PEOPLE Are Talking About …

* Why Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg isn't worried about people who think her doing the TV show "Hollywood Squares" is a major comedown in her stellar career. "I don't need to have three films coming out and watch my hair fall out worrying about the opening weekend gross," said Goldberg in TV Guide. "I like this schedule and the money is good."

* How NBA star Charles Barkley viewed retired basketball great Michael Jordan's comment as constructive criticism about Barkley's not being dedicated enough to the game to win a title. "Michael is probably my best friend, and I took it as a criticism but as a positive," Barkley said in USA Today. "I knew I had to get more dedicated and get in better shape because I did not take care of myself the last couple of years. If your friends can't be honest with you, nobody can. We talked about that all summer. He kept telling me, `This is your best chance. Get yourself in great shape, get healthy, and I like your chances.'"

* The message ofrapper-actor Ice-T, who built a reputation on his past as a gang member and pimp. He told students at the University of Toledo that a life of crime isn't all it's cracked up to be. "Crime is glamorous until you get caught," explained Ice-T, born Tracy Marrow, who took his stage name from the ex-pimp novelist Iceberg Slim. "You had the best clothes, the best cars, but you always ended up dead in the pen. I said to myself, `I can't go to jail. I'm too fly for that.' So I started thinking of an alternative way out." After spending four years in the U.S. Army, said Ice-T, he got into rap music. "When I was in the gang, I would do these raps for them. I was like the U.S.O for the gangs and kept them laughing."

* The father of the Houston octuplets, Iyke Louis Udobi, 41, who pleaded no contest to charges he assaulted his mother-in-law, Janet Chukwu, 63, and avoided jail in a deal that will remove the charge from his record if he stays out of trouble. Udobi, who received two years' deferred adjudication, which is similar to probation except the misdemeanor assault can be wiped from his record if he stays clear of trouble, was arrested and briefly jailed Sept. 21 for allegedly striking his mother-in-law with a chair. He had no prior criminal record. His wife, Nkem Chukwu, was not injured during the fracas.

* Celebrating birthdays this week are entertainer Harry Belafonte on March 1; Olympic great Jackie Joyner Kersee on March 3; soul singer Bobby Womack and actress-singer Miriam Makeba, both on March 4; actor Fred Williamson, comedian-actress Marsha Warfield and actor Michael Warren, all on March 5; and former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and singer Mary Wilson, both on March 6