Abe Takes It One Step at a Time

Eighty-six competitors--including Abraham Lincoln--gave the Empire State Building the runaround as they dashed up 1,575 steps to the 86th floor in the 10th annual Empire State Run-Up. Gary Fannelli, dressed as Honest Abe, complete with fake beard, managed to come in 11th with a time of 13 minutes 11 seconds. “He’s 170 years old today and that’s about how old I feel right now,” said Fannelli, from Oreland, Pa. The men’s division was won by Al Waquie, 35, of Jemez Pueblo, N.M.--his fifth win--with a time of 11 minutes 56 seconds. The women’s division winner was newcomer Janet Wendle, 25, of Gainesville, Fla., who led the field of 18 women with a time of 15 minutes 12 seconds. The runners had to jostle each other for space in the 40-inch stairwells, and the only “flat stretch” was a 20-foot-long corridor where the runners changed stairwells. The race, which covered a quarter-mile of steps and corridors, ended on the 86th floor instead of the 102nd because the upper floor’s deck is too small to accommodate the runners.

--What’s in a name? A great deal, the Chinese believe. And so David Wilson, Hong Kong’s incoming governor, has changed his Chinese name after warnings that his old one carried unlucky connotations. It is custom for British officials to adopt a Chinese name when coming to the colony, whose population is 98% Chinese. But the name Wilson used on the Chinese mainland, Wei De-wei, did not sit well with Cantonese soothsayers because it bears a phonetic similarity to the phrase “hypocrisy to the point of being dangerous” and its written characters brought to mind the local expression “two ghosts knocking at the door.” His new name, Wei Yik-shun, means “to defend and protect” and “radiating power and vitality.” “The Chinese attach great importance to names,” said Chinese language commissioner Patrick Lau. “If a name has the wrong connotation they believe it will influence a person’s luck, his career, everything.”

--The slogan adorning Idaho license plates for the last 12 years has become a political hot potato, but Atty. Gen. Jim Jones is vowing to mash a lawsuit brought by Andrew Freese of Boise that seeks to remove it. Freese maintains that the phrase “Famous Potatoes” violates Idahoans’ constitutional rights by forcing them to advertise a product against their will and without compensation. Jones says the spud slogan doesn’t violate First Amendment rights because it isn’t a political statement. “The state can promote itself or its products in any way it sees fit,” Jones said. “This potato has deep roots in Idaho history.”