September 29, 2002

Richard Panek article explores current interest across the artistic spectrum in science and scientists; recalls recent best-selling books, movies and plays; focuses on opera Galileo Galilei, new interpretation of life of Galileo that is opening this year's Next Wave Festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music; photo (M)

Doubts are being raised about prospects for Intel's Itanium 2 64-bit processor; Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, which has declined to buy Itanium 2, says future of computing lies elsewhere, in small and inexpensive -- and less power-hungry -- processors that act as Lego-style building blocks for new class of vast data centers; Advanced Micro Devices also has rival 64-bit alternative that computer makers are seriously considering, and Intel, although fully committed to Itanium, is working on backup project called Yamhill in case Itanium founders; market researchers now project that Itanium will garner less than 10 percent of market for server computing as far ahead as 2007; Hewlett-Packard, co-developer of Itanium with Intel, has even more riding on chip, which is big part of its plan for expansion in corporate computing; chip photo; photo of Michael J Fister, Itanium project manager; graph (L)

Article on university scramble bands, including Columbia University's self-declared Cleverest Band in the World; most Ivy League universities have scramble bands, which began forming in 1960's as alternatives to traditional marching bands; scramble bands pride themselves on their ability to shock and those that cross the line have been censured by administrators; recent controversy during Columbia-Fordham game described; photos (M)

Five high-end rental apartments are being maÿ

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan is obliquely but persistently campaigning--through friends, advisers, lawmakers and her own well-placed calls and letters--to reverse Pres Bush's decision to limit federal financing for stem cell research; Reagan believes embryonic stem cell research could uncover cure for Alzheimer's, disease that is inflicting former president; friends say Mrs Reagan was dismayed when Bush took issue with new California law that encourages such research; her advisers say Mrs Reagan's sense of decorum and party loyalty inhibit her from publicly challenging Republican president; photo (M)

William Clay Ford Jr, Ford Motor chief executive for 11 months, wins praise for remarking management team, but many analysts remain deeply pessimistic about prospects of company, which they say needs more new car and truck models and has to reduce its labor costs to be competitive with rivals; Ford expresses deep personal commitment to turning company around; defends himself against environmentalists who have criticized him for not bucking industry's lobbying against tighter gas mileage requirements; photo of Ford; photos of two 2004 models, Five Hundred and CrosTrainer, which company hopes will help it regain market share; graph (L)

Gretchen Morgenson Market Watch column questions Fannie Mae's financial support of Committee to Save the Trail, organization opposed to creation of much needed light rail line in Washington, DC, which would also require moving two golf tees at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md; notes that Jamie S Gorelick, vice chairwoman of Fannie Mae, is club member; photo (M)

Article on Imaginary Friends, new comedy-drama by Nora Ephron about imaginary encounter in Hell between writers Mary McCarthy and Lillian Hellman; play, directed by Jack O'Brien with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Craig Carnelia, is set to open in San Francisco in advance of December 12 Broadway premiere; photo (M)

Surveillance equipment is everywhere, not just in big cities and at obvious places like Times Square or outside White House, but also in Porterville, Calif, and Mishawaka, Ind, and hundreds of other places; more often than not, private rather than public hands are controlling lenses; Security Industry Association estimates that at least two million closed-circuit television systems are in US; survey of Manhattan in 1998 by American Civil Liberties Union found 2,397 cameras fixed on places where people pass or gather, like stores and sidewalks; all but 270 are operated by private entities; CCS International, company that provides security and monitoring services, calculated last year that average person was recorded 73 to 75 times per day in New York City; scene is many small towns noted; William G Staples, University of Kansas sociology professor who has written two books about surveillance, comments; diagram; photo (M)

Census Bureau report show number of Americans in poverty has risen again, for first time in eight years; gap between rich and poor is growing; report shows that weakening economy has begn to affect large segments of population, whatever their race, region or class; residents of Pembroke Township, Ill, still live in crumbling shacks with caked-dirt floors and no running water; healing poverty in Pembroke is natural and spritual undertaking for Dr Rodney Alford and Rev Jon Dyson; Alford runs clinic on Main Street, only one for miles around; Dyson runs local food pantry and makes house calls; statistically, Pembroke is among poorest areas in country; average per capital income in 1999 was $9,642, compared with $21,587 nationally and $23,104 statewide; photos (M)

Iraq rejects proposal by United States and Britain for Security Council resolution imposing tough weapons inspections, saying it will not accept any new rules for work of United Nations inspectors; diplomats from Washington and London shuttle to Moscow and Beijing after consulting in Paris, trying to overcome strong objections to draft resolution among other three permanent, veto-bearing member of Security Council; proposal gives Iraq 30 days to make full disclosure of its weapons of mass destruction and provides for unfettered inspections, authorizing military attack if Baghdad does not comply; Iraq's Vice Pres Taha Yassin Ramadan says his government has agreed to allow weapons inspectors to return under conditions laid down previously by United Nations and that it will not accept new terms; rejects as 'lies' accusations by Bush administration officials of ties between Pres Saddam Husssein and Al Qaeda; Iraq's Deputy Prime Min Tariq Aziz warns that United States will sustain heavy losses in attack and pledges that Iraq will fight fierce war; Bush administration quickly responds that resolution is up to Security Council to decide; White House press secretary Ari Fleischer says Iraq does not have say in matter; Pres Bush, in weekly radio address, lobbies for Congressional resolution authorizing use of force; Marc Grossman, American under secretary of state for political affairs, works to persuade Russian officials, including Foreign Min Igor S Ivanov, to accept resolution; Britain dispatches senior diplomats Peter Ricketts to Paris and Moscow and William Ehrman to Beijing for negotiations; photo (M)

Small faction of Augusta National Golf Club members suggest internal compromise to abate conflict between exclusive club and National Council of Women's Organizations, allowing one or two women as members within next six months; photos (M)