. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18757.html
- Passage: DeForest Kelley, 79 - The actor who made the phrase "Dammit, Jim" a quotable for thousands of Star Trek viewers passed away Friday. Born 20 January 1920, DeForest Kelley had childhood aspirations of becoming a doctor, but began an acting career when his family couldn't afford medical school. Later he landed the role of Dr. McCoy on the original Trek series and also appeared in several movies, including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and in TV westerns. Co-star Leonard Nimoy reflects, "He represented humanity and it fitted him well. He was a decent, loving, caring partner and will be deeply missed." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20187.html
- Passage: Dick Latvala, 56 - The Grateful Dead inspired fan loyalty unique in the music world, and nobody personified that more than Latvala, who died Friday following a heart attack. Latvala was such an avid collector of the Dead's music that the band eventually hired him as archivist, and in the three years since Jerry Garcia's death have released 14 compact discs -- known as "Dick's Picks" -- from those archives. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21179.html
- Passage: Dusty Springfield, 59 - She enjoyed a modest resurgence in the mid-'90s, but with hits like Wishin' and Hopin', You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, and Son of a Preacher Man, Springfield was firmly rooted in the musical culture of the 1960s. Her husky voice was instantly recognizable and she was one of the few white singers to successfully cross the line into soul singing. Springfield left a mark on mid-'60s fashion, too, with her blonde beehive, heavy eye makeup, and lip gloss. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18246.html
- Passage: Early Wynn, 79 - The Hall of Famer, who won 300 games in a career that spanned four decades, was a cornerstone of the Cleveland Indians pitching staff in 1954, going 23-11 as the Tribe won 111 games in a 154-game season. Wynn, who played for the Indians and the Chicago White Sox, came to the majors in 1939. Twenty years later, at the age of 39, he won the American League Cy Young award, going 22-10 for the '59 Sox. He notched his 300th win in 1963. Wynn, a fierce competitor, was that rarity among pitchers: He could hit. He was frequently used as a pinch-hitter and one year batted .319. Wynn died Sunday, as the 1999 baseball season began. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18954.html
- Passage: Forum, 31 - Since opening its doors on 31 December 1967, the "Fabulous Forum" in Los Angeles has seen its share of the sporting high life: the Laker teams of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, then later the Showtime champs led by Magic Johnson and James Worthy. For hockey fans, there was the "Miracle on Manchester," when the Kings, trailing 5-0 in a playoff game against the Edmonton Oilers, rallied for a 6-5 win. But the Forum, which will give way to Staples Arena next year, went out on a downer Sunday as the Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs with nary a whimper. As NBC play-by-play man Bob Costas cracked, "An unfunny thing happened on the way out of the Forum." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19846.html
- Passage: Gene Sarazen, 97 - The "Squire" was the first golfer to win all four major championships (the PGA, US Open, British Open, and Masters), a feat accomplished by only three others -- Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player. Sarazen won seven majors between 1922 and 1935, but it was his incredible 235-yard shot for a double-eagle on the 15th hole of the 1935 Augusta National Tournament that made him a legend and that tournament -- later known as the Masters -- one of the most famous in golf. Sarazen retired in 1973, saying goodbye with a hole-in-one at Royal Troon in Scotland. He was a charter member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19691.html
- Passage: George C. Scott, 71 - George C. Scott was an actor of great honesty and integrity. He hated movie-making, claiming he was only in it for the money; and he despised the Academy Awards, insisting it was little more than a popularity contest. And when he won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of General George S. Patton in Patton, Scott ignored the ceremony to watch a hockey game on TV instead. Scott captivated movie audiences for decades in such classics as Dr. Strangelove, The Hustler, Anatomy of a Murder, and The Hospital, but always preferred the theater. "I have to work in the theater to stay sane," he said. "You can attack the stage fresh every night." He died Wednesday of unknown causes at his home in Ventura County, California. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21902.html
- Passage: George E. Brown Jr., 79 - The oldest member of the House of Representatives and the ranking Democrat on the House science committee represented California's 42nd District (San Bernardino and environs) since 1962. Brown, who was in his 18th term, was a strong booster of NASA and an advocate of space exploration. He underwent a heart-valve replacement in May but developed a post-operative infection, which proved fatal. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20779.html
- Passage: Harry Blackmun, 90 - As a Supreme Court justice, Blackmun authored the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that affirmed a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion. Blackmun, a lifelong Republican, was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Nixon in 1970, yet by the time he retired in 1994 he was considered one of the most liberal justices in the court's history. That reputation was built largely on his staunch defense of individual liberties, but nothing compared to his authorship of Roe v. Wade, perhaps the court's most controversial decision ever. Blackmun received thousands of pieces of hate mail for his trouble, and insisted on reading them all. "I want to know what the people who wrote are thinking," he said. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18272.html
- Passage: Harry Walker, 80? - Harry "The Hat" Walker was either 80 (according to him) or 83 (according to the Baseball Encyclopedia), but in any case won the National League batting title in 1947, hitting .363. Walker, who spent most of 11 big league seasons with St. Louis, delivered the deciding hit in the 1946 World Series as the Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox. He earned the nickname "The Hat" for his habit of adjusting his cap between pitches. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21180.html
- Passage: Huntz Hall, 78 - Best known as Dippy, the best friend of Spit, Hall was one of the original "Dead End Kids" who enjoyed tremendous popularity in the 1930s and '40s. Hall was a product of the Irish immigrant world portrayed in those movies, growing up in a New York slum. His distinctive appearance -- rubbery face, bug eyes, and a pugilist's busted nose -- served him well as sidekick to the wisecracking Spit, played by Leo Gorcey. Hall made 120 films in a long career, 87 of them with the "Dead End Kids," also known as the "East Side Kids" and the "Bowery Boys." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17677.html
- Passage: Iris Murdoch, 79 - Her prolific, distinctive prose eventually made her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and she was one of Britain's most revered novelists in the second half of the 20th century. Murdoch wrote 26 novels in a career that began with the publication of Under the Net in 1954. She won the Booker Prize, Britain's highest literary award, for The Sea, The Sea in 1978. Not all of her books met with critical success, and she was not exactly an editor's best friend: Murdoch was notorious for resisting any changes to her manuscripts, including punctuation. Her last novel, Jackson's Dilemma, was published in 1995. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17822.html
- Passage: Jerry Quarry, 53 - He twice fought Muhammad Ali and lost two title shots, but Jerry Quarry's legacy may be a chilling reminder of his sport's brutality. The former heavyweight fighter died Sunday at a Templeton, California, hospital after a long descent into dementia brought on by repeated blows to the head. The progressive malady, similar to Alzheimer's disease, left Quarry virtually helpless and in the care of his family in his final years. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17114.html
- Passage: Jim 'Catfish' Hunter, 53 - The anchor of a pitching staff that led the Oakland A's to three consecutive World Series championships in the '70s, Hunter was one of the most respected and well-liked players of his generation. In a 15-year career that eventually landed him in the Hall of Fame, Hunter amassed a pretty impressive resume: 224 wins, five straight seasons of 20 or more victories, a perfect game (vs. Minnesota in 1968), the ace of five championship teams (he won two more World Series with the Yankees), and an eight-time All-Star. Hunter was given his colorful nickname by the A's flamboyant owner, Charlie Finley, after telling Finley that he enjoyed hunting and fishing. Hunter died of amyothropic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21681.html
- Passage: Joe DiMaggio, 84 - The baseball legend who transcended his sport to become a genuine American icon, died early Monday after a long battle with lung cancer and other complications. DiMaggio, who brought a singular elegance to the rough-and-tumble era of the game, was beloved as the Yankee Clipper by a generation of baseball fans. He had a .325 lifetime batting average and won three Most Valuable Player awards, but it was his 56-game consecutive hitting streak in 1941 that placed him at the forefront of baseball's immortals. His marriage to Marilyn Monroe kept him in the public eye after his playing days were over, but it was his personal style -- classy, unpretentious, remote -- that fixed him firmly in the American consciousness and inspired Ernest Hemingway and Paul Simon to write about him. In this unheroic age, DiMaggio might fairly be considered one of the last real American heroes. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18325.html
- Passage: Joe Williams, 80 - The renowned jazz and blues vocalist, a close collaborator of Count Basie's during the '50s and '60s, was a security guard at Chicago's Regal Theater, a favorite jazz spot, when his professional break came. He hooked up with Lionel Hampton, then began a relationship with Basie that carried him to the top of the jazz world. The two remained close friends until Basie's death in 1984. Although Williams' heyday came during his Basie era, he continued performing until the end. He influenced a number of talented male vocalists, including Tony Bennett and Buddy Greco. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18831.html
- Passage: John Ehrlichman, 73 - Richard Nixon's domestic affairs adviser was one of the key figures in the Watergate scandal that drove the president from office. Ehrlichman, along with White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman and attorney general John Mitchell, were convicted for their roles in the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office building in Washington. Ehrlichman was also convicted of conspiracy following a break-in at the office of anti-war protester Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. He served 18 months in prison, then embarked on a new career as an author. The enormous shadow cast by Watergate obscured some of Ehrlichman's genuine accomplishments in the Nixon administration, notably his key role in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17933.html
- Passage: King Hussein, 63 - World leaders are enroute to Jordan for Monday's funeral of King Hussein, who succumbed to cancer on Sunday. Among the early arrivals were British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French Jacques Chirac, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's eldest son Seif el-Islam. President Clinton is leading a US delegation that includes former Presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford. In a White House eulogy, Clinton remembered Hussein as a "humble man and a king, a leader whose nobility came not from his title, but his character." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17782.html
- Passage: Lionel Bart, 68 - The composer/lyricist won and lost a fortune producing Oliver! in 1960, and was credited with reviving the musical in Britain at a time when Americans dominated the form. Oliver!, based on Dickens' Oliver Twist, made Bart famous, but he lost millions by signing away the rights trying to raise money for another musical. He had some other successes during the '60s and '70s, notably Blitz! and Maggie May, but never again approached the lofty heights of Oliver! [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18957.html
- Passage: Lord Killanin, 84 - Lord Killanin took the reins of the International Olympic Committee in the wake of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Games and presided over the Olympics as restrictions against non-amateur participants were loosened. Lord Killanin was president of the IOC between 1972 and 1980, some of the Games' most turbulent years. The 1976 Olympics were boycotted by African nations, and America boycotted the 1980 Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Killanin left the IOC in financial shambles and although his successor, Juan Antonio Samaranch, has turned things around financially, the Olympic Committee is currently mired in the worst corruption crisis in its history. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19335.html
- Passage: Marion Motley, 79 - Motley was one of the first black players of the modern pro football era, a punishing fullback for the Cleveland Browns who powered his way into the Hall of Fame both as a runner and a blocker. Motley, who rushed for 4,720 yards over a nine-year career, joined the Browns in 1946 when the team played in the All-America Football Conference. Cleveland entered the NFL in 1950. Brown was one of four black players to begin playing in 1946; prior to that, blacks had not played at the professional level. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20452.html
- Passage: Mary Jane Rathbun, 77 - "Brownie Mary," as she became known to hundreds of AIDS patients at San Francisco General Hospital, was truly the Florence Nightingale of her time. Rathbun regularly turned up at the hospital's AIDS ward -- the largest in the United States -- during the height of the epidemic in the late 1980s, carrying baked goods laced with marijuana. There, she dispensed them to grateful patients, who ingested the pot to relieve their nausea and pain. Later, Rathbun, along with Dennis Peron, founded the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club, which provided the evil weed for medicinal purposes and resulted in Rathbun being arrested several times. However, it also led to medicinal pot being legalized in California in 1996, following the passage of a state initiative. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19080.html
- Passage: Pete Conrad, 69 - He was the third man to walk on the moon, shouting a joyous "Whoopie!" as he stepped off the Apollo 12 in 1969. Charles "Pete" Conrad set an endurance record on his first flight for NASA in 1965, piloting the Gemini 5. Later, while flying the first manned Skylab mission in 1973, he established another personal endurance record for time in space -- 1,179 hours and 38 minutes. In 1995 Conrad formed his own company, Universal Space Lines, created to eventually commercialize space travel. Conrad's motorcycle ran off the road in Ojai, California, on Tuesday, while riding with friends. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20643.html
- Passage: Raisa Gorbachev, 67 - The wife of Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who presided over the breakup of the Soviet Union, lost her battle with leukemia early Monday. The former philosophy teacher, who was 180 degrees removed from the usual Soviet first lady in both style and outlook, charmed the West after Gorbachev took the reins of power in 1985. Unlike her predecessors, Raisa Gorbachev was not content to remain in the background, nor was she asked to by her husband. She accompanied him on most of his travels as Soviet premier and was a close policy adviser as well. Raisa Gorbachev died in M nster, Germany, where she had been hospitalized since late July. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21841.html
- Passage: Red Norvo, 91 - The man who introduced the xylophone and vibraphone to jazz in the 1920s died this week at a Santa Monica retirement home. Red Norvo played with jazz legends like Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Charles Mingus, and Billie Holliday. Norvo was 14 when he started playing the marimba. He graduated to the xylophone and later the vibraphone. He died on Tuesday, and no cause of death was given. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19022.html
- Passage: Robert Shaw, 82 - Shaw, longtime conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, was regarded as one of the world's leading choral directors. He founded his own choral group in the 1940s and helped extend the art form, which has deep roots in Europe and in the United States. He also helped transform the Atlanta Symphony, virtually an amateur group when he took the reins, into a leading American orchestra. Shaw won 14 Grammy awards and was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 1998. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17539.html
- Passage: Shel Silverstein, 66 - The children's author and illustrator of The Giving Tree and A Light in the Attic was found dead Monday of a heart attack. His work was as irreverent as it was humorous and delighted adults and children alike. Silverstein also was a celebrated lyricist, publishing songs such as "A Boy named Sue," made famous by Johnny Cash. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19616.html
- Passage: Stanley Kubrick, 70 - The death of Stanley Kubrick robbed the film world Sunday of one of its towering masters and came just as he completed his latest opus, "Eyes Wide Shut," a star-studded project shrouded in secrecy. The Bronx-born Kubrick, who created such film classics as "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Lolita," "A Clockwork Orange," and "Dr. Strangelove," died Sunday at his home outside of London of natural causes. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18319.html
- Passage: Steve Holtzman, 43 - In exploring how digital technology and creativity mingle and enhance each other, he left behind a body of work unique in the genius-filled annals of Silicon Valley: He played founding roles in a number of tech start-ups, including Perspecta, a firm developing new information retrieval tools; wrote two books of techno-philosophical inquiry, Digital Mantras and Digital Mosaics; and recorded an album of his guitar compositions, Guitar Travels. Holtzman died last week at his home in Woodside, California. A memorial service will be held Thursday at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18377.html
- Passage: Tish, 43 - He entered the Guinness Book of Records last year as the world's oldest captive goldfish, but time finally caught up with Tish. He was acquired by 7-year-old Peter Hand at a British fairground in 1956 and remained in the Hand family until the end. Tish grew to 4-1/2 inches in length and outlived all the other household pets. Peter's mother, Hilda, found Tish dead at the bottom of his tank a few days ago. "I am very sad," said Hilda Hand. "Over the years we have become very close and I could sense if he was happy or not." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21187.html
- Passage: Victor Mature, 86 - One of the original beefcake actors, Mature parlayed his broad shoulders and tapered waistline into a number of roles during the 1940s and '50s that saw him clad in loincloths and togas and made him a star. Among the movies in which Mature revealed most of himself were The Robe, Demetrius and the Gladiators, One Million B.C., and Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah. But he wasn't always underdressed -- he also played Doc Holliday opposite Henry Fonda's Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine and won praise for his portrayal of small-time hood Nick Bianco in Kiss of Death. For the record, Mature stood 6-foot-2, with a 33-inch waist, 45-inch chest, and 25-inch biceps. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21199.html
- Passage: Wenceslao Moreno, 103 - Viewers during television's Golden Age knew him as Se or Wences, a ventriloquist whose skills confounded even his fellow professionals. The Spanish-born Wences came to the United States in 1934, in his words, "as just another ventriloquist with a dummy" but had to quickly refine his act when the dummy was badly damaged in an accident, leaving only the head intact. The head wound up in a box as Pedro, and gave Wences his signature line: "S'ok?" he would ask. "S'awright," Pedro replied. Wences, who performed into his 90s, became famous as a fixture on The Ed Sullivan Show during the 1950s and '60s. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19241.html
- Passage: Yehudi Menuhin, 82 - His debut at 7 electrified a San Francisco audience and by the age of 11, Menuhin and his violin had reached the boards of Carnegie Hall, performing with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of legendary German conductor Fritz Busch. Menuhin was a giant of the 20th century classical music world who performed with -- and later conducted -- virtually all of the great orchestras. He died of heart failure in Berlin, three days after canceling a concert appearance. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18427.html
- Passing the Buck - It may cost him the vote of every Monopoly player in the country, but Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes is making it perfectly clear: If he's elected, the new $20 bill goes. "We'll have money that looks real again," Forbes promised the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce, saying the redesigned 20 -- which is supposed to be harder to counterfeit -- "looks like Monopoly money." Forbes was actually talking about the economy, lamenting the fact that 60 percent of all US currency circulates outside the country, when he made his crack about the Andrew Jackson. It's probably a moot point anyway. Forbes isn't within spitting distance of Republican frontrunner, George W. Bush. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20144.html
- Payton Ailing - Walter Payton, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, has a rare disease that is destroying his liver and he needs a transplant in order to survive. Payton, 44, appeared gaunt at a press conference on Tuesday where he revealed that he is suffering from primary sclerosing cholangitis, which blocks the liver's bile ducts. The cause is unknown, but is unrelated to alcohol, steroid use, hepatitis, or any kind of immunodeficiency disease. Without a transplant, Payton is unlikely to live more than two years. With the transplant, he stands a decent chance of resuming a normal life, his physician said. The Hall of Famer gained 16,726 yards in 13 seasons with the Chicago Bears. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17693.html
- Peace in Our Time - Assuming that Serbian troops begin withdrawing from Kosovo as promised, the bombing will stop, the people will come home, and the war will end. An international peacekeeping force will move into Kosovo to safeguard returning refugees and a UN war crimes tribunal will start gathering evidence of Serbian atrocities. On the other hand, Slobodan Milosevic has not been dislodged and Kosovo will remain under NATO administration with no promise and little hope of ever achieving complete independence. The Kosovo Liberation Army promises to remain a thorn in everybody's side, the Serbs are relieved but resentful, and thousands of Kosovar refugees are trying to sneak into Germany, which doesn't thrill the Germans very much. Say ... isn't that Neville Chamberlain over there? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20133.html
- Pet Peeve - San Francisco is certainly one of the most politically correct cities in the United States. If we needed additional proof, now comes word that city officials are considering a proposal to do away with the phrase "pet ownership" and adopt "pet guardian" as the preferred term. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the animal rights advocate who pitched the idea argued that "ownership" is an offensive word, one that encourages people to think of their pets as disposable property. Although no decision was made, officials are said to be taking the suggestion seriously. Maybe it's not as screwy as it sounds. The city's namesake, after all, is St. Francis, the patron saint of animals. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21272.html
- Pez Nation - There seems to be a convention for everything -- even candy. Over 2,000 Pez enthusiasts are expected to attend this weekend's PEZ-A-Mania convention in Independence, Ohio. Pez candy, contained in dispensers with plastic cartoon figure-like heads, was originally produced as an alternative to smoking. Seems the candy is equally addictive, as collectors will trade not only dispensers, but posters, display cases, and vintage candy. One of the most prized dispensers is worth US$5,000. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20931.html
- Pilot Acquitted - Although Captain Richard Ashby's EA-6B Prowler was flying too low (370 feet) and too fast (621 mph), a military jury Thursday acquitted the US Marine pilot on charges that his reckless flying caused the jet to clip a ski gondola in the Italian Alps, sending 20 people plunging to their deaths. The verdict, which came after seven hours of deliberation, was delivered in front of a courtroom audience that included Ashby's family and relatives of the victims, all Europeans. The accident, which occurred 3 February 1998, strained relations between Italy and the United States, and Thursday's verdict won't help much. Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, in the United States for a visit with President Clinton, said the verdict "baffled" him. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18283.html
- Pipe Dreams - An American arrested in Canada and charged with plotting to blow up the trans-Alaska oil pipeline on New Year's Day was apparently motivated by the most American of reasons: profit. Alfred Heinz Reumayr said in an affidavit that he was timing the sabotage to coincide with the "multiplier effect I'm expecting from the whole millennium effect." According to the informant who fingered him, Reumayr was planning to buy up oil futures before detonating 14 bombs to destroy the pipeline. The United States has begun extradition proceedings with Canada, so it can nail Reumayr's sorry hide to the wall. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21405.html
- Pissed Off - Politics is an ugly business, and as the lieutenant governor of Alabama found out over the weekend, it can be an uncomfortable one, too. Steve Windom, the first Republican to hold that office in Alabama during this century, accused his Democratic opponents of deliberately stringing out a special session of the state Senate for so long Sunday that he was forced to relieve himself in a jug under his desk. Windom, who as lieutentant governor presides over the Senate, said he feared being replaced if he left the chambers to run to the gents. His fears appear to be well-founded: The session was called to resolve a spat over Senate operating rules, which were redrafted by the Democrats to strip the lieutenant governor of power following Windom's election last November. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18795.html
- Pitcher Perfect - David Cone's perfect game Sunday at Yankee Stadium was only the 14th in baseball's modern era -- but the second thrown by a Yankee pitcher in 14 months. Pitching in 95-degree heat, Cone needed only 88 pitches to dispatch 27 Montreal Expos batters in a 6-0 victory, surpassing even David Wells' gem last year against Minnesota. In a nice coincidence, Don Larsen, who pitched the only perfect game in World Series history, was in the ballpark to witness Cone's perfecto. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20808.html
- Planned Parenthood - Wanna be the first couple on your block with a millennium baby? The time to start thinking about it is now, and you should be doing more than thinking about it, if you get our drift. According to Babycenter.com, which knows about these things, April 9th (that's Friday) is the optimum day to shoot for a New Year's Day kid. While the editors of Wired News won't dispute the mathematics, we perhaps have less faith in the virility of the average stud than do our colleagues at Babycenter. We recommend bracketing your exposure, to borrow the photographers' happy phrase. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18991.html
- Play It Again - Resurrected by several egregiously bad calls that even its most outspoken opponents couldn't ignore, instant replay returns to the NFL for the 1999 season. League owners voted 29-3 (with only Arizona, Cincinnati, and the New York Jets refusing to budge) to restore the controversial system that allows coaches to second-guess a referee's call. This time around, instant replay has been streamlined to keep the game moving: A coach can "challenge" the ref's call twice a game. If the challenge is overruled by replay, the team loses a timeout. If the challenge is upheld, no timeout is assessed. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18560.html
- Playing Hardball - When Cuba's national baseball team arrives in Baltimore for Monday's exhibition game against the Orioles, the word on everybody's mind will be "defection." A few highly publicized defections in recent years have fueled speculation that more Cuban ballplayers might try and slip the leash while in the United States and hook up with a big-league club. The financial and professional incentives are attractive, but the odds of anyone successfully defecting on this goodwill trip are slim: Security will be tight and the players will be closely monitored. Besides, the best of the young Cuban players aren't even making the trip; the team is composed mostly of "veterans," to put it kindly. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19436.html
- Point Made - At least five people drowned in Israel over the weekend and more were injured after 200 lifeguards refused to work because of a wage dispute, the Associated Press reported. Since the partial strike began 1 May, 12 swimmers have died and 23 have suffered injuries on Israeli beaches. The lifeguards want a 30 percent increase in pay. Perhaps the municipalities that write the checks should pay up -- and quick. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20449.html
- Police Work - With police credibility at an all-time low in the United States, especially among members of minority groups, Attorney General Janet Reno is hosting a two-day "Police Integrity Conference," bringing together top law enforcement officials and civil rights leaders. The point is to mend some fences, which were further eroded by the recent police brutality scandal in New York. But Reno also hopes to see some practical changes in procedure that will keep officers from having to resort to force as often as they do. The conference is focusing on that issue, as well as hiring and recruitment, racial profiling, management techniques, and interaction with the community. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20118.html
- Poll on Violence - This just in: The majority of American parents worry about the safety of their children at school, a CNN/Gallup poll finds. Since the poll was taken in the wake of Tuesday's massacre at a Colorado high school, it's hardly surprising to find that 68 percent of those polled think that it's "very likely" or "somewhat likely" a similar type of shooting could occur in their communities. Or that 79 percent think what happened in Littleton is symptomatic of "something seriously wrong" in the United States. More telling, perhaps, are the things parents blame for causing these horrific events: 60 percent said the availability of guns, 51 percent blamed the parents of murderous kids, and 49 percent cited the influence of violence in TV, movies, and music. The Internet didn't escape unscathed, either. Thirty-four percent of those polled think an unfettered Web contributes to violent behavior in kids. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19284.html
- Porn Law Thwarted - A US District Judge has ruled that parents, not the courts, are responsible for keeping children from seeing pornography on the Net. On Thursday, Judge Arthur Tarnow issued a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of a Michigan law, due to go into effect 1 August, that would have made it illegal to transmit sexually explicit material over the Net. Tarnow said the law would have violated adults' free-speech rights because it is difficult to identify individuals on the Net or to verify their age. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21013.html
- Porn Law Thwarted - A US District Judge has ruled that parents, not the courts, are responsible for keeping children from seeing pornography on the Net. On Thursday, Judge Arthur Tarnow issued a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of a Michigan law, due to go into effect 1 August, that would have made it illegal to transmit sexually explicit material over the Net. Tarnow said the law would have violated adults' free-speech rights because it is difficult to identify individuals on the Net or to verify their age. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21024.html
- Primate Urges - The discovery of a 25,000-year-old skeleton is the strongest evidence yet that Neanderthal and modern man not only coexisted but, uh, CO-existed. The skeleton of a 4-year-old boy, unearthed in Portugal last year, displays attributes common to both, suggesting that the tribes did more than throw rocks at each other. Whether there was actually any cross-pollinating going on remains a subject of debate; many scientists are skeptical. Still, the kid must have gotten that forehead someplace. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19212.html
- Promoting Fidelity - "Friends and Family" phone plan goes awry. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18791.html
- Prosthetic Barbie - Barbie, the plastic doll and cultural icon, is finally doing her part to help medical science. Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that plastic knee joints in Barbies legs make good knuckles in prosthetic fingers. The elasticity in Barbie's bizarrely long legs allow amputee patients to bend joints, making it easier to grasp a pen, pick up a cup or grip the steering wheel. And Barbie thought math was hard. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21462.html
- Pucker Power - An estimated 6,000 Belarussians marked St. Valentine's Day with a simultaneous kiss that organizers said would land them a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The contestants -- mostly students and other young people -- had set out to beat the previous record set by nearly 3,000 American students in Maine. "We're in love," said Oleg after a passionate embrace with fellow student Irina. "The world has not invented anything better yet." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17919.html
- Quake Jolts Turkey - The death toll in Tuesday's devastating earthquake in western Turkey is expected to climb well beyond the 700 fatalities reported so far, authorities said. The epicenter of the quake, which registered a magnitude of 7.8, was located near the town of Izmit, about 55 miles east of Istanbul. Istanbul itself, with a population of 12 million, sustained heavy damage, including more than 20 collapsed buildings. A Turkish naval base on the Sea of Marmara was also badly hit, and the death toll there included several high-ranking officers. It was the second major earthquake in Turkey in just over a year. In June 1998, a 6.3 quake in the southern city of Adana killed 144 people and injured more than 1,500. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21303.html
- Quake Toll Tops 3,500 - The death toll in Tuesday's earthquake in Turkey continues to rise. Turkish officials said the number of confirmed deaths has passed 3,500 and rescuers are continuing to comb through collapsed buildings and other heavily damaged structures in the region around Istanbul, a city of 12 million people, in the search for those who may still be trapped. More than 16,000 people were reported injured in the quake, which had a magnitude of 7.8. One of Turkey's main naval bases, located on the Sea of Mamara at Golcuk, was extensively damaged and a number of high-ranking officers were reported killed. Meanwhile, aid is beginning to stream into Turkey from around the world. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21308.html
- Quiet, but Busy - Now we know (perhaps) what J.D. Salinger has been up to for the past 30-odd years. And when you think about it, is it really a surprise? The reclusive author, squirreled away up there in the Vermont hamlet he calls home, has been writing. According to a friend, Salinger has completed at least 15 unpublished manuscripts since his last published work appeared in 1965. No word on what the author of Catcher in the Rye intends doing with them, but what's the point of writing, if not to be read? Or so Salinger fans can only hope. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18847.html
- Red-Carded - You can take the boys out of Russia, but you can't take Russia out of the boys. Israeli soccer officials were surprised when four Russian match refs, invited to Israel to work a UEFA Cup game, arrived at the Tel Aviv airport drunk. Their surprise turned to horror when the refs began fondling female police officers before breaking into a song-and-dance routine. Their chaperone managed to pour them into a limousine and take them -- ill-advisedly -- to a downtown restaurant, where the boozing continued. More flirting and fondling ensued until the waitresses were replaced with waiters. Then the restaurant cut off the whiskey. With nothing left to amuse them, they wandered outside and began directing traffic. The match will now be officiated by a crew from Romania. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21789.html
- Refugees Bombed - After a night of uncertainty and conflicting reports, NATO confirmed that American warplanes were indeed responsible for bombing a column of ethnic Albanian refugees in southwestern Kosovo on Wednesday. According to NATO officials, the pilots thought they were hitting a Serbian military column and broke off the attack when they realized their error. Serb authorities said that between 64 and 85 people were killed in the attack. NATO said it couldn't confirm any casualties, but front-page pictures in newspapers worldwide confirmed the carnage. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19144.html
- Remember - It was 60 years ago today that World War II began in Europe as German troops hurtled into Poland, igniting the biggest conflagration in human history. The presidents of Germany and Poland met in Gdansk, Poland (formerly the German city of Danzig) to commemorate the anniversary and to honor the reconciliation between the two traditional foes. The war, which ended in 1945, eventually involved 61 countries, claimed 50 million lives, and completely changed the geopolitical landscape. Poland, in the unenviable position of being sandwiched between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, disappeared from the map for the duration of the war. More than 6 million Poles died between 1939 and 1945. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21538.html
- Rudy on Beauty - Rudolph Giuliani may not know much about art, but he knows what he doesn't like. The New York mayor wants to yank public funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art because an exhibit it's planning to mount contains a statue of the Virgin Mary plastered in elephant dung. Anything he can do himself isn't art, says Giuliani, "If you want to throw dung at something, I could figure out how to do that." The exhibit of young British artists is scheduled to open 2 October. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21930.html
- Runner's Low - An iron-man competition in California's Sierra foothills went awry Monday when most of the runners took a wrong turn and got lost in the wilderness, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Thirty-eight of the 45 competitors in the Race Across California Enviro -- which combines trail running, river kayaking, and mountain biking -- strayed off course early in the race. Most found their way back fairly quickly but eight runners weren't found by rescuers until after nightfall. Aside from a little dehydration, no one was any worse for wear. But the four-day competition, which began near Lake Tahoe and is supposed to end at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, may now be cancelled. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20730.html
- Russia Bombing - More than 50 people were reported killed Friday in the bombing of a crowded marketplace in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz. Authorities said the blast, which obliterated a large section of an outdoor vegetable market, injured around 100 others. An exact death toll was difficult to establish because many of the victims were blown to pieces, police said. Vladikavkaz, situated about 30 miles from the troublesome Chechnya region, is in area that has been plagued by violence and ethnic tension since Chechnya tried to break from Russia in 1994. President Boris Yeltsin dispatched Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin to the city to head up an investigation. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18597.html
- Russian Roulette - Russia has changed its mind. First, it didn't need any help dealing with the millennium bug, saying that it was content to await events. Now, it appears the Kremlin has had second thoughts. Not only that, but there was an air of panic to Russia's sudden request for American money and technical assistance from NATO on Wednesday. The Russians say they'll need US$3 billion to deal adequately with the Y2K problem, and they're especially concerned about computers controlling their nuclear arsenal. The former Soviet Union may be stripped of territory and teetering on bankruptcy, but it remains the second leading nuclear power on earth. Probably a good idea those computers don't fail. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17718.html
- Russian Roulette - Legislators in the southern Caucasian region of Ingushetia have passed a law making it legal for a man to have up to four wives, in keeping with Islamic tradition which runs deep there. However, the idea may run into trouble at the federal level, where local leader Ruslan Aushev is urging the Russian Parliament to give its blessing to the idea. But try looking at it from a Muscovite's perspective: Four wives? On a Russian salary? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21036.html
- Sales Are Dead - "Declining death rates pose a challenge for the industry," laments William Heiligbrodt, president of the world's largest "death care" organization, which operates 3,000 funeral homes, 433 cemeteries, and 191 crematoria in North America, Europe, and Asia. That's right. People just aren't dying the way they used to, and the funeral business is in a big-time slump. Think about it: Diseases are being cured, people are exercising, and we're not eating red meat twice a day. Heiligbrodt says that business prospects for the future look pretty grim -- he doesn't expect things to pick up again until the baby boomers start dying off in the 2020s. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18153.html
- Say Hey, Kid! - For years, Joe DiMaggio held the title of baseball's greatest living player. As of 8 March that was no longer possible, so the Denver Post surveyed ex-players, managers, and sportswriters to anoint a successor. Their choice: Willie Mays. While a quick look at the stats is impressive (the Giants outfielder was the ultimate "five-tool" player: He could hit, hit for power, run, field, and throw), many believe what separated Mays from the others was his sheer baseball intelligence. In topping the survey, the Say Hey Kid beat out some pretty fair competition: Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, and Sandy Koufax, in that order. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19221.html
- School Slaughter - Witnesses say two teenage gunmen, dressed in black trench coats and ski masks, giggled as they opened fire at their Littleton, Colorado, high school. They targeted minority students and popular athletes and finally turned their guns on themselves. Up to 16 people died Tuesday in one of the bloodiest mass shootings in US history. Fellow students said the killers -- identified Wednesday as Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17 -- belonged to a gothic clique known as the "Trench Coat Mafia" and were generally mocked by their peers. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19235.html
- Scotland, the Cautious - Scots go to the polls Thursday to vote for a regional Parliament -- seen by many as the first step toward complete independence from England -- but they're not exactly whistling the theme from Braveheart up there on the moors. The International Herald Tribune reports that despite a stagnant economy, most Scots are leery about making a complete break from Old Blighty. It's already pretty drafty under those kilts and a lot of folks figure it would only get worse if Scotland -- with its heavily agricultural economy -- tried to go it alone. Sound the retreat, Pipey. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19495.html
- Scuttling SOS - It was used for the first time by the Marconi wireless operator aboard the Titanic after she struck the iceberg, and has been the standard distress call for ships in peril on the sea ever since. But the famous Morse signal -- SOS -- is no more after the last radiotelegraph service shut down earlier this week. Actually, Morse code has been on the way out for years as mariners turned increasingly to Telex, fax, and email for ship-to-shore communication. The newfangled technologies are no doubt more efficient, and there's plenty to be said for that. But the Old Salt must be feeling a mite melancholy today, as he did when diesel replaced sail, and SatNav supplanted the sextant. Nothin' to do but hoist a tot o' rum, matey, and wait for that ebb tide. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20769.html
- Search and Recovery - Searchers were set to resume their work Monday morning in the waters off Martha's Vineyard, but what had been a search and rescue operation for John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife and sister-in-law had now turned strictly into an effort to recover bodies and wreckage. The Coast Guard announced on Sunday night that after 48 hours, there was little chance of finding survivors, and said the victims' families had been thusly informed. Searchers are now focusing on "a couple of targets" spotted by sonar 60 feet to 80 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean surface southwest of the Massachusetts island. Kennedy and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, 33, were on their way to a family wedding at Hyannisport, Massachusetts, Friday night when the Piper Saratoga II HP he was piloting apparently went down. They were to drop off Lauren Bessette, 35, a New York investment banker, on Martha's Vineyard before continuing on to Hyannisport. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20807.html
- Seaside Sentinel - The historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, located in Buxton, North Carolina, has reached its new resting place a week ahead of schedule. After years of coastal erosion, the 129-year-old structure was in danger of falling into the ocean. The lighthouse completed its 2,900-foot, hydraulic journey on a set of rails and now rests safely 1,600 feet away from the Atlantic. Construction begins soon on a new brick foundation. The lighthouse will be lit and open to the public by Memorial Day 2000. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20620.html
- Secretarial Pool - Can you type? Take a little shorthand? Know your way around a coffee maker? Then you might consider junking your MBA, packing up the truck, and heading out to Silicon Valley to begin your new career as a secretary. While the average secretary in the United States makes between US$25,000 and $35,000 a year, the California variety can rake in three times as much. According to Michelle Burke, president of Executive Counterparts, an executive and administrative staff training agency, there are secretaries in the Valley earning up to $100,000 annually. This is secretaries' week. If you're a Silicon Valley exec, let your administrative assistant pick up the tab. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19274.html
- See the Bear - See the baby boomers. See how many of them there are. See the baby boomers invest in the stock market. Watch the stock market go up. Way up. Soon -- around 2011 -- the baby boomers will start retiring. See the baby boomers pull their money out of the stock market. Watch the stock market go down. Way down. Wall Street is worried. See the stock brokers start to worry. See their furrowed brows. If the baby boomers pull out of the market, who will be left to buy all their wonderful stock? Besides the stock brokers, who gets screwed? Why, Generation X, of course. Bigger, children, is always better. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19490.html
- See Yez, 'Stick' - The freezingest fans in baseball said goodbye to the Park Formerly Known as Candlestick this past week, and as is their San Franciscan, narcissistic wont, they waxed nostalgic about themselves. Here's pitcher Mike Krukow, talking to S.F. Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler: "They hung. They hung like sides of beef in a meat locker." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/22042.html
- Seer - Who knows how the economy will fare in 1999? Forecaster James Smith of the University of North Carolina, probably. For the second time in three years, Smith won The Wall Street Journal's semiannual contest to predict future interest rates and inflation. Smith's secret: He keeps a close eye on Fed chief Greenspan, whom he called "the best economic forecaster in the US, probably in the world." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17113.html
- Senator Bill Clinton? - If you think you're rid of Bill Clinton when he leaves the White House, that might just be wishful thinking on your part. The New Yorker ran a little blurb suggesting that Clinton may be considering a 2002 run for the Senate in his home state of Arkansas. Although only one president -- Andrew Johnson -- later served as a US senator after leaving office, the real interest here is what it means for the Hillary-Bill pairing. With Mrs. Clinton expressing an interest in living in New York, whether or not she runs for the Senate herself, a lot of people see it as a sign that the First Marriage is in trouble. When a reporter asked Clinton about The New Yorker article, the president ignored the question. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20458.html
- Separate but Equal - In order to be a member of the Monticello Association, you must be able to claim direct lineage from Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president and primary author of the Declaration of Independence. The current membership stands at around 700 and will probably remain there for a while despite claims by the descendants of Sally Hemings that they should be allowed to join. Hemings was a slave owned by Jefferson and it is widely believed that he fathered at least one child with her following the death of his wife. Despite DNA tests suggesting that Jefferson knew Hemings as a little more than "the help," the president's descendants are holding firm, at least for now. After hosting the Hemings clan at a family dinner Sunday, the Monticellans decided that they should not be admitted to the association until the proof is conclusive. "We're not racists," one Jeffersonian said. "We're snobs." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19724.html
- Separate Surfin' - Saudi law decrees that men and women remain segregated in public places, such as markets, theaters, and cafes. It is also against the law for women to drive a car in the conservative Muslim nation. So it's unsurprising that when the country's first Internet cafe opened in December in the city of Jeddah, it was the boys who got to try it out first. Now the month-long "test period" is over and the Cafe de Paris will open its doors to women, who will be discreetly shielded from the men by a wall, with this caveat: "We ask our female clients to alert us and cut any connection which stumbles across a site that fails to respect our Islamic values." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17683.html
- Seventy-Year Itch - Young men are discovering that a liberal application of Gold Bond -- a medicated foot powder for the elderly -- can turn them into James Bond in the sack. According to one report, more and more men have taken to sprinkling the powder into their shorts when a bout of lovemaking seems imminent. The sensation, likened to the tingle of a menthol cough drop, apparently gets lads revved up in all the right ways. Even doctors are giving the green light, while the company that makes Gold Bond is pitching the powder on college campuses. And not as a cure for itchy feet. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21990.html
- Sexing Things Up - What Viagra can do for the old man, testosterone supplements can do for the old lady. But, somewhat suprisingly, it's the young ladies who need help with sexual dysfunction, according to a study by New York Presbyterian Hospital. The study, undertaken to determine whether the sexual-potency drug Viagra is of any use to women (it isn't), found that testosterone supplements like AndroFit were 80 percent effective in stimulating a woman's sexual desire. But the study also confirmed an earlier one saying that younger women -- ages 18 to 39 in this case -- are more likely to lack interest in sex than their elder sisters. While no scientific reason was given, here's a theory: Women over 40 grew up in the '60s and '70s. Pre-Reagan, pre-AIDS, pre-uptight '90s. Sex was FUN then. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19406.html
- Shagapore - Where would Austin Powers be without "shag"? Moviegoers in Singapore were about to find out after the Board of Film Censors there voted to snip the word -- which is British slang for sexual intercourse -- from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, decreeing that it was "crude and offensive." But authorities relented Wednesday and now the International Man of Mystery will be seen at his buck-toothed best, even in the land of corporal punishment. The censors, incidentally, wanted to replace "shag" with "shioked," which means "good" or "nice" in the city's hybrid dialect known as Singlish. Now that would have gotten a few laughs. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19772.html
- Shaken, Not Stirred - This might be taken as a sign that Mr. Bond has finally shot his bolt: The best they can apparently come up with to sing the theme song for the 19th James Bond flick is Mel C, aka Sporty Spice. No less an authority than The People, an English publication, dropped this cultural bon-bon to the masses. But if Sporty is to be so anointed, it won't be without controversy: Another august rag, calling itself Zen, reports that "heartthrob" Robbie Williams thought he was in line for the gig. Maybe Robbie can get Q to devise a diabolical method for dispatching the overreaching Spice Girl. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18775.html
- Shatner's Wife Drowns - Nerine Kidd, 40, the wife of actor William Shatner, was found dead in the swimming pool of their North Hollywood home late Monday. Kidd was discovered by her husband after he returned home around 10 p.m., police said. Shatner performed CPR on Kidd but was unable to revive her. Police are so far treating the death as an accidental drowning. Shatner, 68, is best known for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek TV series and subsequent movies. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21200.html
- Ships of Antiquity - Two Phoenician cargo vessels lying 1,500 feet under the eastern Mediterranean since sinking in a storm more than 2,500 years ago have been discovered by undersea explorer Dr. Robert Ballard. Ballard, who made the announcement at a press conference Wednesday in Tel Aviv, described them as the oldest deep-sea shipwrecks ever found. "A lot of history books will be rewritten from what we are finding in the deep seas," he said. The two vessels -- measuring 60 and 45 feet long, respectively -- were found sitting upright and nearly intact on the sea floor. Their cargo of wine seeped out long ago, but the ceramic containers that held the wine were largely unbroken and still stacked in neat rows. The vessels were located using the same tracking equipment Ballard employed while hunting for the Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20384.html
- Shooter Surrenders - Buford Furrow, the suspect police had sought in the Tuesday shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center near Los Angeles turned himself in to authorities in Las Vegas early on Wednesday. Five people -- including three children -- were wounded in the shooting, when Furrow sprayed the lobby of the building with more than 70 bullets from what was believed to be a 9-mm weapon. Furrow has ties to hate groups in the US Northwest, including Aryan Nation, the Order, and Christian Identity. More coverage from Lycos [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21210.html
- Shooter Was a Student - A 15-year-old sophomore, distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend three days earlier, is being identified as the gunman who opened fire at a high school in Conyer, Georgia early Thursday, wounding six students. The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, was identified by other students at Heritage High School as the shooter. One witness said that he dropped his rifle and fled after the shooting, then pulled out a pistol and put it in his mouth. He was prevented from shooting himself by an assistant principal, and reportedly surrendered in tears. The most seriously wounded student, a 15-year-old girl, was reported in stable condition at an Atlanta hospital. She was shot through the intestines. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19798.html
- Shooting Toll: 15 Dead - The death toll for Tuesday's shooting rampage at a Littleton, Colorado high school has been lowered to 15, but it remains the worst instance of school violence in American history. Although medical examiners have not removed the bodies from the Columbine High School campus because of the threat of booby traps, all the victims have been identified and all survivors accounted for. At least 20 victims were hospitalized, some in critical condition. Among the dead are the two suspects, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, students at the school, who apparently killed themselves after slaughtering their classmates. Police are describing the assault as a "suicide mission." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19251.html
- Silent Treatment - And you thought space was quiet and peaceful. Astronauts say the Russian half of the international space station sounds like rush hour on a busy freeway. That's why they're packing earplugs for this week's repair mission to the space module. The crew will install foam covers over the fans, ducts, and vents in an effort to muffle the noise. If that doesn't work, permanent crews will just have to get used to those earplugs. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19838.html
- Six Billion and Counting - There will be more than 6 billion people on the planet to greet the dawning of the new millennium, according to a report by the US Census Bureau. By 2026, that number is expected to be 8 billion; by 2050, 9.3 billion. The good news is that population growth is slowing down. The bad news is that more than 90 percent of new births will occur in countries least able to deal with a crush of new mouths to feed, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In developed countries, meanwhile, the population will actually decrease as the death rate outstrips the birth rate, a natural occurrence, we are told. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18959.html
- Slam Dunked - How chaotic was the first day of the truncated 1998-99 NBA season? The Chicago Bulls, the defending world champion, couldn't muster enough bodies to conduct practice. With Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman gone and several others still unsigned, the Bulls have only six players under contract. Elsewhere, the day was taken up with signings and trades and a number of players were moved. Notable among them: Golden State finally unloaded its b te noire, Latrell Sprewell, dealing the coach-choker to the New York Knicks for three players. When the wheeling and dealing is complete, teams will play a two-game exhibition slate before the regular season opens on 6 February. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17476.html
- Slaughter in Atlanta - At least five people were killed and another seven wounded when a gunman opened fire at the office of a stock daytrading firm in an upscale area of Atlanta Thursday afternoon. The shooter, described by CNN as a disgruntled former customer of the All-Tech Investment Group, entered the office at Two Security Center and began shooting at "anyone in sight," according to one witness. The suspect, a white male about 6-foot-4 with a receding hairline and wearing glasses, fled the scene. He is reported to be still at large. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21004.html
- Snow Job - You have lemons, you make lemonade. You have snow, you make a snowman. The good people of Bethel, Maine, decided to put their burg on the map by building the biggest snowman ever. Under construction now, the big fella will top out at 110 feet, obliterating the current Guinness Book of World Records holder, a 96-footer built in Yamagata, Japan, back in 1995. Bethel's behemoth -- christened Angus, King of the Mountain -- currently stands around 80 feet high. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18000.html
- Sobering News - During the first 20 days of June, reports The New York Times, 89 people drowned in Moscow's rivers and reservoirs. Over a recent holiday weekend, 13 bodies were fished out the city's waterways, roughly equivalent to the daily drowning rate for the entire United States. In fact, Russians are far likelier to die from accidental drowning than Americans; the Times cites statistics showing that death by drowning occurs more than five times more frequently in Russia. All told, about 25,000 Russians drowned in 1998. The overwhelming majority of victims are male, but here's the kicker: 94 percent of them were legally drunk when they died. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20486.html
- Soft Pitches to Cuba - The Clinton administration is tiptoeing toward a slightly softer policy on Cuba. Among the new overtures: The US would permit the Baltimore Orioles to play a couple of games against the Cuban national baseball team, one in the States and one on the island -- as long as the proceeds go to charity, not to the Castro regime. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17137.html
- Sorry, Wrong Number - Manhattanites take pride in their 212 area code, a distinctive symbol of living in The Most Important Place on Earth. But starting Thursday, some of them are going to have to adjust to life without 212, when Bell Atlantic begins issuing 646 area codes to new phone subscribers in Manhattan. The move, necessitated by too many phone numbers, is not going down too well, although former New York Mayor Ed Koch expects the grousing to stop after an adjustment period. Besides, residents of Gotham will still hold on to all the other perks that make living there such a joy: astronomical rents, overpriced restaurants, and living cheek-by-jowl with one another. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20509.html
- Spanking OK'd - If you're a kid in Oklahoma, don't tick off your old man. The state legislature passed a bill last week making it legal for parents to employ "reasonable force" in disciplining their children, including spanking, paddling, or whipping them with a switch. The legislation, which passed overwhelmingly in the wake of the Littleton school massacre, is sitting in Gov. Frank Keating's in-tray, awaiting only his signature to become law. Child welfare organizations are lining up to fight it, however. One California group blasted the law, which elicited this response from the governor's office: "For a group in California to watchdog Oklahoma, I find that interesting. If they want to come and live here, we will listen." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19947.html
- Spousal Support - In a landmark decision Thursday, Canada's Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling changing the legal definition of "spouse" to include same-sex couples. While the decision does not legalize gay marriage, or even extend legal rights to same-sex couples, it does represent a major shift in that direction. Thursday's decision culminates a case that began when a Toronto lesbian tried to sue her ex-partner for alimony and was rebuffed because Ontario law did not recognize her as a spouse. The justices ruled 8-1 that the heterosexual-only definition of spouse is unconstitutional. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19814.html
- Spring's a Comin' - Just after dawn on Tuesday, Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his lair, took a look around, and lo! No shadow anywhere. So, according to legend, spring is definitely on the way. Good news indeed to members of the Groundhog Day club who shivered through a cold, rainy Pennsylvania night to watch the legendary rodent perform his annual ritual. Groundhog Day has its origins in German folklore, which decrees that winter will continue if an animal casts a shadow on the Christian holiday of Candlemas. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17675.html
- Spying on Di - The United States has secret files on Britain's late Princess Diana, but refuses to release the contents because it poses a threat to national security, according to a story in Friday's edition of the Guardian. According to government documents obtained by the newspaper, the United States came by this material only "incidentally from intelligence gathering." The files are classified both top secret and secret and will stay that way because of "exceptionally grave damage to the national security," the paper said, quoting the National Security Agency. That's OK. We don't need to see any more photos of Diana romping on a nude beach in southern France anyway. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21144.html
- Stamping Out History - As part of the Post Office's "Celebrate the Century" program, Americans were asked to select themes for stamps commemorating the 1990s. Their picks have been tabulated and now stamp collectors in the 22nd century will go to their graves thinking that the Titanic sank in the last decade of the 20th century instead of in 1912. Along with stamps commemorating cell phones, the Web, and sports utility vehicles, there will be a stamp for the blockbuster movie as well. Does that strike anyone as a bit odd? Remembering the movie rather than the actual event? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20418.html
- Starcrossed - Actors Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, taking umbrage at a report in a British tabloid that they needed coaching from sex therapists before they could do their love scenes in the new movie Eyes Wide Shut, filed a defamation lawsuit in a Los Angeles court. On Monday, a judge dismissed a motion by The Star to throw out the case, clearing the way for a jury trial. What's the big deal if they did consult the experts? Do they think they're the only married couple to need a little, er, help? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20685.html
- Steakman's Mistake - Benihanas former top dog is facing 18 months in the doghouse for insider trading. Apparently, Rocky Aoki -- former Olympic wrestler, member of the first crew to fly a balloon across the Pacific, and founder of the 50-unit Benihana steakhouse chain -- found out from a consultant pal that a small company called Spectrum was about to hire Apple Computer boss John Scully. Figuring that Spectrums stocks would rise with Scullys announcement, he picked up 125,000 shares. When he sold them for a $350,000 profit, he may have made the fatal error: depositing 10 grand into the tipsters brokerage account. On Monday, Aoki plead guilty to insider trading, and could get up to 18 months in prison. Shoulda stuck to steaks. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21401.html
- Stiff Drink - It's not that unusual to see someone slumped over in a bar, but for the patrons of a local watering hole in the Kenyan town of Embu, it was the harbinger of disaster. The man was dead and it was the drink -- a potent, homemade concoction -- that killed him. Since his death Sunday, at least 18 other customers of the Muungano Joint have died and others have been blinded after consuming a bad batch of the spirit. One of the two men arrested for distilling the stuff told police that he's been making it for years and had no idea what went wrong this time. Doctors at the hospital that treated the victims believe that the drink was laced with methanol. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21880.html
- Stoned - Mick Jagger's supermodel wife, Jerry Hall, filed for divorce last week, accusing the ageless rocker of fathering a child by a 29-year-old Brazilian model. She's asking for a settlement of around US$50 million, which apparently got Mick's attention. Now Jagger, 55, says that his 9-year marriage to Hall was never valid in the first place because the proper papers were not filed following their wedding in Bali. If the court sides with Jagger, he'll probably save a bundle, although legal experts say he runs the risk of having his visitation rights severely limited. Did we mention they have four kids? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17435.html
- Stop the Presses - It's not like the New York Post has ever been renowned for its discretion, but this is over the top, even by tabloid standards: On the day the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, and his sister-in-law were retrieved from the Atlantic, the Post ran a column by John Podhoretz that imagines a conversation between the devil and Joe Kennedy, JFK Jr.'s grandfather and builder of the Kennedy fortune. The devil chides Kennedy, reminding him that he'd sold his soul to acquire power and wealth. "I said Id make Jack president," the devil says. "I didnt say hed finish out the term. And I didnt say youd get another. That was your mistake, trying again with Bobby." The devil goes on to tell Kennedy that it's occasionally necessary to deal the family another blow to remind old Joe of his bargain. Hence the latest tragedy. Needless to say, that went over real well with the Post's readers ... so well that the paper pulled it after one edition. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20889.html
- Straight Shooting - It's interesting to note that on the day the House of Representatives voted to allow the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, it also approved the weakest possible version of a law to regulate firearms sales at gun shows. In a victory for the NRA, the House narrowly passed a bill that would give the government only 24 hours to run background checks on gun purchasers, rather than the three days originally proposed. Meanwhile, legislators decided that despite the separation of church and state, it's OK for public schools to display the Ten Commandments (ie. "Thou shalt not kill") on school property, on the rather flimsy grounds that it will inspire an end to campus violence. Banning guns won't, apparently. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20295.html
- Straightening Up - The leaning Tower of Pisa may need a new nickname soon. Workers have started to remove 10-ton blocks of lead they placed around the base of the monument half a dozen years ago. And it looks like the famous tower has lost some of its list. The 12th-century tower has tilted for most of its life, but the problem had become so bad that a decade ago it was closed to the public. Experts hope the structure will straighten enough so that it can continue to stand. Stay tuned. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21757.html
- Strike Three? - Angry, frustrated major-league umpires say they'll resign en masse on 2 September and not work the final month of the season unless their grievances are addressed and resolved. Aside from contract issues, the umps are upset by what they perceive to be a lack of respect coming from the highest levels of Major League Baseball. And they may be right. This was how Sandy Alderson, executive VP of baseball operations, responded to the umpires' declaration: "This is either a threat to be ignored, or an offer to be accepted." Yer out! [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20755.html
- Super Rowdy - There were tears in the streets of Denver Sunday night following the Broncos' inspired Super Bowl win over Atlanta, but they had nothing to do with the possibility that quarterback John Elway had just played his final game. For the second year in a row, police found it necessary to quell an unruly mob of fans with tear gas, after the high-spirited louts lit bonfires in downtown streets and refused to disperse. As for the game itself, a few significant numbers: With the win, Denver became the seventh team to repeat as Super Bowl champ (no one has won three straight); Elway (38) and Chris Chandler (33) surpassed Jim Plunkett (36) and Joe Theismann (34) as the oldest coots to start at quarterback; Falcons linebacker Cornelius Bennett is now 0-5 in the Super Bowl (he lost four others in consecutive years with Buffalo); and the Broncos set a Super Bowl record for interception return yardage, with 180. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17648.html
- Surf 'n' Turf - This might be tantamount to putting earrings on a hog, but the whiz kids at Burger King, one of America's premier fast-food emporiums, think it'd be kinda cool to provide Internet access to their gorging patrons. A Burger King in Hartford, Connecticut has installed a couple of "surfing stations," and is offering 15 free minutes of "filtered" Net access to customers who purchase a combo meal. That means no naughty sites, and no sending or receiving of email. Regular patrons might want to start out by looking for a good cardiologist online. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19779.html
- Surf's Up, Tubby - Forget all that Baywatch crap. Californians are getting fat and lazy and don't look all that great in Speedos. That's the conclusion of the state's Department of Health Services, which found in a study that more and more Californians are gorging on fast food and not bothering to exercise. It's an unappealing combination -- and a potentially lethal one -- but the trend shows no sign of slowing. Many participants in the study blamed TV for their woes, saying that clever ads made them inhale junk food and other high-calorie snacks. So Californians aren't only getting fat, they're getting stupid, too. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21889.html
- Sweet Home? - Alabama threatens to come lurching into the 20th century at the dawn of the 21st by repealing a law prohibiting interracial marriage. Although the US Supreme Court did away with such laws decades ago, Alabama has kept it on the books, and there is still sentiment in the old Confederate state for keeping it around a while longer. A recent poll shows that while 63 percent of Alabamans favor ditching the law, 26 percent -- more than a quarter of those polled -- oppose interracial marriage. Another 11 percent either had no opinion or weren't sure how they felt. State Representative Phil Crigler, who says he's against interracial marriage, plans to vote for the repeal anyway, saying that the law hasn't been enforced in ages. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18441.html
- Taiwan Quake a 7.6 - The death toll continues to rise as rescuers comb through the wreckage of collapsed buildings in the aftermath of the biggest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 30 years. The quake has claimed at least 1,500 lives, according to State-run television. A number of buildings, including a 78-room hotel in Taipei, were reported destroyed or badly damaged by the quake, which was centered about 90 miles south-southwest of the capital. Although originally reported to have had a magnitude of 7.3, the US Geological Survey center has upgraded it to a 7.6. Fears that quake could spawn a tidal wave prompted authorities to issue a tsunami warning throughout the western Pacific Ocean. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21848.html
- Take Heart - Doctors are discouraging you from running out and loading up with antibiotics, but new research shows that two specific types of antibiotics -- tetracyclines and quinolones -- appear to be effective in lowering the risk of heart disease. Boston University researchers say that's logical, since both drugs are potent against Chlamydia pneumoniae, the germ suspected of causing heart disease. Still, this is no magic bullet, and doctors say that the best way to prevent heart attacks is to quit smoking, get your blood pressure down, eat right, and exercise. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17706.html
- Taking Flight - Just in time for the Fourth of July, America's national bird is being removed from the endangered species list. In a White House ceremony Friday, President Clinton announced that the bald eagle could finally be removed from the list, where it has been since 1973. The eagle, which soared overhead in the hundreds of thousands, was designated the national bird in 1782 by the Continental Congress. Over the next 180 years, Americans proceeded to hunt their national symbol to the brink of extinction, until protection was finally extended. Only 417 breeding pairs could be counted in 1963. Today, the population has bounced back to around 5,800 breeding pairs. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to declare the bald eagle "fully recovered" some time next year. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20560.html
- Tawdry TV Tales - The "Jenny Jones case" -- where Jonathan Schmitz was accused of murdering Scott Amedure after learning in front of Jones' national TV audience that Amedure had a secret "crush" on him -- went to the jury Thursday. Meanwhile, Amy Fisher, the precocious 16-year-old who shot Joey Buttafuoco's wife, Mary Jo, in the head so she wouldn't get in the way of their affair, was granted parole after serving seven years in prison. No word yet on what Amy -- now 24 -- plans to do when she's released next week, but she might consider heading out to Los Angeles, where Joey (who's still married to Mary Jo, who recovered) has a cable TV talk show. And that's your daytime TV roundup. Couldn't you just puke? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19546.html
- Testimony Over - White House aide Sidney Blumenthal wrapped up his deposition Wednesday -- meaning the three witnesses selected by House prosecutors to testify in the President Clinton impeachment trial have said their say. Now Republicans are expected to try and push for live testimony by Blumenthal, Vernon Jordan, and Monica Lewinsky, although that appears unlikely. Also looking shaky is the chance of getting an actual conviction. A number of Republican senators, particularly those facing reelection bids, are reportedly uneasy with the idea of actually driving Clinton from office. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17713.html
- That's Life? - Life on other planets? It's very likely, scientists say, but being scientists, they immediately took all the fun out of it by adding that extraterrestrial life is unlikely to resemble E.T., or the Martians from War of the Worlds. The life these guys are talking about would be primitive, simple organisms that could exist as long as the essential ingredients for life are present: liquid water, the right temperatures, and a nutrient supply, among other things. No flying saucers. No ray guns. Just one stupid cell of protoplasm. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19746.html
- The Bard's Big Night - The Elizabethan romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love won Oscars for best picture, best actress, and five other awards on Sunday. Gwyneth Paltrow was named best actress award for her role as bard's love interest. Italian comic actor Roberto Benigni won the best actor award for his role in Life is Beautiful, which also took the Oscar for best foreign film. Steven Spielberg was named best director for Saving Private Ryan. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18627.html
- The Brightest and the Fewer - Fewer students are going after engineering, math, physics, and computer-science degrees. A new report by the American Electronics Association says high-tech degrees dropped 5 percent between 1990 and 1996, and preliminary numbers show the trend continued through 1998. The lack of trained workers is a common complaint in the technology industry. Forty-five percent of the high-tech degrees went to foreign nationals, the study showed. Last year, lobbyists successfully pressed Congress to allow technology companies to hire more foreign workers with high-tech skills. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19320.html
- The Early Line - The 2000 presidential campaign is barely underway, but some pundits are already saying that the race is George W. Bush's to lose. The GOP frontrunner, who kicked off his campaign in Iowa on Monday, projects himself as a moderate and already enjoys broad support from mainstream Republicans. He's also telegenic, a critical factor for any modern would-be prez. The Democrats, meanwhile, seem determined to plow on with Al Gore, who is not only a crashing bore as a speaker, but will be dragging -- fairly or unfairly -- the wreckage of the Clinton debacle behind him. Bush's Achilles heel, opine the experts, is specifics: Until now, he's been dealing in sound bytes and generalities and getting away with it. That, they say, won't be enough to carry him into the White House. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20229.html
- The Fat Man Sings - If you saw Khalid El-Amin walking down the street, you wouldn't take him for a point guard. But the roly-poly El-Amin is a damned good one. He's been a driving force behind the University of Connecticut's amazing season, which culminated Monday night in a 77-74 win over Duke for the NCAA championship. In the chaotic aftermath, El-Amin -- who had exchanged his uniform top for a T-shirt and cap -- rushed onto the court, only to be stopped by a security guard who thought he was an unruly fan on a nacho high. El-Amin set the bouncer straight and rejoined his teammates in time to hoist the school's first national championship trophy. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18824.html
- The Fur Flies - Anti-fur activists took their battle into the belly of the beast -- Beverly Hills -- with a ballot initiative that would have required furriers to tag their merchandise with a label explaining how the animal that surrendered its fur actually died. Despite the support of some well-known residents -- Jack Lemmon and Sid Caesar among them -- Measure A went down to resounding defeat Tuesday as the well-heeled turned out to defend their mink stoles and sable coats. "If you don't like it, don't buy it," sniffed one matron as she left the polling booth. Ah, would that we all had consciences so clear. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19652.html
- The GOP Race - Missouri Senator John Ashcroft, once the darling of the Christian right, will stay out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Ashcroft decided against the long-shot bid in the face of a strong challenge to retain his Senate seat in 2000 from popular Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan -- a challenge that is pushing him toward the center of the political spectrum, to the dismay of conservatives. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17136.html
- The High Hard One - Major League Baseball, never the most astutely managed outfit on the planet, may be shooting itself in the foot again. Miffed at ESPN for switching three late-season ballgames from its main channel to ESPN2 so it could broadcast NFL football, baseball's pooh-bahs declared that they would terminate their contract with the sports network after the 1999 season. Following fruitless negotiations, ESPN said Wednesday that it was going to court to compel MLB to honor their agreement, which runs through the 2001 season. In their pique, the lords of baseball seem to forget that ESPN is giving the sport coverage it could only dream about receiving from the major networks. Or have they already forgotten the CBS debacle? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19509.html
- The Hiss Files - A lot of people thought Alger Hiss got a raw deal when he was convicted of perjury while being investigated as a Soviet spy at the height of the Red Scare in 1950. Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official, was convicted partly as a result of the testimony of a zealous young politician named Richard Nixon, just then making a name for himself. Now a federal judge has ruled that all the grand jury transcripts from the Hiss case -- which have been stubbornly guarded by the government for years -- should be made public. Historians, naturally, are elated. It can be presumed that others are less enthusiastic. In any case, this should make for some pretty good reading. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19678.html
- The Last Train - A corpse rode a New York subway train for more than four hours Monday before passengers noticed he was dead. Authorities speculate that morning rush-hour commuters thought the unidentified man -- believed to be in his 40s, was sleeping. There were no visible signs of a struggle or attack. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20226.html
- The Ol' Ad Game - They've been putting billboards on outfield fences and scoreboards and ballpark facades for years, so why not stick a few ads on the players, too? Major League Baseball says that it is seriously considering the idea as a way to generate even more revenue for the game, no doubt to keep the owners and players from starving to death. Aside from its sheer vulgarity, the idea raises at least one intriguing question: How would you determine the ad rate? Would an ad stitched to Ken Griffey Jr.'s sleeve cost more than an ad affixed to F.P. Santangelo's? Would pitchers command a premium rate, since they get more TV exposure than the average outfielder? Would the maxim, "Keep your eye on the ball" be replaced by "Keep your eye on the Coke ad"? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18875.html
- The Play's The Thing - Well, they said they were gonna do it, and they did. Nude dancers at a strip joint in Casselberry, Florida, angry at Seminole County's new anti-nudity law, performed part of Shakespeare's Macbeth au naturel Friday night. The Bard's epic tale was chosen because the law allows onstage nudity in the case of "bona fide performances." No arrests were made, although the antics of the three thespians were videotaped for official review. There was no word on how the bar's patrons reacted to all this, but if a bunch of potbellied, beer-swilling yahoos turn up at the local high school's next staging of Romeo and Juliet, well, 'nuff said. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19968.html
- The Privileged Poor - Britain's Duchess of York is considering moving to Switzerland to save thousands of pounds in taxation, the Mirror newspaper reports. The tabloid quoted friends of Fergie, divorced from Prince Andrew, as saying moving abroad was her only option after Buckingham Palace failed to come up with more child support for princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18785.html
- The Top 20 - ESPN, the sports network, has been making hay counting down the top 100 North American athletes of the 20th century, and with Ty Cobb, they've reached No. 20. Here are the remaining 19, in alphabetical order. You sort 'em out: Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Wilt Chamberlain, Babe Didrikson, Wayne Gretzky, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis, Joe Louis, Willie Mays, Martina Navratilova, Jack Nicklaus, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, and Ted Williams. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21763.html
- This Old Universe - Until now, astronomers were unsure about how old the universe is. They knew it was old enough to drive, and could even buy beer, but estimates varied widely -- anywhere from 10 million years to 20 billion years. Now, aided by the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been tracking something called the Hubble Constant -- the rate at which the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang -- they've settled on 12 billion years. Our own little corner of heaven, where the Milky Way resides, is in a relatively new neighborhood: Astronomers estimate the age of our solar system at a mere 4.5 billion years. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19876.html
- Ties That Bind - A new line of ties is sure to stir up great party conversation. Infectious Awareables has created a line of silk and cloth clothing that feature patterns of more than 15 different infectious diseases and bacteria, as seen under a microscope. Tie and underwear patterns include Gonorrhea, Herpes, Ebola, Tuberculosis, AIDS, Syphilis, Chlamydia, and Malaria. Its developer, Roger Freeman, a dentist and lecturer on infectious diseases, bought the line, which had problems selling to department stores. The ties are now popular in the scientific and biomedical communities. The Black Plague tie is sold out. Of the Malaria tie, Freeman says, "the artist may have been on something when he did that one." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21175.html
- To Your Health - Cabernet Sauvignon, the world's noblest grape and the pride of Bordeaux and the Napa Valley, may also be the healthiest wine variety. A French researcher, reporting in the British medical journal Heart, says the grape has particularly high levels of resveratrol, which boosts "good cholesterol" and limits the production of artery-blocking "bad cholesterol." In an earlier study, researchers from the University of Glasgow singled out Chilean reds, including Cabernet Sauvignon, for their health-enhancing potential. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19324.html
- Too Hot to Trot - This little piggy wore sunscreen, that little piggy wore none. This little piggy had piglets, and that little piggy had none. Danish pork expert Liselotte Madsen has the explanation: If farmers want to encourage summertime mating, they should use sunblock because a sunburned sow isn't going to welcome the attentions of a 250-kilogram breeding boar if her back is scorched by the sun. Pharmacia-Upjohn has heard Madsen's plea, and next summer it will release an 8-SPF sunscreen made especially for livestock. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21836.html
- Tornado Hits Utah - At least one person was killed and more than a hundred injured when a rare tornado struck hit Salt Lake City on Wednesday. The downtown area looked like a war zone, with overturned trucks, uprooted trees, downed power lines, and streets littered with broken glass. The twister struck without warning, flattening tents pitched for an outdoor retail show near the Salt Palace Convention Center. It damaged the roof of the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz, and blew windows out of the Wyndham Hotel. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21231.html
- Trek Nearly Over - Nobody knows crisis and futility like the Russians do, and maybe that's why they clung stubbornly to their crumbling space station, Mir, for so long. But faced with the prospect of a crushing US$250 million annual cost for keeping the 13-year-old tub aloft, Russian space officials finally conceded defeat, saying that Mir will come down next year. Period. No more waiting for an angel to show up; no more hatching half-baked schemes to delay the inevitable. News accounts maintain that Mir's demise will deal a blow to Russian pride, but why? The space station long outlived its original mission, which is no small achievement. Now Russia can turn its attention to the future, and the International Space Station. Ochyn horosho, tovarich. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21824.html
- Tressed Out - Rachel Haigh should have listened to her mother. Instead, the British girl has died from chewing on her own hair. According to the inquest, Haigh, 17, had chewed on her hair for years, a habit that created a knotted mass the size of a rugby ball in her stomach. According to the inquest, doctors tried to surgically remove the tangled mass, but Haigh began to hemorrhage and died. When Haigh's mother was shown a photograph of the hairball, she said, "I couldn't believe it. It looked like a dead rat." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21356.html
- Trial Begins - With ceremonial solemnity, Republican prosecutors delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate early Thursday, heralding the first presidential impeachment trial in 130 years. As the scene was broadcast live to the nation, House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde read to the Senate chamber the grounds for impeaching President Clinton: lying under oath to a grand jury and obstructing justice. Chief Justice William Rehnquist will be sworn in to preside over the trial, with the entire 100-member Senate serving as jury. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17200.html
- Trickle-Down Effect - The normally stolid Finns are seeing red, or at least yellow, as public drunkenness and urination become rife in Helsinki, their pretty-as-a-picture capital city. Like the rest of Finland, Helsinki is enjoying a run of prosperity, so certain sights and smells are not appreciated, or tolerated. City fathers want to create a special squad of police -- immediately dubbed "pee police" by those joshers in the Finnish press -- to go out and nab the miscreants, with evidence, er, in hand. Many Finns blame the growing nuisance on the relaxation of laws against public drunkenness. You think? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21433.html
- Tripped Up - Linda Tripp, who thought she was pretty clever by surreptitiously taping Monica Lewinsky blabbing about her affair with the leader of the free world, found out that she's not as slick as Slick Willie after all. A Maryland court indicted Tripp Friday on two counts of illegal wiretapping. One count accused her of illegally taping Lewinsky without her knowledge; the other nails her for disclosing those taped conversations to Newsweek magazine. Tripp and her attorneys will fall back on the usual sleazy defense: She was granted immunity from prosecution by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, so now they're saying the Maryland prosecutors aren't playing fair. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21034.html
- Troubles Continue - Describing Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace agreement as being "in tatters," Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams said Tuesday that only British Prime Minister Tony Blair is capable of "stitching it back together." Adams is hoping that Blair can persuade unionist leader David Trimble to accept a compromise that would allow the IRA to hang on to some of its weapons. Unionists are demanding that IRA forces completely disarm before their political ally, Sinn Fein, joins a coalition cabinet to run the province. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19625.html
- True at First Light - Don't mess with Tonga. Legislators there have approved a plan to introduce an hour of Daylight Savings Time on the last day of 1999 in order to make sure that it's the first country to host the dawn of the new millennium. The move was actually Tonga's riposte to Fiji, which approved a similar plan last year, hoping to leapfrog its island neighbor and be first to see the millennial dawn. Now Fiji's in a tough spot, because no matter how much you fiddle the clock there's not much you can do about geography. And Tonga is closer to the International Dateline than Fiji is. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21343.html
- Turks in Iraq - Ignoring objections from Baghdad, 10,000 Turkish troops crossed into Iraq Friday to attack Kurdish rebel bases. Iraq denounced the incursion and demanded that the troops withdraw. While the army pressed its attack, protesters in southern Turkey, angered by the arrest of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan earlier this week, fired on police. Around 37,000 people have been killed since 1984, when fighting erupted over Kurdish attempts to establish a separate homeland in southeastern Turkey. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18013.html
- Unfriendly Skies - Next time you fly KLM, you might want to consider leaving Fido at home. Dutch authorities are considering taking legal action against their national carrier following a report that the airline slaughtered 440 squirrels that were illegally imported from China. According to United Press International, the squirrels were shredded after veterinary authorities told the airline to get rid of the animals. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19219.html
- Unkindest Cut of All - Circumcising baby boys has been a Jewish and Muslim rite for centuries. Aside from that, the United States is the only country in the world that routinely practices circumcision, the removal of the foreskin from the penis. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that the procedure may actually be more harmful than helpful and is recommending the practice be stopped. Whatever benefits may accrue from circumcision -- improved hygiene, reduced risk of urinary tract infections -- are outweighed by the trauma of the procedure, detractors say. Not only that, they add ominously, but it may reduce sexual pleasure later on. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18196.html
- Unloved, Underpaid - The president of the United States hasn't had a pay raise in years. While it's tempting to argue that no president in recent memory has earned one, a lot of people -- mainly in Washington -- think that the chief exec ought to get a bump up from the present wage of US$200,000. Advocates seem to like the idea of $400,000, a nice little 100 percent increase. Still, maybe it's warranted. Here's how Bill Clinton, the current prexy, stacks up against a few of his counterparts: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder makes $297,000 annually, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto pulls in $363,000, and Goh Chok Tok, Singapore's PM, rakes in $465,000. On the other hand, poor old Boris Yeltsin (as if governing Russia weren't a big enough headache), is paid a paltry $7,000. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19854.html
- Unnatural Gas - On the theory (well, it's more than a theory) that nothing is too tasteless for the American movie-going public, Howard Stern's The Adventures of Fartman may finally be headed for the screen. Stern, who knows a thing or two about bad taste, created the character of Clyde Flatiron, a tabloid reporter who survives an attempted poisoning by the mob and finds that its side effect -- chronic, devastating flatulence -- makes a handy weapon for literally blowing away the bad guys. The screenwriter for this epic, J.F. Lawton (Pretty Woman), interviewed by Daily Variety, actually likened his script about unrequited love to an updated Casablanca. Louie, this looks like the beginning of really stupid movie. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18799.html
- Unplugged, Redux - A power failure in the immediate vicinity of Wired Digital took Wired News offline for approximately 2 1/2 - 3 hours on Thursday. It was the second such power failure this week. Geez. Sorry for the inconvenience. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21017.html
- Up in Smoke - Firing a shot that could be heard all the way back to Tobacco Road, a San Francisco jury Wednesday awarded a terminally ill cancer patient US$50 million in punitive damages against the nation's largest cigarette maker. The jury, which awarded Patricia Henley $1.5 million in compensatory damages a day earlier, stuck a knife into the guts of Philip Morris Cos. Inc. and twisted it, concluding that the company had deliberately concealed the dangers of tobacco from smokers. It also decided that Philip Morris was guilty of fraud and negligence. It's the largest award of its kind. Henley, 52, who is dying of lung cancer, said she will contribute all the money to anti-smoking programs. "I wouldn't touch a nickel of this blood money," she told the San Francisco Chronicle. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17869.html
- US Budget: $1.77 Trillion - President Clinton sent his budget for fiscal year 2000 to Congress Monday, and despite a projected record surplus, he declined to offer the across-the-board tax cut sought by Republicans. The US$400 billion earmarked for the military is the largest increase in defense spending in years. Clinton's budget forecasts a surplus of $76 billion, which he'd like to plow into shoring up Social Security and other domestic programs. Republicans were quick to criticize the lack of an income-tax cut -- their personal pet -- and the overall increase in spending. Clinton brushed GOP kvetching aside, proclaiming, "Our economic house is in order and strong." [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17661.html
- Vatican Rag - While the Senate continues wrestling with his fate, President Clinton will be in St. Louis Tuesday to greet Pope John Paul II, who is fresh from a visit to Mexico where he nudged his straying flock back into the Catholic herd. Clinton won't be going to confession, but the president can still expect to get an earful. The Vatican is unhappy with the Clinton administration for several reasons: the air strikes in Iraq, the continuing embargo against Cuba, and what is perceived as a tepid interest in helping to relieve poverty around the world. The pontiff may also raise the issues of abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment -- three other areas where, in his view, the American record is spotty. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17535.html
- Viagra for Women - On the theory that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that a drug company in Mountain View, California has patented a rub-on cream that is designed to combat sexual dysfunction in women. With the commercial rights in hand, Vivus Inc. will now ask the US Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin testing the drug, alprostadil, on the female genitalia. The drug is applied topically and enhances orgasm by dilating the blood vessels that feed the clitoris. Vivus also markets a male version of the cream, Muse, which was all but obliterated by the success of Viagra last year. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18348.html
- War Criminal - If Slobodan Milosevic does manage to emerge unscathed from the current NATO onslaught, the Yugoslavian president still must face the wrath of the International War Crimes Tribunal. CNN reported Wednesday that the tribunal is preparing to indict Milosevic as a war criminal for Serbian atrocities committed against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. It would be the first war-crimes indictment ever handed down against a sitting head of state. Whether Milosevic or the handful of other Serbian leaders expected to be indicted with him actually face trial remains to be seen. The tribunal's rules stipulate that anyone indicted for war crimes must surrender to the tribunal or be handed over by the competent authorities. Milosevic is unlikely to turn himself in, and the Yugoslavian government has already accused the tribunal of an anti-Serb bias. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19892.html
- We Will Bury You - Lenin's mausoleum in Red Square, along with Karl Marx's grave at London's Highgate Cemetery, are probably the two holiest shrines in the communist world (or what's left of it). So if you're Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and you really want to tick off the Bolshies in the Duma who are gunning for your hide, what better way to do it than to announce your intention to remove Vladimir Ilyich from his glass coffin and bury him somewhere? That's the hot rumor in Moscow these days, so Russians -- Communist and non-Communist alike -- are turning up in large numbers for a last look at The Big Goatee. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21093.html
- Weighty Problem - The baby boomers are getting older, and a lot of them are getting fatter, too. Aside from aesthetic concerns, as the waistline expands, so do the odds of contracting heart disease, certain cancers, high blood pressure, and diabetes, among other ailments. According to the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, boomers carrying 25 pounds more than they did in high school are at risk for any of these diseases. The panel urges overweight boomers to get regular check-ups to head off trouble before it starts. Besides, a beer belly protruding from under a tie-dyed T-shirt is not a beautiful thing. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18388.html
- Whaling Scuttled - Less than two weeks after saying that it would resume the commercial hunting of beluga whales, Russia has abruptly reversed itself in the name of living up to its environmental commitments. The decision to stop hunting the beluga delighted environmentalists, who feared that a dangerous precedent was being set by the hunting of smaller whales and dolphins. But even with Russia dropping whaling, perils remain. Japan continues to defy the recognized whaling ban, ostensibly in the name of scientific research, while several other nations, notably Norway, have declared that they would like to resume hunting. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21800.html
- What Midlife Crisis? - A new study reports that Americans are not only enjoying middle age, but many consider it to be the best time of their lives. This flies in the face of many assumptions made about those who are not young, but not old either: that their health is beginning to fail, that their lives are stressful, and that they're suffering the so-called "midlife crisis" and getting ready to bail out as soon as possible. The exhaustive study, which took 10 years to complete, found, in fact, that nine out of 10 midlifers scoff at the notion of any crisis. Two areas where they do feel a little shortchanged: sex and money. But then, who doesn't? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18017.html
- Where's LA? - The top 10 connected cities in the United States, from a survey by Yahoo Internet Life: 1. San Francisco 2. Austin, Texas 3. Seattle 4. Washington, D.C. 5. Boston 6. San Jose, Calif. 7. San Diego 8. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. 9. Atlanta 10. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17910.html
- Wine's Benefits - Medical science has accepted that moderate wine consumption is good for the heart, and now there's more good news about vino: Italian researchers writing in the British journal New Scientist say a glass and a half a day could help stave off neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Apparently the natural chemical reservatrol, produced by vines and concentrated in both grapes and wine, stimulates an enzyme called mapkinase, which regenerates nerve cells. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17195.html
- Wise Guy - Gregory Smith is about the smartest 10-year-old you're ever going to meet. Just ask his physics professor at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, where he began classes this semester. Young Gregory began memorizing books when he was only 14 months old. He was adding numbers four months later, and completed an algebra class in only 10 weeks -- when he was 7. He completed a full high school course in a mere 22 months, even finding time to go to the prom (with his mom). Now he's the youngest of collegiate freshmen, fulfilling his six-year dream of reaching the ivy-covered halls. Gregory enters college already something of a celebrity: He's made appearances on the Late Show With David Letterman, 60 Minutes, the Today show, and NBC Nightly News. Yeah, OK. But what's his GPA? [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21667.html
- Words of Mouth - Something to chew on over the weekend: A new survey finds that President Clinton is not alone. Most college students don't believe that engaging in oral sex means they've "done it." In a survey of college kids by the Kinsey Institute, 60 percent did not equate oral-genital contact with having had sex. Maybe America's public education system is worse off than we thought. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17363.html
- Worldwide Slowdown - The global economic growth rate fell by half in 1998, and it will drop further in 1999 -- to 1.3 percent -- a London-based forecasting outfit said Monday. The Economist Intelligence Unit said Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union will perform worst, but Latin American growth was expected to fall by more than a third and North American growth would more than halve to 1.6 percent. The remaining growth hot spots: China, India, and Ireland. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17257.html
- Worm Turns Again - A lot of people thought the Los Angeles Lakers were crazy for signing perennial NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman seven weeks ago. On Thursday, the Lakers finally agreed. They waived Rodman, along with his rainbow-colored hair, his rhinestone bustiers, his lousy attitude, and his penchant for missing practice. Rodman, typically, portrayed himself as the victim and accused the team of cowardice. "They have to have a fall guy and I'm basically the fall guy," he told Fox Sports. Will Rodman surface with another patsy? Well, he always was a pretty good rebounder. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19163.html
- WWF Wrestler Killed - The World Wrestling Federation trades on absurd, if athletic, physical stunts to attract its crowds, but there are real risks involved. A wrestler was killed Sunday when he fell 50 feet into the ring while being lowered during a stunt at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Owen Hart, 33, known to WWF fans as "Blue Blazer," died after hitting his head against a turnbuckle used to secure the ropes around the ring. Hart, who had performed the stunt before, was worked on by paramedics in the ring before being taken to a local hospital. The show resumed after a 15-minute delay. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19842.html
- Y2K Buggy - If anybody ought to know a little about 2001, it's science fiction novelist Arthur C. Clarke who, after all, wrote the book. And Clarke says the new millennium begins 1 January, 2001. Period. "Because the Western calendar starts with Year 1 and not Year 0, the 21st century and Third Millennium do not begin until January 1, 2001," he said in a statement issued to the press on Thursday. So just go ahead and guzzle the cheap stuff again this year. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/17224.html
- Yanks' Torre Has Cancer - It's been a bad week for the New York Yankees. Joe DiMaggio's death on Monday was followed by the news Wednesday that Yankees manager Joe Torre has prostate cancer. Torre left the team's spring-training camp after telling catcher Joe Girardi, who passed on the news to teammates. There was no report on the extent of the cancer. Torre, who managed the Yanks to two championships in the past three seasons, said he expects to back on the job soon. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18386.html
- Yeltsin Prevails - Boris Yeltsin had a great weekend. Lawmakers failed to impeach the Russian president on Saturday. On Sunday, some of his toughest critics in the Duma said they like his nominee for prime minister. Sergei Stepashin would replace Yevgeny Primakov, whom Yeltsin sent packing on the eve of the impeachment hearings. A close Yeltsin ally, Stepashin advocates tough fiscal reform, including conditions mandated by the International Monetary Fund. The Duma votes on Stepashin's appointment on Wednesday. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19721.html
- You Love, You Lose - An Air Force captain who disobeyed orders to break off his love affair with an enlisted woman has been dismissed from the service and sentenced to prison. A military jury recommended Captain Joseph Belli serve a year behind bars, but he could get up to 22 years. Belli himself said he intended to break things off when he got the order, "but you just can't stop loving somebody." The couple married in March. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/19321.html
- You've Been Warned - Sport utility vehicles are handy, if you're hauling the kids to school or bringing a ton of groceries home from the market. But they waddle down the road like fattened geese and don't corner worth a damn. In fact, they're deathtraps if you happen to roll 'em, which happens too frequently for the taste of US government regulators. That's why from now on, all SUVs sold in the United States (with the exception of the Ford Excursion, which is basically a tank anyway) will be marked with large, yellow "roll warning" stickers. Buyers will be warned not to take curves at high speed in one of those pigs. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/18307.html
- Your Cheatin' Shorts - Japanese husbands who cat around better watch out: Technology can help suspicious wives nail the old man in flagrante delicto. New Scientist reports that a chemical spray, sold over the counter in Japan, can turn up evidence of semen stains in the cheater's shorts. There's also a gel a wife can rub discreetly on her husband's back before he goes off to work. If he showers during the day -- which the article says is a sure sign of an office affair -- the gel forms a water blister And if she rubs the gel into his socks, they'll change color if he takes them off. What happens if an innocent man goes to the gym at lunch time? His socks change color, his back blisters, and his wife divorces him. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/20361.html
- Your Move - Chess masters can be odd ducks -- remember Bobby Fischer? -- probably because of the tunnel vision necessary to dominate those 64 little squares. So Garry Kasparov, the game's reigning world champion, can be forgiven for taking his current opponent lightly. Kasparov is playing on the Internet, and his opponent is ... the world. As in every chess player who's ever had a hankering to knock off No. 1. But it's clear that Kasparov has the upper hand: "The world turned out to be very smart," he told Reuters Friday, "but it has a very difficult task to save the game." A great quote, and he even got the pronoun right. [Wired News]
www.wired.com/news/news/story/21579.html
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