 Comcast Considers Offer For Vivendi Businesses  Comcast officials and their advisers met to consider making an offer for Vivendi Universal's entertainment businesses, executives involved in the discussion said.    While they are leaning toward such an offer, it will not be made by tomorrow's deadline for second-round bids, they said. [Page C4.]    The News Corporation swung to a profit in the quarter with net income of $370 million. [C6.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Article on Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, founded by artist Mella Jaarsma and her husband and fellow artist, Nindityo Adipurnomo; gallery, devoted to contemporary installation and performance art, has become symbol of much that establishment collectors and dealers in Jakarta dislike; photos (M)

Indonesian Art With Attitude; Engaging the Community and Upsetting the Establishment

Kansas City Royals defeat New York Yankees, 11-0; photos (M)

Doughnuts For Fans And Yanks' Offense

Roland Formica, who owns Odds 'N' Ends Waterbeds, is last real water bed salesman in San Francisco Bay Area; store carries nothing but water beds and accessories; opened shortly after bed's invention in 1967 by San Francisco State University design student Charles Hall, but business crashed after 1987 peak; photos (M)

For Water Bed Holdout, California Dreaming

Wiffle ball turns 50-years-old, but remains as popular as ever; David N Mullany recalls inventing Wiffle baseball and how it grew from backyard idea to family- owned company now run by his son, David A Mullany; photos (L)

What's 50, Curvy And Full of Air?; It's the Wiffle Ball, Still Popular, Holes and All

Arnold Schwarzenegger and 134 other people are officially certified to run in Oct 7 recall election on Gov Gray Davis of California, creating one of most congested ballots in state history; election night count could drag on for weeks even without likely legal challenges; Schwarzenegger, who has dominated public and media attention, issues statement announcing that Warren E Buffett, billionaire investor, would be his campaign's senior financial and economic advisor; strategists for Schwarzenegger hope Buffett appointment would blunt criticism from both Democrats and conservative Republicans that actor is not capable of running state with $99 billion budget; array of traditionally Democratic groups, calling themselves Stand for California, announces eight-week campaign to urge vote against recall (M)

Race Officially On: 135 Are Candidates In California Recall

Wal-Mart is using consultant Fleishman-Hillard, part of Omnicom Group, to analyze its public image and has commissioned radio and television ads to try to reverse criticism from local officials, consumers and others; this is first time that Wal-Mart, known for parsimony in its business practices, has invested in 'reputation research'--using polling techniques, focus groups and phone interviews--and then spent more money to try to repair distressing aspects of what it found; effort indicates concern at Wal-Mart's highest levels about fallout from company's rapid growth and enormous economic influence; with its ascent has come scrutiny of Wal-Mart's penchant for hiring part-time workers as well as its treatment of female employees, subject of pending federal lawsuit, and its resistance to organized labor; photo (M)

Wal-Mart, Aware Its Image Suffers, Studies Repairs

Margo Jefferson reviews nightclub show Lypsinka! As I Lay Lip-Synching, directed by Kevin Malony and starring John Epperson; photo (M)

Lip-Reading Epics That Fly Thick and Fast

Justice Thomas W Keegan orders New York City to restrain from selling $556 million worth of bonds issued to refinance 1970's debt until Aug 25; bonds are center of escalating battle between Mayor Michael R Bloomberg, who wants state to make good on Legislature's budget promise to take over payment of bonds, and Gov George E Pataki, who opposes plan (L)

Court Blocks City's Plans For Bond Sale

Bank of England cuts its growth forcast for 2003 to about 1.8 percent from 2.25 percent forecast in May; says inflation might not pick up until 2004 (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Britain: Economic Outlook

British Airways spokesman says American administrators in Iraq have given seven foreign airlines permission to fly into southern city of Basra once airport reopens; there is no definite timetable set for reopening of airport, but people in airline industry say service could start within couple of weeks; six of seven selected airlines--Emirates, Royal Jordanian, Gulf Air, Qatar Airways, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and LOT Polish Airlines--will be first to start flights, and British Airways will begin service at later time; British Airways says it is suspending flights indefinitely to Saudi Arabia, after having received warnings from British officials of possible terrorist threat in that country; photo (M)

Seven Airlines Get Clearance For Flights To South Iraq

Moody's Investors Service cuts credit ratings of Japan Airlines Co and All Nippon Airways Co; outlook for two carriers remains negative (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Japan: Airlines' Ratings Cut

David Pogue State of the Art column on palmtops for well-connected college students; some models and software are designed specifically with their needs in mind; photos (M)

A Palmful of Goodies For the Undergrad

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, who Araton contends plays at level that is above and beyond Hall of Fame caliber, outshining everyone else currently in Major Leagues (M)

Sports of The Times; There's the Hall of Fame, Then There's Barry Bonds

Gov Michael O Leavitt defends his environmental record in Utah against critics of his nomination to lead Environmental Protection Agency; claims that under his stewardship, quality of air, water and public lands in Utah indisputably improved; says he sought collaborative solutions involving public as well as private interests; leaders of state and national environmental groups contend Leavitt has been too willing to consider economic needs of developers in matters of environmental quality; Leavitt contends that old ways of problem solving, pitting environmentalists against developers, is too simplistic and no longer feasible in country where military and security needs are placing new demands on federal resources and nearly every environmental dispute ends up in costly lawsuits (M)

NOMINEE FOR E.P.A. DEFENDS HIS JOB AS UTAH GOVERNOR

Four young men, all experienced swimmers, drown in rain-swollen Boquet River in Adirondack State Park, in what officials describe as one of worst drowning accidents ever in park; four worked as counselors at nearby summer camp and were spending day off at Split Rock Falls, popular swimming spot; accident occurs after David Altschuler slips off narrow granite ledge into foaming pool of water whipped into frenzy by tumbling waterfall; Adam Cohen, Jonah Richman and Jordan Satin jump after him to try to save his life; other counselors watch in horror as one by one young men are sucked into foam; Essex County Sheriff Henry Hommes says four did not stand chance in raging waters; four were good friends; Cohen, Richman and Satin grew up together on Long Island and had just completed first year of college; photos; map (M)

Friendship Drew 4 to Raging Falls, and Death

Architects Peter Franck and Kathleen Triem gave up their high-powered clients and trendy chic of Manhattan to move to Ghent, NY, to curate vast sculpture park at Omi, 200-acre farm and colony for artists, musicians and writers; after living in accommodations for visiting artists, they had saved enough money to build their own house, which they designed as tribute to their interest in blending rustic with modern; it is example of sleek urbanity tempered by appreciation for stolid materials like stone and copper; career highlights; photos (M)

In the Upstate Hills, TriBeCa Fields Forever

Joyce Purnick column comments on three of this summer's absurd political stories: threatened recall of Gov Gray Davis in California, charge by New York Conservative Party chairman Michael R Long that Sen Charles E Schumer is anti-Catholic because he has voted against some of Pres George E Bush's judicial nominees and Fox Network lawsuit against Al Franken's book, Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at The Right, which has caused sales of book to soar (M)

Metro Matters; Making Light Of the Season Of Absurdity

Round Hill Volunteer Fire Co in Greenwich, Conn, asks neighbors to help with legal bills it is running up trying to break or renegotiate contract it signed with Omnipoint Communications that allows company to install cellphone antenna on firehouse property; contract called for antennas hidden in tower of new flagpole, but added amendments allow structure to increase by four times it present size, adding appendages to serve five wireless carriers; irate neighbors also threaten suit against firemen; photos (L)

It's a Flagpole. No, a Tower. It's a Salvation. No, a Mess.

Germany's Lufthansa posts smaller-than-expected second-quarter loss, helped by lower fares, and cost cuts; net loss was 34 million euros ($38 million) compared to profit of 159 million euros year earlier; sales fell 11 percent, to 3.9 billion euros (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Germany: Loss At Lufthansa

US and European Union agree on way to reduce subsidies and import duties used to protect their farmers; agriculture subsidies have been chief obstacle in current round of talks at World Trade Organization; delegates from 146 member nations of organization will meet in September in Cancun, Mex, and poorer nations have said that trade talks would be doomed unless developed nations cut back sharply on subsidies; Pascal Lamy, Europe's top trade official, says agreement moves talks 50 percent or 60 percent forward; Allen F Johnson, chief agriculture trade negotiator for office of US trade representative, gives equally cautious welcome to accord; photo (M)

Framework Set For Reduction Of Subsidies

New York Jets coach Herman Edwards says he is thinking of ways to allow backup veteran quarterback Vinny Testaverde to reach 40,000 passing yards this season, while still starting Chad Pennington at quarterback; photo (M)

Edwards Wants 40,000 Yards For Testaverde

Singapore's United Overseas Bank, DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking lift rates they will charge for home loans to about 3 percent; United Overseas had been offering borrowers no interest for first year of mortgage, but will now charge 1.5 percent (S)

World Business Briefing | Asia: Singapore: Mortgage Rates Rise

Today's students are struggling with writing, most neglected of basic skills; while some blame rise of Internet, many teachers find online technology is powerful tool for improving writing skills; sites like scholastic.com and teenwriting.about.com collect and publish writing so students can compare their own skills to others in same age group and critique work of others; such peer review requires intensive monitoring and teaching of skills students need to be fair and incisive critics; some teachers find they have to accept less prominent role as enthusiastic students forge ahead and learn from one another; photos (L)

A Young Writers' Roundtable, via the Web

Article on history of Byrdcliffe, arts colony founded in 1903 by Ralph Whitehead and wife Jane Byrd McCall in Woodstock, NY; Woodstock Guild is celebrating colony's 100th anniversary with touring exhibition covering Brydcliffe's early decades; photos (M)

100 Years Ago, When the Arts Found Woodstock

Helmut Rahn, known as Der Boss, was a German footballer who played as a forward. He became a legend for having scored the winning goal in the final of the 1954 FIFA World Cup. Rahn, along with the German team, were decorated by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972.

Helmut Rahn, German footballer (born 1929)

Helmut_Rahn

The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and most parts of the Canadian province of Ontario on Thursday, August 14, 2003, beginning just after 4:10 p.m. EDT.

A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada.

August 14, 2003

Headlines from August 14, 2003

BUSINESS DIGEST

Indonesian Art With Attitude; Engaging the Community and Upsetting the Establishment

Doughnuts For Fans And Yanks' Offense

For Water Bed Holdout, California Dreaming

What's 50, Curvy And Full of Air?; It's the Wiffle Ball, Still Popular, Holes and All

Billboard 200

Bad Boys II

Now 13

Dangerously In Love

Fallen

Jackpot

Notable Deaths

Historical Events

Historical Context for August 14, 2003