Notebook: Oct. 20, 1997

WINNERS & LOSERS

PATIENCE, PATIENCE

[WINNERS]

BILL GUTHRIDGE Longer apprenticeship than Prince Charles. After 30 years, he succeeds the King, Dean Smith

HAROLD ICKES Thompson too scared to have him testify a second day. Cast him for the tough guy in Die Hard IV?

PRINCESS DIANA Can't win Nobel Peace Prize posthumously but comes close

[& LOSERS]

ELLEN DEGENERES Yep, she's a prima donna. She comes out, lip locks a gal pal on air, and wants the kids to watch

SGT. MAJOR GENE MCKINNEY Army, planning his court-martial, gives him desk job. Maybe he can get active duty in the Navy?

EDDIE BAUER Company loses plaid shirt in discrimination suit

NARCISSISM 102

How do you display your self-regard on the cover of your memoir--a field already crowded with books such as Claudia Schiffer's Memories and almost 20 celebrity bios called My Life? Apparently, the next wave is minimalism, as demonstrated by Whoopi Goldberg's new, boldly titled Book. Some of the genre's classics:

--Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn --My Early Life: 1874-1904 by Winston Churchill --My Life & the Principles for Success by Ross Perot --My Life in High Heels by Loni Anderson --My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber --History of My Life, Volumes I-XII, by Giacomo Casanova

ASK DR. EXECUTIONER

Q. Why is Arizona changing the time of its executions from midnight to 4 p.m.?

A. Well, they're just following the Lone Star State, the nation's execution capital, which so far this year has put to death 132 inmates. Once, most executions took place at midnight, the better to avoid the crowds that congregated at daylight hangings. But with Texas' hectic killing schedule, a lot of folks were forced to miss a lot of sleep, so in 1995 the Texas department of criminal justice moved the time to the dinner hour, 6 p.m. Prison officials got to go to bed early, and judges did not have to be wakened with last-minute appeals.

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

LISTEN UP Inexpensive antibiotics like amoxicillin may clear up kids' ear infections just as well as pricier ones do.

TREATING TREMORS The benefits of surgery for Parkinson's may last for at least two years. The surgery, in which overactive brain cells are cauterized, helps control the trembling and stiffness brought on by the disease. It also helps temper the involuntary arm and leg movements triggered by the Parkinson's medication L-dopa.

INTESTINAL RELIEF Injections of an experimental antibody may greatly improve hard-to-treat cases of Crohn's disease. Crohn's is a painful chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.

Sources: Pediatrics; New England Journal of Medicine (2,3)

THE BAD NEWS

A HAIR RAZER Though researchers can't explain why, vaccinations in very rare instances seem to have a disturbing side effect: hair loss. Usually the locks return, but in a few cases patients are left nearly bald.

AND I MEAN IT! Kids can't sleep? It may be your parenting. Research shows a link between sleep disturbances in kids--they won't fall asleep or they have frequent nightmares--and parents who don't set limits or are otherwise permissive.