Downside

HERE ARE some suggestions about your investments:AVOID ERRORS: "Two of the biggest mistakes individuals make are threats in this market. The first is paying too much for stocks. Second is selling stocks for wrong reasons -- curbstone gossip, scare headlines, `breaking news' bulletins, etc. Avoid both. Fundamental analysis has been replaced by `follow the money' and `just go where everyone is else splurging.' " (Better Investing)PAYOUT: "An income-oriented stock paying a `no-growth' dividend carries a bond's downside -- no inflation protection -- but without a bond's income or principal guarantees.

What will 1998 bring for Maryland and the nation? Jay Hancock, The Sun's economics writer, interviewed three specialists. They are J. Patrick Bradley, senior vice president and director of economic and investment research, Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co.; Charles McMillion, chief economist of MBG Information Services, a Washington economics and forecasting consultancy; and Margaret M. Murphy, vice president and economist with the Baltimore branch of...

WASHINGTON -- Like horses brought to water who can't be made to drink, voters can't be forced to exercise the franchise if they don't want to. In last year's presidential election, more didn't vote than did -- only 49 percent of those eligible.The figure, according to Curtis Gans of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, resumed a 36-year decline in voter turnout, broken only in 1992.The regression after the 55.2 percent voter participation in the Clinton-Bush race in 1992 came in spite of a new experiment in the communication of candidate views: free television time on five networks: NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox and PBS.The campaign for free time was spearheaded by a former Washington Post political reporter, Paul Taylor, and the retired CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.

Last year I married a handsome, successful lawyer I met skiing. But after our whirlwind romance I discovered there's a downside. He has an "A"-type personality and can be quite manic. When we travel, he insists that we pack only carry-on luggage so we can run off the plane and catch a cab.Before we married, I always changed into something pretty when I went out to dinner. Now with my luggage restrictions I can't. What can I wear that's elegant enough for a fancy restaurant and functional enough for a 747?

Kent MerckerAge: 27 (turns 28 Feb. 1).History: 31-25 career record, with a 3.49 ERA and 19 saves. No-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1994. Last season, he went 7-8 with a 4.15 ERA.His job with Orioles: Mercker, acquired from the Braves on Sunday, will be the third or fourth starter, and right now is the only left-hander in the rotation. GM Pat Gillick thought acquiring a left-hander essential, particularly in a division that includes the New York Yankees.What he throws: A good fastball, good breaking pitch.

BEIJING -- It was hailed in the Chinese and Western press as "China's richest village," the nation's newest political model.Over the past year, thousands came to Daqiuzhuang each week to soak up patriarch Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms.And its headman, a virtual feudal lord who reportedly was a pal of Mr. Deng's, became a widely quoted apostle of development.But now Daqiuzhuang's 63-year-old leader, Yu Zuomin, is under arrest in connection with a slaying and is alleged to have had a hand in a second killing.

BOSTON -- Larry Bird returned to action yesterday, shooting from the hip but missing when it counted.Bird boldly tossed up the Boston Celtics' last legitimate field-goal attempt during their 114-112 overtime loss to Cleveland at Boston Garden. The shot was unsuccessful, as well as being an aesthetic disaster, a sort of two-hand driving banker borrowed from the Terry Dischinger repertoire.The miss was symbolic of Bird's appearance. He had been absent for more than a month, and the Celtics had been faring quite well without him. He entered this game with the Celtics leading 33-32 with 9:27 left in the first half.

Anita Nall is 15, and talks of her first prom, her last report card and her next birthday.She is a kid from Towson who likes to hang out at a mall with her friends. She is a star who plows through an interview schedule that would test even the voice of Ross Perot.This weekend, she'll appear in the North Baltimore Aquatic Club invitational swim meet at the Meadowbrook pool in Mount Washington. Next month, she'll be in Barcelona, Spain, a young woman reaching for a swimming gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Backing and filling on light volume of 141 million shares, stocks inched ahead 4.70 points yesterday on the Dow Jones average, closing at 3,017.89, now up 385 points this year.TAKE YOUR CHOICE: "Because the Federal Reserve is on Wall Street's side, stocks aren't headed for a fall. Never fight the Fed." (Martin Zweig) . . . "We're in an economic recovery, so earnings will rise, as will stocks. What's more, interest rates will // fall farther. Get out of cash and into stocks." (Mary Farrell)

It was supposed to be just a one-time trial tonight, but now NBC has made it official and moved "Working It Out" to Wednesdays at 9:30.It will make its debut in that time slot on Channel 2 (WMAR) tonight with another top-notch outing of this well-crafted comedy starring Jane Curtin and Stephen Collins as two divorced people groping their way into a serious relationship.Henny Youngman is the unlikely guest star, playing himself in this episode as Curtin's character, Sarah, has trouble with the L-word -- the middle one of those famed "three little words" -- when Collins' David lets it slip out one night.

When it comes to the six Republicans competing for lead dog of the GOP leadership, all are on point: They love Ronald Reagan, are pro-life, advocate small government and promise more diversity and fewer taxes. They are also, with one exception, locked and loaded - armed in Second Amendment solidarity. During a 90-minute debate this week at the National Press Club, only Michael S. Steele, the former Maryland lieutenant governor, confessed to owning no guns. Say what? In a race where Mr. Steele's conservative bona fides are already held in suspicion, did his admission unseal any deal?

ATLANTA -- Despite the harsh partisanship that had begun to infect politics by the 1990s, there was at least one tenet about which mainstream Democrats and Republicans agreed: Globalization is good. The wonders of free markets have been touted by Democrats Robert E. Rubin and Lawrence Summers as well as Republicans Carlos Gutierrez and Henry M. Paulson Jr. Belief in the glories of global markets is widely shared - a civic religion, especially among the chattering classes. As with most religions, however, its miracles are exaggerated.

There is a downside to winning American Idol. The victor can be profiled in a movie as dreadful as The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale. The film premieres at 9 tonight on Lifetime, and Barrino's story would seem perfect fare for a cable channel dedicated to empowering women. The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale airs at 9 tonight on Lifetime; it repeats at 8 p.m. tomorrow and 9 p.m. Monday.

CHICAGO - Socialist and communist governments have nationalized all sorts of things: oil and gas fields, phone companies, steel mills, coal mines, airlines and farms. Now the American Medical Association, which generally does not favor collective ownership of the means of production, has proposed to go even further. It suggests nationalizing corpses. The United States has a severe shortage of kidneys, livers, lungs and other human organs needed by patients awaiting transplants. The AMA thinks we might close the gap between supply and demand by confiscating body parts from people who no longer need them.

Dan has left the studio. The Great Anchor Hunt is in full swing at CBS Evening News following Dan Rather's departure from the anchor chair Wednesday. The becalming Bob Schieffer will hold the fort down for probably three months -- but then who? CBS president Leslie Moonves has said he wants to reinvent the nightly broadcast with perhaps a team of newscasters rather than with, say, another aging white guy. The names Katie Couric, John Roberts, Jon Stewart, Scott Pelly and Anderson Cooper have surfaced in the last several months.

NOW IS as good a time as any to discuss the downside of beef. No, this won't be a column warning you of the pitfalls of eating red meat and imploring you to turn vegan or die. That's for those wackos in the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. This is another kind of beef, as in the phrase "What's beef?" It's a saying common among our youth. Those into hip-hop and rap music know immediately what it is. Beef is any disagreement, static or flak you have with someone else that can and usually does lead to an altercation, sometimes verbal but often physical.

I ONCE lived in a rundown Chicago neighborhood where crumbling buildings and liquor stores lined the streets. Check-cashing stores sat on every other block. More than 10 percent of U.S. families don't have checking accounts, according to the Federal Reserve's most recent survey of consumer finances. They rely on currency exchanges and similar storefront businesses, which typically take a cut of 2.5 percent, and as much as 5 percent to 6 percent, of the checks they cash. The fees are much higher than the cost of maintaining a checking account at a bank.

Maryland faces staggering social costs in the form of increased crime, bankruptcies, divorces and other ills if it opens the door to slot machines, an array of speakers told anti-gambling activists at a national conference in Linthicum yesterday. The message was delivered by state Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. and two university professors who study gambling and its impact nationally. In his remarks to the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, Curran pointed to a research study that shows the economic costs of gambling far outweigh the benefits.

I want to start a health journal. What should I include in my daily notes? The contents of a health or fitness journal will vary depending on your goals. Recording exercise and diet habits is most common, but other topics include sleep schedules, game or match scores, practice or race times, and suggestions from doctors and trainers. The great thing about a journal is that it allows you to chart your progress and helps boost motivation. The downside is that it can be tedious to keep. To avoid dropping the pen after a few weeks, chart habits that are most important to you. Don't feel like you have to write down every weight lifted or every cracker eaten.

NEW YORK - Adolescence can die young. For Tafazzul, a teen-age Bangladeshi immigrant who had arrived in this country without his parents, the moment came when his older brother was blown up three years ago by a trash-can bomb on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Left with $400 in monthly rent, to meet, two younger brothers to feed and no adults looking after them, Tafazzul, then 16, quit high school to work 15-hour days as a shop clerk. "I wish I had my parents here when I was in high school," Tafazzul said, his eyes casting downward.