Dark Ages

How many brunettes does it take to start a fashion trend? Two, apparently -- if they used to be famous blondes. Pop tarts Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera shocked fashion observers recently. Brazenly, they cast aside their signature peroxide locks in favor of sleek, dark manes and ushered in a new era for hair color. Brown, clearly, is the new blond. And the new brunette is definitely out to have more fun. "I do think we are in a brunette moment right now," said style observer Robert Verdi, host of Full Frontal Fashion on the Women's Entertainment network.

WASHINGTON -- As soon as German U-boats put eight saboteurs on U.S. shores during World War II, one of the eight called the FBI to betray the mission but was brushed off as a crackpot. Days later, he called again and managed to persuade the FBI he was an authentic saboteur. Partly to keep this embarrassment of bungled enforcement from becoming known, the eight were secretly tried by a military court inside the FBI headquarters. Unexpectedly, a U.S. Army lawyer assigned to the Germans mounted a spirited defense.

A. C. Raines knows what it's like to return to the Naval Academy after winter break.Raines, a 1986 graduate, recalls dragging himself back to Annapolis each of his four Januaries to face a dark stretch of academic drudgery, when the wind kicks off the Severn River and slips through every opening in a midshipman's dark wool uniform.Winter is known here as the "Dark Ages."As head of the academy's cafeteria, Lieutenant Commander Raines thought he could help. His idea: Improve each Mid's morale through his or her stomach.

THE "get tough on crime" mentality that demands executions, longer jail sentences, fewer chances for parole and few, if any, rehabilitation programs has spread its cloak of fear over our troubled youth.A "get tough on juveniles" effort is afoot in the United States. Republican Sens. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Jeff Sessions of Alabama are leading the crusade to take us back into the Dark Ages of prison policy. They have co-sponsored The Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender Act, which would allow young teens to be jailed with adults.

Computers are crucial to the future of Gary Becker, who's studying computer-aided design at Essex Community College and planning to attend the Johns Hopkins University's school of engineering.Fellow student George Phillips, a night shift metal worker, is building a new career through cyberspace.And Carole Cascio, a former dancer and biochemist, is studying computer-aided design and drafting to heighten her creativity.Despite their diverse backgrounds, they agree that Maryland's largest community college system -- in the throes of a tumultuous reorganization -- is woefully behind in computer technology.

Put a bunch of teen-agers in the basement of a suburban home on a Saturday afternoon, give them musical instruments, and you've got a potent mix that could deafen the neighborhood with grungy hard rock hits.But when Tonal Palette, a Columbia teen-age band, starts playing, the tune is slow, soulful, almost sensual. It's "My Funny Valentine."This group of high school juniors and seniors increasingly represents a new generation of jazz buffs in America. They're young, and they may not fully understand or empathize with the soul of Billie Holiday or Dizzy Gillespie, but they dig it anyway.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening may have won passage for much of his legislative agenda in Annapolis this year, but in the process he disappointed two groups that were crucial to his election -- organized labor and environmentalists.Some unions, whose members worked the phones and staffed the polling places for Mr. Glendening during his 1994 campaign, say the governor's efforts to win collective bargaining for state employees during the legislative session that ended last week were halfhearted.

LONDON -- Which African country is growing faster than an Asian tiger and has a low inflation rate to boot? Uganda. I didn't get it right first guess either.After the perverse brutality of Idi Amin, war with Tanzania, the amoral megalomania of Milton Obote and then the revelation that the country was the world's epicenter of AIDS, who would have supposed such triumph could emerge? This was a country so looted and disarranged that it returned to the Dark Ages. But, apparently, there is life after death; Uganda proves it.If Uganda can achieve economic growth of 10 percent last year with inflation of only 3.4 percent, then why not the rest of black Africa?

How long should it take to force an apartment manager to provide enough fire extinguishers? Or to make a bar owner unlock fire exits?Under Anne Arundel County's near-ancient fire code, the process can take months. First, the fire inspector drives out to one of the 10,000 buildings the county inspects. He finds a violation and orders the building owner to correct it by such-and-such a date. Such-and-such a date arrives, the inspector goes back to re-check, and, lo and behold, still no fire extinguishers.