January 3, 1993

BEFORE Alexander Graham Bell was born, the word telephone referred to a ship's foghorn. When Bell invented his "electrical speaking telephone" in 1876 and summoned his surprised assistant, Watson, down the hall, he forever changed the meaning of the word whose Greek roots mean "distant sound." Today, technology is once again changing what we mean by telephone. Companies from Apple Computer to Philips Electronics to MCI are rethinking the way people communicate electronically, and within a decade, the current phone will seem as quaint as that long-ago "marine alarum." But the leader in this field, unique in its resources and its resourcefulness, is the company that Bell founded, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

After Rolando Blackman made a miraculous shot to force overtime, Gary Grant made an even more dramatic shot to beat the Knicks. Grant's 18-foot jumper from the deep right corner at the buzzer gave the Los Angeles Clippers a stunning 98-97 overtime victory yesterday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. It was only the second home loss in 15 games for the Knicks, and both of them have come in overtime. And it was a triumphant homecoming for the former Knicks point guard Mark Jackson (18 points, 8 assists), who played his first game in New York since the Knicks traded him in September.

Because of holiday production requirements, the main news pages are printed today in one section. The Metro Report begins on page 23.

There was no argument the morning after. There were no debates about the system that establishes the top team in college football, no unexplainable first-place votes among the electorate, and no outraged appeals from distant precincts. When the morning after arrived, the view, depending on the shade of one's dark glasses, was that of either an Alabama crimson happily-ever-after or a shockingly punishing and one-sided defeat that this generation of Miami Hurricanes will remember forever.

IT was a busy morning in the Byram Hills High School Library in Armonk. First, Martin Gilbert's freshman global studies students gathered around the computers with far more enthusiasm than one usually sees around a traditional reference center. Each of Mr. Gilbert's students was a make-believe ambassador to a different African country and preparing a report. From different databases on the computers, the students had instant access to thousands of up-to-date facts on each country -- from the latest economic and population figures to the day's weather, common diseases and tourist requirements. They could see the country's flag and geographical features or hear the national anthem.

Like the Roman god Janus, ballet looks two ways: back toward a long, illustrious tradition, and ahead toward a continuing evolution. Now past and future have met in Bergen County in the persons of Irine Fokine and Leonid Kozlov. For more than four decades, Miss Fokine -- a niece of the renowned choreographer Mikhail Fokine -- has operated a dance studio in Ridgewood. Her students have gone on to win admission to college dance programs and to the rosters of an international array of ballet companies. She has dominated the field in northern New Jersey.

In seasons past, the trendy young Japanese man would stand in line at Tiffany to buy his girlfriend a pendant or ring, then spend Christmas Eve with her at a fancy hotel near Tokyo Disneyland, paying $800 for a room and dinner for two. The hotels were usually booked by June, forcing many men to make a reservation before they were even sure they would have a date. But during the last Christmas, rooms were available. And Tiffany & Company's profits were nearly wiped out in its latest quarter because business in Japan has fallen off so sharply. French food and expensive gifts are out; tripe stew and handmade presents are in.

CAPRICE BENEDETTI stared fixedly at herself in the mirror, surveying her beauty, and saw that her color was just not right, so she repaired that deficiency quickly. She daubed on a touch more lipstick. Self-absorption is expected of a model. It was late in the day, and she had already changed clothes and makeup a half-dozen times, piling new look upon new look. "O.K.," she said. "I'm the next me." She bounced out of her apartment building in Manhattan, the doorman nodding to this latest version of her. Quickly, her long legs propelled her into the humming convoy of pedestrians, those who had uncomplainingly lived with the same look all day long. "Some days, I'm changing my face and changing my clothes 10 times," she said. "I'm elegant. I'm casual. I'm chic. I'm downtown. I'm sexy. I'm theatrical. I begin to wonder: Who am I? I'm 10 different people. Where's the real me? You have an identity crisis. Who is this?"

Down at the end of Grace Court Alley, an otherwise charming mews opposite Grace Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights, there sat at No. 21 a stable from the mid-19th century, a bare brick box used mostly for parking. To the side was an open-air parking lot. Enter Nino and Elizabeth Celano, who wanted to live there, and Joseph Stella, the Bridgehampton, L.I., architect they hired. Mr. Stella faced a major legal hurdle: The stable was overbuilt. It exceeded the maximum zoning for its tiny lot. So Mr. Stella came up with an ingenious solution.

Manhattan's third oldest structure, a brick house at 273 Water Street, has not had an easy couple of centuries. And things are not getting any easier. Built in the 1770's by Capt. Joseph Rose, the building was a notorious saloon in the mid-19th century where dog fights were staged. The city seized it in 1976 for failure to pay taxes. Today, it is a shell.

Leaders of five factions involved in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina today began preliminary discussions of a proposal to redraw the republic based on a detailed map that carves it into 10 provinces. In presenting the just-completed map, Lord Owen of Britain, co-chairman of the talks here, told the leaders of three separate Bosnian delegations representing Serbs, Croats and Muslims, and representatives from Croatia and Serbia, that the proposal was based on an attempt to "arbitrate" the conflicting territorial claims of the three ethnic groups. A Demilitarized Sarajevo Under the plan, Bosnia would relinquish most governmental functions to the provinces. Lord Owen said that if the plan was accepted, Sarajevo would be demilitarized and the new provinces would be "areas as geographically coherent as possible, taking into account ethnic, geographical, historical, communication, economic viability and other relevant factors." .

America's vast and growing Federal debt is sharply narrowing the options available to President-elect Bill Clinton as he prepares to reshape the budget that President Bush will submit to Congress next week. That process, which will take place in the coming weeks, will mark a turning point for the new President. The act of subjecting his campaign promises to the discipline of budget-making will give the country a first look at his real fiscal intentions, just as Ronald Reagan's first budget message of Feb. 18, 1981, provided a blueprint for the entire Reagan revolution.