Pont Company

Microcomputer Marketing of Irvine has signed a marketing agreement with PONT, a Hungarian manufacturer of computer monitors and engineering measurement devices, to sell PONT's 20-inch color monitors in the United States starting this fall. The monitors will be assembled by PONT from parts made in South Korea, Taiwan and Hungary. PONT is a small engineering company founded in 1983. The monitors will sell for less than $4,000, said David J. Stephenson, president of the Irvine firm.

Microcomputer Marketing of Irvine has signed a marketing agreement with PONT, a Hungarian manufacturer of computer monitors and engineering measurement devices, to sell PONT's 20-inch color monitors in the United States starting this fall. The monitors will be assembled by PONT from parts made in South Korea, Taiwan and Hungary. PONT is a small engineering company founded in 1983. The monitors will sell for less than $4,000, said David J. Stephenson, president of the Irvine firm.

For months (and months and months), presidential candidates have subjected themselves to relentless stumping, repetitive fundraising and vicious public scrutiny. They've endured far too many fact-checks, eaten far too many swing-state delicacies, kissed far too many swing-state infants. They've made promises no one could keep and gaffes no one could believe. Even with the exit polls now in sight, it's enough to make any sane person pause and wonder: Why would anyone run for president?

Hail to Du Pont! A company that can see through the almighty dollar to the big picture. LYNN ESCHBACH Carlsbad

Bob Ortiz surveyed the convention hall and shook his head. Spread across an area the size of 13 football fields at the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday were the bicycling industry's hippest, most innovative--and most expensive--offerings of shorts, sunglasses, racks and two-wheelers. It was the opening hours of a three-day trade exposition which one industry insider described as the "super bowl of the cycling trade shows." Ortiz, owner of a Bakersfield bike shop, was overwhelmed.

It's turkey time again, and the American family will soon be sitting down to its annual Thanksgiving feast and thinking about all the things for which it has to be thankful. In my family we start by thanking each other for the culinary contributions: sweet potato casserole, creamed onions, pumpkin pie, or whatever a relative has contributed to the gourmet potluck. After that, the occasion gets more solemn as we start giving thanks for the blessings we've enjoyed this past year.

This season, women will have many chances to put their best leg forward--stockingwise, that is. Brightest on the scene are textured, opaque tights, all in a dazzling rainbow of colors: reds, golds, greens, silvers and bright blues. Brand names high on the seasonal stockings--DKNY, Donna Karan and Hue--offer hosiery in micro matte. Stockings have a lengthy and textured past.

J.B. Nethercutt makes his money beautifying women. He spends it beautifying cars. The 87-year-old chemist's business is Merle Norman Cosmetics, the company his aunt Merle founded in Los Angeles in 1931 and that Nethercutt joined in 1932. He subsequently bought out the other shareholders and grew the business into one of the nation's most successful independent beauty products empires.

Workers at the Salt River Project, a Phoenix utility, had no trouble navigating the Internet after first connecting in 1994. In fact, they were a little too adept: A management check found that pornography sites were some of the most popular among employees. Today the utility uses special software that blocks pornography and other sites vetoed by management. As have many other companies, it has learned that the Net can be a double-edged sword.

THEIR satin-soft feel. The comforting protection they offer from breezes whistling chilly surprises up your baggies. Those are two good reasons why so many people seem to be wearing compression shorts these days, from basketball, hockey and tennis icons to the guy next door mowing his lawn. Many athletes believe the shorts have other, tangible benefits -- enhancing performance, speeding recovery from injury and possibly even preventing it.