January 19, 2006

Ancient art of spinning fibers into yarn is being explored by new generation, who finds repetitive motion relaxing and fulfilling; craft, which was traditionally just step in weaving rug or cloth, now stands on its own as many new spinners do not want to take process beyond act of generating yarn; Dr James S Gordon, Georgetown University psychiatry and family medicine professor, holds that repetitive movement is meditative and can have psychological benefits for some people; spinners discuss their individual passion for activity; photo (L)

In addition to large paychecks, people like Katie Couric of NBC, the Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones and James B. Lee Jr., a J. P. Morgan Chase investment banker, have something else in common. Under a proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission, their entire pay packages may be made public, along with those of the senior executives at the companies where they work.

A burst of powerful winds blew through the region yesterday morning, toppling tractor-trailers and uprooting hundreds of trees that knocked out electricity, disrupted train service, blocked highways and killed a man as he drove away from his home in New Rochelle, N.Y. More than 200,000 homes lost power in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and commuters in all three states ran into delays trying to get to work. Some were jolted from their office-bound drowse by near-simultaneous reminders of nature's power: At 7:56 a.m., a wave of seawater crashed onto the deck of a New York Waterway ferry near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, spurring a call for passengers to strap on life vests. Two minutes later in the Bronx, a fallen tree pierced the roof of a Metro-North train heading toward Grand Central Terminal.

Chicago Bulls defeat New York Knicks, 106-104, in overtime; photos (M)

A SECRET: Sometimes, writing a column is just too easy. All one needs is a recording device and a keyboard featuring a quotation mark -- the better to transcribe the comments of public figures who break the oratorical sound barrier, bless them. C. Ray Nagin, the mayor of beleaguered New Orleans, for instance. At a ceremony on Monday honoring the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. Nagin declared that ''God is mad at America.'' Continuing in his best Pat Robertson mode, Mr. Nagin intoned, ''He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country.''