The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 108

1 QUESTION OF THE WEEK 0 ''Is 1 I know marathon swimmer Diana Nyad was an ABC Sports reporter for awhile, but I ha vent seen her lately. What's she doing? Is she married? How old is she? Barry Ward, Houston If you watched USA Network's coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in late August and early September, you saw Nyad on duty as a studio interviewer. She'll be back this season as a commentator for ABC Wide World of Sports. Add in her occasional commentary on National Public Radio's Morning Edition and a new-found career as a stand-up comic friends always thought I was funny.

I figured it was time to get off tie it's surprising the 40-year-old finds time for a personal life. But she does. Though Nyad won't reveal the name of her beau of five years, she does concede that he works in TV. Fm a new-car watcher and a made-in-the-USA freak, and I think this new Geo automobile is a farce. I dont think they're selling at alL I think hs akin to what Coke did with old and New Coke a big marketing error.

Who came np with this and what is the point? Allen Cress, Mount Gilead, Ohio A. You're right when you say Geos haven't sold well, but don't look for them to disappear. Chevrolet, the General Motors division that sells the Geo line of Japanese-designed small cars and trucks, hired general manager Jim Perkins away from Toyota last year, and Perkins insists Geo is here to stay. He even has Chevy offices answering their phones, "Chevrolet-Geo." What upcoming novels and screenplays does Stephen King have in the making? Fve read all his books. I want to write science-fiction novels for adults.

Richard Hojzhauser, Warren, Ohio The modern master of horror unleashes his latest terror tome, Dark Half, next month (Viking, The first printing is planned for 1.5 million, the largest ever for hardcover fiction. Virtually all of King's 20-odd novels have been made into movies. Misery, his previous novel, will be a Rob Reiner feature film, scheduled for a 7 STILL SINGLE: Woody Allen and Mia Farrow Are Mia Farrow and Woody Allen legally married? I want them to be. I have a big bet riding on this. Griff Nimick, Tiburon, Calif.

Sorry, you lose. While Farrow, 45, and Allen, 53, currently share the screen in the movie Crimes and Mis-dcamnors and are parents to 22-month-old Satchel, they are not married. Satchel is Farrow's ninth child: She has three by ex-husband Andre Previn and five by adoption, ranging in age from 3 to 19. Who names hurricanes? Angela Anderson, Detroit Members of the international World Meteorlogical Organization meet regionally to choose names in alphabetical order, starting with A each January. They pick names popular in countries likely to be affected.

The names recycle after six years, but names of monster storms such as Hugo are retired. The official naming system began in 1953, adopting the already popular informal practice of using women's names. Under pressure from feminists, male names premiered in 1979. Batten down the hatches for the 1990's first five Atlantic hurricanes: Arthur, Bertha, Cesar, Diana and Edouard. The first five Pacific storms: Alma, Boris, Christina, Douglas and Flirla, Did Sen.

Edward Kennedy, ever serve in the military? How about the other Kennedys? Peggy Salas, Santa Maria, Calif. Teddy and brothers Robert, John and Joseph Jr. all served in the military, but unlike his Navy brothers, Teddy chose the Army. He was suspended from Harvard after his freshman year for cheating on an exam, enlisted in the Army in June 1951 and served as a private for two years during the Korean War as a military policeman, stationed in U.S. and European posts.

CALL US! 1-800-255-LINE USA WEEKEND'S hot line, Sunday only, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Leave your question, name and daytime phone number. Space keeps us from answering all that come in. We regret we cannot give personal responses.

With TDD equipment for the hearing-impaired, call us at 1-800-331-1706. MICHAEL JORDAN: The NBA's slam-dunk king Jordan: Still flying high How old and how tall was Michael Jordan when he dunked his first basketball? Josh Gordon, El Paso A 5-foot-9 Michael Jordan first slam-dunked a basketball in his hometown of Wilmington, N.C., at age 15. Now 6-foot-6, the Chicago Bulls superstar leaps into his sixth NBA season next Friday at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 26-year-old guard married Juanita Vanoy, the mother of his 1 1-month-old son, Jeffrey Michael, Sept 2 in the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. Jordan gave Vanoy a $25,000, 5-carat ring; she gave him a $15,000, 3-carat ring.

release late in 1990; It, yet another King shocker, will be a six-hour ABC miniseries next May. King is juggling three more scary stories to be published within four years. Publisher's Weekly praised Dark Half, calling it wondrously frightening. Advance readers around the USA WEEKEND office found the premise an author's fictional pseudonym coming to grisly life unbelievable even for a horror novel, and the ending sort of eh. I irn I I mini KING: New book hits stores next month HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jane Pauley, 39 The 1 3-year veteran of NBC's beleaguered Today show celebrates a spooky Halloween birthday.

Her most memorable Today moment? Meeting Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1985. 3 i 1 '-ffriTTi-n And Oct 29 Oct 30 Oct 31 Nov.1 Nov. 2 Nov. 3 Nov. 4 Kate Jackson, 41 Harry Hamlin, 38 Dan Rather, 58 Fernando Valenzuela, 29 Stefanie Powers, 47 Phil Simms, 33 Larry Holmes, 40 Ralph Macchio, 27 Managing Editor Mania Bullard Assistant Managing Editor Amy Eisman Design Director: Nancy Steiny Photo Editor: Dixit D.

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