Newsweek articles from November 2005

Newsweek archives from November 2005

A Light in the Piazza; Once outrageous architect Renzo Piano now shows a quiet elegance. Did he lose his edge--or find his soul?
November 7, 2005... Byline: Cathleen McGuigan It's easy to forget that the elegant Italian architect Renzo Piano's first big commission was totally outrageous. Thirty-five years ago, he and British colleague Richard Rogers teamed up to build the Pompidou...

A Misfit--And a Master; A new show by the all-American loner Andrew Wyeth.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Peter Plagens The great--yes, great-- American painter Andrew Wyeth just doesn't fit in. The Museum of Modern Art hangs "Christina's World"--its most popular picture--in a little hallway away from the canonical modernists. Critics...

A New Money Man; Ben Bernanke has a tough act to follow as Fed chairman.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Daniel McGinn and Richard Wolffe (With Holly Bailey) When Ben Bernanke left his post at the Federal Reserve last spring to become President George W. Bush's top economic adviser, his work pals didn't give him much of a send-off....

Opinion: Reality Check on the Fed; The nation's central bank hates inflation, except the kind that's puffed up its reputation as an all-powerful agency.(Federal Reserve Board)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Allan Sloan We all like to believe that there's an all-knowing, all-powerful force looking after us. No, I'm not talking about organized religion and God. I'm talking about the widespread belief that an all-powerful Federal Reserve...

News as a Contact Sport; Sean McManus, the new honcho of CBS news, has joined a business in the throes of dizzying change.(CBS Inc. CBS Sports' competition with other channels' television news programs)
November 7, 2005... ***** CORRECTION: The initial version of this report referred to 'the late' sportscasting icon Jim McKay. At 84 years old, McKay has laid his sportscasting days to rest. But he remains very much alive, residing near Baltimore. NEWSWEEK...

Conventional Wisdom; The Prosecutor Speaks Edition.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Libby is first sitting White House aide to be indicted since Grant administration. But what about Novak leaker, "Official A," a.k.a. Karl Rove? CW Bush - Worst week of his presidency. Is he creative, open and humble...

Female Leadership in the 21st Century.(Letter to the Editor)
November 7, 2005... Women of all ages praised our Oct. 24 cover package for what one called "inspiring" stories on "How Women Lead." "Thank you for reminding us that women--whether CEOs or mothers--can and do change America in a unique way," said a 28-year-old...

'Eleven Men And Sic 'Em'; After Bear Bryant became a coach, many players became dangerously large specialists, dangerous to others--and themselves.(Paul 'Bear' Bryant)
November 7, 2005... Byline: George F. Will On Jan. 26, 1983, phone service through-out area code 205, which then included all of Alabama, crashed from overload. Was the cause a natural disaster? Yes. Oh, yes, something very natural--death--had claimed the...

Truth About Torture; A courageous soldier and a determined senator demand clear standards.(Ian Fishback)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Michael Hirsh Army Capt. Ian Fishback is plainly a very brave man. Crazy brave, even. Not only has the 26-year-old West Pointer done a tour in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, he has had the guts to suggest publicly that his boss,...

Grapes of Power and Frustration; South African blacks get into the wine-making biz.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Joshua Hammer Cecil Jaap's field of dreams begins just outside of Stellenbosch, in South Africa's wine-producing heartland. A former grape picker and wine taster who retired three years ago, Jaap, 58, had chafed for decades at the...

Lebanon: Sniffing Out Assassins; The murder of Rafik Hariri has gotten all the attention. But there are other killings, and another investigator is on the case.(Jean-Louis Bruguiere)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Kevin Peraino (With Christopher Dickey in Paris) Samir Kassir slouched in his chair and glanced out the window of his office above Martyr's Square in Beirut. A month earlier, the vast plaza was choked with almost a million...

'Failure Is Not an Option'; Washington's envoy to Iraq speaks out about the new Constitution, and his strategy for containing the insurgency.(Zalmay Khalilzad)(Interview)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Michael Hirsh Zalmay Khalilzad has been America's troubleshooter on the most important challenges facing the country. He recently finished a stint as the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, and now he's ambassador to Iraq. He spoke last...

Journalist, Jazzman, Gentleman; A collector of friends, Thomas Wootton Masland: 1950-2005.(Obituary)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Rod Nordland When our colleague Tom Masland stepped off the curb onto West End Avenue one rainy night last week, he had his funky little black bag over his left shoulder and his saxophone in a case in his right hand. His life was...

The Editor's Desk.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Mark Whitaker To understand how Washington really works, you have be more than just a reporter. You have to be part historian, part political scientist and part amateur psychologist. Evan Thomas is all those things (as well as one...

Next Stop Narnia; C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy novels finally hit the screen. Can the franchise soar? An exclusive first look at 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.'.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jeff Giles OK, action!" says the director. "You think you've found a good hiding place, Georgie. You're feeling for the back of the wardrobe." It's October 2004 on the set of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the...

Meeting The Family; Interview: The Narnia kids up close.(Interview)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jeff Giles The Pevensie children couldn't have been better cast. William Moseley plays Peter, who must lead an army. Anna Popplewell plays cautious Susan. Skandar Keynes is devious Edmund. And Georgie Henley is openhearted little...

A Man and His Myths; The creator of Narnia was a scholar, a drinker--and a believer.(C.S. Lewis)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Lisa Miller (With Ben Whitford) In 1949, the year he finished writing "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," C. S. Lewis was leading at least four different lives. His reputation as a Christian apologist had already been launched...

A Smile So Bright You Gotta Wear Shades; When even the dental hygienist thought I'd gone too far, I started to panic. Next stop, Mexico?
November 7, 2005... Byline: Kathleen Clary Miller (Miller lives in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) I am a recovering teeth whitener. As with most addictions, this one began innocently enough. A few years ago I asked my dentist a casual question: "By the way, how...

Flying Blind; Dark days: Singed by the special prosecutor and rattled by the Harriet Miers mess, Team Bush is in turmoil.(Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation on George W. Bush's presidency)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Howard Fineman and Richard Wolffe (With Holly Bailey) The mood in the White House last Friday afternoon was grim, but eerily quiet. Dick Cheney was gone, off in Georgia giving yet another apocalyptic terrorism speech to yet another...

Cheney's Cheney; Right hand: He was on a mission to protect the country from harm--and detonate critics in his path. Scooter Libby's ways and means.(Dick Cheney's political activity)(Cover Story)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Evan Thomas (With Michael Isikoff, Mark Hosenball, Daniel Klaidman and Steve Tuttle in Washington and Jessica Silver-Greenberg in New Haven Graphic by Andrew Romano and Karl Gude) The vice president and his chief aide often shared...

History: The Five-Year Itch; Second terms are often tough for our presidents. But today's dark clouds don't always dictate tomorrow's legacy.(Cover Story)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Michael Beschloss (Beschloss is the author, most recently, of 'The Conquerors.') In the fall of 1937, less than a year after winning re-election by the greatest popular landslide in history, Franklin Roosevelt was suffering from a...

Better Luck Next Time; What went wrong: Harriet Miers was asked to be candidate and campaign manager. Lessons learned from a failed Supreme Court pick.(judicial selection)(Cover Story)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Richard Wolffe (With Daniel Klaidman, Holly Bailey, Jonathan Darman and Stuart Taylor Jr.) The news only worsened as the day wore on. After a series of private soundings and informal head counts in the Senate, it was clear to...

The Price Of Loyalty; The consequences of a bias for loyalty over debate have been devastating. Issues don't get aired; downside risks remain unassessed.(United States war on Iraq)(Cover Story)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Alter The posthumous purple heart rested near the folded American flag on the modest dining-room table of his parents' home in Cleveland. Edward (Augie) Schroeder, a Boy Scout turned Marine, was killed along with 13 other...

A Legend's Soul Is Rested; 'I try to keep hope alive, but that's not always the easiest thing to do,' Parks wrote.(Rosa Parks)
November 7, 2005... ***** CORRECTION: In 'A Legend's Soul is Rested' (Nov. 7), a caption accompanying a mug shot of Rosa Parks was erroneously dated 1955. The photo was taken in 1956. NEWSWEEK regrets the error. ***** Byline: Ellis Cose ...

The Press: A Mighty Shield; The Fitzgerald probe laid bare the reporter-source relationship. Why smarter protection is needed.(Patrick Fitzgerald, Judith Miller arrested for subpoenaing)(Cover Story)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Ellis Cose For all the fuss made by The New York Times, it's less than clear that a federal shield law would have kept reporter Judith Miller out of jail. Patrick Fitzgerald apparently doubts it would have. In his press...

Newsmakers.(Zach Braff)(Sheryl Swoopes)(Interview)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Nicki Gostin, Devin Gordon Q&A: Zach Braff Zach Braff is expanding his thespian chops (and learning some barnyard epithets?) by voicing the title character in the animated "Chicken Little." He spoke to NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin....

Perspectives.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Quotation sources: The Washington Post, Associated Press, Editor & Publisher, New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN, Associated Press, Newsday, ESPN "They brought this on themselves." Virginia Rep. Tom Davis, a...

Karl Rove: Last-Minute Evidence.(decision not to indict in CIA leak case)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Michael Isikoff Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's decision not to indict deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove in the CIA leak case followed a flurry of last-minute negotiations between the prosecutor and Rove's defense...

Oil-For-Food: Where the Money Went.(George Galloway)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Mark Hosenball Intriguing evidence in the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal shows Saddam Hussein's regime used U.N.-sanctioned oil deals to finance foreign sympathizers. A final report by a U.N. inquiry headed by former U.S. Federal...

Race: The White Album.(Prussian Blue pro-White music duo)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jennifer Ordonez It's not easy being white. Ask Lamb and Lynx Gaede--13-year-old twins who make up the "defensive racist" pop-music duo Prussian Blue. The blond-haired, blue-eyed sisters went into hiding last week. An ABC News...

India: A Broken Peace.(Indian, Pakistani relations)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Sudip Mazumdar Terrorists set off three powerful blasts in two crowded New Delhi markets and in a bus last Saturday, killing nearly 50 people, mostly women and children, and injuring scores of others. The attacks came just days...

Medicine: The Future Arrives Early.(human genome research)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Mary Carmichael and Claudia Kalb In science, revolutions almost always take longer than their instigators expect--we're still waiting for our flying cars--so when National Institutes of Health director Dr. Elias Zerhouni says that...

Congress: An 'Apprentice'.(Raj Bhakta)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Marc Peyser As a contestant on "The Apprentice," Raj Bhakta was famous for his grand gestures: the bow ties, the walking stick, the time he hit on Donald Trump's receptionist. So it's not surprising that for his next act Bhakta is...

DVD's: Spending the Night.(Home Box Office Inc. video recordings)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh This week, HBO is releasing a pink velvet binder with 20 discs (that's 94 episodes) of "Sex and the City." The collection includes all six seasons now sold in separate boxed sets, in addition to a batch of extra...

Algae: So Has It Called Yet?(placozoans)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Mary Carmichael Birds do it. Bees do it. But placozoans? Since they were discovered in a saltwater aquarium 100 years ago, these simplest of animals have been thought of as, well, just not that into each other. Many marine...

Pets: Prepared for the Next Disaster.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jessica Silver-Greenberg For animal lovers, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina was compounded by poignant scenes of abandoned pets. Boston veterinarian Amy Schroff and her colleagues have been offering classes at the Veterinary and...

Space: The Eternal Frontier.(What's Out There)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Sam Seibert The universe is a tough place these days for creators of new books on astronomy. Faster than writers and editors can go to press, their efforts are overtaken by far-out discoveries and eyepopping photos of things no one...

Grading 529s: Not All Get A's; Some 529 plans burden you with poor performers and high fees. Part of the industry is shot full of sales abuse. Still, there are some plans I love.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn (Reporter Associate: Temma Ehrenfeld) Parents and grandparents are pouring money into the college-savings plans known as 529s--more than $55 billion to date. What drives them is the tax advantage. As long as you...

Sweetness and Fight; Sugar and its substitutes take on the reigning champ.(Splenda)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Claudia Kalb and Anne Underwood (With Vanessa Juarez) One recent fall day, 11 celebrity chefs gathered at New York's French Culinary Institute to show off their latest concoctions. The delicacies ranged from stir-fried veggies and...

A Pope of Quiet Surprises; How Benedict has proved to be more complex and charismatic than many expected.(Pope Benedict XVI)
November 7, 2005... Byline: George Weigel (Weigel, a senior fellow of Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center, is the author of "God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church," published on Nov. 1 by HarperCollins.) When the newly...

Love Me, Love My Hogs; Lonely farmers seek potential mates on the Internet.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Dirk Johnson John Price is six feet tall and ruggedly handsome. With a quick wit and successful career, the 35-year-old bachelor would be a prize on the urban dating circuit. But when it comes to romance, he's missing in action. On...

No Kitchen, Water Views; As more people call marinas home, the landlubbers who live nearby worry about property values--and empty beer cans.(live-aboard residents)
November 7, 2005... Byline: William Lee Adams When Justin Omps, 28, moved aboard the Tycho Brahe last September, he transformed the timeworn tugboat into a floating frat house. Docked on the Potomac River at Washington, D.C.'s Gangplank Marina, Omps's 60-foot...

Our 'Can't We All Just Get Along?' Awards.(awards given to software company for DVD making)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Steven Levy Who doesn't love DVDs? They are cheap, ubiquitous and do their job well. One reason for their instant success is that--unlike the initial situation with videocassette tapes--you never have to worry about whether you're...

Blog Watch.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... A mainstream media look at web logs. As the Plame grand jury wound down, firedoglake.blogspot.com's analysis illuminated the murky case, while fitzmas.blogspot.com injected a little festive cheer. Of all the ways to infuriate bloggers,...

Ask the Technologist.(computer viruses and Macintosh computers)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Steven Levy (Submit questions at asklevy.newsweek.com) I've heard that Macs are immune to the viruses that plague my PC. Is this true? And if it is, why on earth isn't Apple shouting it from the rooftops? --Ray Berrese,...

Why Rockstar Is the Leader of the Pack; The videogame king keeps the hits coming.(Rockstar Games)
November 7, 2005... Byline: N'Gai Croal Videogame creators firmly believe that their work will someday become the dominant form of entertainment in the 21st century. So why isn't their message as original as their medium? The vast majority of story-oriented...

Liposuction: Going Micro.
November 7, 2005... Byline: Karen Springen Brandy Montoya, 28, eats healthy and visits the gym at least three times a week. But as hard as she tried, she could not get the bottom half of her body to match her smaller torso. So in July, she signed up for...

The Checklist; Our top picks for the week ahead.
November 7, 2005... RENT: 'Heights,' a smart indie film about how lovers lie and destroy one another. James Marsden stars, but Glenn Close is a scene stealer as a stage actress. HEAR: 'Diana Krall: Christmas Songs.' Pick up a copy of this sultry...

She's one cool cat.(design of automobiles)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Tara Weingarten Let's be real. In the rarefied air where $100,000-plus automobiles live, all are resplendent in over-the-top luxury. And so it is with this cat's new flagship sedan, the Portfolio, the seventh-generation XJ. Its...

Ask Tip Sheet.(reasons for bags and dark circles under eye)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Nicole Joseph Why do you get bags and dark circles under your eyes when you're sleep-deprived? Audrey Marrah, Kokomo, Ind. Dermatologists have many explanations for these signs of a restless night. First, the skin around...

Gadgets: Be A Pro-- It's A Snap.(choose your digital camera)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Nick Summers As digital photography prices fall and features improve, more amateur shooters are upgrading to pro-caliber cameras. By 2007, the market is expected to more than double for digital SLRs, or single-lens reflex cameras,...

Travel: Leave The Snow Back Home.(between holiday airfares)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh Airplanes are fully loaded around Thanksgiving and Christmas. But (shhh!) here's a little secret: hardly anyone travels between the two holidays. Use that time to cash in your remaining vacation days. "The Monday...

Fruit: Freshly Picked.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh Fall fruit is at its peak. TIP SHEET asked James Parker, a Whole Foods Market produce expert, for advice. Pear: Feel them out. "If it's got a little give, it's ready to be eaten." Top pick: Asian...

Music: Strumming Right Along.(Johnny Cash songs)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh With "Walk the Line," the Johnny Cash biopic that's about to open, it's time to brush up on the Man in Black. We asked the legend's son--John Carter Cash--for some help. Download these hits to stay ahead (the film's...

History: What Rosa Really Means.(Rosa Parks)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Byline: Raina Kelley The death of civil-rights hero Rosa Parks may raise questions for your children. Here is a list of resources that will help them make sense of an America when liberty and justice weren't available to all. "Rosa...

Bedroom v. Courtroom; Instead of fostering an atmosphere in which government was agnostic on abortion, Roe v. Wade fomented one in which it became activist.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Anna Quindlen Samuel Alito has heard hundreds of cases during his long tenure on the court of appeals, but the interested members of the American public are now likely familiar with a single one. It is the dissent in which Judge...

The Boomer Files; Hitting 60: The generation that vowed to stay forever young is coming up on a major milestone. But for the 3.4 million Americans who were born in 1946, retirement is a distant prospect, and life still holds plenty of promise and surprises. They've been hippies and yuppies; now it's the time of the 'abbies': aging baby boomers.(Cover Story)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Jerry Adler (With Pat Wingert in Washington, Karen Springen, Jamie Reno, Allison Samuels, Joan Raymond and William Lee Adams. Research by Ruth Tenenbaum, Anthony Skaggs and Sam Register) It was quite a journey, wasn't it? In one...

The Times They Are A-Changin'; Why I stand apart from my generation. As far apart as possible.(Cover Story)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Albert Brooks (Albert Brooks is an actor, writer and director. His new movie, "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World," follows the travels of a comedian named Albert Brooks who's sent by the United States government to India and...

A Generation's Leading Edge.(Correction Notice)
November 14, 2005... ***** CORRECTION: In 'A Generation's Leading Edge,' which identified the boomers in our cover montage, we said Jann Wenner launched Rolling Stone magazine in 1975. In fact, it was 1967. NEWSWEEK regrets the error. ***** ...

Big Guys Win Again. This Is Tax Reform?
November 14, 2005... Byline: Allan Sloan There are shelves all over Washington groaning under the weight of blue-ribbon-committee reports that made a big initial splash, then sank into obscurity. Many people predict just that fate for the report that emerged...

Wal-Mart Hits the Wall; The No. 1 retailer always had reasons to smile. Now PR problems and a falling stock are giving it headaches.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Daniel McGinn (With Susanna Schrobsdorff and Nicole Joseph) Andrew Grossman was in his office at Wal-Mart Watch, opening the mail one day in September, when he came across a plain manila envelope with no return address. Inside he...

Conventional Wisdom; Heck of a Job Edition.(humorous anecdotes on current events)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... When Dems unexpectedly called for a secret Senate session on prewar intel, it looked like another pathetic gimmick. But it worked. CW Bush - New Supreme Court nom, bird-flu activism can't right the ship. Then spurs...

Not Counting A Commute.(World Bank researchers rate New Zealand as having best business conditions in the world )(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Linda Stern New Zealand is the best place in the world to do business, says the World Bank. Researchers evaluated 155 countries for 10 criteria, including the ease of starting a business, hiring workers, getting licenses, trading...

Daredevil Cams: Along for the Ride.(sports video cameras)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Linda Stern Sports video cameras are getting cheaper and tinier just in time to stuff into holiday stockings. The new breed of "helmet cams" are about 1.5 inches wide and 3 to 6 inches long, weigh less than a pound and can strap...

A Calling Card Plus.(the "rCard," a video player the size of a business card)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Linda Stern It's smaller than an iPod nano, but has the potential to be far more revolutionary--or annoying. The new rCard can show a video lasting at least 20 minutes, be custom printed to look like a business card and sold in...

Data Points.(telephone statistics)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: SOURCES: U.S. TELECOM ASSOCIATION, CTIA, BMI, CHINESE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION INDUSTRY 106 million: the number of American households with land-line telephone service 198 million: the number of wireless-phone subscribers in the...

A Virtually Perfect Private Jet.(the Falcon 7x from Dassault Aviation S.A.)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Nicole Joseph Designers at Dassault Aviation don't believe practice makes perfect--they want to get it right the first time. And the company's newest Falcon jet just might prove it's the first time that's the charm. The...

How to Jazz Up Innovation.(corporations use jazz musicians and jazz concepts to encourage creative thinking among managers)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Linda Stern When a company wants to jazz up its ability to innovate, why not turn to... jazz? As well as other fine arts? One New York nonprofit, Creativity Connection, thinks there are links between creativity in art and in the...

Quick Read.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Jennifer Barrett Often Wrong, Never in Doubt by Donny Deutsch Deutsch wrote this 260-page success manual with Peter Knobler, but his voice comes through loud and clear. Like the ads produced by his eponymous $2.7 billion agency...

Get Me Out of This Line! It's still typically free to be a frequent flier. But 'paid loyalty programs' are now all the rage at the car-rental counter, at hotels and even in some stores.(Column)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Daniel McGinn When I need a rental car for a business trip, I give NEWSWEEK's travel agent a simple directive: "Whatever's cheapest." I'm not enough of a road warrior to be loyal to a particular rental brand, and I don't care...

Would You Buy a Quad From This Man? Ed Whitacre, head of SBC (soon to be AT&T), is a telecom vet with his eye on even bigger things.(Interview)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Steven Levy When you're trying to morph a telecom giant into a primary force in the media world, you need a weightier moniker than SBC. Apparently that's what CEO Ed Whitacre believed. He recently announced that when his $16...

Hyped Over Skype; The dynamic duo of Internet phone service now have to make good after their billion-dollar deal with eBay.(Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis)(Interview)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Rana Foroohar and Daniel McGinn In a back alley in London's SoHo district--amid the seedy sex shops, comic-book stores and coffee joints--you'll find the humble headquarters of one of the world's most important telecommunications...

Serial Entrepreneurs.
November 14, 2005... The Skype lads are only the latest to repeat their success in creating a business or technology. A roundup of some others: Sir Richard Branson, 55 Founder of the Virgin empire, Branson is also a British celebrity, owing to his...

These Little Piggies; Forget bacon strips. The company that brought Kobe beef to America now wants you to try Kurobuta pork.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Jennifer Barrett You may not yet have heard of Kurobuta pork. But if Snake River Farms can do for Kurobuta what it did for another exotic and expensive meat, you'll soon be seeing the pure-bred pork on the shelf of your local...

The Beat Goes On; Satellite and Internet radio are helping to save niche genres of music.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Malcolm Beith A year ago it was difficult to find a nightclub in Latin America that wasn't pulsating to "Gasolina," a raunchy number by reggaeton star Daddy Yankee. Bootleg CDs of the tune were on sale at street stalls from Santo...

Investing In AIDS Testing; Is OraSure's oral swab right for use at home?(OraSure Technologies Inc.)(Company Profile)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Martha Brant OraSure Technologies CEO Douglas Michels walks softly and carries a small stick. Actually, the stick is a white, plastic HIV test that uses oral fluid, is quick and has been approved by the FDA for use by health-care...

Wired, at Any Price; South Korea presents a paradox. It leads in high-speed connections. But profits are another matter.(Industry Overview)
November 14, 2005... Byline: B. J. Lee It's no surprise that South Korean phone companies have been among the first to move into the music and film businesses. The country, as its boosters never tire of mentioning, leads the world in broadband...

Get Music To Go.(vending machines that sell consumer electronics)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Jaime Cunningham Have a few minutes before your flight? If you're in Atlanta's Hartsfield international airport, you can pick up an iPod Mini from a Zoom Shop while you're waiting to board. Made by the California-based Zoom...

More Fun for Your Mobile; Forget mere ringtones. 'Mobile media' have arrived.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Brad Stone Nearly 200 million American mobile-phone subscribers have lots of great ways to waste time these days. Sprint customers with the latest phones can watch replays of key moments from NFL games, unless they're too busy...

Tales From Travelers; Our readers continue to tell us how they endure the world of business travel. More stories from the front.
November 14, 2005... RONI HARBERT Denver, Colo. I was on a three-hour flight, seated on the aisle and working on my laptop, when an airline attendant spilled a liter of water on my computer. I could go on about how the attendant didn't apologize and the...

Bigger, Faster, Longer; Any tycoon can plop down $600,000 for a Mercedes SLR. A new breed of thrill seeker wants to be able to go where others can't. And to do it with panache.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Michael Hastings And Walter Alarkon Steve Fossett's fastest toys don't fit in his garage. That's impressive when you consider what he does keep under the roof at his oceanfront mansion in southern California: a $205,000 Ferrari...

Capital Ideas; Handling your entire mortgage online can save you money.
November 14, 2005... Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn If you're buying a house, you've probably checked mortgage rates online. You'll call a bank or mortgage broker and ask for a loan at that same price. But why not handle the whole transaction online? It often gets...

On the Fly.(Flybook by Dialogue Computers, Lifebook by Fujitsu, laptops)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Sandy Lawrence Edry Call them the little laptops that could. The Flybook (flybook.us ) from Dialogue Computers and Lifebook 1500d from Fujitsu (fujitsu.com ) belong to a new breed of convertible ultraportables that pack the punch...

To See and Be Seen.(usage of fashion eyeglass)(Brief Article)
November 14, 2005... Byline: Rukhmini Punoose Feel like you've gotten all the fashion mileage out of your scarf, belt or purse? Try a new pair of custom glasses--and never mind if your vision is 20/20. Boutique opticians are springing up around the world, and...