Welcome to the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll for December 2014. We wish everyone a most happy and healthy holiday season. As January 1 approaches and you start to think about what your New Year's resolutions will be, what better and more timely topic could we focus on than self-improvement? Since before recorded history, man has been evolving and improving. The ancient philosophers taught people how to improve themselves through storytelling, first hand experiences and morality tales. The first great self-help book in America (with apologies to the Pilgrims) was probably "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" where he gave an account of how through hard work, education and perseverance he was able to accomplish so much. He could never have imagined how helping people to improve themselves would turn into a multi-billion dollar global enterprise. The three pillars of the self-improvement movement are: mind, body and spirit. Which one of these aspects of yourself needs the most improvement? And while we're at it, if you could write a letter to your younger self with just one piece of advice, which one would you most likely share? We look forward to your answers. And now the results...

If they could share one piece of advice with their younger self, 55 percent of Americans would tell themselves to stop worrying, it's all going to work out. Eighteen percent would say, life's not fair, get used to it. Thirteen percent would warn themselves "don't do it!" -- whatever "it" is -- and 10 percent would say, "It doesn't get much better, so live it up." "CBS This Morning" has a wonderful series called "Note to Self" where a wide variety of famous and accomplished people do just that, write a note to their younger selves. It is an opportunity to share the wisdom they have gained from their experiences to help others. Try it, You may be surprised at what comes out.

Mind, body and spirit (soul) are considered by many to be the three pillars of self-improvement, so which one needs the most attention? Forty-seven percent of Americans say it is their body, 29 percent said it is their mind and 20 percent said it is their soul. It is not surprising that more people over the age of 30 (50 percent) chose their body while more people under 30 (40 percent) chose their mind. We are generally more fit when we are younger and wiser when we are older. Age made no difference to the one out five Americans who felt their soul needed the most improvement. Some aspects of ourselves transcend age.

Thirty-five percent would go first to a house of worship to improve themselves and 34 percent would go to a gym. And if you count going to a bookstore (14 percent), the Internet (eight percent) and a psychiatrist (eight percent) as all related to improving the mind, that adds up to 30 percent which is pretty close to the other two. It shows that there is a healthy demand for improvement in all aspects of our lives.

For Americans, the quickest way to boost their self-confidence would be to talk to a good friend (40 percent), followed by meditation or prayer (38 percent), a workout (17 percent) or having a drink (four percent). Talking to a good friend is often just what the doctor ordered to make us feel better about ourselves and so is talking to God or connecting to a higher power through meditation. A workout can also be beneficial in making us feel good but most Americans know drinking is not the answer.

Six out of 10 Americans think they would accomplish more good in the world by improving themselves and 38 percent said by improving someone else. It is said that charity begins at home. Greg Johnson has a very good song that says, "First you save yourself, then you save the world." It's a way of saying that once your own house is in order, you will be better equipped to help others and by extension the world and it appears that a solid majority of Americans agree.

If they were given unlimited time and resources, 30 percent of Americans would choose to master a foreign language followed by cooking 24 percent, a musical instrument 23 percent, painting 10 percent, golf eight percent and the Kama Sutra three percent. This is a nice fantasy question and it's not surprising that many Americans would choose to become bilingual, musically gifted or great cooks. For most Americans however, becoming a master of painting, golf or Kama Sutra is a more difficult task. That said, with unlimited time and resources at your disposal you might have a lot of fun trying.

Thirty percent of Americans think that fighting in a war would be the best excuse for using performance-enhancing drugs. Next in order were studying for school 16 percent, having sex 13 percent, playing sports 10 percent and performing stand-up comedy six percent. Another 22 percent said none of the choices was excusable. They say that all is fair in love and war and maybe you can add studying for school to that list too, but Americans are less forgiving to athletes and comedians who aren't playing it straight.

Seven out of 10 Americans feel that having cosmetic surgery is fine if it makes you feel better about yourself but one in four Americans feel that it is horrid and no one ever really looks better. We are used to hearing about people having procedures or "work done" and most of us are understanding of people desiring a better appearance. Those making over 100,000 dollars per year are more likely to think it's fine (82 percent) than those making less than 50,000 dollars (67 percent).

Here's a head scratcher, from the previous question where 70 percent were fine with cosmetic surgery in general, now 77 percent say that successful actors should not have it and should allow themselves to age naturally. That's quite a disparity. Now when it comes to their favorite actors only 19 percent said go ahead and have cosmetic surgery if it will prolong your career. It can only be deduced that people are attached to their favorite actors and want them to grow old along with them. Another possibility is that seeing some of the worst-case examples of plastic surgery gone wrong, people don't want their favorite stars to take the risk.

Seventy-two percent of Americans disagree with The Duchess of Windsor's famous quote that "you can't be too rich or too thin." In the era in which she said it there was less resentment among Americans of the one percent and little or no knowledge of anorexia or bulimia, which is an increasing problem in some societies. Despite an increase in income inequality and consciousness as it relates to eating disorders, 26 percent of Americans are still in agreement with the social climbing American divorcee Wallace Simpson who caused the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936.

Twenty-eight percent would most like to have Kate Bosworth's different colored eyes, followed by 27 percent for Marilyn Monroe's beauty mark, 10 percent liked Michael Strahan's gapped-tooth smile and just four percent voiced support for Hugh Grant's upper crust stutter.

This poll was conducted by telephone from October 8-12, 2014 among 1,004 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Media, PA. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus 3 percentage points. The error for other subgroups may be higher. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Poll.

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© 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Summary: How do you boost your confidence? Americans share their opinions in the December edition of the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll


Japanese automakers, fighting a long and so far frustrating battle to sell pickup trucks in the U.S., are nevertheless refusing to surrender.

Last week’s press preview of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit highlighted the latest tactics in pickups by the Japanese Big Three. Selling trucks in the U.S. can be highly profitable, though the market remains dominated by General Motors Co. GM , Ford Motor Co. F and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ FCA Ram division.

Toyota TM , the biggest Japanese automaker, has shown the most ambition in trucks, having invested an entire assembly plant dedicated to full-size Tundra pickups in San Antonio, Texas. But Toyota full-size pickup sales haven’t yet lived up to expectations: the plant now assembles the midsize Tacoma, capacity Toyota had hoped to devote to Tundra.

Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for autotrader.com, said Toyota’s facelift for Tacoma, shown in Detroit “is long overdue” and only to answer competition in a category that’s been abandoned by Ford and others.

Nissan’s new Titan full-size pickup will be available in two versions, light and heavy duty, with the goal of drawing more than the trickle of buyers enticed by the slow-selling first generation.

“I have a sense that Nissan is looking as much at commercial market as the individual retail customer with the focus on diesel and heavy duty,” Krebs said, referring to a new diesel engine option. “That may be a good strategy since Nissan has had some success with its commercial vans, so they may be able to convince commercial customers with vans to add trucks to their fleets.”

Stephanie Brinley, senior analyst for IHS, said “the high profitability of pickups and the advantages of having a full product line are among the most compelling reasons for the Japanese makes to continue. In maintaining pickup truck entries, these mainstream, high-volume brands can claim offerings in most or all major vehicle segments.” She said Titan “has a long way to go to build credibility amongst pickup buyers loyal to the Detroit-based brands.”

I asked Carlos Ghosn, Nissan chief executive officer, if it made sense to invest in a next generation pickup after such poor results for the first one. He said once the capital is sunk, subsequent iterations aren’t prohibitive. He’s told his troops he expects 5% share for the new Titan, rising eventually to 10%. The current model stands at less than one percent.

Honda is “reengineering” its Ridgeline midsize pickup to give it a more conventional look. The idiosyncratic Ridgeline hasn’t contended against more mainstream midsize trucks such as Tacoma, selling fewer than 14,000 units last year. Tacoma, the segment leader, sold more than 155,000, to give Toyota about 60% share of the market.

The debut of GM’s Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins will make the midsize pickup segment much more competitive in 2016. Some analysts are wondering if Ford Motor might bring a version of its global Ranger midsize to the fray.

Last year the industry sold two million full-size pickups in the U.S., making it one of the biggest market segments, along with midsize family sedans like the Ford Fusion and compact crossovers like the Honda CR-V. The midsize segment topped 250,000. With so many new entries and upgrades, planners will be watching closely to see if the 2016 total will surpass last year’s.

The other component of the equation will be transaction prices. If manufacturers have to pile on financial incentives to move their trucks, the profit rationale for investing in them will be eroded. The average transaction price of a pickup can vary from $40,000 to $45,000—meaning a variable profit of up to $10,000 a unit.

As Krebs noted, Hyundai displayed a pickup concept in Detroit to gauge reaction. The moneymaking potential of trucks isn’t lost on the South Koreans.

Full-size pickups, especially loaded with options, are Detroit’s luxury cars, the big moneymakers that carry the enterprise. The tussle for this business is worth watching.

Summary: Nissan, Toyota and Honda are not ready to surrender in the U.S. market.


Facebook never forgets. That’sone of the blessings of the popular social network, but it’s also a curse. Post something dumb, embarrassing or possibly obscene, and it could haunt you for years. Unless you hunt through hundreds of old posts to find and delete the bad ones.

Or unless Facebook automatically deletes your postings after a week or a month or a year.

Of course, Facebook does no such thing. But Dstrux does. It’s a New York-based Internet service that has figured out a way to make Facebook postings self-destruct. In fact, you can use Dstrux to post temporary messages on mostany social network.

Dstrux faces competition from Wickr, a company that has offered self-deleting instant messages since 2012. Its new Wickr Timed Feed service lets a user fill his Facebook page with photos of cute little kittens. But if one of his Wickr friends clicks a cat picture, she’ll see the real photo that lies beneath, a photo that will disappear a day after it’s posted.

In 2012, I shrugged off the instant messaging app Snapchat, which lets you send photos that delete themselves seconds later. Who needed it? About 100 million users, according to a Wall Street Journal story in August. So I’m paying attention to these new self-delete services.

Especially since they have come up with such a subversive business model. Facebook exists to collect information about its users and target us for advertising messages. The company can’t be thrilled that two little startups hope to piggyback on Facebook’s global network, while helping us keep our secrets secret.

I’ve asked Facebook for a comment, but no joy so far.

Dstrux is the more versatile of the two, perhaps because the company plans to sell a corporate edition someday. For now, it’s free to individual users. The original version, launched last April, lets you send photos and documents by sending an e-mail to friends. The mail contains a link which activates the message.

The new version drops the message link right onto your Facebook page. You can also add it to other social networks, like Twitter and Google Plus. So instead of sending a self-destructing message to one friend at a time, you can blast it out to your entire Facebook friends list. For that matter, you can make it a public posting, so that anybody on Facebook can see it, but not for long. You choose the lifespan of your message — anything from 30 days to just a few minutes.

By default, all messages and images are blurred out and can be seen only by gliding your mouse cursor over them. This makes it impossible to copy the secret message by photographing the screen. And if a recipient tries to use the computer’s “print screen” key to make a digital copy of the image, Dstrux cancels his access to the message.

Dstrux messages aren’t actually stored on Facebook or Twitter, but on Dstrux’s own servers. Your Facebook friends can see them only by signing up for their own free Dstrux accounts. It’s a shrewd way to recruit new users — after all, it worked for Snapchat.

Wickr Timed Feeds is also free, but not as sophisticated as Dstrux. You can only post photos, and images have a fixed lifespan of 24 hours. Also, the pictures can only be viewed by people on your Wickr friends list, not by Facebookers in general. Still, all your Facebook followers will see those cute kitten photos, and when they click, they’ll be asked to sign up for a Wickr account.

Dstrux and Wickr say they will give your documents and photos a decent burial. But remember that millions of Snapchat usernames and phone numbers were stolen by online criminals, and hundreds of thousands of “destroyed” photos were leaked onto the Web.

Dstrux and Wickr say they are far more secure. Both services use “end-to-end” encryption, meaning that data are scrambled on the sender’s device and unscrambled on the receiving end. Dstrux and Wickr say all stored files are encrypted and that the self-destruct process wipes the scrambled files, anyway.

Time will tell whether these services are truly secure. The smart move is to behave yourself online. But if you must make a mess, Dstrux and Wickr are ready to help clean it up.

Summary: Dstrux is a New York-based Internet service that’s figured out a way to make Facebook postings self-destruct. In fact, you can use Dstrux to post temporary messages on pretty much any social network


Boston being the lively early-music town that it is, performances of 12th-century Benedictine abbess and mystic Hildegard von Bingen’s “Ordo Virtutum,” or “The Order of the Virtues,” are hardly few and far between. Cappella Clausura staged it in Boston in 2010; Collegium Musicum did it at Wellesley College in 2012 and Ensemble Musica Humana in Cambridge last year. Tuesday at Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory’s Department of Contemporary Improvisation weighed in with a “reinterpretation” of Hildegard’s sublime morality play-music drama.

It would have been interesting to hear the NEC students and guests jazz up “Ordo Virtutum,” or indeed give it any kind of contemporary slant. But Hildegard’s music was mostly just hinted at. The evening began with a “Twilight Yelli Chant” from Africa and went on to include a selection by bluegrass performer Bill Monroe, an “Invocation” based on Sufi remembrance ceremonies, a Korean exorcism dance, and music from the American Sacred Harp tradition.

The play’s simple plot — the Soul is on track to join the Virtues in Heaven before she runs into the Devil, who derails her with promises of worldly joy — also disappeared. Most of the selections riffed on generic religious sentiments; a few focused on Hildegard’s politics. (She wasn’t above admonishing popes.) At 130 minutes, the program was twice as long as a normal performance of “Ordo Virtutum.” There was no intermission, but about halfway through the stage remained empty for a good 15 minutes while stagehands repositioned innumerable chairs and mike stands. Hildegard herself managed with a small group of nuns and perhaps a harp and flute.

The Devil, at least, had a rewarding evening. He got a pretty good tune out of Jacob Hiser’s arrangement of Tom Waits’s “Heartattack and Vine” to represent his temptation of the Soul. (Hildegard didn’t let the Devil sing at all, only speak.) He scored again when Eckbert Sierra on saxophone and DoYeon Kim on gayageum presented his side of the story, though he probably wasn’t thrilled later when Kim did her exorcism dance. Cristi Catt and Caroline Kuhn offered arrangements of Hildegard pieces in which her voice was recognizable. But it was the CI Community Choir’s singing of the Sacred Harp hymn “From all that dwell below the skies” that, wild and soaring, channeled her spirit.

Hildegard would certainly have been pleased by the level of musicianship. And even if her presence was minimal, it was gratifying to see what her art has inspired eight centuries after her death.

Summary: “The Order of the Virtues,” a morality play in music by 12th-century abbess and composer Hildegard von Bingen, served as a jumping-off point for a disparate New England Conservatory production.


NEW YORK — Cameras rolling, Daniel and Stephanie Rensing accepted an offer from a ‘‘Shark Tank’’ investor. But after they had time to think about it, they changed their minds.

Annual revenue for their company, The Smart Baker, is nearly $1 million, up from $130,000 before their March 2012 appearance on the ABC reality TV show.

‘‘Not doing the deal and having that exposure was probably the best scenario for us,’’ said Daniel Rensing, chief executive of the Rockledge, Fla., seller of aprons, parchment paper, and other baking supplies.

Dreams of investor money have induced more than 150,000 businesses to apply to be contestants on ‘‘Shark Tank,’’ where entrepreneurs make pitches to cast members including Barbara Corcoran, founder of a New York real estate brokerage; Daymond John, founder of the FUBU clothing company; Robert Herjavec, founder of Herjavec Group, and Kevin O’Leary, an entrepreneur, investor, writer, and financial commentator.

Entrepreneurs may be all smiles when they get an offer on the show, but the deals aren’t set in stone. Negotiations start soon after episodes are taped. Contestants can walk away if they don’t like the terms.

‘‘When we shake hands on a potential deal on ‘Shark Tank,’ the romance runs high and everyone’s excited about what could be,’’ Corcoran says. ‘‘In the end, the entrepreneur is in charge.’’

In the first five seasons, 374 contestants appeared on TV and investors made 190 offers, according to ABC. Forty-eight contestants turned down offers during taping, executive producer Clay Newbill said. They haven’t tracked how many deals fell apart during negotiations.

The producers ask entrepreneurs and investors to make their best efforts to close deals. ‘‘But we understand, just as in the real world, the reality is that not all deals will close,’’ Newbill said.

Corcoran offered $75,000 for 40 percent of The Smart Baker and a 5 percent sales royalty during the 2011 taping. During negotiations the Rensings disagreed with Corcoran about the target market.

Corcoran said she was disappointed, but knows a rejection is an occupational hazard on ‘‘Shark Tank.’’

The Smart Baker has thrived without her money. In the following year, revenue grew to $600,000. The episode also helped the company get noticed by the Food Network and other media. Reruns provide a sales bump.

But a ‘‘Shark Tank’’ deal isn’t just about money; it also brings expertise and mentoring. The Rensings don’t dwell on what they might have missed by not sticking with Corcoran. ‘‘There is always the ‘what ifs,’ but we don’t let that get to us,’’ Daniel Rensing said.

Some contestants turn down offers because they feel there are more important things than getting investors, said Matthew Rutherford, an entrepreneurship professor at Oklahoma State University. ‘‘What they crave over everything, including money and wealth, is autonomy.’’

Entrepreneurs on the show are probably hoping for both cash and control, Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman said. But the money doesn’t guarantee success, and having an investor may be an unpleasant experience. ‘‘You could end up with the worst of both worlds,’’ he said.

When Mona Weiss and Scott Shields pitched their company, Eco Nuts, in 2012, Herjavec offered $175,000 for 50 percent. They said no on the spot. ‘‘It was a terrible deal, really awful. No one would give up half their company for less than they make in a year,’’ Weiss said. But being on ‘‘Shark Tank’’ put Eco Nuts on a faster track: Revenue, now over $1 million, grew so much the company moved to a space five times bigger.

Summary: With the cameras rolling, Daniel and Stephanie Rensing accepted an offer from a “Shark Tank” investor. But after they had time to think about it, they changed their minds.


The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list gets many people thinking about their career paths and wondering if they’re in the right field. Career coaches have extensive tools and resources for choosing a career or making a career change. But you can take the first step with this quick quiz to find out which career category matches your strengths.

“The ideal career is in alignment with your hard-wired abilities and talents, your passions and values, your skills, your goals—financial and other—your family considerations, and your interests,” says Talane Miedaner, who is the founder of Lifecoach.com and the author of “Coach Yourself to Success” (McGraw-Hill, 2014).

Even though this quiz isn’t the end of your quest for the ideal career, Miedaner says taking a few moments to think about your strengths, your personality, and your interests can set you on a path to asking the right questions when it comes to your search.

Summary: Take our quiz to find out!


Updated APR 19, 2015 8:19p ET

SAN FRANCISCO -- After a last-place finish a year ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks will take solace in any small positives to start this season. A winning trip and series victory against the defending World Series champions sure counts as one.

San Francisco nemesis Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer to help Jeremy Hellickson get his first win for Arizona, 5-1 over the struggling Giants on Sunday.

"It was a good win, but it only counts for one," Goldschmidt said. "It doesn't really matter in the long scheme of things, but any time you can get a win, it's good."

Chris Owings added a two-run single and A.J. Pollock had three hits, scored two runs and made a run-saving diving catch for the Diamondbacks, who took three of four in San Francisco.

Arizona won four of seven against San Diego and San Francisco for its first winning trip since sweeping Colorado in a three-game series last June.

Tim Hudson (0-2) allowed five runs in five innings as San Francisco (4-10) lost for the ninth time in 10 games to match the worst start for the franchise since the team moved here in 1958.

"Right now, all we're trying to do is find a way to go out there and play good baseball," Hudson said. "We can pitch better, we can field better and we can hit better. You do those things better, you're going to be better."

One day after snapping an eight-game losing streak, the Giants found themselves in an early hole against the Diamondbacks thanks to a player who has done plenty of damage against San Francisco in recent years.

Goldschmidt hit the first pitch he saw from Hudson over the left-field fence for a two-run shot. Since his debut on Aug. 1, 2011, Goldschmidt leads all players with 12 homers, 45 RBI and 32 extra-base hits against the Giants.

"I've been able to have some success," he said. "You never know when that's going to change. It could be a terrible series next time. I just try to get a good pitch to hit, hit it hard and keep it simple."

Hudson, who has gotten only one run of support in three starts, lost his control in the third and the Giants never recovered. Hudson walked two batters and hit Jordan Pacheco with the bases loaded to force in a run. Owings broke the game open with his hit on an 0-2 pitch that made it 5-1.

"There's such a fine line in this game," manager Bruce Bochy said. "They end up putting up a big number and it changes the game. They outplayed us."

That was more than enough for Hellickson (1-2), who allowed one run and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

San Francisco got on the board in the first when Nori Aoki doubled and scored on Angel Pagan's sacrifice fly. But three double plays and Pollock's diving catch in center to rob Hudson and end the second inning with two runners on base helped Hellickson avoid any more damage.

"I wouldn't be standing here in this good of a mood if they didn't do what they did," Hellickson said of his defense. "A.J., that might have won the game right there. Then the double plays that they made. They were awesome."

Diamondbacks: C Gerard Laird (back) is eligible to come off the disabled list Friday.

Arizona starting pitchers keyed the success on this trip, with the team getting at least six innings from the starter in all seven games.

"It's contagious," Hellickson said. "If a guy throws six, seven innings and does well, you don't want to be that guy who goes out and throw four or five."

Diamondbacks: Off on Monday before Texas native Chase Anderson (0-0) takes on the Rangers for the first time in his career to start a two-game series Tuesday.

Summary: San Francisco nemesis Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer to help Jeremy Hellickson get his first win with for Arizona in the Diamondbacks' 5-1 victory over the struggling Giants on Sunday.


Aspect Venture Partners, the VC firm formed last year by Jennifer Fonstat (ex-DFJ) and Theresia Gouw (ex-Accel Partners), has closed its debut fund with $150 million in capital commitments.

It’s a bit more money than other successful two-partner VC firms have raised for their first funds — First Round Capital, Union Square Ventures, etc. — but that largely reflects this era’s increased deal sizes. The investment strategy is to help alleviate he so-called Series A crunch, by either leading Series A rounds or partnering with larger firms.

“We’re targeting $2 million to $5 million checks, but wanted to be small enough to also be able to work with a bigger platform firm if it’s a $10 million round — and there are a lot more of those now than there used to be,” Gouw explains. “We’ll also devote around 20% of the fund to seed deals with the intention of then leading the A round.”

Targeted companies will focus on mobility, whether that be via an app, mobile security or elsewhere down in the infrastructure layers.

The two partners already have backed around a dozen companies — including BaubleBar, ForeScout, The Muse, Birchbox and UrbanSitter — with their own money, and will contribute those portfolio companies to the fund.

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Summary: Accel and DFJ veterans close debut fund to back early-stage mobility companies.


Also: A new Nexus 7 tablet coming this July?

A peek at Rdio’s video companion site, aptly called Vdio. [Credit: Rdio]This morning, the music streaming startup Rdio announced Vdio, a video companion service that will let Rdio Unlimited subscribers buy, rent, and share new and old movies and TV shows. [RDIO]

The first thing you’ll notice about Vdio is that it’s designed to solve the “what to watch” problem. It’s not just that we’ve got amazing content, but that the experience is now geared to get you from searching to watching faster. We’re introducing the notion of Sets — playlists for TV shows and movies — so anyone can make and share lists of their favorites, making it easier than ever to discover new stuff. Or, you can just check out what your friends are watching in the moment and jump in. Beyond that, Vdio has the beautiful design and social features that people love about Rdio, with plenty more to come.

Google to sell second-gen Nexus 7 from July: sources [REUTERS]

Google is aiming to ship as many as eight million of the Asustek-made tablets in the second half of the year, throwing down the gauntlet to other low-end tablets such as Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle Fire and Apple Inc’s iPad mini, the sources with knowledge of the new product said.

This is the first time details about the timing and sales targets for Google’s new tablet have been unveiled, although the company has not publicly released any information.

The Bitcoin bubble and the future of currency [MEDIUM]

There are a couple of reasons why the bubble is sure to burst. The first is just that it’s a bubble, and any chart which looks like the one at the top of this post is bound to end in tears at some point. But there’s a deeper reason, too — which is that bitcoins are an uncomfortable combination of commodity and currency. The commodity value of bitcoins is rooted in their currency value, but the more of a commodity they become, the less useful they are as a currency.

What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years [CDIXON]

Business people vote with their dollars, and are mostly trying to create near-term financial returns. Engineers vote with their time, and are mostly trying to invent interesting new things. Hobbies are what the smartest people spend their time on when they aren’t constrained by near-term financial goals.

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Summary: Also: A new Nexus 7 tablet coming this July? This morning, the music streaming startup Rdio announced Vdio, a video companion service that will let Rdio Unlimited subscribers buy, rent, and share new and old movies and TV shows. [RDIO] The first thing you’ll notice about Vdio is that it’s designed to solve the “what…


discussed his transition with his family – with the cameras rolling – the Kardashian and Jenner children cried, laughed and expressed their hope that their dad may finally find true happiness.

aired in two parts Sunday and Monday, and viewers learned secrets that the Olympian-turned-reality star didn't even

this spring, but wasn't quite ready for

. And despite their divorce, he

Here are four more revelations from the emotional special:

As of the special's taping in January, neither the Kardashian nor Jenner sisters had met Bruce's female self. (It seems

"she looked beautiful.") They all would like to – in their own time.

"My biggest fear about meeting her for the first time is just I think my reaction. I'm very facially expressive,"

, 30, said. "I don't want to do anything offensive that would hurt her feelings."

But Bruce, 65, is eager to share his real identity with his family.

"They're all kind of nervous to meet her," he explained. "She's always more fun, more at ease and feeling good about herself. It's all part of me. It's like having Bruce with a little icing on the cake. It only gets better."

In the first part of the special,

, 19, recalled finding her father's makeup around their home with younger sister

The girls mistakenly thought the feminine products belonged to a mistress of Bruce's – and decided to keep quiet.

"We didn't want our family to be broken up, so we didn't tell anybody," Kendall said.

After her solo sit-down with Bruce, Kardashian West, 34, told her sisters Bruce's struggle could have become public about 30 years earlier.

The publicist negotiating Bruce's interview with Diane Sawyer, she explained, first helped him back in the 1980s, when a reporter caught Bruce in the act. But Bruce "begged" the journalist not to move forward with the story, and he agreed, she said.

North West, who turns 2 next month, and 2½-year-old Penelope and 5-month-old Reign Disick are too young to understand what's happening with their grandfather, but

said she knows her son Mason, 5, is more aware of the situation than his parents realize.

"I think we are waiting to see what Bruce does before we tell Mason," the 36-year-old said in part 2 of

But she and partner Scott Disick agree explaining the meaning of "transgender" to Mason will teach him an important lesson about never judging people – and that they want him to hear about Bruce from them, not kids at school.

"It's only a positive thing for my son and my daughter to know all these different things that go on in the world," said Disick, 31. "You only really get one chance at this life, so whatever you gotta do to be happy, [you do]."

airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on E!

Summary: Kendall and Kylie Jenner thought their father was having an affair when they found his makeup


WASHINGTON, Dec. 31— Sidney (Lethargic) Lazarre, the sleepy literary superagent, is trying to start a row along Publishers Row by leaking to the press his list of potential best sellers drawn from the memoirs of the members of the Carter Administration.

Since many of those public servants have been ''villoried and pilified,'' to use Tom Stoppard's phrase, in this space, it is only fair to help Lethargic bring his wares to the attention of the book packagers and paperback rights bidders who power-lunch at the Four Seasons in New York and Mel Krupin's in Washington, touting ''books with legs'' - i.e., those that will march briskly off bookstore shelves.

I Remember Malaise, by Pat Caddell. In this poignant, data-strewn memoir, the President's pollster explains why no leader could have prevailed against the spirit of gloom and doom afflicting Americans. Rave reviews guaranteed in ''The Troubled Times,'' a concerned weekly; no blockbuster expected.

A Cask of Amaretto, by Hamilton Jordan, a sweeping, tumultuous memoir in novel form by a misunderstood intellectual who comes to the power center only to be pilloried by predatory females and vilified by Establishment newsmen. This pageturner includes a sensational scene at a Presidential retreat in which the top man fires his Cabinet and then disappears into a 24-hour sulk. Lethargic, who once told Hemingway '''A Farewell to Arms' has no legs,'' predicts a floor bid of two million on the basis of a two-paragraph outline.

Biting My Tongue, by Cyrus Vance. This painfully discreet, professionally loyal collection of memos is somewhat hard to follow because the Secretary of State's comments respond to memos written by the national security adviser, who will not permit Mr. Vance to use his copyrighted secret material. ''Never has there been such a legless book,'' groans Lethargic, who vows to entice the sealedlipped Vance into revealing how he was forced to take the gaspipe on the fateful U.N. vote, which Bob Strauss told the President would have to be switched.

He Never Wore a Sweater for Me, by Hedrick Herzberg, who took over as chief speechwriter after Mr. Carter's first and last fireside chat, and helped the President scale rhetorical heights not seen in the White House since Judson Welliver turned out the first blistering drafts for Calvin Coolidge. Lethargic is urging Herzberg, who writes quickly, to finish his manuscript before You May Fire When You Are Ready, Hedley, by Hedley Donovan, whose property is being handled by another superagent.

Desert One, by Col. Charlie Beckwith, subtitled ''One Commanderin-Chief Too Many,'' the confessions of the mission leader about the derring-don't in the Iranian desert. For the first time, Beckwith tells why the mission really flopped, and reveals what the subsequent investigation whitewashed. A can't-miss movie sale: Lethargic envisions Robert Redgrave as a panicked Air Force commander, Vanessa Redford as a hostage wife.

Eminence Grits: The Kirbo Papers, by Robert Lipshutz. In this geteven memoir, the first White House Counsel spills what he knows about the protection of the President by Charles Kirbo, including details hitherto unrevealed of the Kirbo mission to Saudi Arabia.

The Unimportance of Being Earnest, by Stuart Eisenstat. Here is the minutiae of policy making, of interest to historians and librarians, by the only inner circler who took notes. ''This is a long weekend's read for substance freaks,'' snorts Lethargic. ''One leg.''

Informal Brief Exchange, the extralegal reminiscences of Attorney General ''Baltimore Ben'' Civiletti. His real feelings about the munchkins in the criminal division; his warm assessment of White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler; and his cheery advice to clients who keep subpoena-able notes of non-meetings with their attorneys. Required reading at all law schools.

Take it Slow, Bro, the coming-clean of Billy Carter, the ex-marine who gave new life to ''the shores of Tripoli.'' Bound in Morocco and boxed with the Lance memoirs.

Advice to Nancy, by Rosalynn Carter, including chapters entitled How to Put Steel In Hubby's Backbone; Suppress All Photos of Rabbit Attacks; Never Ask the Kids about Nuclear Proliferation; and Don't Let Them Take Your Tiny Pistol Away.

First One up the Wall Gets to Fight the Russians, by Zbigniew Brzezinski, with a selection of photos taken of defiant gestures at the Great Wall and the Khyber Pass. Lethargic wants to get this one out fast to trigger a response that will enliven Biting My Tongue. An epilogue will feature his critique of Reagan's first 100 days as ''cravenly dovish.'' A Zbig book.

The Historic Camp David Accords: A Minute-by-Minute Account of an Unforgettable Mountaintop Experience, Along with a Brief Rundown of Other Events 1976-1980, by Jimmy Carter. The Chief Memoirist agrees with Lethargic that this would be the best approach; an earlier draft, Leonid Kissed Me in Vienna, was scrapped long ago.

Finally, Where Have All the Targets Gone?, a slim volume of nostalgic poetry by a right-wing pundit who, as the old year and old Administration passes, now knows how Dempsey felt when Firpo went off to make his fortune in the Pampas. Vanity press; no legs.


Amateur psychologist. Morale booster. Referee. And, yes, occasionally educator. To be the principal of an urban public school is now so taxing that the post can no longer be filled by conventional means. Yet a debate persists in New York City, and probably elsewhere, over whether to choose principals by merit examination or by some less formal method. Whatever methods worked in the past, clearly the key to success now is flexibility.

Anyone over 35 remembers the autocratic principal whose mere glance could make a student tremble. Even teachers, not yet unionized, knuckled under. But public education has become a shared enterprise. Principals must somehow work harmoniously with unions, parents and pupils who are anything but awed.

New York City once administered written tests to screen candidates for managing its schools. Few blacks or women passed. In 1971 a Federal judge barred the tests as biased. Because an informal temporary system has How They Perform In Trenches, Not Tests, Is What Really Counts since produced more female and black principals, the court decided three years ago that a permanent procedure could again be installed.

The Board of Examiners devised one, and last year conducted its first new exams. The written portion quizzed candidates on how they would handle the policies and paperwork that cross their desks. An oral segment asked them, say, to give a simulated talk to some angry parents. But this new test also produced too few black or female qualifiers. And now the schools' Chancellor and the chairman of the examining board disagree sharply on how to proceed.

The most sensible path would be to abandon tests and codify a less formal procedure. High test scores reveal little of a person's managerial and political capacities. A good performance in a simulated setting can easily disguise one's deficiencies under fire. Written and oral tests, no matter how thoughtfully designed, can screen out capable candidates without guaranteeing reliable rankings.

With the less formal screening, school officials were allowed to consider any candidate with state certification and two years' experience as a school supervisor; they could rely on interviews and job evaluations to identify applicants with the desired attributes.

There isn't much conclusive evidence that the principals chosen in this way are any better than those selected by tests. But neither is there any evidence that they are worse. What is clear is that the informal procedure has produced competent principals whose origins are as heterogeneous as the city itself. Perhaps that is because it relied heavily on a plausible hypothesis: The place to discover who will make a good principal nowadays is not on paper or on stage, but in the trenches. HUGH PRICE


BARRING any unforeseen events that would upset the world oil market, oil-industry officials on the Island predict that the supply and price of home heating oil should remain ''very stable'' over the next few years.

''Supply is excellent,'' said Richard T. Rocchio, executive vice president of the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island, which represents about 200 dealers in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

''And prices are stable,'' Mr. Rocchio said. ''We actually saw prices decrease for the first time in a long time going into this winter.''

Should there be any price increases this winter, he said, they should ''stay below the inflation level.'' Officials in the industry observed that for the first time in several years, heating oil has got into a healthier supply-demand relationship. Aside from a glut in world oil supplies that reached a peak last summer, consumers are also applying pressure.

In 1980, oil-heat customers on the Island reduced their consumption by an average 25 percent, compared with 1979. And while the figures for this year are not yet in, Mr. Rocchio said the trend was continuing, placing a downward pressure on the price of oil.

''The public has done a fantastic job of conservation,'' he said. ''And while this doesn't make our dealers happy with the loss of gallonage, it has had an effect on prices.''

Since 1978, fuel oil has risen from about 55 cents a gallon to an average $1.273 as of Sept. 30 , according to the Nassau County Office of Consumer A ffairs. A year ago, on Oct. 1, the average price a gallon was $1.01. It hit a high of $1.298 a gallon last March, beforesliding back to its present level.

''So far things have been quiet,'' said James E. Picken, Commissioner of the Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs. ''No one has started complaining yet.''

He advised homeowners to make sure they receive and retain their oil delivery receipts, reminding them that, according to law, they must be charged the price quoted on the day of delivery. The delivery ticket must show the amount of oil delivered and the price per gallon, as well as the date of delivery.

He noted that last year some oil companies were permitting their drivers to quote one price on the delivery ticket and a higher price on the bill, which must be submitted within five days of the delivery.

''This was a violation of the law,'' Mr. Picken said. ''The price on the day of delivery is the price you pay.'' He said that complaints had involved only a few dealers and that the problem had been corrected. However, he countioned consumers to be wary, adding: ''Watch those bills.''

In an effort to enable homeowners to better identify oil-delivery trucks, Nassau County Executive Francis T. Purcell has proposed that the County Board of Supervisors approve a law requiring every oil delivery truck to post in large letters the name and telephone number of the deliverer. This way the homeowner could make a note of the truck and better deal with any possible probl em over the delivery or price of the oil, Mr. Picken said.

At present about 650,000 or 80 percent of the homes on Long Island are heated by oil-fired, forced hot-water heating systems that use almost eight million gallons of fuel oil a year to heat water and space heating for for domestic use. Seventeen percent of the homes are heated with natural gas and about 3 percent with electricity.

The latest figures on a home's total energy needs compiled by the Long Island Lighting Conmpany show that it now costs $2,801 annually to heat and provide hot water for a typical 1,400-square-foot ranch house using electric resistance heat, $2,243 using an electric heat pump, $2,661 using oil at $1.28 a gallon, and $1,834 using natural gas.

The figures also show that the cost of heating with electricity has increased more than 35 percent in one year, the cost of oil has increased 25 percent and the cost of gas has increased 22 percent.

The cost of kerosene, which some homeowners are using in space heaters to help cut heating costs, has also risen. Last December it was running between $1.34 and $1.50 a gallon, compared with a current price of $1.50 to $1.60 a gallon.

Mr. Rocchio said the Oil Heat Institute saw ''little movement'' by homeowners toward the use of natural gas. He said that gas deregulation was ''around the corner, which should lead to higher gas prices.''

''We're at the end of the pipeline here for natural gas, so it has proved less favorable than some had anticipated,'' he added. Lilco, which generates nearly 100 percent of its electricity by burning oil, says it expects the price of the oil it buys to increase, at least in pace with inflation. June Bruce, a spokesman for Lilco, said the utility planned to replace 30 percent of the oil with nuclear power when its Shoreham nuclear facility went on line fully in 1983.

She said that since electricity to heat homes would be produced primarily in the off-peak hours, most of the energy would be coming from the Shoreham plant.

Meanwhile, Lilco will continue to purchase power from other utilities when it is cheaper than producing its own by oil. She said that in the year ended Aug. 31, about 36 percent of Lilco's electric system requirement came from purchased power, saving Lilco close to nine million barrels of oil and its customers $87 million in fuel passalong costs.

And while fuel passalongs are expected to go down when Shoreham goes into operation, she said this would not mean that bills would go down, ''because other costs will be going up.''


WELLINGTON MARA, the president of the Giants, was having dinner Friday night with his friend of three decades, Tom Landry, the Dallas Cowboys coach who was a Giants defensive back and assistant coach on their 1956 National Football League championship team.

''If you win tomorrow,'' Tom Landry told the Giants' co-owner, referring to Saturday's game, ''you'll be as smart as you were 25 years ago.''

Wellington Mara laughed. And he's still laughing. Saturday the Giants outlasted the Cowboys in overtime, 13-10, and when the Jets beat the Green Bay Packers, 28-3, Sunday, both New York teams had qualified for next Sunday's wild-card games in the Super Bowl playoffs.

In the process, Wellington Mara suddenly is as smart as he was 25 years ago when the Giants were emerging as one of the N.F.L.'s dominant teams, and Leon Hess, the Jets' principal owner, suddenly is as smart as he was in developing Amerada Hess into one of the nation's leading oil firms.

Life's like that for all club owners in sports. Their intelligence is only as high as their team is in the standing.

Three months ago, for example, Leon Hess appeared to be dumber than ever. At the time, the Jets had begun the season with three embarrassing losses, Coach Walt Michaels was up against the wall and a firing squad was being assembled. But the Jets' chairman never wavered in his trust of Walt Michaels and Jim Kensil, the general manager he hired in l977 out of the N.F.L. office.

''Finding a coach is like finding oil,'' the oil baron said in l978. ''You drill here, nothing ... you drill there ... nothing. But then you drill over here and you've got it.''

Even after an 0-3 start, Leon Hess believed he had struck oil in Walt Michaels, and now the Jets are gushing with a 10-5-1 record. Sunday at Shea they will go against the Buffalo Bills in the American Conference wild-card game, followed by the Giants against the Eagles at Philadelphia in the National Conference wild-card game.

And three years ago Wellington Mara appeared to be dumber than ever. Some longtime Giant fans were burning their tickets. Others hired a small plane to fly over Giants Stadium during a game, towing a sign that complained, ''l5 Years of Lousy Football ... We've Had Enough.'' The Giants finished with a 6-l0 record that year.

What even the fans didn't realize until later was that the Mara owners, Wellington and his nephew Tim, were feuding. ''The years when the Allie Sherman regime was coming apart back in the late 60's were pretty dark,'' Wellington Mara was saying yesterday. ''But the plane with the sign and the fans burning their tickets were the darkest hours in the history of the franchise.''

In retrospect, those darkest hours preceded the dawn of the current regime under the general manager George Young and the coach Ray Perkins that produced a 9-7 record this season.

George Young had been an afterthought, a compromise candidate suggested by Commissioner Pete Rozelle after the Mara feud had stalled the search for a general manager. George Young had been the Miami Dolphins' personnel director and before that an assistant coach and personnel man with the Baltimore Colts when Ray Perkins was a wide receiver there.

One of George Young's tenets is, ''Always hire a guy you know.'' He knew Ray Perkins, he didn't know Dan Reeves, the other obvious candidate who was then a Cowboy assistant coach and is now the Denver Broncos' coach.

''George and Ray have a good relationship,'' Wellington Mara said. ''Ray respects George's knowledge of personnel and George respects Ray as a worker. They're both organization men and they've got guts. When they decided to draft Phil Simms in the first round their first year, I warned them of the magnitude of the reaction from the fans and the media for taking a virtually unknown quarterback. I was with them, but I wanted them to know there'd be a big reaction. They didn't care.''

But perhaps George Young's most important talent is as a diplomat -working smoothly with both Maras even though their feud still smolders.

''My volume of mail has dropped way off,'' Wellington Mara was saying now. ''Early in the season I was getting some hard letters, but then there was a tremendous backlash -50 or 60 letters a week, with 80 percent of them favorable. George told me he got one letter after the Ram game from a fan who didn't think we were winning 'artistically' enough. That's when we knew we must be doing something right.''

During the Jets' resurgence, Leon Hess twice exhorted his team in its pre-game meeting - before the 26-7 rout of the Giants and before Sunday's 28-3 victory over the Packers.

''I've never talked to the team before a game,'' Wellington Mara said. ''I think the only time I've ever talked to the team as a group was during the week once in the early 70's when we were still in Yankee Stadium, but never before a game.''

Now the Giants are in Giants Stadium and the Jets might be playing there in 1984 after their Shea Stadium lease with New York City expires.

''We can't stay here,'' Leon Hess was saying in Walt Michaels's office in Shea after Sunday's game, ''unless they treat us as firstclass citizens. They're treating us now like stepchildren.''

While exploring the possibility of moving to Giants Stadium, the Jets' chairman has developed a close friendship with Wellington Mara. ''The day we beat Philly and the Jets beat Miami a few weeks ago,'' Wellington Mara recalled with a laugh, ''Leon woke me up after midnight with a telephone call. I never thought I'd thank a guy for waking me up after midnight, but I thanked Leon.''

After what turned out to be the most exciting weekend in New York's pro football history, Wellington Mara planned his revenge. ''I didn't want to call him after midnight,'' the Giants' president said, ''but I waited until about 11:15 and I woke his wife, Norma. She told me that Leon wasn't home, that after the game he had flown to the Middle East on oil business. But he'll be back for Sunday's games.''

That's when Wellington Mara and Leon Hess will discover if they're still as smart as they are now.

Illustrations: Photo of Wellington Mara Photo of Leon Hess


The International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation reported yesterday that foreign-exchange translations caused it to lose nearly $35 million in the third quarter, the biggest adverse impact from such translations in the company's history. Revenues, excluding insurance and finance operations, dropped 9.3 percent.

I.T.T., the leading manufacturer of telecommunications equipment outside of the United States, said that it had a deficit of $34.8 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, contrasted to earnings of $197.9 million, or $1.35 a share, in the third quarter of 1980.

Revenues excluding insurance and finance operations, fell to $3.9 billion, from $4.3 billion. Insurance and finance revenues, I.T.T. said, rose 15.4 percent, to $1.5 billion, in the latest quarter, from $1.3 billion in the year-ago period. I.T.T. owns the Hartford Fire Insurance Company.

I.T.T. said that in the latest three months the recording of foreign-currency exchange as required by the Financial Accounting Standards Board reduced earnings by $1.41 a share. This contrasts with a gain of 21 cents a share in the third quarter of 1980 from such exchange translations.

In 1980, I.T.T.'s operations in the United States accounted for 39 percent of consolidated sales and 48 percent of net income. Western Europe accounted for about 53 percent of sales.

Analysts said that since I.T.T. derives such a large portion of its business from overseas, net margins will continue to be penalized in the fourth quarter by the continuing strengthening of the dollar abroad. They said, however, that they expected operating earnings to improve for the entire year with gains in the telecommunications and electronics and consumer products groups more than offsetting lower profits from the engineering products and natural resources groups.

''On an operational basis, we continue to project that the second half and full year will produce higher operating earnings than those in 1980, exclusive of the gain of 62 cents a share in 1980 on the sales of British Columbia timber facilities and an extraordinary loss of 13 cents a share in 1981 on the settlement of the Hartford tax litigation.'' said Rand V. Araskog, I.T.T.'s chairman, president and chief executive.

In May 1981, I.T.T. settled all pending Federal income tax matters arising from the 1970 acquisition of Hartford Fire, resulting in an extraordinary charge of $17.8 million, taken in the first quarter.

Mr. Araskog said that at current rates, ''the impact of currency translation under FAS-8 is expected to have significant adverse effect on our reported results for the last quarter and full year.''

In the latest three months I.T.T.'s operating earnings, excluding the impact of foreign-currency exchange, increased 2 percent on a per-share basis, to $165.6 million, or $1.16 a share, from $166.6 million, or $1.14 a share. Textron

Textron Inc. announced that net income in the third quarter fell 6.6 percent, to $35.3 million, or 80 cents a share, from $37.8 million, or $1.05 a share, in the third quarter of 1980. Sales slipped 3.9 percent, to $787.3 million, from $819.6 million.

The Providence-based multi-industry company said that foreign-currency translations in the latest quarter resulted in an after-tax loss of $5.9 million, contrasted to a gain from such translations of $1.6 million in the 1980 third quarter.

Textron said that continued high interest rates slowed sales of commercial helicopters in the third quarter and continued to depress demand in machine tool, construction and some consumer markets. Norton Simon

Norton Simon Inc. announced that net income in the first fiscal quarter of 1982 ended Sept. 30, 1981, slipped 5.4 percent, to $26.3 million, or 71 cents a share, from $27.8 million, or 57 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues dipped one-tenth of 1 percent, to $789.9 million, from $790.9 million.

In the current quarter, Norton Simon said, there were 37.1 million shares outstanding, compared with 48.8 million shares outstanding in the first quarter of 1980.

''Results of our United States operations showed steady improvement from year-earlier levels,'' said David Mahoney, Norton Simon's chairman and chief executive. ''However, the strengthened United States dollar in relation to most foreign currencies significantly reduced the dollar equivalent of our international revenues and earnings.'' Warner-Lambert

The Warner-Lambert Company announced that net income in the third quarter dropped 27.1 percent, to $25.6 million, or 32 cents a share, from $35.1 million, or 44 cents a share, in the corresponding 1980 quarter. Sales fell 6.1 percent, to $826.6 million, from $880 million.

The Morris Plains, N.J., pharmaceuticals concern said that while third-quarter net income was negatively affected by foreign-currency translations, operating earnings increased 37 percent from last year's third quarter.

In the third quarter, Warner-Lambert said, currency adjustments reduced net income by 31 cents a share, while in the 1980 third quarter the company had a gain from such adjustments of 2 cents a share. Pitney-Bowes

Pitney-Bowes Inc., the nation's leading manufacturer of postage meters, announced that accounting changes and currency translation losses caused net income in the third quarter to drop 30.4 percent, to $11.7 million, or 60 cents a share, from $16.8 million, or 95 cents a share a year earlier. Sales rose 10.4 percent, to $343.6 million, from $311.3 million. Borden

Borden Inc., a diversified chemicals and consumer products company, said that net income in the third quarter increased 3.7 percent, to $45.2 million, or $1.54 a share, from $43.6 million, or $1.40 a share, a year earlier. Sales dropped 5.2 percent, to $1.09 billion, from $1.15 billion. United States Gypsum

The United States Gypsum Company reported that net income in the third quarter dropped 34.6 percent, to $14 million, or 85 cents a share, from $21.4 million, or $1.30 a share, a year earlier. Sales increased 3 percent, to $379.2 million, from $368.1 million.

The Chicago-based company said the lower results in the third quarter continued to reflect the depressed level of residential construction and lack of growth in the economy. Uniroyal

Uniroyal Inc. announced that net income in the third quarter soared to $8.4 million, or 27 cents a share, from $1.4 million, or 5 cents a share, in the 1980 third quarter. Sales edged up eight-tenths of 1 percent, to $534 million, from $530 million.

Uniroyal, a developer and marketer of chemical, rubber and plastic products, said the sharply higher results were partly due to a stronger replacement tire market in the United States as that market recovered from 1980's low levels. City Investing

The City Investing Company reported that earnings in the third quarter rose 13.7 percent, to $36.6 million, or 99 cents a share, from $32.2 million, or 87 cents a share, in the corresponding quarter of 1980. Revenues advanced by 4.4 percent, to $1.41 billion, from $1.35 billion. ---- Earnings tables, page D13.


Eleven months after he approved the original boundaries and six months after they were struck down by the Justice Department, Mayor Koch held a surprisingly short and tranquil hearing yesterday on a new plan setting the lines for 35 districts of the New York City Council.

All but one of 21 speakers who came before him called on the Mayor to reject this latest effort by the Council to draw its districts in a manner that could pass Justice Department muster under the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Mr. Koch withheld his own judgment. Privately, however, his advisers said he would sign the redistricting bill, probably today, out of the glare of a public forum in which the fate of the Council has at times turned into an emotional as well as a political debate.

35 Seats Under New Bill

As before, the new plan must be endorsed by the Justice Department, which concluded last fall that the Council could have done more to carve out districts to increase the probable percentage of blacks and Hispanic members.

The Council now has 33 district seats, eight of which are held by black or Hispanic people. The new bill creates 35 seats, with black and Hispanic candidates given a good chance of winning in 12 districts, or four more than had been assured under the original plan.

These seats are separate from the Council's 10 at-large seats - two from each borough - whose validity has been struck down by the Federal courts.

As a result of these various legal complications, the Council had to skip its regular election last November but is hoping to hold one this November. Later this week, a Federal District judge in Brooklyn is expected to decide whether any sort of election for at-large seats is possible this year. Signs of Official Approval

The fate of the 35 district seats will be largely in the hands of the Justice Department, which must approve any electoral changes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

The Justice Department has not said what it will do. It is, in fact, prohibited from saying anything officially until the Mayor signs the redistricting bill into law.

But given the inherent racial overtones of the redistricting process, the Mayor has consistently said that before he affixes his signature, he wants a sign that the latest plan will not again run afoul of the department's lawyers.

As a result, lawyers for the City Council and the Koch administration have spoken many times with the department's Civil Rights Division. They report they have received signals that the department is not uncomfortable with the new boundaries. Mayor's Tactics Last June

With the first bill last June, Mr. Koch insisted that Council leaders produce black or Hispanic people to speak in favor of it. No such attempt was made this time. That was apparent from the fact that the only speaker not opposed to the new plan was George Canaris, a government buff who shows up at meetings almost every day and whose speeches have caused the Mayor's eyes to roll heavenward more than once.

The 20 people who urged rejection of the bill generally echoed arguments heard during City Council debates on the issue. Several blacks representing Queens political groups complained that not enough attention was given to their borough because it is not covered by the Voting Rights Act. They asserted that a district was created in which a white Council member will probably be elected. However, they said, population changes justify adding at least one seat likely to produce a black representative.

Illustrations: photo of Cynthia Jenkins, Mayor Koch and Thomas Cuite


The all-day conference was called to discuss ''Democratic Alternatives,'' and some concrete ways of responding to President Reagan's budget-cutting policies actually did emerge. But mostly, as local Democrats convened in a Manhattan public school yesterday, there was anger, criticism, confusion, defiance and even fear.

''I'm worried,'' said Stanley Fink, Speaker of the Assembly. ''I'm worried because there doesn't seem to be enough money to go around. And I'm worried because groups are being torn apart. What a frightening and sad thing it is: People who used to work together are beginning to fall apart.''

Mr. Fink, who is from Brooklyn, told the Democratic Party faithful gathered at P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village that the steadily dwindling supply of Federal aid was turning interest group against interest group. And the Speaker, a possible candidate for Governor this year, said he did not have any answers, just the obvious options: tax increases and spending cuts.

''I feel you've spoken in generalities,'' complained a member of the audience, Marcia Rudnitsky, after the Assembly Speaker had finished speaking. ''What proposals do you want to make to help us ordinary people?''

Mr. Fink responded by praising the commitment of his colleagues and pledging to make sure that social programs were not ''decimated.'' Gloomy Adjectives Abound

Others speaking at the all-day conference, which was dominated by liberal, even old-fashioned Democrats from Greenwich Village and Manhattan's West Side, limited themselves to denouncing the proposed Presidential budget that was made public over the weekend. They used gloom-gripped adjectives that did not want for drama.

The member of a health panel talked of ''disastrous consequences'' and ''pernicious cuts.'' An expert in programs for the elderly spoke of ''devastation.'' Robert F. Wagner Jr., the city's Deputy Mayor for Policy, predicted the closing of some health clinics if the budget cuts w ere adopted. And a noted economist, Robert Lekachman, worried that the country could be driven to the ''authoritarian right.'' A wo rsening economy could make people desperate, he said.

Mr. Lekachman, probably the most bluntly spoken participant at the conference took Democrats to task for what he saw as their lack of positive direction.

''That's what worries me about the Democrats - their relying on the failure of the Reagan policies,'' said Mr. Lekachman, professor of economics at Lehman College's Graduate Center. ''I think that's very dangerous.'' Incentive Tax Cuts Asked

It was Mr. Lekachman who came up with the most substantive suggestions of the day. He proposed emphasizing employment programs and selective tax cuts for corporations that limited price increases and unions that agreed to low wage settlements.

Asked if he thought his suggestions were realistic, Mr. Lekachman said maybe they were not right now but could become so if the economy worsened and pressures increased on politicians, whom he called ''a timid lot.''

For the most part, the 250 or so public officials and Democratic activists, scrunched into chairs meant for elementary pupils, focused on educating and organizing, on voter registration drives and ''lighting fires under people,'' as Frittzie Kort, director of the Hudson Guild-Fulton Senior Center, put it.

The conference was co-sponsored by t he New York County Democratic Committee and Manhattan's New Democratic Coal ition Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell Jr., New York County Democratic leader, readily conceded that his party seeme d to be doing more reacting than acting lately. But he had an id ea: Use films of a very popular Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in c ampaign commercials.

''The Republicans have gone back 100 years, so we'll go back 50,'' he said. ''What I want to know is, Can we claim to be ahead of them?''


GARRY WILLS is the author of several works of history and politics, among them ''The Kennedy Imprisonment,'' just published by Little, Brown. By GARRY WILLS

M ost people go to Jamaica, understandably, for the lazing on beaches - and that leaves Kingston out. The capital, on the island's south shore, has no beach hotels. Besides, the poor of the countryside have drained into the town, cramming it with miseries hard to bear. Tourists do their lazing, away from this squalor, on the north shore.

Those who do come to Kingston seem, mainly, to be businessmen exploring investment possibilities under Prime Minister Edward Seaga's pro-capitalist regime. They are shepherded to one of the new hotels near the government buildings on Oxford Street, where security patrols guard the perimeter with Doberman pinschers. Yet anyone interested in history - especially American history - should not neglect this important harbor and fortress. A safe day or two can be spent in Kingston before driving through the main break in the island's spine of mountains toward Ocho Rios and the beaches.

The Norman Manley Airport is one of the great places of the world for a daylight landing - you seem to be settling down on the Caribbean itself, two miles out from the city, with its overhanging Blue Mountains. The plane descends toward a long spit of land. One puts down into the wind, and in that fact the whole military history of the island is adumbrated. Ships had to beat upwind, out of the harbor, to repel attack. So Jamaica's real line of defense was that distant chain of outworks, the Lesser Antilles, where England's Admiral George Rodney fought a brilliant series of engagements during our Revolution to protect Jamaica from the combined French and Spanish fleets.

At the airport, pick up a rental car ordered in advance. The supply of cars is limited, and search beyond the Hertz or Avis booths is likely to turn up some strange and ancient items. The man checking out my battered Toyota slavishly followed the form sheet and marked down each dent and scratch - as if there were any virgin part of the body left for mashing. Leaving the airport, where the road signs direct you left toward Kingston, turn right instead, and run farther out on the spit. This culminates in what was once an island guarding the vast bay. Port Royal, the island city, has accreted shore on the southeast (windward) side after losing two thirds of its ancient city to earthquake in 1692. Various attempts have been made at underwater archeology - enough to find three sunken forts and the Anglican church, coordinates that make old maps a guide to future exploring. Mr. Seaga hopes to mount a large campaign and, in time, to reconstruct the lost city in Williamsburg style.

The island was originally ringed with fortresses, but only the main one, Fort Charles, is still above ground, in reduced state. Here Nelson served (he fought to quash the American Revolution before winning his fame against the fleets of the French Revolution). Here preparations were made for the assault that seemed inevitable in the 1780's, since Rodney, cruising the outworks, was outgunned by his combined enemies. (Ports in the Caribbean have at least one fortress each, but few have actually undergone a siege - they were considered deterrents, like our nuclear weapons, but saw most service as strongholds against, or prisons for, unruly islanders.)

The remains of Fort Charles are on the grounds of a modern police academy. The most fully restored building is the Naval Hospital, an 1819 building with a cast-iron frame. The long ranges of rooms back each other, ringed by access porches, resembling a monstrously elongated riverboat of the side-wheeler era. Inside there is a museum with artifacts of the Arawak people, the island's original inhabitants. From the porches, one can look across the bay at Kingston, or at Port Henderson on the strip of land circling toward the island from the west or leeward side of the bay.

Kingston itself has been flattened and battered so often, by earthquake and hurricane, that its central park (the Parade) is surrounded by restored buildings, most of them locked; so a drive through the old city is a matter of minutes. There are some Georgian buildings in the northern parts of town - they were once country homes. The most notable is the Hibbert House on Beeston Street, known as Headquarters House from the period, in the 19th century, when it was the military command post. Later, the legislature sat in the building. Devon House, a restored Victorian mansion on Hope Road, holds a museum of Jamaican crafts.

If you are staying overnight, it is time to go to one of the businessmen's hotels, which make up for the lack of beach with very large swimming pools. At the poolside one might study ''Exploring Jamaica: A Guide for Motorists,'' by Philip Wright and Paul White. The book is more than a decade old, but that matters less for historical sites than for most tourist attractions. Acquire it, if possible, before going to Jamaica. It is not easily found on the island.


THEIR subjects include the life and death of a woman terrorist in Germany and a mother's struggle to deal with her autistic child in Spain, and their settings range from a New Zealand car dump to the Barbes-Pigalle quarter of Paris, with its junkies and pimps and drag queens. Whatever else might be said about the selection of films for the 11th annual ''New Directors/New Films'' series, which begins tonight, no one could accuse the program of lacking variety.

And indeed, that is one of the program's goals. ''We really do try to seek out films from all over the world, particularly from littleknown places,'' said Adrienne Mancia, curator of film exhibition for the department of film at the Museum of Modern Art, co-sponsor of the series with the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

This year's program is the largest ever, with 19 films being presented at the Festival Theater on 57th Street through April 28. With five films by American directors, the United States is well represented, but other films come from Brazil, Portugal, India, France, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, West Germany, Switzerland, the Soviet Union, Australia and even Iceland. This year's selection also features six films by women directors, the largest number of women ever represented in the program, and a striking contrast with the first year of the series, in which no women directors appeared. The series was begun to introduce new films and new directors to New York audiences.

''We felt there was a need to present directors whose work usually doesn't come to the States, and the need is still there,'' Mrs. Mancia said. ''There were so many films we thought were important and should be coming to the United States, but they never did come. That has a great deal to do with the economics of film exhibition and distribution; distributors have to think about the commercial potential of films, and so many fine ones never open here at all. We felt we had to fill that need.''

Despite the program's name, its requirements are flexible. ''We use very broad criteria, mainly that films be innovative and show talent,'' Joanne Koch, executive director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, explained. ''What we're looking for is new kinds of films. They can be any kind, in fact the more unusual, the better.''

Nor must the directors be true novices. ''We discovered there were directors who weren't exactly new - some of them were very well known in their own countries - but who had never had a film shown in the United States,'' Mrs. Mancia said. ''So we decided to try to bring in films by directors who have never had a film that opened in the United States, or who had had only one film released in New York, like Margarethe von Trotta. What we really like to see happen is to have distributors discover the film and take it out to be shown so a larger public can see it.''

Indeed, the series has had such successes in previous years. Among last year's presentations was ''Pixote,'' the Brazilian film by Hector Babenco, which went on to a commercial run and won the New York Film Critics' and Los Angeles Film Critics' awards as best foreign film, and Markus Imhoof's Swiss-German-Austrian production ''The Boat Is Full,'' an Academy Award nominee for best foreign film. And in the past, young directors featured by the program included Steven Spielberg with ''The Sugarland Express,'' John Sayles with ''Return of the Secaucus Seven,'' Barbet Schroeder with ''General Idi Amin Dada,'' Alain Tanner with ''La Salamandre'' and Wim Wenders, with ''The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.'' Commercial Distribution Set

Several of the films being shown this year are already scheduled for commercial distribution, among them ''Smash Palace,'' a New Zealand film by Roger Donaldson about a former race-car driver, his French wife and the car dump where they live. It will be shown at the festival tonight and can also be seen tomorrow afternoon. Another going into distribution is ''The Road Warrior,'' an Australian adventure film by George Miller, which is on view April 27 and 28.

Also slated for a commercial run is ''Marianne and Juliane,'' directed by Margarethe von Trotta, the West German actress-turnedfilm-maker. Loosely based on the story of a member of the Baader-Meinhof group, the film examines the complicated and troubled relationship between two sisters, one a member of a terrorist organization, the other a feminist who disapproves of her sister's selfishness and political extremism. When the terrorist sister dies in prison, the other sister pursues a single-minded investigation into what really happened. The film, which was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year, will be shown Wednesday and next Friday night.

Another film by a woman director traces a similar theme, although its circumstances are very different. ''Malou,'' directed by Jeanine Meerapfel, is the semiautobiographical story of Hannah, a woman who becomes obsessed with the memory of her dead mother. Although she is married and has a steady job, Hannah begins to feel that she cannot fully develop her own identity until she understands her mother's tragic choices.

Summary: DIRECTORS By LESLIE BENNETTS   THEIR subjects include the life and death of a woman terrorist in Germany and a mother's struggle to deal with her autistic child in Spain, and their settings range from a New Zealand car dump to the Barbes-Pigalle quarter of Paris, with its junkies and pimps and drag queens. Whatever else might be said about the selection of films for the 11th annual ''New Directors/New Films'' series, which begins tonight, no one could accuse the program of lacking variety.   And indeed, that is one of the program's goals. ''We really do try to seek out films from all over the world, particularly from littleknown places,'' said Adrienne Mancia, curator of film exhibition for the department of film at the Museum of Modern Art, co-sponsor of the series with the Film Society of Lincoln Center.


Sunday television has two movie treats appealingly low-keyed and realistic. ''Up the Down Staircase'' (1967), to be telecast at 12:30 P.M. on Channel 5, is one of the very few worthy movies about a big city school, a drama admirably shaped from Bel Kaufmann's sketchy best-seller, and it contains a memorable performance by Sandy Dennis as a much put-upon teacher.

''Staircase'' remains Miss Dennis's most honest emoting. She has excellent help from the director Robert Mulligan and the scenarist Tad Mosel and a first-rate supporting cast in Patrick Bedford, Eileen Heckart, Ruth White and Jeff Howard.

Britain's ''The Long Memory'' (1952), the ''sleeper'' of the week (12:30 A.M. on Channel 9), is a forgotten film with an elusive title - a modest but cutting suspense drama of an embittered, framed convict's return, discovery and revenge. A quiet, taut story, beautifully performed by John Mills and one of those impeccable English casts, this is the kind of import that sprouted here after the war and that nobody, British included, bothers making any more.

Has Mr. Mills - now Sir John - ever given a bad performance?

Summary: 'Staircase' and 'Memory'   Sunday television has two movie treats appealingly low-keyed and realistic. ''Up the Down Staircase'' (1967), to be telecast at 12:30 P.M. on Channel 5, is one of the very few worthy movies about a big city school, a drama admirably shaped from Bel Kaufmann's sketchy best-seller, and it contains a memorable performance by Sandy Dennis as a much put-upon teacher.


WASHINGTON, Jan. 30— An agreement to sell President Reagan's house in Los Angeles collapsed suddenly two weeks ago after a savings and loan executive discovered two sets of closing papers bearing different sale prices.

Both documents apparently included the signature of Mr. Reagan's attorney, Roy D. Miller. Mr. Miller and Fred F. Fielding, the White House counsel, say that the papers bearing the higher sale price were improperly altered to include Mr. Miller's signature. Mr. Fielding said this was a forgery. Both men say they do not know who was responsible.

For tax reasons, it would have been advantageous to the President to have the lower price as the official one. On the other hand, the prospect ive p urchasers, a group of Western businessmen, would have gained a pote ntial tax advantage by having the higher price.

There were two possible ways to calculate the sale price because there are two ways to value the bonds that were to be transferred to Mr. Reagan as part of the settlement.

According to tax lawyers, a real estate sale can have only one price for tax purposes. Generally accepted accounting practices call for a transaction to be valued at the lower of two prices.

Mr. Miller said that the alteration of the document had been brought to the President's attention and that Mr. Reagan was ''upset'' about it, but no one had reported the matter to the lawenforcement authorities. It is illegal under Federal and state statutes to knowingly submit false papers to a financial institution or to forge documents.

Mr. Miller said his Los Angeles law firm, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, which has long managed Mr. and Mrs. Reagans' finances, had not disclosed the matter to law-enforcement officials because it was weighing its ''public'' responsibilities against Mr. Reagan's interests.

On Friday, in an unrelated transaction, the Reagans' house, in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles, was sold for an undisclosed price to Steven J. Halpern, a Los Angeles lawyer, and the Halpern family trust. Mr. Miller said that, as part of an agreement with the buyers, no details about the transaction would be released. Documents on file with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office show only the names of buyer and seller.

Mr. Miller said he had been the Reagans' tax attorney since 1966. From 1967 to 1980, he said, he also assisted William French Smith in handling other financial matters for the Reagans. Mr. Smith was a partner in the firm until he became Attorney General last year. Sales Price 'Misrepresented'

The apparent alteration in the documents in the earlier attempted sale came to light when Ted Clandening, a savings and loan executive helping to finance the deal, discovered that there were two sets of escrow instructions, one calling for a sale at $1.93 million, the approximate advertised price, and another listing the sale at $1.03 million. Both documents, according to Mr. Miller, were numbered 1452, were dated Sept. 29, 1981, and bore the signature of Mr. Miller, representing the Reagans. Mr. Miller said that he never signed the pa pers with the $1.93 million figure and that the document was ''al tered'' to include a copy of what appeared to be his valid signatu re.

Mr. Miller also said that someone had ''misrepresented'' the sale price by making a loan application with the $1.93 million price to Valley First Federal Savings and Loan of Palm Desert, Calif., Mr. Clandening's institution.

The ultimate buyer was to be a Nevada corporation, Zoller Financial. Roger E. Wright, the Zoller accountant, denied on behalf of the group any knowledge of any alteration. ''I have never heard of that,'' he said. ''It's a little shocking. I can't imagine anyone attempting to play games with the President and his power to investigate.'' Account Called Incomplete

Mr. Wright said he had a copy of a $1.93 million escrow instruction bearing Mr. Miller's signature but did not know how the document was prepared or how it wound up at Valley Federal. The $1.93 million figure, the accountant added, is consistent with the offer the Reagans' representatives orally agreed to in September with Mr. Miller and Jim Wix, the real estate broker representing the Reagans.

Mr. Miller said Mr. Wright's account was accurate but incomplete in that the $1.03 million figure was also discussed. Mr. Miller acknowledged that in other discussions with the Zoller representatives he told them it was ''O.K.'' if they wanted to value the sale at $1.93 million for ''financing'' purposes.

However, Mr. Miller said the only legitimate escrow instructions were those putting the price at $1.03 million. Both instructions noted that the buyers were offering $430,000 cash and certain depressed telephone company bonds. The $900,000 discrepancy in total price resulted from varying valuations of the bonds. Lower Liability on Resale

If the house sale was valued at $1.03 million, the Reagans would owe lower taxes on the profits of the sale. At the higher price, the buyers would have a lower tax liability when they resold the house, as they say they intended.

Mr. Clandening, the savings and loan vice president helping to finance the deal, said that he began having questions abou t the actual sales price and called Mr. Miller Jan. 15.


NEW YORK — Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to sell landline assets and towers in two separate deals for a combined $15.6 billion as the wireless carrier raises funds for airwave purchases. Verizon is selling landline assets in California, Florida, and Texas to Frontier Communications Corp. of Stamford, Conn., for $10.54 billion in cash. The assets include 3.7 million voice connections, 2.2 million broadband customers, and 1.2 million FiOS TV subscriptions. American Tower Corp. of Boston is buying rights to 11,324 wireless towers and purchasing about 165 more from Verizon for $5.056 billion in cash. Verizon will lease space on the towers for at least 10 years. The sales help Verizon pay for the more than $10 billion of airwaves it won last week in a record US spectrum auction. It will also use proceeds to repurchase about $5 billion in stock. The deal with American Tower is expected to close in the first half of 2015, while the Frontier transaction may be completed in the first half of next year. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

HOUSTON — Retail gasoline has risen 8.4 cents in the past two days, according to AAA, the largest two-day increase since March 2011. The national average hasn’t fallen since Jan. 25, when it broke a 123-day losing streak. The spike follows a 14 percent gain in oil prices and seasonal maintenance shutdowns at refineries. Demand for gas is at the highest seasonal level since 2008. “Drivers had a great run of steadily declining gas prices, but that trend is over for now,” said Michael Green, an AAA spokesman. “It’s a safe bet that drivers will pay more in March than they are today.” The US average was $2.151 a gallon Wednesday. Pump prices in 15 states remained below $2 a gallon on Wednesday, with Idaho home to the cheapest, an average $1.882. The latest average price for Massachusetts is $2.157, AAA Southern New England says. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

CANTON — Dunkin’ Brands Group saw its sales growth slow in the fourth quarter as it faced intensifying competition for on-the-go morning customers. ‘‘If you think about it, everyone’s getting into the breakfast space,’’ CEO Nigel Travis said. For instance, Taco Bell’s quarterly sales rose 7 percent at established US locations after it launched a breakfast menu. US sales for Dunkin’ Donuts edged up 1.4 percent, less than the 3.5 percent a year earlier. Travis said Dunkin’ Brands, which also owns Baskin-Robbins, was also hurt by the financial pressures on its lower- and middle-income customers. He cited the croissant doughnut, introduced in November, as one way to boost sales. It’s likely the item will become permanent. Travis said Dunkin’ has begun collecting more data about purchases to tailor its marketing. For example, it might be able to tell if people are more likely to order a doughnut with a latte, instead of a bagel. Overseas, Dunkin’ Donuts sales rose 0.3 percent. For the quarter, Dunkin’ Brands earned $52.5 million. Revenue was $193.2 million. It expects full-year earnings in 2015 of $1.83 to $1.87 per share, less than it forecast in December. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

A diminished RadioShack will live on, but its future may lie with Sprint. The electronics chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Thursday. It plans to sell 1,500 to 2,400 stores to its largest shareholder, the investment firm Standard General, and close the rest of its 4,000 US stores. Sprint Corp. has a deal with Standard General to open mini-shops in as many as 1,750 of the RadioShack stores Standard General is buying. Sprint would take up a third of the retail space in each store. Sprint would be the primary brand on storefronts and marketing materials. Sprint already has more than 1,100 company-owned retail stores. Other parties could bid for RadioShack’s stores in Bankruptcy Court. RadioShack warned of a possible bankruptcy in September. It has not turned a profit since 2011. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Pfizer Inc. is buying Hospira for about $15.23 billion, a buyout that will help Pfizer tap into the growing market for biosimilars — cheaper versions of biologic drugs. Hospira Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., provides injectable drugs and infusion technologies as well as biosimilars. Last month, it said it was seeking approval to sell Retacrit, a biosimilar for the anemia treatments Epogen from Amgen and Procrit from Janssen. Pfizer will pay $90 per share for Hospira, a 39 percent premium to Hospira’s Wednesday closing price. The companies put the deal’s value at about $17 billion when debt is included. Pfizer, a New York company that is the world’s second-largest drug maker, by revenue, said it will use its global network to help expand Hospira’s reach to Europe and key emerging markets. Hospira’s products are sold mostly in the United States. Pfizer has been under pressure to boost its share price. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — J.C. Penney is giving its hair salons a makeover in a bid to lure younger customers who it hopes will then stay in the stores to shop. The retailer is collaborating with the editors of InStyle magazine in a licensing partnership that will change the name and look of its 850 salons to The Salon by InStyle by 2016. Starting in July, Penney will test in 15 of its salons a new look that includes wider, more inviting entrances, new furniture, and sleek graphics. The test locations are in Miami, Dallas, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Revamped salons will include hair coloring bars where customers can consult experts. All salons will get at least some updates starting in 2016. The company declined to say how much it’s spending on the makeovers, a key part of Penney’s plan to transform its struggling business. InStyle editors will work with Penney’s stylists to identify trends. InStyle will market the salons to its 21 million magazine subscribers and social media followers. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Two Democratic lawmakers are seeking details of the Federal Reserve’s probe of a leak of market-sensitive information about interest-rate policy. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland said the central bank’s investigation focuses on a 2012 leak after closed-door deliberations of policy makers, citing news reports. The security of market-moving information has become a concern for federal officials. Possible leaks of data led the Labor and Commerce departments as well as the Fed to impose tighter procedures for distributing information early to reporters. According to the lawmakers, details of Federal Open Market Committee discussions in September 2012 showed up in a newsletter that circulates among traders on Oct. 3, 2012, a day before the Fed released its September meeting minutes. That could have given some traders an unfair advantage. In September 2013, the Fed said it was concerned about suspiciously heavy trading of gold futures after a meeting of its policy-making body, possibly triggered by a premature release of information. News organizations that get information early must agree to withhold the data until the time set for its release. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

Summary: Verizon sells landlines, towers in two deals for $15.6b, Spike in oil prices interrupts drivers’ dreams of $2 gas, and more news from Thursday.


Updated JUN 29, 2015 6:53p ET

PHOENIX -- Throughout the month of July, FOX Sports Arizona will roll out the red carpet for its "Diamondbacks Live" pre-game show in order to welcome notable Arizona sports celebrities to fill the guest analyst role. Beginning this Friday, the D-backs, Coyotes, Suns, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Northern Arizona and Grand Canyon University will all be represented in 10 different shows throughout July.

Whether they are from baseball, hockey, basketball, football, Tucson, Phoenix or Flagstaff, the analysts will be on the show with Todd Walsh or Jody Jackson to showcase their baseball knowledge for a vast viewing audience across Arizona and New Mexico. For two "Throwback Thursday" games, a former D-backs player will be the guest analyst (Shea Hillenbrand and Andy Stankiewicz).

The schedule is as follows:

July 2 -- Former D-backs player Shea Hillenbrand (6 p.m.)

July 3 -- Arizona Coyotes defenseman Connor Murphy (6 p.m.)

July 17 -- Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez (6 p.m.)

July 18 -- Arizona State football coach Todd Graham (4:30 p.m.)

July 20 -- Northern Arizona basketball coach Jack Murphy (6 p.m.)

July 21 -- Grand Canyon basketball coach Dan Majerle (6 p.m.)

July 22 -- Phoenix Suns TV analyst Eddie Johnson (6 p.m.)

July 23 -- Grand Canyon baseball coach/former D-backs player Andy Stankiewicz (6 p.m.)

July 24 -- Former D-backs player Junior Spivey (6 p.m.)

July 25 -- Former D-backs player Russ Ortiz (4:30 p.m.)

For "Executive Sunday" during the month of July, the D-backs front office members who will appear as guests are as follows: De Jon Watson (July 5, 12:30 p.m.), J.J. Putz (July 19, 12:30 p.m.) and Dave Stewart (July 26, 12:30 p.m.).

FOX Sports Arizona televises the most regional sports action in the state and is the exclusive cable television home of the D-backs, Suns, Coyotes, Cardinals, NAU, Mercury, Rattlers and the Arizona Interscholastic Association. FOX Sports Arizona is currently seen in 2.5 million households in Arizona and New Mexico and can also be seen across the country via home satellite services. For even more coverage of the local sports scene, log onto www.FOXSportsArizona.com, www.twitter.com/foxsportsaz and www.facebook.com/foxsportsarizona.