Idaho State University

A weekly column about humans as they interact with things that beep, buzz, ring and download. * Dear Button Pusher: When I have to select a new password, which I seem to have to do more and more of late, I always have trouble. I'm torn between picking numbers and letters at random and choosing words with some personal meaning to me. I figure a random password is more secure, but it's harder to remember.

One after the other, economists from 11 Western states said the Asia crisis will slow the economies of their states for the next one to two years. Arizona's exports are down 20% because of Asia, economist Timothy Hogan of Arizona State University told the annual conference of the Center for the New West in Denver. "A decline in exports to Asia is slowing Colorado's job growth," said Nancy McCallin, chief economist of the Colorado Legislative Council.

Creation: The Story of the Origin and Evolution of the Universe by Barry Parker (Plenum: $22.95; 289 pages) Wonder is the mother's milk of science. Why are things as they are? What is the truth behind the phenomena that we see? Can we explain the world around us, and if so, how can we do it? These are very difficult questions, both as a practical matter and philosophically.

The mystery surrounding the death of a Compton College honors student found in the trunk of a car parked in downtown San Diego deepened Thursday as a coroner's investigation determined that she did not die of a cocaine overdose, as San Diego police initially reported. But court records in Los Angeles County show that Lina Dolores Aldridge, 19, was undergoing drug rehabilitation counseling in connection with a cocaine possession case in the year leading up to her death.

The baseball world is focusing on Dallas today, saying goodby to Mickey Mantle in a funeral service his family chose not to keep private because of the Hall of Famer's many fans. Thousands are expected to attend the public service at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. Mantle's family would have preferred to keep it closed but instead will hold a separate, private wake, also today. The former New York Yankee died Sunday of cancer at 63.

National Astronomy Day will be celebrated around the country Saturday. The Griffith Observatory will mark the event with open house festivities throughout the day and a star party in the evening. Tours of the triple-beam solar telescope, not normally open to the public, will be offered during the day and the large Zeiss telescope will be open for daytime viewing of Venus.

The mystery surrounding the death of a Compton College honors student found in the trunk of a car parked in downtown San Diego deepened Thursday as a coroner's investigation determined she did not die of a cocaine overdose, as San Diego police had suggested. But court records in Los Angeles County show that Lina Dolores Aldridge, 19, was undergoing drug-rehabilitation counseling for cocaine possession in the year leading up to her death.

El Camino College football coach John Featherstone is still fuming about a controversial call that decided the Warriors' Saturday loss to Fullerton College. Trailing 33-31, Warrior kicker Erik Estrada was called on for a 21-yard field goal attempt with 21 seconds left. What followed is still up in the air. Estrada booted the ball high and far over the right upright, but the officials ruled the kick was wide. Featherstone still believes it was good.

Search for a Supertheory: From Atoms to Superstrings by Barry Parker (Plenum: $21.95; 292 pages, illustrated). What is the world made of? is a question that people have wondered about since the ancient Greeks. But only in this century has science zeroed in on the right answer, which turns out to be extraordinarily elusive. Theoretical physics is not easy. In fact, it's very hard.

In the 20th Century, there have been two periods of intense interest among physicists in unifying aspects of their science. The first began around 1919, following the astronomical confirmation of Einstein's general relativity theory. Several attempts were made by Einstein and others to combine gravity and electromagnetism into a single "unified field theory." These attempts ultimately failed, although some ideas useful to later physics emerged from them.