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By MARY CANTWELLFEB. 13, 1992 This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems. Please send reports of such problems to archive_feedback@nytimes.com. MY bedside table is sealed small, too small. The lamp, tall, looks uneasy. The books that bank it are as uncertainly balanced as standees on a bus. Among them are A. S. Byatt's "Possession" and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera." They are there for the day I have a cold bad enough to stay home but not so bad my eyes are streaming. Since that day will probably never arrive, only the detective novels are sure to be read (if I wake at 3). In the soul's dark night...

The workers of Dongguan are used to Christmas coming early. Summer and autumn are normally the busiest months for those who toil seven days a week in the toy factories in this city in Guangdong Province, the heartland of China's manufacturing industry. China is the world's largest producer and exporter of toys, so long hours of overtime are needed to ensure that Christmas presents for children in Britain and elsewhere reach shops by November. This festive season, though, many of good Santa's real-life Elves have no jobs at all.Since the beginning of 2008, over half of the toy exporters in Guangdong - some 3,900 firms - have gone out of business, according to customs officials.The economic boom that has drawn millions of workers from all over China to this southern province near Hong Kong is over, as companies suffer the effects of the recession gripping the West. Now, anger amongst the unemployed is on the rise, raising the spectre of social order breaking down in what wa...

Do you have a bursting desire to project your designs on far away wall s?Are the pattern lenses that came with your laser pointer not personalised enough?Have you ever wanted to make your own hologram?Well you've come to the right place!This instructable will show you a really easy way to make your own pattern generator for a laser pointer. The method will be using a computer to generate a hologram (a record of the interference pattern that would come from the light pattern you'd like to generate), and then printing this in very high resolution by using a 35mm projector film printing service.All you need is a computer and a very small amount of money to buy a printed projector slide. You could even print it at home on transparent acetate film if you don't mind limited quality.Real holograms are printed at around 127,000 dots per inch (dpi), which is unfathomably difficult to print, requiring very specialist expensive equipment. It is however possible to create holograms at...

By ANDREW MARTINJAN. 31, 2011Three years ago, Dr. Bradley Thach, a professor of pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis, published findings that had the potential to upend nurseries across the nation, and perhaps save some lives too.In reviewing data from the Consumer Products Safety Commission, Dr. Thach concluded that crib bumpers — the padding wrapped around the inside of a crib that often matches the bedding—were killing babies. In a 10-year period beginning in 1995, he found 27 suffocation deaths involving bumper pads, and he theorized that many more might have occurred because of inconsistencies in the data."Because bumpers can cause death, we conclude that they should not be used," he warned. The Consumer Products Safety Commission initially ignored the findings. Last summer, it reached the same conclusion as a trade group representing product manufacturers, personalised which asserted that other factors, like a crib crowded with pillows or babies sl...

It has been nearly three years since law firm McCarthy Tetrault moved into an open-concept, transparent glass, "democratized" office space in downtown Vancouver. Gone are the dry walled-in perimeter executive offices, closed doors and ample private space of their former space. In place of those traditional design concepts are equal access to natural light, small glass interior offices, relaxing common areas and views of the downtown buildings, water and the North Shore Mountains. The firm's B. C. Managing Partner Sven Milelli doesn't take long to respond when asked if he misses the old office in which the best spaces were reserved for the bosses. "No," he tells Postmedia on a recent tour of the 58,000-sq.-ft. work space that takes up the top three floors of 745 Thurlow St. on the edge seal of the downtown financial district. The space demonstrates how more can be done with less in today's office environment. McCarthy Tetrault's footprint was slas...

Inexpensive Ways of Marketing Your E-BusinessDo you have big plans for your online business but with a small budget? Fret no more: marketing on the Web need not be expensive.by Nach Maravilla PublisherDo you have big plans for your online business but with a small budget? Fret no more: marketing on the Web need not be expensive. There are a number of inexpensive ways you can market your service or business on the Web, and here are eleven of them: 1. Network. Have you ever received an email from a friend asking you to send that email to 10 more of your friends? If you pass along emails to other people in your address list covers ­ whether it is a virus alert, crime alert, urban legends or even chain letters ­ you can use this strategy to promote your business. Tell your family, relatives and friends about your new online venture, then ask them to spread the word to their friends. In your email, describe to them your new site and h...

For more than three hundred years, we've been blithely handing out business cards with barely a thought as to how bo ring they are. Europeans caught on to the Chinese trend of business cards in the late 17th century, when they were used to announce the visits of aristocrats. Since then, the great and the good have all relied on these little cards - including Lady Gaga, Fidel Castro, and Abraham Lincoln. While psychologist Sigmund Freud's card was framed in black, Andy Warhol turned his into a mini masterpiece, writing his details in a creative scrawl. And Houdini was one of the early business card innovators, preferring to give out his details on a triangular card. But even this is no longer enough. Slipping colleagues a piece of paper with your name and phone number written on it will seemingly no longer grab their attention. Are business cards on the way out? Cardscan Executive business card reader ...

While you may not be able to hire Joanna Gaines to redesign your home or take over your next renovation project, you can easily and affordably add some of her signature farmhouse style to your house with this fun Amazon find.You can now get DIY barn door hardware kit s on Amazon starting at just $60. The inexpensive set, which comes in various sizes, makes it easy to install a single or double sliding barn door anywhere in your home including in your closet, bathroom, pantry, and kitchen. Buy It! Single Sliding Barn Door Hardware Kit, $59.99; amazon.comThe DIY kit comes with everything you need — steel rails, hangers, wheels, door stoppers, and floor guides — to hang a vintage or brand new door. Each set features beautifully finished steel that won't scratch or show wear over time, plus rubber caps and nylon wheels to ensure sliding your door is quiet and smooth. And since they're designed for doors ranging from 1 ¼" to 1 ¾" thick, you can choose the perfect piece fo...

DELIVERY SERVICEMany businesses either have a need to deliver or have customers who needdelivery service.Examples are merchandise for handicapped or elderly people, phone-in ordersand catalog store deliveries of merchandise that comes in several days after itis ordered.Maintaining a delivery service can be very expensive for local merchants. They must have a truck, commercial insurance, pay and insure a driver --expenses that may be out of the question for a small business.This is why some would be happy to contract or refer delivery chores. Evenbusinesses that have their own services can never predict how size busy they might beat any particular time and may need help with backlogs, especially during highsales seasons. People who buy a new vacuum today do not want to wait a week to have itdelivered -- some will even cancel the order if it is not delivered on time!Deliveries are not limited to merchandise; they can be packages of importantpapers, picking up items for shipment or going...

googletag.display("div-ad-articleLeader");Whenever I travel, I like to use Hotwire to find the best deals on 4 and 5-star hotel rooms.  I have been keeping a list of what I like most about these luxury hotel rooms and provide the following guide for turning your own bedroom into a 5-star suite.  In developing this list, I am drawing heavily lifepo4 on the bedroom of the W hotel at Times Square in New York, the technology of the Aria in Las Vegas, and the en suite of the Ritz Carleton in Hong Kong.  The best part of following this guide is that you will not need to steal the bathrobe upon checkout!The BedroomGeneral DecorI love the clean design of the bedroom at the W Hotel in Times Square.  It always feels fresh and the vibe is incredibly hip.  The design is best described as a minimalist chic.  To convert your bedroom: Walls - The paint is a neutral taupe.  In the picture above, the HEX code is A8A385.  The cost of 2 cans of paint plus all supplies (brushes, tape, paint r...

Y ou only need try an electric toothbrush (preferably your own) to appreciate how battery power can take the effort out of an everyday chore. The latest versions are so advanced that they come with a three-figure price and enough brush heads, speeds and sensitivity settings to cater for all dental needs, whether it's massaging gums or excavating those watches gapsat the back where sweetcorn gets stuck. If you were to consider upcoming environmental legislation as the awkward kernel on the cob that is the automotive industry (and you should), then the petrol-electric plug-in hybrid is the Oral B Ultrasonic that promises to sort it out. The theory is at least sound; that in one car you get enough battery power to cover your daily commuting needs, along with the convenience of petrol propulsion for weekend jaunts (total range from a full tank and charge is about 370 miles). The exact amount of electric-only range depends on the manufacturer, but the consensus seems to be falling a...

Where else you gonna go? Part 2 in a 3-part series on VR hitting the mainstream. (See Part 1:Why 'Ghostbusters' Is The Virtual Reality Experience You've Been Waiting For)A wave of public space virtual reality (otherwise known as location-based entertainment or LBE) is breaking, allowing everyone to experience new high-end home VR systems whose requirements puts containers them out of the reach of most consumers. Unique, large-scale experiences like free-roamVR, which can never be duplicated at home, will soon appear in malls and other retail destinations around the country. IMAX just opened its first Experience Centre at the Grove, an upscale mall in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. The system uses an advanced Starbreeze headsetto present experiences createdfor the HTC Vive room scale VR system. By using Vive experiences, IMAX has greatly reduced the cost of its centers, one of the main obstacles to the financial success of LBE. Vive President Rikard Steiber announced...

MAY 31, 2012ArtMuseums and galleries are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of recent art shows: nytimes.com/art. A searchable, critical guide to these and many other art shows is at nytimes. com/events. Museums★ American Folk Art Museum: 'Jubilation | Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined' (through Sept. 2) Having escaped the ugly, phone West 53rd Street tomb of a building it inhabited from 2001 to 2011, the American Folk Art Museum has reoccupied its old space on Lincoln Square. This wonderful show of about 100 works from the permanent collection samples all the varieties of artistic expression under the museum's purview, from portraits and quilts by anonymous craftspeople to otherworldly fantasies envisioned by so-called Outsiders like Henry Darger and Martin Ramírez. The revival of this irreplaceable institution is cause for rejoicing. 2 Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue, at 66th Street, (212) 595-9533, folkartmuseum.org. (Ken Johnson)Bronx Museum of the Ar...