August 5, 1999

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses importance of outfielder Bernie Williams to New York Yankees (M)

Dow Chemical to Acquire Union Carbide for $9 Billion Dow Chemical said it was buying Union Carbide for $9.3 billion in stock in a deal that would join two household names and create a chemical giant second only to DuPont in size. Although neither company makes consumer products any longer, names they made famous, like Dow oven cleaner and Prestone antifreeze, are still common sights on supermarket shelves.

Jennifer Dunning reviews performance of Oregon Ballet Theater in its New York debut, at Joyce Theater; photo (M)

Forgotten passwords are inevitable consequence of digitization of everything from money to mail; people need passwords to gain access to computer networks, software programs, E-mail, voice mail, fax mail, Web sites, ATM's and even security systems for their home; forgotten passwords cost millions of dollars annually in help-desk costs and lost productivity; many frustrated computer users do what computer security experts warn them not to: use same password for everything; even that strategy has become more difficult as various computer systems have different requirements for rendering and length of passwords; photo of one network administrator who has 129 passwords (M)

Computer-savvy students in high school or their first few years of college are landing summer jobs that look like professional, full-time employment; some are making enough money to cover most of their tuition, while others are receiving signing bonuses simply for accepting summer employment; phenomenon has emerged over last few years, as Internet start-up companies have proliferated and established software and hardware companies have grown; finding enough people to do technical work has become primary concern, and companies fear they are missing out on talent if they focus only on college juniors and seniors; photos (M)