Word: taile
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...uneventfully at 33,000 ft. on its normal heading from New York City northeast across the Atlantic toward Cairo. At that moment, two distinct clicks of a button on the control yoke disconnect the autopilot guiding the plane. Eight seconds later, the control yoke is pushed forward, tipping the tail up, pitching the nose down, and the aircraft tilts into a precipitous but controlled dive. Fourteen seconds later, the aircraft reaches 90% of the speed of sound and zero gravity--weightlessness--as it plummets through the night...
...origins of the phenomenon. Despite the publicity generated by the trading cards, the heart of Pokemon is a handheld game. Start by picking up a palm-size Nintendo Game Boy, insert the proper cartridge and switch it on. Soon, a creature with a lightning-bolt tail bounces through an animated sequence, pops a cute grin and yelps, "Pikachu!" You have met the most popular of the Pokemon, a creature--part cherub and part thunder god--that is the most famous mouse since Mickey and Mighty...
...graphic scenes involving punching were taken out. The names of the characters and monsters were Westernized: Satoshi became Ash, and Shigeru became Gary. And the Pokemon were given cleverly descriptive names. For example, of the three more popular Pokemon, Hitokage, a salamander with a ball of fire on its tail, became Charmander; Fushigidane, a dinosaur with a green garlic bulb on its back, became Bulbasaur; and Zenigame, a turtle who squirts water, became Squirtle. Others winked at familiar pop images: the martial-arts Pokemon Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are tributes to Jackie Chan and Bruce...
...battening the hatches as the earth makes its annual passage Wednesday and Thursday through the trail of the Tempel-Tuttle comet. Each year on or around November 18, different parts of the world are treated to the Leonids - a show of "shooting stars" (actually meteoroids from the comet's tail). Normally 10 to 20 light up the night sky each hour, but this year the show should be considerably better. Astronomical records dating to the beginning of the millennium show that every 33 years or so the Leonids spike a little as the comet passes by the sun and leaves...
...GETS A NEW REP Remember how the CIA used to be a covert operation? Well, the spooks are a lot more cordial than in the cold war days. Not only does the CIA website have games for kids, but the agency's also getting into e-tail--a 1996 map of Iraq costs $7. Last month Langley played host to its first-ever gala premiere, for the TV movie In the Company of Spies, where CIA head George Tenet rubbed shoulders with actor Tom Berenger (center, with his wife). Next month the agency's new venture-capital firm...