Published by: Serendipity Weekly For Ad Rates call: (801) 616-6288 [email protected]May 3, 2011 The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read Volume 2011 Issue 18 Arrow Carpet Service 578 North 100 West • Orem, UT 801.221.2989 Mention this ad for "We imprint company logos on over 850,000 items." www.doodadspromotional.com 801.592.1101 151 North 300 West, Provo 801-373-2800 PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE • Oil Change • Tire Rotation • Trip Inspection NOW ONLY FREE OIL CHANGE WITH PURCHASE OF STATE SAFETY & EMISSIONS CHECK ALL FOR BUYING A CAR? Get Peace of Mind with a Pre-Purchase Inspection ! ONLY Get Ready for Spring Coupons Valid for Most Cars Not Valid with any Other Offer of Utah County Call (801) 616-6288 of Utah County GREAT JOB for college student, stay-at- home parent, or retired person. Flexible schedule. Looking for a Dynamic, Self-Starter who is interested in working from home representing TIDBITS of UTAH COUNTY to local businesses, on phone and in person, to promote advertising. Great Commission with on-going residuals! [email protected]HELP WANTED!!! Published by: Serendipity Weekly For Ad Rates call: (801) 616-6288 [email protected]FOOD FUN by T. A. Tafoya Where did that come from? Ever wonder how some of your favorite foods came to be? Tidbits takes a look at some fun food facts. • According to legend, a Jewish baker in 1683 baked the first bagel. This stirrup-shaped yeast dough was made to honor Jan Sobieski, a renowned horseman and the King of Poland, for saving the people of Austria from Turkish invaders. The baker named the hard roll beugel, the Austrian word for stirrup. The roll soon became a hit throughout Eastern Europe, and over time its shape and name evolved into the modern-day bagel. • What would the bagel be without cream cheese? In 1872, William Lawrence of Chester, N.Y., an Ameri- can cheese maker, was experimenting with a recipe for Neufchâtel, a soft French cheese. He didn’t get it quite right, but what was produced was a much softer, silkier cheese. The cheese maker realized that this new cheese was better suited as a spreadable cheese designed to be consumed fresh. It didn’t need to be molded and aged in the Neufchâtel style. He wrapped it in foil, and it was trademarked as Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese in 1880. turn the page for more!
Transcript
Published by: Serendipity Weekly For Ad Rates call: (801) 616-6288 [email protected]
FREE OIL CHANGE WITH PURCHASEOF STATE SAFETY & EMISSIONS CHECK
ALL FOR
BUYING A CAR? Get Peace of Mind with a Pre-Purchase Inspection !
ONLY
Get Ready for Spring
Coupons Validfor Most CarsNot Valid withany Other Offer
of Utah County
Call (801) 616-6288 of Utah County
3.25” W X 2.81”H
GREAT JOB for college student, stay-at-home parent, or retired person. Flexibleschedule. Looking for a Dynamic, Self-Starterwho is interested in working from homerepresenting TIDBITS of UTAH COUNTYto local businesses, on phone and in person, topromote advertising.
Published by: Serendipity Weekly For Ad Rates call: (801) 616-6288 [email protected]
FOOD FUNby T. A. Tafoya
Where did that come from? Ever wonder how some of your favorite foods came to be? Tidbits takes a look at some fun food facts.• According to legend, a Jewish baker in 1683 baked the fi rst bagel. This stirrup-shaped yeast dough was made to honor Jan Sobieski, a renowned horseman and the King of Poland, for saving the people of Austria from Turkish invaders. The baker named the hard roll beugel, the Austrian word for stirrup. The roll soon became a hit throughout Eastern Europe, and over time its shape and name evolved into the modern-day bagel. • What would the bagel be without cream cheese? In 1872, William Lawrence of Chester, N.Y., an Ameri-can cheese maker, was experimenting with a recipe for Neufchâtel, a soft French cheese. He didn’t get it quite right, but what was produced was a much softer, silkier cheese. The cheese maker realized that this new cheese was better suited as a spreadable cheese designed to be consumed fresh. It didn’t need to be molded and aged in the Neufchâtel style. He wrapped it in foil, and it was trademarked as Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese in 1880.
turn the page for more!
1. ASTRONOMY: The star called Rigel is part of which constellation?2. MYTHOLOGY: What did the god Frey repre-sent in Norse mythology?3. CHEMISTRY: What gas has the chemical symbol of CH4?4. MOVIES: Who directed “The Magnifi cent Ambersons” and “Touch of Evil”?5. HISTORY: Who was the fi rst English king to hold the title “Prince of Wales”?6. INVENTIONS: What was the name of the fi rst submarine commissioned by the U.S. Navy?7. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Who drew the fa-mous image of Uncle Sam proclaiming, “I Want You”?8. GEOGRAPHY: To what island group in the Caribbean does St. Croix belong?9. LITERATURE: Which writer’s autobiography is called “Black Boy”?10. POLITICS: Who was Adlai Stevenson’s vice-presidential running mate in 1956?v
Meandering through the awe-inspiring nature trail at Hen-ry Cowell Redwoods State Park in California over spring break, I heard a boy ask as he stared upward at a giant tree in front of him, “How many dads would you have to stand on top of each other to reach the top of the tree?” “That’s the fi rst time anyone has asked me that good ques-tion,” said 72-year-old docent Dr. Lenny Gerstein with a smile. “The tree is almost 270 feet tall, so at 6 feet per dad, that would probably be about 45 dads. Now almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty, it actually grew from a seed about the size of an oatmeal fl ake,” he said.Trees can be old and tall, and they can enrich our lives in many ways. Docent Lenny reminded us to put Friday, April 29, on our calendars and to get outside and discover new ways to celebrate Arbor Day with our families. Here are some ideas that work:1. Enjoy a healthy start to the day by adding fruits and nuts from trees to your breakfast cereal. Then, keep minds sharp by challenging your kids to identify 10 things in the kitchen that come from trees, such as your morning paper, textbooks, cutting boards, picture frames, stools, pencils, paper towels and the baseball bat leaning by the kitchen door. If there’s a dollar bill on the counter, this is a good opportunity to remind your kids that money does NOT grow on trees!2. Plant a tree this spring and watch it grow through the years, along with your child. 3. While in the produce section of a market, talk about where in the world tree fruits come from. While kiwi and coconuts come from far away, apples, peaches and al-monds might have grown nearby. 4. Go outside with your child and look up at the trees in your yard or nearby park. Talk about what trees provide in our daily lives, such as cleaner air, shade and wood for homes, skateboards and a backyard deck. Consider what trees provide for wildlife, too.5. Find a tree stump, and count the rings to discover its age.6. If you have a strong tree in your backyard, make it the centerpiece of spring fun. Use it as a home base for a game of hide-and-seek, make plans to have a picnic under it, hang a safe tree swing from it or construct an imagina-tive tree fort in it. And then if you feel brave, climb it!For more family activities, check out www.arborday.org.
Celebrate Trees on
Arbor Day
● Make children’s pills easier to swallow by crush-ing them and putting them in a bit of jelly or apple-sauce. Make sure, especially if it’s a prescription medicine, that it can be crushed. -- U.L. in Minnesota
● To keep kids from running into a closed sliding-glass door, cut out a small picture of something that’s brightly colored, “laminate” it by taping it across both sides and then tape it to the door at children’s eye level. -- E.R. in New York
● Painting season is in full swing at my house, and here are my two favorite painting tips: One is to lightly soap the windows (glass only) and let it dry.
Any paint splatters will land on the soap, which can be easily wiped away when the paint is dry. The oth-er is to give locks, hinges and doorknobs a light coat of petroleum jelly. It works the same way, and when polished away, it leaves a nice shine to hardware.
● Here’s a great spring facial: Split an avocado, mash half of it and use it as a mask. Let sit for up to five minutes, then rinse away with warm water.
● Cleaning windows? Use a nylon net scrubbie from the kitchen to remove bugs from screens. It also works really well to scrub bugs off the car grille or windshield.
● Here’s a great tip you can use when parallel park-ing in front of a storefront. Check the reflection to see if it looks like there’s room when backing in or pulling forward. -- O.W. in California
Send your tips to Now Here’s a Tip, c/o King Fea-tures Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475 or e-mail JoAnn at [email protected].
(c) 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.
Food Fun (continued)• Have you had your Wheaties today? In the 1920s, a Minneapolis health-spa owner made homemade bran gruel to feed his clients. The mixture helped keep them regular and helped them lose weight. One day, he dropped some on the stove, and it hardened into a crust. After tasting it, he liked it better than what was cooking in the pot. He made a sample batch to show a friend at the Washburn Crosby Company, which later became the General Mills Company. The original mixture was too crumbly, so they came up with a better fl ake using wheat. Jane Bausman, the wife of a company executive, thought up the name Wheaties. • Don’t skip your Wheaties! A study of 19,000 Ameri-cans found that people who skipped breakfast are more likely to gain weight because they tend to overcompen-sate for the loss of key nutrients at breakfast by eating more fat-rich, high-energy foods later in the day.• The oldest piece of chewing gum is 9,000 years old, but it was in 1906 that the fi rst “bubble gum” was in-vented by Frank Fleer. His fi rst batch produced a gum so sticky that if it got on your skin the only way to get it off was with vigorous scrubbing and turpentine. His recipe was fi nally perfected 22 years later by Walter Diemer in 1928. The 23-year-old Diemer was an accountant for Fleer Chewing Gum Company who experimented with new gum recipes in his spare time. His fi rst commercial batch of Dubble Bubble Gum just happened to be pink because that was the only food coloring on the shelf that day. Fleer’s gum became the most popular penny candy on the market. • In 1912, a Cleveland chocolate candy maker named Clarence Crane wanted to make a hard mint that wouldn’t melt in the summer heat to boost summer-time sales. While at the pharmacy buying bottled fl a-voring, he noticed the druggist using a hand operated pill-making machine that produced fl at, round pills. He
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1. Name the last baseball team before LSU in 2008-10 to win three consecutive SEC tournaments.2. In 2009, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim set a major-league record for most hitters in one season having at least 50 RBIs. How many were there?3. Who was the fi rst player in NFL history to earn a Pro Bowl selection at two
positions in the same season?4. In 2011, David Lighty became the third Ohio State men’s basketball player to tally 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists for his career. Name the fi rst two to do it? 5. In 2009-10, Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, at 20, became the third-youngest NHL player to hit the 50-goal mark for a season. Who were the two younger players? 6. Who won the fi rst gold medal in the Olympic men’s speed skating team pursuit in 2006?7. Name the last European golfer before Lee Westwood in 2010 to be No. 1 in the Offi cial World Golf Rankings.
Those in the know are already predicting what will happen with our Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in 2012. They’re consulting charts and graphics, sharpening their pencils and guesstimating. At this point there’s good and bad news, assuming the experts are correct.
No COLA for 2012 Either?
The good: We’ll likely get an increase of 1.1 percent to 1.2 percent, the fi rst increase since 2009.The bad: All of it likely will be eaten up by increases in Medicare Part B, which is deducted from our So-cial Security checks before we receive them. On the other hand, if the Part B increase is larger than the Social Security increase, they won’t take the dif-ference out of our checks.Supposedly when consumer prices go up, so does our monthly check. A tiny increase apparently means our daily costs haven’t gone up much.For those who haven’t applied for Social Security yet: If you take Social Security before your Normal Retirement Age, you get dinged for the money you
Food Fun (continued)contracted with the pharmacy to press the mints into shape. The machinery malfunctioned and stamped the candy with a hole in the middle. After looking at the shape, it reminded him of a life preserver so he called them Lifesavers.• Did you know ketchup didn’t always contain toma-toes? The Chinese invented it in the 1600s, and this mixture had no tomatoes but a lot of pickled fi sh and spices. In the early 1700s, British explorers encountered the sauce in Malaysia. By 1740, it was a British staple and was then renamed ketchup. Tomatoes became an ingredient in the late 1700s when New England colo-nists added them to the mixture, and modern-day ketch-up was born. Tomatoes may have been added sooner, but they were once thought to be poisonous. Henry J. Heinz introduced bottled ketchup in 1875, and by the 1980s, Heinz Ketchup was in one of every two Ameri-can households.• In 1905 in San Francisco, an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson was mixing powdered fl avoring in a glass of soda and water. He accidentally left the glass with the stirring stick in it on his back porch overnight. He found it frozen the next morning. This gave Epper-son an idea, and 18 years later in 1923, he started selling “the Epsicle ice pop” for fi ve cents, later changing the name to Popsicle.• In 1930, Ruth Wakefi eld was making chocolate cook-ies at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. She ran out of baking chocolate so she broke a bar of semi-sweet chocolate into little pieces and added them to the dough. When the cookies came out of the oven, the chocolate hadn’t melted. Instead there were little chips of chocolate scattered throughout the cookie. She called her new creation Toll House Crunch Cookies. She later sold the recipe to Nes-tle. No one can eat just one! In 1853, at the Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York, a diner sent an order of french fries back to the kitchen because they were too thick. The chef, George Crum, remade the fries thinner this time, but the customer sent those back too. Crum decided to teach the diner a lesson, so he
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Mulching Is Rite of Spring
Tidbits® of Utah County Page 4
It’s mid-April as I write this, and my neighborhood is awash in the aroma of freshly laid bark mulch. Where I live, surrounded by professional landscapers, the tall shrubs are unwrapped well ahead of the fi rst spring blooms and mulch covers the edges of lawns as far as the eye can see.What’s the point of mulch, you ask -- other than as decoration? Mulch provides protection for both soil and plants, preventing dirt from washing away in spring rains and exposing plant roots, while simultaneously repelling insects and rodents and discouraging weeds from taking root.So, what’s the best mulch to use? It depends. The term “mulch” is pretty generic; it basically describes any ma-terial spread around or over plants to enrich or insulate the soil. Here are some common mulches and their use.Inorganic mulch: Rocks or gravel, recycled rubber tires, landscape fabric and plastic sheeting are typical of inor-ganic products used to prevent erosion and weeds.Organic mulch: Commercially available mulch tends to be comprised of tree bark or wood chips. But other mulches can be created at home, including compost, grass clippings, dried leaves and pine needles. Dried straw is another type of organic mulch.Bark mulch is excellent for protecting the surface roots of trees and shrubs, but not so good for gardens, as its high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio can hinder growth of veg-etables and fl owers.Gravel or rocks work as decorative landscaping, but don’t place them directly over tree or shrub roots as they can heat up in the sun, damaging the roots beneath.Using compost? Check for a “sour mulch” condition -- a strong vinegary or silage odor -- before spreading in the garden. If the compost seems sour, turn the pile well to introduce oxygen and make sure it has good drainage, and wait until the sour smell goes away before using.How deep should bark mulch go? Three inches is a good depth, as it protects roots while allowing air and water to penetrate.What shouldn’t mulch touch? Keep it six inches or more away from your home’s foundation and siding, as well as from the base of tree trunks.
HOME TIP: Need to dispose of old organic mulch? Find out if your municipality has a yard waste collection program before dumping the old mulch in the regular garbage.
make. You are penalized $1 for every $2 you make above $14,160. That goes up to $1 for every $3 above $37,680. Income from pensions, capital gains and annuities is not counted.Still, if you’re “under age” and still working, yet you want to collect Social Security, do the calculations carefully. Call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 to have it do the calculations as well. This is no time to be wrong. Remember, too, that you’ll pay taxes on Social Security if your income exceeds a certain amount: $25,000 if you’re single, and $32,000 if you fi le jointly.The COLA fi gures for 2012 will be fi nalized in Oc-tober. Cross your fi ngers.
To Your Good Health By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Can I reverse sarcopenia, or just slow it down? What I would like to know is what can I do for my thighs? How often should I do it? And I’d like something for my stomach. -- J.H.
ANSWER: For readers: Sarcopenia is muscle shrinkage that comes with age.Weightlifting stops the wasting away of muscles and builds them up. Older people are not going to develop the same muscle size that a 20-year-old can, but they can see a marked improvement in their strength and an increase in muscle size through weightlifting.For your specific thigh problem, the squat is a good exercise. From the standing position, you bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground. You don’t have to touch your heels with your buttocks. Lower yourself only to the position I mentioned. Farther than that can hurt the knees.Start out doing the exercise with no additional weight. Your body weight is enough at first. As you gain experience and strength, you can use additional weight, either a barbell supported behind your neck and on your shoulders, or you can hold on to weights. When you start using weights, exercise three times a week with a full day’s rest between exercise sessions.For your abdomen, the bicycle maneuver is one of the best exercises. Lie on the floor and raise your legs straight up. Then bend the knees to a right angle so your lower legs are parallel to the floor. Now start pedaling as though you were riding a bike.Readers interested in starting an exercise program can obtain the booklet on exercise by writing to: Dr. Donohue -- No. 1301W, Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Canada with the recipient’s printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: When you and others tell people to walk for exercise, exactly what does that mean in terms of speed? -- L.M.
ANSWER: The ideal walking speed is 3 to 3.5 miles an hour or 1 mile in 17 to 20 minutes. If that’s too fast a pace for you, walk at a speed you can maintain for at least 10 minutes. Every week try to increase the tempo and the time spent walking.The ultimate goal is to walk for 30 minutes every day of the week -- if possible.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I’m 61, and I don’t take medicines. I feel good. I have been exercising for two years. I would like to increase my activity. What’s considered a safe way to do so? -- L.P.
ANSWER: Follow the 10 percent rule. It’s safe to increase exercise by 10 percent each week. Increase means increasing exercise speed, exercise duration, the number of repetitions you lift a weight or the number of pounds you lift. Don’t increase all aspects. Take one at a time. If you jog, increase either the distance or the time by 10 percent. One week make it distance; the next, speed.
Stop Muscle Loss Dueto Aging
Q: My dad gave me his Hamilton Victor II Electric wristwatch, which he received when he graduated from Tulane in 1963. I have been told that it is quite valuable. -- Sam, Daytona Beach, Fla.A: I contacted several vintage watch experts, and they seem to agree that your Hamilton watch is worth in the $300 to $700 range depending, of course, on condition and if it has its original presentation box.
Q: I love many of the black-and-white movies from the 1950s and ‘60s and am trying to find a copy of “Viva Zapata” with Marlon Brando. -- George, Albu-querque, N.M.A: I found several dozen copies of the 1952 film in vari-ous formats on eBay, most priced at less than $15.
Q: I have a letter signed by Bill Clinton when he was president. What is the value? -- Barbara, Alton, N.Y.A: Most presidential “signatures” on letters after about 1960 are not authentic. Even though there are always ex-ceptions, most letters sent from the White House in recent decades are signed by autopens. To find out if the one you have is real, you should consult a certified expert of au-tographs, and you should expect to pay for this service. I found a signed Clinton political brochure on eBay for $25.
Q: I have a signed and numbered lithograph by Larry Patterson of the train station in Blue Ridge, Ga. I’m interested in finding out more about the artist and why he chose the station for his artwork. -- Cathy, Or-mond Beach, Fla.A: Larry Jay Patterson studied with Earl Mayan at the Arts Students League of New York during the early 1980s. He eventually taught a mural workshop as an artist-in-resi-dence in Newark’s 15th Avenue public school and was an instructor at the Monmouth County Teen Arts Festival in 2004, 2005 and 2007. His work has been exhibited at several libraries in New Jersey. He lives in Tinton Falls, N.J., and you might be able to contact him there to find out more about the lithograph you acquired.
Page 5For Advertising Call (801) 616-6288
"We imprint company logos
on over 850,000 items."
www.doodadspromotional.com801.592.1101
Food Fun (continued)sliced a potato paper-thin and fried it until it was crisp. The customer loved them. Soon other customers were asking for potato chips. Today, in the United States, a pound of potato chips costs 200 times more than a pound of potatoes. • Sometimes, a little change can yield big results. Amer-ican Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class. • The phrase “busy as a bee” has roots in reality. To make just two pounds of honey, bees have to visit four million flowers, traveling a distance equal to four times around the earth.• If you find yourself on the wrong end of a bee and get stung, grab an onion. This root vegetable contains a mild antibiotic that tames bee stings and also fights in-fections, soothes burns and relieves the itch of athlete’s foot.
OVERCOMING THE ODDS:BUILDING THE
BROOKLYN BRIDGE
• An American engineer named John Roebling had a dream of building a bridge over the East River connect-ing lower Manhattan with Brooklyn. He was struck with the idea after taking a ferry across the river one winter and getting stuck in the ice. Roebling had built many bridges, but this one would be a massive undertaking. His vision was grand; this would be the most difficult feat of engineering that had ever been attempted. But the challenge drove him forward.• The project was met with much skepticism. Experts throughout the world thought that it was impossible. The bridge would have to span across 5,989 feet (1825.5 m) of water with supports anchored deep under the river. It would have to sustain the turbulence and tidal con-ditions of the salt-water estuary, which was one of the busiest waterways on earth, with hundreds of crafts of all sizes sailing on it at any time. Any bridge built would also have to allow for ships to pass beneath it. • Roebling, believing that his bridge could be built, set his vision in motion with an elaborate plan for the proj-ect. He began to design a suspension bridge with two enormous towers that would hold the bridge’s cables and suspend the road below. In 1867, the New York State legislature gave the go ahead to Roebling as the bridge’s chief building engineer. His son Washington,
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Brooklyn Bridge (continued)also an engineer, stood at his side to share in his fa-ther’s dream. • John Roebling, unfortunately, would never see the bridge he had envisioned, after tragedy struck on June 28, 1869. While surveying the spot where one of the Brooklyn towers would be built, a ferryboat hit the piling he was standing on and crushed his foot. His toes were later amputated, but he developed a tetanus infection and died on July 22, 1869. Roebling was the first of 20 men to die while working on the bridge.• After Roebling’s death, the project met with more criticism. Many saw the construction of such a large bridge as fool-headedness. Washington, wanting to keep his father’s dream alive, stepped in as chief engi-neer. But Washington suffered a paralyzing injury as a result of decompression sickness while working with-in the underwater caissons upon which the bridge’s massive towers would be built. • With Washington now debilitated, his wife Emily Warren Roebling stepped in to help. She fought for the retention of her husband as chef engineer, and for the next 11 years, she was the liaison between her par-alyzed husband and the engineers on-site. From a tele-scope in his bedroom window overlooking the river, Washington observed the bridge’s construction all the way to its completion in 1883. It was under construc-tion for 14 challenging years and hailed as one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century.• The Brooklyn Bridge stands to this day as an en-during monument to the Roeblings and the American spirit. Its magnificence shows us that the most impos-sible dreams can be realized with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.
TECHNOLOGY
There are many inventions that have improved our lives. Just imagine life without electricity or indoor plumbing. Curiosity and ingenuity are the parts of hu-man nature that drive us forward to create new and inventive ways to make our lives easier and more ef-ficient. Here are just a few of the numerous inventions
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Tidbits® of Utah County Page 6
Dr. Jason Allan& Associates
● On May 7, 1896, Dr. H.H. Holmes, one of Ameri-ca’s first well-known serial killers, is hanged to death in Philadelphia. Although not as well known as Jack the Ripper, authorities discovered the remains of more than 200 victims on Holmes’ property.
● On May 6, 1937, the airship Hindenburg, the larg-est dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 passengers and crewmem-bers. The lighter-than-air craft was lifted by highly flammable hydrogen gas.
● On May 5, 1945, in Lakeview, Ore., Mrs. Elsie Mitchell and five neighborhood children are killed while attempting to drag a Japanese balloon out of the woods. Unbeknownst to Mitchell and the children, the balloon was armed, and it exploded soon after they be-gan tampering with it.
● On May 3, 1952, a ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lt. Col. Joseph O. Fletcher of Okla-homa and Lt. Col. William P. Benedict of California becomes the first aircraft to land on the North Pole. A moment later, Fletcher climbed out of the plane and walked to the exact geographic North Pole, probably the first person in history to do so.
● On May 4, 1965, San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays hits his 512th career home run to break Mel Ott’s National League record for home runs. Mays would finish his career with 660 home runs, good for third on the all-time list at the time of his retirement.
● On May 2, 1972, after nearly five decades as di-rector of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover dies just as the Watergate affair is about to ex-plode onto the national stage. An inquiry later revealed that the FBI had illegally protected President Richard Nixon from investigation.
● On May 8, 1988, Stella Nickell is convicted of mur-der by a Seattle jury. She was the first person to be found guilty of violating the Federal Anti-Tampering Act after putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules in an effort to kill her husband. She began planning his death after their 1976 honeymoon.
DEAR PAW’S CORNER: About a year ago, we adopted an 18-month-old mutt. “Buddy” is a great dog, but he has one continuing problem: He urinates and defecates in the living room in the middle of the night. We don’t feed or water him after about 7 p.m., and I take him out nightly at 10. He is otherwise very well housebroken. The only thing that has worked so far is putting him in his crate overnight, but my husband says it’s cruel. Is there any other solution? -- Janice in Lewiston, Calif.
DEAR JANICE: Actually, crating is one of the first methods to try in this case, and it can be successful in stopping the problem (though not necessarily the behavior, as Buddy has demonstrated). But some people do feel that crating is cruel, so I understand your husband’s feelings about it.Have you mentioned this problem to Buddy’s vet and had him examined for any physical problem? It’s
always good to make sure he’s healthy. Also talk to the vet about Buddy being adopted. He may have picked up a bad habit at his former home, or he might still be experiencing some stress from leaving one home and then coming to another one.If the problem is behavioral, continue housebreaking with Buddy. A key part of stopping the overnight elimination is to not allow him into areas of the house in which he has already left his “mark,” so to speak. If this is not possible, you may have to continue with the crating, or you may want to consult a professional trainer for more in-depth ideas on solving this dilemma.
Send your questions or comments to [email protected], or write to Paw’s Corner, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Find more pet advice and resources at www.pawscorner.com.
Dog Leaves His Mark While Owners Sleepby Samantha Mazzotta
YOUR BUSINESS HEREfor more information call (801) 616-6288
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Technology (continued)that have improved, or in some cases frustrated, our lives.• Sir John Harrington, Godson to Queen Elizabeth I, is the true inventor of the flush toilet. In 1596, he en-gineered a valve that could release water from a wa-ter closet when pulled. Lavatories were installed for the Queen at Richmond in the late 16th century. We can thank Thomas Crapper for inventing the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made our modern toilet possible, and also, the Chinese, for inventing toilet paper in 50 B.C.• After the light bulb was invented in 1848 and went into use, it actually came with a warning: “This room is equipped with an Edison Electric Light. Do not attempt to light with match. Simply turn key on wall by the door. The use of electricity for lighting is in no way detrimental to health, nor does it affect the soundness of sleep.” Joseph Swan developed a bulb before Edison, but the pair later joined forces and share credit for creating what we perhaps take for granted more than any other invention. • Alexander Graham Bell beat Elisha Gray to the patent office by just a few hours to submit his request for a patent on his invention in 1876, the telephone. Bell had been working on improving the telegraph when he discovered that different tones would vary the strength of an electric current in a wire. • Bell and his assistant Thomas A. Watson built a working transmitter with a membrane capable of varying electronic currents, along with a receiver that would reproduce these variations in audible fre-quencies. On March 10, 1876, Bell, talking through his instrument to Watson in the next room, spoke the famous first audible words to travel through a tele-phone: “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” • The U.S. Department of Defense conceived the idea of the internet in the 1960s. The World Wide Web was invented in 1989 by a British techie named Tim Berners-Lee. Four people used the internet in 1969; today, 1.2 billion people (19 percent of the world’s population) are connected. Together these two inventions have shrunk the world by providing instant communication and access to information.
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Page 7For Advertising Call (801) 616-6288
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It’s been called VistA, which stands for Veterans Integrated System Technology Architecture, and it is the backbone of the electronic health record system for the Department of Veterans Affairs. VistA has allowed health-care providers to read and update a patient’s records with just a few key-strokes. It can keep track of prescriptions and tests ordered by any VA medical facility, keep special diets straight, han-dle nursing notes and improve overall efficiency. Veterans who wish to sign up can get prescription refills ordered on-line, access their records and send messages to their health team.It’s part of the Open Source Electronic Health Record, and the VA wants to update it.Therefore the VA has taken the initial steps to award “cus-todial services” to put an open-source version of VistA in all its many facilities and to upgrade the software. In tech-talk, “open source” means that the software itself is out there in the public domain, and the VA is hoping that others will create complementary software that will work with VistA. The custodial agent will be the gatekeeper through which all new parts and pieces flow.Dr. Peter Levin, adviser to the secretary and chief tech-nology officer of the VA, described in a long article the “13,000 kinds of medical diagnoses, 6,000 medicines, and 4,000 possible procedures” necessary for them to practice medicine. He says that opening up the source code can “ensure cyber security by exposing code to large commu-nities of technical reviewers.” He concludes that “vendors will have a clear path to the enormous federal healthcare IT market.”Are you nervous yet? Inquiring minds want to know how these “custodians” will be selected, and what criteria they’ll use to “ensure” the cyber security of the information that the software will handle.
VA Health System Software Upgrade
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● It was American novelist and editor Edgar Watson Howe who made the following sage observation: “Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies.”
● Those who study such things say that ancient Egyptians had bowling alleys. ● In 1980 a woman named Rosie Ruiz appeared to have won the Boston Marathon in the fastest time ever recorded for a woman in that race. However, after a number of suspicions surfaced (including a strange lack of fatigue at the end of the long race), it was found that she hadn’t actually run the entire race and was stripped of her medal. The tale doesn’t end there, though. Once
1. Alabama, 1995-97.2. Eleven players.3. Philadelphia’s DeSean Jackson, in 2009.4. Jim Jackson (1989-92) and Evan Turner (2007-10).5. Wayne Gretzky and Jimmy Carson, both 19 years old.6. Italy.7. Nick Faldo, in 1994.
1. Orion 2. Frey is the Norse god of fertility3. Methane 4. Orson Welles5. Edward II6. U.S.S. Holland7. James Montgomery Flagg 8. U.S. Virgin Islands 9. Richard Wright10. Estes Kefauver
Spring is a great time to do repairs and preventative main-tenance on your vehicle and home, and to save money in other ways, too. Here are some ideas:Car maintenance: If you live in a snow area, run your ve-hicle through a car wash that includes under-carriage spray to remove road salts and avoid corrosion. Schedule a tune-up and oil change. Make sure fl uids are topped off and tires are at the right air pressure. Invest in a small tube of car paint (get this from your dealer for an accurate match) to cover any dings or scrapes.House: Compare heating bills from this recent winter and winters past. While the prices might have changed, you can compare your actual usage. If your heat usage went up this winter, consider why. If you have an older home, you might be in line for more attic insulation before next winter. While up in the attic to check insulation depth, use a fl ashlight to look at the plywood roofi ng, and around vents and eaves: Are there any signs of water leaks?If you had window drafts, you might fi nd sales on new win-dows over the summer. At the very least, put caulking on your list of things to do.Walk around the house and check for any winter damage to siding and the roof. Don’t forget the foundation. If you need repair work you can’t do yourself, get estimates early, as summer is the busiest construction season.Children: Scout charity and thrift shops for children’s sum-mer play clothes. If you fi nd bargains on items they can wear to school in the fall (and if you’re sure of sizes), se-lect a few outfi ts to get them started and avoid last-minute shopping panic.Local summer day camps can be an economical way to let your children experience camp without going too far from home. Investigate camps sponsored by the YMCA and lo-cal church and youth groups. Inquire about low-income scholarships, if you qualify, and sign up early before all the slots are fi lled.If you’re hoping for a family vacation this year, check a new book called “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Best Family Destinations.” In spite of the title, the publication is packed with information on vacation spots in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, including beaches, outdoor adven-tures, historical sites, amusement parks and much more.
Spring Savings
word got out about her fraud, people came forward with information regarding her recent running of the New York Marathon. It seems that Ms. Ruiz started the race and then took the subway to a spot 2 miles from the finish line. And in a further note, she didn’t come to a good end: Two years later she was arrested for embezzling $60,000 from her employer, and she was later arrested again for allegedly trying to sell two kilos of cocaine to a Miami police officer.
● If you’re afraid of lightning, you might want to skip over this next tidbit: At any given time around the world, there are 1,800 thunderstorms taking place.
● You may have heard that the air that leaves your body when you sneeze can reach speeds of up to 115 mph, but you may not know that ordinary exhalations travel at about 15 mph.
Thought for the Day: “When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn’t the slightest intention of putting it into practice.” -- Otto von Bismarck
Technology (continued)• The technology for cell phones actually began way back with Samuel Morse and his invention of the telegraph in 1835. In 1842, Morse was conduct-ing an experiment to show that cable could transmit signals under water when the cable was broken by a passing ship. He proceeded with his experiment any-way, passing his telegraph signals through the water itself, and it worked. This introduced the concept of wireless by conduction, and Morse’s telegraph was the fi rst device to send messages using electricity. The technology was born! Many years and many in-ventors later, on April 3, 1973, the 2.5-pound hand-held phone was demonstrated by creator Martin Cooper of Motorola.
