Section A • Page 9
The University Daily Kansan
Monday. January 24, 2000
Nation/World
Sacred image appears in ice cream stain
HOUSTON — They've come from far and wide, clutching rosaries and cameras, joysting to peer through the afternoon heat at an improbable shrine on the cement floor of a Houston apartment complex.
In the midst of wilting roses, candies and crosses, they say, the Virgin of Guadalupe reveals herself to the faithful in an amor phous stain of melted ice cream
To unfaithful eyes, the crusty smear looks about as earthshaking as, well, a melted popsicle. But ecstatic believers swear they can discern the form of the beloved Mexican icon.
The uproar began Jan. 10, when residents picked out the brilliant robes of the Mexican saint in the sticky swirls at the foot of a soda machine. Word spread, and there have been 500 to 800 onlookers from as far away as Miami, Seattle and Canada.
The ice cream was disintegrating fast last week, though someone had placed a glass pane on the smear and hemmed the makeshift frame with duct tape in the hopes of preserving the image.
Holy what? Profanity interrupts worship
MILWAUKEE — It's not the voice parishioners want to hear.
Services at St. Hyacinth's Catholic Church have been interrupted during the past two months by static and conversation — some of it profane — that they suspect comes from a citizens band radio picked up by the church sound system.
At times, it has gotten so bad that the priest has to turn off the loudspeaker system and shout congregation members said.
Some worshippers who staved for silent prayer at the end of Mass on Dec. 26 reported hearing a male voice on the sound system. "I can't tell you these words."
"I can't tell you those words."
one parishioner said.
one passions. I think that should not be said in any kind of context."
The church has tried to track down the source of the noises, but it's unclear whether the problem has been solved. Rep. Gerald Kleczka, D-Wis. said a Federal Communications Commission investigation is pending.
Iron label becomes wacky warning champ
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — "Never iron clothes while they are being worn" has won top honors in the third annual "Wicky Warning Label Contest" sponsored by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch.
Bonnie Hay of Plano, Texas, discovered the label on an iron.
For her observation, she wins $500 and a copy of the book "The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America," by lawyer Philip K. Howard.
The group awarded second place to a man who sent in the warning from his 13-inch wheelbarrow tire: "Not for highway use."
Third place went to a Texan who submitted the warning from a bathroom heater: "This product is not to be used in bathrooms."
Web site is agency's new recruiting tool
communications, posted a cryptic word puzzle on its Internet site at www.gchq.gov.uk late last year as part of a recruiting drive to hire code breakers, computer experts and linguists.
LONDON — British intelligence believes it has cracked the code for recruiting new agents: Conceal a five-part puzzle on a Web site and invite job applicants to decipher it.
Government Communications Headquarters, the agency responsible for eavesdropping on global
Applicants must find the clues — concealed throughout the site — unscramble the information and arrange it in the right order. The code involves five sets of five letters of the alphabet, each encrypted in a different form, including one written in the same color as the Web page it is printed on.
the solution results in a coherent statement, so it's apparent the problem has been solved.
Jobless Dutchman named African king
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — A middle-aged, paunchy, unemployed white man plops down on the sofa to watch TV with his kids.
Meet King Togbe Korsi Ferdinand Gakuper II of Ghana.
In Holland, the king is Henk Otte,
a Dutch construction worker on
welfare. In West Africa, he rules
part of the lush Volta Region,
home to tens of thousands of
Ewes who revere him as king.
Otte, 43, was born and raised in Amsterdam like his parents. He lives in an Amsterdam housing project with his wife and two children, and an ordinary life would have suited him just fine.
But, while visiting the hometown of his Ghanaian-born wife in 1995, he was identified as the reincarnation of the late chief, his wife's grandfather.
The region he rules, about 45 miles east of the capital, Accra, comprises about 40 villages populated by more than 100,000 people. It was leaderless for almost 17 years until the Dutchman was proclaimed king.
— The Associated Press
— Compiled by Clay McCuistion
Time Warner to merge again
Deal would create huge music company
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Time Warner, which only two weeks ago announced a stunning $145 billion merger with America Online, plans to shake up the music industry through a $20 billion merger with EMI Records, home of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, a source familiar with the deal said yesterday.
The two companies formally will announce the deal in London today, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.
London-based EMI confirmed yesterday that it was in the final stages of negotiations and said an announcement was forthcoming. Time Warner in New York also acknowledged the talks, but spokesman Edward Adler said, no deal had been signed.
The deal, if it is approved by regulators, likely would be a boost for music sales on the Internet. Both Warner and EMI have been testing ways to let customers digitally download music via their computers. The new company would have a very captive audience with America Online's 20 million subscribers.
The merged company, to be called Warner EMI Music, would be the second-largest music company with more than $8 billion in annual sales. Only Seagram's Universal Music would be bigger.
EMI brings to the deal the Virgin, Priority and Capitol record labels — including names like the Spice Girls, Van Morrison and Frank Sinatra. Time Warner contributes its Atlantic, Elektra and Warner Brothers labels that include Cher, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Madonna, Metallica and R.E.M.
According to the source, the negotiations between Warner and EMI started before powerbrokers discussed Time Warner's deal with
America Online. Roger Ames, chairman of Warner Music Group, approached his longtime friend Ken Berry, head of EMI's music division, in the fall.
The two structured a deal in which Warner would pay EMI shareholders about $1 billion, or about $1.65 a share, in exchange for 50 percent ownership in the combined company, the source said. Warner also will have six seats on the new board of directors, and EMI will have five.
The merger is expected to close in about a year.
"This represents an opportunity to establish the world's premier music group and to create very considerable value for shareholders of both companies." EMI officials said in a statement.
Ames will be the chief executive officer and Berry will be chief operating officer. Time Warner President Richard Parsons and EMI Group's Chairman Eric Nicoli, will be co-chairmen.
High school seniors bored, study finds
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — College freshmen say they often were bored as high school seniors, coming late to classes or missing them entirely, evidence of what university researchers call "academic disengagement."
These students also worried about how to pay for college and one-quarter indicated there was some or a very good chance they would have to work full time while in school.
The 34th annual American Freshman survey questioned firsttime, full-time college freshmen last year about their habits and attitudes during their final year of high school.
More than 260,000 students at 462 two- and four-year schools participated in the research by the University of California-Los
Angeles' Higher Education Research Institute, primarily during summer orientation or during their first few weeks of college.
A record 40 percent of the students said they were frequently bored in high school classes, compared with the one-quarter who answered yes when the questions first were asked in 1985. More students also reported they were late to classes or skipped them.
Colleges and universities need to make sure if the students are already feeling disengaged in high school that they are going to get the support, mentoring, tutoring and other services they need to make it through college, said Jennifer Lin of the United States Student Association, a Washington-based group serving 3.5 million students. Linda Sax, a researcher who directed the survey, said the rapid
advances in today's high-tech world made it harder to hold students' attention.
"This is a reflection of an increasingly fast-paced society, made more so by computers and other media," Sax said. "Students tell us anecdotally that they love it when teachers use more interactive tools. But not all teachers do it."
Also, 30 percent of respondents said they often felt overwhelmed because of all the tasks they must do — the highest percentage since the question first was asked in 1985, when 16 percent felt that way.
Students increasingly are worried about the cost of higher education. A record 25 percent of students said there was some or a very good chance they would work full time while in college. Just 16 percent answered that way in 1982, the first year that question appeared.
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