June 17, 2001

PICK 'EM LIKE A PRO: 5 STOCK-SCREENING TOOLS FOR INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS

INDEXING is out; stock-picking is in. And the lives of individual investors just got a lot tougher. During the Go-Go late 1990s, investors only had to pick an S&P 500...

BULL'S EYE

MEMO FROM THE TOP - RE: SEND MORE MEMOS EVER since he took over the top spot at Conseco Inc. a year ago, Gary Wendt has made no secret about...

THIS IS 4-WHEEL LUXURY

CHANCES are, few sport utility vehicle owners will ever push their trucks to the limit. In fact, the most treacherous conditions that most SUVs will encounter is in a suburban...

VALUE INVESTING THAT BEATS THE PACK

MOST U.S. investors have probably never heard of Sappi Ltd., although it is South Africa's largest paper company. But that's okay with Bernard Horn, portfolio manager of the Quant Foreign...

PRINCETON REVIEW GAMBLES WITH IPO

TEST-prep company The Princeton Review is facing its biggest test yet -the stock market. The company that helps anxious students get into college is itself getting into the business of...

TIPS FOR THE TOUGHEST BOSS

IT'S hard to take a site seriously when it has a section titled "Why goals are important" - especially if it's a site about starting your own business. If you...

SNEAKY BRITS WILL SWIPE YOUR SWEETIE

Never trust an English girl in New York - she'll probably try to steal your guy. That's what an American woman once wrote in an article about all the Brits...

WHAT I WATCH

RUDOLF MARTINACTOR, "SWORDFISH"I LOVE THE FOOD NETWORK. THE PERFECT TV JOB FOR ME WOULD BE TO HOST ONE OF THOSE SHOWS WHERE I COULD JUST STAND THERE, WASH VEGETABLES AND...

VERHOEVEN REDUX

Could it be? Could Paul Verhoeven, the man who directed the critical duds "Showgirls" (1995) and "Starship Troopers" (1997), be getting a retrospective at Anthology Film Archives, a gathering spot...

4 QUESTIONS FOR KEITH FAMIE

INDIANA JONES... THAT'S MY BIG ESCAPEWho are your heroes? The thousands of children in our society that deal with life-threatening illnesses everyday and go on with a smile on their...

SISQO KID SINGER STRETCHES HIS 'THONG' FAME INTO FASHION, FILM

With a five-million-selling solo debut featuring "The Thong Song" notched on his belt, the swaggering Sisqo kid is set to fire again Tuesday with the release of his sophomore effort,...

NEW FROM GUARE, RABE: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Either they are losing their marbles or I am. And I'm pretty sure that my marbles are all in a line. Two of America's most distinguished playwrights, John Guare and...

STYLE & SUBSTANCE: CHRIS KIRKPATRICK

Like a lot of other star singers, Chris Kirkpatrick, the oldest member of *NSYNC, is not content merely to be a millionaire performer whose dancing sends female fans into a...

OFFICE MATES: MAKING THE MOST OF TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY

Friday is Take Your Dog to Work Day, a nationwide event organized by the North Carolina-based Pet Sitters International. To start the day on a festive note, the pet-friendly Regency...

CHEW ON THIS: THERE'S GNAW-THING WRONG WITH THE RETURN OF BEEF JERKY, A SNACK WHOSE APPEAL IS CUT AND DRIED

Dried meat - it's what's for snacking. Beef jerky, humanity's favorite chew toy, suddenly has become a star on the snack scene, popping up at grocery stores and delis all...

PLUCKY NEW EATERY THRIVES IN EL POLLO'S UPTOWN NEST

Pio Pio 1746 First Ave. (between 90th & 91st streets) When El Pollo flew its Upper East Side coop recently, it left in its wake an almost cult-like following devoted...

'BEAUTIFUL' BAND: U2 STILL PROVIDES BONO-FIED ROCK 'N' ROLL WITH EDGE

The second-to-last song on U2's masterful new album is called "New York," and it's about a man in a midlife crisis drawn to the city's cacophony of noise and chaos....

WHAT'S IN A NAME? BONO, EDGE EXPLAIN

Would you pay top dollar to hear Paul Hewson sing and David Evans play guitar? Maybe not. But U2's Bono and the Edge, now that's another story. Bono earned his...

'DAY'S DAWNING WASN'T PRETTY

While in the studio laying down "Beautiful Day" - the song that would become the new album's first single and win three Grammys - Bono and the Edge locked horns....

HER NAME WAS 'LOLA': HOW AN INDIE HIT MADE THIS PAIR ONE HOT MOVIE COUPLE

A punky, hyperkinetic redhead burst onto the movie scene in 1998 - and transformed the professional and private lives of Franka Potente and Tom Tykwer. Potente, who played the flame-haired...

GOING NUDE NOT ON SHINDLE'S LIST

Note to fans hoping for a flash of flesh from Kate Shindle, the former Miss America and new Sally Bowles in "Cabaret": Forget it. Shindle, the leggy and controversial beauty...

COLLECTION-BASKET CASES

RAOUL Felder was very busy last week claiming in separate court appearances that his two favorite clients - Romeo Giuliani and Judi - are both broke. Sheesh! They get around...

DAD'S RIGHTS ZAPPED BY THE SHOCK DOCS

AT age 5, Wilfredo Hernandez's daughter stopped learning. Since then, he has spent 38 years feeding, bathing, dressing his mentally retarded daughter - a task that became even harder in...

WOMAN BITES DOG - NO, REALLY, SHE DID

This is a man-bites-dog story. More precisely, woman bites dog who bites dog. The heroine is 73-year-old Margaret Hargrove of Tallahassee, Fla., who bit a pit bull in the neck...

ZULU POISON ALSO LETHAL TO CANCER

The newest breakthrough in cancer treatment may come from the end of a Zulu spear. Scientists from Cancer Research and London hospitals found that poison used by Zulu tribesman on...

GUNMEN GRAB 14G FROM GAP

Cops are hunting for two gunmen who robbed seven Midtown Gap store workers of $14,000 in receipts. The two bandits entered the Gap store at 250 W. 57th St. at...

POST MAN HAS NEW CAREER DOWN COLD

I now know what it's like to have the emotions of 54,000 fans in the palm of my hand. It happened to me at Shea on Friday at the first...

KIN BID FINAL FAREWELL TO BEATING VICTIM

The family of the Brooklyn mother of four who was beaten into a coma just outside her home last week gave doctors the go-ahead yesterday to take her off life...

VICTORIA GOTTI

THE mix was so power-charged, it attracted the press in droves, paparazzi elbowed their way through the throngs, knocking ardent fans out of the way in the hopes of catching...

'STAGECOACH' ROBBERY ON QUEENS BUS

Cops are hunting for a pair of modern-day highwaymen who boarded a city bus in Queens and robbed four women passengers at gunpoint before fleeing with their jewelry, police said....

SHEA RATTLES AND ROLLS YANK, MET FANS ROAR FOR MORE

The world champion New York Yankees may be two games up in this weekend's Subway Series - but nothing could stop Met fans yesterday from keeping the faith. "Not even...

CONDIT MAY TALK ON TV ABOUT MISSING INTERN

Embattled Rep. Gary Condit is talking with the TV networks about doing an interview to discuss the disappearance of attractive Washington intern Chandra Levy, who has been missing for six...

DUBYA TAKES SHINE TO VLAD

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday went eye to eye with Russian President Vladimir Putin - then told Americans he's a man who can be trusted. "I wouldn't have invited him...

SCHEMES SHOCK WIDOWS

Maria Dziergowski was horrified to learn a convicted con man has been using her husband's death to line his pockets. "This is the lowest of the low," the stunned mother...

GENIUS IMMIGRANT MISSING IN B'KLYN

A genius Russian immigrant - who suffers from mood disorders and disorientation - vanished from his Brooklyn home, leaving only a note saying he was going to the library. Aleksandr...

ISRAEL REJECTS ARAFAT'S REQUEST FOR U.N. HELP

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat asked the United Nations yesterday to help end the ongoing Mideast violence - but Israel quickly shot down the plan. Just hours after Arafat made the...

WHY ARE LAWS SO SCRAMBLED?

THERE are no laws against charity hustlers ripping off the generous, but soon there will be laws about the way you eat your eggs. And folks, that's no yolk. That's...

THINK AGAIN, YOU TRICKY DEVILS

Apple Computer forced a devil-worshipping cult to remove the words "Think Different" - the company's trademark catch phrase - from its Web site. The Church of Satan used Apple's slogan...

MIKE: I WOULDN'T MOVE TO MANSION

Republican mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg likely won't move into Gracie Mansion if he captures City Hall in November. The billionaire media mogul said he'd probably split his down-time between the...

ADIDAS DEAL HAS ANNA ON SOLID $$ FOOTING

Anna Kournikova has got some racket - each time she's pictured wearing the Adidas logo in a British newspaper or magazine, she gets $14,000. So, even if the 20-year-old Russian...

TIGER'S GREEN POWER SET TO BREEZE BY THE $250M MARK

Tiger Woods is about to earn a new nickname: "The $250 Million Man." The 25-year-old golf great, in just five years as a professional, should whiz past that career-earnings mark...

'ODDFATHER' OFFERED A $1 MILLION BRIBE: FEDS

Genovese crime boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante, who used a "crazy act" to dodge the feds for years, tried to bribe a U.S. marshal with $1 million to help overturn his...

BLOOMBERG STATES CASE IN HIS DEBUT AT DEBATING

GOP City Hall hopeful Michael Bloomberg was grilled about cops and campaign finances yesterday, as he made his first appearance at a mayoral-candidate forum with his Democratic rivals. Bloomberg took...

CRUISE STALLS IN BERMUDA TRIANGLE

A New York-bound Royal Caribbean cruise ship carrying over 2,000 people was adrift in the Bermuda Triangle for several hours late Friday after a fire forced the crew to shut...

CRIMINALS POCKET BIG $$ RUNNING CHARITIES

Criminals running New York charities? You'd better believe it. The Post has found criminals at the helm of two charitable fund-raising operations - one is even a felon convicted of...

MAN SURVIVES SHRED HORROR

A Long Island man miraculously escaped being crushed to death by the industrial wood shredder he was repairing yesterday, authorities said. Someone mistakenly turned on the machine when Edwin Rolando...

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL FIRM STIRS ANGER

WASHINGTON - When the nights get chilly, Elizabeth Steinlove's brittle fingers and nail-less toes painfully remind her of years as a slave laborer for a Nazi construction company whose U.S....

BILL URGED BROTHER TO CASH IN: REPORT

WASHINGTON - A Roger Clinton business partner told prosecutors in the Pardongate probe that Bill Clinton urged his brother to get rich off his family ties, a new report says....

ANOTHER YOUNG CAT HAS SUCCE$$ BY THE TAIL

Tiger Woods isn't the only hot young thing earning the big bucks. Formula One driver Michael Schumacher's career earnings total $300 million - about $50 million ahead of Tiger. And...

CANCER CAN'T KEEP 'SANTA' GOTTI DOWN

Cancer-stricken John Gotti has pledged to keep playing Santa Claus by donating toys to kids at a Queens hospital each Christmas long after he's gone. The Gambino crime-family boss, dying...

A TASTE OF BELGIUM FOR CHOCOHOLIC LAURA

First Lady Laura Bush had a "very fun" time playing tourist on her first trip to Europe as first lady, especially when it came to sampling Belgium's famed chocolate. Hillary...

SCHOOL BILL'S EXTRA CREDIT CITY STANDS TO GET FED $$ AID DOUBLED

WASHINGTON - Call them the 4 R's - reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic and reform. The federal school reforms passed by the Senate last week could double the federal bucks for New...

CYBER-WHIZ WILL HELP FBI, INSTEAD OF 'HACKING' JAIL

JERUSALEM. ISRAEL'S most famous hacker, who penetrated the highly guarded Pentagon and NASA computers, is now repenting by offering to protect U.S. secrets from the next generation of cyber-invaders. This...

CEASE-FIRE SPARKS MORE STRIFE IN W. BANK, GAZA

Israelis and Palestinians continued to argue over their shaky, three-day-old cease-fire yesterday, with Yasser Arafat calling on Israel to rein in Jewish settlers and ease blockades in the West Bank...

MODEL STILL GETS HER SATISFACTION

Caracas firecracker Vanessa Neumann confesses she's still making beautiful music with Mick Jagger. The Venezuelan vixen says she can't get no satisfaction from younger men. "I've taken toy boys on...

CATCHING THE RYUN EXPRESS SCHOOLBOY WEBB IS U.S.' BEST IN AGES

RESTON, Va. - The article taped to the front door of Footsteps, a local running-shoe store in Northern Virginia, is about the fastest young miler on the planet, the future...

LET 'EM PROVE THEIR MEDAL GREAT ONE, HERB RIGHT TO INSIST ON OLYMPIC CAMPS

ITEM ONE: USA PLANNING TO NAME TEAM, HOLD CAMP: Slap Shots has learned that in a top secret (until now) Wednesday conference call that included Team USA management personnel and...

WHAT PRICE HISTORY? BASEBALL'S HALLOWED MARKS NOW RING HOLLOW

ITEM: Barry Bonds continues his assault on some kind of baseball record. Horace LaCagnina, Brooklyn-born and a lifelong baseball freak - the two, in this case, are not mutually exclusive...

2002 TEE TIMES FADING TO BLACK

If you think it's tough getting a tee time now on Long Island, wait till the U.S. Open hits Bethpage in 2002. Starting times will be at a premium next...

BETTER GET USED TO IT

PHILADELPHIA - Kobe Bryant sat behind a microphone, in front of the assembled media and next to the Larry O'Brien Trophy, symbolic of the NBA championship. He wore a roadmap...

KNICKS WON'T LET BLAZERS TALK TO JEFF

Not going anywhere. The coach-less Trail Blazers, who have the hots for Jeff Van Gundy, may want to save their money on the long-distance phone call to New York. Last...

LAKERS DID IT INSIDE AND OUT

FINALS NOTES PHILADELPHIA - Hey, no fair! The Lakers have the single most fearsome, dominating force on the planet inside with Shaquille O'Neal. And then they had to go and...

KNOBBY FEELS FOR AILING POP

A lot has happened to Chuck Knoblauch since coming to New York. He has been part of three consecutive World Series winners, experienced divorce, developed a throwing disorder, visited the...

LOBO COMEBACK A SLOW-GO RETURN FROM TWO KNEE SURGERIES A LONG HAUL

FOR two years, Rebecca Lobo's body outputted so much sweat, shed enough tears, to form more than just a little puddle of pity. When you tear the same ACL twice,...

BOOMER STILL A BLIP ON YANK SCREEN

The White Sox want too much from the Yankees for him. And important voices within the organization believe he is sinking like a rock for not taking care of his...

TIMO TIME NOT SO FINE FAILED SACRIFICE COSTS AMAZIN'S

Timo Perez is one of the Mets' best bunters, if not the best. But his critical bunt attempt in the eighth inning yesterday nearly lifted off into orbit. With a...

LIBERTY MAKING BELIEVERS

BOXSCORE / P. 80Liberty86Mystics63 Less than a week ago there was reason to doubt if the Liberty were again going to be contenders for the WNBA title. Up by 19...

THE SCRIPT JUST NEVER CHANGES MUSSINA OUTDUELS APPIER AS BOMBERS HOLD ON AGAIN

In a room full of reporters yesterday, Joe Torre stood in front of a podium, appropriately holding a cigar in his left hand. He told the assembly that yesterday again...

PIAZZA RUN OVER BY YANKS' STEAL WHEELS

Mike Piazza hasn't thrown out a Yankee base-stealer in six tries over the first two games of the Subway Series. If he's a target of the Bombers, it has nothing...

BERNIE IS BACK AT BAT

Where once the baseball looked like an aspirin thrown out of an ocean of white shirts, it now seems like a grapefruit coming out of the darkest background. Such is...

PHILLIPS GIVES BUCS CALL ABOUT VANDER WAL

If the Mets want to acquire the Pirates John Vander Wal, they aren't going to get him on the cheap. Steve Phillips has been interested in Vander Wal for a...

YANKS PRICELESS AT SHEA BEAT METS TO MUSSINA . . . BEAT METS WITH MUSSINA

MIKE Mussina allowed a Darryl Hamilton leadoff double in the eighth and - with Mariano Rivera looming in the ninth - this felt like the Mets' last best chance to...

LITTLE THINGS KILLING METS

Met shortstop Rey Ordonez throws around Chuck Knoblauch to turn double play in first inning yesterday - but smoothly executed fundamentals such as that are rare these days for stumbling...

DON'T FOLLOW BASS-FISHING CROWD

NEW YORK'S freshwater bass season opened yesterday and we get reports that this year should be exceptional for sweetwater anglers. "Bass are, by far, the most popular sport fish in...

UNKIND CUT FOR JANZEN

TULSA - Lee Janzen, a two-time winner of the U.S. Open, yesterday was bounced from the 101st Open at Southern Hills because of a minuscule rules infraction. Janzen, who originally...

BOGEYMAN RUINS MCGOVERN'S DAY

TULSA - After surviving the U.S. Open cut on Friday, Jim McGovern said his legs felt like jelly from his marathon 33-hole day. When he came into the locker room...

CYCLONES SET TO THRILL BROOKLYN

Starting June 25 at Keyspan Park, the Brooklyn Cyclones, managed by Edgar Alfonzo (left) and coached by ex-Mets Howard Johnson (center) and Bobby Ojeda will bring baseball back to the...

MAYBE MICKELSON MAKES IT THIS TIME

TULSA - When Phil Mickelson walked off the 18th green after a disappointing bogey to end an exhausting round, he spotted 2-year-old Seth Michael Wedel sitting atop the shoulders of...

ROCCO LIGHTS UP THE LEADERBOARD

TULSA - Rocco Mediate almost withdrew from the U.S. Open on Thursday when his left hip became so painful he almost couldn't walk. But Mediate's caddie convinced him to give...

BUY.COM'S PETROVIC GETS SLICE OF BIG TIME

U.S. OPEN NOTES TULSA - Tim Petrovic, a 34-year-old mini-tour journeyman from Glastonbury, Conn., playing in his first major, has had the time of his life here this week. Petrovic,...

TIGER STREAK ALL BUT DEAD SO-SO ROUND LEAVES WOODS NINE BACK

TULSA - The golf world waited yesterday for the inevitable, theatrical run by Tiger Woods. We waited for the flurry of birdies, for the emotional, I'm comin'after you fist pumps,...

NO 'O' FOR STARS WITHOUT MATHIS

MetroStars0'Quakes0 Yesterday provided further evidence of Clint Mathis' potency as a player, and his value to club and country. With the country's best striker out for the rest of the...

THIS TOURNEY IS WIDE OPEN GOOSEN, CINK LEAD TRIO BY ONE STROKE

TULSA - There will be no blowout in tomorrow's U.S. Open final round, no 15-stroke victory, no one-player coronation at Southern Hills. More than likely there's going to be tension,...

'EL NINO' POISED TO STRIKE

TULSA - "El Nino" lives, and has potential to evolve into a full-blown tornado around Southern Hills for today's U.S. Open final round. Irrepressible 21-year-old Spaniard Sergio Garcia, standing a...

CALL IT POLITICAL BASEBALL DEMS & REPUBLICANS TAKE BATTLE TO THE DIAMOND

MENTION the term Hardball to most politicos and they'll ask which phony colleague Chris Matthews exposed on his can't-change-the-channel show that night. Except, that is, for this time of year....

THE SCRIPT JUST NEVER CHANGES: MUSSINA OUTDUELS APPIER AS BOMBERS HOLD ON AGAIN

Yankees 2 Mets 1 In the offseason, the Yankees were a little quicker, a little more aggressive, than the Mets in their pursuit of Mike Mussina. The Yankees were first...

VALENTINE: I WAS PART OF MOOSE HUNT

Don't mistake Bobby Valentine for a college basketball coach. Recruiting spiels don't usually factor into his job. When it came time to make a run at free agent pitcher Mike...

IT'S ALL ABOUT PITCHING

ALEXANDER Cartwright no sooner invented the pitcher before he found out he didn't have enough of them. Never, ever, ever, will teams be satisfied that they have plenty of arms....

METS STILL SECOND CLASS: FALL SHORT TO YANKS ON AND OFF FIELD AGAIN

ON Friday night, the Yankees started Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Alfonso Soriano, Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams in the middle of the field, and received sparkling relief from Ramiro Mendoza...

TIGER'S MOVE NEVER COMES: WOODS CARDS 69 IN THIRD ROUND

TULSA - The golf world held it's collective breath in anticipation yesterday waiting for the inevitable theatrical run by Tiger Woods. Waiting for the flurry of birdies to come like...

DOOR'S WIDE OPEN: WITH TIGER STRUGGLING, MICKELSON AND DUVAL HAVE MAJOR OPPORTUNITY

TULSA - David Duval and Phil Mickelson were where they hoped to be entering the third round of the 101st U.S. Open yesterday, in contention to win the first major...

'SUDDEN SAM' STRUCK OUT HIS DEMONS: LEFTY'S FALL AND RISE A MOTIVATING STORY

His life was like his fastball -- reckless and untouchable. Sudden Sam McDowell lived by the heat, and nearly died by it, too. The 6-5 left-hander could have been the...

TIME'S OF ESSENCE FOR LIBERTY

Seven games into the season is too soon to label a game a must-win. So we will list yesterday's Liberty game against the Washington Mystics as a very important game...

METRO COACH SET TO CRACK WHIP

Coach Octavio Zambrano said his MetroStars' four-game slide isn't about playing on the road or playing without injured Clint Mathis, but about a team that's gotten complacent with heads that've...