New York Times Upfront articles from September 2004

New York Times Upfront archives from September 2004

Biscuits made of dirt, butter, salt, and water.(news & Trends)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Biscuits made of dirt, butter, salt, and water are laid out to dry by a woman in Fort Dimanche, Haiti. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti suffered another jolt after its first...

Regular, unleaded, or hog?(Energy)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... You've heard of Big Oil, but how about pig oil? Though the process is far from perfected, an agricultural engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has reported success in turning hog manure into oil. "Scientifically, yes, we...

Numbers in the news.(news & Trends)
September 6, 2004... 36% Percentage of girls, ages 13 to 17, who say they're overweight; for boys, the figure is 19%. SOURCE: GALLUP POLL 600 Number of South Africans who die of AIDS each day. About 5.3 million are HIV-positive. (See p. 12) ...

Movies show a little class.(Education)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Cash strapped schools have discovered a new source of income: Hollywood. Last December, the Harrison School in Los Angeles earned $7,827 for letting camera crews shoot the school's exterior for the opening sequence in the Toni Cruise movie...

It's tough at the top.(Science)(trees )(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... In Humboldt Redwoods State Park in California stands a 369-foot-high tree--as high as a 30-story building. It's the tallest organism on Earth, and still growing. So how tall can a tree get? In a recent study, scientists predicted that no tree...

Noted & quoted.(Soundbites)
September 6, 2004... 'You're the front-runner, you've raised 200 million. If you're having a good time, tell your face.' --Billy Crystal, at a fund-raiser in Hollywood for John Kerry's campaign, teasing the Democratic hopeful about his famously dour...

Warm embraces, no charge.(Giving)(hugging movement)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Jayson Littman is not especially lonely, religious, or in need of cash. He is just a financial analyst in New York City who happens to think that people could use a hug. This spring, Littman, 26, began dispensing free hugs on Sundays in...

Blazing a trail for Afghan women.(Q&A)(Brief Article)(Interview)
September 6, 2004... Mehria Azizi, 20, was one of the first women in Afghanistan to train as a journalist after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Her documentary on the struggles of Afghan women, Afghanistan Unveiled, will be shown on PBS in November. UPFRONT asked...

I'll take the cash, please.(Lifestyles)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Annual surveys of college freshmen show how their goals have changed. In the 1960s, living a principled life trumped the quest for money. Now the reverse is true, [GRAPHIC OMITTED]

A snickers for your password?(Technology)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Would you give out the password you use to log onto the Internet? A man posted outside a London subway earlier this year offered a candy bar to passersby if they would. More than 7 out of 10 took the offer. The survey was staged by organizers...

Practicing on the guys.(basketball)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... They're invited to the popular athletes' parties on campus, they wear exclusive athletic gear, and once in a white they even sign an autograph. So it is natural when a classmate eventually asks: What sport do you play? "And that's when I tell...

The challenges ahead: the American-led occupation has officially ended, but the road to a peaceful, stable, and democratic Iraq is lined with many obstacles.(International)
September 6, 2004... The four big smokestacks at the Doura power plant in Baghdad have always served as subversive truth-tellers. No matter what Saddam Hussein's propagandists said about electricity supplies, people knew they could get a better idea of the coming...

South Africa's decade of freedom: in the 10 years since the end of apartheid, South Africa has come a long way. But this young democracy still faces many challenges.(International)
September 6, 2004... "See this yard?" Tom Shiburi waves his hand toward a sprawling field of weeds in the township of Diepkloof (DEEP-kloof), close to downtown Johannesburg. "We used to have some shacks here," he says. "Five thousand shacks--our last count came to...

Remembering home: white most immigrants come to the U.S. to start new lives, many of them continue to support their families--and sometimes entire towns--in their home countries.(National)
September 6, 2004... Avenamar Cruz grew up in Atopoltitlan (Ah-toh-poh-tee-TLAHN), a little town in the Mexican state of Puebla that he left when he was 17. Cruz, 36, now lives in New York and works in a wholesale produce market in the Bronx, but he continues to...

What's at stake: many issues will confront whoever wins in November. But in choosing between George W. Bush and John Kerry, voters will decide what America's role in the world should be.(Cover Story)
September 6, 2004... Almost 40 years have passed since so much was at stake in a single presidential election. In times of peace, Presidents and their challengers argue about unemployment and taxes, the future of Social Security, whether the Federal government is...

1968: in a year of turmoil, a nation goes to the polls: the Vietnam War and violent social unrest at home set the stage for Richard Nixon's victory in one of the most dramatic presidential races in U.S. history.(Times Past)
September 6, 2004... A distant war that came home to haunt us. A stunning surprise in the first presidential primary. Two horrific assassinations. Urban riots, social unrest, and a convention that tore apart the Democratic Party. That was 1968--the year, Frank Rich...

Sticker shock at the pump: terrorism fears and rising demand have pushed gas prices higher. But is gas really as expensive as it seems?(The Economy)
September 6, 2004... Two dollars for a gallon of gas? "It's ridiculous," says Abby Lochotzki, 22, a student at Eastern Michigan University. "Outrageous," says Kashania Thrower, also 22, who works at a drug rehab center. Refueling their cars in Ypsilanti,...

Where the jobs are.(Analysis)
September 6, 2004... Job jitters are vexing America. Not even the recent gains in employment have put an end to worries about the "outsourcing" of work to low-wage countries. Americans had become used to shedding factory jobs, but technology and service jobs were...

China's fading communism.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Fifteen years after the Tiananmen Square massacre--the Communist Party's answer to millions of protesters demanding democracy--Communism is fading, in part because of Western engagement with China. Trade, investment, Michael Jordan, and Vogue...

Enough of this chump change: abolish the penny!(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... The time has come to abolish the almost worthless, bothersome, and wasteful penny. Even President Lincoln, who is still honored on the $5 bill, would be ashamed to have his face on this specious specie because you can't buy anything with a...

In Saudi Arabia's schools, the ABC's of hatred.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Surely the most chilling aspect of May's terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia against foreigners at the Khobar oil center was that Saudi militants tried to kill or capture only the non-Muslims, and let Muslims and Arabs go. Now where would the...

From homelessness to college, one teenager's journey.(Voices)(Short Story)
September 6, 2004... In the winter of 2002, when I was 16, my family of seven was evicted from our one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, N.Y., and we were homeless. I went to stay with my aunt in Manhattan while the rest of my family moved in with my grandmother in...

Are we safer since 9/11? The government has taken steps to improve security, but disagreement exists over their effectiveness.(Debate)
September 6, 2004... YES From airports to sports arenas, most Americans have experienced some of the security measures implemented since Sept. 11, 2001. Yet color-coded threat announcements and magnetometers at concerts are only part of homeland security after...

Cartoons.(Comic)
September 6, 2004... Etta Hulme * Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas) * United Feature Syndicate [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Steve Breen * San Diego Union-Tribune * Copley News Service [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mike Keefe * The Denver Post *...

Letter from the editor.(Editorial)
September 6, 2004... Between the election at home and developments abroad, the year ahead promises to be a momentous one for America--and a challenge for the teachers who try to make sense of it all for their students. That's where The New York Times Upfront...

Game show.
September 6, 2004... Use with articles identified. Divide the class into 2-4 teams. Read the statements below, which are answers to questions. In this game, modeled after the TV show Jeopardy!, students must give their answers in the form of questions....

A "Micro Flying Robot".(news & Trends)
September 20, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: A "Micro Flying Robot" hovers in front of a researcher at the offices of Seiko Epson, a Japanese technology company, in Tokyo. The O.4-ounce, 3.35-inch-tall prototype is under development for possible use in...

A long-distance burger.(Fast Food)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... When the voice at the drive-through asks, "You want fries with that?" it could be coming from farther away than you think. A handful of McDonald's restaurants are experimenting with outsourcing their drive-through-window orders. It's the latest...

Numbers in the news.(news & Trends)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... 33% Approximate percentage of Iraqi households that own a satellite dish. SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES 336,000 Number of teens who had cosmetic surgery in 2003, an increase of 50 percent since 2002. SOURCE: USA TODAY ...

A platoon of twitching noses.(Land Mines)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... One person's vermin is another's life-saver. In Mozambique, Gambian giant pouched rats are being trained to sniff for buried land mines left from a 17-year civil war that ended in 1992. The rats in training are outfitted in tiny harnesses and...

Great shakes: from the 1-4-5 to the Taliban.(Street Life)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... On West 145th Street in New York, people say hello by using the 1-4-5, a three-part greeting that consists of a finger to the nose, four fingers placed on the chest above the heart, then a light five-finger slap. Over on West 151st Street,...

Noted & quoted.(Soundbites)
September 20, 2004... 'It just shows the bond we have with people.' --ESPN spokesman Dave Nagle, on a Texas couple's decision to name their son ESPN (pronounced Espen). There are at least three children in the United States who have been named after the cable...

Cookies fit for the White House?(Politics)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... In predicting presidential races, the great cookie cook-off is three for three. The cook-off began in 1992, when Democrat Bill Clinton ran against Republican George H.W. Bush. During the campaign, Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton, defended her...

Talking politics with Iowa's teen elector.(Q&A)(Brief Article)(Interview)
September 20, 2004... Kiran Patel's passion for politics has earned her a rare distinction. The Democratic Party selected the 18-year-old from Des Moines to represent Iowa in the Electoral College in December. UPFRONT spoke to the University of Iowa freshman about...

Soldiers around the globe.(The Military)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
September 20, 2004... About 260,000 U.S. troops are stationed abroad. The places with the largest numbers (not counting Iraq and Afghanistan) are shown in the graph. Germany 71,592 South Korea 39,707 Japan ...

Are students better, or just their grades?(Education)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Are A's in cortege easier to get nowadays? A's make up about half the grades at many elite schools, according to a recent survey of leading universities. At Princeton, A's accounted for 47 percent of grades last year, up from 31 percent in the...

Extreme ironing gathers steam.(Sports)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Extreme sports fans, get ready for the latest hair-raising event: extreme ironing. The marriage of activities like cliff jumping and kayaking with what participants call "the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt," extreme ironing was born seven...

Death in Darfur: a bloody conflict in western Sudan has taken the lives of thousands and threatens a million more.(International)
September 20, 2004... Under the wide arms of an acacia tree, Khadija Adam Ahmed, 47, told how Sudanese soldiers stole her 75 cows during an attack on her village, shot at her feet to keep her from running, and then blocked the road to the refugee camps across the...

Selling the army in wartime: for many recruits, enlisting used to mean cash for college and few risks. But 9/11 and the war in Iraq have made signing up a more complicated decision.(National)
September 20, 2004... Last June, Katherine Jordan was filling her scrapbook with memories of her high-school years. By the end of August, she was set to graduate from U.S. Army basic training in South Carolina. Jordan, 18, says she joined the Army because she wanted...

According to the latest poll ... These days, it's hard to turn on a TV or open a newspaper without seeing a poll. But not all polls are created equal, and it can be tricky figuring out what they really mean--if they mean anything at all.
September 20, 2004... A hypothetical public-opinion poll shows President George W. Bush Senator John Kerry by a margin of 48 to 43 percent. A poll the next month shows Kerry leading Bush by 47 to 44. Has there been a big shift in how people plan to vote? Maybe....

What's next for the Supreme Court? When the Justices return from their summer recess, they will consider the constitutionality of the death penalty for juvenile offenders. Also on the docket: the future of the Court itself.(National)
September 20, 2004... Four years ago, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court halted a recount of votes in Florida in the disputed 2000 presidential election between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush and effectively made Bush the President. In June of...

From boom to bust: the crash of '29: in the roaring '20s, Americans thought that the good times would last forever. Then came Black Thursday.(Time Past)
September 20, 2004... At midnight on Oct. 24, 1929, Mary Pierce, the wife of a wealthy New York financier, threw a party on the Berengaria, the ocean liner she was taking from England to New York. "I just thought anyone who loses $160,000 on the stock market in a...

Off the sidelines: cheerleading is now a varsity sport at the University of Maryland, but not everyone's cheering.(Sports)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Last year, Maryland became the first university to grant varsity status and athletic scholarships to its competitive cheer team (separate from the spirit squad that cheers on the sidelines at football and basketball games). It is a distinction...

A young scientist's life: it's not all in the lab.(Voices)
September 20, 2004... It was the final week of the Intel Science Talent Search last March in Washington, D.C., and I was having dinner with some new friends. Boris and Linda were sitting on my right. They were exploring math problems on a dinner napkin. To my left...

Right axis, wrong evil.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... President Bush should have worried about the Axis of Evil in the order of the threat posed: North Korea, which has nukes; Iran, which almost has nukes; Iraq, which wanted nukes. The 9/11 Commission report has new evidence that Iran may have...

On social issues, Kerry is the great straddler.(Opinion)(John Kerry)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... To avoid offending any voters, John Kerry has come down on both sides of three social issues: He says he opposes the death penalty--except for terrorists; he has long identified himself with a woman's right to choose abortion, but recently...

Letting the dying choose how to bid farewell.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Critics including Attorney General John Ashcroft have tried to block Oregon's Death With Dignity law on the ground that it undermines the sanctity of life. But this law [which permits terminally ill residents of Oregon to end their own lives...

Is the U.S. ready for electronic voting? Experts are divided over whether the benefits outweigh the security and reliability risks.(Debate)
September 20, 2004... YES It became clear during the 2000 presidential election that voting equipment nationwide was inaccurate and outdated. In Georgia, 94,000 ballots (3.49 percent of the total cast) did not register a vote for President, in part because of...

Cartoons.(Comic)(Cartoon)
September 20, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: YOU WILL MAKE IT FIT, SOLDIER! Jeff Parker * Florida Today * Caglecartoons.com SPOT THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM! Kevin Kallaugher * The Economist (London) * Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate ...

Letter from the editor.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
September 20, 2004... UPFRONT's mission is helping teachers bring current events into their classrooms, and connecting what's happening in the world with their curriculums. But, as you well know, getting teens to focus on anything is a challenge! That's why we also...