Newsweek articles from April 2004

Newsweek archives from April 2004

The Elephant In the Room; If the president, and the presidential candidate, understand how the attacks changed us, they will change the spirit of their campaigns.(investigation into political backdrop of September 11 terrorist attacks)(Column)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Anna Quindlen Sometimes the big jets fly so low over the Hudson that you'd swear if you squinted hard you could see the profiles of the passengers sitting in the window seats. I'm not the only one who follows their path across the...

Father of a Revolution; Here's the man who invented modern industrial design.(Christopher Dresser)(Biography)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Cathleen McGuigan You may find it hard to believe that all the stuff in "Shock of the Old," the current show at the Cooper-Hewitt museum in New York, was designed in one era, let alone by one man. From richly patterned wallpaper...

War in the First Degree; Rethinking 1914, and the fraught century it produced.(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Malcolm Jones The great tragedy of World War I, so the popular conception goes, is that it was so unnecessary. The assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, touched off a series of...

Theodore Rex; Ted Williams's sad, funny saga, from Superman to Everyman.(Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero)(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Byline: David Gates When Ted Williams was at the end of his life, bedridden and paralyzed from a stroke, one of his nurses got to wondering who this guy was and went online. "Mr. Williams," she told him, "I read up on you last night. You...

Breaking the Brokers; As housing prices keep heading through the roof, more sellers are balking at paying full commissions. Some agents are even joining in this homegrown rebellion.(real estate brokers)(Industry Overview)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Daniel McGinn When Larry and Jean Weed of Sparks, Nev., decided to sell their home, they invited some real-estate agents by for a visit. Most offered to sell the house the old-fashioned way, by listing it in the local brokers'...

Retailing: Trading Spaces, And Jabs; Home Depot and Lowe's duke it out over fixer-uppers.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Peg Tyre Laurie Gearhart of Marietta, Ga., is the kind of customer who gives Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli nightmares. When Gearhart needs parts for her sink, she shops at Home Depot. But for paint, garden supplies and hardware, she...

Conventional Wisdom; March Madness Edition.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Maybe Bush's 'no WMD under his desk' joke was ill-timed, but hearings distributed plenty of blame to go around for both his and Clinton's admins. CW Bush = Hearings are unwelcome exploration into his primary-campaign premise:...

In the Wake of Spain's Immeasurable Grief.(Letter to the Editor)
April 5, 2004... As the world mourned the victims of the train bombings in Madrid, the subject of our March 22 cover story, readers also voiced their outrage. Some were concerned about playing into terrorists' hands, given the surprise outcome in the Spanish...

Generation Born Free; 'Granny must groove,' rap the youth in South Africa. But do they know how she fought for their freedom?
April 5, 2004... Byline: Tom Masland The African National Congress bused teenagers to downtown Johannesburg by the hundreds last week for a Human Rights Day holiday festival. For old activists, the venue conjured up the sting of tear gas: Newtown, with its...

Guns Over Gaza; Israel's assassination of the Hamas spiritual leader was not just another eye for an eye. It was part of a broader strategy.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Joshua Hammer, With Dan Ephron in Gaza When Israel killed Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin with a missile last week, the assassination appeared to be just another tit-for-tat strike in a game of escalating violence. Tens of...

Terrorists Don't Need States; The danger is less that a state will sponsor a terror group and more that a terror group will sponsor a state--as happened in Afghanistan.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Fareed Zakaria, Write the author at comments@fareedzakaria.com. Stepping away from the partisan screaming going on these days, the 9/11 commission hearings and--far more revealing--the panel's staff reports paint a fascinating...

Spies: Too Little Sharing; One big flaw revealed by 9/11 was the lack of cooperation among American spy agencies. It's still a sore point.(Cover Story)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Michael Hirsh and Mark Hosenball, With John Barry How prepared is America for the next 9/11? The Bush administration's response to the U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies' failure to communicate is the Terrorist Threat...

The Editor's Desk.(9/11 investigation)(Editorial)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Mark Whitaker It was one of the most haunting moments of Richard Clarke's riveting testimony before the 9/11 commission. Trying to cut through all the "what ifs," former Democratic congressman Tim Roemer asked the ex-terrorism czar...

Show us your soul; On her new CD, Janet hides in plain sight.(Damita Jo)(Sound Recording Review)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Lorraine Ali On the kickoff track of the new "Damita Jo," Janet Jackson's eighth album, she whispers, "We're vulnerable"--and who would know better what it's like to stand exposed? Her Super Bowl debacle/accident/publicity stunt...

Black like whom? Justin loses cred.(few white artists have enjoyed as much support among African- Americans as Timberlake but some believe he showed his true color after Janet Jackson's wardrobe infamously malfunctioned at the Super Bowl)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Allison Samuels Has Justin Timberlake's all-access pass to the black entertainment universe been revoked? Few white artists have enjoyed as much support among African- Americans as Timberlake, thanks to a debut solo CD jammed with...

Meet the punisher; Lars von Trier devastates audiences--and actresses.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Dana Thomas Lars von Trier stretches out on the Louis XIV sofa in his hotel room in Trollhattan, Sweden, where he's just started his next film, "Manderlay," and puts his hands behind his head. "So, you are the shrink?" he says to...

Another damsel, deep in distress.(Dogville)(Movie Review)
April 5, 2004... Byline: David Ansen At the lurid heart of all of Lars von Trier's recent melodramas is a woman bravely suffering the slings and arrows of the cruelest fortune that fate (a.k.a. von Trier) can dish out. His chosen victim this time is Nicole...

A Woman Can Learn Anything a Man Can; I worried that my gender was holding me back, until I realized the boys were studying just as hard.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Carolyn Turk, Turk lives in Silver Spring, Md. When I was a kid, everything in my bedroom was pink. I have two sisters and we had a complete miniature kitchen, a herd of My Little Ponies and several Barbie and Ken dolls. We didn't...

The Insider; The Town Crier: He came, he bore witness and he sent Washington into a frenzy. How Richard Clarke fueled a firestorm over who's to blame for 9/11, why two presidents missed the warning signs--and what we can learn to keep it from happening again.(Cover Story)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Evan Thomas, Michael Isikoff and Tamara Lipper, With John Barry, Daniel Klaidman, Pat Wingert and Mark Hosenball in Washington What does Richard Clarke have against Condoleezza Rice? In his book, "Against All Enemies," Clarke, the...

Party Of One; Joining forces: The stars were aligned, and the Clarke buzz was loud. But the Dems are still struggling to dent Bush's wartime appeal.(Cover Story)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Howard Fineman, With Richard Wolffe, Tamara Lipper and Holly Bailey in Washington Weeks before Richard Clarke's assault, the anti-Bush universe was alive with anticipatory chatter. "Clarke's book is going to be devastating," a...

The Books: The Kiss-and-Tell Club; Sometimes they avenge. Sometimes they expose. Sometimes, they even sell. The political memoir, through the ages.(Critical Essay)(Cover Story)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Michael Beschloss, Presidential historian Beschloss's latest book is "The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany." In 1939 Raymond Moley, a onetime member of Franklin Roosevelt's "brain trust,"...

A Moment of Moral Clarity; After unconscionable foot-dragging by the White House, we're beginning to get to the bottom of the most searing event of our time.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Jonathan Alter On Sept. 14, 2001, I was in the press pool at ground zero and stood five feet from President Bush, who had mounted a crushed fire truck, slung his arm around an exquisitely wizened firefighter and told the world...

Bonds of Steel; Keeping faith: The families of 9/11 victims are a mighty force. Ask the White House, the commission--or anyone else in their way.(Cover Story)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Pat Wingert, With Tamara Lipper, Holly Bailey, Martha Brant, Karen Breslau and Rebecca Sinderbrand For two long days last week, Lorie Van Auken sat in a stiff, armless chair in the 9/11 commission hearing room, right behind the...

Newsmakers.(Interview)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Devin Gordon Q&A: ELISHA CUTHBERT On TV's "24," she plays the perpetually imperiled Kim Bauer. On April 9, she stars in the teen comedy "The Girl Next Door" as a sweetheart with a not-so-sweet secret. Elisha Cuthbert spilled...

Perspectives.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Quotation sources from top to bottom: Associated Press, USA Today, The Washington Post, London Telegraph, USA Today, Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Daily News, E! Online, UPI "I changed my mind. I didn't want to...

Chalabi: A Questionable Use of U.S. Funding.(Ahmad Chalabi )
April 5, 2004... Byline: Mark Hosenball and Michael Hirsh Ahmad Chalabi has never paid much attention to rules. As an international financier, he was convicted in absentia in 1992 of embezzling millions from his own bank in Jordan. In the mid-'90s, the CIA...

Kucinich: 'I'm Still a Candidate!'.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Susannah Meadows With Howard Dean's endorsement of John Kerry last week, the Democratic Party finally appeared to be united around its presumptive nominee. At a fund-raiser in Washington, even Al Sharpton engaged in public displays...

Lots of Mea, Little Culpa.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Peg Tyre Before last week, former New York Times executive editor Howell Raines still had a few friends left in the New York Times newsroom. The new issue of the Atlantic Monthly will probably change that. In it, Raines offers a...

Kerry: A Help to the Hairless.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Daniel McGinn During his drive to clinch the Democratic nod, John Kerry has had his biography dissected. But one chapter remains largely unexamined. From 1979 to '82, Kerry was a Boston lawyer who developed a unique specialty:...

Evolution: Lucy Who?(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Mary Carmichael The story of Lucy, man's famous upright-walking ancestor, may be almost as well known as the Creation story. Since her discovery in 1974, scientists have painted her as chimplike, one of the earliest creatures to...

Cartoons: Having a 'Bad Time'.(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Bret Begun If you think cartoons are funny, pick up Bruce Eric Kaplan's new collection, out this week. The New Yorker regular (and TV writer) got literary with NEWSWEEK's Bret Begun: You called this collection "This Is a Bad...

Cheney: 'Sisters' Gets Outed.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Holly Bailey In 1981, long before her husband was elected vice president, Lynne Cheney wrote "Sisters," a steamy bodice-ripper set in the 19th-century American West, featuring vivid tales of whorehouses, attempted rapes, a...

China, Trade And Progress; Working conditions in China today don't look too different from those in the United States a century ago, when we were first industrializing.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Robert J. Samuelson The test of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing views... at the same time and still retain the ability to function," F. Scott Fitzgerald once said. So it is with China and trade. On the one...

Snap Judgement.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Susan H. Greenberg, David Gates, Barbara Kantrowitz BOOKS Little Children By Tom Perrotta In this satirical suburban novel, a failed lawyer and stay-at-home dad embarks on a needy affair with a doctoral student turned...

The Diva Grapevine; With style and charm, 10 savvy friends from Boston are changing the world of women and wine, one glass at time.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Mark Starr The dishes are sublime, from the salmon and caramelized onion dip that whets appetites to the classic caramel flan that caps the meal. So, too, is the dish, a veritable tour of sex and their city, from the surprise Vegas...

Health Care Made Easy; A smart graphic guide through the medical maze.(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Barbara Kantrowitz Finding your way through the health-care system these days can be overwhelming. The problem often is not too little information but too much--from dozens of books, magazines, Web sites and support groups, to...

Doughnuts in the Dark; New treatments offer hope for night eating disorders.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Anne Underwood Shelly's Snack Shop was the name that Brian Egemo of Badger, Iowa, applied to his wife's side of the bed. In 1994 Shelly, who had been a sleepwalker as a child, began sleepwalking again. But this time, her nightly...

A New Face In Space; An inventor plans to be the next civilian to blast off.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Brad Stone Employees are whispering at the Princeton, N.J. -based Sensors Unlimited. CEO Gregory Olsen, typically a self-professed "nose to the grindstone" workaholic, has been disappearing for weeks at a time and, when he does...

Waterworld.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Mary Carmichael Given the lack of intelligent life on Mars (sorry, sci-fi buffs), it's been busy up there lately. First, European astronomers spotted, via satellite, water at the planet's south pole in the form of an ice cap. The...

Health: Helping Depressed Kids.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Mary Carmichael It was a news story certain to stoke public fears. Last week the FDA announced that antidepressants, the very drugs that were supposed to lift patients out of emotional danger, might cause some of them to worsen and...

Food: Parisian Bakeries.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Alison Brooks A stale croissant? Quelle horreur! Two new French guidebooks, "Le Guide des Boulangeries de Paris" ($16.70; amazon.fr) and "Chercher le Pain" ($23; amazon.fr), will help you avoid the unthinkable on your next trip....

Medicine: Keep The Doc Away.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Anne Underwood Do you think that one-a-day multivitamins are just for children? Think again. A panel of 19 leading health and nutrition experts now says grown-ups should take them, too. "The conventional wisdom has been that we eat...

Road Test: Audi TT; Sticky as bazooka.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Tara Weingarten When I have to give back my Audi TT DSG6 tester, I'm going to cry. For the past few days, I've been zipping through southern California canyons, feeling more like Formula racing's Michael Schumacher than a suburban...

Sports: The Boys Of This Summer.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Mark Starr It's been a hot winter for baseball, mostly for all the wrong reasons. And you'd think there were only three teams: the Yankees, the Red Sox and the big steroids club. Here's what you need to know about the 2004 season:...

Money: More Time For Taxes.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Raina Kelley Stop! If you're having trouble sorting through last year's tax changes, don't fall on your sharpened pencil. Take a deep breath and buy yourself a little extra time. The IRS offers everybody an automatic four-month...

Ask Tip Sheet.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Lindsey Gerdes, Where does the term "piggy bank" come from and why is the pig associated with saving money? Why not a cow or a tiger, or some other animal? Catharine D. Hussain, Minneapolis It has more to do with semantics...

Technology: Return Mail.(BigString)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Jennifer Barrett It's an office classic. You fire off a catty e-mail about a co-worker--and realize a split second too late that you've sent it to the subject of your gossip. But once you've hit "send," it's gone, and there's...

Videogames: Prime Crimes.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Peter Suciu What do a broken engine part and a couple of smashed teeth mean? A lot, if you're a crime-scene investigator. Small clues like these can break a case wide open, but spotting them is just part of what it takes to solve...

Home: Closet Meals.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Sana Butler Too glued to "The Apprentice" to get a fresh cold one? Now you can build a refrigerator into any room of the house. New York City interior designer John Buscarello has seen demand for high-end refrigerators designed to...

Family: The ABC's Of Voting.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... Byline: Karen Springen Most kids can't wait to turn 16 so they can drive. Here's how to get them equally excited about turning 18, when they can vote. Hit the books. For elementary-school kids, check out Linda Granfield's "America...

Oscar Junior; An awards show you don't sleep through? Nickelodeon's given new meaning to the words 'Hollywood slime.'.(Kids' Choice Awards )
April 5, 2004... Byline: Marc Peyser Cameron Diaz is a much better burper than she lets on. She'll tell you how she has to really work at it, to practice her timing. "I'm not one of those natural burpers who can just swallow air and bring it back up. Mine...

Snap judgment: TV; Our critics steer you straight.(Redemption)(Looking for Fidel)(Rocked)(Television Program Review)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Marc Peyser Redemption April 11 at 8 p.m. ET, FX Jamie Foxx ("Ali") stepped away from comedy a few movies ago, but it's still a shock to see him in "Redemption. "Foxx plays Stanley (Tookie) Williams, the cofounder of the...

The Twelfth Book of Revelation; The Christian 'Left Behind' series combines profits and prophecy.(Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins )
April 12, 2004... Byline: Malcolm Jones, With Kristine Markwell in Spartanburg and Jamie Reno in San Diego Beverly Reynolds got to the Christian Supply Store in Spartanburg, S.C., at 5:30 p.m. last Tuesday. Along with 900 other fans, she was waiting in line...

Why Your Tax Cut Doesn't Add Up; Behind the promises to save you money, a hidden agenda is at work, with a stealth tax to pay for it all.(Cover Story)
April 12, 2004... Publisher correction: 20 April 2004 In our cover story about taxes, we wrote that $40,000 "is close to the mean income of all tax filers." We meant to say it was the median income of all tax filers. _____________ Byline: Allan Sloan, With...

Six Fixes for the Tax Mess; Sure, it's complicated. But there's something to be said for a little common sense.(Cover Story)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Allan Sloan It's all too easy to get lost in the fine print when it comes to taxes--both when you're filling out your return, and when you're trying to separate fact from financial fiction in the ongoing political debate about...

Conventional Wisdom; Special 'You're Hired' Edition.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Dem candidate, Kerry, has got his arm in a sling for the next couple of weeks. Was he winged by the zillions of Bush campaign ads? CW Bush = Finally good job numbers. But burned Americans are gruesome reminder that Iraq mission...

Mail Call; To Infinity and Beyond With a Search Engine.(Google)
April 12, 2004... Google users responded to our March 29 cover story with personal tales. One self-published author enthused that Google was the perfect way to "let others find me and my work." Another user explained how the search engine helped him diagnose his...

From Kosovo To Fallujah; America went to war in--well, over--Kosovo partly to protect Muslims. America's harvest of gratitude has not been bountiful.
April 12, 2004... Byline: George F. Will Last week's stomach-turning images from Fallujah--ecstatic children learning from adults the delights of creating and then mutilating corpses--were redundant reminders, but evidently necessary reminders, of how...

The Best Ways To Beat Terror; Open societies will have to get used to some invasions of privacy. We need pre-emption but against individuals more than states.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Fareed Zakaria, Write the author at comments@fareedzakaria.com. Last week the British government foiled what it believed was the largest terrorist plot ever in that country. Police arrested eight men, and seized half a ton of...

Has the War Made Us Safer? New Threats: Iraq has become a savage battleground--part of the world's first global insurgency. Time is running short to fix that.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Christopher Dickey and John Barry, With Gameela Ismail in Cairo A year ago this week, U.S. Marine Cpl. Edward Chin scaled the long arm of a tank-recovery vehicle to put a noose around the neck of Saddam Hussein's statue. Then he...

The Dark Road Ahead; Testing Time: The United States cannot afford to fail in Iraq. But its enemies seem to be multiplying.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Rod Nordland, Melinda Liu and Scott Johnson, With John Barry, Daniel Klaidman, Tamara Lipper and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Gameela Ismail in Cairo, Graphic by Meredith Sadin The video sells for less than $1 at any market in...

Avoiding the Cross Hairs; Everyone in Iraq has a survival strategy. Some slink around, trying to keep a low profile. Others favor armor and guns.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Rod Nordland They live in hiding. They move around Baghdad by stealth. They sneak into and out of the country by gloom of night, and when challenged by strangers for their nationality, they're ready with a practiced lie. Asked...

The Editor's Desk.(Editorial)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Mark Whitaker Every year, our Wall Street editor, Allan Sloan, goes to his accountant on President's Day. This year, he had an epiphany as he learned just how many Jacksons and Grants he was shelling out in taxes. Although...

Party like it's 2004; Prince is back--with new music and a newfound faith. Sure, he's changed, but he's still the man.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Lorraine Ali A technician is sound-checking the trademark purple guitar, and the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince is growing impatient. The 5-foot-2 singer adjusts the long poet sleeves of his white...

Politics as Usual Just Won't Cut It This Time; We put a man on the moon; surely we can hold an election with clear ballots and consistent guidelines.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Rose Lundblad, Lundblad lives in Huntington Beach, Calif. My earliest memory is of my mother casting her vote for president in 1956, when I was going on 3 years old. I remember holding her hand as we walked to the corner on a cold...

A New Window on the War Room; Condi Rice heads for the Hill as the battle over blame for 9/11 is joined.(National Commission on Terrorist Attacks)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Michael Isikoff, With Daniel Klaidman and Tamara Lipper The grainy photograph rolled off the fax machine at the White House counsel's office last Monday morning, along with a scribbled note that smacked of blackmail. If the White...

Learning to Heal; From Rwanda to Rosewood, Fla., people are salving the wounds of the past. Our contributing editor explores the quest for truth and reconciliation.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Ellis Cose, Adapted from "Bone to Pick: Of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Reparation and Revenge" by Ellis Cose, to be published by Simon & Schuster. (c) 2004 by Ellis Cose. Ellis Cose can be contacted at ellis@elliscose.com. The...

The Doctors' Orders; Rx for April: It's a treacherous lull, between nomination and convention. Democratic spinmeisters offer Kerry a remedy.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Howard Fineman, With Jamie Reno in California April can be a cruel month for presidential challengers. Wresting the White House from the other party isn't easy, and spring is a tricky defining time that can decide the race. Sen....

Newsmakers.(The Rock)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Nicki Gostin The Rock Unlike Hulk Hogan, The Rock (a.k.a. Dwayne Douglas Johnson) has successfully gone from chewing up opponents to chewing the scenery, most recently in "Walking Tall." He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin....

Perspectives.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Quotation sources from top to bottom: WPHT-AM, Associated Press, New York Daily News, Associated Press, Independent, Associated Press, The Washington Post, USA Today, FOX News, The Washington Post, Arizona Republic "He seems to be...

Exclusive: New Questions About Saudi Money--And Bandar.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Michael Isikoff A federal investigation into the bank accounts of the Saudi Embassy in Washington has identified more than $27 million in "suspicious" transactions--including hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to Muslim...

Interrogation: Al Qaeda and Anthrax.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Mark Hosenball According to documents obtained by NEWSWEEK, Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed told U.S. investigators after his capture last year that a high-ranking Qaeda lieutenant known as Khallad originally was...

Tyco Trial: It Wasn't 'OK' After All.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Keith Naughton, Barney Gimbel and Kyle Monson A juror in the Tyco case did not flash an OK sign to the defense during deliberations, NEWSWEEK has learned. Juror Glenn Andrews told NEWSWEEK that his fellow juror Ruth Jordan "did not...

Business: Getting a Beat on BMW.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Keith Naughton In the image-conscious luxury-car business, BMW has always been the car to beat. The Ultimate Driving Machine doesn't sell the best, but it laps the competition when it comes to cachet. Now, though, BMW is catching a...

Publishing: the drama of the comma.(Eats, Shoots & Leaves)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Elise Soukup You don't need to be a grammar nerd to enjoy this one: A panda walks into a cafe and orders a sandwich. After he eats, he pulls out a gun and fires two shots in the air. As he's leaving, he tosses a poorly punctuated...

Action flicks: one helluva concept.(Hellboy)(Movie Review)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Sean Smith "Hellboy" should not be a box-office smash: almost every studio passed on it, it's based on a small comic with a cult following, and it stars not Tobey Maguire or Ben Affleck but an actor best known as the beast in the...

Fast Chat: Joining the Rat Race.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Elise Soukup Every New Yorker has a rat story. Robert Sullivan, who spent a year observing rats in a Manhattan alley, published his in "Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants." He ratted...

Ballparks: Big Leagues, Bitty Burgers.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Julie Scelfo The joys of a ballpark visit have long included partaking in a major-league snackfest: peanuts, Cracker Jack, hot dogs--plus a beer or three to wash it all down. But at stadiums across the country last week, food...

Why I Buy Only Mutual Funds; I'm the anti-swinger, and refuse to join the latest investing fads. Nothing beats the performance over the long haul of a boring index fund.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn, Reporter associate: Temma Ehrenfeld If you believe the hype, mutual funds are oh-so- yesterday. They're boring, old-fashioned, meant for the masses--not for younger, cooler types. Those in the know pick their own...

Ms. Top Cop; Women are shattering the once-bulletproof glass ceiling at some of the nation's toughest urban police departments.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Peg Tyre When Boston's Mayor Thomas Menino swore in his city's 38th police commissioner in early February, he followed tradition. As bagpipes played, the new top cop took an oath to serve and received a gold-plated badge. Menino's...

New Star on the newsstand? Bonnie Fuller's latest is a familiar mix of glitz and gossip.(Periodical Review)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Peg Tyre After 12 weeks of testing and rejiggering, former Us Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller last week rolled out her revamped Star magazine nationwide and--shocker!--the erstwhile supermarket tabloid looks almost exactly like Us...

Preachers and Porn; With temptation online, they need help logging off.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Dirk Johnson and Hilary Shenfeld Alone in his study at a church in suburban Dallas, Pastor Bernie Anderson toiled on his sermon. Searching for the proper message for his Seventh-Day Adventist flock, the preacher turned to the...

'I thought Carolyn would be proud'.(The Other Man: A Love Story, John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette, & Me)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Julie Scelfo Michael Bergin may not be much of an actor; his last part was in a film called "Autopsy Room Four." And his modeling career--once reaching the heights of a Calvin Klein underwear ad--is as over as his small part on...

Money: Congrats!--Now Pay Up.(college tuition)
April 12, 2004... Byline: Linda Stern Last week most anxious high schoolers found out whether they were accepted into the college of their choice. If your son or daughter got the fat envelope he or she was hoping for, there's probably been a big celebration...