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Green Monkeys - If everything works out, in about six months' time we will see some baby rhesus monkeys sporting a green glow, like jellyfish. That's because a lab in Oregon is hoping to prove that it's possible to successfully mingle foreign genes -- in this case, jellyfish -- with those of higher primates. Researchers believe that achieving this will advance health research in humans. Animal rights activists -- noting that genetically manipulated embryos and fetuses often die and that birth defects are common in survivors -- are bitterly opposed. Meanwhile, those of us accustomed to seeing middle managers at work in an office setting wonder why anyone would bother implanting jellyfish genes in primates at all. [Wired News]
Gretzky's Swan Song? - With only two games left in the New York Rangers season, the question is being asked: Is this the end for Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player in history? Speculation has heated up that Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, will hang up his skates after this season, and the Rangers have already been eliminated from playoff contention. There is some reason to believe he will retire; advancing age and lingering injuries definitely slowed the Great One during the 1998-99 campaign. But friends say that whatever Gretzky plans to do, he isn't talking. Yet. [Wired News]
Gridder's Daughter Slain - The daughter of NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff was found slain Tuesday in San Mateo, California. The body of Tracey Biletnikoff, 20, was recovered from the bottom of an embankment at Ca ada College, where she had been dumped. Police, acting on a tip, arrested her boyfriend, 23-year-old Mohammed Ali, at the Mexican border, where he was apparently trying to flee the country. Ali, a convicted kidnapper, was driving the woman's car. He has been charged with murder. Fred Biletnikoff starred with the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s and '80s and is now an assistant coach with the team. [Wired News]
Grounded for Good? - Debonair, the London-based discount airline that launched in 1996, bit the dust on Friday, becoming what the Associated Press called "a victim of fierce competition in the discount flights market." Its 14 planes were grounded as officials scrambled to accommodate passengers. "Our primary concern now is to try to secure continued operations or to make alternative arrangements for passengers who have already purchased tickets," said Nick Dargan of the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, which has been called in to try to save the company. [Wired News]
Guilty - A Texas jury took less than three hours Tuesday to return a guilty verdict against John William King, one of three white men charged with killing a black man by chaining him to a pickup truck and dragging him to his death. King, who could receive the death penalty, was convicted by a jury of 11 whites and 1 black of murdering James Byrd Jr. last June. The same jury will now decide whether to sentence King to death or to life imprisonment. Two other defendants, Lawrence Brewer and Shawn Berry, will be tried for murder later this year. [Wired News]
Gun Nuts - The National Rifle Association, which has kept fairly silent in the wake of last week's massacre in Littleton, Colorado, went ahead and shot itself in the foot anyway, ignoring local opposition and a request from Denver Mayor Wellington Webb to cancel a long-planned convention in the Mile High City, set for this weekend. The NRA's only concession to the carnage -- carried out with firearms and explosives -- was to scale back the event, which didn't wash with Webb. The mayor has called a press conference to rip the gun-toting fun seekers, and area students -- including plenty from Columbine High School -- plan to protest in front of the Denver hotel where the NRA is holed up. [Wired News]
Gun Supplier Arrested - A 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged with providing a handgun to the two teenagers who went on the killing spree at Columbine High School two weeks ago. Police in Littleton, Colorado, arrested Mark Edward Manes and booked him into Jefferson County jail Monday for allegedly providing Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold with the TEC-DC9 handgun used in their deadly attack. If convicted, Manes could face between two and six years in prison. [Wired News]
Happy Birthday, Comrade - Kim Jong-il turned 57 on Tuesday, and North Korea threw a huge birthday celebration for its leader, the last of the Stalinist dictators. The prime minister's congratulatory radio broadcast lauded Kim for giving absolute priority to building the army. "The Korean People's Army has grown to be a loyal and filial army of the party and an invincible army," gushed Kim Yong-nam with the kind of Communist hyperbole rarely heard these days. To the alarm of the rest of the world, the army is indeed growing, despite the fact that North Korea's economy is in shambles and half its people are starving to death. [Wired News]
Happy Birthday, Eudora - Eudora Welty, the legendary -- and intensely private -- American short story writer, turned 90 Tuesday. Her finely crafted evocations of the South have earned her a place in the literary pantheon alongside her hero, fellow Mississippian William Faulkner. Although her life has been largely a reflective one, Welty has produced a body of work unflinching and unerring in its innate understanding of the human condition. Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter published in 1973, won the Pulitzer Prize. And while Welty is definitely an oak of an earlier generation, she has not been forgotten by the current one. Even an email program, Eudora, is named for her. [Wired News]
Heal Thyself - A Minnesota anesthesiologist, cut off by an elderly woman as she merged into highway traffic, is accused of punching her in the face and telling her to "get off the road" before driving off in a huff. Well, actually he drove off in a BMW Z3 convertible, which doesn't do much for the image of arrogant Beemer drivers. In any case, Thomas Valente faces a misdemeanor assult charge which could land him in the county lockup for 90 days. The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice won't say whether it's investigating the allegation, but its director said that Valente didn't appear to have violated the medical malpractice act. Let's just hope he doesn't use the same technique for knocking out his patients in the operating room. [Wired News]
Health Nuts - For those of us who swear by Nyquil, this is divine justice indeed: A Seattle researcher has determined that echinacea, hailed by the roots-and-berries crowd as a magic herb for warding off colds and viruses, not only fails to prevent respiratory illnesses but may actually increase your chance of getting sick. In a six-month study involving 200 subjects, Dr. Carlo Calabrese found that those receiving echinacea developed sore throats and runny noses 20 percent more often than those who received placebos. The doctor told ABC News that he wasn't surprised to find echinacea did nothing to prevent illness. But he was at a loss to explain the herb's negative effects, suggesting that perhaps it somehow weakens the immune system. By the way, Nyquil comes in a nifty cherry flavor. [Wired News]
Healthy Roots - What Viagra does for impotent men, it can also do for plants, fruits, and vegetables, an Israeli researcher says. Yaacov Leshem, a plant physiologist at Bar-Ilan University, says that the lifespan of flora can be extended -- even doubled -- with a dose of Viagra. He found that 2 or 3 milligrams dissolved in water helps slow down the emission of ethylene, a hormone that leads to spoilage in plants. "Plants aren't all that different from people," Leshem said, adding, apparently with a straight face, that "it helps them stay erect." [Wired News]
Hell on Wheels - Introducing the Ford Excursion. Simply stated, the thing is a monster. It's 230 inches long -- more than 19 feet -- weighs nearly 4 tons, and you can get it with a V-8 engine, but only if you're trying to buy on the cheap. For something this big, the V-10 is a better bet. It seats nine passengers and is so big that it may not fit in some garages. Of course, not all the numbers are so impressive: You're gonna get about 12 miles per gallon, which was OK in 1970 when gas cost 29 cents a gallon. The basic Excursion will run you about 30 grand; it's closer to 40 fully loaded. Unsurprisingly, this mother of sport utility vehicles has drawn fire from environmental groups horrified by the behemoth's gas guzzling ways and potential as a polluter. It seems like an odd strategy for Ford in this age of holes in the ozone layer and global warming. But sure as the sun rises in the east, some good ol' boys are gonna buy 'em and run roughshod over hill and dale. The Excursion goes to market in the fall. [Wired News]
Hello, Mr. Chips - A survey out of the sultry Midwest suggests that students may sexually harass their professors at undreamed of levels, and not only at Illinois State University, where the research was conducted. Sixty-three percent of ISU students surveyed admitted to having harassed a professor sexually at least once -- sexual harassment being defined as insulting behavior, trading sex for grades or some other favor, or making an unwanted sexual advance. Among the profs, 53 percent said they had been the subject of such harassment. And according to the survey, harassment is about evenly split between male and female students. Don't they know that those who can't, teach? [Wired News]
Her Majesty's Zine - The British royal family's Web site has been a smash hit -- attracting an estimated 3 million hits a week -- since launching a couple of years ago. Now, that ol' webmaster, the Duke of York, aka Prince Andrew, is getting ready to launch a webzine (updated monthly) that will chronicle the triumphs and travails of the Family Windsor. According to the Royal Press Release, the zine will be "fresh, distinctive, and contemporary." So ... no retrospective on Henry VIII. Or other more recent tawdry tales. The zine promises to be interactive as well. So email Queen Elizabeth and ask her what she finds so endlessly fascinating about those loathsome little Welsh corgis. The site is as yet unnamed, and no address has been released. [Wired News]
Here They Come - The field of Republican contenders for president should get a little more crowded Tuesday if, as expected, Texas Governor George W. Bush and conservative commentator Pat Buchanan throw their hats into the ring. Buchanan, who took a run at the nomination in 1992 and 1996, represents the right wing of the party, which is saying something. Bush, son of former President George Bush, is more of a moderate. Although only one Republican challenger -- Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire -- has actually announced his candidacy, a number of candidates are virtually certain of running: Elizabeth Dole, Dan Quayle, philanthropist Steve Forbes, and former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander. [Wired News]
Hibernation Over? - Russia's antics in the Balkans -- moving troops into Kosovo ahead of NATO, then denying the peacekeeping force access to the airfield at Pristina -- have Eastern Europeans worried, reports the International Herald Tribune. Although US and allied officials downplay the Russians' provocative move, those who until recently lived under the Bear's heel aren't so sure. Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary also don't like that Moscow has been pressuring them to grant land and air passage to Russian troops en route to Kosovo. "The Russians are sounding like Khrushchev all over again," complained one Bulgarian diplomat. [Wired News]
High Tech Politics - Saying that San Francisco's technology workers are ignored by the city bureaucracy, the founder of a popular community Web site says he'll challenge incumbent Willie Brown in the mayoral race this year. Craig Newmark, whose nonprofit List Foundation grew out of Craigslist, a job-search mailing list, said he originally thought of his mayoral bid as symbolic but has been encouraged to make a serious run because of all the support coming his way. San Francisco's Multimedia Gulch is a center of the high tech industry and a major factor in the city's current robust economy. Brown, whose popularity has declined during his first term, would appear vulnerable to a serious challenger. Even so, the inexperienced Newmark has to be rated a long shot, at best. [Wired News]
High-Seas Drama - When a very pregnant Iraqi woman went into labor aboard a ferryboat in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, medics from nearby US and Australian warships -- in the Gulf to enforce UN sanctions against Iraq -- boarded the ferry and helped deliver a healthy baby. Doctors from the USS David R. Ray and the HMAS Melbourne were dispatched after receiving a call for medical assistance from the Jabal Ali 1 ferry service, whose boats ply the Gulf between Iraq and Dubai, a trip which takes 36 hours. Mother and child were reported to be doing fine. [Wired News]
Higher Learning - If it seems like every doctor, lawyer, and CEO went to Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, there's a good reason for it. Once again, those august institutions topped US News World Report's annual list of the leading graduate schools in the United States. Harvard was the top-ranked medical school, Yale took the brass ring in law, and Stanford's business school is aces. MIT was the top engineering grad school, with Stanford nipping at its heels. In fact, Leland Stanford Jr.'s little California idyll was the only university to finish in the Top 10 in all four categories. [Wired News]
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