TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=94TT0976> <title> Jul. 25, 1994: Chronicles:The Week July 10 - 16 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 Jul. 25, 1994 The Strange New World of the Internet </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 13 The Week: July 10-16 </hdr> <body> NATION No Invasion--Just Yet U.S. Marines began rehearsing an emergency evacuation of all American citizens from Haiti, but in Washington the invasion scenarios faded--for now. Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, cautioned against military action, saying Haiti, though clearly important, was not a "vital" American interest. Meanwhile, 104 human-rights monitors were expelled by Haiti's military regime for allegedly disrupting security on the island, and U.S. embassy officials investigating reports of a massacre found the remains of 12 men in shallow graves just outside Port-au-Prince. Friendly-Fire Report A Pentagon investigation of the downing of two U.S. Army helicopters by Air Force fighter jets over northern Iraq determined that the accident was caused by multiple human errors. "It's a tragedy that never should have happened," said Defense Secretary William Perry at a news conference. All 26 people aboard the two helicopters were killed. The Flood Recedes Georgia's Flint River crested at 37.15 ft. in Bainbridge, well below the 45-ft. levels that had been predicted. But the statewide death toll rose to 32. Surveying the scene from a helicopter, President Clinton announced a $60 million aid package for the stricken areas of Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Fingering the Glove? Initial DNA tests on the bloody leather glove found at O.J. Simpson's estate strongly suggested a match with the blood of victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman but failed to show any definitive link to Simpson's blood, according to a source close to the Simpson case. Police confirmed that they had found Simpson's passport and $10,000 in Al Cowlings' Ford Bronco after the famous freeway chase. Admiral's Promotion Denied Is the post-Tailhook Navy being overly sensitive to political correctness? Absolutely not, said Naval Operations Chief Jeremy Boorda, as he explained why the Navy had withdrawn its prime candidate for the Pacific command. Boorda argued that a lengthy (and possibly hostile) Senate confirmation hearing for Admiral Stanley Arthur, who has been criticized for his handling of a high-profile sexual-harassment case, would leave a dangerous command vacancy that must be filled as soon as possible. Makeover for the Greenback In a move to counter domestic and overseas counterfeiting, the Treasury is giving U.S. paper currency its first new look in 65 years. Larger portraits, color-shifting ink that goes from green to gold depending on the viewing angle, computer-designed interactive patterns that turn wavy when copied, and machine-detectable fibers embedded in the paper are just a few of the high-tech tricks intended to foil counterfeiters. First candidate for the makeover is the $100 bill, now the easiest to copy. Zapping the Burger Federal health officials recommended that at least some of the nation's ground beef be irradiated to kill off virulent new strains of bacteria. The Food and Drug Administration has approved irradiation of poultry and some dairy products. Travels of Tabitha After 12 days, 32,000 airborne miles and last-minute advice from a psychic, Tabitha, the flying feline, was reunited with her owner. The striped tabby had secreted herself in the ceiling of the plane's cargo hold. The Legacy of Baby Jessica A Governor, a judge, and two desperate families continued their fight over 3 1/2-year-old "Baby Richard," who was ordered taken from the adoptive parents he has lived with since he was four days old. Illinois judge James D. Heiple's decision to give the child to his biological father (who has never laid eyes on him) outraged Governor Jim Edgar, who wondered "how the justices who prevailed in this case will be able to sleep at night." The Illinois Supreme Court delayed the order to give the boy to his biological father until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether it will hear the case. The Legacy of Willie Sutton One of the most successful bank robbers in the nation's history confessed to heists in California, Texas and Washington--many committed with his wife's help. Arrested after an anonymous tip, Johnny Madison Williams Jr. had scrupulously recorded every one of his 56 holdups in a handwritten log. His total take: $879,357. WORLD North Invites South to Funeral North Korea issued a highly unusual invitation to South Koreans to visit the normally isolated North for Kim Il Sung's funeral and then postponed the services for two days. As speculation rose about the succession of Kim Jong Il to power, South Korea said it would not relax its prohibitions of visits to the North. U.S. officials are expected to meet with a North Korean delegation in New York this week to discuss North Korea's nuclear program. Middle East Peace Talking Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein will meet publicly for the first time next week in Washington, President Clinton announced, to push ahead with peace agreements between the two sides. The leaders will address a joint session of Congress and be guests of honor at a White House dinner. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators meanwhile were meeting in Cairo to discuss expanding Palestinian self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank beyond the town of Jericho, and other security issues. Rwandans Flood into Zaire Hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees fled from advancing Tutsi-led rebels, crossing the frontier into Zaire at a rate of up to 30,000 an hour. The rebels now control three-quarters of the country, including the capital of Kigali, a virtual ghost town without water, electricity or food. The rebels say they are willing to share power with their enemy, the ethnic Hutu majority, to form a new government because as much as half of Rwanda's Tutsi population has been massacred. Pro-Russian Prez in Ukraine... Leonid Kuchma, former director of the world's largest missile factory, defeated incumbent Leonid Kravchuk in Ukraine's presidential election. An advocate of economic integration with Russia, Kuchma said he would honor the pledge made by his predecessor to give up Ukraine's nuclear arsenal, the world's third largest. ...And Another in Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, sometimes called "the Belarus Zhirinovsky" for his vague promises of an easy fix for his economically devastated former Soviet republic, was elected Belarus' first President. The onetime state-farm director won 80% of the vote, campaigning on a platform of anticorruption and stronger economic and political ties with Russia. A Foreign Role for Germany Germany's highest court ruled that the country's armed forces may take part in international missions such as the Persian Gulf war if a parliamentary majority agrees to the deployment. The move should strengthen Germany's campaign for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. National Hero vs. Berlusconi Antonio Di Pietro, a prosecutor who became a national hero in Italy for his campaign against bribe-taking politicians, asked to be reassigned in a protest against a decree issued by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing government. The decree would eliminate the prosecutors' ability to detain corruption suspects, a powerful tool used against thousands of prominent citizens. BUSINESS Comcast Stuns CBS Just hours before the boards of CBS and QVC were to vote on a planned merger, Comcast Corp.--the nation's third largest cable company and a minority shareholder in QVC--launched a surprise bid for the QVC cable network it helped found. As CBS chairman Laurence Tisch quickly dropped the merger offer and announced a $1.1 billion stock buyback, analysts speculated that the network remains vulnerable to a takeover. A Software Giant Settles After a four-year investigation of what the Justice Department termed "illegal monopolistic practices," the government announced a settlement in its case against Microsoft, the dominant company in the software industry. Microsoft admitted no guilt but agreed to loosen licensing arrangements with computer manufacturers, which often pre-load their machines with the firm's operating systems. The deal may spur more competition for Microsoft, but it removes the threat that the government will try to break up the behemoth. Macy's and Federated to Merge R.H. Macy & Co. officially abandoned hopes of emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as an independent, publicly held company with the announcement of a merger with Federated Department Stores, Inc. With more than 300 stores, the new Macy-Federated chain will become the nation's largest department-store company. Buy the Friendly Skies Pilots, office workers, customer-service agents and ground crews became the proud new owners of United Airlines as UAL shareholders approved an employee buyout of the Chicago-based carrier. In exchange for $4.9 billion in wage cuts and other concessions, the 54,000 new owners will receive 55% of the company, their choice of Gerald Greenwald as chairman and CEO, and three seats on the board of directors. SCIENCE A Viral Link to Heart Disease? A common human virus may play an integral role in coronary disease, according to preliminary findings by National Institutes of Health researchers, by inhibiting the action of a gene that normally limits cell growth. Up to half of patients who undergo balloon angioplasty to relieve arterial blockages suffer renewed arterial narrowing within six months. Researchers may have identified the cause: the cytomegalovirus, which appears to limit the protective benefits of the p53 gene, thus leading to the regrowth of muscle cells in vessels treated with angioplasty. By Leslie Dickstein, Christopher John Farley, Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn, Jeffery C. Rubin, Sidney Urquhart and Sarah Van Boven HEALTH REPORT The Good News -- AIDS patients undergoing therapy with the drug AZT who were also given the antiviral agent acyclovir had a survival rate 44% higher than those who took just AZT, according to a new study. -- Spinal problems such as "slipped" disks do not necessarily cause pain or require surgery, according to new research. The finding suggests that some doctors who detect mild abnormalities may be too quick to perform back operations. -- New federal guidelines recommend less aggressive early treatment for children with inner-ear fluid buildup, as the condition often clears up without any treatment. The Bad News -- Weight and height can play a significant role in the transition from school to work. A study of more than 12,000 young Britons found that obese girls and short boys at age 16 earn far less than others when they reach age 23. The researchers were unable to determine if the cause was job discrimination or internal factors like low self-esteem. -- Something else for snuff fans to chew on: more than half of 91 National League baseball players who use some form of smokeless tobacco have precancerous lesions. The American Dental Association has called for a ban on chewing tobacco at major-league ball parks. Sources--GOOD: Annals of Internal Medicine; New England Journal of Medicine; U.S. Public Health Service, Associated Press. BAD: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine; Journal of the American Dental Association COMMUNIST AUTARCHY SUCCESSOR OF THE WEEK Kim Jong Il, the reclusive heir apparent of Kim Il Sung, is trying to consolidate his control of North Korea. INSIDE WASHINGTON The White House Searches for Intelligence PRESIDENT CLINTON and several of his top aides have been grumbling lately about the quality of the information they are getting from the CIA on China, North Korea and, most recently, Japan. White House officials complain that the CIA led them to believe Tomiichi Murayama, the new Prime Minister of Japan, was an unreliable ideologue. But aides say Clinton found him to be "nonideological and very pragmatic." One intelligence official says the White House amateurishly expects too much and that "it costs a fortune to try and get" what it wants. WINNERS & LOSERS Winners POPE JOHN PAUL II--Biggest book deal by a Pontiff: $6 million-plus for English edition LISTIN DIARIO--Dominican daily scoops the world on Jackson-Presley item DARRYL STRAWBERRY--Battered batter produces stunning grand slam for Giants fans Losers HULK HOGAN--Wrestling royal reveals steroid use: unsurprising but disappointing BOB DOLE--White House wannabe catches flak for slam of Clinton Korean elegy MIKE KEENAN--Stanley Cup coach wings his way out of stunned New York THE BEATIFICATION OF ST. STEPHEN A grueling grilling for the Supreme Court nominee by the Senate Judiciary Committee "He is trilingual...He reads Proust in the original French, and he has even studied architecture...he taught himself Spanish...From his youth as an Eagle Scout to digging ditches for Pacific Gas & Electric in high school to working as a janitor for the San Francisco school system, he has shared in the American experience, and he has been affected by it."--Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) "Stephen Breyer is not only a husband and father of three. He is a gourmet cook. He is a bird watcher, an avid reader, a student of philosophy and a speed typist."--Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) "I want to mention Judge Breyer's extraordinary family. His wife Joanna, a psychologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, counsels children with terminal cancer and their families. Steve and Joanna's older daughter Chloe recently graduated from Harvard and now edits a magazine called Who Cares?, which promotes public service by young adults. Obviously the apple did not fall far from the tree. Their youngest daughter Nell recently graduated from Yale. And their son Michael has completed his freshman year at Stanford."--Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) INFORMED SOURCES Fighting for Truth, Justice...and Dentistry Washington--PRESIDENT CLINTON asked aides at a National Security Council meeting on Haiti to prepare a comparison between a possible U.S. invasion of Haiti and Reagan's 1983 invasion of Grenada. Clinton wanted a study of forces needed, likely casualties--and rationales used. After the meeting one official asked, half joking, "Are there any Americans in medical school in Haiti?" Another answered, "No, but we've found two American dentists there." Panetta Prepares a Shakeup Washington--Incoming White House chief of staff LEON PANETTA is getting ready for some changes at the White House, and domestic-policy adviser Carol Rasco could be among the first to be reassigned. "Cabinet members don't know who to deal with when they need a decision from the White House," says an Administration official. "Some go through Rasco, and ((some)) go through Al Gore. It's been very messy." NEIL ARMSTRONG, YOU'VE JUST WALKED ON THE MOON--WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW? Only 12 men have set foot on the moon. Today, 25 years after Neil Armstrong's first step, they are scattered about the country. Not all of them are aerospace consultants or evangelical Christians. By Michael Quinn, with reporting by Sarah Van Boven Apollo 11 A pre-Iacocca pitchman for Chrysler, NEIL ARMSTRONG is chairman of a defense electronics firm. He lives on a farm in Ohio, zealously guarding his privacy, granting no interviews on the anniversary of his one small step for a man. BUZZ ALDRIN bravely wrote about his post-moonwalk nervous breakdown in a 1973 memoir, Return to Earth. He is head of Starcraft Enterprise, a California firm that promotes his ideas for reinvigorating the space program--some of them outlandish enough to have earned him the sobriquet "the Nutty Professor" in the halls of his ex-employers at NASA. Apollo 12 ALAN BEAN retired from NASA in 1981 and now devotes himself full time to his passionate love of painting, mostly moonscapes. His artistic credo: "I am the only artist in all of history who has been to another world and can paint it." Working for McDonnell Douglas in California, CHARLES CONRAD is involved in developing a single-stage rocket that may dramatically reduce the cost of sending payloads into orbit. "This is the first thing that's got my candle lit in 25 years," he says. Apollo 14 A millionaire from banking ventures even before his moonwalk, ALAN SHEPARD expanded his business activities after leaving NASA in 1974. He is president of the scholarship-bestowing Mercury Seven Foundation. EDGAR MITCHELL said his experiences in space provoked a "blissful alteration of consciousness." Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Sausalito, California, which pursues such topics as ESP and the mind. On a more earthly plane, in 1984 he was the target of a paternity suit by a former Playboy bunny. Apollo 15 Along with his co-moonwalker James Irwin, DAVID SCOTT was caught in a scandal back home for carrying more than 400 stamped and canceled envelopes into space for later resale; the affair cost him his place in the astronaut corps. Today he runs a space-transportation consulting firm in California. JAMES IRWIN "felt the power of God as I'd never felt it before" while walking on the moon. He subsequently founded an evangelical Christian organization whose activities included expeditions to Turkey to look for traces of Noah's Ark. He died of a heart attack in 1991. Apollo 16 CHARLES DUKE became an evangelical Christian six years after his 1972 moonwalk. Today he speaks to religious groups around the world. The only moonwalker still working for NASA, straight-talking JOHN W. YOUNG, is a technical overseer for a range of upcoming space projects. "I think it is absolutely amazing that 25 years later, we do not have a base up there with human beings exploring that weird place." Apollo 17 HARRISON SCHMITT served a single term as a Republican Senator from New Mexico before suffering a narrow defeat in 1982; his opponent's campaign slogan was, "What on Earth has he ever done?" Now based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he is an independent consultant in science, technology and public policy. For a number of years, EUGENE CERNAN was a familiar face on ABC, interpreting the arcana of space flight for Peter Jennings. Today he is president of Cernan Corp., an aerospace consulting firm in Houston. "I carry the label of the last man to leave his footprints on the surface," he says. "I never thought I would carry that label for as long as I have--and unfortunately I will probably carry it for another generation." NETWATCH By TIME Daily Staff (timestaff1@aol.com) Porn Pirates and Software Smugglers The discovery of a hard-core-pornography cache at one of three U.S. weapons labs exposed the Internet's steamy underside but mostly drew yawns from experienced Net users. Tens of thousands of illicit computer-porn sites now litter the system; and the cache, uncovered by the Los Angeles Times at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, near San Francisco, so far appears to have been an inside job, started by someone within the lab. More compelling was a discovery at nearby research lab Lawrence Berkeley, where an outsider apparently slipped into a restricted system, set up a secret file server and loaded it with thousands of dollars' worth of stolen software--like Power Japanese (retail: $395) and the unreleased game Alien Legacy--the L.A. Times found. But if these pirate locations are so secret, how do Net users ever find them? Through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels that span the Net and elude all but the most determined federal investigators. Space Watch, Cyberstyle Space fans eager to join in the moon-landing anniversary celebrations or hear the latest shuttle updates can get news about the space agency on the Net. Use the "finger" resource for nasanews@space.mit.edu. Or use Gopher for world.std.com and choose "News and Weather," then select "NASA News." </body> </article> </text>