Palo Alto

San Jose, Calif. -- When have you seen phrases like these in the personals ads?"Non-dogmatically spiritual . . .""A clone of Dick Cavett and David Souter . . .""Brilliant bohemian WASP beauty w/house, cat, garden & silver service for 12 seeks soul mate for marriage & child."They aren't your typical singles ads, but then these aren't your typical singles. They're graduates and faculty of the country's top universities -- the Ivies, Stanford and Berkeley to name a few -- and the ads come from the Northern California offerings of a nationwide dating service just for them.

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, 75, who made Lego plastic building-block sets into a favorite of children in many countries, died Thursday in his house in Billund, Denmark.The Danish executive had been in ill health for a number of years, a company spokesman said.He was managing director of the family enterprise from 1957 to 1979 and oversaw the introduction of Lego blocks into the United States in 1961. By 1984 Lego blocks were being sold in more than 120 countries and were being described as probably the world's most widely known toy. The Lego company estimated that more than 50 million children were playing with them.

In the further consolidation of the struggling biotechnology industry, Crop Genetics International Corp. of Columbia has agreed to merge with biosys Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., in a stock swap valued at $11.4 million.The acquisition of Crop Genetics recalls the 1992 purchase of Nova Pharmaceutical Corp. of Baltimore by Scios Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. Since then, most of Nova's local operations have been shut down, although the merged Scios Nova Inc. spun off Baltimore-based Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc.But both Crop Genetics and state officials yesterday were emphatic that Crop Genetics' operations won't leave the state.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Palo Alto has become the first city in the nation to set up shop on the Internet, opening its electronic doors to computer users all over the world and inviting them in to take a look around.For now, computer users who wander into the "City of Palo Alto Demonstration WWW Server," as the city's connection is called, will find basic information such as train schedules, City Hall directories and maps to all the local restaurants and coffee shops.But the possibilities are staggering.

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Not long ago, drug dealers armed with semi-automatic and automatic weapons controlled the streets of this poverty-stricken community.The police department -- understaffed and ineffective -- was paralyzed by investigations into brutality and corruption. By 1992, violence was so rampant that East Palo Alto was branded the murder capital of the nation, with 42 killings in a city of fewer than 24,000 people.In adjoining cities such as Palo Alto and Menlo Park, affluent residents found spent bullets in their yards and talked of building traffic barriers at key intersections to hold back the rising tide of crime.

* Wallace Hoggson, 95, a retired business executive and a decorated World War I pilot, died of pneumonia Monday at a nursing home in Sarasota, Fla. For many years, Mr. Hoggson worked as an investment banker for Bankers Trust in Manhattan and later as a broker for the Travelers Insurance Co. He retired in the early 1960s.* Dr. Jeffrey S. Tanaka, 34, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana, died in an automobile accident on Nov. 3 near Bondville, Ill. The author of five books, he was known for his work on statistical models gleaned from psychological studies.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- In the sunny precincts where personal computers and myriad other information technologies were pioneered, some people are focusing on making these appliances more useful.Others seek to make them invisible.It may seem a heresy in Silicon Valley, spiritual home to the computer nerd, but some researchers predict that hackers will fade from view, just as crystal-radio buffs did once commercial receivers became widely available.At Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in California, the lab where personal computers were pioneered -- but not commercially exploited -- the goal is to move beyond desktops, laptops, notebooks and all such models to the day when computing is so widespread and easy that no one notices the technology at all.They call the concept "ubiquitous computing."

CHICAGO -- At most offices, the sight of a co-worker waving at a television set might stir up some concerns and a little gossip.But it's perfectly natural in the break rooms of Xerox Corp.'s research operation in Palo Alto, Calif. Now that the company has linked lounges in departments and buildings through video conference hardware, researchers frequently chat with colleagues they have never met or haven't seen in person for months."You can walk by and wave to people," said Mark Weiser, head of the computer science laboratory in Palo Alto.

CHICAGO -- At most offices, the sight of a co-worker waving at a television set might stir up some concerns and a little gossip.But it's perfectly natural in the break rooms of Xerox Corp.'s research operation in Palo Alto, Calif. Now that the company has linked lounges in departments and buildings through video conference hardware, researchers frequently chat with colleagues they have never met or haven't seen in person in months."You can walk by and wave to people," said Mark Weiser, head of the computer science laboratory in Palo Alto.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Adam Keefe scored a game-high 29 points, 23 in the first half, to lead Stanford University (1-0) to a 98-56 victory over Loyola College (0-1) last night in the first round of the Apple Invitational at the Maples Pavilion.Keefe, an All-American during the 1990-91 season, was the driving force behind Stanford's 48-26 halftime lead. Among his 23 first-half points was a perfect seven-for-seven shooting performance from the free throw line.