The ‘Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program,' also known as ‘Special Supplementary Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children,' aims to assist distressed families experiencing marked malnutrition.

Beef 'cordon bleu' is easy, fast, tasty

That was the philosophy behind this attempt to create a beef version of chicken cordon bleu. It turned out to be easier, faster and far tastier than expected.

The result was a thin-cut London broil wrapped around blue cheese, pine nuts, roasted garlic and spinach. Seared quickly on the stove and finished in the oven, these steaks can be on your table in about 35 minutes.

When selecting your steaks, aim for nothing thicker than a third of an inch. Sirloin bottom was nice, but you may need to have the butcher cut them. Thin-cut London broil steaks are widely available at most grocer's meat counter.

While other greens and nuts can be substituted for the spinach and pine nuts in the filling, it's best to stick with blue cheese. You want a cheese that won't ooze much as it heats.

Monmouth freeholders give Roe $120G consulting contract

FREEHOLD — The Monmouth County freeholders tonight approved spending $210,000 over the next year for two transportation consulting contracts, giving one of the contracts to Robert A. Roe, the embattled former congressman.

Roe, 83, who did not attend the meeting, has been under fire from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which campaigned to block a recent push to name a northern New Jersey roadway after him. The former lawmaker was convicted of driving drunk when he crashed into a minivan in Rockaway Township in 1993, seriously injuring a woman and her 15-year-old daughter.

Gov. Corzine issued a statement today saying he received a letter from Roe in which Roe "deeply regrets his responsibility for a tragic automobile accident 15 years ago. As such, he has asked that the recognition passed by the Legislature and signed into law -- the renaming of a section of Route 23 in his honor -- be rescinded.''

The Monmouth freeholders did not address the events of Roe's accident or the highway issue.

Goodbye, cruel world ...

The nomadic existence of undergrowth and ocean-dwelling is not for him: he needs a home. Each new paying resident of Second Life is offered a plot of land. Kenny chooses one on Blacktail Ridge. It is, I have to say, a disappointment: a dark and icy wasteland with a few scattered shacks. I'm reminded of my grandfather who emigrated to Australia in the Twenties on the promise of a parcel of verdant farmland in Victoria, and got there to discover he had been given some acres of waterlogged bog. He stayed for a decade. Kenny returns promptly to the beach.

Good land has become so rare in Second Life that people are prepared to pay hundreds of real dollars for it. You can buy a private island for $1,250, plus a monthly charge of $195 in land fees. There are several takers. Anshe Chung, Second Life's richest avatar, owns a property empire on the site worth $250,000 (£137,000) and employs 17 real-life people.

Popular Mechanics's 2003 AAIW Editor's Choice Awards

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 5--While the general population might stand in line at the world's most famous galleries and museums to view humanity's greatest creative works, auto-industry professionals make a different pilgrimage each year, to Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week. Here, they get their annual dose of culture and artistry. The gathering of the world's major forces in the automotive aftermarket--and increasingly, the automakers themselves--is a rich display of sculpture and painting, though it's applied to metal on wheels rather than canvas in a frame.

This collection of trade-only shows also makes up the setting for POPULAR MECHANICS's annual Editor's Choice Awards Ceremony. The PM automotive staff assembled here early this week to ready its assault on the show floors of the Las Vegas and Sands Convention Centers, the sites of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) exhibitions.

Barry Manilow makes rare Bay Area concert stop in San Jose

IT'S A MIRACLE that even now Barry Manilow is writing the songs that make, if not the whole world, at least a fair portion of it sing. Could it be magic?

Magic had nothing to do with it. Try hard work, dogged persistence and thousands of "Fanilows' who can't smile without him.

Yes, Barry Manilow is still going strong, more than 30 years since his first hit, "Mandy," unveiled the Manilow musical formula: big, heart-on-the-sleeve ballads sung with utmost sincerity and some good, old-fashioned show-biz brio.

Just when you think the time has finally come for Manilow to fade into pop history, he shows up with a surprise hit album, an appearance on "American Idol" or "Dancing with the Stars" or a long-running hit show in Vegas.

The man never rests. He's 61 and riding yet another crest of popularity from his three "Greatest Songs of..." albums that have him warbling tunes from the'50s,'60s and'70s.

Apple negotiates for Thai iPhone rights

Apple's latest attempt at negotiating international distribution of the iPhone is in Thailand, according to reports. Reuters cites Prattana Leelapanang, the assistant VP of wireless business marketing for Thailand's Advanced Info Service (AIS); according to Leelapanang, his company is already discussing the details of an arrangement with Apple, including revenue sharing. The last point is particularly notable, as neither Apple nor its telecom partners have in the past admitted to revenue sharing, although it is a widely accepted fact amongst analysts.

AIS owns approximately 50 percent of the Thai cellular market, at 24.5 million subscribers. It is not known when the iPhone might premiere with AIS, but there is unlikely to be a rush, as the company is still planning a test of 3G broadband services.