TIME'S Essay on the quality of White House intelligence [May 25] jogged one reader's memory back to 1945, when a U.S. Navy assignment required him to ascertain the location of various warships at specific times. "I questioned admirals and captains, who sent me to other admirals and captains," he wrote. "Finally, in the office of an elderly admiral wearing ribbons I had never seen before, I was certain I had reached the end of my quest. I put my questions. He thought for a moment, then said, 'Lieutenant, when I want information of that kind, I usually check with TIME.' " A flattering story, even if the admiral was in a mood to exaggerate. Yet while the magazine has certainly never claimed to know everything about anything, we do work hard to provide information for the specialist as well as the generalist, to search out the rare nugget of news as well as cover the vital events. In the current issue, for example, TIME'S readers will find that:

> Many cultures have long held that drunkenness and irresponsibility go hand in hand, but a fascinating new study indicates that the drunkard obeys a social code at least as stringent as that of his abstaining brother. See BEHAVIOR, "The Rules of Drunkenness."

> Success does not necessarily depend on a better mousetrap -- since one British researcher has jumped right into the vanguard of modern technology by deliberately building a worse machine. See SCIENCE, "The Unridable Bicycle."

> The God of Christians and Jews may belong more to mycology than theology. See RELIGION, "Jesus as Mushroom."

> If the world turned upside down and animals ate men, human carcasses woul be banned from the beastly supermarket. See ENVIRONMENT, "Vanishing Wildlife."

> Britain's newest headliners sport a minimum of hair, and they get their jollies from stomping people. See THE WORLD, "Skinheads."

> In the face of the reluctance of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. to allow clerics to seek political office, half a dozen priests are doing just that. See THE NATION, "The Clerical Candidates."

This week's cover story deals with a particularly sensitive and intriguing question: presidential isolation. A growing body of opinion worries that Richard Nixon is out of touch with the nation at large, that he is far too heavily insulated by his aides. On the other hand, there is considerable agreement that the demands of the office are so awesome that the President must be zealously protected -- if for no other reason than to give him time for the really important decisions. Written by Keith Johnson, researched by Marguerite Michaels and edited by Jason McManus, the story explores these issues, depicts the White House machinery, and scrutinizes the key members of the presidential Palace Guard.

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