June 2, 2005

Losing once to a team with the worst record in baseball was one thing. Losing back-to-back games and playing badly while doing it required something more from Yankees Manager Joe Torre than the standard get-them-tomorrow reaction. So, after the Yankees stumbled through a 3-1 loss to Kansas City on Wednesday night, extending their losing streak to four games while looking more like the Royals than the Royals have, Torre spent a few minutes giving his players a piece of his mind. He was succinct, and his message was unmistakable.

David Pogue column on Akimbo's TiVo-like settop box that can tap into enormous library of television shows stored on Internet; says catalog consists of shows from no-name networks, productions from overseas networks and even short video clips that can already be seen free on Web; says settop box costs $200 and monthly fee is $10 to get no-name shows, plus additional fee of $2.99 per show; photos (M)

News Analysis: rejection of European Union's proposed constitution by French and Dutch voters will frustrate efforts of Europe's leaders to move to next stage of integration; impasse could stall efforts to develop common foreign policies and push euro, potent symbol of unification, into downward spiral; beyond issue of constitution, vote shows disaffection, perhaps rebellion, against political elites in France, Germany and Italy; many see idea of expanded Europe as challenge to cradle-to-grave social protections; they do not believe governing parties of left and right that claim painful, free-market economic reforms are only way toward rejuvenation, more jobs and better future (M)

A FEW weeks ago, Scott Chaskey, poet and farmer, was hunkered down in his favorite garlic field to get out of a chilly wind blowing off the ocean. The sand was warm between the perfectly tilled rows of green garlic stalks, mulched with a soft blanket of shredded leaves. Mr. Chaskey calls them ''green sail masts,'' and so they were, all 20,000 of them, sailing down this two-acre field. Since 1990, Mr. Chaskey has directed the plowing and planting at Quail Hill, a community farm in north Amagansett. And now he has written about his experiences, from growing garlic, his favorite food, to growing a community -- of earthworms, bees, birds, foxes and humans -- all connected to the earth.

OLLE LUNDBERG has a client list most architects would kill for. In the last nine years, he has designed a minimalist pied-à-terre in Pacific Heights for Lawrence J. Ellison, chief executive of Oracle; a weekend ranch for John Pritzker of the Chicago hotel dynasty; and a Napa home for Leslie Rudd, an owner of Dean & DeLuca.