NOTEBOOK

By JANICE M. HOROWITZ, NADYA LABI, LINA LOFARO, JAMIE MALANOWSKI, EMILY MITCHELL, MEGAN RUTHERFORD, ALAIN L. SANDERS AND SABRINA YOHANNES

WINNERS & LOSERS

WHEELING and MISDEALING

[WINNERS]

RALPH LAUREN No more buying off the rack. Public offering nets him a cool half billion. He's old money now

PAT ROBERTSON The 700 Club moves to Beverly Hills 90210 as Rev. Rupert pays $1.7 billion for Family Channel

ARLEN SPECTER Political twofer: rips Dems, gets Spielberg as fund raiser

[& LOSERS]

THE G.O.P. Misinformed, mistaken and misanthropic. Relief bill was a layup, and they muffed it

DENNIS RODMAN Tattooed One fined for insulting Mormons. Must have meant Morons, his sometime religion

FARRAH FAWCETT Foggy at 50. Buns of steel, but brain of Jell-O

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Just because a country has "democratic" in its official name doesn't mean that it is. The German Democratic Republic--the old communist East Germany--wasn't, for instance, nor is the new Democratic Republic of Congo yet. Herewith a comparison of five of the seven other "democratic" countries:

NAME Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS The first popularly chosen parliament was elected in 1995

MULTIPARTY STATE Yes, but major opposition groups boycotted the polls

SO IS IT REALLY? Needs work

[NAME] Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria

[FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS] Claims of fraud dogged this June's parliamentary elections

[MULTIPARTY STATE] Military-backed party has the upper hand

[SO IS IT REALLY?] Nope

[NAME] Lao People's Democratic Republic

[FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS] Just call the 1992 National Assembly elections a rubber stamp

[MULTIPARTY STATE] The Communist Party dominates politics

[SO IS IT REALLY?] No way! [NAME] Somali Democratic Republic

[FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS] Why? There's no central government to vote either for or against

[MULTIPARTY STATE] Clans and factions have local authority

[SO IS IT REALLY?] Not even remotely

[NAME] Democratic People's Republic of Korea

[FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS] No need. Dictator Kim Jon II is absolute ruler [MULTIPARTY STATE] One and only one

[SO IS IT REALLY?] Forget about it

CYBERSPEECH

Foreign tongues on the net? Nyet. English rules. No wonder French linguistic gendarmes tried to put an halte! on Georgia Tech's English-only Website concerning its campus in Lorraine. So just how prevalent is English in cyberspace?

Percentage of home pages, by language:

1. English 82.3 2. German 4.0 3. Japanese 1.6 4. French 1.5 5. Spanish 1.1 6. Italian .8 7. Portuguese .7 8. Swedish .6 9. Dutch .4 10. Norwegian .3

Source: Alis Technologies and the Internet Society http://babel.alis.com:8080/palmares.html

ASK DR. FOREIGN RELATIONS

Q: Just how favored is a most-favored nation?

A: The term most-favored nation dates from the 17th century and gives the false impression that a country that has it enjoys a special status. In fact, it means that the country enjoys the typical trading relationship with the U.S. that most countries do. Only seven nations--Afghanistan, Cuba, Laos, Montenegro, North Korea, Serbia and Vietnam--do not have MFN status. (Three others--Iran, Iraq and Libya--are embargoed.) Moreover, many nations are treated more favorably than nations that are merely most favored; Canada, Israel and Mexico, for example, have free-trade agreements with the U.S. Indeed, the U.S. grants tariffs lower than MFN rates on certain products to more than 130 nations.

BEANIE COUNTERS

So, you're shopping for an investment? There's always fine art, bottles of Bordeaux or even a Ferrari--but Beanie Babies? Well, Sotheby's is not yet auctioning them, but the $5 plush animals have spawned a frenzied collectors' market. The prices of some discontinued models (35 of the 118 lines have been shelved) top $1,000. Many of the most coveted specimens are mutants resulting from factory errors. Guess which babies bring home the beans:

ZIP, the cat A All black except the ears or... B...black except the face and belly or... C...wearing white socks

LIZZY, the lizard A Tie-dyed in rainbow hues or... B...blue-backed and yellow-bellied

SPOT, the dog A With a spot on its back or... B...the spotless version.

Answers: Zip: A. $1,050; B. $225; C. $5. Lizzy: A. $375; B. $5. Spot: A. $5; B. $1,050.

Source: Becky Phillips and Becky Estenssoro, co-authors of the forthcoming collectors' guide Beanie Mania

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

IMPROVING ANGIOPLASTY Balloon-angioplasty patients given a "super-aspirin" called ReoPro had their risk of postoperative heart attack or death cut by half.

QUELLING CHOLESTEROL Estrogen pills are significantly more effective than the commonly used drug pravastatin in raising good cholesterol. Estrogen lowers bad cholesterol too, but not as much as pravastatin does.

KIDS AND AIDS The first major study of AIDS-infected kids concludes that the AIDS drug DDI, taken alone or with AZT, is vastly superior to AZT alone in halting the progress of the disease.

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine (1 & 3); Journal of the American Medical Association

THE BAD NEWS

THE ACHING AGED Nearly 1 in 5 Americans over age 60 regularly takes pills for pain. And a quarter of them suffer side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness and gastrointestinal complications.

PHONY DIETING Finally, a study shows what most dieters suspect: eating artificially sweetened food does little to reduce overall caloric intake. People add the low-sugar food to their usual diet--rather than forfeit the fattening stuff.

RASPBERRY ALERT Stay away from Guatemalan raspberries. They're blamed for an outbreak of parasitic infection in seven states.

Sources: National Council on the Aging; American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; Food and Drug Administration

LEXICON

ROAD RASH (rod rash) n. The scrapes and burns suffered by aggressive, or stunt, in-line skaters when falling on unprotected flesh, a problem prevalent among skaters who do not wear armor (pads).

LOCAL HERO

JOHN CROYLE, 46, GADSDEN, ALA.; Founder of Big Oak Ranch

Croyle played college football for Alabama's legendary Bear Bryant and told him he wanted to turn pro to raise money to help children. Bryant replied, "Don't play pro football unless you're willing to marry it." Croyle started a home for abused and abandoned children, and has helped more than 1,000 boys and girls since 1974.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

BOBBY SEALE, 60, Philadelphia, co-founder of the Black Panther Party

Elmer ("Geronimo") Pratt's release from prison evoked memories of the Black Panther Party, which the once militant Seale helped create in 1966. In 1969 Seale's courtroom histrionics as one of the Chicago Eight (they were tried for inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention) caused the judge to order him shackled to a chair and gagged. In 1973 Seale tried working within the system, running unsuccessfully for mayor of Oakland, Calif. He has since published a memoir and a cookbook, Barbeque'n with Bobby. These days his political focus is on "civil-human rights." He is a volunteer community liaison for Temple University, encouraging youths to enroll in academic programs, and runs a training program introducing young people to information-based technology.