New York Times Upfront articles from November 2005

New York Times Upfront archives from November 2005

Nasa's Cassini spacecraft.(news & TRENDS)
November 14, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this image of Saturn's moon Dione, coming within 310 miles of Dione's cratered surface during a flyby on October 11. Saturn, a "gas giant" planet consisting mostly of...

Beware of french fries?(FOOD)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... If California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has his way, all french fries and potato chips sold in his state will soon carry a warning label. These foods are loaded with fat, salt, simple carbs, and acrylamide--a chemical that forms when...

Electing a 'Super Girl'.(CHINA)(The Mongolian Cow Yogurt Super Girl Contest, television contest)
November 14, 2005... China's runaway summer hit--The Mongolian Cow Yogurt Super Girl Contest--ended in August with a television viewership that eclipsed the population of North America. More than 400 million people watched the finale of the show, which resembled...

Chasing a good deal.(MONEY)
November 14, 2005... Gaby Yosca, 15, a sophomore at the Dalton School in New York, knows how to stretch a dollar. One hour spent in a Salvation Army store netted her several outfits and a book--all for $62.50. Tom Bettridge, Yosca's classmate, takes pride in vinyl...

Numbers in the news.
November 14, 2005... 1 Number of doctors in Niger per 33,000 people, compared with 1 doctor per 180 people in the U.S. SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES $31,916 Average cost of tuition, room and board, and other expenses for a student attending a private...

Noted & quoted.(SOUNDBITES)
November 14, 2005... 'It is time to get rid of this horrible mummy.' --Valeriya Novodvorskaya, head of the Democratic Union, a Russian political party, on Lenin's remains, which have been on display in a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square for the past eight...

Animals endangered online.(THE WEB)
November 14, 2005... Is the Internet endangering the African elephant? According to one advocacy group for endangered species, it is. A three-month investigation by the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Yarmouth Port, Mass., uncovered more than 6,000 illegal...

Connecting seniors to the Internet.(Daniel Kent)(Interview)
November 14, 2005... In 2003, Daniel Kent of Carmel, Ind., founded Senior Connects, a nonprofit organization that makes computers and computer classes available to thousands of senior citizens in Indiana. Now 17, this Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School junior spoke...

Where do we come from?(U.S. CENSUS)
November 14, 2005... In 2000, nearly one out of six Americans who reported his or her ancestry said it was German. Seven percent listed "American" as their ancestry. 10 MOST COMMON U.S. ANCESTRIES People (in millions) GERMAN 15.2% 42.8...

When you've got company in your car.(SAFETY)(teenage car passengers)
November 14, 2005... The roadways might be a lot safer if there were fewer teenage boys in the passenger seat. A recent study suggests that when a teenage boy is the front-seat passenger, a teenage driver--whether boy or girl--becomes more careless. The study, by...

Notes for peace in the Mideast.(MUSIC)
November 14, 2005... Troops armed with automatic weapons have stood guard over their rehearsals. And, for security reasons, their names cannot be listed in concert programs. But the 80 Arab and Jewish musicians, ages 13 to 26, who play in the West-Eastern Divan...

A girl in exile: after the FBI pegged her as a potential suicide bomber, the 16-year-old daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants living in New York was forced to leave the United States.(NATIONAL)
November 14, 2005... On May 12, Tashnuba Hayder found herself back in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and the birthplace she'd left more than a decade ago. Slumped on a bed she would share with four relatives that night, the 16-year-old girl from Queens, N.Y.,...

Is labor losing its voice? Once a major force in the nation's economy and politics, unions have fallen on hard times. Can they convince a new generation of workers that they're still relevant?(Cover Story)
November 14, 2005... When he was a high school senior a few years ago, Josh Noble took a part-time job changing tires and installing batteries at a Wal-Mart tire-and-lube garage in his hometown of Loveland, Colo., north of Denver. Noble liked working on cars,...

Poison vapors: the truth about inhalants: inhalants can cause harm to the whole body, including long-lasting damage to the brain, physical disabilities, and even death.(HEADS UP REAL NEWS ABOUT DRUGS AND YOUR BODY)
November 14, 2005... WWW.SCHOLASTIC.COM/HEADSUP WHAT IS AN INHALANT? Inhalants are toxic--that is, poisonous--chemical vapors that can be misused to produce mind-altering effects, often with disastrous results. These harmful vapors can be found in a...

1955: moving to the Front of the bus: during the Montgomery bus boycott, blacks used their wallets as weapons in the struggle for civil rights.(TIMES PAST)
November 14, 2005... On Dec. 1, 1955, a black seamstress in Montgomery, Ala., refused to give up her seat for a white passenger on a bus and was arrested. For Rosa Parks, 42, it was a simple act of defiance, but it had profound consequences: It ignited a yearlong...

Should the United States adopt voter ID cards? The goal is to increase voter participation and lower the chances of electoral fraud. Could voter ID cards be part of the answer?(DEBATE)
November 14, 2005... YES The Commission on Federal Election Reform has proposed adoption of voter ID cards in a way that would both expand voter participation and increase confidence in the electoral process. Twenty-four states already require some form of...

Big hands on the little hands: students find a future in the not-quite-lost art of repairing mechanical, watches.(TECHNOLOGY)
November 14, 2005... Despite the domination of battery-powered quartz watches and digital displays, mechanical watches that need to be wound are coming back into style. But very few people are qualified to repair them. To help fill this gap, the Swiss watch...

The revolution Africa needs.(OPINION)
November 14, 2005... With millions of Africans dying of starvation each year, it is clear that our system of international. aid is failing. A crucial mistake is our refusal to provide substantial agricultural assistance to increase African food production. Instead,...

Does Miers have the basic skills to be a justice?(OPINION)(Harriet Miers)
November 14, 2005... Of all the words written about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, none are more disturbing than the ones she wrote herself. In the '90s, Miers wrote a column for the Texas Bar Journal. It is the largest body of public writing we have from...

At a pump near you: a 'solve-everything' tax.(OPINION)
November 14, 2005... I have a proposal to save energy, cut air pollution, reduce highway fatalities, and, while we're at it, reform Social. Security. All we have to do is raise the federal, gasoline tax by 50 cents per gallon and refund all the new revenue directly...

Cartoons.(Cartoon)
November 14, 2005... Joe Heller * Green Bay [Wisconsin] Press-Gazette GET in LINE. Marshall Ramsey * The Clarion-Ledger [Jackson, Miss.) * Copley News Service Bob Englehart * Hartford [Connecticut] Courant * Cagle Cartoons WE KNOW YOU HATE US......

Inhalants: a looming threat for all teens.(TEACHER'S EDITION)
November 14, 2005... Dear Teacher: I have an important warning to share with you. Some of the most dangerous substances abused by your students may be found in the home--and even in schools. As a group, these toxic substances are referred to as inhalants. They...

Letter from the editor.
November 14, 2005... Globalization has had a tremendous impact on the U.S. economy. As the nation's manufacturing base has shrunk, labor unions have experienced significant declines in both membership and political influence. Our cover story examines the history of...

Deported from America.
November 14, 2005... Tashnuba Hayder left the U.S. last May for Bangladesh. Technically, her departure was voluntary, although she was under threat of deportation. Her case is complex and murky, involving issues of immigration and national security. But she is...

A girl in exile.(QUIZ 1 > NATIONAL)
November 14, 2005... 1. Although the reason for the government's suspicion of Tashnuba Hayder remains hidden, she believes it was Linked to her a schoolwork. b loner lifestyle. c criticism of the U.S. government. d monitoring of an Islamic...

Is labor losing its voice?(QUIZ 2 > NATIONAL)
November 14, 2005... 1. Today, unions represent only 12.5 percent of the nation's workforce; 50 years ago, they represented about a 35 percent. b 50 percent. c 60 percent. d 70 percent. 2. A hundred years ago, employers saw unions as the...

1955: moving to the front of the bus.(QUIZ 3 > HISTORY)
November 14, 2005... 1. Explain how the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott elevated the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to national prominence.-- 2. The Brown v. Board of Education ruling said a black schools were entitled to the same amount of public funding as...

Political cartoon.(Cartoon)
November 14, 2005... Study the political cartoon below, which deals with recent events in the business world, and answer the questions at right. WATCH AS I MAKE THIS TOTALLY DISAPPEAR. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANALYZE THE CARTOON 1. What does the...

Game show.
November 14, 2005... Use with articles identified. The statements are answers to questions [modeled after the TV show Jeopardy). Students must answer in the form of questions. Divide the class into teams. Read the statements. Call on the first...

Letter from the editor.
November 28, 2005... In this issue, we focus on Mexico, with a cover story on the hazardous journey that a million Mexicans make each year attempting to cross the border illegally into the U.S. We then visit Alicia Alvarez, 15, and her family in Mexicali. Alicia...

What Americans earn.(GRAPH > NATIONAL)
November 28, 2005... As the article "Does Class Still, Matter?" discussed, class still plays a role in America, though perhaps less significantly than it once did. But what does it mean to belong to one class or another? Class can have many connotations, some...

Political cartoon.(CARTOON ANALYSIS)(Cartoon)
November 28, 2005... Study the political cartoon below, which deals with recent events along the United States-Mexico border, and answer the questions at right. PROBLEM: THE BORDER PATROL IS UNDERSTAFFED, UNDERFUNDED AND INADEQUATE TO THE TASK. IT'S A...

Game show.
November 28, 2005... Use with articles identified. The statements are answers to questions (modeled after the TV show Jeopardy). Students must answer in the form of questions. Divide the class into teams Read the statements. Call on the first team...

Goats go out on a limb.(news & TRENDS)
November 28, 2005... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Goats go out on a limb to snack on the leaves and olive-like fruit of an argan tree. The trees, which grow only in Morocco, provide the main ingredient for a fragrant oil used in cooking and cosmetics. For...

Stamp blunder pays off.(AMERICANA)
November 28, 2005... The next time you buy postage stamps, you might want to examine them closely. A block of four U.S. airmail stamps from 1918 with a biplane mistakenly printed upside down was auctioned in October for $2,970,000--a world record for a stamp item....

Numbers in the news.
November 28, 2005... 35 million Number of U.S. workers who spend time reading blogs while at work; combined, they will waste the equivalent of 551,000 "work years" in 2005. SOURCE: ADVERTISING AGE 40,000 Estimated number of houses in New Orleans that...

Just wait till you hear ...(SOCIAL STUDIES)(gossip)
November 28, 2005... Gossip has long been dismissed as little more than idle background chatter with no useful social function. But some researchers now say that it should be central to any study of group interaction. "Gossip appears to be a very sophisticated,...

Dial-up drama.(TECHNOLOGY)
November 28, 2005... One-minute "mobisodes" (mobile episodes) based on your favorite TV shows may soon be coming to the minuscule screen on your cell phone. Mobile video is already popular in South Korea, Japan, and Europe. And in the U.S., companies like Verizon,...

Noted & quoted.(SOUNDBITES)
November 28, 2005... 'Cattle will line up and get into a pen. People won't.' --Michael J. Boyd, a Colorado airline industry consultant, on how difficult it is to come up with ways to end the airport bottlenecks that inevitably seem to occur when passengers are...

A cup-o-noodles from the past.(LEFTOVERS)
November 28, 2005... Thousands of years before there was fettucine Alfredo, spaghetti, or Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, someone living near me Yellow rover in northwestern China was eating a bowl of noodles. The meat was interrupted, most likely by a catastrophic flood....

Heating up the charts with rhythm & blues.(Chris Brown)(Interview)
November 28, 2005... R&B singer Chris Brown, 16, may be new to the music scene, but his debut single, "Run It," has already topped the charts. Upfront spoke with the home-schooled high school junior, originally from Tappahannock, Va., about his music. What...

Where pets eat best.(FOOD FOR THOUGHT)(pet food market)
November 28, 2005... Countries in which dogs and cats are considered family spend more on pet food. Pet-related spending in the U.S. doubled over the past 10 years to $34 billion. [GRAPHIC OMITTED]

Exporting an electronic wasteland.(ENVIRONMENT)
November 28, 2005... Much of the used computer equipment sent from the U.S. to developing countries is unusable and creates an environmental hazard, according to a report by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental group. BAN says that U.S....

This bird 'plays' its wings.(mate club-winged manakin)
November 28, 2005... Richard Prum, an ornithologist from Yale University, was hiking through an Ecuadorean forest 18 years ago when he had a strange experience: He watched a bird sing with its wings. The bird--a mate club-winged manakin--was hopping from branch to...

A Supreme battle? Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court sets the stage for an ideological fight in the Senate.(NATIONAL)
November 28, 2005... Before this summer, there had not been a vacancy on the 9-member Supreme Court for a decade. For much of that time, liberals and conservatives were preparing for a fight that both sides see as affecting the Court's direction for decades to...

Does class still matter? It's harder than it once was to tell a person's class in America. But in some ways, class still plays an important role in our lives.(NATIONAL)
November 28, 2005... There was a time when Americans thought they understood class. The upper crust took their vacations in Europe and worshipped in Episcopal churches. The middle class drove Ford Fairlanes and lived in the suburbs. The working class belonged to...

Can 'gouging' be a good thing?(NEWS ANALYSIS)(oil prices, oil companies)
November 28, 2005... When ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the world, announced last month that its quarterly profits had surged 75 percent, to $9.9 billion, there were roars of indignation in Washington. Politicians from both parties warned that oil...

Beyond the border: tensions are rising along the 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border, which a million Mexicans try to cross illegally each year.(Cover Story)
November 28, 2005... First, there was the sound of an engine. Then, a lookout peeked carefully over the mud-brick wall that stood less than 100 feet from the United States. "Get down!" he shouted to the 73 others behind him. Everyone dropped to the dirt, until the...

Big dreams in Mexicali: Alicia Alvarez is a straight-A student who dreams of college. But like Mexico itself, her path to success is strewn with roadblocks.(INTERNATIONAL)(Biography)
November 28, 2005... Alicia Alvarez lives two miles from the American border--and light-years from the American dream. Growing up in the city of Mexicali has made her a realist at 15. She has no taste for romances and soap operas. What she has is intelligence and...

The debate over Indian mascots: does the NCAA's ban on Indian mascots and nicknames go too far, or not far enough? Fans--and tribes--are divided.(SOCIETY)(National Collegiate Athletic Association)
November 28, 2005... When Chief Osceola, Florida State University's Indian mascot, rides onto the field on horseback before football games and plants a flaming spear at the 50-yard line, the team's fans erupt with cheers. For many of them, the Chief (actually a...

1991: the war before the war: the Persian Gulf war ended with an allied victory--and Saddam Hussein still in power.(TIMES PAST)
November 28, 2005... To understand why the U.S. decided to invade Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein, it helps to go back 13 years, to the war that added "Operation Desert Storm" and "the mother of all battles" to the American vernacular. The Persian...

What iPods can do for China.(OPINION)
November 28, 2005... China's new Cultural Revolution will be driven from the bottom up, by podcasters with Apple's little iPods or competing players, not from the top down by Maoists with Little Red Books. Once prices come down for iPods, there wilt be a huge...

The death of Sergeant Anthony G. Jones.(OPINION)(Obituary)
November 28, 2005... The nation is mourning the more than 2,000 American GI's lost to the war in Iraq. An additional 15,000 Americans have been wounded. As typical as it is tragic is the story of Sgt. Anthony G. Jones, whom The Times wrote about in October. "Sgt....

In the information age, it's a woman's world.(OPINION)
November 28, 2005... Once upon a time, it was a man's world. Men possessed the tools needed for power and success: muscles, connections, control, of crucial social institutions. But along came the information age to change all that. Now, education is the gateway to...

Should stem-cell research receive federal funding? Congress is considering relaxing the rules for funding this controversial research.(DEBATE)
November 28, 2005... YES Embryonic stem cells have the extraordinary ability to develop into any kind of cell or tissue in the body. That's why they have the potential to be used to treat the more than 100 million Americans who suffer from diseases such as cancer,...

Speaking out for homeless kids.(VOICES)
November 28, 2005... For three years, I've been an advocate for homeless youth in New York City. My goal is to raise awareness about the realities of homelessness: who the homeless are, and specifically that children are the fastest-growing group in the homeless...

Cartoons.(Cartoon)
November 28, 2005... Jeff Stahter * The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch * United Media The Pen... Is Mightier Than The Sword. Bob Gorrell * GorrellArt com ... NO WEAPONS-BUT PLENTY OF MASS DESTRUCTION... Watt Handelsman * Newsday [Long Island,...