31-year-old Scales finally makes big league debut

When he heard that his manager _ his first-ever big league skipper _ had called him a "kid," Bobby Scales couldn't help but smile.

"Sounds good to me," he said. "Maybe we can hoodwink him and make him think I'm 26."

Scales is 31 years and seven months old, so he wasn't about to fool Lou Piniella. But the "kid" did impress the Chicago Cubs manager Tuesday in his major league debut.

After 11 years of bouncing around the minor leagues _ dreaming and hoping and yearning for just a chance to perform on baseball's biggest stage _ Scales started at second base at Wrigley Field. He singled sharply to left field in …

The psychological dilemma of the Black artist

Outrage over honoring It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp with an Academy Award for Best Original Song has created a dilemma for another generation of aspiring Black artists. Is the primary allegiance of artists to their art form, or should they restrict themselves by the ideals of Black social/political critics?

Just as Hattie McDaniel, Lincoln Perry (Step and Fetchit) and a host of earlier artists were forced to perform within the racial, political and social context of their times, today's generation of aspiring artists create and perform based on their cultural and/or sub-cultural experience, their unique realities. These young Black artists utilize their own vernacular, the language …

Endogenous Gamma Interferon is Protective Against Blood-Stage Plasmodium chabaudi.

2000 SEP 21 - (NewsRx.com) --

Endogenous gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) is necessary for the development of host protective immunity against blood-stage Plasmodium chabaudi malaria, researchers in Canada report.

"The role of endogenous IFN-gamma in protective immunity against blood-stage P. chabaudi AS malaria was studied using IFN-gamma gene knockout (GKO) and wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice," wrote Z. Su and colleagues, Montreal General Hospital. "Following infection with 10(6) parasitized erythrocytes, GKO mice developed significantly higher parasitemia during acute infection than WT mice and had severe mortality."

In infected GKO mice, the production …

'Day & Date' canceled. (television program)(Brief Article)

HOLLYWOOD--The victim of poor ratings, syndicated early fringe strip Day & Date is being canceled effective Jan. 3, 1997, the show's distributor, Eyemark Entertainment, confirmed late Friday. The show, hosted in its second season by Dana King, was conceived as a sort of Today for the afternoon that would counterprogram talk shows and be a compatible news lead-in. "I'm sorry but not surprised," …

LAWMAKERS TO REVIVE AUTO INSURANCE FRAUD BILLS.(BUSINESS)

Byline: Associated Press

ALBANY -- State Senate Republicans reintroduced a package of bills Wednesday designed to combat auto insurance fraud, and accused Assembly Democrats of contributing to rising rates by failing to pass their proposals last year.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno designated anti-fraud legislation a top priority for the Senate this session -- something he also did last year.

So what's new?

``2003 is a brand new year,'' he said. ``It's a brand new beginning, we're prioritizing in January. We're ready.''

Assembly Democrats, who passed bills similar to the Republican package last year, responded by blaming …

BOEING SEES FUTURE OF WORRY, OPTIMISM AIRLINE LOOKING FOR FOREIGN PARTNERS.(Business)

The Boeing Co. winds up the year with plenty to worry about: ailing customers, sagging orders, production cutbacks and disgruntled workers at an impasse in labor talks.

Still, there are new orders on the books and the prospect of more before the year's out. And things aren't as bad as at the competition.

So far this year, Boeing has announced orders for 174 jets worth about $13 billion. That's quite a change from just two years ago, when Boeing took orders for 543 planes worth $47.7 billion, an industry record.

In the late 1980s, Boeing executives worried about finding enough workers to hustle the airplanes out the door. Today, they talk about …

NKorea's Rooney loves his cars, clothes and rap

He plays like Rooney but behaves more like Beckham. He loves his cars, his rap music and his clothes, and changes hairstyles more often than you can say "Kim Jong Il."

North Korea striker Jong Tae Se is not your average North Korean.

Born and raised in Japan, the 26-year-old forward has never lived in communist North Korea, and says he has no plans to. He loves to shop, snowboard and dreams of marrying Korea's Posh Spice _ none of which would be possible in the impoverished North, one of the most isolated countries in the world.

But he wears the Democratic People's Republic of Korea jersey with pride, and is moved to tears when he hears …