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Surf's Up, Tubby - Forget all that Baywatch crap. Californians are getting fat and lazy and don't look all that great in Speedos. That's the conclusion of the state's Department of Health Services, which found in a study that more and more Californians are gorging on fast food and not bothering to exercise. It's an unappealing combination -- and a potentially lethal one -- but the trend shows no sign of slowing. Many participants in the study blamed TV for their woes, saying that clever ads made them inhale junk food and other high-calorie snacks. So Californians aren't only getting fat, they're getting stupid, too. [Wired News]
Sweet Home? - Alabama threatens to come lurching into the 20th century at the dawn of the 21st by repealing a law prohibiting interracial marriage. Although the US Supreme Court did away with such laws decades ago, Alabama has kept it on the books, and there is still sentiment in the old Confederate state for keeping it around a while longer. A recent poll shows that while 63 percent of Alabamans favor ditching the law, 26 percent -- more than a quarter of those polled -- oppose interracial marriage. Another 11 percent either had no opinion or weren't sure how they felt. State Representative Phil Crigler, who says he's against interracial marriage, plans to vote for the repeal anyway, saying that the law hasn't been enforced in ages. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. [Wired News]
Taiwan Quake a 7.6 - The death toll continues to rise as rescuers comb through the wreckage of collapsed buildings in the aftermath of the biggest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 30 years. The quake has claimed at least 1,500 lives, according to State-run television. A number of buildings, including a 78-room hotel in Taipei, were reported destroyed or badly damaged by the quake, which was centered about 90 miles south-southwest of the capital. Although originally reported to have had a magnitude of 7.3, the US Geological Survey center has upgraded it to a 7.6. Fears that quake could spawn a tidal wave prompted authorities to issue a tsunami warning throughout the western Pacific Ocean. [Wired News]
Take Heart - Doctors are discouraging you from running out and loading up with antibiotics, but new research shows that two specific types of antibiotics -- tetracyclines and quinolones -- appear to be effective in lowering the risk of heart disease. Boston University researchers say that's logical, since both drugs are potent against Chlamydia pneumoniae, the germ suspected of causing heart disease. Still, this is no magic bullet, and doctors say that the best way to prevent heart attacks is to quit smoking, get your blood pressure down, eat right, and exercise. [Wired News]
Taking Flight - Just in time for the Fourth of July, America's national bird is being removed from the endangered species list. In a White House ceremony Friday, President Clinton announced that the bald eagle could finally be removed from the list, where it has been since 1973. The eagle, which soared overhead in the hundreds of thousands, was designated the national bird in 1782 by the Continental Congress. Over the next 180 years, Americans proceeded to hunt their national symbol to the brink of extinction, until protection was finally extended. Only 417 breeding pairs could be counted in 1963. Today, the population has bounced back to around 5,800 breeding pairs. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to declare the bald eagle "fully recovered" some time next year. [Wired News]
Tawdry TV Tales - The "Jenny Jones case" -- where Jonathan Schmitz was accused of murdering Scott Amedure after learning in front of Jones' national TV audience that Amedure had a secret "crush" on him -- went to the jury Thursday. Meanwhile, Amy Fisher, the precocious 16-year-old who shot Joey Buttafuoco's wife, Mary Jo, in the head so she wouldn't get in the way of their affair, was granted parole after serving seven years in prison. No word yet on what Amy -- now 24 -- plans to do when she's released next week, but she might consider heading out to Los Angeles, where Joey (who's still married to Mary Jo, who recovered) has a cable TV talk show. And that's your daytime TV roundup. Couldn't you just puke? [Wired News]
Testimony Over - White House aide Sidney Blumenthal wrapped up his deposition Wednesday -- meaning the three witnesses selected by House prosecutors to testify in the President Clinton impeachment trial have said their say. Now Republicans are expected to try and push for live testimony by Blumenthal, Vernon Jordan, and Monica Lewinsky, although that appears unlikely. Also looking shaky is the chance of getting an actual conviction. A number of Republican senators, particularly those facing reelection bids, are reportedly uneasy with the idea of actually driving Clinton from office. [Wired News]
That's Life? - Life on other planets? It's very likely, scientists say, but being scientists, they immediately took all the fun out of it by adding that extraterrestrial life is unlikely to resemble E.T., or the Martians from War of the Worlds. The life these guys are talking about would be primitive, simple organisms that could exist as long as the essential ingredients for life are present: liquid water, the right temperatures, and a nutrient supply, among other things. No flying saucers. No ray guns. Just one stupid cell of protoplasm. [Wired News]
The Bard's Big Night - The Elizabethan romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love won Oscars for best picture, best actress, and five other awards on Sunday. Gwyneth Paltrow was named best actress award for her role as bard's love interest. Italian comic actor Roberto Benigni won the best actor award for his role in Life is Beautiful, which also took the Oscar for best foreign film. Steven Spielberg was named best director for Saving Private Ryan. [Wired News]
The Brightest and the Fewer - Fewer students are going after engineering, math, physics, and computer-science degrees. A new report by the American Electronics Association says high-tech degrees dropped 5 percent between 1990 and 1996, and preliminary numbers show the trend continued through 1998. The lack of trained workers is a common complaint in the technology industry. Forty-five percent of the high-tech degrees went to foreign nationals, the study showed. Last year, lobbyists successfully pressed Congress to allow technology companies to hire more foreign workers with high-tech skills. [Wired News]
The Early Line - The 2000 presidential campaign is barely underway, but some pundits are already saying that the race is George W. Bush's to lose. The GOP frontrunner, who kicked off his campaign in Iowa on Monday, projects himself as a moderate and already enjoys broad support from mainstream Republicans. He's also telegenic, a critical factor for any modern would-be prez. The Democrats, meanwhile, seem determined to plow on with Al Gore, who is not only a crashing bore as a speaker, but will be dragging -- fairly or unfairly -- the wreckage of the Clinton debacle behind him. Bush's Achilles heel, opine the experts, is specifics: Until now, he's been dealing in sound bytes and generalities and getting away with it. That, they say, won't be enough to carry him into the White House. [Wired News]
The Fat Man Sings - If you saw Khalid El-Amin walking down the street, you wouldn't take him for a point guard. But the roly-poly El-Amin is a damned good one. He's been a driving force behind the University of Connecticut's amazing season, which culminated Monday night in a 77-74 win over Duke for the NCAA championship. In the chaotic aftermath, El-Amin -- who had exchanged his uniform top for a T-shirt and cap -- rushed onto the court, only to be stopped by a security guard who thought he was an unruly fan on a nacho high. El-Amin set the bouncer straight and rejoined his teammates in time to hoist the school's first national championship trophy. [Wired News]
The Fur Flies - Anti-fur activists took their battle into the belly of the beast -- Beverly Hills -- with a ballot initiative that would have required furriers to tag their merchandise with a label explaining how the animal that surrendered its fur actually died. Despite the support of some well-known residents -- Jack Lemmon and Sid Caesar among them -- Measure A went down to resounding defeat Tuesday as the well-heeled turned out to defend their mink stoles and sable coats. "If you don't like it, don't buy it," sniffed one matron as she left the polling booth. Ah, would that we all had consciences so clear. [Wired News]
The GOP Race - Missouri Senator John Ashcroft, once the darling of the Christian right, will stay out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Ashcroft decided against the long-shot bid in the face of a strong challenge to retain his Senate seat in 2000 from popular Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan -- a challenge that is pushing him toward the center of the political spectrum, to the dismay of conservatives. [Wired News]
The High Hard One - Major League Baseball, never the most astutely managed outfit on the planet, may be shooting itself in the foot again. Miffed at ESPN for switching three late-season ballgames from its main channel to ESPN2 so it could broadcast NFL football, baseball's pooh-bahs declared that they would terminate their contract with the sports network after the 1999 season. Following fruitless negotiations, ESPN said Wednesday that it was going to court to compel MLB to honor their agreement, which runs through the 2001 season. In their pique, the lords of baseball seem to forget that ESPN is giving the sport coverage it could only dream about receiving from the major networks. Or have they already forgotten the CBS debacle? [Wired News]
The Hiss Files - A lot of people thought Alger Hiss got a raw deal when he was convicted of perjury while being investigated as a Soviet spy at the height of the Red Scare in 1950. Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official, was convicted partly as a result of the testimony of a zealous young politician named Richard Nixon, just then making a name for himself. Now a federal judge has ruled that all the grand jury transcripts from the Hiss case -- which have been stubbornly guarded by the government for years -- should be made public. Historians, naturally, are elated. It can be presumed that others are less enthusiastic. In any case, this should make for some pretty good reading. [Wired News]
The Last Train - A corpse rode a New York subway train for more than four hours Monday before passengers noticed he was dead. Authorities speculate that morning rush-hour commuters thought the unidentified man -- believed to be in his 40s, was sleeping. There were no visible signs of a struggle or attack. [Wired News]
The Ol' Ad Game - They've been putting billboards on outfield fences and scoreboards and ballpark facades for years, so why not stick a few ads on the players, too? Major League Baseball says that it is seriously considering the idea as a way to generate even more revenue for the game, no doubt to keep the owners and players from starving to death. Aside from its sheer vulgarity, the idea raises at least one intriguing question: How would you determine the ad rate? Would an ad stitched to Ken Griffey Jr.'s sleeve cost more than an ad affixed to F.P. Santangelo's? Would pitchers command a premium rate, since they get more TV exposure than the average outfielder? Would the maxim, "Keep your eye on the ball" be replaced by "Keep your eye on the Coke ad"? [Wired News]
The Play's The Thing - Well, they said they were gonna do it, and they did. Nude dancers at a strip joint in Casselberry, Florida, angry at Seminole County's new anti-nudity law, performed part of Shakespeare's Macbeth au naturel Friday night. The Bard's epic tale was chosen because the law allows onstage nudity in the case of "bona fide performances." No arrests were made, although the antics of the three thespians were videotaped for official review. There was no word on how the bar's patrons reacted to all this, but if a bunch of potbellied, beer-swilling yahoos turn up at the local high school's next staging of Romeo and Juliet, well, 'nuff said. [Wired News]
The Privileged Poor - Britain's Duchess of York is considering moving to Switzerland to save thousands of pounds in taxation, the Mirror newspaper reports. The tabloid quoted friends of Fergie, divorced from Prince Andrew, as saying moving abroad was her only option after Buckingham Palace failed to come up with more child support for princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. [Wired News]
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