etc...

DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO, OK?

There are people in a tough spot, and then there's the Electric Power Authority of Nigeria. The utility, near financial collapse and scorned by consumers for inconsistent service, has been ordered by no-nonsense President Olusegun Obasanjo to provide an uninterrupted flow of electricity by Dec. 31, or else. But to do that, NEPA says something must give - most likely, power to customers who don't pay their bills. And guess who heads that list? Right: the office of the president.

Invesco, the mutual funds group, has found that while $120 million purchases the privilege of putting its name on a sports arena, that doesn't mean people will speak it. Example: The Denver Post has decided to refer to the new home of the Broncos football team as "Mile High stadium," although the facility that has carried that designation for 33 years is about to be torn down in favor of "Invesco Field at Mile High." "Unfortunate," sniffed the company. No, "familiar, positive, and clear," a Post editor maintains.

More than half of Americans can't name a living public figure they consider "heroic," and about 1 of 6 has no hero at all, a Harris Interactive/ US News & World Report poll found. But those who have heroes named Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., and Colin Powell most often. Almost a quarter of those polled said they recently crossed such people as ex-President Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and O.J. Simpson off their lists of heroes - typically because of "unethical conduct." Tops among those named as heroes:

1. Jesus

2. Martin Luther King Jr.

3. Colin Powell

4. John F. Kennedy

5. Mother Teresa

6. Ronald Reagan

7. Abraham Lincoln

8. John Wayne

9. Michael Jordan

10. Bill Clinton

- Associated Press