Jennifer Capriati, 23
Tennis superstar. Went pro at unprecedented 13 when Women?s Tennis Council bent rules for her. Olympic Gold medalist two years later. Arrested for shoplifting in ’93 and marijuana in ’94. Back in the game–recently skunked Monica Seles.

Elizabeth Berkley, 27
Actor. From brainiac Jessie on kiddie sitcom Saved by the Bell to Nomi in sorely misinterpreted (she says) movie parody of Las Vegas, Showgirls. Most recently appeared in Any Given Sunday with Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz.

Debbie Gibson, 29
Singer. After pop hits “Foolish Beat” and “Lost in Your Eyes,” ditched the ugly hat, changed name back to “Deborah” and starred in Broadway’s Les Miserables and London’s Grease. Upcoming sitcom Maggie Bloom postponed from fall 2000.

Brooke Shields, 34
Actor, model. Played teen prostitute in 1978′s Pretty Baby. Breck shampoo girl; Princeton grad. TV ad with her as a teen saying “nothing” came between her and her Jordach Jeans pulled. Brief marriage to Andre Agassi resulted in bad tennis matches and plummeting ratings. Currently starring in edgy film Black and White. She’s, uh, the white. Guest starred on Friends as stalker who mails Joey her eyelashes.

Molly Ringwald, 30-something
Actor. John Hughes brat-packer in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. Dropped out, moved to Europe. Career revived in late ’90s with Cindy Sherman’s horror spoof Office Killer. Now married, preggers, and living in France. Currently filming In the Weeds with Joshua (Blair Witch) Leonard.

Nadia Comaneci, 38
Gymnast. At 14, first gymnast to receive perfect Olympic 10. Defected from Romania in 1989; opened gymnastics academy in Oklahoma with gymnast husband, Bart. Writes “Ask Bart and Nadia” column in International Gymnast.

Soleil Moon Frye, 23
Actor. Played Punky Brewster on well-loved sitcom. Followed by many forgettable films. New sitcom Grown Ups went on without her after pilot. Stars in as the anti-Punky (chain smoking, slutty, crude-we love her) in the upcoming film The Girls’ Room; guest-starred on Friends (as girl who hits too hard).

Alanis Morrissette, 25
Singer. Canadian. At 11, starred on kiddie show You Can’t Do That on Television. At 20, won four Grammies for “Jagged Little Pill.” Spent time off after Grammies and found God in India; made more “peaceful, forgiving” music after that. Sales dropped. Played God in 1999′s Dogma.

Thora Birch, 17
Actor. Stood her own against Kevin Spacey in American Beauty. Played Molly on brief sitcoms Day by Day and Parenthood, 1988 and ’90. Named for the Norse god of thunder and lightening.

Alison Folland, 21
Actor. Played messed-up baby dyke Lydia in 1995′ To Die For, messed-up baby dyke Claude in 1997′s All Over Me, and messed-up anti-dyke Kate in 1999′s Boys Don’t Cry.

Claire Danes, 20
Actor. Was 15 in one-season My So-Called Life. Playing Flora Plum in the Jodie Foster-directed lesbian, carnival freak story Flora Plum, out this year. Studying at Yale, marrying Ben Lee. Banned from the Phillipines in 1998 for criticizing the country.

Gaby Hoffman, 18
Actor. Choked on a hotdog as Kevin Costner’s daughter in Field of Dreams. Did something as Tom Hanks’s daughter in Sleepless in Seattle. Did something as Steve Martin’s daughter in Everyone Says I Love You.

Now people may purchase medications without prescriptions. We can present you the largest assortment of effective and safe medicines. All of our remedies only the highest quality plus have indications to application, contraindications, detailed description.

As if that’s not enough we’ve got the Alice list of Girls to Watch Out For (more Shemekia Copeland and less Claire Danes) and exclusive interviews with cartoonist Lela Lee (of Angry Little Asian Girl fame) and The Girls’ Room director Irene Turner.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

We know who the girls to watch out for today are, but what happened to the girls of yesteryear–the ’80s pop cult mavens that set malls and box offices abuzz? Here’s a handy update.

Tiffany (Darwisch), 28
Singer. Most famous for pop remake of “I Think We’re Alone Now” and attempting to emancipate self from parents. Signed New Kids on the Block as opening act in 1988–who knew? Currently in search of new record deal.

Jodie Foster, 37
Actor. Broke through as teen prostitute in Taxi Driver. Obsessed fan tried to impress her by shooting then-president Reagan. Played Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. Owns production company in L.A. and is raising a child in a non-traditional household.

Martha Plimpton, 29
Actor. Starred in The Goonies, The Mosquito Coast, Running On Empty, and Parenthood. Late-’80s fame for dating River Phoenix. Recently starred in Pecker and 200 Cigarettes.

Kerri Green, 29
Also starred in The Goonies and several late ’80s movies. Was the lead actress in Lucas (remember the red-head?) and Three for the Road. Most recently directed the acclaimed indie film Bellyfruit-about three Los Angeles girls who get pregnant and experience the pitfalls young, young motherhood.

Linda Blair, 41
Actor. Would have had Oscar at age 6 for The Exorcist, but crew used a dummy in too many parts. Early fame led to drug arrests and a relationship with Rick Springfield. Recently cameo in Scream as “Obnoxious Reporter.”

Dana Plato, deceased
Actor. Played Kimberly on cursed TV sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, 1978 to ’84. Arrested for armed robbery, then for forging a Valium prescription. Appeared on Howard Stern last spring to revive career; overdosed that evening-controversy surrounding death. Was 34.

Tracey Gold, 30
Actor. Played brainy sister Carol on TV sitcom Growing Pains with Kirk Cameron. Star of countless TV movies. Fought anorexia in early ’90s. Two sons. Movie, Spoken in Silence, out this year.

“We are bringing [UNIX] up to date,” says de Icaza of Gnome (GNU Network Object Model Environment). In addition to the GUI, programmers are also making tasks such as file management easier without relying on complicated line commands at every prompt.

De Icaza started the project about two years ago while he was a systems administrator for the Nuclear Sciences Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. His motivation to start Gnome was driven by the desire to give back to the open source community for all the free UNIX tools used.

The first version of Gnome was released in March 1999, with Gnome 2.0 targeted for this spring. De Icaza recently quit his job at UNAM, and started a company called Helix Code, a free Gnome application company, with Nat Friedman in Cambridge, Mass. He already has created a Gnome spreadsheet, called Gnumeric, which he hopes will be as good as Microsoft’s dominant Excel spreadsheet.

“Applications are very important, educating people is very important,” says de Icaza. “We want every child and every person who doesn’t have a computer to use it.” Ironically, a goal similar to one Bill Gates once famously issued about Windows.

What the newspeak means is that the profitable and unprofitable sectors of the production process of service or good are separated. The unprofitable sectors are transferred to the private sector.

This has taken place in many sectors including electricity, telecommunications, road infrastructure, oil and water services sector.

This is the only way that privatization can successfully take place, as it obvious to all and sundry (except those who are blond or chose to be) that he private sector is not in the business of ensuring universal access to water services, or health care or a sound transportation system or any public good for that matter. This has historically been the role of the Government.

Because only the State has the power to levy taxes, it has the unique capacity o redistribute income and implement cross subsidies with the positive goal of increasing social equity and the well-being of the entire population. This is not a role that the private sector can play.

Cherry picking in water services usually means the separation of rural and urban service and/or the removal of sewerage and sanitation services.

When the profitable sectors of water services are removed from the public domain, an important source of cross subsidy is lost.

So cherry picking/cannibalization removes the possibilities for sectoral cross subsidy and disempowers (reduces) the capacity of the Government to use taxing systems to promote sustainability, public health and social equity goals. Similarly, privatization has removed a significant revenue source from the State Waterworks Department. That could explain how the Selangor State Water Department (now PUAS) still owes the water privateers some RM900 million or why Selangor taxpayers spend RM1 billion for operation cost alone.

It looks like these debts and fiscal problems became unmanageable only after privatization kicked in.

In fact a review of the over all revenue and expenditure for the State Water Department from 1978 to 1997 (on the JKR website) showed that they were in the black.

However in 1997, Selangor’s expenditure registered over RM400 million while revenue accrued showed RM274 million only. (Selangor privatized water treatment in 1994) Was this the start of the road to perdition? Is this the route that privatised water supply and delivery in other sates will go?

Now that distribution of water supply and billing has been handed over to PUAS, who has in turn hired a company to collect debts, what is the precise role of the Selangor Government in the water business?

Now that the State no longer collects revenues from billing; who is responsible for the deficits-creating aspects of water services delivery, eg loans and debt incurred from expansion of the water sector, maintenance, expenditures, insurance fees, and interest on the pass loans, etc? Does the State have to pay lessee fee to private water operators?

IS that Why Selangor has to fork out RM600 million every year at taxpayers’ expense “to assist PUASin operations”? One cannot help but ponder on these imponderables.

Samy Vellu’s reason for water privatisation is that it “would allow burden to be shared by many people rather than just one agency, the Water Supply Department”.

He could’nt be more correct. Privatisation of water services is ultimately paid for by us – the people.

25% cash
0% bonds
28% real estate (since my mortgage is young, I’m not really building equity yet)
46% stocks

DINKs making decent $$$
Sally is a lawyer and makes $80,000. Some of her highflying has been curtailed by law school debt, but she knows her way around a ski slope. Boyfriend David is a chef, makes $50,000. They’re in their mid-30s and plan to get married. They have:

$35,000 cash (Sally) plus $5,000 cash (David)
$10,000 worth of bonds from David’s grandparents
$10,000 worth of stocks from Sally’s grandparents
and a Cuisinart

Their asset allocation:

67% cash
17% bonds
17% stocks

They’re not very comfortable with financial risk. In two years, they would like to have a house, a child, retirement plans and more Cuisinarts.

DINKs making decent $$$
Suggestions: The first thing this couple needs is to get some 401(k) retirement plan action. Since 401(k)s are tax deferred, they’re automatically a slightly better investment than anything you pay taxes on immediately. Sally and David should save at least 10% of their earnings that way.

Second: It’s important for them to move more of their money into stocks, as, over the long haul, they go up more quickly. In the long term, they should invest as much of their cash in stocks as they can stand, especially with their jobs acting as a cushion.

One way to make them more at ease with the risk is to direct investments into a mix of 80% stocks and 20% bonds — almost as rewarding as 100% stocks, and a little safer. In addition, $10,000 of their cash could go into a mutual fund with the same mix. (More would make them uncomfortable.)

In two years:

35% cash
20% bonds
45% stocks

This should be attainable if both work; if one of the two decides to stay home with a baby, they’ll have to cut back their lifestyle.

The destination is your financial goal, whether it’s salting away money for grad school or for retirement. The fastest route can vary, of course, but what you try to do is put your money into the riskiest asset groups you can stand (because, long-term, those are the ones making the most money). To cut down some of that risk, you diversify, putting your money in a variety of kinds of asset groups, so they won’t all plunge downward at once.

As a component of financial management, asset allocation is often skipped over, because it’s not nearly as fun as, say, picking individual stocks. But it’s much more important to the success of your investments.

A famous 1991 study found that 82% of a portfolio’s returns stems from the decision of what asset groups to buy — the dividing of savings among cash, stocks and bonds, even real estate.

Asset allocation is an individual choice, varying according to age and income. Which of these three hypothetical profiles sounds most like you? (Each case presents the basics of asset allocation.)
But wait, you say. What if I don’t fit any of these snapshots?

Single 30-year-old writer
I have about $15,000 worth of equity in real estate. I have $15,000 in stock in a former employer’s retirement plan, and about $1,000 worth of stock in a new retirement plan. I have a pretty good TV.

Here’s my current allocation of that $24,000:

0% cash
0% bonds
42% real estate
58% stocks

Where do I want to go?

I have no immediate need for cash — no big plans to go to law school — so it’s OK by me that all my financial assets are in stocks; I can always sell them.

Still, my savings were drained away by the down payment on my apartment, and my financial snapshot calls for a rebuilding of cash on hand. My next goal, while continuing to put money into my retirement plan, is to put away three months’ salary in my checking account.

Single 30-year-old writer
Suggestions: Once I decide on those aims, I can figure out ways to get there (for example, an automatic savings plan that takes away 10% of my salary before I see it; moonlighting and putting the cash directly in a brokerage account).

It is your emotional and mental processes that allow you to decide how you prepare for the announcement of the surprise. If you believe it to be a good surprise, you will be relaxed and ready to be in receipt of the news.

If, on the other hand, you believe that the surprise will be upsetting, you begin to tense your body, readying for fight or flight. This process, based upon the mental and emotional process is known as ‘bracing’ for the worst.

Mentally you believe that you control the affects of the surprise on your health and wellness sounds reasonable, however it is not representative of the entire situation. Stress, whether positive or negative, will cause the same chemical body responses.

The positive state of mind may help to keep the body’s defences up and fight off illness while the stress is at hand. A negative state of mind often leads to the downfall of the body’s protecting itself.

Maybe there is more to keeping a positive attitude than once thought. Surprise honey, needs to be greeted with positive thoughts not bracing with the expectation that the worst is about to occur.

Think about how you would handle this situation:

Your aunt has just landed on your doorstep, flew in from California and wanted to surprise you. The first thought would be ‘oh my, I didn’t have time to prepare, now what do I do?’ Second, the sense of panic may well set in; meanwhile you are greeting your unexpected visitor with warmth and thanking her for the lovely surprise visit.

If this is your favourite aunt and you can prevent yourself from feeling pressured then you will find that your mental and emotional attitudes will help to counteract the ill affects of stress.

You may not be so lucky; this may be the aunt that you try to avoid, personality conflict being the nicest way to put it. The greeting will be difficult, you will be guarded wondering why she has shown up and what in the devil could she possibly want.

The person who is faced with this situation is most likely to find that illness occurs soon after the arrival of their aunt or after the individual leaves. Without the positive emotions and thoughts surrounding the acceptance of the surprise health and wellness can be compromised.

The next time that you hear “Have I got a surprise for you!” remember how you react may impact your health.

Have you ever been somewhere and realized it had a hold on you? Until a trip to Oregon, our favorite beaches were in Washington State. The small coastal town of Cannon Beach, the Carmel, California, of Oregon changed that. Little did I realize that we’d be so drawn to this town.

Cannon Beach is located on the Oregon Coast south of Seaside, a young-at-heart mecca for tourists who like the boardwalk beaches of yesteryear and the touristy atmosphere. Cannon Beach is more of a small-town atmosphere with some unique downtown shops and galleries winding through an up-and-down town.

It’s home to Haystack Rock, the third largest monolith in the world. Listed as a Marine Garden, a protected area, it towers at 235 feet above sea level. Haystack Rock Awareness Program was formed to educate people about the fragility of the area. Guided tours are planned if you’re interested in seeing the marine life there; obtain copies of tour times and information at the Chamber of Commerce or businesses in the area. You’ll be treated to an eye-feast of anemones, starfish, nudibranches and chitons, for example.

The monolith attracts birds. Tufted Puffins nest on the rock in the summer, as do Pelagic Cormorants. Western Gulls and Pigeon Guillemots reside in the area, so it’s a great birding opportunity for birdwatchers of photographers.

Our greatest experience here was the European-style Stephanie Inn where we stayed. Tucked below a hill south of town, the only four-star Inn in the area caters to every need. This smoke-free, pet-free Inn does not allow children under 12, it’s also a quiet place to relax and enjoy the area.

The cookie jar is always full and coffee is on 24-hours-a-day, so you may partake of the goodies while you wait to be checked in (they are usually busy around 4:00 p.m. check-in time). There are 46 rooms at the Inn and four one-bedroom Suites at the Carriage House nearby. Most rooms include a Jacuzzi tub (ours was heart-shaped), fireplace, air conditioning, a VCR with free movie rentals, a wet bar stocked with complementary soft drinks and bottled water, silk-terry robes and turndown service.

Dinner is a gourmet four-course affair if you choose to eat at the Inn. We didn’t make reservations and by the time we realized we made a mistake, there were no tables available.

A complementary late afternoon Oregon wine and Tillamook cheese tasting is part of the experience in the library and chart room. Get comfortable in leather and wicker furniture overlooking the ocean. Since this was a vacation I didn’t write down the wines we tasted, but they were supreme. We enjoyed talking with other folks from all over the world. Most come back yearly (at least).

The Inn has a lot of different packages, like a honeymoon package with champagne, flower petals in your bed, a keepsake heart box of chocolates, a candle, confetti bubble bath, balloons and a bow on your door. An anniversary package is similar with two Stephanie Inn keepsake wine glasses in a Stephanie Inn wine box, etc.

The Inn has birthday packages, a romance package and a coastal comfort package which includes a one-hour body massage (there is a massage therapist on site – make reservations ahead so you won’t be disappointed) and other delights. You may obtain a complimentary pass to Cannon Beach Athletic Club if you desire. There is bell service, a masseuse and downtown shuttle service if needed. Though hilly, we found it a pleasant walk to town. Our town dinner included a tasty calamari steak and fish and chips, then a pleasant sunrise walk back to the Inn.

In the morning enjoy a satisfying, complementary gourmet breakfast. It’s served in the private dining room where supper is also served. We ate heartily on an egg dish, potatoes or pancakes, fresh fruit of every sort, hot full-grain oatmeal, pastries (usually there may even be some dessert left from the dinner the night before – I got to taste their wonderful cheesecake I missed when we couldn’t get dinner reservations). It’s served buffet style.

We hated to check out, but when the time came we were given more cookies for the trip home and some snacks, along with two bottles of water. We came for the beach but ended up staying for the accommodations; they’ll bring us back next year. If you’re interested, don’t wait to make reservations for a room and dinner; they’re often booked months ahead.

Oh, and do enjoy the lovely beach while there.