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Reports on the success of the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, child actresses who first appeared in the 1980s on the ABC television program, 'Full House.' How they have become a property with the mary-kateandashley brand; Information on their business ventures that have made them multimillionaires; Discussion of the so-called Q score, the percentage of viewers who know a celebrity and have a favorable impression; Outlook for their retail business and their future in films.

Presents the author's experience of attempting to learn how to ride dirt bikes, along with several bankers and lawyers, at the Ride-in Ranch in Temecula, California. Description of the bikes, which weigh 250 pounds and have large tires; Instruction provided by Gary LaPlante; Comments on watching David Chaves, a top professional trials rider, perform a dangerous move.

The article describes the art scene in Berkshires, Massachusetts. The Norman Rockwell Museum celebrates its 40th anniversary and has 772 paintings and drawings. A tour of author Edith Wharton's house, The Mount Estate & Gardens, takes place on Fridays from June to October 2009. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute features an art-history library open to the public.

The article discusses the author's experience of traveling to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. He states that his girlfriend, another woman and him board their connecting flight from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Marquette, Michigan on a rattletrap prop plane. He mentions that he learned about the pasties meat-pocket snacks during their mine tour.

Provides information on several travel destinations in Arkansas. Post Familie Vineyards and Winery in Altus; Emma's Museum of Junk in Eureka Springs; Nelson's Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Greenbriar.

Presents a list of the best books in business literature, including topics such as decision-making, ethics, office politics, economics, and power. "The Great Crash 1929," by John Kenneth Galbraith; "The Killer Angels," by Michael Shaara; "Den of Thieves," by James Stewart; "On Leadership," by John Gardner; "Something Happened," by Joseph Heller; "Personal History," by Katherine Graham; "Only the Paranoid Survive," by Andrew S. Grove; "Morgan: American Financier," by Jean Strouse; "Where Are the Customers' Yachts?" by Fred Schwed Jr.; "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America," by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Provides information on several travel destinations in Florida. Description of the sceneries at Everglades City; Establishments at the Tamiami Trail located in the east of Everglades City; Features of the Anhinga Trail.

Relates travel experiences in different countries. India; Northern Spain; Northern Ireland.

Discusses how 2002 was a good year for business. Rise in the price of the average home in the United States; How personal incomes rose; Effects of low inflation.

Presents a list of 50 the top American women in business according to 'Forbes' magazine. Opinion that all of these female executives share the ability to incite change; Information on Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, Debby Hopkins of Lucent Technologies, Meg Whitman of eBay, Donna Dubinsky of Handspring and others.

Offers a look at Vocation Vacations, a company that lets people try out their dream jobs. Cost of one to three days of apprenticeship; Report that many of Vocation Vacations clients are people looking to start small businesses; Founding of Vocation Vacations by Brian Kurth; Discussion of workers who use their vacation time to look at a career change.

The article examines the strategies utilized by reality television show producer Mark Burnett to increase his profits. A simple producer's fee has never been enough for Mark Burnett. First he made aggressive product placement the centerpiece of reality TV; then he persuaded NBC to let him sell one-third of the ad time for his upcoming show, "The Contender." But his newest strategy could be his biggest score yet: investing in his stars. Turns out that last March, when Burnett was casting around for someone to host an "Apprentice" spinoff, he struck a deal with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in which he was given warrants to buy 2.5 million shares of stock at $12.59. By early February, when Burnett finally announced The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, the stock had nearly tripled, making his stake worth more than $50 million. Burnett, who claims he will make "way more" on such deals than on his producer's fees, is also invested in Everlast, which will feature prominently in his boxing show, "The Contender," which premieres in March 2005. The company couldn't pay the traditional product-placement charges, so Burnett (and his five partners on the show including Jeffrey Katzenberg) cut a deal for 5% of Everlast's stock per season. "It's likely the stock price will go up drastically due to the exposure," Burnett says. Finally, for his CBS show "Rock Star" this summer, featuring INXS' search for a new frontman, Burnett has already secured rights to 50% of any subsequent touring and CD sales.

Examines the economic aspects of the motion-picture industry and argues that children's movies offer the highest return on investment of any style of movie. Percentage of G-rated films produced per year; Number of G-rated movies in 2003, according to a Motion Picture Association of America statistic; Performance of the film "Finding Nemo."

Profiles Scott Sassa, a former TV Executive who has taken over the social networking Web site Friendster, a two-year old startup company. Sassa's history with Fox Broadcasting, Time Warner, Marvel Comics, and NBC West Coast; Number of members registered at Friendster, which allows members to post pictures and network with friends of friends; Sassa's hopes that Friendster will emerge as a powerful peer-to-peer tool; A high profile board including John Doerr and former Yahoo CEO Tim Koogle, despite not having an exact business model.

Examines the effectiveness of dogs in collecting evidence for law enforcement. Role dogs have played in criminal cases; Lack of scientific and legal evidence that using dogs to identify criminals is effective; Cases where dogs have identified innocent people; Problems with using evidence collected by dogs; Predisposition of the public on the reliability of dogs.

Looks at the invention by Dean Kamen which could bring water and electricity to remote regions of Third World countries. Idea which he stumbled upon while working on a stair-climbing wheelchair; Previous inventions which include the first portable dialysis machine and the Segway scooter; Investment of his own money to develop the Slingshot machine to deliver safe water; How it works; Consideration of using GrameenPhone of Bangladesh's business model in the selling of the generator/purifiers.

Reports on the time management practices instituted at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California. Appeal of the Pebble Beach experience, and the resultant slow play; Impact of changes suggested by Bill Yates, a golf-course time-management consultant; Use of rules and reminders to speed play; Responses of players to new system.

Focuses on primatologist Robert Sapolsky, author of the book, "A Primate's Memoir," on his experiences studying baboons in Kenya. Discussion of alpha males in tribe life, how they are being out-reproduced by lower-status males that use "alternative strategies" for "sneaky copulation," and female choice based on male-female affiliation rather than male-male aggression; Benefits from being a highly sexed, noncompetitive baboon outside the hierarchical lifestyle of the African savannah baboon; Idea that the frontal cortex of the brain is different in "nice guy" baboons than in the alpha males; How this information relates to office stress in humans.

Reports on the development of produces to treat erectile dysfunction. Expected increase in sales of erectile dysfunction drugs; Competition for the drug Viagra; Development of a topical cream by NexMed; Details of the drugs Vardenafil, from Bayer, and Cialis, from Icos-Lilly.

A calendar of events in the U.S. for February 2002 is presented. President George W. Bush submitted his budget plan to the U.S. Congress on February 4. General Electric Co. chief executive officer Jeff Immelt celebrated his 46th birthday on February 19. A marketing conference in London, England, entitled "Web Services--A Strategic Perspective," was held on February 15.

Discusses the use of background checks to screen job applicants. Mention of a case involving Seymour Schlager, who was hired by Becton Dickinson but failed to included an attempted-murder conviction on his resume; Consulting firms which perform background checks; Statement that nearly one-third of all resumes contain misstatements of fact; Why it is important that companies conduct background checks of potential employees.

Offers observations on Guy Adams, the first individual shareholder to unseat a chief executive officer from the board of directors of his own company. Views on investing; Letter to shareholders which he wrote announcing his candidacy for the board of United States company Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon; Litigation between Adams and Lone Star; Performance of the stock.

Assesses the financial performance of independent yellow-pages publishers in the U.S. Sales of business directories each year; Statement issued by Kelsey Group President John Kelsey; Threat posed by online directories to traditional directories.

This article focuses on Secret Lover Collection cards. Where some see sin, or at the very least a regrettable fact of modern life, Cathy Gallagher, creator of the new Secret Lover Collection cards, sees dollar signs. "This is a market that has been untapped by the greeting card industry," she says brightly. Her $3.99 cards range from Your Sweet Scent to In Too Deep to, simply, Lust. Each comes with its own Gallagher-penned testimonial ("I understand that you are not mine completely and I have to share you...") and a painterly illustration. In My Weekend Is Over, a couple makes out at a water cooler.

Presents an interview television producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Comments from Bruckheimer regarding his shows "Cold Case," "Without A Trace," and "The Amazing Race"; Comments from Bruckheimer regarding the influence of video games on television and movies; View of Bruckheimer regarding reality television and being a Republican in Hollywood.

This article focuses on the decision of NBC to cut its upfront advertising prices, which networks and advertisers negotiate for a new group of upcoming television programs. The next big headache for Jeff Zucker, president of the NBC Universal Television Group: the Today show, which is losing ground to Good Morning America.

This article comments on Donald Trump's Trump University online school. In May 2005, Donald Trump moved into the last Trump-free zone of American life--higher education--by launching Trump University, a $300-per-course online school that aims to "deliver the experience, knowledge, and wisdom of Donald Trump himself." "Fortune" took the liberty of helping Trump U. draw up its first class catalog. Trump University Course Guide 2005. Working With Precious Metals. Examination of how to coat any substance, from the inside of an airplane to an entire apartment, with gold. No prerequisite understanding of the difference between gold and gold flake required, as there really is none. Building Materials: Hair. The ins and outs of working with the most powerful, least moveable object in the world: Donald Trump's hair. Each student will get one strand, from which he or she must construct workable skyscraper scaffolding. Understanding the Superlative. This course focuses on the most powerful words in the English language, such as "best," "greatest," "most unbelievable, truly," and "in all honesty, the most fantastic." Students will leave with an understanding of when to use such superlatives--for instance, not just at the start of every sentence, but in the middle, and ideally at the end as well. Definitely the best and most useful English class offered at any university ever.

The article focuses on Charles McLean, a pollster who runs Denver Research Group Inc. DRGI in Aspen, takes the pulse of the media. One of the more interesting developments of this political season has been the rise of alternative polling, especially polls that analyze "conversational mass." The basic idea is that by surveying a vast number of news outlets, from networks to newsletters to blogs, it's possible to spot developing political trends before they show up in traditional opinion polls. McLean counts several FORTUNE 500 companies as clients, and similar methods are also being used by divisions of IBM and Accenture to forecast everything from elections to sales trends. His system sifts through 8,000 sources from around the world. It uses a combination of computer algorithms and human analysis to track the "momentum" of a particular issue and then examines how the "tone" of the overall coverage is shifting. The sources are individually weighted to account for their political leanings on each issue, or what he calls their "personality." The DRGI database has been eerily prescient in foreign affairs, projecting that France and Germany would split with the U.S. over Iraq a month before it happened (57%) and that Madrid would suffer a terrorist attack in the run-up to elections (70%). Today McLean is projecting an alarmingly high chance (over 50%) that the U.S. will face another terrorist attack sometime between Nov. 3 and June 30, 2005. That, he added, holds no matter which candidate is in office by then.

Offers a look at the race to establish space colonies. Report that Paul Allen and Burt Rutan won the Ansari X Prize after sending a manned vehicle called SpaceShipOne into suborbit and back; Formation of a company called Blue Origin by Jeff Bezos to develop vehicles and technologies that will help enable an enduring human presence in space; Report that Bezos sees the colonization of space as necessary to secure humanity's future; Statement that Elon Musk formed the company Space Exploration Technologies to work towards space colonization.

Focuses on Mark Cuban's new ABC reality show, "The Benefactor." How it will be the second television program to star a billionaire businessman; Comparisons between Cuban and Donald Trump of "The Apprentice"; Comments of Trump and Cuban; Why neither man is living up to mogul status; Cuban's focus on HDNet, the all-high-definition television channel he bought; Premise of Cuban's show.