NEWS LITE : NAMES IN THE NEWS CUBICLE CALL `DILBERT' MAKER DIALS IN FOR IDEAS.

Scott Adams, who gave a voice to disaffected cubicle workers through his ``Dilbert'' comic strip, is cold-calling his readers in search of new material.

The former Pacific Bell employee asks his readers to send their work phone numbers when they e-mail him. Adams, who gets about 350 e-mail messages a day, telephones the workers and asks them what they're doing at the moment he calls.

``I literally haven't found anybody doing any work yet,'' he told the Bloomberg Forum. ``So far, all the people I've called have been searching the Internet for personal business.''

Adams left his corporate cubicle 4S700R in 1995 to focus on his ``Dilbert'' cartoon strip, which now appears in about 1,500 newspapers worldwide, including the Daily News. The United Media character, through 43 licensing agreements, is used on such products as Gund plush toys, Fossil Inc. watches and Hallmark Cards Inc. cards and mugs.

Country's name change leads to U.N. shuffle

The rebellion and name change in Zaire means a shake-up at the United Nations, where everything from seating to flagpoles is assigned by alphabetical order.

Laurent Kabila's alliance has officially informed U.N. officials that it has renamed the central African nation from Zaire - near the end of the alphabet - to the Democratic Republic of Congo - near the front, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday.

Under U.N. rules, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan must now notify the 184 other U.N. members of the name change.

At that point, the seating arrangements will have to be changed in the General Assembly.

That means Kabila's delegation will give up its seats between Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe, and take up prime new posts somewhere around the head of the alphabet.

It's not clear yet whether that would be in the D's - for ``Democratic'' or the C's - for ``Congo.''

The name change back to Congo also entails raising and lowering of scores of national flags that fly outside U.N. headquarters, also in alphabetical order.

Vaughn's performance: So money

Vince Vaughn, you are so money.

Vaughn is starring in ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park,'' the high-budget sequel to Steven Spielberg's all-time box-office champ.

Until now, his biggest role was the martini-sipping, skirt-chasing Trent in the low-budget ``Swingers,'' a character whose favorite refrain is ``You are so money, baby.''

Now Vaughn has a role that's won him his own action figure and is sure to get him some A-list offers. He's ready for the change.

``I've been that guy in Hollywood who's on the outside, who's not in the mix, who's not getting the first-class auditions,'' Vaughn says in the issue of Rolling Stone magazine that hits newsstands Tuesday.

Spielberg concedes he knew nothing about the 27-year-old actor until he saw him in ``Swingers.''

``I found him to be so different from Trent that immediately I was struck with his ability to play character parts. And what about that name? Tell me that isn't the name of a '40s movie star,'' the director said.

Good proms come to those who wade

High school students in Grand Forks, N.D., who had to postpone their prom because of the flood, found out it's worth the wait - Soul Asylum will perform.

The Minneapolis rock band, best known for its million-selling 1992 album ``Grave Dancers Union,'' will play at the June 28 prom at a Grand Forks Air Force Base hangar, a publicist for the group said.

Students from Central and Red River high schools can attend the prom. The spring flooding ravaged 90 percent of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, Minn., across the Red River.

``Grave Dancers Union'' included the singles ``Runaway Train'' and ``Somebody to Shove.''

Dolly Parton out? She is on the cover

Has Dolly Parton come out? is the question these days as the country star turns up as the ``cover girl'' of the July issue of Out, a gay mag.

But she never comes clean in the magazine interview. She jokes around the issue, and, according to a source, ``you can come away from the piece believing what you like.''

The country star plays coy with statements like: ``I'm not the least bit gay - but my girlfriend is.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Summer's in the air

Trisha Rucker, left, driver Ashley Wolfe and a carload of other high school students depart a street party in Flagstaff, Ariz., celebrating the end of the school year. Police broke up the revelry, where about 75 teens exchanged volleys of eggs, shaving cream and butter.

Associated Press

(2) Vince Vaughn, center, stars in `The Lost World: Jurassic Park.''