In the first week of December, a two-year-old Siberian tiger approached a lumbermen’s village in Far Eastern Russia, near Vladivostok. Locals immediately knew that something was terribly wrong when the normally solitary animal strayed into the village, ignoring the presence of several men and their dogs. Very few Russians have ever actually seen a Siberian tiger with their own eyes. … Read More
Standing at the edge of the parquet court in front of rows of cheering fans, Sue Altman was all smiles as she hopped and waved both her arms to the hundreds of supporters roaring above. Her light blond hair was pulled back tightly in a bun and sweat was still streaking down her cheeks. Her baggy shorts hung just above … Read More
NEW YORK – He beat Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale handily at the polls. But when it came to a face-off with FDR, Ronald Reagan lost. Reagan’s fans pushed for legislation last December to replace Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s image on the dime. The bill gathered support from House Republicans but was blocked by Democrats determined to preserve FDR’s legacy. Conservatives, though, … Read More
NEW YORK – It started as a superstitious stunt, but then things got hairy. Neils Kemper’s favorite German soccer team was on a roll. So as not to jinx the team’s winning streak, he stopped shaving while the lucky run lasted. But when Eintracht Frankfurt finally lost, Kemper, a 23-year old Economics student at The New School in Manhattan, couldn’t … Read More
The tone for one of the most famous and successful books of the 20th century is set right from the start, in fact from the very first sentence: “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents … Read More
MIDDLETOWN, Conn – In front of 500 Wesleyan University students, Dan LaRosa stood on a stage with a dozen volunteers from the crowd. One by one, he stroked the volunteers on their shoulders, puts his other hand on their heads, and whispered the word “sleep.” The students’ heads dropped and each fell into a trance. What followed was a two-hour … Read More
NEW YORK – When Yana Oselkin turned 28 last September, her younger brother bought her an unusual birthday gift. “He got me an acre on the moon, with an earth-facing view,” the Manhattan-based dentist recalled recently. “I thought he was kidding.” Oselkin now says she is a “proud moon owner,” but views her property mostly as a novelty. She has … Read More
With 7:27 remaining, in an unusually low scoring game, Princeton guard Ali Smith scored an uncontested backdoor lay-up to put her Tigers ahead of the host Columbia Lions 36-33 on Friday night. On the sidelines, Columbia head coach Jay Butler, threw his arms up in desperation and began pacing the hardwood floors of Levien Gym. Someone had obviously missed an … Read More
NEW YORK – When Mark Mehlestein’s heart stops beating, he will be pronounced dead by a physician. Yet, within moments, a small group of people will take his body and place it in a separate medical facility. They will perform aggressive life support measures, cool his body and drain his blood and replace it with an organ preservation solution. Then … Read More
As one of the world’s most recognizable symbols, the Playboy Bunny evokes a wide range of associations. From hedonism to pornography, from manhood to sex, people tend to perceive Playboy Magazine in many different ways. Yet, over the past 50 years, Playboy’s top management, behind the leadership of the publisher and editor-in-chief, Hugh Hefner, has viewed the magazine with a … Read More
The tallest player in NHL history turned in a performance reminiscent of one of the greatest players ever, as defenseman Zdeno Chara led the Ottawa Senators past the struggling New York Rangers 4-1, Monday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. The 6-foot-9 Chara had a “Gordie Howe hat trick,” with a goal, an assist and a fight, as Ottawa surged from … Read More
By the hundreds they swarmed into studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza last Thursday night to pay tribute to a television icon. There were politicians, journalists and a horde of public officials; a snapshot of the New York City government and media social scene spanning the past half-century. It was a very special birthday party indeed. Not only was Gabe … Read More
NEW YORK – Like any average American couple, Samantha and Bob were sitting at home on a recent Tuesday night, watching television. But unlike the millions of other Americans doing the same thing at that moment, they were being paid to be average: The programs they chose represented what nearly 22,000 other Americans were doing with thier dials. Samantha and … Read More
With the amount of stars on hand and drama in the air, it would have been easy to overlook Toby Stevenson at the 97th annual Verizon Millrose Games, held Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. There was fellow pole-vaulter Stacy Dragila dominating her field again, hurdlers Allan Johnson and Gail Devers each setting new Millrose records, and, … Read More
Samuel Steele sat in his regular corner of Mesa Park, a deserted lot off Morris Avenue in the Tremont section of the Bronx. He was wearing a pair of dirty jeans over untied boots, a tattered button-down shirt hanging out. He smelled of urine. His leather-like hands shook as he held a lighter towards his mouth, repeatedly attempting to light … Read More