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• STONY BROOK, N.Y. (AP) -- Among the procedures Army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce performed on "M.A.S.H." was an end-to-end anastomosis.
• Most of the viewers, actor Alan Alda concedes, had no idea he was talking about removing a damaged piece of intestine and reconnecting the healthy pieces.
• Today, the award-winning film and television star is on a mission to teach physicians, physicists and scientists of all types to ditch the jargon and get their points across in clear, simple language.
• The former host of the long-running PBS series "Scientific American Frontiers" is a founder and visiting professor of journalism at the Stony Brook University Center for Communicating Science, which has just been named in his honor.
• "There's no reason for the jargon when you're trying to communicate the essence of the science to the public because you're talking what amounts to gibberish to them," Alda said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
• ___

• The coming-out part is over.
• Now Jason Collins needs a job.
• Collins' stunning announcement that he was a gay athlete in a major sport won overwhelming support from other players, coaches and executives -- even a phone call from the president.
• But it also came after the season ended for the 7-foot center and his Washington Wizards.
• The 34-year-old journeyman becomes a free agent on July 1 -- meaning that he will first have to sign with an NBA team and wait until next season to see if teammates, coaches, opponents and fans will treat him any differently.
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