The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 25

Star The Kansas City You asked for more fitness coverage Page 3 gives it to you this week Fitness D-3 Anew book examines the last weeks in the life of Princess Diana Showtime D-6 FOR YOUR INFORMATION wwwJtcstarcomfyifoUrtni STARGazing In real life Gloria Stuart dream of throwing her jewelry overboard the way she did with a 60-carat diamond in think I would have done Stuart said last week as she tried on pieces of a $200 ifiHUion Hairy Winston collection that will be available for celebrity loans during the Academy Awards show this month She picked out about $2 million worth of jewels including a diamond and ruby necklace ring earrings and bracelet set The collection on display included a $20 million 70-carat diamond and a 1 1 million pearl necklace Stuart is the front-runner to win an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in the Best Picture nominee and at 87 she is the oldest Oscar-nominated performer ever Stuart also wore her own priceless jewelry a gold whistle hanging from a long gold chain given to her in the 1940s by her late husband Hollywood writer Arthur Sheekman The whistle was a replica of one used in the 1944 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall movie Have and Have The pill is safer than ever but protect against sexually transmitted REALLife Mad Boss Disease FRANCINE ORRThe Star By PATTY SHILLINGTON The Miami Herald liii fcKli LUSLvS imiULllHH jJJaLX' V4 A ta V-i When the pill went on the market more than 35 years ago it created a sexual revolution Today studies have found many important health benefits as well as health risks Taking the pill for at least one year: WEIRDNews The Washington Post reported in November on the unusual cat obsession of Kristin Kierig in Fairfax County Va unusual because the 1 14 cats that live with her are well-fed and her town house is clean and orderly More typical stories were of foul-smelling houses in Oshawa Ontario in August (120 cats) Edmonton Alberta in September (59 cats) and Piedmont Calif in October (150 cats most of them diseased plus another 250 dead cats in the freezer) Piedmont police Capt Fred Gouveia said: litter box and 150 cats You have a For more strange stuff call StarTouch at (816) 889-7827 and enter 5995 Risk factors The pill is not for everyone You probably use oral I emokp nWcr than 35 Qt if yOU Reduces by risk of endometrial pelvic inflammatory Reduces by risk of ovarian Other benefits: Regular painlulperiods 1 Helps prevent Helps prevent ovarian cysts uterine fibroids Helps prevent benign breast one-half the cancer and disease 40 percent the cancer lighter and less iron-deficien- and treat endometriosis and he pill that tiny tablet that spawned the sexual revolution of the '60s what it used to be less and for the 105 million American women taking oral contraceptives that means more The pill of the '90s which contains one-third to one-fifth the estrogen of the original pill is birth control with a bonus say researchers and physicians who specialize in obstetrics and gynecology They have discovered a wide range of health benefits for users from a reduced risk of two deadly forms of cancer to protection against rheumatoid arthritis At the same time the newer generation of oral contraceptives has fewer side effects and risks than those associated with the original pill But yes there is a rub: While the most effective contraceptive next to sexual abstinence the pill provides little or no protection against HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases the main reason experts theorize that the number of women taking the pill has dropped slightly in the last decade according to the latest government figures available But while more young and single women are opting for condoms a greater number of women in their 30s and 40s are on the pill Last fall a symposium on the pill at the American Society for Reproductive annual meeting concluded that oral contraceptives that contain less than 50 micrograms of estrogen See PILL D-4 Col 1 TUESDAY In FYI I Protects bones which may at osteoporosis i improves acne i premenstrual i AVlvVta prevent Often im Reduces help bookfest Authors and illustrators will be on hand for a children's book festival here this week i perimenopausal symptoms including hot flashes insomnia irregular periods KCPT sets course for digital future with KC REACHE By AARON BARNHART Television Writer LOOKBack 1923: Time magazine made its debut 1933: The motion picture starring Fay Wray had its world premiere in New York 1985: The government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus allowing possibly contaminated blood to be excluded from the blood supply TODAYin KC PEACEMAKING PROGRAM: STORIES FROM OTHER WORLDS: Music crafts drama computers games and stories pm continues through mid-May Westport Presbyterian Church 201 Westport (931-1032) STANFORD COMEDY HOUSE: Open mike night 8:30 pm 504 Westport (753-JOKE) working mom this meant juggling priorities by day and taking classes by night In January however she enrolled in a course Astronomy 106 through a new program that allowed Thompson to set her own hours The course materials are delivered to her over the Internet Her classmates 50 of them carry on their discussions using group e-mail And from 2 to 4 am every Tuesday VCR records an instructional TV program airing on KCPT Channel 19 that she watches at her convenience Thompson is one of about 1 50 students participating in the pilot phase of KC REACHE The partnership between KCPT and a consortium of eight load colleges is taking distance learning to a new level and being touted as the first of its kind in the country KCPT uses its overnight schedule when Channel 19 historically is signed off to air instructional videos and the station offers its state-of-the-art Internet service to students and teachers for the courses' online components Thompson says she misses the give-and-take of an actual classroom but otherwise the course is well suited to her isn't high school you need to be self-motivated" Thompson says need to take it upon yourlf to learn it and learn it right But I say that in a positive way because it forces you to learn the answer and not take the easy way KC REACHE will have its full launch in the See TV D-7 Col 1 or Brigitte Thompson a TV show that airs at 2 in the morning is making a difference When she was single Thompson enjoyed her work as an itiner- Partnership between Station sight schools is a family made her national first decide to return to her native Kansas City and change careers She enrolled at Longview Community College Longview degree in science For a to pursue a teaching ing.