BY HARRY RING
Odd coincidence - Much of the insurance industry is based
in Hartford, Connecticut. Most of the city's (the city, not
the suburb's) residents are Puerto Rican and Black. And a
recent report says, dangerous conditions and safety code
violations have been found in 30 of the city's 35 school
buildings.
Mum's the word - During the shopping season, we assumed it was fad seizure that made it hard to snare a Furby, the cyberpet. But it may be that the National Security Agency was scooping them up. With a tiny built-in recorder, the furry little fella can pick up conversations and, with a synthesizer repeat what's said. NSA, the spy agency with the big ears, has banned Furby from Ft. Meade, one of the places it operates from, and it's likely the ban will be extended.
Family values - More than 250,000 women in impoverished Peruvian mountain villages and city shanty towns have been subjected to forced sterilization, according to a study by the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights
W?lc?me - In Los Angeles, the INS (la migra) suspended the citizenship applications of 2,500 people they had wrongly told they owed another $130 in added fees. Also, 10,000 successful applicants received erroneous, illegible notices of their swearing-in date. There's a hotline where you can get the correct day. If you don't speak much English, have a translator at your elbow. The hotline folks are "English only."
Now here's the oxymoron - A team of psychologists in England say that humor increases workers' productivity, making it important for bosses to be funny. One researcher opined, "You could call it humanization of managers."
Corporate theology - The Pope's Mexico visit was sponsored by 25 corporations. A potato chip company added stamp-size pictures of His Holiness to their packages. And posters declaring, "Mexico: Always Faithful," graced with the Pepsi logo.
Season's greetings - As Xmas and Hurricane George approached Puerto Rico, Elisio Rivera and his family stocked and readied a nearby cave. Their small house was badly damaged, the cave secure. They lived in the cave several weeks while beginning extensive repairs on the house. The government even agreed to financial help. Meanwhile, the Dept. of the Family sent a warning: Get the kids out of the cave or we'll take them away.
Wasn't that awesome? - Researchers in England and Australia report that military veterans who witness atomic bombs tests are dying from a rare type of bone marrow cancer at 10 times the normal rate.
Thought for the week -"People are just turned off.... The HMOs are corporate executives practicing medicine where profit is the motive, not the best interests of the patients." - Michael Bidhart, lawyer for Theresa Goodrich, who was awarded $116 million punitive damage by a jury for the HMO death or her husband.