his week marks the premiere issue of Weekly Wire, a publication we hope you will find both enlightening and entertaining. The News & Opinion section will spotlight those of our contributors' articles that have either a clear national relevance or a striking local flavor. This selection process isn't always easy, but we're doing our best to ensure that there's a wide variety of approaches and subjects to choose from -- as this week's articles demonstrate.

ime Bombed addresses an issue to which most of us can relate: the increasing pressure to hurry, hurry, hurry. Far from being a time-management article, the author proposes we change our approach to life itself. Eaten Alive! has a grislier focus: the destructive forces of necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-devouring bacteria that almost killed a man whose sole mistake was scratching his hand on a suitcase zipper.

re these people onto something, or are they just crazy? This question will cross the minds of anyone who reads Weird Science, about a playful physicist whose scientific efforts extend into the realms of breast cancer detection, Russian research institutes, and meteor study on the dark side of the moon. Even crazier-seeming is the author of Letters at 3 A.M., whose late-night diatribe against television reads like a cross between Noam Chomsky, Franz Kafka and William S. Burroughs.

here's always room for rants in Weekly Wire, and Jeff Smith and Captain Opinion lead the way in that domain. Smith's latest tirade against capital punishment provides a grittier-than-usual assessment of the Timothy McVeigh sentence, and Captain Opinion's ambivalent approval of the drug legalization puts a personal spin on a subject often argued in clinical terms. Most opinionated of all is Ron Yengich, a Utah resident whose vitriolic comparison between his city and Chicago rings, humorously, of post-NBA bitterness.

hough this is the first official Weekly Wire, a few preliminary issues have already been published, and these can be accessed by clicking here. You'll find a selection of articles just as varied and diverting as what's offered this week.

Paperboy!
Choose the topics you are interested in, pick the articles you want to read, and you'll get your own personal edition of some of the newspapers hosted here at Weekly Wire.

Talk Back
Our online BBS is an open forum where you can say anything you like about current events, controversies, or anything else that might be stuck in your craw.

Time Bombed
Slow down, will ya? A consideration of time. [2]
Jay Walljasper

Eaten Alive!
How David Cowles became a mere morsel for a deadly, flesh-eating bacterium. [3]
Carolyn Campbell

Letters at 3AM
Drastic Spaces: Part III. [4]
Michael Ventura

Weird Science
From the ultra-close scrutiny of the female breast to racking micro-meteorites on the dark side of the moon, the amusing mind of physicist Peter Franken is always on the move. [5]
Mari Wadsworth

Environmental Racism
We exhibit a split personality when it comes to Native Americans--are they citizens of sovereign nations within the borders of a larger country, or are they residents of rural ghettos? [6]
Karen Denton

Deadly Intentions
The only thing crazier than Tim McVeigh killing all those innocent people in Oklahoma City is the state killing Tim McVeigh in a coldly rational execution. [7]
Jeff Smith

Captain Opinion
Education and free choice kick the habit. [8]
Cap'n O

Chicago, #@&* Off
Salt Lake City may not be the city with big shoulders, but we have a future. [9]
Ron Yengich

Odds & Ends
Random musings.... [10]
Devin D. O'Leary

Brave New World
Ticketmaster and Microsoft squabble about the right to link. [11]
David O. Dabney

Melanoma, Carcinoma ... Some Kind of a Noma
Welcome to skin cancer season. [12]
Mike Ratchett

Now What?
A Web link page chock full of resources, recommendations, and staff picks pertaining to the subject of this section. [13]

Captain Opinion
Tobacco should be treated no differently than any other product. [06-06-97]
Cap'n O

Odds & Ends
The Southern Comfort Free Theatre for the Performing Arts provides a haven for the g-string form in Iowa and English lawyers are more evil than American lawyers. [06-13-97]
Devin D. O'Leary

Cookie Monster
There's more to cooking than just following a recipe. [06-06-97]
Margaret Renkl