Button

Just five weeks ago, Ronnie Moore could not do what most people take for granted -- cough to clear his lungs. Now Moore, a quadriplegic, coughs by pressing a button on a control box on his wheelchair. Moore's cough was the first performed electronically by a quadriplegic, said his doctor, Anthony F. DiMarco of Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center. Not being able to cough made Moore susceptible to respiratory infections such as pneumonia.

The sleek Infiniti G37 Cindy Marsh bought last August was the car of her dreams, equipped with the latest keyless electronics technology that allows her to start the engine with the touch of a button. But right away, the system gave her trouble. To get the engine started, she would sometimes have to tap the power button repeatedly. Sometimes it wouldn't start unless she opened and closed the car doors, Marsh recalled. She eventually adapted to the system's quirks but said that even now she isn't sure how to shut off the engine in an emergency.

No single standard applies Automakers have adopted different procedures for turning off engines in an emergency for cars with keyless ignitions. GENERAL MOTORS Corvette, Cadillac XLR: Push power button once. Cadillac SRX, Buick LaCrosse: Push and hold button for two seconds or tap button twice. FORD (includes Ford Taurus and Lincoln CCC) Push and hold power button for one second. TOYOTA (includes Toyota Avalon and most Lexus models)

The White House has announced that Bosnia has been "put on hold" for now. Is that like hitting the pause button on a VCR? Now all they need is for the belligerents to take the cue and freeze all action until Clinton gets back from his domestic tour and hits the play button again. H. SAIF Santa Monica

George Bush said, "46 years ago today, Sept. 7, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor." If he doesn't know when World War II began would he be able to know when to "push the button?" And could the good, bright Dan Quayle be able to help him find the button? RICHARD E. VAUGHN San Clemente

Why is everybody writing to this column complaining about sex and violence on TV when every television has its own built-in censoring device? It's called an off button. P. DuVal, Van Nuys

Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, not exactly new to making money, nevertheless was the first to "strike gold" when he stepped up to one of the seven-ton presses turning out coins commemorating the 200th anniversary of Congress and pushed the button to produce the first coin--a $5 gold piece featuring the Capitol dome. Coins produced during the ceremonial minting are expected to sell for a total of $22 million, to be used to help restore the Capitol.

As a happy TiVo owner, I wish to respond to one thing in Christine Rosen's Dec. 7 commentary, "Fast-Forward to Passivity," about TiVo's plans to flash advertisements to those fast-forwarding through commercials. She states, " ... you can fast-forward through recorded commercials but not skip them entirely." Not quite true. There is a fairly simple software fix that reprograms your remote control for a 30-second skip (the length of many TV commercials), and I'm sure this will be of value to many people when TiVo institutes its drive-by advertising plan, so I'd like to pass it on. This sequence will reprogram the tiny button used by TiVo owners to jump a paused live program to real time so it will do a 30-second forward skip instead: (1)