News In Brief

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN Jealous neighbors leave nasty notes and refuse to speak to him, but Frank Rudisill insists it's still worth the price of keeping his lawn looking lush despite New Jersey's severe summer drought. Oh, there have been suspicions that the Galloway Township resident sneaks out late at night to violate a state ban on watering. But he couldn't be on a more solid legal footing. And not because there's a well on his property. His secret: the $43-a-gallon dye that's used on pro football fields. It's applied with a pump-sprayer. Rudisill admits his act is ego-driven but says, "I can't handle looking out the window and thinking [that] it looks terrible."

NO, WAIT. COME BACK! It has been hot and dry this summer in Portugal, too. But thousands of beach-goers seeking relief along the popular Algarve fled last weekend at reports of an approaching tidal wave. Then someone thought to send a helicopter crew to investigate what turned out to be ... an optical illusion caused by the intense heat.

Iceland is ranked No. 1 in per capita use of Internet The current issue of Yahoo! Internet Life says Western Europe is experiencing a "staggering" growth in use of the World Wide Web, along with Central and South America. In total volume, of course, the US leads in Internet use, but from a per capita perspective, four European nations exceed it. The monthly magazine's "World's Most Wired Nations" with the number of Net users per 1,000 people in each:

1. Iceland 320.3

2. Finland 305.4

3. Norway 304.1

4. Sweden 289.8

5. US 283.0

6. Australia 234.1

7. Canada 211.5

8. New Zealand 190.1

9. Denmark 178.6

10. Singapore 140.0

11. Switzerland 138.2

12. United Kingdom 137.3

13. Netherlands 124.8

14. Hong Kong 98.7

15. Israel 95.7

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society