Iraq 's Shiite-led government said Tuesday that it had ordered an investigation into the abusive behavior at the execution of Saddam Hussein , who was subjected to a battery of taunts by official Shiite witnesses and guards as he awaited his hanging .

Officials said a three-man Interior Ministry committee would look into the scenes that have caused outrage and public demonstrations among Mr. Hussein 's Sunni Arab loyalists in Iraq , and widespread dismay elsewhere , especially in the Middle East .

In an unofficial cellphone video recording that was broadcast around the world and posted on countless Web sites , Mr. Hussein is shown standing on the gallows platform with the noose around his neck at dawn on Saturday , facing a barrage of mockery and derision from unseen tormentors below the gallows .

As the shock of those scenes reached a new crescendo in Iraq , American officials said that they had worked until the last hours of Mr. Hussein 's life to persuade Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to delay the execution .

The officials , who spoke on condition that they not be identified , said they appealed to Mr. Maliki not to execute Mr. Hussein at dawn on Saturday because of the onset of a major Islamic festival , and because of constitutional and legal questions that the Americans believed threw the legitimacy of the execution into doubt .

But when Mr. Maliki decided to go ahead with the hanging , the Americans said they made no further attempts to stop it , having concluded that they could advise the Iraqis against the execution , but not prevent it if the Iraqis persisted , out of respect for Iraqi sovereignty .

When asked if that decision had been made in the White House , the Americans refused to say , noting only that it came some time before the final exchanges on Friday night .

Mr. Hussein was hanged at 6:10 a.m. on Saturday , about seven hours after what the officials said was their final attempt to postpone the hanging .

`` We told the prime minister that going forward on the first day of Id would have a negative reaction in the Islamic world , and among the Iraqi people , '' a senior American official said , recounting a telephone conversation with Mr. Maliki that began at 10:30 p.m. Baghdad time on Friday .

The reference was to the Id al-Adha holiday , which began for Sunnis on Saturday , marking the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca .

`` Therefore , '' the official said , `` we said we thought it would be better if they delayed until after Id , and use the delay to resolve the legal issues . ''

The American official said that Mr. Maliki had never fully explained his urgency in carrying out the death sentence , which was upheld last Tuesday in an appeals court ruling that set off a 30-day countdown for executions to be carried out after a final appeal has been turned down .

But the prime minister gave one explanation that appeared to weigh heavily on his mind , the American said , and that was his fear that Mr. Hussein might be the subject of an insurgent attempt to free him if the procedural wrangling over the execution were protracted .

`` His concern was security , and that there was a danger that if it continued , maybe there would be a mass kidnapping to bargain for Saddam Hussein 's release , `` the official said .

`` He was concerned that he might somehow get free . ''

The American decision to confirm that they had opposed the quick execution came after days of silence from the American Embassy and the United States military command in Baghdad , which appeared to have been shocked , like so many others , by the unofficial video recording that showed the bedlam at the gallows .

With some Iraqi politicians raising fresh demands for Mr. Maliki 's dismissal , the Americans , in offering to have a senior official discuss the matter in a telephone interview with The New York Times , appeared eager to protect the Bush administration from a fresh surge of criticism for its handling of events in Iraq .

The official said that among American officials in Iraq who had tried to stop Mr. Maliki from rushing Mr. Hussein to the gallows , the reaction to the scenes of abuse had been one of dismay .

`` Well , yes , when I think of the behavior of the people who were there , I 'm disappointed and distressed , that 's true , `` the official who spoke in the telephone interview said .

He said he had been one of the Americans who intervened with Mr. Maliki on Friday night and earlier last week to try to delay the hanging .

Mr. Maliki seemed equally eager to ward off the opprobrium stirred by the execution .

Attempts to reach Mr. Rubaie were unsuccessful .

The prosecutor , Munkith al-Faroun , said the other man holding a cellphone above his head was also an official , but he could not recall his name .

The government inquiry was ordered as a groundswell of protest grew at Sunni population centers across Iraq .

The protests , sporadic in the first 72 hours after the hanging , appeared to be building in intensity as Iraqi and American troops relaxed security cordons that had been thrown around centers of diehard support for Mr. Hussein , including his hometown , Tikrit , 100 miles north of Baghdad , and Awja , the village where he was born , a few miles away .

The protesters carried portraits of Mr. Hussein , chanted his name , and fired weapons in the air .

Thousands of mourners flocked to Awja , where Mr. Hussein 's body has lain in a reception hall .

The body , in a plain wood coffin draped in an Iraqi flag , has become a point of pilgrimage for loyalists .

Many of those reaching Awja have wept as they filed past the coffin , shouting slogans of fealty of the kind that were universal in Iraq when Mr. Hussein was the country 's dictator .

`` Maliki , you coward , you are an American agent , '' cried one demonstrator in Tikrit , referring to the prime minister .

`` Iran , out , out ! '' another man shouted , echoing anger among Sunnis at the rise to power in Baghdad of Shiite religious groups backed by Iran , including Mr. Maliki 's Dawa Party .

After Mr. Maliki made it clear to the Americans in Baghdad that his decision was final , the official who discussed the events on Friday night said , American commanders were told to deliver Mr. Hussein to an execution bloc in the Kadhimiya district of northern Baghdad that Mr. Hussein 's military intelligence agency used to execute countless opponents of his government .

At 4 a.m. , Mr. Hussein was flown by an American military helicopter from an American detention center and handed over to the Iraqis .

He was hanged with only Iraqis present , in a group of about 25 , including executioners and guards , according to accounts by American and Iraqi officials .

A postponement of the execution until after the holiday would have delayed it at least until Thursday of this week .

But the American officials said they had made no stipulation as to how long the delay should be , since their concern , beyond respecting the sanctity of the Id al-Adha holiday , had been that Mr. Maliki should await a formal judicial ruling resolving the legal issues before going ahead with the hanging .

The Americans said Mr. Maliki had agreed , as the Americans had urged , to ask the chief judge of Iraq 's Supreme Judicial Council , Midhat al-Mahmoud , to issue a formal written judgment saying that the uncompleted legal procedures that concerned the Americans were not necessary to the lawfulness of the hanging .

But Judge Mahmoud refused , the Americans said , and around midnight on Friday the Iraqi leader decided to go ahead with the execution , signing a decree ordering that Mr. Hussein be `` hanged by the neck until dead . ''

The legal issues the Americans said they urged Mr. Maliki to resolve before the hanging centered on a constitutional provision requiring Iraq 's three-man presidency council to affirm all executions before they are carried out .

That posed a potential obstacle to the hanging because Iraq 's president , Jalal Talabani , is opposed to the death penalty .

One of the other members of the council , Tariq al-Hashemi , is a Sunni from a moderate party that has disavowed Mr. Hussein , but has been careful not to endorse his trial and execution .

Mr. Maliki , in pushing ahead with the hanging , relied on a provision in the statute that established the Iraqi High Tribunal , which convicted Mr. Hussein , which said that the tribunal 's verdicts , once upheld by its own appeal bench , were final and not subject to presidential review .

It was that conflict the Americans said they wanted resolved by a written ruling from Judge Mahmoud .

`` Mr. Maliki said that Judge Mahmoud had given that opinion orally , but we said it would be better for everybody if he said it in writing , '' the American official who discussed the standoff said .

Sami al-Askari , a political adviser to Mr. Maliki who attended the hanging , said in a telephone interview that the committee would question everyone present at the execution .

He said those who used their cellphones to record the event would be one focus of the inquiry .

He said his own observation was that the worst sectarian taunts had come from a guard he described as a poorly educated Shiite man with a thick Arabic accent .

`` It was horrible , it was terrible , it was a mistake , '' he said .

`` We were supposed to sit there quietly , just looking at what 's going on . ``

The first images of the execution that were released were in the form of an official video recording without sound .

The unofficial cellphone images showed Mr. Hussein , with the noose around his neck , facing shouts of `` Go to hell ! '' and taunts of `` Moktada ! Moktada ! Moktada ! '' in reference to an unruly Shiite cleric , Moktada al-Sadr , who has become a populist hero among Shiites .

Speaking of those protesting the abuse of Mr. Hussein , Mr. Faroun , the prosecutor , asked , `` Where were these critics when Saddam 's people were executing whole prisons full of innocent people .

`` He said he had been deeply offended by the taunting of Mr. Hussein , and had tried to stop it .

`` You heard my voice on the cellphone recording , '' he said .

`` I was the one shouting , ' Please , no .

The man is about to be executed . '

`` THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ Correction : January 4 , 2007 , Thursday A front-page article yesterday about an Iraqi government investigation of the abusive behavior at the execution of Saddam Hussein , including the unauthorized cellphone camera recording of it , misstated the account of a witness who said he saw two others there holding cellphone cameras aloft to record Mr. Hussein 's final moments .

While the witness , Munkith al-Faroun , a prosecutor at Mr. Hussein 's trial , said both of the others were officials , he did not identify one of them as Mowaffak al-Rubaie , the national security adviser .

Mr. Rubaie , who could not be reached for comment in the article , said yesterday that he had handed his cellphone to security officials an hour before the hanging and had not recorded it .

Summary: Iraq 's Shiite-led government orders investigation into abusive behavior at execution of Saddam Hussein , who was taunted by witnesses to his hanging .

Summary: Unofficial cellphone video recording of execution that was broadcast around world has caused public demonstrations in Iraq and widespread dismay elsewhere .

Summary: United States officials say they worked to persuade Prime Min Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to delay execution until Islamic holiday passed and legal questions could be answered .

Summary: US official says Maliki was worried that insurgents might try to free Hussein if execution was delayed .

Summary: Some Iraqi politicians are raising new demands for Maliki 's dismissal .

Summary: Government inquiry is ordered as protests build in intensity .

Summary: Photo .


Have you ever made a profit from a catering business or dog walking .

Do you prefer to work alone or in groups .

Have you ever set a world record in anything .

The right answers could help get you a job at Google .

Google has always wanted to hire people with straight-A report cards and double 800s on their SATs .

Now , like an Ivy League school , it is starting to look for more well-rounded candidates , like those who have published books or started their own clubs .

Desperate to hire more engineers and sales representatives to staff its rapidly growing search and advertising business , Google -- in typical eccentric fashion -- has created an automated way to search for talent among the more than 100,000 job applications it receives each month .

It is starting to ask job applicants to fill out an elaborate online survey that explores their attitudes , behavior , personality and biographical details going back to high school .

The questions range from the age when applicants first got excited about computers to whether they have ever tutored or ever established a nonprofit organization .

The answers are fed into a series of formulas created by Google 's mathematicians that calculate a score -- from zero to 100 -- meant to predict how well a person will fit into its chaotic and competitive culture .

`` As we get bigger , we find it harder and harder to find enough people , '' said Laszlo Bock , Google 's vice president for people operations .

`` With traditional hiring methods , we were worried we will overlook some of the best candidates . ''

Google is certainly not alone in the search for quantitative ways to find good employees .

Employers use a wide range of tests meant to assess skills , intelligence , personality and honesty .

And the use of biographical surveys similar to Google 's new system is on the rise .

Such tools , however , have mainly been the trademark of large corporations recruiting armies of similar workers , like telephone service representatives or insurance sales agents .

They are rarely used in Silicon Valley , which is built on a belief in idiosyncratic talent .

`` Yahoo does not use tests , puzzles or tricks , etc. , when interviewing candidates , '' Jessie Wixon , a spokeswoman for Yahoo , said .

-LRB- Google is known for hazing prospects in interviews with intractable brain teasers .

And it once tried to attract candidates by placing some particularly difficult problems on billboards . -RRB-

Google 's growth is staggering even by Silicon Valley standards .

It is constantly leasing new buildings for its overflowing campus here and opening offices around the world .

Google has doubled the number of employees in each of the last three years .

Even though the company now has about 10,000 employees , Mr. Bock says he sees no reason the company will not double again in size this year .

That would increase the number of hires to about 200 a week .

As a result , Mr. Bock , who joined Google from General Electric last spring , has been trying to make the company 's rigorous screening process more efficient .

Until now , head hunters said , Google largely turned up its nose at engineers who had less than a 3.7 grade-point average .

-LRB- Those who wanted to sell ads could get by with a 3.0 average , head hunters said . -RRB-

And it often would take two months to consider candidates , submitting them to more than half a dozen interviews .

Unfortunately , most of the academic research suggests that the factors Google has put the most weight on -- grades and interviews -- are not an especially reliable way of hiring good people .

`` Interviews are a terrible predictor of performance , '' Mr. Bock said .

Mr. Bock said that he wanted the company 's human resources department to bring the iconoclastic style as its Web site developers to the normally routine function of interviewing job candidates .

`` The level of questioning assumptions is uniquely Googly , '' Mr. Bock said .

So Google set out to find out if there were any bits of life experience or personality it could use to spot future stars .

Last summer , Google asked every employee who had been working at the company for at least five months to fill out a 300-question survey .

Some questions were factual : What programming languages are you familiar with .

What Internet mailing lists do you subscribe to .

Some looked for behavior : Is your work space messy or neat .

And some looked at personality : Are you an extrovert or an introvert .

And some fell into no traditional category in the human resources world : What magazines do you subscribe to .

What pets do you have .

`` We wanted to cast a very wide net , '' Mr. Bock said .

`` It is not unusual to walk the halls here and bump into dogs .

Maybe people who own dogs have some personality trait that is useful . ``

The data from this initial survey was then compared with 25 separate measures of each employee 's performance .

Again there were traditional yardsticks -- the employee 's reviews , both by supervisors and peers , and their compensation -- and some oddball ones .

One score was what the company called `` organizational citizenship , '' said Todd Carlisle , an analyst with a doctorate in organizational psychology , who designed the survey .

That is , `` things you do that are n't technically part of your job but make Google a better place to work , `` Dr. Carlisle said , such as helping interview job candidates .

When all this was completed , Dr. Carlisle set about analyzing the two million data points the survey collected .

Among the first results was confirmation that Google 's obsession with academic performance was not always correlated with success at the company .

`` Sometimes too much schooling will be a detriment to you in your job , '' Dr. Carlisle said , adding that not all of the more than 600 people with doctorates at Google are equally well suited to their current assignments .

Indeed , there was no single factor that seemed to find the top workers for every single job title .

-LRB- And pet ownership did not seem to be a useful predictor of anything . -RRB-

But Dr. Carlisle was able to create several surveys that he believed would help find candidates in several areas -- engineering , sales , finance , and human resources .

Currently about 15 percent of applicants take the survey .

It will be used for all applicants starting this month .

Even as Google tries to hire more people faster , it wants to make sure that its employees will fit into its freewheeling culture .

The company boasts that only 4 percent of its work force leaves each year , less than other Silicon Valley companies .

And it works hard to retain people , with copious free food , time to work on personal projects and other goodies .

Stock options and grants certainly encourage employees to stay long enough to take advantage of the company 's surging share price .

Google 's hiring approach is backed by academic research showing that quantitative information on a person 's background -- called `` biodata '' among testing experts -- is indeed a valid way to look for good workers .

Michael Mumford , a psychology professor at the University of Oklahoma who specializes in talent assessment , said that this sort of test was effective , but he cautioned that companies should not rely on oddball factors , even if they seemed to correlate to good performance .

`` You have to know or at least have a hypothesis why having a dog makes a good computer programmer , '' Professor Mumford said .

`` If you ask whether someone started a club in high school , it is a clear indicator of leadership . ''

At Google , it is too early to tell if the system is working .

The surveys have been in use in about a dozen areas for several months .

Indeed , there is some resistance even at Google to the idea that a machine can pick talent better than a human .

`` It 's like telling someone that you have the perfect data about who they should marry , `` Dr. Carlisle said .

But even before the results are in on the new survey , Mr. Bock says he is already seeing success in easing the company past its obsession with grades .

`` More and more in the time I 've been here , we hire people based on experience as a proxy for what they can accomplish , `` he said .

`` Last week we hired six people who had below a 3.0 G.P.A. ''

Correction : January 5 , 2007 , Friday A picture caption on Wednesday with the continuation of a front-page article about the hiring practices of Google reversed the names of the two employees looking over a job application .

Laszlo Bock , a Google vice president , was at right .

Todd Carlisle , an analyst at the company , was at left .

Summary: Google has created extensive survey to screen for well-rounded job candidates .

Summary: 300-question survey asks job applicants about their attitudes , behavior , personality and is meant to predict how well person will fit into company 's hectic and competitive culture .

Summary: Such hiring tools are more often used by large corporations and not Internet companies , which pride themselves on finding unique talent .

Summary: Google has traditionally hired people with excellent academic records but it says academic success does not always correlate with success at company .

Summary: Google has 10,000 employees and is growing so rapidly that company wants to make screening process more efficient .

Summary: Some hiring experts say Google 's new approach is valid way to look for good workers and better indicator of job performance than interviews .

Summary: Photo .

Summary: Graphic of application survey .


IN a high school locker room in Worthington , Ohio , Sam Maniar handed a piece of string tied to a washer to each of the field hockey players sitting around him .

He told the athletes to use their minds to move the washer from side to side , and he watched as each girl 's washer started to swing .

`` By thinking about moving the washer , we send a message from the brain to the nerve receptors in our fingers to move the string attached to the washer , '' said Dr. Maniar , a sports psychologist .

`` Most people are in total amazement .

I use it show the connection between our thoughts and our bodies . ``

Every athlete and coach knows that harnessing one 's mind can lead to feats of coordination and finesse on the field .

But what many are just learning is that taking care of an athlete 's emotional health -- and managing stress in particular -- can help prevent injury .

`` The research is there showing that high stress levels do increase the risk of getting injured , but few lay people realize the connection , '' Dr. Maniar said .

Iona MacKenzie , 35 , a triathlete and adventure racer in Boulder , Colo . , believes that a period of undue tension in 2001 led to her back-to-back injuries .

Ms. MacKenzie had just started a highly stressful job in Vancouver , was rowing competitively and was also dealing with a long-distance relationship that was financially and emotionally draining .

`` I 'd been rowing for about seven or eight years completely injury free , `` she said .

`` But during that year I fractured a rib and soon after that healed , I injured my lower back .

Both are fairly common injuries for female rowers , but I do n't feel like either would have happened if my body had n't been so weakened by how much stress I was under . ``

The American College of Sports Medicine recently issued a consensus statement -- a joint effort by about a dozen sports medicine practitioners , team doctors and sports psychologists -- to inform team physicians , coaches and athletic trainers about the important link between stress and injury .

`` This concept is not always welcomed with open arms in the sports community where athletes are taught to be tough , '' said Dr. Stanley A . Herring , chairman of the consensus statement committee , a team physician for the Seattle Seahawks and a consultant to the University of Washington 's sports medicine department .

`` But you ca n't tough your way through mental issues . ``

Stress is an omnipresent problem , and the word is used to describe situations ranging from a long wait at Starbucks to fear of a terrorist attack .

So why , one may argue , is n't every athlete collapsing to the ground .

While the research has shown a consistent connection between significant negative life events -- the end of a relationship , a death in family , the loss of job , failing in school -- and the increased risk of injury , the key is n't so much the stressful event itself , but how a person handles it .

`` One man 's stress is another man 's vacation , `` Dr. Herring said .

`` Those at risk are the ones whose stress exceeds the resources they have to cope with it . ''

There are several explanations for how stress leads to injuries .

According to Frank M . Perna , a psychologist and associate professor at Boston University , there may be multiple causes .

`` Studies have shown that when you 're stressed you do n't pay enough attention to visual cues , `` he said .

That , for example , could cause a football player to miss something in his peripheral vision and be blindsided and injured .

Physiologically , more stress means more stress hormones flowing through your body .

Cortisol , a stress-related hormone , decreases the immune response , Dr. Perna said .

`` Athletes who are training hard are breaking down muscle , '' he said , `` and cortisol will impede the body 's ability to repair muscles , making them more likely to get injured or exacerbate a chronic injury . ``

STRESS also increases muscle tension , and tense muscles are more susceptible to tearing or can throw a person off balance and affect coordination .

Studies have shown that during a single school year , one in six athletes is likely to suffer an injury serious enough to miss games .

Other studies have reported that high stress levels make athletes at least twice as susceptible to injury .

The key to recognizing athletes at risk , the researchers agreed , is simply bothering to probe deeper .

`` When the athlete gets a preseason physical , it should n't be just about the ` physical , ' '' Dr. Herring said .

`` Ask about what 's going on at home , how are things with their girlfriend , do they feel overwhelmed .

And if the answers are concerning , it 's an opportunity to help them out . ``

Dr. Margot Putukian , director of athletic medicine at Princeton University , said , `` Most coaches do n't perceive mental health as something they have to worry about . ``

For coaches who do n't have a sports psychologist on call , it is still easy enough to implement some stress-management techniques .

Dr. Maniar said there was no reason a coach could not learn a few relaxation tips .

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends methods such as progressive muscle relaxation , a sequence of movements to tense and release muscle groups to bring tension levels down .

Visual imagery , which involves picturing certain images to create a different physical state , can also be employed .

`` For example , imagining being on a beach in the warm sand is likely to produce a physical shift that makes you feel more relaxed , '' said David B . Coppel , a sports psychologist in Kirkland , Wash .

And doing deep , abdominal breathing helps change shallow breathing -LRB- a symptom of stress and tension -RRB- into deeper , rhythmic breathing .

MOST high school and college teams may not be sitting down for group yoga and meditation sessions in place of practice , but a few forward-thinking coaches are already heeding the College of Sports Medicine 's recommendations .

Terri Simonetti Frost , who coaches the field hockey team at Thomas Worthington High School in Worthington , Ohio , brought Dr. Maniar in teach her players imagery techniques .

He also encouraged the girls to better communicate about what was causing tension in their lives .

`` Communication is our biggest technique for coping with stress , '' Ms. Frost said .

`` If a kid seems off during practice , I 'll call her aside and we 'll talk about what 's going on in her life . ``

Ms. Frost gives her players an extra day off each week -- they practice only four days -- to help reduce stress .

She also talks to them about their study habits and what is going on in their academic schedules so that they wo n't feel overwhelmed by school and sports simultaneously .

`` I think on a sort of subconscious level it may play a role in keeping the players healthy , '' she said .

Although it is impossible to prove cause and effect , she noted that none of her players were injured this last season , and the team was undefeated in the regular season .

The doctors who put together the College of Sports Medicine consensus statement also said that common emotional reactions to injury -- like loss of identity , fear , anxiety and depression -- could affect a player 's recovery .

`` But people who have learned coping strategies for dealing with setbacks in life can better handle the stress of being on the sideline , '' Dr. Perna said .

Stephanie Heinsons , 21 , a senior at Ohio State University who competes in equestrian events , regularly practices controlled breathing and imagery to help cope not only with the stress of competition but also with everyday life .

`` These techniques help to calm me down and force my focus back into the present , '' she said .

If she skips her relaxation techniques , she is more likely to feel anxious and tense up .

`` When I take a deep breath and tell myself to focus on the present , I become calm , '' Ms. Heinsons said .

`` That helps me like magic . '' .

Summary: Research shows that high stress levels in athletes increase risk of getting injured .

Summary: American College of Sports Medicine releases consensus statement advising team physicians , coaches and athletic trainers on link between stress and injury .

Summary: Researchers say key to finding athlete at risk is to probe deeper and discover how person is handling stressful event .

Summary: Drawing .


DR . FRAN E . COOK-BOLDEN , a dermatologist in Manhattan , is an advocate of skin-care minimalism .

When a patient recently arrived for an appointment toting 20 different products she was using regularly -- including an eye cream , a vitamin C cream , a wrinkle serum , a pigmentation cream , a mask , a peel , a scrub and `` some sort of special oxygen detoxifying cream '' -- Dr. Cook-Bolden said she confiscated all but three .

`` It gave me a headache just to look at all of those products , '' Dr. Cook-Bolden said .

`` Just two products , a gentle cleanser and a good sunscreen , are enough daily skin care for most people , and you can buy those at a drugstore or a grocery store . ''

Dr. Cook-Bolden is part of a back-to-basics movement among dermatologists .

At a time when beauty companies are introducing an increasing number of products marketed for specific body parts -- including necks , creases around the mouth and eyelids -- or for apocryphal maladies like visible pores or cellulite , these doctors are putting their patients on cosmetics restriction diets .

They are prescribing simplified skin-care routines requiring at most three steps : soap .

Sunscreen every day , no matter the weather or the season .

And , if necessary , a product tailored to specific skin needs , whether a cream for pimples or pigmented spots , or a vitamin-enriched moisturizer for aging skin .

Each product , they say , can be bought at drugstores for $ 30 or less .

Among those doctors who have become experts at uncluttering their patients ' vanity tables and medicine cabinets is Dr. Sarah Boyce Sawyer , an assistant professor of dermatology at the School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham .

`` My New Year 's beauty resolution for patients is : cut down on skin-care products and cut your skin-care budget , `` Dr. Sawyer said .

`` Cut down on those $ 100 potions . ''

For some doctors , simplifying skin-care routines is a way to make patients follow a regimen or a means to soothe irritated skin .

But some dermatologists are also suggesting patients use fewer , less expensive products because they believe there is little scientific research to justify buying an armload of pricey cosmetics , Dr. Sawyer said .

`` We have good medical evidence on prescription products , '' she said .

`` But the science is fuzzy with a lot of cosmetics . ''

Unlike drugs , cosmetics are not required to prove their efficacy .

Prescription medications like Accutane for acne and over-the-counter drugs such as sunscreen ingredients must undergo rigorous clinical testing before they gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration .

But cosmetics are not subject to the agency 's scrutiny before they go on sale .

The F.D.A. defines cosmetics as topical products that do not alter the structure or function of the skin .

Dr. William P . Coleman III , the vice president of the American Academy of Dermatology , said consumers should view moisturizers and wrinkle creams as no more than superficial treatments .

`` You have to think of cosmetics as decorative and hygienic , not as things that are going to change your skin , '' said Dr. Coleman , who is a clinical professor of dermatology at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans .

`` A $ 200 cream may have better perfume or packaging , but as far as it moisturizing your skin better than a $ 10 cream , it probably wo n't . ``

According to F.D.A. regulations , beauty manufacturers are responsible for the safety of their cosmetics and for their own marketing claims .

Although many beauty companies perform studies on their products , they are not required to conduct clinical trials on the level of medical research or to make their proprietary research available to the public .

Dr. Mary Ellen Brademas , a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center , said the paucity of rigorous published science on cosmetics makes it difficult to determine how well creams work , whether they cost $ 10 , $ 100 or $ 1,000 .

`` People are spending $ 450 on a jar of cream just because it is made out of something exotic like salmon eggs or cocoons , '' Dr. Brademas said .

`` But the cheapest products work just as well as the more expensive ones . ''

A study of wrinkle creams published last month by Consumer Reports concluded that there was no correlation between price and effectiveness .

The study , which tested nine brands of wrinkle creams over 12 weeks , also concluded that none of the products reduced the depth of wrinkles by more than 10 percent , an amount `` barely visible to the naked eye . ''

The Consumer Reports study found , for example , that a three-step regimen of Olay Regenerist products costing $ 57 was slightly more effective at reducing the appearance of wrinkles than a $ 135 tube of StriVectin-SD or a $ 335 combination of two La Prairie Cellular lotions .

`` I am seduced by fancy packaging as much as the next person , '' Dr. Brademas said .

`` But I have a theory that all these skin-care things come out of the same vat in New Jersey . ''

John Bailey , the executive vice president for science of the Cosmetic , Toiletry and Fragrance Association , an industry trade group in Washington , said that skin care varies widely in price because of amounts spent on research and development of ingredients and product formulas , and the cost of manufacturing and packaging .

But , he said , it is difficult to measure performance differences among products .

`` Cosmetics do n't have the same quantitative analysis as drugs , so you do n't have a set gauge you can use to determine perceived and actual benefits , `` said Dr. Bailey , who has a Ph.D. in chemistry .

`` Ultimately , consumers will have to try products out and find what works best for them . ''

THE back-to-basics skin-care regimen is based on practicality rather than marketing claims .

It does not rely on exotic ingredients grown on far-flung islands hand-picked by natives only under a full moon .

Dr. Diane C . Madfes , a clinical instructor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine , said that basic skin care requires washing one 's face to remove dirt , sweat and bacteria , and using sunscreen to impede sun damage .

People who worry about wrinkles , pimples , dry spots or pores may want to add one or two treatment products , she said .

Dr. Cook-Bolden , who has been a paid consultant for several mass-market cosmetics brands , suggested a mild liquid cleanser for the face .

Instead of using toners , which may strip skin , or gritty exfoliation beads and microdermabrasion systems , which may irritate skin , she recommended using a washcloth to slough off dead skin cells .

`` If you have dry , sensitive skin , you just pat the washcloth on your face gently in a circular motion , '' she said .

`` If you do n't have irritated skin , you can put more speed and pressure on the washcloth . ``

Dermatologists disagree whether a moisturizer is then needed .

Dr. Brademas said it is superfluous .

`` Moisturizer is optional unless you are in the Arctic , '' said Dr. Brademas , who favors Vaseline petroleum jelly for dry hands , feet , knees and elbows .

`` I 'm not sure moisturizers do very much except for creating a smooth surface so that makeup can go on without drag . ``

Dr. Cook-Bolden took a more agnostic position .

`` If you need a moisturizer , moisturize , '' she said .

`` If you want less moisture , use a lotion .

If you want more , use a cream .

And if you have acne-prone skin , use a gel or a spray . ``

Although the dermatologists interviewed for this article disagreed about moisturizer , they agreed on one point : the importance of sun protection , including hats , avoidance of midday sun and the use of an effective sunscreen .

They recommended that consumers look for formulas that include ingredients -- like zinc oxide , titanium dioxide or Mexoryl SX -- that impede damage from the sun 's longer wavelength UVA rays , a protective effect that is not indicated by a product 's SPF rating .

Beyond soap and sunscreen , Dr. Madfes said that one or two additional products might be added to personalize a skin-care routine .

`` People who see wrinkles around their eyes are going to reach for an eye cream , '' Dr. Madfes said .

`` Someone who looks in the mirror and sees large pores may want to use a cleanser with salicylic acid , which can reduce clogged pores . ''

She is also a proponent of night creams that combine retinol , a form of vitamin A that may help speed up the turnover of skin cells , and antioxidants such as vitamin C , vitamin E or lycopene that may help thwart environmental damage to the skin .

People with skin conditions like severe acne or people interested in topical anti-wrinkle drugs should consult their doctors about prescription medications , she said .

On an expedition last week to a CVS Pharmacy at Columbus Circle with a reporter , Dr. Madfes examined the product labels on skin-care items from a variety of mass-market brands and recommended a few basic products , including Cetaphil cleanser and La Roche-Posay Anthelios SX sunscreen .

`` Higher end , more expensive products may look better in the box and feel better on your face , but they do n't necessarily work better than less expensive products as long as you look for ingredients that are known for efficacy , `` Dr. Madfes said .

But she did see one benefit to splurging .

`` The thing is , when someone buys a $ 200 cream , they are going to use that cream , '' Dr. Madfes said .

`` So , in the end , their skin may benefit . ''

Drugstores Bank on Snob Appeal -LRB- But Can You Pronounce It .

-RRB- By NATASHA SINGER LUMENE .

Lierac .

Olí . Arnaud .

Proraso .

No , these are not race-car drivers competing in the Dakar Rally .

They are imported skin-care brands now competing for consumers ' attention on the shelves at Target , Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy .

To try to attract brand-conscious beauty consumers who are wont to buy their cosmetics at department and specialty stores , drugstore and big-box chains are starting to introduce niche European skin-care lines .

These imported products , some of which include retinol , peptides or antioxidants derived from exotic plants , aim to rival prestige brands in formula , texture , packaging and fragrance .

`` You are no longer necessarily getting a better product assortment , better products or better service at a department store , '' said Karen R . Young , the chief executive of the Young Group , a consulting firm for the beauty industry .

`` It is a massive leveling of the playing field . ''

In the last few years , for example , CVS , with 6,200 stores nationwide , has upgraded its cosmetics aisles in 300 stores by introducing beauty departments called Healthy Skincare Centers .

The displays are stocked with French skin-care brands like Avène and La Roche-Posay , a line that was previously sold in the United States through dermatologists ' offices .

The centers are staffed by beauty advisers .

These products cost more than mass-market skin care .

Janice Jacobs , director of proprietary and limited-distribution brands for CVS , said the chain 's most expensive skin-care product now costs about $ 60 , up from about $ 20 in 1999 .

`` Consumers are looking for convenience and accessibility , '' Ms. Jacobs said .

`` If we can give her the tools and the testers of a department store , and the skin-care advice on her terms when she needs it , then she is willing to buy in our stores . ''

Last year , Target created a department called Bath & Body , a range of 20 skin-care brands including Ma Provence , a fragrance line , and Proraso , an Italian shaving line , that are now sold in almost 1,500 stores .

Walgreens recently introduced its European Beauty Collection , a group of seven skin-care brands including Institut Arnaud Paris and Skincode , a line from Switzerland .

And drugstore.com just added Cléo , a brand made in Italy whose key ingredient is yogurt .

`` The drugstores are saying , ' We are not Saks , but if we have our own Spanish or Finnish brand , we 'll attract consumers with our own exclusive products , ' `` Ms. Young said .

Summary: Many dermotologists are advising patients to restrict use of cosmetics even as beauty companies are introducing an increasing number of products marketed for specific body parts -- including necks , creases around mouth and eyelids -- or for apocryphal maladies like visible pores or cellulite .

Summary: Are prescribing simplified skin-care routines -- soap , sunscreen and , if necessary , products tailored to specific skin needs .

Summary: Chain drugstores are attempting to attract brand-conscious beauty consumers by introducing imported skin-care lines .

Summary: Photos -LRB- M .


FOR those who have failed in a decade or three 's worth of New Year 's resolutions to become better workers , spouses , parents , athletes or lovers , there is a new frontier in personal growth -- or at least a proliferation of products , mostly hawked over the Internet , that promise to help turn the last bit of untrammeled downtime -LRB- sleep -RRB- into an opportunity for improvement .

New health products have emerged , often from the margins of commerce .

Old self-help approaches like subliminal `` sleep learning '' have evolved and found new life on the Web .

`` While you sleep ! '' has become an Internet marketing catchphrase .

The idea plays on two classic , if contradictory , American impulses : the desire to get ahead , and the compulsion to avoid the slightest expenditure of effort .

There are diet pills sold under names like Lose and Snooze and Sleep ` n Slim , which contain collagen and which the makers say can help maximize the body 's metabolism .

There are foot pads from Japan that look like tea bags and promise to drain toxins and restore energy while you sleep .

On one Web site , hypnotictapes.com, besides recordings designed to improve public speaking or break addiction to alcohol or heroin , there are programs promising to help you , at least partly while sleeping , `` Overcome Fear of Clowns '' and `` Master the Bagpipes . ''

`` The grow-yourself revolution started in the ' 50s , '' said David Allen , a productivity consultant who wrote `` Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity '' -LRB- Viking , 2001 -RRB- , and it `` is the one industry that has never faltered in the last 40 years .

All they have done is give you more clever ways of getting it without having to give anything . ``

Products marketed for nocturnal self-transformation often target outward appearance .

Ortho-K contact lenses , which reshape the cornea to correct vision and are typically worn only at night , have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration .

But the claims of many other products are more nebulous .

Nancy Clark , a registered dietician and the author of the best-selling `` Nancy Clark 's Sports Nutrition Guidebook `` -LRB- Human Kinetics , 2003 -RRB- , said that she had never heard of collagen -- the supposed magic bullet in some nocturnal diet pills -- used as a weight-loss aid .

`` If it were true , '' she said , `` it would be front-page news . ''

The products with perhaps the broadest potential market , and often the most extravagant promises , are designed for so-called sleep learning .

Professionals who think the boss has been a little slow with that promotion -- and who have left their skepticism in their other briefcase -- can try to kick-start their careers with the Wealth & Success Power Affirmations subliminal program -LRB- `` start advertising to your own mind '' -RRB- .

Sold through sleeplearning.com, it can be played through stereo pillow speakers available on the same Web site for $ 29.95.

Not everyone selling self-improvement while sleeping promises overnight miracles .

James Schmelter , a certified hypnotherapist who runs hypnotictapes.com out of San Francisco , said sleep learning on its own is often of only marginal benefit , which is why it is only one of four elements in his hypnosis-at-home programs , many of which he records individually for customers and sells for $ 98 .

The other three parts of the program are to be listened to awake .

Hypnosis is generally accepted as a legitimate technique to facilitate other forms of treatment , like cognitive behavior therapy , said Guy H . Montgomery , a clinical psychologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan .

But unlike the hypnotized brain , which is receptive to spoken suggestions , the sleeping brain is not so suggestible , said Dr. Michael J . Sateia , the head of the sleep disorders program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon , N.H.

`` Generally , '' he explained , `` sleep is considered to be a state of being relatively ' offline , ' as it were , with respect to extrasensory input . ''

Sleep learning is a self-empowerment concept that dates back at least to Aldous Huxley 's `` Brave New World , '' published in 1932 , but for most of the intervening years it could be found mainly on cassette programs tucked away on self-help shelves in bookstores alongside volumes on astral projection .

That all changed with the Internet .

Marc VanDeKeere , for example , is one seller of sleep-learning self-improvement products who said he has noted a spike in business in recent years .

Mr. VanDeKeere , a hypnotherapist who operates the Web site brainwave-entrainment . com , said he had seen sales of subliminal problem-solving and meditation products , which he recommends that customers use while sleeping , increase by a third in the last few years .

And he proudly points to 17,000 positive feedback responses for his products on eBay .

`` Fifteen years ago , '' he said , `` nobody would be able to find these products . ''

Eldon Taylor , the founder of Progressive Awareness Research , a company in Medical Lake , Wash . , that has marketed a line of hypnosis CDs to be used awake and asleep under the InnerTalk brand since 1984 , said demand has grown noticeably in the last five years .

He attributes that growth in part to economic anxieties that have increased people 's desire to wring productivity out of the wee hours .

`` How many times do people change jobs .

`` asked Mr. Taylor , whose Web site , innertalk.com, offers CDs titled '' Excel in Exams `` and '' Natural Breast Enlargement . ``

`` We live in a society full of more information than we can absorb , '' he said , `` but we 're required to absorb it , because if we do n't absorb it , we fall out `` of the race .

This apparent renewed interest in learning while snoozing comes at a time of increased academic research into the topic .

Last year , for example , researchers at the University of Lübeck in Germany found that gently stimulating the brain during sleep with an electrical current at a certain frequency improved the ability of test subjects to remember a string of words they had learned before a nap .

Still , Dr. Jerome M . Siegel , a professor of psychiatry at the Center for Sleep Research at the University of California , Los Angeles , said that most research he has seen indicates that subliminal sleep learning is of little or no value because `` the sound had to actually wake you before you would benefit . ''

Dr. Siegel recalled rigging a speaker system under his own pillow in junior high school in a failed effort to learn French .

`` Even when you 're sleepy , but not asleep , `` he added , '' you do n't learn very well . ``

A study in 1992 by the British Psychological Society dismissed the concept of sleep learning , finding that it can `` only occur if the sleeping person is partly awakened by the message . ''

But such findings did not kill off interest in the concept and its seductive , something-for-nothing allure .

For Candace Kinsella , a retired nurse in Largo , Fla . , who wanted to reduce by a few sizes , diet pills were not enough , so she turned to a weight-loss sleep program that is not subliminal , but consists of spoken messages like `` eat more vegetables , '' she said .

Despite the potential distraction of someone talking while you 're trying to sleep , she said the program , which is sold on the Web site robert-egby . com , is relaxing .

`` It 's like going to sleep with the TV on , `` she said .

She credits it with helping her lose 50 pounds over one year , starting from a weight of 345 , simply by providing constant reminders to go to the gym , drink water instead of soda and eat better .

`` All of this augments '' a commitment during waking hours to healthy living , she explained .

Then again , the typical middle-aged American gets as little as 6.1 hours of sleep a night , according to a recent University of Chicago study , instead of the commonly accepted optimum of eight .

So people who fail to transform themselves suitably during the wee hours can always fall back on using their sleep to obtain one thing that doctors believe is crucial to a life of happiness and productivity : rest .

Summary: Web gives new life to products that promise to transform you ` while you sleep , ' and those with broadest market and most extravagant promises are designed for so-called sleep learning .

Summary: Most research shows that people learn only when awake and suggest that people use sleep to rest .

Summary: Drawing .


WILLIAM LEININGER is not your typical environmental zealot .

A Navy commander who works as a doctor at the Naval Medical Center San Diego , he is a Republican and lives in one of California 's most conservative counties , in a development of neat lawns and Spanish-style houses .

His 2,400-square - foot , single-level house -- `` the usual Southern California design , '' he said recently -- is barely distinguishable from its neighbors , apart from one detail : the red-tile roof is crammed with solar panels .

Dr. Leininger , 42 , is one of thousands of Californians , many of them unlikely converts to the cause of alternative energy , who have installed solar power systems in their homes in just the last year .

Spurred by recent legislation that provides financial incentives -- and by rising energy costs and , perhaps , by a lingering distrust of power companies in the aftermath of the California electricity crisis at the start of the decade -- homeowners across the state have come to see solar power as a way to conserve money as well as natural resources .

Architects in California are routinely designing solar systems into custom homes , and developers are offering solar systems and solar-ready wiring in new spec houses and subdivisions .

Solar power is also emerging as a kind of status symbol , a glamorous mark of personal responsibility .

Celebrities , including Leonardo DiCaprio , Alicia Silverstone , Carlos Santana and Tom Seaver , have installed solar systems .

-LRB- Edward Norton runs a campaign in Los Angeles , encouraging his fellow celebrities to install solar panels on their homes and to make donations for systems in low-income housing . -RRB-

The vogue began in earnest a year ago , when the state legislature approved the California Solar Initiative , one of the most ambitious solar programs in the world .

The legislation took effect at the start of this month but was preceded by a stopgap measure with similar terms that ran throughout 2006 , offering homeowners a rebate on top of the federal tax credit of up to $ 2,000 that has been available nationwide since 2006 .

The theory was that supplanting the year-to-year incentive programs in place since 1998 with the long-term certainty offered by the initiative 's 10-year , $ 3.2 billion program of rebates -LRB- one-third of which would likely go to homeowners -RRB- would stimulate the development of a robust solar sector -- which could then be weaned from subsidies as its growing scale brought down prices .

If it works as planned , said J . P . Ross , the policy director for Vote Solar , an organization that advocates for large state-level solar projects , the initiative will stimulate the installation of 3,000 megawatts of solar electrical generating capacity in the state over the next decade .

That would be an increase by a factor of more than 20 , Mr. Ross said , equivalent to 30 small natural-gas-fired power plants .

Given the enthusiasm homeowners have shown for the initiative , filing nearly twice as many plans for solar systems with the California State Energy Commission in 2006 than in previous years , this goal may not be far-fetched .

Other states are considering the future of their solar programs -LRB- several states in the Northeast and the Southwest have less ambitious ones in place , including New York , New Jersey and Connecticut -RRB- , and they are closely watching California 's .

As the rebate program has made it less expensive to install a home solar system -- and as banks , which consider a solar system to be an improvement that increases a house 's value , have made financing readily available -- the solar industry has grown .

There are now 434 companies registered to install solar systems by the state energy commission , which together installed just under 50 megawatts of solar electric generating capacity in 2006 , the most in a single year .

-LRB- California 's total capacity by October was 180 megawatts , enough energy to power about 135,000 homes .

At the end of 2005 the nationwide solar photovoltaic capacity was 425 megawatts . -RRB-

While much of the total came from industrial and utility installations , more than 7,000 homeowners filed plans with the state energy commission in 2006 , up from about 4,000 in each of the previous two years .

The companies are responding not only to an increase in demand , but also to a change in the type of consumers interested in going solar .

Unlike the do-it-yourself tinkerers who once made up much of the home photovoltaic market , the people fueling the current growth spurt are interested in hands-off user friendliness .

`` I more or less set it up and then I forgot about it , '' said Nicky González Yuen , an instructor in political science at De Anza College in Cupertino , who hired a company called NextEnergy to install the modest three-kilowatt system in his 100-year-old Berkeley duplex .

`` I 'm a really busy person , and I did n't need to know that level of information . ``

Companies like NextEnergy provide homeowners with a complete package that includes system design , permit applications , rebate processing , installation , maintenance and warranty .

`` It was a seamless , painless process , '' said Mr. Yuen , whose system cost $ 16,000 after the California rebate and the federal tax credit , which together saved him $ 10,000 .

It was `` comparable to having a sprinkler system put in , '' he said .

Mr. Yuen , 47 , was the first on his block to install a solar system : `` In my circle I 'm the eco-nut , `` he said .

But , he said , less than a year later they are quite common in his neighborhood .

`` A lot of people are really paying attention and beginning to think about the whole environmental cycle , '' he added .

But even as these solar adopters re-evaluate their relationship to the power grid , virtually all of them remain connected to it , which is contrary to the go-it-alone image of the early solar pioneers .

Though the connection means a house will lose power in a blackout , most home users find the ease of operation makes up for the loss of independence .

`` All I see is an e-mail from the system once a month , '' said Robert Felton , chief executive of TenFold , a software company , of the report of how much power his mansion in the Oakland hills is using and producing .

As recently as 10 years ago it was unheard of and , in fact , illegal for solar-powered houses in California to connect to the grid .

Now power companies are legally required to credit their customers for the excess power they produce .

The grid , in effect , serves to store power , replacing the bank of batteries that is a component of off-grid systems .

At the end of the year , credits for solar power added to the grid are applied against charges for power taken from it , helping homeowners `` zero out '' their electricity bills .

According to Borrego Solar Systems , the company that installed the long rows of solar panels on a hill next to Mr. Felton 's house , two-thirds of its customers manage to do so .

Excess credits are lost at the end of the year , so homeowners , at least for now , can not make a profit from their solar systems .

Even so , the savings can be substantial : in 2005 Mr. Felton paid Pacific Gas and Electric about $ 2,500 a month for electricity .

-LRB- `` I have a whole bunch of fountains and water features and stuff like that , '' he said . -RRB-

In California residential electricity rates are tiered , and large users like Mr. Felton pay rates about three times higher than more modest consumers , making solar power even more attractive .

While the average home solar system is about five kilowatts , Mr. Felton 's is 45 kilowatts , and he seldom sees an electric bill .

Borrego Solar estimated the system could save Mr. Felton almost $ 2 million over 30 years -- far more than the $ 255,000 the system cost him after a $ 134,000 rebate .

Mr. Felton , 67 , said that a solar system did not make sense when he built his house in 2000 , but that the rebate , as well as rising electricity prices , persuaded him to install the system last year .

His pragmatic concerns were also informed by broader issues .

`` I 'm not a hippie greenie , `` he said , pointing out that with a background in nuclear engineering , he strongly supports nuclear power .

`` But solar is certainly a way to get off foreign oil . ''

As a member of the military who has been deployed to the Persian Gulf three times , Dr. Leininger has been affected by the nation 's foreign oil habits more than most .

`` The need for stable oil supplies is the big reason that we spend so much time in the Persian Gulf , '' he said .

`` Decreasing our national energy consumption is in my self-interest . ''

His neighbors in the San Diego suburb of Escondido , most of them politically conservative , have responded well to the solar panels of the eight-kilowatt system that he and his wife , Suzann , a cartographer , installed last year on their roof .

The neighborhood association , which was required to approve the plan by California law , did so happily , he said .

Lately , the Leiningers have noticed at least one other photovoltaic system in the immediate area and a number of solar heating systems for swimming pools .

-LRB- Meanwhile , in Orange County , which is known for its political conservatism , about 250 solar installations were approved from January to November last year , more than twice the 2005 figure . -RRB-

The Leiningers , who paid Borrego Solar $ 39,000 for their system after a $ 24,000 rebate , figure their system will pay for itself in a dozen years -- assuming residential electricity rates do not increase , as they have by 37 percent since 1998 .

Dr. Leininger estimated that his system had reduced his household carbon emissions by nearly 30 tons since it was installed in June , and that it was well on its way to zeroing out .

`` It comes down to personal responsibility , '' he said .

`` If I can go electricity-neutral on my house , that 's that much less coal we have to burn . ``

And much less money .

`` One of the most gratifying things is on a sunny day when the meter is spinning backward , '' Dr. Leininger said .

`` We have a guaranteed return on the system because we know we 're not going to have an electric bill from now on . ``

Chasing Solar Power in the Northeast HOME solar systems in the Northeast can produce up to 90 percent of the electricity generated by those in California , said Michael Hall , chief marketing officer for Borrego Solar Systems , a company in California .

It is not surprising , then , that some California installers are expanding nationally .

They include PowerLight and Akeena Solar , which opened offices in New Jersey in the last two years .

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority 's Web site , powernaturally.org, explains the state 's incentive program , which has been in place since 2002 .

It covers 40 percent to 70 percent of the cost of a home system , depending on its size and other factors .

State-approved installers are listed at the site as well .

New Jersey has been offering rebates to homeowners for photovoltaic systems since 2001 , and it is now the second-largest solar market in the country .

The state offers rebates up to $ 3.80 per watt for home systems .

While this is less than New York 's rate , New Jersey makes it possible for system owners to sell renewable energy credits and earn continuing revenues , unlike New York and most other states .

Details and contact information for dozens of installers are at the New Jersey Clean Energy Program 's Web site , njcep.com.

Connecticut 's rebate program pays up to $ 25,000 per solar photovoltaic installation , depending on the components used and how they are configured .

Information is at ctinnovations.com/ funding / ccef / solar -- rebates.php.

GREGORY DICUM .

Summary: Solar industry has grown in California in year since state legislature approved homeowner rebates for installing solar electric generating systems .

Summary: Banks , which consider solar systems to be improvement that increases house 's value , are making financing readily available .

Summary: Architects are routinely designing solar systems in custom houses , and developers are offering solar systems and solar-ready wiring in new spec houses and subdivisions .

Summary: Photos .


After the peppered beef carpaccio and before the pan-fried sea bass there were raucous toasts and the clinking of wine glasses in the V.I.P. room of New Heights , a jazzy restaurant in this city 's most luxurious location , overlooking the Bund .

Wang Guangyi , one of China 's pioneering contemporary artists , was there .

So were Zhang Xiaogang , Fang Lijun , Yue Minjun , Zeng Fanzhi and 20 other well-known Chinese artists and their guests , many of whom had been flown in from Beijing to celebrate the opening of a solo exhibition of new works by Zeng Hao , another rising star in China 's bubbly art scene .

`` We 've had opening dinners before , `` said the Shanghai artist Zhou Tiehai , sipping Chilean red wine , '' but nothing quite like this until very recently . ``

The dinner , held on a recent Saturday night in a restaurant located on the top floor of a historic building that also houses an Armani store and the Shanghai Gallery of Art , was symbolic of the soaring fortunes of Chinese contemporary art .

In 2006 Sotheby 's and Christie 's , the world 's biggest auction houses , sold $ 190 million worth of Asian contemporary art , most of it Chinese , in a series of record-breaking auctions in New York , London and Hong Kong .

In 2004 the two houses combined sold $ 22 million in Asian contemporary art .

The climax came at a Beijing auction in November when a painting by Liu Xiaodong , 43 , sold to a Chinese entrepreneur for $ 2.7 million , the highest price ever paid for a piece by a Chinese artist who began working after 1979 , when loosened economic restrictions spurred a resurgence in contemporary art .

That price put Mr. Liu in the company of the few living artists , including Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons , whose work has sold for $ 2 million or more at auction .

`` This has come out of nowhere , '' said Henry Howard-Sneyd , global head of Asian arts at Sotheby 's , which , like Christie 's , has just started a division focusing on contemporary Chinese art .

With auction prices soaring , hundreds of new studios , galleries and private art museums are opening in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai .

Chinese auction houses that once specialized in traditional ink paintings are now putting contemporary experimental artworks on the block .

Western galleries , especially in Europe , are rushing to sign up unknown painters .

Artists a year out of college are selling photographic works for as much as $ 10,000 each .

Well-known painters have yearlong waiting lists .

And the Solomon R . Guggenheim Museum and the Pompidou Center in Paris are considering opening branches in China .

`` What is happening in China is what happened in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century , '' said Michael Goedhuis , a collector and art dealer specializing in Asian contemporary art who has galleries in London and New York .

`` New ground is being broken .

There 's a revolution under way . ``

But the auction frenzy has also sparked debate here about whether sales are artificially inflating prices and encouraging speculators , rather than real collectors , to enter the art market .

Auction houses `` sell art like people sell cabbage , '' said Weng Ling , the director of the Shanghai Gallery of Art .

`` They are not educating the public or helping artists develop .

Many of them know nothing about art . ``

But the boom in Chinese contemporary art -- reinforced by record sales in New York last year -- has also brought greater recognition to a group of experimental artists who grew up during China 's brutal Cultural Revolution -LRB- 1966-1976 -RRB- .

After the 1989 government crackdown in Tiananmen Square , avant-garde art was often banned from being shown here because it was deemed hostile or anti-authoritarian .

Through the 1990s many artists struggled to earn a living , considering themselves lucky to sell a painting for $ 500 .

That has all changed .

These days China 's leading avant-garde artists have morphed into multi-millionaires who show up at exhibitions wearing Gucci and Ferragamo .

Wang Guangyi , best-known for his Great Criticism series of Cultural Revolution-style paintings emblazoned with the names of popular Western brands , like Coke , Swatch and Gucci , drives a Jaguar and owns a 10,000-square - foot luxury villa on the outskirts of Beijing .

Yue Minjun , who makes legions of colorful smiling figures , has a walled-off suburban Beijing compound with an 8,000-square - foot home and studio .

Fang Lijun , a `` Cynical Realist '' painter whose work captures artists ' post-Tiananmen disillusionment , owns six restaurants in Beijing and operates a small hotel in western Yunnan province .

If China 's art scene can be likened to a booming stock market , Zhang Xiaogang , 48 , is its Google .

More than any other Chinese artist Mr. Zhang , with his huge paintings depicting family photographs taken during the Cultural Revolution , has captured the imagination of international collectors .

Prices for his work have skyrocketed at auction over the last two years .

When his work `` Bloodline Series : Comrade No . 120 '' sold for $ 979,000 at Sotheby 's auction in March , many art insiders predicted the market had topped out and prices would plummet within months .

But in October , the British collector Charles Saatchi bought another of Mr. Zhang 's pieces at Christie 's in London for $ 1.5 million .

Then in November at Christie 's Hong Kong auction , Mr. Zhang 's 1993 `` Tiananmen Square '' sold to a private collector for $ 2.3 million .

According to Artnet.com, which tracks auction prices , 16 of Mr. Zhang 's works have sold for $ 500,000 or more during the past two years .

Are such prices justified .

Uli Sigg , the former Swiss ambassador to China and perhaps the largest collector of Chinese contemporary art with more than 1,500 pieces , calls the market frothy but not finished .

`` I do n't see anything at the moment that will stop the rise in prices , `` he said .

`` More and more people are flocking to the market . ''

Mr. Goedhuis insists that this is the beginning of an even bigger boom in Chinese contemporary art .

`` I do n't think there 's a bubble , `` he said .

`` There 's a lot of speculation but no bubble .

That 's the paradox .

In China there are only a handful of buyers -- 10 , 20 , 30 -- out of a billion people .

You only need another 10 to come in and that will jack up prices . ``

He added : `` Another astonishing fact is there is not a single museum in the West that has committed itself to buying Chinese art .

It 's just starting to happen .

Guggenheim , the Tate Modern , MoMA , they 're all looking . ``

Representatives from those museums , as well as others , have made scouting missions to China .

A growing number of international collectors are looking at Chinese art too .

`` After the 2005 Sotheby 's show I just jumped in , `` said Didier Hirsch , a French-born California business executive who has long collected American and European contemporary art .

`` People said the next big run-up in prices would be at Sotheby 's in March so I said , ` Now or never . '

`` Mr. Hirsch purchased nearly his entire collection -- about 40 works -- by phone after doing research on the Internet .

He said he went first for what he called the titans -- the original group of post - ` 79 painters -- including Wang Guangyi and Liu Xiaodong .

Some critics here say the focus on prices has led to a decline in creativity as artists knock off variations of their best-known work rather than exploring new territory .

Some are even employing teams of workers in assembly-line fashion .

Christopher Phillips , a curator at the International Center of Photography in New York , has become a regular visitor to China , scouting young artists for the center and other places .

On a recent trip `` I went to visit the studio of a well-known Beijing painter , '' Mr. Phillips said .

`` The artist was n't there , but I saw a group of canvases being painted by a team of young women who seemed to be just in from the countryside .

I found it a little disconcerting . ``

There are also complaints that some artists are ignoring international standards by selling works directly into the auction market , rather than selling first to collectors .

And many experts here say that some gallery officials and artists are sending representatives to the auctions to bid on their own works to prop up prices , or `` protect '' the prices of some rising stars .

But Lorenz Helbling , director of the ShanghART Gallery here , said Chinese artists continue to produce an impressive array of works , and that talk about the market being overrun by commercialism is exaggerated .

`` Things are much better than they were 10 years ago , '' he said .

`` Back then many artists were commissioned to simply paint dozens of paintings for a gallery owner , who went out and sold those works .

Now these artists are thinking more deeply about their work because they 're finally getting the recognition they deserve . `` .

Summary: Soaring prices for Chinese contemporary art have led way for opening of hundreds of new studios , galleris and private art museums in cities like Beijing and Shanghai .

Summary: Chinese auction houses that once only dealt in traditional art have now begun to put contemporary pieces on block .

Summary: European galleries are also clamoring to sign unknown Chinese artists , some of whom been able to sell their works for large sums .

Summary: Auction and gallery frenzy has sparked debate in China about whether sales are artificially inflated to encourage speculators , rather than real collectors , to enter art market .

Summary: There are also complaints that some artists are ignoring international standards by selling works directly into auction market , rather than selling first to collectors .

Summary: Photos .


Christopher Wheeldon , one of the world 's most sought-after choreographers , who recently announced an end to his residency at New York City Ballet , has formed his own company , a major event in the dance world .

The company , Morphoses the Wheeldon Company , is to make its debut in August at the Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado , followed by four to six performances at the Sadler 's Wells Theater in London in September and roughly the same number at City Center in New York in October .

The company is named after a 2002 dance that Mr. Wheeldon created for City Ballet .

In an interview yesterday Mr. Wheeldon said performances would include a mix of his own choreography and works by others , performed by stars on loan from City Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London .

`` We 're still kind of at the hopes-and-dreams stage , `` he said , adding that he had approached no one to become a permanent member .

`` I do n't really believe in poaching , `` he said .

`` I do n't even know at this stage whether I can offer them the security they need . ``

At Vail , he said , he planned to cast couples from the Hamburg Ballet , Pacific Northwest Ballet , San Francisco Ballet and City Ballet to dance the four pas de deux from his `` Polyphonia . ''

Among the dancers tentatively scheduled to participate in his first season are Wendy Whelan , Sébastien Marcovici , Maria Kowroski , Sofiane Sylve and Edwaard Liang from City Ballet , and Darcey Bussell , Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg from the Royal Ballet , where Mr. Wheeldon has danced and choreographed .

`` None of these dancers reflect the dancers that are necessarily going to be in the company when it 's formed in a more concrete way , `` he said .

Mr. Wheeldon said he would concentrate on the artistic side and focus on new works , including those by contemporary choreographers .

For now Lourdes Lopez , a former City Ballet principal , is handling administrative matters .

The company is expected to have about 20 members and an annual budget of about $ 5 million .

Mr. Wheeldon declined to discuss specifics on how the company would be financed , saying only that some potential donors had shown interest .

The initial performances are being presented by Vail , City Center and Sadler 's Wells , which will cover the dancers ' fees and serve as long-term partners of the company .

He said he hoped those performances would attract interest from potential company members and donors .

The arrival of a new dance company is always an unusual event , given the funds needed to support an essentially money-losing endeavor .

It is even rarer for an individual to establish a private company , as opposed to one sponsored by a city .

But Mr. Wheeldon 's stature and substantial body of work , especially at his tender age of 33 , appear to be enough to attract backers .

Mr. Wheeldon said in November that he would leave City Ballet as its first resident choreographer when his contract expires in 2008 .

He is scheduled to choreograph two more works for it .

Peter Martins , the City Ballet 's ballet master in chief , said at the time that he was happy to see Mr. Wheeldon spread his wings .

Mr. Martins was in rehearsals and could not be immediately reached for comment yesterday .

Inevitably Mr. Wheeldon 's company will compete for attention , donations and dancers , something Mr. Wheeldon indirectly acknowledged .

He said Mr. Martins gave his blessing , yet `` he understands also that this may mean some dancers will decide to come to me , '' Mr. Wheeldon said .

`` That 's just the way life is and the way things go . ``

He continued , `` I 'm sort of stepping into an area where people might think , ` Why does New York need another ballet company when we 've already got two .

' `` -LRB- In addition to City Ballet , New York is home to American Ballet Theater . -RRB-

Answering his own question , he said , `` Maybe it does n't , but I 'm going to do it , and we 'll see if I 'm foolish or not . ``

Mr. Wheeldon said he wanted to give dancers a greater voice , which is sometimes difficult in large companies like City Ballet .

Referring to leaders of large companies in general , he said that casting decisions were not `` always handled in a perfectly sensitive way . ''

`` My mission is to create an environment that is collaborative in all respects , '' he said .

In an earlier recent interview he said he could make a `` change for the better in the ballet world '' by starting a company from scratch .

`` I want to be in complete control of my personal artistic vision and goals , '' he said , `` and am not really interested in inheriting a legacy , but rather taking the opportunity to forge my own . ''

Starting fresh also meant bypassing the `` big politics '' and bureaucracy of a large company , he said .

The idea began taking shape last summer when the San Francisco Ballet presented one of his pieces at the Lincoln Center Festival .

The choreographer William Forsythe had a work on the same program , and the two spoke at length .

`` He basically told me that I needed to take a step forward on my own and do something different , and coming from him -- he is a man who has continued to invent himself -- it was immediately resonant , '' Mr. Wheeldon said .

Mr. Wheeldon received a boost from an old friend at City Ballet , Damian Woetzel , who had recently become artistic director of the Vail festival and agreed to give him a springboard there .

`` We 're going to work together to further the ideas that we 've been kicking around all these years , `` Mr. Woetzel said .

`` It 's a chance to make a real solid contribution . ``

While mainly making dances for City Ballet -- itself long a vehicle for George Balanchine 's work -- the British-born Mr. Wheeldon has been sought out by companies around the world , including the San Francisco Ballet , the Royal Ballet , the Bolshoi Ballet and the Philadelphia Ballet .

News of his plans have been percolating through the dance world but were not widely known .

`` What a good idea , '' said George Steel , the executive director of the Miller Theater at Columbia University , which began expanding its dance offerings after an evening of Wheeldon choreography in the fall of 2005 .

`` More dancing is wonderful , '' Mr. Steel said .

`` It 's a huge opportunity for him to have a company he can run . ``

Dance Correction : January 9 , 2007 , Tuesday An article in The Arts on Thursday about the formation of a new dance company by the choreographer Christopher Wheeldon misstated the name of one of the companies that asked him in the past to choreograph for it .

It is the Pennsylvania Ballet -LRB- based in Philadelphia -RRB- , not the Philadelphia Ballet .

Summary: Christopher Wheeldon , one of world 's most sought-after choreographers who recently announced end to his residency at New York City Ballet , has formed his own company Morphoses the Wheeldon Company .

Summary: Company will make debut in August at Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado and will perform at Sadler 's Wells Theater in London and at City Center in New York City .

Summary: Wheeldon comments .

Summary: Photo .


In a rare reprise to a rare trial , the jury that convicted a Long Island man of murder by depraved indifference last October in a drunken-driving crash that killed a limousine driver and a 7-year-old girl may be brought back to court for hearings on whether some members acted improperly during deliberations .

In an answer submitted on Dec . 29 to a defense motion , Robert Hayden , an assistant Nassau County district attorney , agreed that a hearing should be held to determine if jurors discussed what they believed were prior drunken-driving charges against the defendant , Martin Heidgen , 25 .

Such accusations were not included in the evidence introduced in the five-week trial , and could be considered a contamination of the jury proceedings .

Beyond that , Mr. Hayden said in his answer , that the belief of a previous drunken-driving arrest was `` not true , '' as far as he knew .

Mr. Hayden said the hearing should be limited to that issue , and rebuffed as `` irrelevant '' several other claims of impropriety raised by Mr. Heidgen 's lawyer , Stephen LaMagna , as causes for setting aside the guilty verdict .

Mr. LaMagna also claimed that some jurors felt pressured to vote to convict Mr. Heidgen of the most serious charge , that some discussed the case outside the jury room , and that one said she planned to write a book about it .

The Heidgen case was unusual because the defendant was prosecuted for a fatal drunken-driving crash under laws treating his crime as the functional equivalent of intentional murder .

Such prosecutions , while not unprecedented , are considered rare and are usually brought only in the most horrific cases .

Mr. Heidgen , whose blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit , was driving the wrong way on the Meadowbrook Parkway when his pickup truck crashed head -on with a limousine taking a family home from a wedding .

The crash killed the limousine driver , Stanley Rabinowitz , 59 , and Katie Flynn , who had been the flower girl .

The girl 's parents and grandparents , who were also in the limousine , suffered minor injuries .

After three days of deliberations , the jury told Acting Justice Alan R . Honorof of State Supreme Court that it was deadlocked , but after he sent them back for more deliberations , reached a verdict on the fifth day .

Within days of the verdict , though , the jury forewoman said she had felt pressured to vote for the charge of `` murder by depraved indifference '' that Mr. Heidgen was convicted of , even though she believed he was guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter .

Based on the depraved indifference conviction , Mr. Heidgen faces a minimum of 25 years in prison .

Manslaughter carries a minimum of 15 years .

Mr. Heidgen 's lawyer , who could not be reached for comment on Wednesday , has said that based on interviews with other jury members , he believed that some jurors browbeat the last two holdouts who thought Mr. Heidgen was guilty of manslaughter , rather than murder .

`` It is fairly rare for hearings like these to be held , '' said George Goltzer , vice president of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers .

`` The general rule is that you do n't let a jury impeach its own verdict .

But if the charges are serious -- say that racism or serious misconduct was involved in the decision or something like that -- the courts have allowed it . ``

Mr. Goltzer said he was not too familiar with the case , but added that evidence of `` extra-record information '' -- not part of the evidence introduced at the trial -- might qualify as serious enough to review a jury 's verdict .

Justice Honorof is expected to decide in the next few days if and when hearings should be held .

A spokesman for the district attorney , Kathleen Rice , said it was expected that with the district attorney 's assent , the hearings would be scheduled .

Summary: Assistant Nassau County , NY , District Attorney Robert Hayden agrees that hearing should be held to determine whether jurors discussed what they thought were prior drunken-driving charges against Martin Heidgen before convicting him of murder .

Summary: Heidgen crashed his vehicle into car , killing 7-year-old Katie Flynn and driver Stanley Rabinowitz .

Summary: Photo .


President Bush is all but daring Democratic leaders to attack his signature tax cuts as they take over Congress .

But Democrats , perhaps to his frustration , are having none of it .

In an opening salvo on Wednesday , Mr. Bush proclaimed that he would present a budget next month that manages to project a balanced budget by 2012 while permanently extending more than $ 1 trillion in tax cuts .

`` It is also a fact that our tax cuts have fueled robust economic growth and record revenues , '' Mr. Bush wrote in an op-ed article for The Wall Street Journal .

`` We met our goal of cutting the deficit in half three years ahead of schedule . ''

The implicit message , which Republican lawmakers reinforced later , was that their tax cuts were popular with voters , that Republicans had proven the economic benefits of tax cuts and that Democrats would court disaster if they even hinted at rolling them back or repealing them .

But even as Democratic leaders continue to accuse Mr. Bush of having a reckless fiscal policy , they have refused to discuss dismantling his tax cuts or even to engage in a debate with him about the best way to stimulate economic growth .

`` It 's always the same old tired line with them -- ` Tax and spend , tax and spend , tax and spend , ' '' said Senator Kent Conrad , the North Dakota Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee .

`` We 're not going there . ``

At least not now .

Democratic leaders say they see no need to revisit Mr. Bush 's tax cuts for several years because they are not set to expire until the end of 2010 .

And they contend that the government could increase revenues as much as $ 100 billion a year simply by closing the `` tax gap , '' taxes that are owed but not paid .

When asked about their tax plans , as they have been again and again since Nov . 7 , Democratic leaders insist they want to preserve many of the middle-class tax cuts like the child tax credit and a reduction in the so-called `` marriage penalty '' for two-income households .

The Democrats ' coyness is less than candid .

Although it is true that Mr. Bush 's tax cuts have four more years of life , it is also true that Congress faces serious fiscal headaches that can not be postponed for even a full year .

One of those challenges is the Iraq war .

The conflict is likely to cost far more than $ 100 billion this year , even if the United States began reducing troop levels .

So far , Mr. Bush has kept war spending out of the regular budget request that he sends to Congress each February , instead seeking the money on an expedited as-needed basis .

Democrats say , however , that they will not accede to such requests , as their Republican predecessors did , because they sidestep the process by which Congress normally debates spending priorities .

Perhaps the bigger and more enduring problem is the alternative minimum tax , a tax that was originally intended for the richest households but that has been not adjusted for inflation and is rapidly engulfing tens of millions of middle-class families every year .

To prevent the alternative tax from becoming a de facto tax increase , Congress has been passing temporary fixes for the last several years .

Those fixes now cost more than $ 50 billion a year , and the cost is expected to climb sharply for the rest of the decade .

Repealing the alternative minimum tax , a goal shared by Democrats and Republicans , would reduce government revenues by about $ 1 trillion over the next 10 years and would be a huge drain on the Treasury that nobody in either party has figured out how to finance .

Democrats , meanwhile , have a wish list of their own .

House Democrats plan to reduce interest rates on student loans by half as part of their plan to pass measures that they have long favored in the first 100 legislative hours .

Democrats also want to funnel more money to develop alternative energy sources , domestic security and the Children 's Health Insurance Program .

House Democrats plan to reintroduce tough new `` pay-go '' budget rules as early as this Friday .

Under `` pay-go , '' which governed spending measures in the 1990s but expired in 2002 , new entitlement programs or new tax cuts have to be matched by comparable spending cuts or tax increases .

Politicians in both parties may be feeling a temporary reprieve from fiscal pressures because the budget deficit has indeed declined sharply in the last two years .

Largely because of big back-to-back increases in tax revenue for the last two years , the deficit shrank to $ 248 billion in 2006 from a peak of $ 412 billion in 2004 .

Measured as a share of the total economy , the approach economists view as more meaningful than the deficit size in dollars , the shortfall is 1.9 percent of the gross domestic product , modest by historical standards .

But many budget analysts remain highly skeptical about Mr. Bush 's promise to eliminate the deficit , noting that the balanced budget would not occur until four years after he had left office .

One reason for the skepticism is that the government would be renewing all of Mr. Bush 's tax cuts at precisely the time that the 76 million baby boomers have begun pouring into retirement and claiming government benefits from Social Security and Medicare .

White House budget forecasts have also proven wildly wrong in both good years and bad , as tax revenue plunged far more than officials predicted from 2001 through 2004 and climbed faster than predicted in 2005 and 2006 .

Despite the recent jump in tax receipts , moreover , federal tax collections are still low as a share of the total economy .

Spending , on the other hand , climbed sharply as a share of the economy and remains high by historical standards .

Mr. Conrad of the Budget Committee acknowledged on Tuesday that higher taxes , especially on wealthier families , would eventually have to be part of a comprehensive plan that included tough spending restraint and an overhaul of entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare .

`` I believe that if Americans are told the truth they will support actions necessary to address the budget , '' he said .

`` If we 're going to be honest about this , it 's going to require both sides ' giving up some of their fundamental positions . ``

But other Democratic lawmakers say it would be almost pointless to lead an unpopular fight over raising taxes until Republicans are willing to share some of the political pain .

With Mr. Bush almost certain to fight almost any effort to revisit his tax cuts , and Republicans in Congress unlikely to rebel against the president , Democrats are inclined to wait until after Mr. Bush is gone .

THE 110TH CONGRESS : NEWS ANALYSIS .

Summary: News analysis notes even as Democratic leaders continue to accuse Pres Bush of reckless fiscal policy , they refuse to discuss dismantling his popular tax cuts or even engage in debate about best way to stimulate economy .

Summary: Still , Congress faces serious fiscal problems that can not be postponed .


The sleek , bulbous-nosed new bullet trains here look like they are designed to whisk passengers across wide-open spaces .

But on this congested island , they represent the start of a 180-mile-per-hour commuter train system .

After a quarter century of planning and construction , the system is scheduled to open on Jan . 5 .

It will tie together cities and towns where 94 percent of Taiwan 's population lives , offering an alternative to clogged highways and the air pollution the vehicles on them produce .

For some urban planners and environmentalists , the project is an example of how Asia may be able to control oil imports , curb fast-rising emissions of global-warming gases and bring a higher standard of living to enormous numbers of people in an environmentally sustainable way .

Passengers who travel on a fully loaded train will use only a sixth of the energy they would use if they drove alone in a car and will release only one-ninth as much carbon dioxide , the main gas linked to global warming .

Compared with a bus ride , the figures are half the energy and a quarter of the carbon dioxide , train system officials said .

But the system 's enormous cost -- $ 15 billion , or $ 650 for every man , woman and child on Taiwan -- has made it a subject of dispute .

And a series of commercial disputes since the project began in 1980 has produced a remarkable hodgepodge : French and German train drivers who are allowed to speak only English with Taiwanese traffic controllers while operating Japanese bullet trains on tracks originally designed by British and French engineers .

The system has become so complex that the leader of Taiwan 's consumer movement is calling for citizens to boycott it entirely until extensive safety data is released .

`` Cherish your life , do n't be a guinea pig , `` Cheng Jen-hung , the chairman of the Consumers ' Foundation , said in an interview , repeating his group 's slogan .

With 900 passengers on a fully loaded train , he warned , `` if there is an accident , there will be very heavy casualties . ''

Arthur Chiang , the vice president for administration at Taiwan High Speed Rail , said the system was completely safe .

But he acknowledged that the project had been bedeviled by opposition .

`` Pandora 's box has already opened and everything has come out except hope and mutual trust , `` he said during a recent test run on one of the new trains from the capital , Taipei , in the north , to the city of Taichung , in west-central Taiwan .

`` We just wanted to make it simple , but we failed , '' he added .

`` Politics is one of the factors . ''

Using overhead electric lines instead of diesel locomotives , the trains will run from Taipei down through western Taiwan to Kaohsiung , the main industrial city in the south .

That is a distance of 215 miles , about the same as between New York and Washington .

The system will start with 19 trains in each direction daily and eventually will be able to handle 88 trains daily in each direction .

Planning started in 1980 , when Taiwan was still under martial law .

The route was preliminarily picked in 1991 , as Taiwan was starting on the path to become the vibrant , even tempestuous , democracy that it is today .

Every large city and town along the route lobbied to have its own stop and new railway station , and a succession of governments agreed .

Three trains a day will travel from Taipei to Kaohsiung in 90 minutes , with just one stop , in Taichung .

But most of the trains will make six intermediate stops , lengthening travel time to two hours and seven minutes .

That is still 38 minutes faster than Amtrak 's Acela Express between New York and Washington , which also has up to six intermediate stops but a lower top speed .

But flights between Taipei and Kaohsiung take just 40 minutes .

Enormous stations resembling state-of-the-art airport terminals have been built on the outskirts of each city along the route except Taipei , where the existing main rail station is being used .

The new stations can not be in most downtown areas because of the difficulty in acquiring land for tracks : the high-speed trains travel almost entirely on specially built , 60-foot-tall viaducts to avoid the need to cross roads .

Smaller trains and buses will link the new stations to downtown .

Although many urban planners see systems like this one as positive for the environment , Lee Schipper , the research director at Embarq , an environmental transport research group in Washington , said the system could eventually increase the use of energy , rather than save it , if the ease of using the trains encouraged people to move farther away from work .

The expectation in Taiwan is that the train system will attract a lot of users at first , notwithstanding Mr. Cheng 's call for a boycott .

The consumer movement here is not as big or visible as it was even 10 years ago .

A French train driver sporting a magnificent handlebar mustache , who declined to give his name , sent Mr. Chiang 's train hurtling down the tracks on the recent test run .

The driver said the trains were actually simpler to operate than those in France .

`` It 's easier , it 's all automatic , `` he said in French .

But the requirement that all communications take place in English is a complication , he added .

The electronic displays in the cabs of each train are also in English .

The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation is training Taiwanese drivers to replace the European drivers and plans to switch the entire system to spoken Chinese and Chinese-language computer displays in about three years , Mr. Chiang said .

The consortium had expected to hire experienced Japanese drivers , but the Japanese companies that made the trains were unable to persuade Japan 's rail system operators to transfer any of their drivers to Taiwan .

Whether the train system becomes a commercial success will partly depend on how many people use its somewhat inconveniently located stations , how quickly the land is developed around these stations and how much the tickets cost .

The initial price for a one-way , coach ticket from Taipei to Kaohsiung will be $ 44 , or two-thirds the price of a typical airline ticket .

Riding the train is much like a very low-altitude flight , and very quiet .

Chen Chi-cheng , a 5-year-old invited on the test run , watched with fascination as the rooftops of houses flashed past .

`` It 's like a plane , `` he said breathlessly .

TAIPEI JOURNAL .

Summary: Taiwan 's new bullet train system is scheduled to open on Jan 5 .

Summary: It will tie together cities and towns where 94 percent of its population lives and offer alternative to clogged highways and air pollution vehicles on them produce .

Summary: System 's enormous cost -- $ 15 billion -- has made it subject of dispute .

Summary: Some environmentalists worry that system could eventually increase use of energy , if ease of using trains encourages people to move farther away from work .

Summary: Project 's decades of planning and construction recalled .

Summary: Photos .

Summary: Map .