Garb

From her home life to her snack habits to her age-appropriate attitude, much has been made about Kimmie Meissner's utter normalcy. And yesterday, in choosing a costume for her first Olympic performance in Turin, the fresh-faced figure skater again proved herself to be just a regular teenager from Bel Air - sans fringes, feathers or skate-fashion faux pas. Thank goodness. The 16-year-old took to the ice for the women's short program in a tame and only somewhat-shiny black number. Her cut-off sleeves were rimmed in tiny rhinestones.

COLLEGE PARK - -It seems long ago that Maryland quarterback Chris Turner appeared at the Atlantic Coast Conference's preseason media conference and said of the Terrapins: "We're easily a 10-win team." It was late July, the weather was warm and muggy, and Turner and other top ACC players had mixed media interviews with a round of golf at a resort in Greensboro, N.C. "We're not here to just win eight games and go to an average bowl," the senior quarterback had said. Twelve weeks later, Turner's Terrapins are 2-5 (1-2 ACC)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Should the Orioles follow through on a tentative plan to become younger, faster and more financially flexible, they will not exclude their primary American League East rivals, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, as potential matches, said vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift. "Of course you talk about it," said Thrift, who last Thursday advocated embracing such a movement. "But that's not the most important thing in the world. If that team has the player or players or pitcher or pitchers we need, the answer [to whether the club would reject a deal]

MIAMI -- Cornerback Ray Buchanan of the Atlanta Falcons understands what Super Bowl week is all about.It's not about football, it's about getting noticed on the biggest stage in the sport. It's all about being part of the hype.That's why he "guaranteed" the Falcons were going to beat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII last week.P.T. Barnum would have understood that. The point is to get the people in the tent. The writers were sure to stop by his podium yesterday at Media Day to check out the guarantee stuff.

Michael Daugherty thinks he's Superman.No, the 42-year-old composer does not suffer from delusions of grandeur.It's true that the recording of his 42-minute "Metropolis Symphony" (Argo 452 103-2), based on the comic-book hero's exploits and performed by David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony, opened last week -- the week of its release -- at No. 18 on Billboard's classical best-seller list.But Daugherty says he identifies with Superman because he believes many composers since the conclusion of World War II had to be Clark Kents in order to survive in the world of academic music -- with its mathematically precise tone rows, tersely argued thematic developments and abstract textures.

NEW YORK - Charles Warholic sat in a tattoo parlor in Greenwich Village, patiently watching a man poke a needle under his skin to etch the Statue of Liberty and the number 911 on his right arm. "I want to get something to remember those who died and show my support," said Warholic, 37, still reeling from the sudden, tremendous loss of life at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Tattoo parlors across Manhattan have seen a jump in customers asking for American flags, crying eagles and the New York skyline as it was before the terrorist attacks.

Maybe the stranger in a brown waist coat and knee breeches was Benjamin Franklin, and maybe he wasn't, but Friday he held children at Linthicum Elementary School rapt with tales of the statesman/inventor's life and times.Ralph F. Archbold, a 54-year-old Philadelphia actor who portrays Benjamin Franklin at Independence Hall and other venues around the country, took the children back to the 1700s.He told of tall ships that drew him, as a boy, to Boston harbor, where he hid between barrels and watched seaman load and unload ships and heard the captain shout to his crew, "Hoist the saiiills."

LONDON -- Britain's House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament, often resembles the world's most exclusive retirement community. But lately their lordships have been acting so robust it may kill them.Between catnaps and supper breaks, the graying politicians, religious leaders and aristocrats showed they can be as defiant as a bunch of teen-agers.They grudgingly voted Monday to let the country's top judge, the Lord Chancellor, shed his 17th-century ceremonial garb, enabling him to put away traditional tights and buckled slippers and dress in trousers, socks and shoes.

ADORA, West Bank - Palestinian gunmen dressed in Israeli army uniforms infiltrated this isolated Jewish settlement yesterday, going house-to-house shooting residents, killing four people and wounding seven others before escaping. Two of the victims, including a 5-year-old girl, were shot to death in their bedrooms. Two others were killed outside during what residents described as 45 terror-filled minutes on the morning of Sabbath usually spent in quiet contemplation or prayer. Israeli officials said the attack demonstrated the need for the army to continue its operations in the West Bank despite calls by the Bush administration for a full Israeli withdrawal.

POSTVILLE, Iowa -- Used to be if you wanted a quick breakfast here, your choices were pretty much limited to doughnuts: one with sticky pink frosting or one smeared with gooey chocolate. Now you can get a kosher blueberry bagel. Or a loaf of dense, tangy Russian bread. Even a Mexican pastry.Diversity has arrived in this tiny farm town, and coping with it is a struggle for many locals.For 150 years, Postville was all white, all Christian, all Norman Rockwell, an everyone-knows-everyone, live-and-die-here kind of town run by farmers of German and Norwegian stock.