August 3, 1995

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation's announcement on Tuesday of its agreement to buy CBS Inc. left many questions unanswered -- and many of the networks' employees unsettled. Yesterday, there were still few details and nothing to calm the people at CBS. Westinghouse has not detailed who will manage CBS, what its vision and strategy is, or even what the network will be called after the planned $5.4 billion buyout is completed. Indeed, some analysts and people inside CBS wondered yesterday whether Westinghouse was more interested in acquiring CBS's television and radio stations than in revitalizing the languishing network.

MCI to Dismiss 2,500, Even as Earnings Rise MCI, even while announcing a 21 percent rise in earnings, said it would restructure the company, dismiss about 7 percent of its work force -- 2,500 to 3,000 employees -- by year-end and write off obsolete assets. It expects to take a $600 million to $800 million write-off.

CALL it a severe case of water lust. I bought country property in an area of upstate New York famous for its sparkling lakes and ponds. But my place, alas, had no water on it. What it did have was a cistern, known in the real estate trade as "an existing structure." The 130-year-old cistern, boarded over for more than a century, was 15 feet by 23 feet, respectable dimensions for a pool. It had been designed in the 1800's to hold rainwater, and it was still doing that. An ingenious system of underground conduits conveyed rainwater from the gutters into the cistern. So why couldn't this stone reservoir be adapted to my own natural swimming pool?

The couple who moved into the small brick colonial at 60 Alden Court in December seemed nice enough, but they sure had their share of household crises, neighbors recalled. Almost daily, it seemed, repairmen were at the home to fix the furnace, clean the chimney or revive an appliance. Fourteen different repairmen, in fact, worked on the washing machine.

AMERICA'S most innovative and idiosyncratic designer of airplanes, rocket ships and assorted other fast-moving objects is explaining why he lives in a three-story hexagonal pyramid. "Less wetted area," Burt Rutan declares.