A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ta suggest that CRM training could bring these two disparate cultures into great

er cohesion , '' they said . John O' Brien , director of engineering and air saf

ety for the Air Line Pilots Association , said the association has been pursuing

 joint training and CRM as a goal since 1986 . He said pilots can encourage the 

flow of information by such simple practices as saying thank you for information

 , even if it isn't needed . Flight attendants may withhold vital information if

 `` the flight deck responds by jumping down someone 's throat . '' Nancy Gilmer

 , chairman of the Association of Flight Attendants ' safety committee , said fl

ight attendants are trained to inform pilots of possible problems , but `` it ha

sn't been stressed in training . '' The report said a major source of confusion 

is the Federal Aviation Administration 's `` sterile cockpit '' rule , which say

s that crew members should strictly stick to their duties during `` a critical p

hase of flight . '' Generally , this is interpreted to mean any operations below

 10,000 feet . It bans `` nonessential communications between the cabin and cock

pit crews . '' One of the greatest problems the study identified is airline corp

orate structure . Pilots report to the flight operations department , where safe

ty is the major concern , while attendants usually report to the marketing depar

tment , where service is the main concern . Another problem is that cockpit and 

cabin crews no longer serve as a team for long periods . Attendants may work for

 as many as five cockpit crews in one day .

 Stay home Friday nights this summer and see the first-season replays of Fox 's 

`` The X-Files '' that you probably missed . The series debuted to little fanfar

e in September but finished a strong first season in May so strong it has become

 one of those shows with a so-called `` cult following . '' `` Each week we set 

out to scare the pants off people , '' said creator , writer and producer Chris 

Carter . `` We try to do it in a number of ways , but we have found that some of

 our most effective episodes have been dark ones , in both psychological content

 and the look of the show . `` I think that there is a general mood to ` The X F

iles , ' although each of them ( episodes ) have their own dark sensibility . ''

 Fox 's frightening Friday series is slated to return next fall . A blend of sci

ence and the supernatural , the series focuses on two smart FBI special agents w

hose relationship is based on mutual respect and intellectual attraction . Gilli

an Anderson , 25 , plays the stoic Dana Scully , recruited by the FBI out of med

ical school . David Duchovny , 33 , is Fox `` Spooky '' Mulder , the scientist w

ho studies serial killers and is willing to suspend credibility to get to the tr

uth , which , as the show 's mantra phrases it , `` is out there . '' Nothing od

d or unusual is off limits to Scully and Mulder 's caseload , be they mediums , 

psychic phenomena , UFOs , mutating humans , firestarters or the Jersey Devil . 

This week 's episode is a particularly gruesome one called `` The Squeeze , '' a

bout a man who can live indefinitely , shifting his shape , as long as his diet 

includes the livers of freshly killed humans . The eeriest part of `` The X-File

s '' may be knowing that the plots are based on factual reports . The May 13 sea

son finale tied in the newsmaking case of a California cancer victim whose dying

 body emitted fumes that overcame an emergency-room staff . `` Many of our ideas

 spring from actual accounts , essays , pieces in journals that we expand by pos

iting ` what if , ' ' ' Carter said . He said he forages for ideas from news rep

orts but has been particularly influenced by Harvard professor John Mack 's 1991

 Roper Survey describing UFO abductions . ( Mack has estimated that 3.7 million 

Americans may have been abducted by UFOs . ) `` That was part of my original ins

piration , '' he said . The fact that alien phenomena was being taken seriously 

, studied scientifically by a man who works at Harvard , `` gave it a legitimacy

 . I thought that that gave me some heavy ammunition with which to set out . '' 

Yet Carter himself sounds as if his feet are firmly planted on the earth . `` I 

would not call myself a New-Ager , '' he said , although many of his fans may be

 . `` My brother is a Ph.D. he 's a physicist , '' he said . `` He became the sc

ientist of the family . But I think that there 's a big part of me that is inter

ested in what he does . '' The show , shot in Vancouver , B.C. , has a burgeonin

g following , including a fan club based in New Hampshire and heavy traffic on t

he Internet computer network . Carter 's assistant prints out messages for him `

` instant feedback , '' he called it . Carter acknowledged that he listens to fa

n reaction to the episodes but pays little attention to suggestions for stories 

. `` We have a very clear vision of the show and what we want to do , '' he said

 . That means no plans for romance between Scully and Mulder . `` Everyone thoug

ht that there would be a lot of weirdos coming out of the woodwork , '' said Car

ter . `` We 've had a few , but mostly we 've had people who have enjoyed the sh

ow because they think the stories are well told . '' Perhaps the show appeals be

cause it challenges our set notions , as did Rod Serling 's `` The Twilight Zone

 . '' But what is the goal of the show ? To scare , amaze , mystify or simply ra

ise a lot of pertinent questions ? `` All of the above , '' said Carter . `` I t

hink that comparison ( with ` The Twilight Zone ' ) only goes so far . Those sho

ws became allegories . I think that each episode did not explore a bigger theme.

 .. . We set out to find something , a subject , and we twist it , and we try to

 make it take place in the realm of extreme possibility . And that 's where the 

biggest scare comes from . '' The show 's title refers to secret government file

s on the paranormal . Files starting with an ` X ' fall into the unexplainable/p

aranormal category , presumably stored in a clandestine vault beneath the Pentag

on . The series has the government trying to conceal many unusual occurrences .

 WASHINGTON There may be a few less young interns working on Capitol Hill this s

ummer : A congressional internship program that would support nearly 300 summer 

interns has been suspended by the House as part of an effort to cut staff . Memb

ers of Congress were notified May 16 that the Lyndon Baines Johnson internship ,

 which has made it possible for congressional offices to hire a two-month intern

 each year since 1974 , will not authorize funding for any more interns this yea

r . While the funding cut poses problems for those congressional offices that ha

ve already committed to summer interns , it is unlikely to thwart the plans of t

hose students . Hill offices say they will find savings in other areas to pay th

e interns . `` We 'll just look within our own budget and find a way to cut it .

 Maybe there 's a magazine subscription we don't need , maybe we can look at tho

se small things that add up , '' said Mary Fetsch of the office of Rep. Elizabet

h Furse , D-Ore . . The LBJ intern will be the only intern on Furse 's staff thi

s summer . Other offices have multiple interns , including those from university

-sponsored programs , volunteers from members ' districts , or paid interns from

 the office 's personnel budget . `` It will take out one of our paid internship

s , '' said Charlie Boesel , an aide to Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr , R-Va . `` Fou

r six-week internships that Bliley pays for out of his own annual staff appropri

ations willn't be affected . '' In addition , Bliley 's office often takes advan

tage of an unpaid internship program American University offers . In anticipatio

n of the funding cut , Rep. James P. Moran Jr. , D-Va. , did not hire an LBJ int

ern for this summer . In contrast , Rep. Scotty Baesler , D-Ky. , will have two 

one-month LBJ interns one who started May 1 and one who starts June 1 who will n

ow have to be paid out of the office 's personnel budget . Because each office h

as a different combination of available funds for personnel , office space and s

tarting dates for intern hiring , the LBJ cut will affect some members more than

 others . Congress is trying to match a 4 percent staff cut in the executive bra

nch over the next two fiscal years .

 The Federal Reserve Board decides to raise interest rates by a hefty one-half p

ercent and Wall Street cheers ? Either financial markets are truly perverse , as

 some at the White House have suggested , or something else is going on . And it

 isn't inflation . The United States under the Clinton administration is locked 

on a collision course between its desired domestic economic agenda and the deman

ds of the international financial community . President Clinton has set great st

ore on his ability to deliver low interest rates as the result of prudent budget

 decisions . While administration officials early on dismissed the stock market 

as a credible judge of their economic program ( `` It goes up , it goes down '' 

) , they have pointed to the low 30-year Treasury bond rate with pride and satis

faction . But since that benchmark rate started climbing precipitously this year

 it reached as high as 7.60 percent on May 11 , compared with 5.78 on Oct. 14 th

e White House has been scrambling to explain to the American people what has cha

nged . As it turns out , the U.S. domestic economic scene hasn't changed much in

 the past seven months , except for the better : Employment is up , inflation is

 down . What has been driving interest yields higher is the insistence by foreig

n investors that they be compensated for the impact of a falling dollar . Ever s

ince Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen uttered `` I 'd like to see a stronger yen

 '' at the National Press Club a month after Clinton 's inauguration , the value

 of the dollar has been up for grabs in international currency markets . Clinton

 himself compounded the jawboning factor last spring , when he announced at a jo

int press conference with Japan 's visiting prime minister that the weak dollar 

was `` number one '' on a list of the `` things working today which may give us 

more results '' in shrinking the U.S. trade deficit with Japan . Global currency

 traders took notice . If officials in the White House wanted to see the dollar 

go down against the yen , they would be only too happy to accommodate them . Wit

hin four months , the dollar would hit post-World War II record lows approaching

 100 yen to the dollar . Still , bond yields seemed relatively unaffected by the

 sagging dollar until early this year . Then , suddenly , the dollar began losin

g value against the German mark also . Now global investors were demanding highe

r interest rates to offset the projected exchange rate loss from investing in do

llar-denominated financial instruments . By late April , officials at Treasury a

nd the White House were alarmed by the backwash effect of a weak dollar on U.S. 

bond yields . A massive intervention effort carried out by the Fed in conjunctio

n with the central banks of 15 other nations on May 4 gave currency speculators 

temporary pause as they weighed the willingness of foreign governments to endles

sly shell out reserves to buy dollars . But U.S. bond yields continued to soar .

 A surprise move on May 11 by the Bundesbank to dramatically cut German interest

 rates tipped the currency scale in favor of the dollar . Still , investors were

 waiting for the other shoe to drop . Two weeks ago , with a Fed hike of 50 basi

s points in both the discount rate and the federal funds rate , it did . So even

 as sharply rising interest rates are spooking average Americans and undermining

 the fundamental assumptions of Clinton 's domestic economic program , the inter

national financial markets are merely pacified for the present . Wall Street 's 

seeming approval of the jump two weeks ago in key interest rates is a reflection

 of that . It does not mean U.S. business is eager to embrace a higher cost of c

apital or that consumers are ready to absorb higher borrowing costs . Are financ

ial markets irrational , superstitious ? To the contrary . They are not prone to

 inflation myths , as Laura D' Andrea Tyson , chairman of the president 's Counc

il of Economic Advisers , would have us believe . They are registering their leg

itimate response to the Clinton administration 's demonstrated willingness to le

t the dollar slide to achieve perceived gains in foreign trade . What is pervers

e is to proclaim a commitment to a strong dollar , as Clinton did in December 19

92 ( when it took 124 yen to buy a dollar ) , and then expect investors to passi

vely absorb exchange rate losses as the White House talks down the value of Amer

ica 's currency .

 WASHINGTON The white stone blocks used in some patios , driveways and walkways 

in the Washington area have names and dates engraved on one side . Thousands of 

weathered and damaged burial markers from graves at Arlington National Cemetery 

have been discarded over the years , and many of them apparently were scavenged 

from landfills and used for home projects , cemetery officials said . They are s

ometimes discovered after a home changes hands , and startled homeowners contact

 the cemetery . `` We get these calls all the time , '' said Herman Higgenbottom

 , deputy superintendent of the cemetery . `` It 's not unusual for someone to b

uy a house in Washington and find one in the yard or the basement , and then the

y call us up . Years ago , people used to steal them from the dump and build pat

ios with them . '' Higgenbottom , an employee of the cemetery for 29 years , sai

d he understood the distress of the callers . `` I 'd be upset too if I found ce

metery markers around my house . '' Arlington gravestones are replaced at a rate

 of about 100 a month , a spokeswoman said . The markers used to be left intact 

at a landfill . In 1987 , the cemetery began pulverizing discarded gravestones ,

 the spokeswoman said , in part because of calls from those who found the marker

s that had been discarded in earlier years . Arlington National Cemetery is the 

best known of the country 's more than 100 military cemeteries . More than 225,0

00 service veterans and family members are buried on the 612 acres of former far

mland . According to literature supplied by the cemetery , about 18 burials are 

conducted there each weekday . More than 160 of the stones , turned face down , 

were made into a patio behind a Northeast Washington apartment building . In the

 basement were three more of the large , group markers inscribed with the names 

of 19 men who died in World War II . Vietnam-era veteran Ed Siemion , who was hi

red to repair one of the four apartments in the building , discovered the stones

 and showed them to a reporter last week . `` It gave me chills when I saw them 

, '' Siemion said .

 Holiday drivers who pulled into service stations across the nation last weekend

 were taking advantage of one of the country 's great bargains : gasoline has ne

ver been cheaper than it has been this year , compared with what people pay for 

other goods and services . Encouraged by the low cost of fuel , Americans have b

een buying more and more cars and light trucks a category that includes most min

ivans and driving them farther . For instance , the American Automobile Associat

ion estimated before the holiday that 25 million people used a car , light truck

 or recreational vehicle to drive more than 100 miles from home this weekend , w

hile another 3.5 million traveled that distance by airplane , train or bus . `` 

The major reasons for the . . . record number of holiday travelers include an im

proved economy , low gasoline prices , stable lodging and meal costs and airfare

 discounts , '' said AAA Potomac . The low cost of the kerosene type jet fuel mo

st commercial airliners use is one reason so many airlines are offering discount

ed fares . Actual jet fuel prices this year are about half what they were in 198

1 , and compared with prices of other industrial products , they are down much m

ore than that . However , it 's not just travel that 's affected by low fuel pri

ces . Experts say one reason that sales have been booming for pickup trucks , mi

nivans and four-wheel-drive vehicles which generally are less fuel efficient tha

n most cars is that fuel cost is not a deterrent . Meanwhile , low fuel costs ar

e having a major impact on air pollution , particularly in urban areas , accordi

ng to a number of analysts . The most important point is simply that people are 

driving more miles . `` Since 1970 vehicle miles traveled have increased by 69 p

ercent , partially offsetting reductions in emissions per mile brought about by 

new-car emissions standards , '' recently wrote Winston Harrington and Margaret 

A . Walls , analysts at Resources for the Future , a Washington environmental re

search organization . Harrington and Walls also note that the average age of the

 U.S. fleet of vehicles has gone up substantially , compounding the problem . ``

 Emissions control systems tend to break down as cars get older , causing emissi

ons to rise , '' they said . While it may be that the newer generation of cars a

nd light trucks are more durable than their predecessors , low fuel costs also h

ave encouraged many owners of older , less fuel efficient vehicles to keep them 

on the road longer . Some analysts have suggested that a cost-effective way to r

educe emissions is to have a public agency buy and scrap such cars to upgrade th

e average level of emissions control effectiveness . Several other pollution con

trol strategies could directly affect the price of gasoline , at least initially

 . For instance , the Environmental Protection Agency has suggested that reformu

lating the cocktail of refined petroleum products that make up a gallon of gasol

ine could reduce certain emissions in a cost-effective way while adding about 3 

cents a gallon to the cost of making the fuel . Reformulating the mix to allow v

ehicles to meet stringent targets set by the state of California would cost an a

dded 8 cents to 11 cents a gallon . But even if such an approach were taken , th

e average motorist might well not end up paying that much . There are two concre

te examples to the contrary : lead and taxes . Under the terms of air pollution 

control laws passed in the 1970s and tightened later , gasoline refiners were re

quired to phase out the use of tetraethyl lead , an additive that effectively up

graded the quality of the fuel . However , part of the additive came out the tai

l pipe along with the other emissions and added significantly to the amount of l

ead in the air , especially in congested areas . Lead is a metal that when taken

 into the body can cause severe health problems , including permanent reduction 

in mental capacity in children . At the time , there were complaints from the oi

l industry that if the use of tetraethyl lead was stopped , more expensive parts

 of a refined barrel of crude oil would have to be used in its place to provide 

satisfactory performance in most cars . Almost all of the gasoline produced in t

he United States today is lead-free , and even if it costs more to make than if 

tetraethyl lead were still in use , the added expense has not been enough to inc

rease the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline at the pump . Neither have the st

eady increases in taxes levied on fuel by federal , state and some local governm

ents . Last Oct. 1 , for example , the federal government raised its motor fuel 

tax by 4.3 cents a gallon as part of the package of measures to reduce prospecti

ve federal budget deficits . During the debate over the legislation , some lawma

kers and environmentalists argued for a much larger increase in the tax both to 

generate more revenue and to discourage gasoline consumption . In September , th

e average , seasonally adjusted pump price for unleaded regular gasoline across 

the nation was $ 1.085 a gallon , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . 

The next month , with the higher tax in effect , the price jumped to $ 1.127 . B

y January , despite the tax , it was back down to $ 1.043 and in April , the lat

est figure available , it stood at $ 1.064 . While all those forces have been pu

shing up the cost of gasoline , other forces have been holding it down . The mos

t significant , of course , is the world price of crude oil . Another reality of

 the marketplace is that the average fuel efficiency of the U.S. fleet of vehicl

es has gone up enough that , despite all the added miles being driven on Memoria

l Day weekends and the rest of the year , the nation 's total consumption of gas

oline is no higher now than it was in the late 1970s .

 WASHINGTON President Clinton has taken pains to avoid a public quarrel with the

 Federal Reserve over its decision to increase short-term interest rates , but ,

 privately , he has railed against the moves . And , according to Clinton admini

stration officials , he has sent staff scrambling to provide him with the latest

 details about where the economy and with it his political fortunes are headed .

 White House deputy economic adviser Gene Sperling can tick off key economic dat

a almost to the minute . He can tell you , for example , that on Friday the econ

omy is likely to create its three-millionth job since Clinton took the oath of o

ffice . In recent weeks , White House aides have consulted a number of outside e

xperts on the dynamics of the `` political business cycle . '' Among them : Yale

 University economist Ray Fair , architect of the nation 's most sophisticated m

odel for predicting presidential election outcomes based on the performance of t

he economy . The only presidential contest Fair has called wrong was Clinton 's 

victory over President George Bush . And serving on the White House staff this y