(TIME, Nov. 9) --

VERBATIM

"You asked that with such conviction... I don't even know what you are talking about, I don't think."
BILL CLINTON, responding in his January deposition to questions from James Fisher, a lawyer for Paula Jones, about Monica Lewinsky, in papers released last week

"I think this will come to light shortly and you'll understand."
JAMES FISHER, in reply

"It shows the nepotism of niceness. It's a shocking compromise. It stinks."
WILL SELF, English novelist, on the awarding to Ian McEwan of the Booker Prize for the best novel written by a British or Commonwealth author

"We were unaware that Senator Glenn would be taking Metamucil, but we're certainly excited to be part of this historic journey."
TRACEY LONG, Procter & Gamble spokeswoman

Sources: Clinton, Fisher (USA Today); Self (Wall Street Journal); Long (Washington Post)

GO, JOHNNY, GO!

Show biz? Science? Who cares? John Glenn--officer, astronaut, Senator, septuagenarian--is back in space, part of a crew the Launch Control commentator well described as "six astronaut heroes and one American legend"

WINNERS & LOSERS

Can a sub-6-ft. QB really star in the NFL? Yeah, right--just as soon as a 77-year-old flies in space

THE GAP
Sales up; stock soars and splits 3:2. Say, that Lewinsky promotion really worked!

VINCENT VAN GOGH
Crowds pack D.C.'s National Museum of Art to see exhibit of his masterpieces

BILL MAHER
Calls Reagan "nuts," then dodges. It's one thing to be politically incorrect, another to be just mean

WARREN LITTLEFIELD
Key NBC exec misses out on top job. But with post-Seinfeld NBC off 11%, maybe it's just as well

VINCENT VAN GOGH
Hip in D.C., square in N.Y.C. Museum of Modern Art drops him: he's "no longer modern"

Early Warning for Summer 1999

Next season's big swimsuit, if such a thing is possible, is the tankini, a tank top over bikini pants. The trikini, a name from the '70s, has been revived for a bikini with a shell top. But other daring new shapes from the fashion runways have yet to be named. So, well, here we go...

HARLEQUINI
This suit is named after the pattern of the tan you get from wearing it

TINNIKINI
Don't wear this spiky metallic number in the hot sun too long. And no hugs

BANKINI
Prada's suit for the woman who never knows when she may need to shop

NOT-ENUF-FABRIKINI
Yes, the suit is finished, and no, you don't get a discount for the missing bits

In Case You Missed It: Eerie News from All Over

It may just have been the way the cosmos marks Halloween, but look at the scary stories in last week's news:

IN GAINESVILLE, GA., Hall County sheriff Bob Vass warned Ku Klux Klan leaders they would be jailed if they tried, by holding a march on Halloween, to evade a state law that forbids wearing masks or hoods to conceal a person's identity. "If they've got on a Klan robe and a Klan hat and any type of mask, including a Mickey Mouse mask, they will be arrested," said Vass. And then have to deal with Michael Eisner, he might have added.

IN BELLEVILLE, WIS., village officials attempted to postpone Halloween, a tradition that dates back to the Druids, because it conflicted with the town's UFO festival, which dates back to 1986. Protests ensued, and it was decided that adults dressed as Klingons could coexist with children dressed as witches (though not necessarily Klansmen dressed as Mickey).

IN PITTSBURGH, PA., the world's scariest bat mitzvah party was held. The Titanic-theme event featured 12-ft. smokestacks at the buffet table, a steerage section for children and a giant photo of the honoree's face superimposed on the body of--no, not a Klansman--Kate Winslet.

SUPEREGOS

Last week, Mike Costanza, a Long Island real estate agent and distant acquaintance of Jerry Seinfeld's, sued the actor and others for $100 million, saying Seinfeld used his name and portrayed him "in a negative light." This isn't the first time someone has seen himself in a character.

NAME: Stephen Spender

COMPLAINT: Poet said author David Leavitt stole parts of Spender's life from his autobiography, World Within World

UPSHOT: Publisher issued new version of the novel

NAME: Pryde Brown

COMPLAINT: Photographer claimed the characters in the film Shoot the Moon were based on her and her ex-husband John McPhee

UPSHOT: The case was settled

NAME: Three U.S. officials

COMPLAINT: Claimed that movie Missing defamed them by suggesting complicity in a death

UPSHOT: A judge dismissed the case

NAME: John Cerasani

COMPLAINT: Mobster said the producers of Donnie Brasco portrayed him as a murderer

UPSHOT: Fuggeddabowdit--judge threw out the suit

NAME: Tony Twist

COMPLAINT: St. Louis Blues hockey player said his name was used and defamed in Spawn comic

UPSHOT: The case is pending

SCIENCE NOTES

EUREKA! A millennium-old manuscript, below, the oldest copy of a work by Greek mathematician Archimedes, sold last week at auction for $2.2 million. Works from other scientists also did well.

CHARLES DARWIN Estimated bid: $25,000-$35,000 Final bid: $79,500

LOUIS PASTEUR Estimated bid: $8,000-$12,000 Final bid: $27,600

SIGMUND FREUD Estimated bid: $40,000-$60,000 Final bid: $46,000

MEDIA

HONK IF YOU LOVE CLINTON
Bus operators in Kenya like to use current events to decorate their vehicles. Below, a bus recently seen in Eldoret.

NUMBERS

$19,000
Amount Ken Starr spent per month for luxury apartments for staff

$30,517
Amount spent for a psychological analysis of evidence relating to the suicide of Vince Foster

$729,000
Amount Starr spent on five private investigators to supplement FBI evidence

$1,000,000
Amount spent on staff travel

2,500
Media personnel who covered the launch of Discovery last week

379
Media personnel who covered the launch of Friendship 7, in 1962

$2.15
Average profit currently earned per employee for every $1 spent on salary and benefits in the U.S.

$1.85
That amount, in 1995

1
Where Met Mike Piazza ranks among major-leaguers in salary

18
Where he ranks in overall ability, according to the official Elias Sports Bureau survey

Sources Los Angeles Times, NASA; Wall Street Journal; USA Today

NINE DEGREES OF SEPARATION

In 1962 John Glenn was an astronaut in the Mercury space program with...

...Virgil ("Gus") Grissom, who in 1965 flew in the first Gemini mission with...

...John Young, who flew in Apollo 10 and 16 and on shuttle Columbia with...

...Robert Crippen, who was in a 1983 Challenger flight with...

...Frederick Hauck, who flew on a 1988 Discovery shuttle mission with...

...Richard Covey, who in 1993 flew to fix the Hubble telescope with...

...Kenneth Bowersox, who flew on a 1995 Columbia shuttle flight with...

...Kent Rominger, who flew in a 1997 Discovery shuttle flight with...

...Curtis L. Brown Jr., who is now in command of Discovery, and crew member...

...John Glenn

Cover Date: November 9, 1998

• Corporate welfare; a TIME investigation
• States at war
• Campaign 2000: Already, a Media Bias!
• The Passive Majority
• The Reno watch; 'Intent' Seems Missing In Campaign Violations
• Victory Lap
• What happened to destiny?; Our modest ambitions in space
• The notebook

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