July 2, 1995

MARY ANN RAGONA had to work late the other day. Rather than have her gasoline tank run dry late at night, she pulled into a service station in Huntington on her way to work. But when she saw the price on the pump for premium, she asked the attendant to put in only a few gallons. "I paid $1.75 a gallon," she said. "When you're desperate . . . "

THE English have long had a passion for temples, for ruins, for garden follies; starting in the early 18th century, they began dotting them around the landscape like daffodils in the spring. Americans, being more practical, generally eschewed such fantastical and useless architectural objects. Outbuildings were tool sheds, four-square and double-doored; garages were wooden boxes where the family automobile was stored.

This bull market may not be the best ever, but it is one of the most painless. The exciting news for American stock owners is that in the first half of 1995 share prices advanced across the board, with the Standard & Poor's composite up 18.6 percent, not including dividends. But the most remarkable aspect of that is the smooth way in which it happened.

HERE in Europe, it is often said that market trends are like the prevailing weather patterns: they blow from west to east. What is hot in America, the reasoning goes, eventually blows out over the Atlantic and arrives on the Continent some months later. Now, with near unanimity, investment advisers are forecasting warm and sunny weather ahead for European stocks.

With its term that ended last week, the Supreme Court embarked on a bold new era of conservative activism. An ascendant bloc of three conservative Justices spurred the Court to challenge long-held assumptions about Federal power. The Court itself has turned topsy turvy. Activism, once derided by conservatives, is now their domain. Liberals urge judicial restraint. The center has evaporated.

THE birth struggle of a new era is not a pretty sight. It is messy, it is unstable, it is riveting. It was the Supreme Court during the 1994-95 term that ended on Thursday. An ascendant bloc of three conservative Justices with an appetite for fundamental, even radical change drove the Court on a re-examination of basic Constitutional principles. Long-held assumptions about the authority of the national government, the relationship between Washington and the states, and the ability of the Federal Government to take race into account in making public policy were all placed on the table for dissection. Some precedents were overruled, others sharply limited in a gaudy show of zero-based jurisprudence.

FOR GENERATIONS, AMERICAN ARTISTS heeded the call of Paris. First came the painters, Mary Cassatt and Winslow Homer among them, lured by the Impressionist movement of the late 19th century. Then it was the turn of writers, with Edith Wharton leading the way in the 1910's and Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and Scott Fitzgerald soon following. By the 1930's, Josephine Baker was the toast of le tout Paris, and black American performers had found a home here. After World War II, Paris was where Henry Miller could get published, where James Baldwin felt free to live and write. Then, it seems, Paris stopped being an important port of call for American creators.

After Congress killed the Clinton Administration's proposals to revamp America's health care system, ambitious state plans to extend health insurance to more people took on importance as possible models for the nation. But nearly a year later, most of those plans are dead or stalled as the states turn their attention to cutting budget deficits. Meanwhile, the number of uninsured people is growing fast. In Florida, for example, Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat, had proposed in 1992 that employers be required to provide health insurance for their workers. Under pressure from large self-insured employers, he quickly withdrew that plan. Since then, Republicans, who now have a majority in the Florida Senate, have blocked another of the Governor's plans: to transfer $3.2 billion in Federal Medicaid money over five years to a managed health care program that Mr. Chiles said would cover 40 percent of the state's 2.8 million uninsured residents.

One night not long ago, Ryan Matsuno, 17, turned on his father's new computer, dialed America Online and typed out a plaint of loneliness: "Does anyone else feel like you're the only gay guy on the planet, or at least in Arlington, Tex.?" Mr. Matsuno had never before told his secret, and when he came out of the closet by posting his message on a computer bulletin board for gay teen-agers, the response was overwhelming.

With cars becoming evermore sophisticated, auto companies are turning to computers in their pursuit of technologically savvy buyers. Interactive floppy disks and CD-ROM's for computers offer potential buyers a chance to learn about the available models and features without having to suffer high-pressure sales tactics. Most of these disks are free. A few automotive magazines now sell buyers guides on CD-ROM's that allow shoppers to compare various models, and offer the subjective opinions of staff members. Editorial reviews and comparison tests are also available.

A 440-acre combination airport, picnic grove, lake and Christmas tree farm in Sterling, Pa., subdivided into 17 parcels, is to be sold at auction next Saturday. Mike Caputo, a tree farmer and private pilot, bought the property in 1969 when it was just another 1,750-foot mountaintop in the Poconos with 60-mile views. Mr. Caputo turned it into a landscaped multipurpose air park complete with a beach, tennis courts and a children's playground.

With cars becoming evermore sophisticated, auto companies are turning to computers in their pursuit of technologically savvy buyers. Interactive floppy disks and CD-ROM's for computers offer potential buyers a chance to learn about the available models and features without having to suffer high-pressure sales tactics. Most of these disks are free. A few automotive magazines now sell buyers guides on CD-ROM's that allow shoppers to compare various models, and offer the subjective opinions of staff members. Editorial reviews and comparison tests are also available.