NOTEBOOK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, NADYA LABI, LINA LOFARO, JAMIE MALANOWSKI, EMILY MITCHELL AND MEGAN RUTHERFORD

WINNERS & LOSERS

COMINGS & GOINGS

[WINNERS]

SUSAN MOLINARI Rosie meets Russert. Bags lousy life of Congresswoman for easy street as anchor. And no, anchors ain't reporters

JOHN MCDONOUGH Captain Kangaroo II. He's gentle and jolly, but what about that beard? No problem: kids will think he's Santa

HIDEKI IRABU Yankees sign new Nomo to fill bleachers and improve important Japanese ratings

[& LOSERS]

CONNIE CHUNG About that show with Maury? DreamWorks says it would Rather not. There's always Joan Lunden's job

JOE CAMEL No more lurking around the playground. FTC says RJR is just blowing smoke about not targeting kids

SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE You're no Bobby Kennedy. Does R.F.K.'s Miss. trip but isn't ready for the majors

SECRET SURFER

TIME checked out America's secret government agencies last week on the Web. Our unclandestine review:

AGENCY URL .COM/MENT

CIA www.odci.gov/cia/ Enter--and browse--at your own risk. "The Government may monitor and audit the usage of this system," warns the splash page.

FBI www.fbi.gov/ See if you're on the most-wanted list. Clean-cut and strict. Site cautions that its name, initials and seal are "restricted" and may be used "only with written permission."

Secret www.ustreas.gov/treasury/bureaus/usss/ A site as Service tight-lipped as the guys with the earplugs. Any questions? "Check for seized property with Customs," it advises. Enough said.

ATF www.atf.treas.gov/ No frills, no nonsense, no pretty guided tour, and just-the-facts-ma'am icons from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

IT'S MILLENNIUM TIME!

The century's days are dwindling, and the only question is how to count them. (The question for entrepreneurs is how to make money from counting them.) The fin-de-siecle countdown is already ticking away, and cropping up around the world are timepieces great and small, digital and analog, useful and utterly useless. Warning: Some timepieces do not work after the first stroke of 2000.

PRIME TIME: A numbered counter that shows hundredths of a second straddles the prime meridian at Britain's Royal Greenwich Observatory

LAST WOUND-UP: Branco International's waterproof wristwatch tells regular time and is also preprogrammed to count off to 2000

WATCH TOWER: Parisian days and nights fly by on a 50-ton, 1,342-light sign at the second level of Monsieur Eiffel's iron landmark

HOUR POWER: The desktop timepiece of Countdown Clocks International can be set for any of the world's time zones

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

BEATING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE Wolfing down 2.5 grams of potassium per day, about twice the average intake, can lower blood pressure almost as well as drugs do. That means eating lots of citrus fruits and leafy vegetables--or taking vitamin supplements.

INFECTION PREVENTION Preliminary research shows that an experimental vaccine--given in the form of a suppository--can reduce the frequency of urinary-tract infections in women.

SYPHILIS SUBDUED New cases of syphilis have fallen to their lowest level in 40 years--4.4 cases for every 100,000 people.

Sources: Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of Urology; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

THE BAD NEWS

TROUBLE IN THE MEDICINE CABINET Up to 75% of teens take nonprescription drugs without consulting an adult. One example: aspirin is not the best choice for young teens, owing to its link to Reye's syndrome.

PREEMIE PROBLEMS Very premature babies fed intravenously with calcium gluconate--a life-saving formula--may wind up with impaired mental development. It contains aluminum, which could be bad for babies' brains.

STUBBORN STAPH The bacterium that's responsible for most hospital-related infections may be becoming resistant to antibiotics.

[Sources:] Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine; New England Journal of Medicine; Dallas Morning News

ASK DR. TELEVISION

Q: How much more does NBC stand to make from advertising revenue if the N.B.A. finals go a full seven games instead of the minimum four?

A: Not much. A major misconception of televised sport is that a long play-off series delivers a slam dunk of advertising dollars. In the case of the N.B.A., 85% of the ads are sold in advance as a four-year package. Only 15% of the ads are sold after it is established that extra games prove necessary--and often the leftover spots aren't worth that much more.