The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 27

THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE MAY 9, 1999 rQoset Space Doubled! Hospital aim Hal receives $5 million Ui II ptl We II come to your home. We measure, We advise we snow you our oazzung array oi nrasnes ana r'TJ, msamt options, flna, oesign a uoset, umce, oarage HHSffl or Entertainment Center perfect Ca or Ffitt design consultation your dome' A. VcT.VS" ortrti i tr-ci At a can afford. OoM Ma MM 2'dMaHCMMIMl donation 1 ii By Karen Hsu GLOBE CORRESPONDENT In recognition of the growing awareness of gender differences in GLOBE PHOTO LARRY CROWE Auction to be held at: 78-H Olympia Woburn. From 1-93 exit 37 to Route 128 South, take exit 36, turn right at end of ramp, turn right at Washington, turn right at 2nd light (Olympia Auction site at left, between Boston Rock Gym Flygt: From 95 Northbound take exit 36 turn right at Washington, turn right at 1st light.

For Info: Call (781) 935-1543 Saturday May 8th at 1:00 P.M. Preview at 12) Sunday May 9th at 1:00 P.M. (Preview at 12) FINE PERSIAN ORIENTAL RUGS ORIENTAL ARTS ANTIQUES FURNITURE Auctioneers Note: This auction inventory consists of over 400 rugs of all kinds, representing all major rug-weaving areas of the world. From small throw rugs to large palace-size rugs. There are also over 500 lots of very fine oriental arts, antiques, and furniture, including ivory, jade, antique cloisonne and assorted furniture.

Auctioneer C. Gregg MA 1499 10 By CASH, CK, VS, MC, DISC. 4 Rick Fothergill (seated) set a record yesterday when he finished just shy of a perfect Pac Man game. Pac Man record is gobbled up Master players gather in N.H. for video games tournament By Lois R.

Shea GLOBE STAFF tr SU man, whose fingers move blurringly fast on the controls. Bad guys tumble out of every corner, awash in a field of stars. He looks neither left nor right as he just blasts bad guys. You would no more interrupt him right now than interfere with Mark McGwire in the batter's box. "He's seeing the whole field in his mind's eye," said Day.

Robert Mruczek of Brooklyn, N.Y. has taken his position before a "Star Wars" game, feet splayed slightly. He wears tinted glasses and facial stubble, grips the controls with both hands, focused. In January 1984, Mruczek played a game of Star Wars, catapulting himself to world preeminence. And "Star Wars" has no "pause" function.

Need to use the bathroom? Too bad. "You have to eat something that your body processes very slowly," Mruczek explains, without taking his eyes off the screen. "Those little carrot sticks you buy. And weak tea with lemon." Funspot is an arcade lovers' mecca, the second-largest in North America, Day says. The 47-year-old arcade was big enough not to have to decommission old games when new ones came in.

They've got Harlem Globetrotters pinball, Kiss pinball, Tropic Isle. Centipede, Tron, Frogger. This weekend's tournament is defined as "classic" because all the games being played are pre-1986, which also means they are of the pre-carnage generation. No scalp ripping, no bloodletting, no violence. "I will go on record saying video games have to change," Day said.

Arcades now, he says "just have this kicking and punching and tearing stuff I personally believe it does have an effect Video games don't have to be violent" Billy Mitchell, a world-class Pac Man guru who holds records in Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong, spent 12 hours a day, four days a week of his teenage years inside a Florida arcade. He is a tall man with '80s-style blow-dried hair, a father of three who runs a chain of restaurants. To this day, he forgoes sleep to play Pac Man. This weekend he's shooting for a perfect game.

When Mitchell outlines his Pac Man philosophy, he gets positively metaphysical. "Everything that happens in the game happens for a reason," he says. "You have to keep control of everything that happens. Not only of yourself, but of everything on the screen." The competitors this weeked win nothing nothing but their peers' awe and their names in the record book. LACONIA, N.H.

At 12:15 yesterday morning, Pac Man history was made. A crowd of 20 gathered around the machine where Rick Fothergill of Hamilton, sat hunched, as one with the gobbling yellow orb. Ghosts died. Old records blipped away. The crowd was hushed, as golf spectators would be, daring do" nothing to tweak Fothergill's nerves.

In the end, Fothergill would set a new world record for one of the original video games, 90 points shy of a perfect game. "I don't think people understand what 3 million points means in Pac Man," said Perry Rodgers of San Ramon, who holds world records in Mario Brothers and Galaxian. "We were witnessing something that had never before happened over the course of millions of games played. It was inspiring." Video game and pinball devotees have converged on Funspot from all over North America this weekend to compete in the Classic Video and Pinball Tournament. Three of the world's four best Pac Man players are here.

Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man, and Galaga kings are all lined up before bleeping, Mapping machines. There may be no other room in North America with such an array of arcade prowess. Before he set his record, Fothergill made like Babe Ruth pointing to the fence. "I told Walter when I came down here: 'I guarantee you a record in PaC said the slightly paunchy 27-year-old concrete tester.

"Walter" is Walter Day, the living embodiment of the statistical theroem.that for every statistic that exists there is a person passionately devoted to keeping track of it Day, a former Guinness Book of Records assistant editor, now edits the "Twin Galaxies Official Video Game and Pinball Book of World Records." Day is a former arcade owner from Iowa, more statistician and arcade philosopher than a game junkie -though he did, fleetingly, hold a world record in "Make Trax" in 1982. "It's definitely something so deep in the psyche," Day says, of the passion for pinball and video games. To be good, you not only have to have acute hand-eye coordination and a healthy competitive streak, but "There's got to be a bigger picture capable inside your mind," he said. He points to the world Galaga champ, Stephen Krog- I'enclosures. iwc.r Surround Yourself With Classic Elegance Style! Aff ordably Priced Patio, Porch Deck Enclosures And Solariums Free In-Home Estimates 100 Financing No Money Down No Equity Required Chelmsford, MA (978)244-9520 Taunton, MA (508)822-1966 Worcester, MA (508)756-2141 Toll Free 1-888-333-1966 www.patioenclosuresinc.com Providence, Rl (401)467-5216 'medicine, Brigham and Women's jHospital is using the biggest donation in its history to enhance its role ias a leader in women's health research.

In Boston and nationally, the idea that women's bodies are 'different from men's has seen a recent surge in attention and funding. New programs and partnerships are ifocusing on women's health. Last 'month, a journal looking at the 'unique ways women experience disease was launched, Now, Jack Connors chairman and chief executive of Hill, Holliday, jConnors, Cosmopulos, will strengthen this focus with a $5 million Moth-ier's Day gift to the hospital. The gift, earmarked to support 'women's health research, is in mem-jory of Connors' mother, Mary Horri-gan Connors, who was born in a Huntington Avenue apartment just blocks away from the hospital. I "No one may have heard of her, she was the sweetest, most wonderful, kindest woman," said Con-nors, who is also chairman of Partners HealthCare System the Iparent company of Brigham and Women's.

Of the $5 million gift, at least $3 imillion will be used to seed and support laboratory studies in "gender biology," such as when men and have different symptoms for the same disease, said Dr. Andrea chief of women's health. In honor of the hospital's largest gift ever, Brigham and Women's will irededicate its 12-story building, the jCenter for Women and Newborns, 'renaming it the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Health in a jMay 17 ceremony. I "This gift will help us realize our jvision to become the leading woman's health hospital in the US in the jnext five years and in the world in jthe next 10 years," said Dunaif. She said Connors' gift will enhance an already established 'program that encourages researchers in different fields to look at the impact of gender on diseases.

Dr. James Liao, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's and one of the recipients of the gender biology grants, is studying how estrogen works. "Then we can develop drugs that take advantage of the protective "benefits of estrogen, yet screen out the bad effects." Another half-million dollars will be used to support women's health outreach programs in the community. The rest will be used for support services for the women's health program and capital improvements, Connors has made other gifts to the hospital. In 1997, Hill Holliday donated $1 million to start the Nes-son Scholar Awards, named after former Partners chairman H.

Nesson, for promising young researchers. I Connors, who sold his advertising company last year, said he owes his success to his mother, who persuaded him to complete his Boston College education, even though he wanted to leave during his freshman 'year to become a police officer, Mary Connors, a secretary for United Fruit Company, never saw her son graduate. She died from cancer when he was 19. A Checker cab driver in college Jand a Fenway Park peanut-seller in high school Connors was the first from either side of his family to finish college. Since then, he has had a long, illustrious career running one of Boston's largest advertising agencies.

He hopes his gift will encourage other wealthy people to donate to such causes as health care. "Health care is under siege. I've had the rare opportunity to share my good fortune with those in positions to solve problems and make life better for others," Connors said. "Jack has been like a saint to us. It's remarkable how this fellow has been so incredibly generous, not only with money, but with his time and commitment to the said Jeffrey Otten, president of Brigham and Women's.

Connors said, "The money won't do my mother any good, but if it can make it easier for another 19-year-old kid, if we can advance a single cure, it would be a wonderful testimony to her life." Boston South: 500 Myles Standish Blvd. Taunton, MA 02780 Boston North: 313 Littleton Rd Unit 13, Chelmsford, MA 01824 Custom Blinds Shades For All Makes Of Sunrooms, Home Office i iHii 'Results nuv vjtv. I Fmml Mm tain nilM Fnit EMsb Announcing me rwcJutionarj', FDA-approved Intacs," tiny transparent ring segments that can correct your vision in a whole new way. They are designed to be permanent, yet may be replaced or removed in case your needs change later. They're that amazing; and they're brought to you by the innovators of vision correction procedures such as RK and LASIX the doctors of Aris Vision.

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