New York Times Upfront articles from September 2006

New York Times Upfront archives from September 2006

Using magnifying glasses.(news & TRENDS)(Matsumura Technology specializes in counterfeit bill detection)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Using magnifying glasses, workers at Matsumura Technology in Tokyo compare blown-up sections of counterfeit $100 biLLs against a genuine bill that has been enlarged 400 times. According to the company, which specializes in the production of...

Attached to their patients.(MEDICINE)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Leeches--small, bloodsucking animals related to earthworms--are making a comeback in the medical world. Surgeons have found that the medicinal leech, or Hirudo medicinalis, helps heal skin grafts and reattached fingers and ears. When a leech...

Banned from the stands.(IRAN)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... This spring, for the first time since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iranian women were allowed to enter a stadium and root for their country's national soccer team--although the women sat in a section apart from the men. President Mahmoud...

Cyber-snitching.(CHINA)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... To her fellow students at Shanghai Normal University, Hu Yingying appears to be just another typical undergraduate. And given the double life that she leads, coming across as ordinary is just fine. When she's not in crass or studying, Hu spends...

Numbers in the news.
September 4, 2006... 1.23 cents Cost for the U.S. Hint to manufacture a penny, due to the rising cost of metals--up 27 percent over last year. SOURCE: USA TODAY 63% Percentage of Americans 18-24 who were unable to locate Iraq on a world map; 11...

Noted & quoted.(SOUNDBITES)
September 4, 2006... 'All, I know is that the tutor's name is Mike and that he helped me ace my test.' --A cortege junior in Washington, D.C., on being tutored online by "Mike" (whose real name is Mahakali Murthy) in Bangalore, India. The use of tutors from...

Sugary drinks flunk out.(EDUCATION)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Don't be surprised if cola, grape soda, and sweetened iced tea don't show up for school, this fall. Under an agreement with health advocates, the top three soft-drink makers in the U.S. [CocaCola, PepsiCo, and Cadbury Schweppes) will remove...

A sophomore with an off-killer major.(O&A)(Interview)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Nick Hudson, 19, knows how to please a crowd with church hymns and AC/DC covers. But the nation's only bagpipe major, a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, especially loves playing traditional Scottish music. Upfront talked...

Is your state ready?(SECURITY)
September 4, 2006... The dark-shaded states were judged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to have inadequate disaster preparedness.

Fast-food orders go long distance.(TECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Like many American teenagers, Julissa Vargas, 17, works in the fast-food industry. But she's probably never been inside any of the McDonald's where her customers are ordering their burgers and fries. Instead, she's at a bustling call center in...

Coach pitches physics.(SPORTS)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Like every varsity baseball player at his high school, in Mattituck, N.Y., Joe Finora was required to take a class in physics. And he did learn a thing or two that helped him on the bait field. For example, air resistance coupled with gravity...

The debate over immigration: 200 years & counting: America may be a nation of immigrants, but we haven't always welcomed newcomers with open arms.
September 4, 2006... "Few of their children in the country learn English." They "will never adopt our language or customs, any more than they can acquire our complexion." A volley from today's heated debate over immigration? Not quite. That was Benjamin...

Do Americans pay enough for gas? Americans are screaming about $3-a-gallon gas, but fitting up in other countries can cost twice as much.(INTERNATIONAL)
September 4, 2006... This spring, as Americans paid upward of $3 a gallon to fill their gas tanks, Congress scrambled for quick fixes to assuage angry voters. In April, the House approved steep new penalties for oil companies convicted of "price gouging" (even...

The day that changed the world: five years after 9/11, the U.S. and the world are very different places.(Cover story)
September 4, 2006... We all remember where we were and what we were doing on Sept. 11, 2001, when 9/11 went from being just another date to a phrase that needs no explanation. From across the street or across the globe, we watched it all happen in real time. "It's...

India: quotas vs. the caste system: affirmative action can be an even more emotional issue in India than in the United States.(INTERNATIONAL)
September 4, 2006... The problem of caste prejudice in India is as ancient as the country's Hindu texts. In the last 15 years, an economic boom has lifted millions of people out of poverty, and India is now home to one of the world's largest and best-educated work...

Is our planet in peril? Many scientists fear that global warming is slowly threatening Earth's future.(ENVIRONMENT)
September 4, 2006... Throughout much of the 20th century, environmental problems were clear and present dangers. It was possible to see and smell the results: Factories and cars spewed dark clouds over cities like Los Angeles. Raw sewage poured into rivers. Eagles'...

1971: 18-Year-olds get the vote: with the Vietnam war as a backdrop, the 26th Amendment to the Constitution towered the voting age from 21.(TIMES PAST)
September 4, 2006... The explosive youth movement of the 1960s was born in the civil rights era and blossomed into a full-blown counterculture on college campuses and at music festivals like Woodstock in 1969. Young people believed they had a lot to say in the...

Should Iraq be split up in order to save it? Violence between Sunnis and Shiites could destroy Iraq. One idea is dividing the country along sectarian lines.(DEBATE)
September 4, 2006... YES To in Iraq, the U.S. must get beyond the false choice between "staying the course" and "bringing the troops home now." We must choose a third way. The idea is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious...

9/11/01: A school day like no other.(VOICES)
September 4, 2006... Sept. 11, 2001, was my fourth day of sixth grade. I had just started middle school at IS-89, four blocks from the World Trade Center. I remember forcing myself to focus on my teacher's lesson about ancient Egypt, when I noticed I had forgotten...

Students for sweatshops!(OPINION)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Well-meaning American university students regularly campaign against sweatshops. But instead, anyone who cares about fighting poverty should campaign in favor of them, demanding that companies set up factories in Africa. Sure, sweatshop work is...

In Connecticut, it's ok to win--just not by too much.(OPINION)(Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... In May, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs the state's high school sports activities, came up with a rule that penalizes coaches whose teams stomp all over their opponents. Under the new policy, coaches have to...

The class of 2006 at Montgomery Blair High.(OPINION)(Tony Blair)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Muhammad Waqar, Yiran Xia, Ramona Singh, Yueyang Li, Ekta Taneja, and Jessica Smith... I went to a high school graduation in June, and a U.N. meeting broke out. The commencement was my daughter's, and the high school was Montgomery Blair in...

Cartoons.(Cartoon)
September 4, 2006... I found WMDs and a typo. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WE'VE GOT A PLAN... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WE'VE GOT A CAMPAIGN MESSAGE... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WE'VE GOT A DETAILED OUTLINE TO DEFEAT THE REPUBLICANS... ...

Letter from the editor.(Editorial)
September 4, 2006... With all that's going on in the world, the year ahead promises to be a momentous one for America--and a challenge for you to make sense of it all for your students. To help bring some of the key issues into focus, Upfront is planning three...

Immigration: by the numbers.(GRAPH > NATIONAL)
September 4, 2006... As noted in the article "The Debate Over Immigration: 200 Years & Counting," the number of immigrants coming to America has varied widely over the years, depending on conditions overseas and on the political climate in the U.S., which has been...

Security vs. civil liberties.(CARTOON ANALYSIS)(Brief article)
September 4, 2006... Study the political cartoon below, which addresses one of the most controversial issues America has had to face in the post-9/11 world, and answer the questions at right. ... WE'RE TAPPING YOUR PHONES... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ... ...

Game show.
September 4, 2006... 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. Cart on the first team...

Urged on by robotic jockeys, camels charge down a racetrack in the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar.(news & TRENDS)
September 18, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: URGED ON by robotic jockeys, camels charge down a racetrack in the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar. The robots are remotely controlled by camel, trainers. Previously, boys as young as 4 rode in camel races....

China's lucky numbers.(CARS)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Achieving China's new middle-class dream means owning a car. But the car is not always enough: A license plate with lucky numbers has become almost as much of a status symbol as the vehicle itself. In Chinese culture, the luckiest number is 8;...

Before there were Newtons.(ANCIENT WORLD)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... In the ruins of a prehistoric village in the West Bank, near Jericho, scientists have found the charred remains of figs that appear to be the earliest-known cultivated fruit. Researchers say the figs, which are about 11,400 years old, came from...

Scalpel, suture, iPod.(MEDICINE)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Like most of modern life, surgery has acquired a soundtrack. Surgeons say music relaxes them and focuses their attention, and recent research shows that there are also mild benefits for the patient. Some doctors choose loud rock 'n' roll for...

Numbers in the news.(news & TRENDS)
September 18, 2006... 700% Percentage increase in pencil sales in Britain--reportedly due to the sudoku craze. SOURCE THE INDEPENDENT [LONDON] $17.3 million Price paid at auction for four rare Revolutionary War battle flags--more than the cost of...

Noted & quoted.(SOUNDBITES)
September 18, 2006... 'For me... five minutes of gaming would never be enough. I would just keep going until I crashed out.' * HYKE VAN DER HEIJDEN, 28, who has completed treatment at an Amsterdam detox clinic for video-game addicts. [Associated Press] ...

A striking woman.(SPORTS)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Kelly Kulick is trading in a job at her father's auto-body shop, where she is the tone woman surrounded by men, for life on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour--where she will also be the lone woman surrounded by men. Kulick, a...

At the movies: the end of soggy popcorn?(Q&A)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Mitchell Duffy, 16, a junior at Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, Wash., takes his popcorn seriously. He's invented the "Butter Blaster," a device that evenly disperses butter throughout an entire bucket of concession-stand popcorn. Duffy, who...

Why we change places.(POPULATION)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Differences in housing costs, job opportunities, and climate are among the main reasons that Americans pack up and move to other parts of the country. States that lost the most residents, 2000-2004 New York 182,886 California...

He thanks heaven for 7-Eleven.(AMERICANA)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Marty Siegel's passion for 7-Eleven began 21 years ago, when he first laid eyes on one that had just opened in Brooklyn, N.Y. "It was such a bright, nice-looking new store, a real fresh breath of suburban air," says Siegel 46, a train conductor...

India elects a new Idol.(ENTERTAINMENT)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... This past spring, eight finalists gathered at a TV studio in Mumbai (also known as Bombay) for the weekly taping of Indian Idol The singers were art in their late teens and 20s; each dreamed of making it big in Hollywood, India's movie...

Faces of terror?(NATIONAL)
September 18, 2006... One day last month, a man approaching an airport security checkpoint at Dulles Airport outside Washington kept picking up and putting down his backpack and touching his fingers to his chin. Finally, he reached for his pack of cigarettes, even...

Election lottery: vote to win.(voting participation to be increased with lottery)(Survey)
September 18, 2006... For anyone who ever said, "I wouldn't vote for that bum for a million bucks," Arizona may be calling your bluff: A proposal to award $1 million in every general election to one lucky voter chosen by lottery will be on the ballot in November....

The not so United States: on many of today's hottest issues, the states are ignoring Washington and going their own way. Is this what the Founding Fathers had in mind?(NATIONAL)
September 18, 2006... If you're paid the minimum wage at your part-time job, you might want to flip burgers or stock shelves in Washington State, which has enacted the highest minimum wage in the country, $7.63 an hour. Are you itching to help fight global warming?...

Guess who's looking at your Web page: college-admissions officials and employers are starting to check out candidates on Web sites like Facebook and MySpace.(Cover story)
September 18, 2006... One recent university graduate may still be wondering why she didn't get a job offer from Green Ivy Educational Consulting, which teaches organizational skills to high school students in the San Francisco area. Ana Homayoun, who runs the...

Fidel's finale? When Cuba's dictator was sidelined by illness, Castro's younger brother assumed power. What, if anything, will happen?(INTERNATIONAL)
September 18, 2006... Fidel Castro's determination to keep control of Cuba's government is legendary. Two years ago, he refused general anesthesia for surgery to repair a broken knee. Anesthetized from the waist down, Castro remained awake for the three-hour...

Israel vs. Hezbollah: what was their month-long war all about--and what does it mean for the Middle East and for America's role in the region?(INTERNATIONAL)
September 18, 2006... The United Nations cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah seemed to be holding as summer ended. But the fragile deal leaves many questions unresolved, with great uncertainty about where the Middle East is headed and what role the United States...

1979: Iran's Islamic revolution: after the overthrow of the Shah, an American ally became one of its biggest adversaries.(TIMES PAST)
September 18, 2006... Tehran, Iran's capital, was in a state of revolt on Jan. 19, 1979. The Shah, Iran's ruler for nearly four decades, had fled the country. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite Muslim cleric who had worked for years to overthrow the Shah, was...

Does class rank make the grade? Many high schools have stopped ranking students, forcing colleges to put more weight on SAT scores.(EDUCATION)
September 18, 2006... Every year, colleges across the country are flooded with thousands of applications, and admissions officers spend countless hours poring over essays, recommendation letters, transcripts, and SAT and ACT scores in search of the perfect...

Should the federal minimum wage be raised? Seventeen states have set their minimum wages higher than the federal rate of $5.15 an hour. Congress is now debating a boost.(DEBATE)
September 18, 2006... YES The wages we pay our workers are a reflection of what we value as a nation. Americans value hard work. We believe that people who work should be able to build a better life for their families. But today, too many Americans are working hard...

Working for safer cosmetics: a California teenager headed to the state capital in her effort to make sure the ingredients in cosmetics are safe.(VOICES)
September 18, 2006... I started wearing makeup when I was 13, and soon I was using all kinds of products: lipstick, mascara, nail polish, etc. It never occurred to me that I should wonder what was in them. I would just go to the mall and buy whatever I'd seen...

Drug-fueled superstars.(OPINION)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... Justin Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter dash, has tested positive (along with cyclist Floyd Landis) for performance-enhancing drugs. Next we'll learn that Mary Poppins was able to fly because she was using anabolic...

Would you like a gas guzzler with your chicken Mcnuggets?(OPINION)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... When General Motors introduced the 11-miles-to-the-gallon Hummer H2 four years ago, it redefined American extravagance. But now, with gas at more than $3 a gallon, sales of Hummers are declining, as Americans become increasingly conscious of...

In China, 120 million Netizens challenge Communist control.(OPINION)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... China is not the police state that its leaders sometimes would like it to be; the Communist Party's monopoly on information is crumbling, and its monopoly on power will follow. The Internet is chipping away at the party, for even 30,000 censors...

Cartoons.(Comic)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... ... . AFTER SEVEN HOURS OF WADING THROUGH HEIGHTENED AIRPORT SECURITY, LARRY FACED ONE FINAL CHALLENGE... WALT HANDELSMAN * Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.) * TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "SAVOUR THESE DAYS, SON......

Letter from the editor.(Letter to the editor)
September 18, 2006... In this issue, we examine what was behind this summer's month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah, and what it means for the Mideast and for America's role in the region. In a related article, we look back at Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution:...

The Middle East, by the numbers.(GRAPH: INTERNATIONAL)(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... This summer's conflict between Israel and Hezbollah raised many questions about the balance of power in the Middle East, and America's rote in this volatile region. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has fought six wars with its Arab neighbors,...

Game show.(Brief article)
September 18, 2006... 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. Cal on the first team...