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1498135 | 2003 | 06 | 19 | In Defense of Boredom |
To the Editor:
Re ''On Video Games, the Jury Is Out and Confused'' (June 5): The positive findings that video games improve a narrow set of visual attention skills leave me underwhelmed. The question for me, as a parent, is what might that child be doing if he or she were not killing time on the GameCube?
| To the Editor: Re ''On Video Games, the Jury Is Out and Confused'' (June 5): The positive findings that video games improve a narrow set of visual attention skills leave me underwhelmed. The question for me, as a parent, is what might that child be doing if he or she were not killing time on the GameCube? As a mother of a 9-year-old boy, I have found that there is among many upper-middle-class parents an unwritten belief that children need stimulation all day, all the time, as though boredom were a sign of impoverishment or feeblemindedness. Yet I think that boredom is often the precursor to a spurt of creativity, an insight or a new hobby. Insofar as video games allow for less down time, I wonder whether |
1373708 | 2002 | 03 | 07 | With Dvorak Coming Alive, Rangers Are More Confident |
The way the Rangers rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the third period for a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild in overtime Tuesday night could be a turning point of their season.
''If you talk about confidence, this is it,'' said Radek Dvorak, whose short-handed goal, 2 minutes 17 seconds into the third period, cut the deficit to 2-1.
| The way the Rangers rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the third period for a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild in overtime Tuesday night could be a turning point of their season. ''If you talk about confidence, this is it,'' said Radek Dvorak, whose short-handed goal, 2 minutes 17 seconds into the third period, cut the deficit to 2-1. The victory was the second in three games for the Rangers, who are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, a point behind the seventh-place Devils. The Rangers (29-28-4-3) play the resurgent Blackhawks here Thursday night and the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon. Dvorak, who turns 25 on Saturday, has come alive the last three games, scoring a goal in each one -- two of them short-handed |
1830492 | 2007 | 03 | 04 | For a Brownstone Lot, Tall Dreams and Troubled Neighbors |
EVERYONE seemed to have come out ahead. In 1999, shaking off its last few crumbs of foreclosed real estate, the city sold a decrepit, century-old brownstone at 330 West 86th Street, flanked by 15-story towers.
Under a special provision of state law designed to encourage the rehabilitation of ''slum or blighted'' dwellings, the city sold the brownstone to some of its half-dozen or so tenants for the apparently modest price of $340,000, on the condition that they clear up its building code violations. According to city lawyers and local officials, the building's new owners were also supposed to preserve the structure.
| EVERYONE seemed to have come out ahead. In 1999, shaking off its last few crumbs of foreclosed real estate, the city sold a decrepit, century-old brownstone at 330 West 86th Street, flanked by 15-story towers. Under a special provision of state law designed to encourage the rehabilitation of ''slum or blighted'' dwellings, the city sold the brownstone to some of its half-dozen or so tenants for the apparently modest price of $340,000, on the condition that they clear up its building code violations. According to city lawyers and local officials, the building's new owners were also supposed to preserve the structure. ''We did it to prevent development,'' said former City Councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, who helped facilitate the transaction. ''It was to be housing for the people who had |
1843349 | 2007 | 04 | 28 | Ex-Hollinger Audit Panel Member Testifies |
A former audit committee member of Hollinger International began testifying Friday in the criminal trial of Conrad M. Black, the former chairman, with prosecutors portraying her as a talented economist who had been duped while the defense suggested she had failed to carry out her financial duties.
The witness, Marie-Josee Kravis, who was a director for more than 10 years, told the federal jury that Mr. Black and other company officials skirted corporate and government oversight, lining their pockets with millions of dollars in shareholder cash to finance a lavish lifestyle that the government said included costly birthday parties and trips to second homes.
| A former audit committee member of Hollinger International began testifying Friday in the criminal trial of Conrad M. Black, the former chairman, with prosecutors portraying her as a talented economist who had been duped while the defense suggested she had failed to carry out her financial duties. The witness, Marie-Josee Kravis, who was a director for more than 10 years, told the federal jury that Mr. Black and other company officials skirted corporate and government oversight, lining their pockets with millions of dollars in shareholder cash to finance a lavish lifestyle that the government said included costly birthday parties and trips to second homes. Ending the sixth week of testimony in the fraud trial of Mr. Black and three former colleagues, Ms. Kravis, the wife of the financier |
1602077 | 2004 | 08 | 06 | Alaskan Delegate to New York: Don't Fence Us In |
Doug Isaacson has a few ideas about city folks. First of all, they do not understand Alaska. Second of all, they do not understand Alaska.
He was flying in a six-seat Piper Navajo the other day above the tundra, grousing that he could not build on all that empty land because the city slickers wanted to preserve it. They needed some place to dream of in their cramped apartments, he was saying.
| Doug Isaacson has a few ideas about city folks. First of all, they do not understand Alaska. Second of all, they do not understand Alaska. He was flying in a six-seat Piper Navajo the other day above the tundra, grousing that he could not build on all that empty land because the city slickers wanted to preserve it. They needed some place to dream of in their cramped apartments, he was saying. It drives a man like Mr. Isaacson insane. ''It's a fantasy they're trying to preserve,'' he said as the plane flew bumpily above a wilderness that stretched away for miles in shades of greenish gray. ''It's in their minds. It's only when you're living in the rat race of a claustrophobic city that you start with |
1728158 | 2005 | 12 | 29 | GARDEN Q & A |
Feeding the Monarchs
Q. I'd like to attract monarchs by planting milkweed, but fear its invasive tendencies. Even the tuberous kind spread all over when I tried it. Would bloodflower be a safe choice in Connecticut?
A. Bloodflower (Asclepias curassavica), also known as tropical milkweed, is a great favorite with monarch butterflies. Adults are drawn to the bright red and yellow flowers, and their offspring feast on the foliage, which is more tender than that of most milkweeds. Just be warned that aphids are fond of it, too.
| Feeding the Monarchs Q. I'd like to attract monarchs by planting milkweed, but fear its invasive tendencies. Even the tuberous kind spread all over when I tried it. Would bloodflower be a safe choice in Connecticut? A. Bloodflower (Asclepias curassavica), also known as tropical milkweed, is a great favorite with monarch butterflies. Adults are drawn to the bright red and yellow flowers, and their offspring feast on the foliage, which is more tender than that of most milkweeds. Just be warned that aphids are fond of it, too. This otherwise easy plant can be invasive in frost-free zones, but you should be safe as long as Northeastern summers remain relatively short. Mature plants can self-sow, but seeds will not sprout until weather is warm. Young plants then need |
1644560 | 2005 | 01 | 24 | After Postpunk? Post-Postpunk by the Gang of Four |
Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Jon King, lead singer of the Gang of Four, was methodically bashing a metal rod against a microwave oven that he found at a recycling dump. Each blow added a dent; paint chips went flying.
It wasn't petulance; it was the introduction to ''He'd Send in the Army,'' a bleak, brittle song from the Gang of Four's 1981 album ''Solid Gold.'' Stubbornly slow, with Hugo Burnham's drums, and Dave Allen's bass stopping and starting, and Andy Gill's guitar shrieking across the spaces, it is one of the band's most rigorous and unforgiving songs, and one of its favorites.
| Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Jon King, lead singer of the Gang of Four, was methodically bashing a metal rod against a microwave oven that he found at a recycling dump. Each blow added a dent; paint chips went flying. It wasn't petulance; it was the introduction to ''He'd Send in the Army,'' a bleak, brittle song from the Gang of Four's 1981 album ''Solid Gold.'' Stubbornly slow, with Hugo Burnham's drums, and Dave Allen's bass stopping and starting, and Andy Gill's guitar shrieking across the spaces, it is one of the band's most rigorous and unforgiving songs, and one of its favorites. On Friday night at the Montague Arms, a packed pub in the scruffy New Cross neighborhood of South London, about 200 latter-day punk fans greeted the |
1689773 | 2005 | 07 | 24 | Democratic Pedigree, Republican Employee |
Few families have been more bound up in the state's Democratic politics in recent memory than the DeCotiis clan. Bob DeCotiis, for example, served as counsel to Gov. Jim Florio more than two decades ago, just as his son Michael served as counsel years later to Gov. Jim McGreevey.
Imagine the surprise of some Republicans, then, to see the DeCotiis name on a fund-raising solicitation for a Doug Forrester event on July 21. Mr. Forrester, you may recall, is the Republican candidate for governor.
| Few families have been more bound up in the state's Democratic politics in recent memory than the DeCotiis clan. Bob DeCotiis, for example, served as counsel to Gov. Jim Florio more than two decades ago, just as his son Michael served as counsel years later to Gov. Jim McGreevey. Imagine the surprise of some Republicans, then, to see the DeCotiis name on a fund-raising solicitation for a Doug Forrester event on July 21. Mr. Forrester, you may recall, is the Republican candidate for governor. ''I have been asked if we will accept donations less than $500 a head,'' it said in an e-mail message from Robert Ortiz, a lawyer at the DeCotiis family's firm of DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler. ''The answer is YES. Our goal is to |
1575622 | 2004 | 04 | 20 | Chief Executive Of US Airways Quits Amid Strife |
The chief executive of US Airways, David N. Siegel, who vowed last month that he would not run from the airline's deepening financial problems but had reached a logjam with its unions, resigned yesterday.
Bruce Lakefield, a former Lehman Brothers executive who is a member of the board at US Airways Group, the airline's parent, will succeed him.
| The chief executive of US Airways, David N. Siegel, who vowed last month that he would not run from the airline's deepening financial problems but had reached a logjam with its unions, resigned yesterday. Bruce Lakefield, a former Lehman Brothers executive who is a member of the board at US Airways Group, the airline's parent, will succeed him. Mr. Siegel's resignation was apparently sought by the airline's chairman, David G. Bronner, according to people briefed on the conversation. The request came at the beginning of a three-day meeting by the US Airways board in Montgomery, Ala., where Mr. Bronner runs Alabama's pension fund. Mr. Lakefield, the former chief executive of the international operations of Lehman Brothers, joined the board last year as one of eight members chosen by |
1324909 | 2001 | 09 | 14 | Albany Votes $8 Billion For Relief And Recovery |
State and city lawmakers authorized $8 billion in spending yesterday to relieve suffering and aid in the recovery from the attack on the World Trade Center, though they acknowledged that they still had little idea just how the money would be spent, or how much would be needed.
The City Council, still unable to enter City Hall, met in an auditorium at the New York Public Library to send a ''home rule'' message to Albany, asking the state to raise the city's borrowing ceiling by $2.5 billion to pay for recovery efforts. Minutes later, the Senate and Assembly approved the bill.
| State and city lawmakers authorized $8 billion in spending yesterday to relieve suffering and aid in the recovery from the attack on the World Trade Center, though they acknowledged that they still had little idea just how the money would be spent, or how much would be needed. The City Council, still unable to enter City Hall, met in an auditorium at the New York Public Library to send a ''home rule'' message to Albany, asking the state to raise the city's borrowing ceiling by $2.5 billion to pay for recovery efforts. Minutes later, the Senate and Assembly approved the bill. The Legislature also passed a bill authorizing the state to spend up to $5 billion in federal aid, and committed up to $500 million in state money |
1476900 | 2003 | 03 | 31 | Michelin Man Enlists Palm To Move Tires |
Maybe the cross-promotional deal to be announced today between the tire maker Michelin and the hand-held computer maker Palm deserves a product safety advisory: Products Meant to Be Used Separately. Under the deal, Michelin is offering a free Palm Zire, Palm's entry-level digital organizer, to customers who buy four new tires.
Questions naturally arise. Is there any logical link between the companies' products, besides the fact that both have something to do with mobility? More urgently, are the companies implicitly encouraging people to multitask -- say, by entering addresses into their computers while driving on the freeway?
| Maybe the cross-promotional deal to be announced today between the tire maker Michelin and the hand-held computer maker Palm deserves a product safety advisory: Products Meant to Be Used Separately. Under the deal, Michelin is offering a free Palm Zire, Palm's entry-level digital organizer, to customers who buy four new tires. Questions naturally arise. Is there any logical link between the companies' products, besides the fact that both have something to do with mobility? More urgently, are the companies implicitly encouraging people to multitask -- say, by entering addresses into their computers while driving on the freeway? ''No,'' said Ken Wirt, senior vice president for sales and marketing for Palm. ''We wouldn't suggest that they use it while changing a tire, either.'' The main reason for the cross-promotion, |
1803725 | 2006 | 11 | 10 | Returning to Houston Bittersweet for Francis |
Steve Francis will celebrate a homecoming of sorts Friday night, but as with everything in his brief Knicks career, the event is not as happy and simple as it sounds.
Two years and seven months removed from his last game as a Rocket, Francis returned to Houston for the first time as a Knick. He began his N.B.A. career here seven years ago and left behind all of his best moments as a pro when the Rockets traded him to Orlando in 2004. It has been a rough ride since.
| Steve Francis will celebrate a homecoming of sorts Friday night, but as with everything in his brief Knicks career, the event is not as happy and simple as it sounds. Two years and seven months removed from his last game as a Rocket, Francis returned to Houston for the first time as a Knick. He began his N.B.A. career here seven years ago and left behind all of his best moments as a pro when the Rockets traded him to Orlando in 2004. It has been a rough ride since. The marriage between the Magic and Francis soured in less than two years. He was traded to the Knicks in February, clashed immediately with Coach Larry Brown and is still trying to reclaim his swagger. Now Francis is |
1263668 | 2001 | 01 | 18 | Many Sense the Good Times Slipping Away |
When he glimpsed the stone behemoth rising out of the prairie here in southern Wisconsin last fall, Paul Terpstra thought it was a new grammar school, or maybe an apartment complex.
''And then I realized, 'Oh my goodness, it's a single-family house,' '' recalled Mr. Terpstra, a 40-year-old engineer. ''And I thought to myself, 'Can this extravagant spending go on forever?' ''
| When he glimpsed the stone behemoth rising out of the prairie here in southern Wisconsin last fall, Paul Terpstra thought it was a new grammar school, or maybe an apartment complex. ''And then I realized, 'Oh my goodness, it's a single-family house,' '' recalled Mr. Terpstra, a 40-year-old engineer. ''And I thought to myself, 'Can this extravagant spending go on forever?' '' But just as a glorious autumn slipped into slap-in-the-face winter, Mr. Terpstra has sensed the economy starting to grow cold. Stocks have tumbled, growth has slowed, and companies are cutting back. An old mill here is moving much of its production overseas, and just across the Illinois state line, 10 miles or so to the south, the Motorola plant announced today that it would lay off |
1846815 | 2007 | 05 | 13 | Paid Notice: Deaths JAMES, SHEILA |
JAMES--Sheila. Tierney-Advertising Executive died peacefully at home after a brief illness. Her career spanned four decades in print, television and cable advertising. She was president and proprietor of Harbor Associates, located in Greenwich, CT. In addition to her responsibilities at Harbor, she served as consulting producer on the Joan Rivers Show ''Can We Shop'' and was on the adjunct faculty of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. She is survived by her husband Stuart James; two sons, Morgan F. James, of Whitefish, Montana, and Owen P. James, of Greenwich, CT and two grandsons Nicolas and Noah James, of Whitefish, MT. A memorial service will be held May 15, 1:00pm at the Leo Gallagher Funeral Home in Stamford, CT. In lieu of flowers, request memorials be sent to The Benedictine Grange, 42 Dorethy Road, Redding, CT.
| JAMES--Sheila. Tierney-Advertising Executive died peacefully at home after a brief illness. Her career spanned four decades in print, television and cable advertising. She was president and proprietor of Harbor Associates, located in Greenwich, CT. In addition to her responsibilities at Harbor, she served as consulting producer on the Joan Rivers Show ''Can We Shop'' and was on the adjunct faculty of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. She is survived by her husband Stuart James; two sons, Morgan F. James, of Whitefish, Montana, and Owen P. James, of Greenwich, CT and two grandsons Nicolas and Noah James, of Whitefish, MT. A memorial service will be held May 15, 1:00pm at the Leo Gallagher Funeral Home in Stamford, CT. In lieu of flowers, request memorials be sent to The |
1278019 | 2001 | 03 | 15 | Guideline for Online Brokers Expected Soon |
What constitutes an investment recommendation when it comes from an online brokerage firm? After more than a year of deliberations, securities regulators will try to answer that question.
The regulatory arm of the National Association of Securities Dealers plans to publish guidelines, possibly as soon as next week, on when online brokerage firms must consider whether the securities they sell fit a particular customer's needs and tolerance for risk.
| What constitutes an investment recommendation when it comes from an online brokerage firm? After more than a year of deliberations, securities regulators will try to answer that question. The regulatory arm of the National Association of Securities Dealers plans to publish guidelines, possibly as soon as next week, on when online brokerage firms must consider whether the securities they sell fit a particular customer's needs and tolerance for risk. Traditional brokerage firms have a clear burden to do so, but online brokerage firms generally have argued that they should not have the same obligations because they do not make recommendations. Mary L. Schapiro, president of NASD Regulation, said that division was not as clear now that online firms had started giving advice and contacting customers about initial offerings |
1626970 | 2004 | 11 | 14 | Box Office in a Box |
I. Get Me Gene Hackman For the past few years, Hollywood's weekend box-office tallies have come to represent a tidy bit of wisdom about American culture -- cold, bare numbers relayed around the world every Monday morning that tell us which stories and which celebrities are resonating with the moviegoing public. There is, however, another set of Hollywood statistics of enormous significance, and Tuesday is their day. How important are these numbers? Every Tuesday at lunchtime, Mike Dunn and Peter Staddon, the president and executive vice president, respectively, of 20th Century Fox's home-entertainment division, take the elevator from ther 25th-floor offices at Fox Plaza in Los Angeles down to their cars in the underground parking garage and from there drive out into the noontime traffic on their way to Best Buy, Target, Costco and Wal-Mart. Tuesday is the day new DVD's are released, the day Dunn gets a sense of whether the discs that his team has worked on for months -- or sometimes years -- will sell as well as planned. So the Fox executives wander the aisles of the big retailers. They eavesdrop. They size up the clientele. They take note of what's moving through the cash registers. Tuesday, not Monday, is their day of reckoning.
And in many ways, the same is true for their parent company as well. From about 2002 on, the larger stakes in Hollywood -- the revenue that enables studios to finance blockbusters and to pay Brad Pitt and to keep the lights on -- have come to ride mostly on those little silver discs that go on sale four or five months after a theatrical release. This year, for instance, 63 percent of studio feature-film revenues in the United States will come from movies sold to retail stores; actual box office will generate only 21 percent. According to Tom Adams, a well-regarded home-entertainment analyst whose firm, Adams Media Research, tracks DVD sales and trends, studios often get twice as much revenue from a big film's retail sales as they do from its theatrical release.
| I. Get Me Gene Hackman For the past few years, Hollywood's weekend box-office tallies have come to represent a tidy bit of wisdom about American culture -- cold, bare numbers relayed around the world every Monday morning that tell us which stories and which celebrities are resonating with the moviegoing public. There is, however, another set of Hollywood statistics of enormous significance, and Tuesday is their day. How important are these numbers? Every Tuesday at lunchtime, Mike Dunn and Peter Staddon, the president and executive vice president, respectively, of 20th Century Fox's home-entertainment division, take the elevator from ther 25th-floor offices at Fox Plaza in Los Angeles down to their cars in the underground parking garage and from there drive out into the noontime traffic on their way |
1854919 | 2007 | 06 | 17 | Like Father? |
For a little while, my father had it all: a loving wife, three healthy kids and a booming import-export business in Seoul that brought in so much cash that the president of Korea awarded him a medal of achievement. But then the gas crisis of 1973 bankrupted his company, and a year later he left my mother, sisters and me for the United States to regain his financial footing. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he had some old contacts and a brother in New York.
| For a little while, my father had it all: a loving wife, three healthy kids and a booming import-export business in Seoul that brought in so much cash that the president of Korea awarded him a medal of achievement. But then the gas crisis of 1973 bankrupted his company, and a year later he left my mother, sisters and me for the United States to regain his financial footing. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he had some old contacts and a brother in New York. Seven long years later, our family was finally going to be reunited. As we made our final approach to Newark Airport, my mother reassured me that my inability to remember my father was not a big deal. I'd just turned 4 |
1464385 | 2003 | 02 | 12 | As Cold War Link Itself Grows Cold, Europe Seems to Lose Value for Bush |
Faced by a sharp trans-Atlantic rift that has split NATO, many officials here are wondering why the Bush administration has not tried harder to preserve what Senator John McCain last week described as ''the greatest political military alliance in the history of mankind.''
That question, senior administration officials said today, has not been answered within the circle of President Bush and his advisers, in part because there are divisions between them over how important old cold war allies like France and Germany are to the new war against terror.
| Faced by a sharp trans-Atlantic rift that has split NATO, many officials here are wondering why the Bush administration has not tried harder to preserve what Senator John McCain last week described as ''the greatest political military alliance in the history of mankind.'' That question, senior administration officials said today, has not been answered within the circle of President Bush and his advisers, in part because there are divisions between them over how important old cold war allies like France and Germany are to the new war against terror. One Bush administration official, obviously appalled by the growing vitriol between Paris and Washington, said, ''We are just hoping that the whole edifice'' of the Western alliance ''does not come crashing down.'' But in several comments, including one referring |
1706078 | 2005 | 09 | 30 | Lenovo Evolves With Its I.B.M. PC Unit in Tow |
Lenovo's purchase of I.B.M.'s personal computer business was unquestionably a bold move and a striking symbol of China's economic globalization. But the challenge facing the combined company is to find a way to prosper in the fiercely competitive PC business, a sector where I.B.M. consistently lost money over the years.
Now, five months after the deal closed, the Lenovo and I.B.M. operations are being combined in earnest as the company tries to chart a path to success. With a management realignment, announced today, Lenovo hopes to advance its strategy.
| Lenovo's purchase of I.B.M.'s personal computer business was unquestionably a bold move and a striking symbol of China's economic globalization. But the challenge facing the combined company is to find a way to prosper in the fiercely competitive PC business, a sector where I.B.M. consistently lost money over the years. Now, five months after the deal closed, the Lenovo and I.B.M. operations are being combined in earnest as the company tries to chart a path to success. With a management realignment, announced today, Lenovo hopes to advance its strategy. Crucial elements in the plan, described by Lenovo executives in interviews this week, include a focus on notebook PC's, exploiting the fast-growing markets of China and India, and a move into the American consumer market early next year with |
1677293 | 2005 | 06 | 03 | Case Against a Times Researcher Goes to Chinese Prosecutors |
After more than eight months of investigation, state secrets and fraud cases against a Chinese researcher for The New York Times have been turned over to prosecutors for indictment, Chinese authorities said yesterday.
This important legal step suggests that the authorities plan to bring the researcher, Zhao Yan, to trial in the coming months despite protests by international rights groups, which say he is being punished for his journalism, and an appeal for his release by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
| After more than eight months of investigation, state secrets and fraud cases against a Chinese researcher for The New York Times have been turned over to prosecutors for indictment, Chinese authorities said yesterday. This important legal step suggests that the authorities plan to bring the researcher, Zhao Yan, to trial in the coming months despite protests by international rights groups, which say he is being punished for his journalism, and an appeal for his release by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The formal referral of charges to prosecutors occurred on May 20 but was only revealed yesterday, by a Foreign Ministry spokesman at a regularly scheduled briefing. In China, indictment and conviction generally follow such a referral, though the prosecutors still have discretion over whether to try Mr. |
1261934 | 2001 | 01 | 11 | For Knicks, High Mark For Low Scores in Sight |
By playing their typically aggressive defense against Houston on Thursday, the Knicks can break a National Basketball Association record that has outlasted some of the league's greatest defensive units: Bill Russell's Boston Celtics, the Detroit Pistons' Bad Boys, Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, and even the Knicks under Pat Riley.
Of course, professional basketball has changed dramatically over the past few years, let alone the past few decades. So the fact that the Knicks can become the first team of the shot-clock era to hold 29 straight opponents under 100 points does not make them one of the best defensive teams in history. The Los Angeles Lakers are the only team in the league that averages at least 100 points a game these days, so holding clubs below the century mark is not the tremendous accomplishment it once was.
| By playing their typically aggressive defense against Houston on Thursday, the Knicks can break a National Basketball Association record that has outlasted some of the league's greatest defensive units: Bill Russell's Boston Celtics, the Detroit Pistons' Bad Boys, Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, and even the Knicks under Pat Riley. Of course, professional basketball has changed dramatically over the past few years, let alone the past few decades. So the fact that the Knicks can become the first team of the shot-clock era to hold 29 straight opponents under 100 points does not make them one of the best defensive teams in history. The Los Angeles Lakers are the only team in the league that averages at least 100 points a game these days, so holding clubs below the |
1227510 | 2000 | 09 | 03 | County Posts Gasoline Prices On the Internet |
WESTCHESTER residents can now find the lowest prices for gasoline on a Web site run by the county.
The free service, which is available at www.westchestergov.com/consumer, displays the average price for all types of fuel in an area and lists local stations from cheapest to most expensive by typing in the name of a town or a ZIP code.
| WESTCHESTER residents can now find the lowest prices for gasoline on a Web site run by the county. The free service, which is available at www.westchestergov.com/consumer, displays the average price for all types of fuel in an area and lists local stations from cheapest to most expensive by typing in the name of a town or a ZIP code. The site has received almost 68,000 visits since it went up on June 29, Susan Tolchin, a county spokeswoman, said. ''It was tremendously well received,'' she said. ''We've heard stories from people who say they've been deluged with customers.'' Prices are monitored monthly by the three full-time field inspectors for the county's Consumer Protection Division. The inspectors are normally responsible for annual checks of the octane rating and pump |
1353628 | 2001 | 12 | 23 | Mister & Mistletoe |
Matthew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker actors: On marriage: 'I believe in being married only once.'
-- Sarah Jessica
Ed Burns & Christy Turlington actor-director and model: On a romantic evening: 'We watch ''Random Harvest'' and order from Hana Sushi.'
-- Ed
| Matthew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker actors: On marriage: 'I believe in being married only once.' -- Sarah Jessica Ed Burns & Christy Turlington actor-director and model: On a romantic evening: 'We watch ''Random Harvest'' and order from Hana Sushi.' -- Ed Tim Noble & Sue Webster artists: On their first kiss: 'It was more like a snog. Do you know what a snog is? A snog is a real behind-the-bike-shed-at-the-high-school-disco thing.' -- Tim Paz de la Huerta & Alex Burns actors: On who's in charge: 'We take turns. She gets Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And I get weekends and Tuesday and Thursday.' -- Alex Cherokee & Charlie singer and pet: On their first hug: 'It was pretty special. It felt like one big muscle.' Toland Grinnell & |
1590608 | 2004 | 06 | 20 | Tales From the North By Nine Inuit Women |
A COUPLE of weeks ago in Vancouver, I visited the Anthropology Museum at the University of British Columbia, home to one of the best collections of American Indian art and artifacts anywhere. Looking at the displays devoted to the Inuit, mostly stone carvings of arctic animals, moccasins, amulets and hunting equipment, I was struck by their modesty and simplicity. Artistry didn't mean much to them, it seemed.
That same quality pervades many of the prints, sculptures and drawings in ''Isumavut: The Artistic Expression of Nine Cape Dorset Women,'' on display at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Mashantucket. Cape Dorset is a small settlement on the southwestern tip of Baffin Island, a frozen mountain wilderness in Canada's Northwest Territories. The artists are all Inuit.
| A COUPLE of weeks ago in Vancouver, I visited the Anthropology Museum at the University of British Columbia, home to one of the best collections of American Indian art and artifacts anywhere. Looking at the displays devoted to the Inuit, mostly stone carvings of arctic animals, moccasins, amulets and hunting equipment, I was struck by their modesty and simplicity. Artistry didn't mean much to them, it seemed. That same quality pervades many of the prints, sculptures and drawings in ''Isumavut: The Artistic Expression of Nine Cape Dorset Women,'' on display at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Mashantucket. Cape Dorset is a small settlement on the southwestern tip of Baffin Island, a frozen mountain wilderness in Canada's Northwest Territories. The artists are all Inuit. Art, as |
1413862 | 2002 | 08 | 06 | For All Sides, A Land Swap Offers Much To Consider |
The really surprising thing about the Bloomberg administration's proposal to swap the city-owned land under two big airports for the World Trade Center site is that nobody, so far, seems to be against it.
Maybe that can be attributed to the brilliance of the idea -- a way to remove obstacles to the development of the 16 acres where the twin towers once stood by eliminating the clash of interests between the city and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.
| The really surprising thing about the Bloomberg administration's proposal to swap the city-owned land under two big airports for the World Trade Center site is that nobody, so far, seems to be against it. Maybe that can be attributed to the brilliance of the idea -- a way to remove obstacles to the development of the 16 acres where the twin towers once stood by eliminating the clash of interests between the city and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site. Or maybe nobody has really figured out yet who would win and who would lose in such a deal. On one level, the city looks like a winner. It is guaranteed only $3 million a year from the Port Authority for |
1737056 | 2006 | 02 | 04 | Retiring Stevens's Number Gives Devils Inspiration |
Scott Stevens, wearing rimless glasses and his familiar No. 4 Devils jersey, leaned toward the microphone atop the lectern that had been set up at the red line Friday night. Two teams and a capacity crowd hushed and listened.
''I think this is the first time I've ever felt intimidated on this ice surface,'' Stevens said, and everyone roared.
| Scott Stevens, wearing rimless glasses and his familiar No. 4 Devils jersey, leaned toward the microphone atop the lectern that had been set up at the red line Friday night. Two teams and a capacity crowd hushed and listened. ''I think this is the first time I've ever felt intimidated on this ice surface,'' Stevens said, and everyone roared. Stevens, a stoic captain and punishing defenseman who helped the Devils win three Stanley Cups, became the first player in franchise history to have his number retired. Then, fittingly, the Devils beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-0, at Continental Arena. ''I don't think the night could have gone any better from the beginning to the end,'' said Lou Lamoriello, the Devils' general manager and coach. In a tough, crisp game |
1445051 | 2002 | 12 | 01 | 'The Loneliest Man in Congress' |
IT'S hard to believe, in this era of the Republican Party ascendant, that there once dwelt in East Harlem a radical left-wing congressman named Vito Marcantonio. But Marcantonio is remembered by many surviving New Yorkers, most of them in their 80's and 90's, who passionately supported him during his seven terms in office, from 1935 to 1937 and 1939 to 1951. (He also ran for mayor in 1949.)
Some, like former Mayor Edward I. Koch, see him as a leader with a genius for serving constituents but too closely aligned with American Communism. (Radicals seldom inspire indifference.)
| IT'S hard to believe, in this era of the Republican Party ascendant, that there once dwelt in East Harlem a radical left-wing congressman named Vito Marcantonio. But Marcantonio is remembered by many surviving New Yorkers, most of them in their 80's and 90's, who passionately supported him during his seven terms in office, from 1935 to 1937 and 1939 to 1951. (He also ran for mayor in 1949.) Some, like former Mayor Edward I. Koch, see him as a leader with a genius for serving constituents but too closely aligned with American Communism. (Radicals seldom inspire indifference.) Next Sunday at 1 p.m., the Museum of the City of New York will celebrate Marcantonio's centennial with a gathering of historians and others who remember the congressman. Among them will |
1821271 | 2007 | 01 | 25 | U.S. Picks an Inauspicious Time to Restart Mideast Talks |
It would be hard to imagine a less promising moment for the United States to restart serious Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.
Six years after the last such talks, the Palestinian government is controlled by Hamas, which preaches Israel's destruction. Approval ratings for the Israeli prime minister are barely in double digits. Gaza and neighboring Lebanon are in turmoil. President Bush is weak.
| It would be hard to imagine a less promising moment for the United States to restart serious Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. Six years after the last such talks, the Palestinian government is controlled by Hamas, which preaches Israel's destruction. Approval ratings for the Israeli prime minister are barely in double digits. Gaza and neighboring Lebanon are in turmoil. President Bush is weak. Yet the administration is holding a meeting on Feb. 2 of the so-called quartet, whose other members are the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, to be followed by ''informal talks'' between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, with help from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, about the shape of a final peace treaty and the nature of a Palestinian state beside Israel. The Americans are responding to |
1608493 | 2004 | 09 | 02 | On Politics and Power, Ask the Bard |
To the Editor:
Re ''Crowning Prince George,'' by Nicholas D. Kristof (column, Sept. 1): There's another compelling Shakespearean parallel, that between Henry IV, the father of Henry V, and our George II. It can be found in ''Henry IV, Part 2,'' Act 4, Scene 5.
On his deathbed, finally reconciled to his wayward son, Henry IV reflects on his usurpation of the crown from Richard II (''God knows, my son,/By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways/I met this crown an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand''), and what he did about it to bolster his throne.
| To the Editor: Re ''Crowning Prince George,'' by Nicholas D. Kristof (column, Sept. 1): There's another compelling Shakespearean parallel, that between Henry IV, the father of Henry V, and our George II. It can be found in ''Henry IV, Part 2,'' Act 4, Scene 5. On his deathbed, finally reconciled to his wayward son, Henry IV reflects on his usurpation of the crown from Richard II (''God knows, my son,/By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways/I met this crown an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand''), and what he did about it to bolster his throne. His advice to Prince Henry, the future Henry V and hero of Agincourt, is to do likewise: Be it thy course to busy giddy minds With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, |
1594343 | 2004 | 07 | 04 | The Nation: Rules of Engagement; Presidential Interviews Follow a Script (But Not Always) |
HIS questions were not all softballs, but when a reporter from Al-Ahram, the Egyptian newspaper, went to the White House in May to interview President Bush, he was so polite as to be deferential, a trait that the president would no doubt enjoy seeing become protocol among the press corps.
''I have four topics, Mr. President: Iraq, the Israeli-Arab issue, the so-called greater Middle East and bilateral'' relations between Egypt and the United States, the reporter said. ''Which one do you choose of them, Mr. President?''
| HIS questions were not all softballs, but when a reporter from Al-Ahram, the Egyptian newspaper, went to the White House in May to interview President Bush, he was so polite as to be deferential, a trait that the president would no doubt enjoy seeing become protocol among the press corps. ''I have four topics, Mr. President: Iraq, the Israeli-Arab issue, the so-called greater Middle East and bilateral'' relations between Egypt and the United States, the reporter said. ''Which one do you choose of them, Mr. President?'' To which Mr. Bush diplomatically replied, ''Whatever you want to do, sir, you're the distinguished journalist.'' When the session was over, Mr. Bush was moved to say, ''Good job. Very good job. Very good interview.'' The atmosphere was considerably chillier two weeks |
1559384 | 2004 | 02 | 16 | The Saratoga Arts Center Ends City Ballet Summers |
The New York City Ballet has had a summer home at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs for nearly four decades, but this year's regular summer season is to be its last.
The center's board of directors voted unanimously late last week to sever the long and historic relationship, which began in 1966.
| The New York City Ballet has had a summer home at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs for nearly four decades, but this year's regular summer season is to be its last. The center's board of directors voted unanimously late last week to sever the long and historic relationship, which began in 1966. ''It was a cost-cutting measure,'' Herb Chesbrough, the president and executive director of the center, said on Friday. ''We hope to continue to work with the company but not in a residency situation.'' Mr. Chesbrough said the center hoped to have City Ballet perform there every three to four years and to bring in smaller dance companies in other years. In a Feb. 11 letter to board members, Peter Martins, ballet master in |
1297498 | 2001 | 05 | 30 | Disabled Golfer May Use a Cart On the PGA Tour, Justices Affirm |
The Supreme Court ruled decisively today that Casey Martin, the disabled golfer who has been battling the PGA Tour over its walking rule for the last four years, has the legal right to ride in a golf cart during tournament play.
The 7-to-2 decision rejected the Tour's argument that making an exception for Mr. Martin, who has a degenerative condition in his right leg, would fundamentally alter the nature of championship golf. The ruling upheld a decision last year by the federal appeals court in San Francisco.
| The Supreme Court ruled decisively today that Casey Martin, the disabled golfer who has been battling the PGA Tour over its walking rule for the last four years, has the legal right to ride in a golf cart during tournament play. The 7-to-2 decision rejected the Tour's argument that making an exception for Mr. Martin, who has a degenerative condition in his right leg, would fundamentally alter the nature of championship golf. The ruling upheld a decision last year by the federal appeals court in San Francisco. The Americans With Disabilities Act, under which Mr. Martin sued the PGA Tour in 1997, requires operators of ''public accommodations,'' including golf courses, to make ''reasonable modifications'' for people with disabilities unless the changes would ''fundamentally alter the nature'' of the |
1452731 | 2002 | 12 | 30 | Sometimes the Best Defense Is a Good Idea for an Award |
Some European stars regularly compete in American national championships, and one is Tony Forrester of England, who has a large collection of titles acquired on both sides of the Atlantic. Playing in the Fall Nationals in Las Vegas a year ago, he defended brilliantly on the diagramed deal, and for his effort he eventually received the International Bridge Press Association's Father Joseph Hahn and Arthur Kong Award. This is for the best defense of the year and is sponsored by Rita Shugart, one of Forrester's regular teammates.
Forrester sat East, and his partner was a well-known British television journalist, James Mates, whose father, Michael Mates, is a Conservative member of Parliament and former cabinet minister. The partners sat silently while their opponents climbed to the sensible contract of six diamonds.
| Some European stars regularly compete in American national championships, and one is Tony Forrester of England, who has a large collection of titles acquired on both sides of the Atlantic. Playing in the Fall Nationals in Las Vegas a year ago, he defended brilliantly on the diagramed deal, and for his effort he eventually received the International Bridge Press Association's Father Joseph Hahn and Arthur Kong Award. This is for the best defense of the year and is sponsored by Rita Shugart, one of Forrester's regular teammates. Forrester sat East, and his partner was a well-known British television journalist, James Mates, whose father, Michael Mates, is a Conservative member of Parliament and former cabinet minister. The partners sat silently while their opponents climbed to the sensible contract of |
1706723 | 2005 | 10 | 02 | N.H.L. | Preview: THE NEW RULES |
The N.H.L. has made significant rule changes in an effort to increase offense and scoring.
Dimensions of the Rink
The neutral-zone edges of the blue lines will be positioned 64 feet from the goal lines and 75 feet from the end boards in the attacking zone. There will be an additional four feet in each of the offensive zones between the goal line and blue lines.
| The N.H.L. has made significant rule changes in an effort to increase offense and scoring. Dimensions of the Rink The neutral-zone edges of the blue lines will be positioned 64 feet from the goal lines and 75 feet from the end boards in the attacking zone. There will be an additional four feet in each of the offensive zones between the goal line and blue lines. The goal lines will be 11 feet from the end boards. The goal line had been 13 feet away since 1998-99. The size of the neutral zone will be reduced to 50 feet from 54 feet. Green Light at Red Line Passes from behind the defensive blue line to the attacking blue line will be legal. The center red line will be |
1448378 | 2002 | 12 | 14 | In a First, U.N. Notes Israeli Dead in Terror Attack in Mombasa |
The Security Council today formally condemned the attacks in November in Mombasa, Kenya, explicitly repudiating terrorism against Israeli victims for the first time in the action clauses of a resolution.
The measure was adopted with 14 in favor and Syria, the only Arab country on the Council, casting the single negative vote. Syria vehemently opposed any mention of Israel, arguing that the resolution would lack balance because Israel had also committed terrorist ''atrocities.''
| The Security Council today formally condemned the attacks in November in Mombasa, Kenya, explicitly repudiating terrorism against Israeli victims for the first time in the action clauses of a resolution. The measure was adopted with 14 in favor and Syria, the only Arab country on the Council, casting the single negative vote. Syria vehemently opposed any mention of Israel, arguing that the resolution would lack balance because Israel had also committed terrorist ''atrocities.'' Although the changes in wording from past measures were small, Israeli diplomats hailed the adoption of Resolution 1450 as a major step forward in the difficult history of Middle East issues at the United Nations. ''The Security Council has never before adopted a resolution that so clearly condemns the terrorist killing of Israelis or Jews,'' |
1300807 | 2001 | 06 | 11 | Pataki Orders a Shift Toward Renewable Energy |
Gov. George E. Pataki ordered today that state buildings get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources like solar or wind power by 2010, an effort that environmentalists lauded as the most ambitious of its kind in the country.
The governor also appointed a task force of industry leaders, state officials and environmentalists to find ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in New York, to combat global warming, and renewed his call for federal emissions standards for older power plants.
| Gov. George E. Pataki ordered today that state buildings get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources like solar or wind power by 2010, an effort that environmentalists lauded as the most ambitious of its kind in the country. The governor also appointed a task force of industry leaders, state officials and environmentalists to find ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in New York, to combat global warming, and renewed his call for federal emissions standards for older power plants. The announcements set Mr. Pataki apart from his fellow Republican, President Bush, and the governor's aides acknowledged that as he approached a re-election campaign next year, it behooved him to distance himself from the president and his increasingly unpopular environmental policies. The governor signed an executive |
1705569 | 2005 | 09 | 28 | The Little Engine That Could |
WE'VE learned a lot about evacuating cities in recent days, much of it deeply troubling. But if the failures of New Orleans and the gridlock of Houston show anything, it's that we urgently need a third way out of cities, something other than flying or driving. Fortunately, there is such a way: passenger rail.
If local and federal authorities had worked with Amtrak to make better use of its trains in New Orleans, thousands could have been evacuated before the worst of Katrina hit. And if Houston had gone ahead with earlier proposals to develop high-speed rail links, the same might have been true there.
| WE'VE learned a lot about evacuating cities in recent days, much of it deeply troubling. But if the failures of New Orleans and the gridlock of Houston show anything, it's that we urgently need a third way out of cities, something other than flying or driving. Fortunately, there is such a way: passenger rail. If local and federal authorities had worked with Amtrak to make better use of its trains in New Orleans, thousands could have been evacuated before the worst of Katrina hit. And if Houston had gone ahead with earlier proposals to develop high-speed rail links, the same might have been true there. For decades, two myths have stymied efforts to develop intercity rail systems outside the Northeast: that rail can't compete with cars and airplanes |
1664247 | 2005 | 04 | 12 | More Child Golfers, More Injuries |
More and more children are taking up golf. But as they do, a good number of them are ending their day in the emergency room instead of the clubhouse.
A new study in The Journal of Neurosurgery reports that head injuries are becoming a growing problem for younger players. The biggest dangers are errant swings and golf cart mishaps.
| More and more children are taking up golf. But as they do, a good number of them are ending their day in the emergency room instead of the clubhouse. A new study in The Journal of Neurosurgery reports that head injuries are becoming a growing problem for younger players. The biggest dangers are errant swings and golf cart mishaps. The lead author of the study, Dr. Scott Y. Rahimi of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, home of the Masters, said he began the study after noticing that more children were coming into the emergency room with golf injuries. The researchers reviewed the records of more than 2,500 children seen by neurosurgeons at the medical college over a six-year period and found that golf accidents were the |
1207342 | 2000 | 06 | 14 | Staff at Los Alamos Waited for 3 Weeks To Tell of Data Loss |
The Energy Department acknowledged today that employees at the Los Alamos National Laboratory waited more than three weeks last month before reporting the loss of two computer hard drives that contained some of the nation's most important nuclear secrets.
The acknowledgment came as Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and his department faced harsh criticism in Congress over the loss of the hard drives, the latest in a string of security lapses at the New Mexico laboratory, where nuclear weapons are designed.
| The Energy Department acknowledged today that employees at the Los Alamos National Laboratory waited more than three weeks last month before reporting the loss of two computer hard drives that contained some of the nation's most important nuclear secrets. The acknowledgment came as Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and his department faced harsh criticism in Congress over the loss of the hard drives, the latest in a string of security lapses at the New Mexico laboratory, where nuclear weapons are designed. Officials said that six managers at Los Alamos had been placed on leave and that disciplinary action at the laboratory was expected shortly. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Energy Department have opened a joint inquiry into the disappearance of the hard drives, which had been stored |
1229249 | 2000 | 09 | 10 | Kristin Elliman, Andrew Smith |
Kristin Grace Elliman, a daughter of Stephanie B. Elliman of Rye, N.Y., and Donald M. Elliman Jr. of Denver, was married yesterday to Andrew Chidester Smith, the son of Linda Lane and Thomas H. Smith, both of Norfolk, Va. The Rev. Daniel H. Love performed the ceremony at the Rye Presbyterian Church.
Mrs. Smith, 25, graduated from Roanoke College, as did the bridegroom. Her father is the president of the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi Center Arena in Denver. Her mother is the director of development for Louise Wise Services, a child welfare group in New York. The bride is a stepdaughter of Mary F. Elliman.
| Kristin Grace Elliman, a daughter of Stephanie B. Elliman of Rye, N.Y., and Donald M. Elliman Jr. of Denver, was married yesterday to Andrew Chidester Smith, the son of Linda Lane and Thomas H. Smith, both of Norfolk, Va. The Rev. Daniel H. Love performed the ceremony at the Rye Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Smith, 25, graduated from Roanoke College, as did the bridegroom. Her father is the president of the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi Center Arena in Denver. Her mother is the director of development for Louise Wise Services, a child welfare group in New York. The bride is a stepdaughter of Mary F. Elliman. Mr. Smith, 27, is an account executive for construction companies at the Moody Insurance Agency in Denver. His mother |
1566049 | 2004 | 03 | 14 | All the Children Are Above Average |
LITTLE CHILDREN
By Tom Perrotta.
355 pp. New York:
St. Martin's Press. $24.95.
| LITTLE CHILDREN By Tom Perrotta. 355 pp. New York: St. Martin's Press. $24.95. They're everywhere these days, in the suburbs and the cities, in the parks and on the playgrounds, like a tribe that can survive only atop childproof rubber safety mats. I'm referring to modern-day parents of the upper and middle classes, so stylishly dressed, vigilantly tending their children as if never before in the history of civilization have there been such mommies and daddies. They may have jobs, they may not, but in raising children, these parents are doing the most important work of all. So they will tell you. They confess how having kids has changed their lives. They've learned not to be so selfish, to live for someone else. They can't imagine life before. |
1788991 | 2006 | 09 | 10 | The Journey Home |
WHEN the planes hit the twin towers, I was on the last day of a weeklong fishing trip in that part of the country where Montana, Wyoming and Idaho come together in a kind of north-woods wonderland, a patch of the West that is home to Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons, gleaming rivers and herds of elk. It is hard to imagine a place more removed from the successive horrors of that day.
Early the next morning, the woman at the check-in counter at the small airport in Butte seemed genuinely sorry for me when she saw the Bronx address on my driver's license. ''Well, you're going right back into it, aren't you?'' she said, her ''it'' heavy with portent. I sensed that what she was really saying was: ''You poor thing. I sure am glad I live out here and not in that East Coast hellhole of yours.''
| WHEN the planes hit the twin towers, I was on the last day of a weeklong fishing trip in that part of the country where Montana, Wyoming and Idaho come together in a kind of north-woods wonderland, a patch of the West that is home to Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons, gleaming rivers and herds of elk. It is hard to imagine a place more removed from the successive horrors of that day. Early the next morning, the woman at the check-in counter at the small airport in Butte seemed genuinely sorry for me when she saw the Bronx address on my driver's license. ''Well, you're going right back into it, aren't you?'' she said, her ''it'' heavy with portent. I sensed that what she was really saying |
1552693 | 2004 | 01 | 22 | 4 Arab Nations Agree to Reduce Debt Owed by Iraq |
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III has secured pledges from four Persian Gulf nations to reduce their holdings of Iraq's debt, a senior State Department official said Wednesday.
The official said negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar had been far more difficult than earlier discussions with Russia, France, Germany, Japan and other large creditor nations in Europe and Asia.
| Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III has secured pledges from four Persian Gulf nations to reduce their holdings of Iraq's debt, a senior State Department official said Wednesday. The official said negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar had been far more difficult than earlier discussions with Russia, France, Germany, Japan and other large creditor nations in Europe and Asia. One reason, the official said, is that Kuwait has continued to argue that Iraq owes reparations from its invasion in 1990. Another is that all the gulf nations had insisted that they would not discuss debt reduction for Iraq until its sovereignty was restored. Under the Bush administration's plans, Iraq is not scheduled to achieve self-rule until June 30. Administration officials and |
1176622 | 2000 | 02 | 15 | WORLD BRIEFING |
MIDDLE EAST
IRAQ: U.N. AIDE QUITS -- The director of the oil-for-food program in Iraq resigned effective March 31, saying he had lost hope of being able to help Iraqis living under an embargo imposed in 1990. Hans van Sponeck, a German, has been sharply criticized by the United States and Britain for his opposition to the sanctions and to the linking of resumed arms inspections to the program that allows Iraq to sell oil to buy civilian goods. Another director who was critical of the sanctions, Denis Halliday of Ireland, quit in 1998.
Barbara Crossette
KUWAIT: INVASION ENVOY PICKED -- Yuli M. Vorontsov, a former Russian delegate to the United Nations and envoy to the United States, was chosen as a United Nations undersecretary general with responsibility for solving the problem of 600 missing Kuwaiti prisoners and millions of dollars in property unaccounted for from the Iraqi invasion in 1990.
Barbara Crossette
| MIDDLE EAST IRAQ: U.N. AIDE QUITS -- The director of the oil-for-food program in Iraq resigned effective March 31, saying he had lost hope of being able to help Iraqis living under an embargo imposed in 1990. Hans van Sponeck, a German, has been sharply criticized by the United States and Britain for his opposition to the sanctions and to the linking of resumed arms inspections to the program that allows Iraq to sell oil to buy civilian goods. Another director who was critical of the sanctions, Denis Halliday of Ireland, quit in 1998. Barbara Crossette KUWAIT: INVASION ENVOY PICKED -- Yuli M. Vorontsov, a former Russian delegate to the United Nations and envoy to the United States, was chosen as a United Nations undersecretary general with responsibility |
1807644 | 2006 | 11 | 27 | Paid Notice: Deaths FUIKS, ELIZABETH DODGE CALDER |
FUIKS--Elizabeth Dodge Calder beloved mother, grandmother and friend died Sunday, November 19th in Vero Beach, Florida. The daughter of H. William and Katherine Dodge, she was predeceased by her husband of 46 years, Gordon S. Calder, Sr. and her second husband of 11 years, Lewis John (Jack) Fuiks. Mrs. Calder Fuiks was a past president of the Junior League of Bronxville, NY. She also worked as a volunteer with the Westchester Mental Health Association and as a volunteer at the Indian River Memorial Hospital. She was a member of Riomar Country Club in Vero Beach, Florida and Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester, Vermont. She is survived by her sons, Gordon S. Calder, Jr. (Donna) of Greenwich, CT, Alexander D. Calder (Jennifer) of Orlando, FL, William C. Calder (Betsy) of Moorpark, CA, three grandsons, Sam, Will, and Chase and her stepchildren, Jill Parker of Hingham, MA, Valli Lukeman (Paul) of Dublin, OH, L.J. Fuiks (Charlotte) of New York, NY and their families.
| FUIKS--Elizabeth Dodge Calder beloved mother, grandmother and friend died Sunday, November 19th in Vero Beach, Florida. The daughter of H. William and Katherine Dodge, she was predeceased by her husband of 46 years, Gordon S. Calder, Sr. and her second husband of 11 years, Lewis John (Jack) Fuiks. Mrs. Calder Fuiks was a past president of the Junior League of Bronxville, NY. She also worked as a volunteer with the Westchester Mental Health Association and as a volunteer at the Indian River Memorial Hospital. She was a member of Riomar Country Club in Vero Beach, Florida and Ekwanok Country Club in Manchester, Vermont. She is survived by her sons, Gordon S. Calder, Jr. (Donna) of Greenwich, CT, Alexander D. Calder (Jennifer) of Orlando, FL, William C. Calder (Betsy) |
1409370 | 2002 | 07 | 19 | Greeks Claim Victory Over Terrorist Group But Questions About Suspects' Ties Remain |
After decades of elusiveness, the guerrilla group November 17 has suddenly cracked.
On Wednesday, five government agents surrounded a Paris-born intellectual on a remote island in the Aegean. Today the police identified the man, Alexandros Yiotopoulos, 58, as one of a handful of leaders of November 17, a small but persistent group that has killed at least 23 people in Athens in a sporadic anti-American, anti-imperialist campaign over nearly three decades.
| After decades of elusiveness, the guerrilla group November 17 has suddenly cracked. On Wednesday, five government agents surrounded a Paris-born intellectual on a remote island in the Aegean. Today the police identified the man, Alexandros Yiotopoulos, 58, as one of a handful of leaders of November 17, a small but persistent group that has killed at least 23 people in Athens in a sporadic anti-American, anti-imperialist campaign over nearly three decades. Three other suspects, already in custody, were charged today with offenses that included first-degree murder, bomb attacks and bank robberies. The police say they have confessed and have described the crimes. ''This has been a very good effort by Greek authorities,'' said the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher. ''We commend them.'' The group's latest victim was |
1702804 | 2005 | 09 | 18 | The Remix; School of Ghoul |
Gallerists and collectors may be optimistic about the booming art market, but some artists are tapping into a darker mood for inspiration. These modern-gothic artists -- whose works are being snapped up by fashion insiders -- champion a sinister, surreal side of culture, celebrating drugs, death metal and even the occult. For these morbid angels, death becomes them. Below, a sampling.
While his technique is steeped in the Renaissance, Roger Andersson's subject matter is culled from the slacker-stoner genre. Inspirations: Krazy Glue-sniffing teenagers; doom metal. Major work: ''Letters From Mayhem'' is an innocuous-seeming ABC primer painted in delicate Delft-blue-and-white watercolors, but each letter is embellished with depraved images in the spirit of Hieronymus Bosch. The letter M (above) is made up of stubbed-out cigarettes; the letter S spells out ''satanic.'' Collector: Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Show: opening at the Magnus Karlsson gallery in Stockholm on Sept. 29 is ''Quattro Stagione,'' four watercolors and a sound installation based on the classic ''Four Seasons'' concertos. The artist says: ''The work derives from the experience of growing up in a white-trash environment. It is referencing the pizza as much as the work by Vivaldi.''
Banks Violette's installations embrace heavy metal's violent side. Inspirations: ''Night of the Living Dead''; Satan-worshipping Judas Priest fans; Kurt Cobain's suicide. Major work: ''Arroyo Grande 7.22.95,'' a 2002 installation at Team Gallery about a murder committed by three teenagers who stabbed a classmate and left her body in the woods. Collectors: Charles Saatchi; Michael Lynne of New Line Cinema. Show: a solo exhibition at the Whitney (through Oct. 2), featuring a burned-out church made of salt (above), a reference to a murder-and-arson spree among rival Norwegian metal bands in the 1990's.
The Cuban-American photographer and artist Anthony Goicolea's images of feral boys seem to have stepped from the pages of ''Lord of the Flies.'' Inspirations: For his Postmasters Gallery show last spring, he focused on the idea of shelter and ''the people who live on the outskirts of society ... basically outsiders and outcasts.'' Major works: early images of adorable but menacing prep-school boys fighting and spitting on one another. Recent drawings are naïve, Edward Gorey-style illustrations of boys dressed as Yoda, or wearing ski masks or red hoods, as in ''Fifty Days Until Good Friday'' (left). Collectors: Francisco Costa; Mario Testino. Show: A January exhibition at SandroniRey Gallery in Los Angeles.
The sculptor Kevin Francis Gray describes himself as a ''rascal from Northern Ireland who spent his teenage years stealing cars.'' Today, his tribe consists of the hooligans of London's East End. Inspirations: joy riders; London's garage scene. Major work: ''5 Soldiers of E9'' (left), a dark purple resin sculpture of hooded teenagers in a covenlike huddle. Their faces are replaced with skulls, as they are ''already dead,'' Gray says. Collectors: Hedi Slimane; the MaxMara family. Show: three sculptures will be shown this month at Roebling Hall in New York; one re-creates the Madonna-and-child pose with a 16-year-old mother and her infant son, a hooded sweatshirt replacing the veil.
The Miami artist Hernan Bas paints fluid, Elizabeth Peyton-style pretty-boy portraits set in murky environments -- bobbing in stormy seas or skulking in graveyards and haunted cabins. Inspirations: the raw writing of J.T. Leroy and the decadent French novelist Joris Karl Huysmans; ghost stories; 1980's bands like New Order. Major works: two star-crossed lads, with guns to their hearts, in ''The Lovers of Lyons'' (left); the fractured-fairy-tale quality of a boy mimicking a flamingo pose in ''Fitting In.'' Collectors: Hedi Slimane; Yvonne Force. Show: Daniel Reich Gallery in New York in spring 2006.
MAURA EGAN
| Gallerists and collectors may be optimistic about the booming art market, but some artists are tapping into a darker mood for inspiration. These modern-gothic artists -- whose works are being snapped up by fashion insiders -- champion a sinister, surreal side of culture, celebrating drugs, death metal and even the occult. For these morbid angels, death becomes them. Below, a sampling. While his technique is steeped in the Renaissance, Roger Andersson's subject matter is culled from the slacker-stoner genre. Inspirations: Krazy Glue-sniffing teenagers; doom metal. Major work: ''Letters From Mayhem'' is an innocuous-seeming ABC primer painted in delicate Delft-blue-and-white watercolors, but each letter is embellished with depraved images in the spirit of Hieronymus Bosch. The letter M (above) is made up of stubbed-out cigarettes; the letter S spells |
1181123 | 2000 | 03 | 04 | MUSIC REVIEW: To the Last Sigh: A Dark Portrait of Shostakovich and His Era; A Haunting Epilogue to a Life |
In a sense, every committed performance of a Shostakovich string quartet is already a dramatic presentation. This Russian master's 15 quartets are haunting and confounding works, at once craftily composed scores and deeply personal chapters of a musical memoir. So the idea of creating a multimedia theatrical work to depict the life and times of Dmitri Shostakovich that had as its core a performance of his searing final string quartet from 1974 would seem to be fraught with potential pitfalls.
The most memorable aspect of ''The Noise of Time,'' the ambitious, amorphous theater piece receiving its world premiere though tomorrow afternoon at the John Jay College Theater, a collaboration between the director Simon McBurney, who conceived it, the Theatre de Complicite (the London-based company Mr. McBurney directs) and the Emerson String Quartet, is the way the work succeeds in providing a boldly theatrical frame for a performance of String Quartet No. 15 in E flat minor.
| In a sense, every committed performance of a Shostakovich string quartet is already a dramatic presentation. This Russian master's 15 quartets are haunting and confounding works, at once craftily composed scores and deeply personal chapters of a musical memoir. So the idea of creating a multimedia theatrical work to depict the life and times of Dmitri Shostakovich that had as its core a performance of his searing final string quartet from 1974 would seem to be fraught with potential pitfalls. The most memorable aspect of ''The Noise of Time,'' the ambitious, amorphous theater piece receiving its world premiere though tomorrow afternoon at the John Jay College Theater, a collaboration between the director Simon McBurney, who conceived it, the Theatre de Complicite (the London-based company Mr. McBurney directs) and |
1464782 | 2003 | 02 | 14 | Israel Rejects Belgian Court Ruling on Sharon |
Israeli officials reacted with outrage today to a decision by Belgium's highest court that Belgium could try Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes once he leaves office.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister, lashed out at the ruling as ''an affront to truth, justice and the right of the state of Israel to defend itself against terrorism.''
| Israeli officials reacted with outrage today to a decision by Belgium's highest court that Belgium could try Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes once he leaves office. Benjamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister, lashed out at the ruling as ''an affront to truth, justice and the right of the state of Israel to defend itself against terrorism.'' ''We in Israel and the Jewish people as a whole have had enough of blood libels on the soil of Europe, and we are going to fight this one with everything we have,'' he said. Israel recalled its ambassador from Brussels, while Mr. Netanyahu summoned Belgium's ambassador to Israel to receive a protest. Israeli officials said that the Beligan ambassador replied that he was not authorized to speak about the matter. |
1553501 | 2004 | 01 | 25 | Italian Leader And His Party Face Questions At Anniversary |
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addressed a cheering, flag-waving crowd at a lavishly choreographed celebration on Saturday for the 10th anniversary of Forza Italia, the political party he sired.
''I'm here! I'm here!'' the prime minister told the throng of supporters who packed a Fascist-era assembly hall here.
| Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi addressed a cheering, flag-waving crowd at a lavishly choreographed celebration on Saturday for the 10th anniversary of Forza Italia, the political party he sired. ''I'm here! I'm here!'' the prime minister told the throng of supporters who packed a Fascist-era assembly hall here. Those simple words had particular relevance and resonance because for much of the previous month, Mr. Berlusconi, 67, was nowhere to be seen, at least by anyone outside his inner circle. His absence from public view spawned rumors and published reports that he had undergone cosmetic surgery. His re-emergence this week seemed to support that speculation, which he and his aides have neither confirmed nor denied. Thinner, tanner and tauter, the prime minister looked more like he had in 1994 than |
1410524 | 2002 | 07 | 23 | Goodman Signs With Israeli Team |
Tamir Goodman, a 6-foot-3-inch point guard, who received national attention for his basketball ability at Talmudical Academy in Baltimore and later played for Towson State, signed a contract yesterday with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a top-rated professional team in Israel.
Goodman says that despite the hostilities in the area, he is looking forward to playing for Tel Aviv when practice begins next month.
| Tamir Goodman, a 6-foot-3-inch point guard, who received national attention for his basketball ability at Talmudical Academy in Baltimore and later played for Towson State, signed a contract yesterday with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a top-rated professional team in Israel. Goodman says that despite the hostilities in the area, he is looking forward to playing for Tel Aviv when practice begins next month. ''That's where my heart is,''said Goodman, an Orthodox Jew. ''I want to be there now. God willing, I can bring smiles to people's faces.'' Goodman, who is 20 years old, was a starter at Towson State in his freshman year but in February of last season, his sophomore year, he left the team after claiming that the new coach, Michael Hunt, had threatened him by holding |
1706009 | 2005 | 09 | 30 | At Cellphone Show, the Talk Is About Music |
Music is in the airwaves.
The hot topic among mobile phone executives gathered here for a cellphone trade show is the push to transform handsets into portable music players. By next year, phone makers expect to market several phones that will allow people to store and listen to songs and even download them wirelessly over cellular networks.
| Music is in the airwaves. The hot topic among mobile phone executives gathered here for a cellphone trade show is the push to transform handsets into portable music players. By next year, phone makers expect to market several phones that will allow people to store and listen to songs and even download them wirelessly over cellular networks. Industry leaders said they were gearing up for a major marketing pitch in 2006 to sell consumers on the idea that music is a must-have phone feature, just like cameras and Web connections. At the three-day trade show, which ended on Thursday, the potential success of the new iTunes-compatible phone, the Rokr E1, recently introduced by Motorola and Cingular Wireless, was the subject of much speculation. Nokia, the Finnish phone manufacturer, |
1834491 | 2007 | 03 | 21 | Albany Formula of 3 Men in a Room Expands to 6, With One at Odds With the Rest |
Joseph L. Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, can probably now relate to Richard Grasso, Maurice Greenberg and other corporate executives who have tangled with Eliot Spitzer.
Mr. Bruno, the state's top Republican, was berated in person and at length by Governor Spitzer on Tuesday in public budget negotiations that underscored Mr. Bruno's growing political isolation.
| Joseph L. Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, can probably now relate to Richard Grasso, Maurice Greenberg and other corporate executives who have tangled with Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Bruno, the state's top Republican, was berated in person and at length by Governor Spitzer on Tuesday in public budget negotiations that underscored Mr. Bruno's growing political isolation. If nothing else, the meeting was a piece of political theater that captured the emerging dynamic between the new governor and the longtime heavyweights in the Legislature -- Mr. Bruno and Sheldon Silver, the Assembly Speaker. The meeting was also an unusually visible high-level policy debate in a Capitol where most substantive decisions are still made behind closed doors. But discussions are also going on in private, of course. The main disagreement |
1304368 | 2001 | 06 | 24 | Ulster Power Sharing Is Threatened if I.R.A. Stays Armed |
David Trimble said today he held little hope of any imminent disarmament moves by the Irish Republican Army. As a consequence, he would carry out his threat to force a halt to the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly next week.
He told a meeting of his Ulster Unionist party that he would keep his pledge, made last month, that unless the I.R.A. acted to disarm by July 1, he would resign his first minister position. That step would cause at least a temporary suspension of the work of the home rule legislature that was created in 1998, when a peace agreement set a formula apportioning authority equally between Protestants and Catholics.
| David Trimble said today he held little hope of any imminent disarmament moves by the Irish Republican Army. As a consequence, he would carry out his threat to force a halt to the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly next week. He told a meeting of his Ulster Unionist party that he would keep his pledge, made last month, that unless the I.R.A. acted to disarm by July 1, he would resign his first minister position. That step would cause at least a temporary suspension of the work of the home rule legislature that was created in 1998, when a peace agreement set a formula apportioning authority equally between Protestants and Catholics. The 860-member Ulster Unionist ruling council re-elected him leader of the party for another year today, despite the |
1842358 | 2007 | 04 | 23 | WHAT'S ON TONIGHT |
9 P.M. (13, 49) SUMMER OF LOVE -- The summer of 1967 has been romanticized as a time of peace and understanding, but many of the thousands of young people who descended on the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco at the time found that the hippie experience was already disappearing. This ''American Experience'' segment shines some light on a cultural phenomenon that many still can't explain.
8 P.M. (TLC) LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG WORLD -- The day-to-day trifles and triumphs of family life are filled with unusual milestones for the Roloffs, a family made up of both little and average-size people. Tonight at 8 the patriarch, Matt Roloff, makes a motivational speech at a Pennsylvania college, and at 8:30 the twins -- Zach, of average height, and Jeremy, who is not quite 4 feet tall -- turn 16.
8 P.M. (BBC America) WAKING THE DEAD -- America doesn't have the copyright on television investigative teams. Chief Inspector Boyd (Trevor Eve, above left) and his crew reopen cases long considered unsolvable and tie up the loose ends. In the American premiere of the series's sixth season, the death of a teenage boy found with his brother's ear in his stomach leads the team into the world of Irish Gypsies.
9 P.M. (CBS) TWO AND A HALF MEN -- Alan's (Jon Cryer) new friend, a gay single father, has the brothers re-evaluating their sexual identities. Jake (Angus T. Jones), however, is sure he has a crush on the friend's daughter.
9 P.M. (History Channel) CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD -- The premiere of this series highlights the more dangerous days of the now scenic city of Edinburgh. While a contemporary visit might lead to nothing worse than a bad hangover from good Scotch, the host Eric Geller discovers that Edinburgh's past may have included body snatchers, illegal hooch and plague victims buried alive.
10 P.M. (Food Network) DINERS, DRIVE-INS AND DIVES -- Guy Fieri already has a show, ''Guy's Big Bite,'' on his résumé. But now this chef takes his tats and his bleached-blond hair on the road to sample greasy-spoon fare from coast to coast.
10:01 P.M. (NBC) THE REAL WEDDING CRASHERS -- Pulling pranks at a wedding sounds like a sure way to turn a bride into a bridezilla. But in this new reality series, the happy couples are in on the joke. The people behind the movie ''Wedding Crashers'' and MTV's ''Punk'd'' combine their M.O.'s and send a troupe of five improv actors into a wedding ceremony to wreak havoc among the guests. The first installment is set in Las Vegas of course.
LORI MOORE
| 9 P.M. (13, 49) SUMMER OF LOVE -- The summer of 1967 has been romanticized as a time of peace and understanding, but many of the thousands of young people who descended on the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco at the time found that the hippie experience was already disappearing. This ''American Experience'' segment shines some light on a cultural phenomenon that many still can't explain. 8 P.M. (TLC) LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG WORLD -- The day-to-day trifles and triumphs of family life are filled with unusual milestones for the Roloffs, a family made up of both little and average-size people. Tonight at 8 the patriarch, Matt Roloff, makes a motivational speech at a Pennsylvania college, and at 8:30 the twins -- Zach, of average height, and Jeremy, who |
1372465 | 2002 | 03 | 03 | Ervin Scores 42 To Lift Robeson |
After scoring 22 points in Robeson's second-round P.S.A.L. playoff victory over Gompers, Eagles guard Gary Ervin decided he needed to go back to basics.
All week, Ervin, Robeson's senior leader, stayed after practice working on his jump shot, taking up to 200 extra shots a day.
| After scoring 22 points in Robeson's second-round P.S.A.L. playoff victory over Gompers, Eagles guard Gary Ervin decided he needed to go back to basics. All week, Ervin, Robeson's senior leader, stayed after practice working on his jump shot, taking up to 200 extra shots a day. That work paid off yesterday for Robeson as Ervin scored 42 points, including 27 straight for his team, as his top-seeded Eagles trounced Park West, 79-58, in the quarterfinals of the Public Schools Athletic League boys' championships at Hunter College. Robeson will take on Grady, which beat Canarsie by 56-54 in yesterday's other quarterfinal, in a semifinal Saturday at St. John's. The game is a rematch of last year's city championship, which Grady won. ''Not to compare him to Michael Jordan, but |
1732409 | 2006 | 01 | 15 | A Nation of Pre-emptors? |
The fact that political debate over the U.S. intervention in Iraq breaks down largely along party lines, with Republicans generally in favor and Democrats skeptical or opposed, has tended to obscure the fact that American interventionism has historically been a bipartisan impulse. Indeed, far less separates the parties than it might seem from the current polarized discourse in Washington. For all their scruples about the Iraq adventure, few Democrats question the idea that it is right for the United States to ''promote'' democracy in the world, by force if necessary. It could hardly be otherwise. As George W. Bush has pointed out, nation-building was a principal foreign-policy cornerstone of the Clinton administration.
| The fact that political debate over the U.S. intervention in Iraq breaks down largely along party lines, with Republicans generally in favor and Democrats skeptical or opposed, has tended to obscure the fact that American interventionism has historically been a bipartisan impulse. Indeed, far less separates the parties than it might seem from the current polarized discourse in Washington. For all their scruples about the Iraq adventure, few Democrats question the idea that it is right for the United States to ''promote'' democracy in the world, by force if necessary. It could hardly be otherwise. As George W. Bush has pointed out, nation-building was a principal foreign-policy cornerstone of the Clinton administration. Nonetheless, the pervasive sense that the Bush administration bungled the mission in Iraq has led Democrats |
1507600 | 2003 | 07 | 27 | Votes in Congress |
Tally Last Week in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.
House
1. F.C.C. Media Rule: Vote on a $37.9 billion spending bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2004. The bill includes a provision that blocks a new Federal Communications Commission ruling that would permit a single company to own television stations reaching 45 percent of the nation's households. Under current law the limit is 35 percent. Approved 400 to 21, July 23.
| Tally Last Week in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. House 1. F.C.C. Media Rule: Vote on a $37.9 billion spending bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2004. The bill includes a provision that blocks a new Federal Communications Commission ruling that would permit a single company to own television stations reaching 45 percent of the nation's households. Under current law the limit is 35 percent. Approved 400 to 21, July 23. 2. AIDS: Vote on a $17.1 billion spending package for foreign assistance in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2004, that will bring spending on global AIDS to $2 billion. Approved 370 to 50, July 24. 3. Head Start: Vote on a bill that reauthorizes Head |
1818174 | 2007 | 01 | 12 | The Listings: Jan. 12 - Jan. 18; TWAINATHON |
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, made a famous declaration after his obituary was published in 1897. ''The report of my death was an exaggeration,'' Twain said, and he went right on living for nearly 13 years. The spirit of his wit and cynicism is the basis for ''Twainathon,'' a two-week festival of plays, musicals and solo pieces -- all inspired by the work of this writer, humorist and lecturer -- at the Metropolitan Playhouse in the East Village. The playhouse, which ran a well-attended ''Poefest'' last year, specializes in new and revitalized productions focusing on American literature and the American theater. Twain certainly seems like a good subject. His writings -- from the well-known tales of life along the Mississippi River to lesser-known works like the social commentary ''The Mysterious Stranger,'' published posthumously in 1916 -- are quintessentially American. ''Twainathon'' is divided into seven different evenings, called Riverboats A through G. The performances include a new, full-length adaptation of ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''; dramatizations of some of Twain's short stories, like ''Excerpts From Adam's Diary''; and a musical based on ''The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.'' One work, ''The Report of My Death,'' is drawn from letters and lesser-known writings and is intended to show what its creator, Adam Klasfeld, calls the ''darker and more political'' aspects of Twain. Some of Twain's later writings were quite radical, Mr. Klasfeld said. (Certain works, like the antiwar article ''The War Prayer,'' were initially rejected by publishers.) In this solo show, Ron Crawford, above, is Samuel Clemens, back from the dead and able to say whatever he wants. (Monday through Jan. 28 at the Metropolitan Playhouse, 220 East Fourth Street, East Village 212-995-5302, metropolitanplayhouse.org; $18; $15 for students and 65+; $10 for children under 12.)
STEVEN McELROY
| Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, made a famous declaration after his obituary was published in 1897. ''The report of my death was an exaggeration,'' Twain said, and he went right on living for nearly 13 years. The spirit of his wit and cynicism is the basis for ''Twainathon,'' a two-week festival of plays, musicals and solo pieces -- all inspired by the work of this writer, humorist and lecturer -- at the Metropolitan Playhouse in the East Village. The playhouse, which ran a well-attended ''Poefest'' last year, specializes in new and revitalized productions focusing on American literature and the American theater. Twain certainly seems like a good subject. His writings -- from the well-known tales of life along the Mississippi River to lesser-known works like |
1462781 | 2003 | 02 | 06 | Intelligence Break Led U.S. to Tie Envoy Killing to Iraq Qaeda Cell |
An intelligence breakthrough in the last several weeks made it possible for Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to set forth the first evidence of what he said was a well developed cell of Al Qaeda operating out of Baghdad that was responsible for the assassination of the American diplomat Laurence Foley last October.
The breakthrough was the work of a coalition of intelligence services from the United States, Britain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, according to a senior official from one of the coalition countries.
| An intelligence breakthrough in the last several weeks made it possible for Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to set forth the first evidence of what he said was a well developed cell of Al Qaeda operating out of Baghdad that was responsible for the assassination of the American diplomat Laurence Foley last October. The breakthrough was the work of a coalition of intelligence services from the United States, Britain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, according to a senior official from one of the coalition countries. The Qaeda network based in Iraq has operated for the last eight months under the supervision of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who is also a veteran of the Afghan war against the former Soviet Union, Mr. Powell said. |
1442167 | 2002 | 11 | 20 | Depositions Show Cardinal Was Notified Early of Abuse |
Virtually from the time he became archbishop of Boston in 1984, Cardinal Bernard F. Law received letters complaining about sexually abusive priests, but the responses to those accusations, either by Cardinal Law or aides working on his behalf, largely dismissed the concerns of the people making them, according to depositions released today.
In four days of videotaped depositions for a lawsuit concerning a priest accused of repeatedly molesting children, Cardinal Law was asked about complaints from parishioners that had been addressed directly to him.
| Virtually from the time he became archbishop of Boston in 1984, Cardinal Bernard F. Law received letters complaining about sexually abusive priests, but the responses to those accusations, either by Cardinal Law or aides working on his behalf, largely dismissed the concerns of the people making them, according to depositions released today. In four days of videotaped depositions for a lawsuit concerning a priest accused of repeatedly molesting children, Cardinal Law was asked about complaints from parishioners that had been addressed directly to him. In the case of one priest, the Rev. Anthony Rebeiro, who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 1984, Cardinal Law signed a letter to the woman's husband, saying he had concluded that the matter was ''personal'' to the priest and did not |
1651375 | 2005 | 02 | 20 | New Worry for Tax Delinquents |
FEBRUARY has been a bonanza for the tax collector in New Haven.
Armed with a fresh list of people who did not pay their motor vehicle taxes in January, and a pair of radar gun-type devices that scan license plates, the city has been seizing vehicles off the streets and from parking lots.
| FEBRUARY has been a bonanza for the tax collector in New Haven. Armed with a fresh list of people who did not pay their motor vehicle taxes in January, and a pair of radar gun-type devices that scan license plates, the city has been seizing vehicles off the streets and from parking lots. C.J. Cuticello, the city's tax collector, said about 250 vehicles had been towed from Feb. 11 through last Wednesday morning. He said the stepped-up enforcement was mostly in response to a January tax deadline. He said residents who had bought vehicles after Oct. 1 were subject to supplemental taxes, and those were due Jan. 31. Mr. Cuticello said close to 4,500 residents did not pay the taxes. Mostly as a result of towing the vehicles, |
1382371 | 2002 | 04 | 08 | A Rag Doll Escapes the Scullery, Thanks to Glass Slippers |
Enchanting is still the word for the Lyon Opera Ballet's ''Cendrillon,'' the dollhouse version of ''Cinderella'' with which the French choreographer Maguy Marin scored such a triumph at the company's New York debut in 1987. The troupe's national tour has brought this astonishingly original retelling of a familiar tale back to the New York area for the first time in 15 years. No one interested in theater, dance or the human condition should miss ''Cendrillon'' at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on April 11 and 12.
On Friday night here at the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, all was as theatrical and heartwarming as remembered. Dancers dressed as dolls may seem a limiting concept, but Ms. Marin's genius conjures up a world of lost innocence, a re-creation of universal childhood.
| Enchanting is still the word for the Lyon Opera Ballet's ''Cendrillon,'' the dollhouse version of ''Cinderella'' with which the French choreographer Maguy Marin scored such a triumph at the company's New York debut in 1987. The troupe's national tour has brought this astonishingly original retelling of a familiar tale back to the New York area for the first time in 15 years. No one interested in theater, dance or the human condition should miss ''Cendrillon'' at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on April 11 and 12. On Friday night here at the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, all was as theatrical and heartwarming as remembered. Dancers dressed as dolls may seem a limiting concept, but Ms. Marin's genius conjures up a world of lost innocence, |
1430641 | 2002 | 10 | 10 | Laura Bush's Literary Salon |
As almost every occupant has discovered, the learning curve at the White House depends on who you were before you got to Pennsylvania Avenue. This is no less true in the East Wing, where the first lady goes about her business, than it is in the West Wing, where the president goes about his. For Laura Bush, it seems, the transition has been seamless, perhaps because her professional concerns, as a former teacher and librarian, fit perfectly within the traditional sense of the first lady's job.
She has made book talk a matter of course in the East Wing, and has done so in a way that has flabbergasted many denizens of high culture who disapprove of her husband's policies. Over the past few months Mrs. Bush has staged admirably penetrating two-hour literary symposiums at the White House on Mark Twain, the Harlem Renaissance and women writers of the West. She has brought into the East Wing, among others, David Levering Lewis, one of the nation's great black historians, and Ursula Smith, a savvy chronicler of the American frontier, both of whom say they never imagined setting foot in this White House because of their objections to President Bush's Iraq policy. But as Mrs. Bush told The Times's Elisabeth Bumiller, ''There's nothing political about American literature.'' In that spirit, this weekend she will serve as host of the second annual National Book Festival.
| As almost every occupant has discovered, the learning curve at the White House depends on who you were before you got to Pennsylvania Avenue. This is no less true in the East Wing, where the first lady goes about her business, than it is in the West Wing, where the president goes about his. For Laura Bush, it seems, the transition has been seamless, perhaps because her professional concerns, as a former teacher and librarian, fit perfectly within the traditional sense of the first lady's job. She has made book talk a matter of course in the East Wing, and has done so in a way that has flabbergasted many denizens of high culture who disapprove of her husband's policies. Over the past few months Mrs. Bush has |
1316974 | 2001 | 08 | 13 | Where Road Bends, It's Gordon, Again |
Jeff Burton barreled hard into the corner late in the race, but Jeff Gordon barreled into it just a little bit harder. For one nervous and thrilling moment, Burton did not think Gordon would make it through without spinning out.
''I wasn't sure, either,'' Gordon said.
| Jeff Burton barreled hard into the corner late in the race, but Jeff Gordon barreled into it just a little bit harder. For one nervous and thrilling moment, Burton did not think Gordon would make it through without spinning out. ''I wasn't sure, either,'' Gordon said. Not many drivers would be so bold as to try a pass on the Inner Loop at Watkins Glen International, let alone get away with it. Gordon proved a long time ago that he has few equals on a road course. He proved it again today. His car wobbled on the fringe of the track like a gymnast on a balance beam and, for a split-second, the tires on one side of his car came off the track. But Gordon made the |
1595863 | 2004 | 07 | 11 | Jill Roszkowski, Morgan O'Brien III |
Jill Roszkowski and Morgan Joseph O'Brien III, both first lieutenants in the United States Air Force, were married yesterday at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Ky. Ralph O'Bleness, a deacon of the Roman Catholic Church, performed the ceremony.
The couple, both 24, are stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where she is an acquisitions officer for the Aeronautical Systems Center and he is a public affairs officer for the Air Force Research Laboratory.
| Jill Roszkowski and Morgan Joseph O'Brien III, both first lieutenants in the United States Air Force, were married yesterday at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Ky. Ralph O'Bleness, a deacon of the Roman Catholic Church, performed the ceremony. The couple, both 24, are stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where she is an acquisitions officer for the Aeronautical Systems Center and he is a public affairs officer for the Air Force Research Laboratory. The bride, who will take her husband's name, graduated from Indiana University. She is a daughter of Jean and Thomas Roszkowski of New Richmond, Ohio. The bridegroom graduated from the University of North Carolina and is a candidate for a master's degree in international relations at Wright State University in |
1457943 | 2003 | 01 | 19 | Great Works, Owned Forever? |
To the Editor:
As one of the lawyers who represented music publishers and songwriters in a brief supporting the attorney general in Eldred v. Ashcroft, I take issue with your characterization of copyrighted works as ''returning'' to the public domain (''The Coming of Copyright Perpetuity,'' editorial, Jan. 16).
| To the Editor: As one of the lawyers who represented music publishers and songwriters in a brief supporting the attorney general in Eldred v. Ashcroft, I take issue with your characterization of copyrighted works as ''returning'' to the public domain (''The Coming of Copyright Perpetuity,'' editorial, Jan. 16). Works are not returned to the public domain. They ''enter'' or ''fall into'' the public domain after expiration of their copyright protection. Writers of such works are not afforded copyright protection merely because they have usurped works from the public; it is they who have created and disseminated such works, typically at great pains to themselves and their families. Consider how impoverished our culture would be absent the creation and dissemination of these works -- all of which, far from |
1717601 | 2005 | 11 | 14 | CRITICS' CHOICE: NEW CD'S |
Floetry ''Flo'Ology'' (Geffen)
After ''Floetic'' and ''Floacism (Live),'' this British singing-and-rapping team continues its raid on America's supply of suffixes with ''Flo'Ology.'' The duo specializes in a high-minded variant of the slow jam: the lyrics promise eternal love, but the plush, leisurely grooves seem made to accompany something that won't last quite that long.
| Floetry ''Flo'Ology'' (Geffen) After ''Floetic'' and ''Floacism (Live),'' this British singing-and-rapping team continues its raid on America's supply of suffixes with ''Flo'Ology.'' The duo specializes in a high-minded variant of the slow jam: the lyrics promise eternal love, but the plush, leisurely grooves seem made to accompany something that won't last quite that long. There's nothing on this album that is nearly as buoyant as ''Wanna B Where U R (Thisizzaluvsong),'' the duo's collaboration with Mos Def, which was based on a familiar snippet of ''Schoolboy Crush,'' by the Average White Band. In fact, ''Flo'Ology'' sometimes proves dullness and heavy-handedness aren't incompatible, though a few songs do conjure a woozy sort of bliss. ''Closer'' is a winsome demonstration of the art of heavy breathing, and ''Imagination'' almost seems |
1741150 | 2006 | 02 | 20 | Tollbooths on the Internet Highway |
When you use the Internet today, your browser glides from one Web site to another, accessing all destinations with equal ease. That could change dramatically, however, if Internet service providers are allowed to tilt the playing field, giving preference to sites that pay them extra and penalizing those that don't.
The Senate held hearings last week on ''network neutrality,'' the principle that I.S.P.'s -- the businesses like Verizon or Roadrunner that deliver the Internet to your computer -- should not be able to stack the deck in this way. If the Internet is to remain free, and freely evolving, it is important that neutrality legislation be passed.
| When you use the Internet today, your browser glides from one Web site to another, accessing all destinations with equal ease. That could change dramatically, however, if Internet service providers are allowed to tilt the playing field, giving preference to sites that pay them extra and penalizing those that don't. The Senate held hearings last week on ''network neutrality,'' the principle that I.S.P.'s -- the businesses like Verizon or Roadrunner that deliver the Internet to your computer -- should not be able to stack the deck in this way. If the Internet is to remain free, and freely evolving, it is important that neutrality legislation be passed. In its current form, Internet service operates in the same nondiscriminatory way as phone service. When someone calls your home, the |
1507052 | 2003 | 07 | 25 | DeLay Is to Carry Dissenting Message On a Mideast Tour |
Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, never tires of reminding people that he is just a former pest exterminator from Sugar Land, Tex. But beginning this weekend, he will travel to the world's most complex and troubled region, meet with prime ministers, speak to a foreign parliament and, by his presence, remind the Bush administration to pay heed to its right flank as it seeks to make peace.
As he travels next week through Israel, Jordan and Iraq, he will take with him a message of grave doubt that the Middle East is ready for a Palestinian state, as called for in the current peace plan, known as the road map, backed by the administration and Europe.
| Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, never tires of reminding people that he is just a former pest exterminator from Sugar Land, Tex. But beginning this weekend, he will travel to the world's most complex and troubled region, meet with prime ministers, speak to a foreign parliament and, by his presence, remind the Bush administration to pay heed to its right flank as it seeks to make peace. As he travels next week through Israel, Jordan and Iraq, he will take with him a message of grave doubt that the Middle East is ready for a Palestinian state, as called for in the current peace plan, known as the road map, backed by the administration and Europe. ''I'm sure there are some in the administration who are smarter |
1215632 | 2000 | 07 | 17 | JDS Who? Fast Growth, Farflung Fold And Worries |
When JDS Uniphase announced last week that it was buying a competitor, SDL, for an astounding $41 billion in stock, many on Wall Street wondered, who are these guys?
Sure, JDS was one of the hottest companies of 1999, its stock price soaring more than 900 percent. But its business -- making components for fiber optic networks -- was hardly the most glamorous angle of the telecommunications industry.
| When JDS Uniphase announced last week that it was buying a competitor, SDL, for an astounding $41 billion in stock, many on Wall Street wondered, who are these guys? Sure, JDS was one of the hottest companies of 1999, its stock price soaring more than 900 percent. But its business -- making components for fiber optic networks -- was hardly the most glamorous angle of the telecommunications industry. It has been only a year since JDS Fitel, a Canadian telecommunications equipment maker, merged with the Silicon Valley company Uniphase to become JDS Uniphase. At that point, the company had a market capitalization of only $14 billion. But in the last year, JDS has been on an acquisition tear, agreeing to buy 10 companies -- including SDL -- for |
1593544 | 2004 | 07 | 01 | Poppies Flood Afghanistan; Opium Tide May Yet Turn |
So many farmers grew opium poppies in Afghanistan this spring that the opium market here is now flooded, causing prices for the illegal drug to drop by an average of 65 percent across the country, according to Afghan officials, Western diplomats and opium farmers.
While an overabundance of opium is a setback for the country in the short term, Afghan and Western officials say this year's drop in prices may actually prove to be a boon in the effort to slow the explosive spread of opium here.
| So many farmers grew opium poppies in Afghanistan this spring that the opium market here is now flooded, causing prices for the illegal drug to drop by an average of 65 percent across the country, according to Afghan officials, Western diplomats and opium farmers. While an overabundance of opium is a setback for the country in the short term, Afghan and Western officials say this year's drop in prices may actually prove to be a boon in the effort to slow the explosive spread of opium here. Afghanistan produces two-thirds of the world's opium, but comparatively little of it is consumed domestically. Almost all of it winds up in Europe, where it is shipped after being processed into heroin in remote border areas and in neighboring Pakistan. Because |
1265835 | 2001 | 01 | 26 | Justices Urge Stricter Rules for Judicial Elections |
A group of state chief justices called yesterday for new rules across the country to limit judicial election abuses like misleading campaign advertising and the growing role of private contributions in races for judgeships.
In a statement, the justices said states should establish monitoring groups to encourage ethical judicial campaigns, should limit campaign contributions to judicial candidates and should consider public financing of some judicial races.
| A group of state chief justices called yesterday for new rules across the country to limit judicial election abuses like misleading campaign advertising and the growing role of private contributions in races for judgeships. In a statement, the justices said states should establish monitoring groups to encourage ethical judicial campaigns, should limit campaign contributions to judicial candidates and should consider public financing of some judicial races. The statement was a result of a meeting in Chicago in December of chief justices, legislative leaders and other officials from 17 of the most populous states. ''As currently conducted in many states, judicial election campaigns pose a substantial threat to judicial independence and impartiality and undermine public trust in the judicial system,'' the justices said yesterday. The meeting was held because |
1214893 | 2000 | 07 | 15 | INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: A Dot-Com Revolution in China; Venture Capital Backs Talented Young Entrepreneurs |
China's economy is throwing millions of people out of work each year, but an unemployed Internet journalist, Shao Ying, says she can get a job whenever she wants among the hundreds of Internet companies opening offices here.
Her eyes widened when asked how she could be certain to find one that pays if so few Chinese Internet companies have any revenue. The answer, to her, is as obvious as the mole on Mao Zedong's chin.
| China's economy is throwing millions of people out of work each year, but an unemployed Internet journalist, Shao Ying, says she can get a job whenever she wants among the hundreds of Internet companies opening offices here. Her eyes widened when asked how she could be certain to find one that pays if so few Chinese Internet companies have any revenue. The answer, to her, is as obvious as the mole on Mao Zedong's chin. ''America,'' she replies. ''Didn't you know?'' Ms. Shao is right: hundreds of millions of American investment dollars have fattened the bank accounts of China's young Internet entrepreneurs over the last year, making dot-com companies the most vibrant part of the country's fledgling but still struggling private sector. And despite the high-technology stock slump |
1364107 | 2002 | 02 | 01 | Lynda Benglis |
Franklin Parrasch 20 West 57th Street, Manhattan Through Feb. 16
Artistic maturity moves in mysterious ways. Sometimes its sudden arrival clarifies its prior absence. This is the case with Lynda Benglis's 17th New York gallery show, which is also her first devoted to the glazed abstract ceramic sculptures she has been making for the last decade.
| Franklin Parrasch 20 West 57th Street, Manhattan Through Feb. 16 Artistic maturity moves in mysterious ways. Sometimes its sudden arrival clarifies its prior absence. This is the case with Lynda Benglis's 17th New York gallery show, which is also her first devoted to the glazed abstract ceramic sculptures she has been making for the last decade. Ms. Benglis is a supremely intuitive, physical artist with an extravagant sensibility and an elusive goal: to give liquidity permanent and dramatic form outside the confines of painting. Her work has often been delicate and ephemeral, which has made both its physical existence and its place in history unstable. In the late 1960's and early 70's she specialized in a seductive brand of Process Art that alternated between exquisite little reliefs made |
1379169 | 2002 | 03 | 27 | Polish Priests Press Vatican on Case Against Bishop |
Here in western Poland, in what residents boast is the oldest diocese of a fervently Roman Catholic country, it was the priests who reported the many whispers of homosexual advances by the local archbishop -- and the priests who got the Vatican to take some action.
In the United States, action against priests accused of sexual molestation has been a result of lawsuits by parents, family members or the victims themselves. In Europe, and particularly in countries as conservative as Poland, such scandals have been handled more discreetly.
| Here in western Poland, in what residents boast is the oldest diocese of a fervently Roman Catholic country, it was the priests who reported the many whispers of homosexual advances by the local archbishop -- and the priests who got the Vatican to take some action. In the United States, action against priests accused of sexual molestation has been a result of lawsuits by parents, family members or the victims themselves. In Europe, and particularly in countries as conservative as Poland, such scandals have been handled more discreetly. But by late 1999, the rumors that Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan had made advances on teenage seminarians had become so intense that the director of the seminary confronted the archbishop, who denied the reports. In 2000 a respected local |
1540986 | 2003 | 12 | 07 | Serenading a Tree via AT&T |
Millions of American television watchers, it seems safe to say, have enjoyed an odd bit of Handel opera recently, though few may have realized it. It comes in a fetching television commercial for AT&T Wireless. A woman is seen on a bus trapped in city traffic. As a boy -- her son, it becomes obvious -- performs at a piano recital, her husband transmits the sound to her cell phone. She beams with pride.
The music is enchanting: the simplest of melodies -- a melting descent, followed by a sinuous rise -- over steadily treading harmonies. Twenty-five seconds long and ending inconclusively, it is, if anything, even more appealing for the rudimentary earnestness of the performance.
| Millions of American television watchers, it seems safe to say, have enjoyed an odd bit of Handel opera recently, though few may have realized it. It comes in a fetching television commercial for AT&T Wireless. A woman is seen on a bus trapped in city traffic. As a boy -- her son, it becomes obvious -- performs at a piano recital, her husband transmits the sound to her cell phone. She beams with pride. The music is enchanting: the simplest of melodies -- a melting descent, followed by a sinuous rise -- over steadily treading harmonies. Twenty-five seconds long and ending inconclusively, it is, if anything, even more appealing for the rudimentary earnestness of the performance. The broader culture may pay precious little heed to classical music in |
1479948 | 2003 | 04 | 11 | Little Change in Dropout Rate, And Many Graduate Late |
The percentage of students who dropped out of New York City high schools declined minutely last year, the Education Department said yesterday, even as only half of those scheduled to graduate last June did so.
The report did not factor in a large group of students -- about 20 percent of the total ninth graders in 1998 -- whom it classified as discharged. Those students disappeared from New York City schools before graduation, supposedly because they moved to other districts or enrolled in general equivalency diploma programs.
| The percentage of students who dropped out of New York City high schools declined minutely last year, the Education Department said yesterday, even as only half of those scheduled to graduate last June did so. The report did not factor in a large group of students -- about 20 percent of the total ninth graders in 1998 -- whom it classified as discharged. Those students disappeared from New York City schools before graduation, supposedly because they moved to other districts or enrolled in general equivalency diploma programs. While the overall dropout rate fell to 20.3 percent, from 20.4 percent, the rates for Asian, Hispanic and white students actually climbed slightly. Only the dropout rate for black students fell, to 22.1 percent from 22.6 percent. Meanwhile, the department found |
1571950 | 2004 | 04 | 05 | An Injured Coria Loses To Roddick |
Guillermo Coria had endured three three-set matches and had saved four match points in a semifinal just to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open against Andy Roddick.
But when Coria reached up to serve late in the first set of Sunday's final and felt the entire left side of his back stiffen as he came down, one of tennis's grittiest players had finally been knocked out. Coria gripped his back and leaned over on his racket.
| Guillermo Coria had endured three three-set matches and had saved four match points in a semifinal just to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open against Andy Roddick. But when Coria reached up to serve late in the first set of Sunday's final and felt the entire left side of his back stiffen as he came down, one of tennis's grittiest players had finally been knocked out. Coria gripped his back and leaned over on his racket. He continued and even won the first set in a tie breaker despite needing an on-court massage during an injury timeout after the 11th game of the first set. But when that set ended, Coria slammed his racket to the ground, and afterward he moved ever more gingerly as his serves |
1737928 | 2006 | 02 | 07 | Durst Severs Ties to Family In Return for $65 Million |
Robert A. Durst, the real estate scion acquitted of murder in Texas despite admitting that he carved up his 71-year-old neighbor, cut the last ties to his family and 10 Manhattan skyscrapers on Monday in return for a payout of about $65 million.
Mr. Durst, long estranged from his family, agreed in Westchester County Surrogate's Court to settle a lawsuit he had brought against the Durst family trusts and the trustees: his younger brother Douglas; a cousin, Jonathan; and a lawyer, Richard Siegler. The value of the settlement was described in court as ''blank,'' but people on both sides of the dispute said Mr. Durst would get more than $60 million.
| Robert A. Durst, the real estate scion acquitted of murder in Texas despite admitting that he carved up his 71-year-old neighbor, cut the last ties to his family and 10 Manhattan skyscrapers on Monday in return for a payout of about $65 million. Mr. Durst, long estranged from his family, agreed in Westchester County Surrogate's Court to settle a lawsuit he had brought against the Durst family trusts and the trustees: his younger brother Douglas; a cousin, Jonathan; and a lawyer, Richard Siegler. The value of the settlement was described in court as ''blank,'' but people on both sides of the dispute said Mr. Durst would get more than $60 million. Although he received more than $2 million a year from the trusts -- ''more money than I |
1465694 | 2003 | 02 | 17 | Dresden Treasures Await Refuge; Artworks Escaped Flood Damage Once, But Need a Haven if Rivers Rise Again |
In theory, a disaster averted should leave few traces. Yet six months after the dramatic rescue of Dresden's art treasures from incalculable flood damage, the mood in this city's leading museums is sour. Heralded for their heroic salvage effort, museum administrators and curators are now complaining that Saxony's regional government has refused to provide them with a safe place to store their art.
Unsurprisingly, money is at the heart of this dispute. Germany is going through a prolonged economic crisis, with cultural budgets being trimmed nationwide. In this case, the government of this former East German region is spending $3 million to restore the underground storerooms used before the floods.
| In theory, a disaster averted should leave few traces. Yet six months after the dramatic rescue of Dresden's art treasures from incalculable flood damage, the mood in this city's leading museums is sour. Heralded for their heroic salvage effort, museum administrators and curators are now complaining that Saxony's regional government has refused to provide them with a safe place to store their art. Unsurprisingly, money is at the heart of this dispute. Germany is going through a prolonged economic crisis, with cultural budgets being trimmed nationwide. In this case, the government of this former East German region is spending $3 million to restore the underground storerooms used before the floods. But the museums, arguing that the once-flooded storerooms are obviously unsafe, are demanding construction of a $30 million |
1649311 | 2005 | 02 | 12 | A View of Democracy's Responsibilities, Forged in Totalitarianism's Prisons |
'The Case for Democracy' ''The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror'' By Natan Sharansky with Ron Dermer 303 pages. PublicAffairs. $26.95.
It is not every day a foreigner sees his book adopted by the greatest power on earth as its guiding philosophy in the conduct of global affairs. But that is what has happened to Natan Sharansky, an Israeli politician and a former Soviet dissident. His recent book, ''The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror,'' has become de rigueur in the Bush White House. This is not surprising. It often reads like a punchy distillation of the worldview to which the Sept. 11 attacks have delivered the president.
| 'The Case for Democracy' ''The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror'' By Natan Sharansky with Ron Dermer 303 pages. PublicAffairs. $26.95. It is not every day a foreigner sees his book adopted by the greatest power on earth as its guiding philosophy in the conduct of global affairs. But that is what has happened to Natan Sharansky, an Israeli politician and a former Soviet dissident. His recent book, ''The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror,'' has become de rigueur in the Bush White House. This is not surprising. It often reads like a punchy distillation of the worldview to which the Sept. 11 attacks have delivered the president. Here is Condoleezza Rice, the new secretary of state, explaining last month |
1486615 | 2003 | 05 | 06 | New Law Aims to Fix India's Chronically Troubled Utilities |
After two years of debate, the Indian government enacted an energy law today meant to modernize its electric power system, reduce subsidies, promote efficiency and competition and open the sector to more private investment. The goal is to double the country's supply of electricity in a decade.
Though it has substantial energy resources, India has been chronically short of power for decades. The state electricity boards that distribute power in the country, are woefully inefficient, losing up to a fifth of the country's 100,000 megawatts of power output to line loss and theft.
| After two years of debate, the Indian government enacted an energy law today meant to modernize its electric power system, reduce subsidies, promote efficiency and competition and open the sector to more private investment. The goal is to double the country's supply of electricity in a decade. Though it has substantial energy resources, India has been chronically short of power for decades. The state electricity boards that distribute power in the country, are woefully inefficient, losing up to a fifth of the country's 100,000 megawatts of power output to line loss and theft. Much consumption is unmetered, and the state boards are slow to collect from customers. Farms and households in many areas pay rates that are far below the costs of service. And the state boards, which |
1532918 | 2003 | 11 | 05 | 3 Blasts Seem Aimed at U.S. Compound |
Three powerful explosions in rapid succession shook central Baghdad on Tuesday evening in what apparently was a mortar attack on the headquarters of the American civilian authorities here.
Iraqi witnesses standing near the gates said the explosions hit the sprawling, walled-in American compound about 7:45 p.m.
| Three powerful explosions in rapid succession shook central Baghdad on Tuesday evening in what apparently was a mortar attack on the headquarters of the American civilian authorities here. Iraqi witnesses standing near the gates said the explosions hit the sprawling, walled-in American compound about 7:45 p.m. A spokeswoman for American military said Tuesday night that four people had been wounded, but she gave no details. The witnesses said the mortar shells had come from a neighborhood north of the American headquarters and landed inside. ''I looked up and saw trails of white light, and then they exploded inside there,'' said Muhammad al-Mayehi, an Iraqi, pointing toward the offices of L. Paul Bremer III, the chief civilian administrator, and his staff. The explosions, which rattled buildings on both sides |
1176890 | 2000 | 02 | 16 | Senior Bank Official Took Bribe, U.S. Says |
The Justice Department has evidence that a senior Bank of New York official accepted a bribe from the husband and wife implicated in the money laundering investigation at the bank, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
While the identity of the banker who is believed to have received the bribe could not be determined, the officials said it was someone senior to Lucy Edwards, a former Bank of New York vice president who, along with her husband, Peter Berlin, are expected to plead guilty today to money laundering charges in federal court in Manhattan.
| The Justice Department has evidence that a senior Bank of New York official accepted a bribe from the husband and wife implicated in the money laundering investigation at the bank, law enforcement officials said yesterday. While the identity of the banker who is believed to have received the bribe could not be determined, the officials said it was someone senior to Lucy Edwards, a former Bank of New York vice president who, along with her husband, Peter Berlin, are expected to plead guilty today to money laundering charges in federal court in Manhattan. Mr. Berlin, through his company, Benex International, controlled several accounts at the bank that moved billions of dollars from Russia between 1996 and last year. If one of Ms. Edwards's superiors accepted a bribe to |
1417679 | 2002 | 08 | 22 | Mozart Orchestra Savors Its Abbreviated Moment |
The strike that the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra called on the eve of the festival's opening concert turned out to be little more than a skirmish, its one point of contention (about dismissal procedures) settled in a matter of days.
But it cost the orchestra dearly: Lincoln Center held to its threat, when the strike was announced, that once the orchestra's concerts were canceled, they would not be reinstated, even if an agreement was reached quickly. So the visiting ensembles that have become an increasingly important part of the festival played their performances, while the resident orchestra, as well as the soloists who were to perform and the concertgoers who were planning to attend, sat out their dates.
| The strike that the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra called on the eve of the festival's opening concert turned out to be little more than a skirmish, its one point of contention (about dismissal procedures) settled in a matter of days. But it cost the orchestra dearly: Lincoln Center held to its threat, when the strike was announced, that once the orchestra's concerts were canceled, they would not be reinstated, even if an agreement was reached quickly. So the visiting ensembles that have become an increasingly important part of the festival played their performances, while the resident orchestra, as well as the soloists who were to perform and the concertgoers who were planning to attend, sat out their dates. What the orchestra and Lincoln Center could offer, though, was |
1317441 | 2001 | 08 | 15 | MACEDONIANS SAY THEY MEET RULES FOR NATO TROOPS |
The combatants in Macedonia agreed today to meet two of the major conditions for deploying 3,500 NATO troops, putting pressure on the alliance's leaders to act quickly so that the war here will not escalate further.
Today, the ethnic Albanian guerrillas who have been battling government soldiers for six months agreed formally to disarm under NATO supervision. And quietly, the Macedonian government agreed to extend the promise of an amnesty for the fighters, a top government official said tonight.
| The combatants in Macedonia agreed today to meet two of the major conditions for deploying 3,500 NATO troops, putting pressure on the alliance's leaders to act quickly so that the war here will not escalate further. Today, the ethnic Albanian guerrillas who have been battling government soldiers for six months agreed formally to disarm under NATO supervision. And quietly, the Macedonian government agreed to extend the promise of an amnesty for the fighters, a top government official said tonight. These were two top conditions set by the NATO secretary general, Lord Robertson, for sending troops here on a limited mission to collect weapons and, in theory, to end this war in its early days. The alliance's directing body, the North Atlantic Council, is scheduled to meet on Wednesday |
1717604 | 2005 | 11 | 14 | Mr. Grassley Goes Begging |
In advance of the Senate hearing last Wednesday on oil companies' windfall profits, Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Finance Committee, passed the hat to the world's major oil companies, asking for charitable donations to help poor people pay their heating bills this winter. ''You have a responsibility to help less fortunate Americans cope with the high cost of heating fuels,'' Mr. Grassley wrote in a letter to oil and gas industry lobbying groups. He called on their member companies to contribute a ''mere 10 percent'' of their third-quarter profits.
This is a new low. If it's in the public interest to help poor Americans keep the heat on in the winter -- as Mr. Grassley's official attention to the matter attests -- and if Mr. Grassley is correct that oil companies have a responsibility to help out, then Congress has both the obligation and the power to tax them for that purpose. And yet the gist of Mr. Grassley's fund-raising plea is that home heating aid should be primarily a matter of private charity.
| In advance of the Senate hearing last Wednesday on oil companies' windfall profits, Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Finance Committee, passed the hat to the world's major oil companies, asking for charitable donations to help poor people pay their heating bills this winter. ''You have a responsibility to help less fortunate Americans cope with the high cost of heating fuels,'' Mr. Grassley wrote in a letter to oil and gas industry lobbying groups. He called on their member companies to contribute a ''mere 10 percent'' of their third-quarter profits. This is a new low. If it's in the public interest to help poor Americans keep the heat on in the winter -- as Mr. Grassley's official attention to the matter attests -- and |
1176326 | 2000 | 02 | 13 | Prescription Drugs Should Cost Less |
To the Editor:
Re ''White House Raises Expected Cost of Medicare Drug Plan'' (news article, Feb. 10):
I suggest that the government pick up the tab for all future development costs for new drugs. It could do this by working through the drug companies or by setting up a government-sponsored research program through hospitals or universities. In the long run, such a plan could save taxpayers billions of dollars.
| To the Editor: Re ''White House Raises Expected Cost of Medicare Drug Plan'' (news article, Feb. 10): I suggest that the government pick up the tab for all future development costs for new drugs. It could do this by working through the drug companies or by setting up a government-sponsored research program through hospitals or universities. In the long run, such a plan could save taxpayers billions of dollars. The drug companies spend billions in research to bring a drug to market. They then use these high costs to justify the very high price of these drugs, keeping them out of reach to many Americans, including the elderly who have the most need for many of these drugs. Many people are against government involvement in this manner, but |
1787946 | 2006 | 09 | 06 | Implantable Heart Device Receives F.D.A. Approval |
The Food and Drug Administration gave limited approval on Tuesday to a Massachusetts company to sell the first fully implantable artificial heart, a device that can let patients move about freely for up to two hours at a time.
The approval was given even though the grapefruit-size device was implanted in just 14 patients at four hospitals from 2001 to 2004. All of the patients, who agreed to receive the heart as an experimental device, were men, and all have died.
| The Food and Drug Administration gave limited approval on Tuesday to a Massachusetts company to sell the first fully implantable artificial heart, a device that can let patients move about freely for up to two hours at a time. The approval was given even though the grapefruit-size device was implanted in just 14 patients at four hospitals from 2001 to 2004. All of the patients, who agreed to receive the heart as an experimental device, were men, and all have died. Two died from the implant operation. A third never regained consciousness, and the rest survived an average of five months. The longest survivor lived 512 days, when the mechanical heart failed. Nevertheless, the agency gave the company, Abiomed Inc. of Danvers, Mass., a humanitarian exemption allowing it |
1288833 | 2001 | 04 | 28 | Giants Harbor No Doubts About Peterson |
William Peterson was the other cornerback the Giants drafted last weekend, the other guy nicknamed Will chosen two rounds after the team took Will Allen of Syracuse in the first round. Allen may have been the Giants' first choice, but Peterson's selection was no less notable, if for a different reason.
Peterson arrived as one of those draft picks that carries an explanation, a choice with an addendum. Every account of Peterson mentioned that while he finished his college career at Western Illinois, he had played for two years at Michigan before he was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons. It was generally conceded by most National Football League executives, including those from the Giants, that Peterson would have probably been a high first-round draft pick if not for two incidents after his 1998 season at Michigan.
| William Peterson was the other cornerback the Giants drafted last weekend, the other guy nicknamed Will chosen two rounds after the team took Will Allen of Syracuse in the first round. Allen may have been the Giants' first choice, but Peterson's selection was no less notable, if for a different reason. Peterson arrived as one of those draft picks that carries an explanation, a choice with an addendum. Every account of Peterson mentioned that while he finished his college career at Western Illinois, he had played for two years at Michigan before he was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons. It was generally conceded by most National Football League executives, including those from the Giants, that Peterson would have probably been a high first-round draft pick if |
1546582 | 2003 | 12 | 28 | THE GUIDE |
Tinsel and Trains
The Wilton Historical Society's 30th annual holiday show, which features a model train exhibition and more than a dozen period rooms, will continue through the end of January at the Wilton Heritage Museum at 224 Danbury Road.
| Tinsel and Trains The Wilton Historical Society's 30th annual holiday show, which features a model train exhibition and more than a dozen period rooms, will continue through the end of January at the Wilton Heritage Museum at 224 Danbury Road. The trains, arranged on three separate hand-crafted layouts, were assembled by town residents, who are available to answer questions. Each layout is distinctive. There is an O gauge scale replica of steam trains from the 1920's to the 1950's; another layout represents the Town of Wilton in the early 1900's with models of its 1852 railway station, the old Town Hall and the Congregational Church. An S gauge set shows off the first streamliner from 1936 and a model of the Cannondale station, also built in 1852. Pennsylvania |
1661228 | 2005 | 03 | 31 | JUSTICES REMOVE HURDLE TO SUITS ALLEGING AGE BIAS |
Workers who sue their employers for age discrimination need not prove that the discrimination was intentional, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.
Adopting a pro-worker interpretation of the federal law that prohibits age discrimination in employment, the 5-to-3 decision held that employees can prevail by showing that a policy has a discriminatory impact on older workers, regardless of the employer's motivation.
| Workers who sue their employers for age discrimination need not prove that the discrimination was intentional, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. Adopting a pro-worker interpretation of the federal law that prohibits age discrimination in employment, the 5-to-3 decision held that employees can prevail by showing that a policy has a discriminatory impact on older workers, regardless of the employer's motivation. The decision removed the requirement, imposed by a number of lower federal courts, that employees produce the equivalent of a smoking gun in order to win an age discrimination suit. Since discrimination on the job is often subtle, and proof of motivation often elusive, the need to demonstrate intentional discrimination has led to the dismissal of many lawsuits before trial. But the Supreme Court's decision, in an |
1375836 | 2002 | 03 | 15 | No Need to Ponder the Future. Just Put All Valves to the Max. |
The Time Machine
Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Mark Addy, Sienna Guillory, Phyllida Law Directed by Simon Wells PG-13 -- 96 minutes
The movies' everlasting urge to escape the present sends us off on another dash through H. G. Wells's 1895 time-traveling classic, as directed by his great-grandson. This time the resident genius, Alexander Hartdegen (Mr. Pearce), is a Columbia professor who corresponds with a German bookkeeper named Einstein and climbs 30-foot blackboards to scribble more equations than John Forbes Nash Jr. in ''A Beautiful Mind.''
| The Time Machine Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Mark Addy, Sienna Guillory, Phyllida Law Directed by Simon Wells PG-13 -- 96 minutes The movies' everlasting urge to escape the present sends us off on another dash through H. G. Wells's 1895 time-traveling classic, as directed by his great-grandson. This time the resident genius, Alexander Hartdegen (Mr. Pearce), is a Columbia professor who corresponds with a German bookkeeper named Einstein and climbs 30-foot blackboards to scribble more equations than John Forbes Nash Jr. in ''A Beautiful Mind.'' When tragedy strikes it's time to stoke up a large gyroscopelike conveyance he has been developing that will carry him into the past or the future. A trip backward produces only the same tragic results, so Alexander pushes the |
1308320 | 2001 | 07 | 10 | Paid Notice: Deaths BREINDEL, JOSEPH H., M.D. |
BREINDEL-Joseph H., M.D. The entire Beth Israel Medical Center family joins with the physicians, nurses and staff in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in acknowledging with sadness the passing of Joseph H. Breindel, M.D., a dedicated member of the hospital's Ob/Gyn medical staff, who retired in 1989. To his beloved wife, Sonia, his family and all of his loved ones, we extend heartfelt condolences. Morton P. Hyman Chairman, Board of Trustees Matthew E. Fink, M.D. President and CEO Sidney K. Stein, M.D. President, Medical Board Arnold J. Friedman, M.D. Chairman, Dept. of Ob/Gyn Robert L. Salant, M.D., President Doctors Alumni Association
BREINDEL-Joseph H., M.D. The Officers, Trustees, Clergy and Members of Park Avenue Synagogue mourn the passing of a devoted congregant. We extend to his wife Sonia and the family our heartfelt sympathy. David H. Lincoln, Senior Rabbi Geoffrey J. Colvin, Ch. of the Bd. Paul S. Schreiber, President
| BREINDEL-Joseph H., M.D. The entire Beth Israel Medical Center family joins with the physicians, nurses and staff in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in acknowledging with sadness the passing of Joseph H. Breindel, M.D., a dedicated member of the hospital's Ob/Gyn medical staff, who retired in 1989. To his beloved wife, Sonia, his family and all of his loved ones, we extend heartfelt condolences. Morton P. Hyman Chairman, Board of Trustees Matthew E. Fink, M.D. President and CEO Sidney K. Stein, M.D. President, Medical Board Arnold J. Friedman, M.D. Chairman, Dept. of Ob/Gyn Robert L. Salant, M.D., President Doctors Alumni Association BREINDEL-Joseph H., M.D. The Officers, Trustees, Clergy and Members of Park Avenue Synagogue mourn the passing of a devoted congregant. We extend to his wife Sonia |
1810006 | 2006 | 12 | 07 | How to Succeed at Carrying It All |
WHEN future students of civilization and its contents pore over early 21st-century fashion shows for signs of life, dissertations will doubtlessly be revved up to deconstruct contemporary man's apparent obsession with dashing away for the weekend. But those dissertations will falter when a little digging reveals that all of those weekender bags in the men's runway shows were packed with the emperor's new clothes.
It is a mystery what man -- or, indeed, if any man -- buys such bags. They are far too costly, precious and unwieldy to toss around with ease (much less with brio), lacking as they do wheels, shoulder straps or even the materials (crocodile?) that are all but standard for luggage makers today. Moreover -- and here's the killer -- if you were going to plunk down some serious green for a status-y bag, wouldn't you spend it for one that the world could see every day?
| WHEN future students of civilization and its contents pore over early 21st-century fashion shows for signs of life, dissertations will doubtlessly be revved up to deconstruct contemporary man's apparent obsession with dashing away for the weekend. But those dissertations will falter when a little digging reveals that all of those weekender bags in the men's runway shows were packed with the emperor's new clothes. It is a mystery what man -- or, indeed, if any man -- buys such bags. They are far too costly, precious and unwieldy to toss around with ease (much less with brio), lacking as they do wheels, shoulder straps or even the materials (crocodile?) that are all but standard for luggage makers today. Moreover -- and here's the killer -- if you were |
1183368 | 2000 | 03 | 12 | What 'McCain Voter'? |
For Al Gore and George W. Bush, the McCain vote has become the holy grail of the presidential race, the swing vote each man thinks he needs to put him over the top. But this line of reasoning has one big problem: there is no ''McCain vote'' -- the exit data from the primaries show that John McCain's supporters are not the sort of portable voting bloc than can be won en masse.
Across the country, McCain backers do not share values or care strongly about the same issues, and they are not drawn from a common demographic base.
| For Al Gore and George W. Bush, the McCain vote has become the holy grail of the presidential race, the swing vote each man thinks he needs to put him over the top. But this line of reasoning has one big problem: there is no ''McCain vote'' -- the exit data from the primaries show that John McCain's supporters are not the sort of portable voting bloc than can be won en masse. Across the country, McCain backers do not share values or care strongly about the same issues, and they are not drawn from a common demographic base. While political reform was the keystone of the Arizona senator's campaign, only a minority of McCain voters cited campaign finance changes as the foremost issue. In New York, only |
1177769 | 2000 | 02 | 20 | Jazz Latte |
Each era's important jazz singers amplify the state of the music: how far it has come, how much it is appreciated. In the 40's, the trace of an uncouth honk in Billie Holiday's voice reminded her audience of jazz's demimonde roots. In the 50's, the virtuosity of Sarah Vaughan implied that jazz had become one of the fine arts. The strident rip in an Abbey Lincoln performance embodied jazz in the 60's -- politically ambitious, its structure undergoing major tremors. Diana Krall's dusky, deadpan contralto with its hairline cracks and her studious and tasteful swing might be jazz in 2000. It's gentle but firm, ready to negotiate with popular culture to be accepted through any possible doorway -- as jazz, pop, cabaret, whatever. And its thick layer of emotional neutrality serves to protect it from rejection.
Popular culture has certainly responded, in a way that jazz isn't used to these days. Krall, who is 35, has made five albums since 1993, and the last two have been certified gold, meaning sales of more than 500,000 copies. (That's about 100 times as much as Jason Moran's ''Soundtrack to Human Motion,'' my pick for best jazz album of 1999.) Mostly, Krall relies on standard songs from the 50's and earlier. Though her producer, Tommy LiPuma, has a reputation for being a star maker, she was not completely transformed by him: in the first years of her success, she used the same group she had when she played small clubs in New York and Boston in the early 90's -- a modest trio.
| Each era's important jazz singers amplify the state of the music: how far it has come, how much it is appreciated. In the 40's, the trace of an uncouth honk in Billie Holiday's voice reminded her audience of jazz's demimonde roots. In the 50's, the virtuosity of Sarah Vaughan implied that jazz had become one of the fine arts. The strident rip in an Abbey Lincoln performance embodied jazz in the 60's -- politically ambitious, its structure undergoing major tremors. Diana Krall's dusky, deadpan contralto with its hairline cracks and her studious and tasteful swing might be jazz in 2000. It's gentle but firm, ready to negotiate with popular culture to be accepted through any possible doorway -- as jazz, pop, cabaret, whatever. And its thick layer of |
1638869 | 2005 | 01 | 02 | The Art of the Fan |
Fan Web sites, from Adam-Brody.com to Absolutely Zooey Deschanel (fan-sites.org/zooey/), share certain traits: gushy tributes, copyright-infringing use of paparazzi shots, a whiff of stalker enthusiasm. A new site, cremasterfanatic.com, is unusual for the subject it obsesses over -- the Conceptual Art star Matthew Barney -- but otherwise it hews to the norm. It borrows pictures of Mr. Barney with his wife, the pop singer Bjork. It summarizes each of his five ''Cremaster'' films. It even posts tribute poetry:
Pearl filled baths
The pigeons flap
His cremaster relaxes
But Cremaster Fanatic is a fake. Or to put it more kindly, it's a parallel work of art. ''I'm pretending to be a fan,'' said its creator, the New York artist Eric Doeringer, who wrote that haiku himself (as ''David Kramer,'' one of many pseudonyms deployed on the site).
| Fan Web sites, from Adam-Brody.com to Absolutely Zooey Deschanel (fan-sites.org/zooey/), share certain traits: gushy tributes, copyright-infringing use of paparazzi shots, a whiff of stalker enthusiasm. A new site, cremasterfanatic.com, is unusual for the subject it obsesses over -- the Conceptual Art star Matthew Barney -- but otherwise it hews to the norm. It borrows pictures of Mr. Barney with his wife, the pop singer Bjork. It summarizes each of his five ''Cremaster'' films. It even posts tribute poetry: Pearl filled baths The pigeons flap His cremaster relaxes But Cremaster Fanatic is a fake. Or to put it more kindly, it's a parallel work of art. ''I'm pretending to be a fan,'' said its creator, the New York artist Eric Doeringer, who wrote that haiku himself (as ''David Kramer,'' |
1557779 | 2004 | 02 | 10 | Ex-Nets Star's Potential Jurors React to Pet-Shooting Accounts |
Prospective jurors in the aggravated manslaughter trial of Jayson Williams were questioned on Monday about the impact of the prosecution's contention last week that Mr. Williams killed his pet watchdog over a $100 bet in August 2001.
The judge, Edward M. Coleman, and opposing lawyers spent the day questioning 39 prospective jurors in a pool of 64 about what they knew of the allegation that the dog, a Rottweiler named Zeus, had been killed by Mr. Williams with a shotgun.
| Prospective jurors in the aggravated manslaughter trial of Jayson Williams were questioned on Monday about the impact of the prosecution's contention last week that Mr. Williams killed his pet watchdog over a $100 bet in August 2001. The judge, Edward M. Coleman, and opposing lawyers spent the day questioning 39 prospective jurors in a pool of 64 about what they knew of the allegation that the dog, a Rottweiler named Zeus, had been killed by Mr. Williams with a shotgun. Most said they had learned about it late last week from friends, co-workers, newspaper headlines or brief radio accounts. While many said they were upset by it, they told Judge Coleman they could disregard information about it and not let the details intrude on their eventual deliberations on |