NOTEBOOK

By BY JANICE M. HOROWITZ, NADYA LABI, DANIEL S. LEVY, LINA LOFARO, JAMIE MALANOWSKI, GABRIEL SNYDER, JOEL STEIN AND SUSANNE WASHBURN; JOEL STEIN

WINNERS & LOSERS

TO THE RESCUE

[WINNERS]

STEVE JOBS Mercurial founder is last hope to reboot Apple and stave off Microsoft's 1,000-year reign

JOE LIEBERMAN Democrat is Mr. Above-the-Fray in Donorgate hearings, inheriting Howard Baker mantle

RICHARD JEWELL Reno apologizes to ex-Atlanta suspect: he was hoodwinked

[& LOSERS]

HIDEKI IRABU Ira-bum, Ira-bust, Ira-bye-bye. The player who was named later goes from hero to zero in just 18 days

DICK GEPHARDT Cranky minority leader gets only a quarter of fellow Dems to vote against love-feast budget

TOM WELCH Brought Olympic flame to Utah and then flagrantly flamed out

COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS

Senator Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, opposes Governor William Weld's nomination as ambassador to Mexico because he feels Weld is not "ambassador quality." As a public service, we hereby provide a comparison of Weld's resume with that of former Mexican ambassador John Gavin, who served under President Ronald Reagan and was confirmed by Senator Helms:

WELD: A.B. summa cum laude, Harvard University, 1966; J.D. cum laude, 1970; diploma with distinction, Oxford University, 1967. Partner, firm Hill & Barlow, 1971-81; associate minority counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Impeachment Inquiry, 1973-74; U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, 1981-86; Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Justice Department, 1986-88; Governor of Massachusetts, 1990-97.

GAVIN: B.A., Stanford University, 1952; actor in feature films, 1956-81, including Four Girls in Town, 1957; A Time to Love and a Time to Die, 1958; Imitation of Life, 1959; Psycho, Spartacus, Midnight Lace, A Breath of Scandal, 1960; Romanoff and Juliet, Tammy Tell Me True, 1961; Thoroughly Modern Millie, 1967; The Madwoman of Chaillot, 1969; Pussycat Pussycat I Love You, 1970; History of the World, Part I, 1981; special adviser to secretary-general of OAS, 1961-74.

THEY'RE BAREFOOT AND OMNIPRESENT

In a world of casual Fridays, how's a photographer supposed to make a hard-nosed guy look footloose and fancy-free? Remove his shoes, of course. Magazine photo shoots have become like Buddhist temples: no shoes allowed. Not since Kennedy (triumphantly barefoot on the beach) defeated Nixon (wading through sand in brogans) has the naked foot been so bold. And the symbolism? The feet are now the windows of men's soles. Shoes are too pedestrian, too confining, too predictable. These fellows are so confident, they don't need footgear. All power; no loafers. Moguls can affect a Gandhi-like purity. Putting the best barefoot forward in this trend was TIME's 1996 cover shot of Netscape founder Marc Andreessen displaying his pedicure-needy toes. Other celebrities who have recently unshod for the camera: Harrison Ford and Donald Trump (PEOPLE), Jackie Chan and Matthew McConaughey (GQ) and Yahoo! co-founder David Filo (Newsweek).

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

PROSTATE-CANCER COMBO Patients who undergo a combination of short-term radiation and three years of hormone therapy have a better five-year-survival rate than those treated by radiation alone.

SNORE NO MORE? The FDA has okayed a new treatment for snoring. Called somnoplasty, the outpatient surgery uses high-frequency radio waves to heat and destroy tissues that block airways. It takes half an hour and is relatively painless.

LICKING LYME DISEASE The oral antibiotic doxycycline is as effective as intravenous antibiotics in treating Lyme infections that have spread beyond the area of the bite. And the pills are less costly too.

Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; New England Journal of Medicine

THE BAD NEWS

EQUAL-OPPORTUNITY ANOMALIES Like the daughters of women who took the drug DES to prevent miscarriages, sons too may suffer genital abnormalities. They range from benign cysts to more worrisome problems--such as an increased risk of testicular cancer.

SLEEPING SICKNESS Young adults who struggle with insomnia--even if they show no signs of being depressed--seem to have twice the risk of depression when they reach middle age.

INSIDIOUS SMOKES Though disputed by tobacco companies, a study suggests that the ammonia put in some cigarettes can alter nicotine's chemistry, making it more easily absorbed by the body.

Sources: DES Action USA; American Journal of Epidemiology; Environmental Science and Technology