The Stoogeum in Ambler looks beyond the mayhem for a family view of the classic comedy trio.
The truest Three Stooges film never made was a sad tale we'll call "Dewey, Cheatem & Howe."
The plot: A group of energetic vaudeville veterans move into motion pictures, work harder than anybody and become wildly popular, only to be manipulated and underpaid by a powerful studio boss.
For Moe, Larry, and Shemp and Curly, this was no script. It was life.
Then, the sequel ------ which in corny Stooges style could be titled "Glorious Goofballs" ------- sees them keep the act together in the face of death and disabling illness, win even more love as stars of TV and feature films, pull huge crowds to their live shows and, more than a century after the youngest Stooge was born, occupy an unshakeable spot in the world's comedy pantheon.
Important pieces of this story fill the Stoogeum, opened in 2004 as a repository of thousands of personal and professional artifacts that record the Stooges' long tenure as stars of a live stage act, short and feature-length films, TV, comic books, animated cartoons and novelty recordings.
The displays are first-rate, with three floors of imaginatively organized, well-furnished galleries, an 85-seat theater and enough interactive exhibits ----- including video and pinball games ----- to keep the youngest Stooge fan happy.
The Stoogeum also is the least usual of the Philadelphia area's many museums.
Founder and curator Gary Lassin keeps it as low-key as the Stooges' act was uproarious, installing part of his extensive collection in a semi-anonymous building in a pocket industrial park in Ambler.
The Stooges shingle goes up outside only when the museum is open to the public, which is one day a week. So self-effacing is the Stoogeum's style, Philadelphia magazine honored it as the region's best "unknown tourist attraction" in 2008.
"Really, people don't know what to expect when they come out here, but they don't expect this," says Lassin, whose wife, Robin, is the great-grandniece of Larry, the Stooge with the wild, frizzy hair.
The attentive visitor will quickly realize the Stooges' story is a family saga ----- not just kinship, but professional collaboration.
This started when Moses Harry Horwitz and his brother Samuel broke into show biz with Louis Feinberg as part of a vaudeville act run by Lee Nash. All four became famous under their stage names: Moe Howard, Shemp Howard, Larry Fine and Ted Healy.
Moe, Shemp and Larry served as comic foils to Healy, a childhood friend of Moe's with whom they eventually parted, somewhat acrimoniously.
Shemp left to pursue a successful movie career on his own, and Healy approved Moe's idea to bring in the younger Horwitz brother, Jerome, as a replacement. Fans know him by his stage name, Curly. This launched the career of the Stooge whose "man-child" persona introduced many to their lifelong love of the group, according to Lassin.
The Stooges had funny hair ----- except for Curly, who shaved his head for the act ---- and became known for an epic slapstick comedy style of pie-throwing, eye-poking and nose-twisting accompanied by silly jokes and physical antics.
Some considered the Stooges' uninhibited stage combat a bad example to little kids. In the 1950s, channels were switched as the first notes of the familiar strings-and-swing version of "Three Blind Mice" opened a Stooges short on TV.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planets (July 19, 2013)
Dying for Coal
Chinese living in heavily polluted northern areas of the country have their lives cut by an average of 5 1/2 years by airborne toxins compared to those living in the relatively cleaner south of the country. A report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that the widespread use of coal in the north is the main cause of the shorter life spams. Using official data from Chinese sources, an American, an Israeli and two Chinese scholars found that decades of burning coal have led to more deaths from cardio-respiratory diseases for people living north of the Hati River, which is considered the dividing line between northern and southern China. The use of coal in central heating systems in colder northern climates is the main reason for the high emissions. Coal has also been used to feed the explosive growth of heavy industry there.
Rat-Free or Fail
U.K. wildlife experts say they could soon eradicate and ecologically damaging rodent brought to the remote South Atlantic island of South Georgia more than 200 years ago by whaling and sealing ships. The common brown rat has since ravaged native and migratory birds, including ducks, diving petrels and prions. The world's most ambitious rat-eradication campaign has now laid out toxic bait across 70 percent of the infested island. Tony Martin, the project's director from the University of Dandee, told the BBC that every single rat must be killed to ensure the population doesn't rebound. Martin says killing only 99.9 percent would be a failure. Once the rats are gone, some of the native species can be reintroduced from smaller nearby islands that escaped being infested by the rats.
Injections Quakes
The deep injections into the ground of wastewater byproducts from hydaulic fracturing, or fracking, has caused a significant increase in U.S. earthquakes since the practice has recently become more widespread. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports that there were more than 300 earthquakes above magnitude 3.0 from 2010 to 2012, which is a five-fold increase from the average number of 21 tremors per year measured from 1967 to 2000. There are now more than 30,000 deep disposal wells in the country,typically injecting leftover fluids from fracking wells used to extract natural gas. And while the actual practice of fracking has not been found to cause any significant seismic events, the far deeper injections of wastewater from the practice has. Sometimes the water is pumped into deep, dormant faults. USGS geologist William Ellsworth says that even faults that have not moved for millions of years can be made to slip. But he points out that only a few of the approximately 30,000 wastewater wells appear to have caused the increase in tremors.
Ecuadoran Eruption
A violent eruptionof Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano sent a large plume of ash, stones and vapor soaring more than 8 miles into the sky above the Andes. The explosion was heard across a wide stretch of the country.
Earthquakes
Eleven people were injured when a sharp quake struck near the Algerian capital of Algiers.
* More than a dozen homes were wrecked by a 6.0 magnitude quake in a remote part of southern Peru.
* Earth movements were also felt in northern India, Taiwan, the Dominican Republic and southern parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Typhoon Soulik
More than 100 people were confirmed dead after Typhoon Soulik unleashed floods and landslides that caused buildings to collapse in eastern China. Two other fatalities were reported on Taiwan.
* Tropical Storm Cimaron moved ashore a few days later just south of where Soulik made landfall.
Shark Haven
Marine scientists say the booming shark population inside Fiji's fishing reserve proves conservation efforts can help save the predatory fish from extinction. Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Western Australia used baited underwater 3-D video systems to record data at eight sites within the reserve and at eight outside its boundaries. Marine life was observed at both shallow and deeper depths. Writing in the journal Coral Reefs, researchers say they found two to four times the number of sharks inside the sanctuary than outside, where fishing is allowed. The most likely reason for higher shark densities within the reserve is a significantly higher availability of prey fish compared to adjacent, unprotected areas, the researchers said. Shark populations have recently plunged in many areas of the world, mainly due to the demand for shark fins in Asia cuisine. "The news from Fiji gives us solid proof that marine reserves can have positive effects on reef shark populations," said Caleb McClennen, director of the WCS Marine Program.
Chinese living in heavily polluted northern areas of the country have their lives cut by an average of 5 1/2 years by airborne toxins compared to those living in the relatively cleaner south of the country. A report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that the widespread use of coal in the north is the main cause of the shorter life spams. Using official data from Chinese sources, an American, an Israeli and two Chinese scholars found that decades of burning coal have led to more deaths from cardio-respiratory diseases for people living north of the Hati River, which is considered the dividing line between northern and southern China. The use of coal in central heating systems in colder northern climates is the main reason for the high emissions. Coal has also been used to feed the explosive growth of heavy industry there.
Rat-Free or Fail
U.K. wildlife experts say they could soon eradicate and ecologically damaging rodent brought to the remote South Atlantic island of South Georgia more than 200 years ago by whaling and sealing ships. The common brown rat has since ravaged native and migratory birds, including ducks, diving petrels and prions. The world's most ambitious rat-eradication campaign has now laid out toxic bait across 70 percent of the infested island. Tony Martin, the project's director from the University of Dandee, told the BBC that every single rat must be killed to ensure the population doesn't rebound. Martin says killing only 99.9 percent would be a failure. Once the rats are gone, some of the native species can be reintroduced from smaller nearby islands that escaped being infested by the rats.
Injections Quakes
The deep injections into the ground of wastewater byproducts from hydaulic fracturing, or fracking, has caused a significant increase in U.S. earthquakes since the practice has recently become more widespread. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports that there were more than 300 earthquakes above magnitude 3.0 from 2010 to 2012, which is a five-fold increase from the average number of 21 tremors per year measured from 1967 to 2000. There are now more than 30,000 deep disposal wells in the country,typically injecting leftover fluids from fracking wells used to extract natural gas. And while the actual practice of fracking has not been found to cause any significant seismic events, the far deeper injections of wastewater from the practice has. Sometimes the water is pumped into deep, dormant faults. USGS geologist William Ellsworth says that even faults that have not moved for millions of years can be made to slip. But he points out that only a few of the approximately 30,000 wastewater wells appear to have caused the increase in tremors.
Ecuadoran Eruption
A violent eruptionof Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano sent a large plume of ash, stones and vapor soaring more than 8 miles into the sky above the Andes. The explosion was heard across a wide stretch of the country.
Earthquakes
Eleven people were injured when a sharp quake struck near the Algerian capital of Algiers.
* More than a dozen homes were wrecked by a 6.0 magnitude quake in a remote part of southern Peru.
* Earth movements were also felt in northern India, Taiwan, the Dominican Republic and southern parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Typhoon Soulik
More than 100 people were confirmed dead after Typhoon Soulik unleashed floods and landslides that caused buildings to collapse in eastern China. Two other fatalities were reported on Taiwan.
* Tropical Storm Cimaron moved ashore a few days later just south of where Soulik made landfall.
Shark Haven
Marine scientists say the booming shark population inside Fiji's fishing reserve proves conservation efforts can help save the predatory fish from extinction. Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Western Australia used baited underwater 3-D video systems to record data at eight sites within the reserve and at eight outside its boundaries. Marine life was observed at both shallow and deeper depths. Writing in the journal Coral Reefs, researchers say they found two to four times the number of sharks inside the sanctuary than outside, where fishing is allowed. The most likely reason for higher shark densities within the reserve is a significantly higher availability of prey fish compared to adjacent, unprotected areas, the researchers said. Shark populations have recently plunged in many areas of the world, mainly due to the demand for shark fins in Asia cuisine. "The news from Fiji gives us solid proof that marine reserves can have positive effects on reef shark populations," said Caleb McClennen, director of the WCS Marine Program.
F. Y. I.
Thirst Control
The giraffe can go longer without water than a camel.
In Another Age
In 1907, an ad champaign for Kellogg's Corn Flakes offered a free box of cereal to any woman who winked at her grocer.
Quotable
by Anais Nin, American author (1903-1977)
"You cannot save people.
You can only love them."
Still on the Books
In Hawthathorne, Okla., it is unlawful to put any hypnotized person in a display window.
Across Continents
While most of it lies in Africa, a small part of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, also is in Asia.
Presidents' File
Woodrow Wilson was the first president to earn a Ph.D.
The giraffe can go longer without water than a camel.
In Another Age
In 1907, an ad champaign for Kellogg's Corn Flakes offered a free box of cereal to any woman who winked at her grocer.
Quotable
by Anais Nin, American author (1903-1977)
"You cannot save people.
You can only love them."
Still on the Books
In Hawthathorne, Okla., it is unlawful to put any hypnotized person in a display window.
Across Continents
While most of it lies in Africa, a small part of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, also is in Asia.
Presidents' File
Woodrow Wilson was the first president to earn a Ph.D.
A Baseball Story
by Fred Coleman
Historic game, memorable 'catch' on a summer afternoon
It was a hot July morning in the summer of 1945 when my father announced to my brother and me that we were going to Shibe Park in Philadelphia that Saturday afternoon, along with my Uncle Ed, to see the A's play the Detroit Tigers. As a 10-year-old (my brother was 14), I was excited but not overly so, since my father had taken us to many games over the years (always the A's, as he was an American League fan).
When we arrived at our seats in the second deck just oppisite third base, little did I realize that I was in for a long but very rewarding afternoon. The A's and the Tigers each scored a run and the game was tied 1-1, and tied......and tied......and tied for 24 looong innings! (The game was finally called after four hours and fifty minutes on account of darkness because Pennsylvania's "blue laws" stated that lights could not be turned on after a certain hour during a day game).
But back to my story. In the sixth inning, Bob Maier, Detroit third baseman, hit a foul ball that carried over to where we were sitting but far up in the rafters. I followed the flight of the ball, and it suddenly hit a beam and dropped into the aisle right beside me (I was sitting on the end seat). The man sitting across the aisle reached for it, but he didn't have chance against a 10-year-old's reflexes. I had my foul ball! And not only that, but it was from a historic game. In the vernacular of today, I had a two-fer!
When we got home, my father laboriously printed the essential details of the game (and, of course, my "catch" ) in ink on the ball. He died in 1993 at the age of 95, but the story is still clearly legible after 68 years. (Yes, I still have the ball.)
But wait, the best is yet to come. In 1997, I read a small article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the newly formed Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society, located in Warrington, five minutes from where I reside in Jamison. (It later moved to Hatboro and just recently to Northeast Philadelphia). I immediately joined, and over the years I have met and become friends with many of my boyhood heroes, including Bobby Shantz, Ferris Fain, Pete Suder, Eddie Joost, Gus Zernial, Lou Brissie, Elmer Valo, Sam Chapman, Joe DiMaestri and Carl Scheib, to name a few.
The biggest thrill came a few years ago when I met two former A's who played in the game, Irv Hall and Charlie Metro, at one of the society's reunions. We posed for pictures with the ball, and they signed it for me. I'm 78 years old now and still goto many Phillies games. (I had to switch my allegiance after 1954 when the A's left town for Kansas City and eventually Oakland.) But I never caught another foul ball.
Historic game, memorable 'catch' on a summer afternoon
It was a hot July morning in the summer of 1945 when my father announced to my brother and me that we were going to Shibe Park in Philadelphia that Saturday afternoon, along with my Uncle Ed, to see the A's play the Detroit Tigers. As a 10-year-old (my brother was 14), I was excited but not overly so, since my father had taken us to many games over the years (always the A's, as he was an American League fan).
When we arrived at our seats in the second deck just oppisite third base, little did I realize that I was in for a long but very rewarding afternoon. The A's and the Tigers each scored a run and the game was tied 1-1, and tied......and tied......and tied for 24 looong innings! (The game was finally called after four hours and fifty minutes on account of darkness because Pennsylvania's "blue laws" stated that lights could not be turned on after a certain hour during a day game).
But back to my story. In the sixth inning, Bob Maier, Detroit third baseman, hit a foul ball that carried over to where we were sitting but far up in the rafters. I followed the flight of the ball, and it suddenly hit a beam and dropped into the aisle right beside me (I was sitting on the end seat). The man sitting across the aisle reached for it, but he didn't have chance against a 10-year-old's reflexes. I had my foul ball! And not only that, but it was from a historic game. In the vernacular of today, I had a two-fer!
When we got home, my father laboriously printed the essential details of the game (and, of course, my "catch" ) in ink on the ball. He died in 1993 at the age of 95, but the story is still clearly legible after 68 years. (Yes, I still have the ball.)
But wait, the best is yet to come. In 1997, I read a small article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the newly formed Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society, located in Warrington, five minutes from where I reside in Jamison. (It later moved to Hatboro and just recently to Northeast Philadelphia). I immediately joined, and over the years I have met and become friends with many of my boyhood heroes, including Bobby Shantz, Ferris Fain, Pete Suder, Eddie Joost, Gus Zernial, Lou Brissie, Elmer Valo, Sam Chapman, Joe DiMaestri and Carl Scheib, to name a few.
The biggest thrill came a few years ago when I met two former A's who played in the game, Irv Hall and Charlie Metro, at one of the society's reunions. We posed for pictures with the ball, and they signed it for me. I'm 78 years old now and still goto many Phillies games. (I had to switch my allegiance after 1954 when the A's left town for Kansas City and eventually Oakland.) But I never caught another foul ball.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Renaissance Man
Jerry Moore is a modern day Renaissance man.
At 81, he has acquired a profound knowledge and proficiency in many fields, and using these skills, he has created one-of -a-kind replicas of famous structures, including the Eiffel Tower and the original Ferris wheel.
He created these structures using toothpicks, Popsicle sticks and other household items, dedicating years of his life to the task and seeking no recognition from anyone. And while Moore no longer creates the complex structures he has built in the past, he's putting his needle craft skills to the test to create wall hangings.
Jerry and his wife, Paulina, are residents of Wesley Enhanced Living Upper Moreland. Together, they make an unstoppable team.
It all began when they became engaged eight days after they met and married three months after that. Fifty-eight years later, they're still going strong.
"I saw him, and I thought, 'Gee, he looks pretty good, I think I'll keep him,'" 82-year-old Paulina said with a smile. "He's very good to me; he's an excellent father; I can't complain."
For their married life, Jerry Moore has always had projects, Paulina said.
"He sits down and he plans what he's going to do. He goes to the library, he gets pictures, he mulls everything out ----- he works on it before he starts," she said.
Jerry said his fascination with modeling buildings started when he was 9.
After hearing about the Eiffel Tower, he asked his mom what it was. She responded by giving him a toothpick kit so he could constuct a model of the tower.
In 1941, he said, their house caught fire and was destroyed, along with the original Eiffel Tower kit.
"It was always in the back of my mind to finish this," Jerry said, "If I couldn''t use my hands in myidle time, I'd go bananas; I'd really be lost."
After the fire, Jerry couldn't find another toothpick kit, so he went to the library, took out the book "The Tallest Tower" by Joseph Harris and began to study it. He studied the dimensions, how the original tower was built and said to himself, "I can do this." And so he did ------- with impeccable detail.
"I started to work on this and I got so involved that there was nothing that could keep me from completeing it. About three years later, there it is," he said about the structure, which is made out of toothpicks, spruce wood, fir wood, copper wire and other items.
The Ferris Wheel came next, because Moore said he had a few pieces of wood left over from his original project. The ride is built from bicycle spokes, Popsicle sticks, toothpicks, straight pins and "other various pieces of hardware laying around."
The replica has 36 cars, each with 40 seats.
Only a handful of people have seen Jerry's detailed structures.
"At most, five or six people have seen it," Jerry said of his models. "I just do it. My best critic is my wife. I do it for my wife and my daughter."
Asked about his philosophy of life, Jerry said he believes life is too short to get mad, or get even, or worry about what others think of his work. "What comes, comes. When we're finished, we're finished. To keep me from going off the deep end, I put my hands together and I do this," he said.
Moore noted that anyone who has idle time can pick up a hobby such as his most recent, which is counted cross-stitch.
"You need a hobby in your later years; everybody needs a hobby," Jerry said. Pointing to a smiling Paulina, and smiling back at her, he said, "she's not my biggest fan, she's my only fan."
At 81, he has acquired a profound knowledge and proficiency in many fields, and using these skills, he has created one-of -a-kind replicas of famous structures, including the Eiffel Tower and the original Ferris wheel.
He created these structures using toothpicks, Popsicle sticks and other household items, dedicating years of his life to the task and seeking no recognition from anyone. And while Moore no longer creates the complex structures he has built in the past, he's putting his needle craft skills to the test to create wall hangings.
Jerry and his wife, Paulina, are residents of Wesley Enhanced Living Upper Moreland. Together, they make an unstoppable team.
It all began when they became engaged eight days after they met and married three months after that. Fifty-eight years later, they're still going strong.
"I saw him, and I thought, 'Gee, he looks pretty good, I think I'll keep him,'" 82-year-old Paulina said with a smile. "He's very good to me; he's an excellent father; I can't complain."
For their married life, Jerry Moore has always had projects, Paulina said.
"He sits down and he plans what he's going to do. He goes to the library, he gets pictures, he mulls everything out ----- he works on it before he starts," she said.
Jerry said his fascination with modeling buildings started when he was 9.
After hearing about the Eiffel Tower, he asked his mom what it was. She responded by giving him a toothpick kit so he could constuct a model of the tower.
In 1941, he said, their house caught fire and was destroyed, along with the original Eiffel Tower kit.
"It was always in the back of my mind to finish this," Jerry said, "If I couldn''t use my hands in myidle time, I'd go bananas; I'd really be lost."
After the fire, Jerry couldn't find another toothpick kit, so he went to the library, took out the book "The Tallest Tower" by Joseph Harris and began to study it. He studied the dimensions, how the original tower was built and said to himself, "I can do this." And so he did ------- with impeccable detail.
"I started to work on this and I got so involved that there was nothing that could keep me from completeing it. About three years later, there it is," he said about the structure, which is made out of toothpicks, spruce wood, fir wood, copper wire and other items.
The Ferris Wheel came next, because Moore said he had a few pieces of wood left over from his original project. The ride is built from bicycle spokes, Popsicle sticks, toothpicks, straight pins and "other various pieces of hardware laying around."
The replica has 36 cars, each with 40 seats.
Only a handful of people have seen Jerry's detailed structures.
"At most, five or six people have seen it," Jerry said of his models. "I just do it. My best critic is my wife. I do it for my wife and my daughter."
Asked about his philosophy of life, Jerry said he believes life is too short to get mad, or get even, or worry about what others think of his work. "What comes, comes. When we're finished, we're finished. To keep me from going off the deep end, I put my hands together and I do this," he said.
Moore noted that anyone who has idle time can pick up a hobby such as his most recent, which is counted cross-stitch.
"You need a hobby in your later years; everybody needs a hobby," Jerry said. Pointing to a smiling Paulina, and smiling back at her, he said, "she's not my biggest fan, she's my only fan."
Let's Make A Deal
The art of negotiation is filled with give and take, but how do you give a little and still come out on top?
If you're trying to decide what to have for dinner with the rest of your family, you're negotiating.
When you want to play one golf course and your buddies are holding out for another, you're negotiating.
Dickering over the price of a car or a home's closing costs are rather obvious examples of negotiation. But we all negotiate far more often than we may recognize. As Herb Cohen, author of the best-seller You Can Negotiate Anything, notes: "Most people don't realize that any situation is negotiable."
Learning a few negotiation basics can make your life more enjoyable and less stressful. So, it's quiz time. Here are five scenarios that most of us routinely encounter. We'll offer several negotiation strategies, then identify the best one, along with expert commentary on why it's the optimal choice.
Make it into a game by reading the scenario and options aloud to friends and family and then debating -------er, negotiating ------ an answer. Don't be afraid to dicker. Keep the conversation positive and focused, and great things can happen.
1. Ben has been working at a company for two years and wants to approach his boss about a raise.
Should he:
a) Tell his boss how much he loves his job but he needs more money to make ends meet.
b) Find out how much other companies pay for his job and present that data to his boss.
c) Prepare a presentation that outlines his value to the company.
2. MaryAnn is weary of the daily arguments with her two teenagers. She finds herself constantly haranguing her kids to put their dinner dishes in the dishwasher and clean their bedrooms. But her dictatorial approach is stressing her out and making her children all the more defiant. Her husband is of little help; he says he doesn't want to get in the middle of any squabbles involving her and the kids. Should she:
a) Dangle cash incentives. Set up a structure in which the kids are paid for doing designated chores.
b) Tell them she wants them to enjoy the things they value, such as cellphones, computers and iPods. But she expects them to pull their weight to keep those privileges.
c) Tell the kids about self-reliance and how they need to develop it before going away to college and living on their own.
3. Harry and Bess are trying to decide what to do for the weekend. They've discussed everything from seeing a movie to trying a new restaurant but can't seem to agree. What should they do?
a) Harry should switch to a "why" question. Why does that movie interest you? Why does that restaurant appeal to you?
b) Based on what she has heard Harry say, Bess should suggest other movies or restaurants she would like but would also be in line with Harry's interests.
c) Harry should broaden the discussion by suggesting other kinds of activities that would also be enjoyable but don't involve a movie or eating out.
4. Priscilla is staying at a hotel. With a meeting scheduled for late afteernoon, she knows she's going to have to check out several hours after checkout time. She wants to do everything she can to avoid paying a fee for the late departure, even though the hotel seems militant that the policy is strictly enforced. Should she:
a) Call the front desk in advance, explain that she can't avoid the late meeting and politely ask for the fee to be waived. If the front desk balks, she should ask to talk face to face with a manager.
b) Threaten to dispute the charge when it appears on her credit card.
c) Don't even bring the issue up and hope no one notices.
5. The Carlisle family is trying to decide where to go on their summer vacation. The parents ------- Herb and Patty ----- want a relaxing two weeks in Paris, while teenagers Michael and Amy yearn for the excitement and adventure of the Grand Canyon. Should they:
a) Let the purse strings decide. Whatever's more affordable is the destination of choice.
b) Bring in a third party ----- maybe a relative or a friend who has spent time in Paris or the Grand Canyon. Their perspective may swing family members' opinions.
c) Look for a destination that has features of both places of choice (there's some place in the world with a huge hole and someone munching on a croissant).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. All ; 4. a ; 5. b
How'd You Score?
Five right answers: You can negotiate the price of a hot dog at an airport, just like Herb Cohen did (much to his wife's consternation).
One right answer: Better sign up for "Dickering 101" at your nearby college.
If you're trying to decide what to have for dinner with the rest of your family, you're negotiating.
When you want to play one golf course and your buddies are holding out for another, you're negotiating.
Dickering over the price of a car or a home's closing costs are rather obvious examples of negotiation. But we all negotiate far more often than we may recognize. As Herb Cohen, author of the best-seller You Can Negotiate Anything, notes: "Most people don't realize that any situation is negotiable."
Learning a few negotiation basics can make your life more enjoyable and less stressful. So, it's quiz time. Here are five scenarios that most of us routinely encounter. We'll offer several negotiation strategies, then identify the best one, along with expert commentary on why it's the optimal choice.
Make it into a game by reading the scenario and options aloud to friends and family and then debating -------er, negotiating ------ an answer. Don't be afraid to dicker. Keep the conversation positive and focused, and great things can happen.
1. Ben has been working at a company for two years and wants to approach his boss about a raise.
Should he:
a) Tell his boss how much he loves his job but he needs more money to make ends meet.
b) Find out how much other companies pay for his job and present that data to his boss.
c) Prepare a presentation that outlines his value to the company.
2. MaryAnn is weary of the daily arguments with her two teenagers. She finds herself constantly haranguing her kids to put their dinner dishes in the dishwasher and clean their bedrooms. But her dictatorial approach is stressing her out and making her children all the more defiant. Her husband is of little help; he says he doesn't want to get in the middle of any squabbles involving her and the kids. Should she:
a) Dangle cash incentives. Set up a structure in which the kids are paid for doing designated chores.
b) Tell them she wants them to enjoy the things they value, such as cellphones, computers and iPods. But she expects them to pull their weight to keep those privileges.
c) Tell the kids about self-reliance and how they need to develop it before going away to college and living on their own.
3. Harry and Bess are trying to decide what to do for the weekend. They've discussed everything from seeing a movie to trying a new restaurant but can't seem to agree. What should they do?
a) Harry should switch to a "why" question. Why does that movie interest you? Why does that restaurant appeal to you?
b) Based on what she has heard Harry say, Bess should suggest other movies or restaurants she would like but would also be in line with Harry's interests.
c) Harry should broaden the discussion by suggesting other kinds of activities that would also be enjoyable but don't involve a movie or eating out.
4. Priscilla is staying at a hotel. With a meeting scheduled for late afteernoon, she knows she's going to have to check out several hours after checkout time. She wants to do everything she can to avoid paying a fee for the late departure, even though the hotel seems militant that the policy is strictly enforced. Should she:
a) Call the front desk in advance, explain that she can't avoid the late meeting and politely ask for the fee to be waived. If the front desk balks, she should ask to talk face to face with a manager.
b) Threaten to dispute the charge when it appears on her credit card.
c) Don't even bring the issue up and hope no one notices.
5. The Carlisle family is trying to decide where to go on their summer vacation. The parents ------- Herb and Patty ----- want a relaxing two weeks in Paris, while teenagers Michael and Amy yearn for the excitement and adventure of the Grand Canyon. Should they:
a) Let the purse strings decide. Whatever's more affordable is the destination of choice.
b) Bring in a third party ----- maybe a relative or a friend who has spent time in Paris or the Grand Canyon. Their perspective may swing family members' opinions.
c) Look for a destination that has features of both places of choice (there's some place in the world with a huge hole and someone munching on a croissant).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. All ; 4. a ; 5. b
How'd You Score?
Five right answers: You can negotiate the price of a hot dog at an airport, just like Herb Cohen did (much to his wife's consternation).
One right answer: Better sign up for "Dickering 101" at your nearby college.
A Very Silly Potato Story
Well,
A girl potato and
boy potato had eyes for each other,
And finally they got married, and
had a little sweet potato, which
they called 'Yam.'
Of course, they wanted the best for Yam. When it was time, they told her the facts of life.
They warned her about going out and getting half-baked, so she wouldn't get accidentally mashed, and get a bad name for herself like 'Hot Potato,' and end up with a bunch of Tater Tots.
Yam said not to worry, no Spud would get her into the sack and make a rotten potato out of her! But, on the other hand, she wouldn't stay home and become a Couch Potato either. She would get plenty of exercise so as not to be skinny like her Shoestring Cousins.
When she went off to Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Potato told Yam to watch out for the Hard-Boiled guys from Ireland, and the greasy guys from France called French Fries, and when she went out West, to watch out for the Indians so she wouldn't get Scalloped.
Yam said she would stay on the straight and narrow and wouldn't associate with those high class Yukon Golds or the ones from the other side of the tracks who advertise their trade on all the trucks that say 'Frito Lay.' Mr. and Mrs. potato sent Yam to Idaho P.U. (that's Potato University) so that when she graduated she'd really be in the Chips.
But, in spite of all they did for her, one day Yam came home and announced she was going to marry Tom Brokaw.
Tom Brokaw!
Mr. and Mrs. Potato were very upset. They told Yam she couldn't possibly marry Tom Brokaw because he's just...........
Are you ready for this ?
Are you sure ?
OK! Here it is!
A Commontater!!!
A girl potato and
boy potato had eyes for each other,
And finally they got married, and
had a little sweet potato, which
they called 'Yam.'
Of course, they wanted the best for Yam. When it was time, they told her the facts of life.
They warned her about going out and getting half-baked, so she wouldn't get accidentally mashed, and get a bad name for herself like 'Hot Potato,' and end up with a bunch of Tater Tots.
Yam said not to worry, no Spud would get her into the sack and make a rotten potato out of her! But, on the other hand, she wouldn't stay home and become a Couch Potato either. She would get plenty of exercise so as not to be skinny like her Shoestring Cousins.
When she went off to Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Potato told Yam to watch out for the Hard-Boiled guys from Ireland, and the greasy guys from France called French Fries, and when she went out West, to watch out for the Indians so she wouldn't get Scalloped.
Yam said she would stay on the straight and narrow and wouldn't associate with those high class Yukon Golds or the ones from the other side of the tracks who advertise their trade on all the trucks that say 'Frito Lay.' Mr. and Mrs. potato sent Yam to Idaho P.U. (that's Potato University) so that when she graduated she'd really be in the Chips.
But, in spite of all they did for her, one day Yam came home and announced she was going to marry Tom Brokaw.
Tom Brokaw!
Mr. and Mrs. Potato were very upset. They told Yam she couldn't possibly marry Tom Brokaw because he's just...........
Are you ready for this ?
Are you sure ?
OK! Here it is!
A Commontater!!!
Extending Our Neighborhoods from Coast to Coast
The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. Fresh corn slathered in butter, burgers on the barbie, tomatoes, ice cream, and anyone who mentions carb gets sent skyward attached to a bottle rocket.
It's a day when it is politically correct to be shamelessly patriotic. You can show the flag, wear your American Legion cap, and pledge allegiance to God and country without Michael Moore making a docudrama about you.
It is a day when families get together to celebrate the birth of this great nation. It is a day when neighbors get together at block parties and try to outdo each other by bringing their best food, best manners, and best of all forget the differences that pull us every which way until it appears we're coming apart at the seams. After September 11, 2001 we set aside our petty bickering and became united as our name ------ "United States" implies.
Then time passed and slowly but surely we drifted back to our old ways to where in the middle of 2013, as a nation, we may be divided than we've ever been. We're back to our political, petty, distrustful, selfish selves. We've settled into a familiar complacency and discontent where once more we are experiencing a lot of pluribus and not much unum. We are 237 years old this year. I'm wondering whether we'll see 240 or 250. Not because of attacks from without but from the way we have a tendency to implode when there is no major adversity to test our unity. The last presidential election was so contentious it slithered into a mudslinging slop-opera.
We are a much divided country where the people in the Blue States don't trust the people in the Red States. The Blue Staters think the Red Staters are gun slinging, bible-thumping corn-fed yahoos, and the Red Staters think the Blue Staters are elitist "America is always wrong," anti-God, hell bent on turning the country into a bigger welfare state than it already is.
Once we were the "Great Melting Pot," now we are a hyphenated nation with a national identity crisis. My background is Italian, with both sets of grandparents having emigrated from the old country. However, I'm always surprised whenever someone refers to me as an Italian-American. I am proud of my heritage, but it has little to do with who I am today, except that often I have red sauce stains on my shirt front. Italian sciences are indisputable. Yet, I can no more take credit for the genius of Michelangelo and Galileo, than I can accept the blame for the degradations of Mussolini and Capone. To quote that great sailor-philosopher, Popeye, "I yam what I yam."
It is understandable that immigrants want their places of origin to be recognized and remembered and to keep alive the traditions that made themwho they are. So let us celebrate being African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans and all the hyphenated ethnicities that make up our population.
But at some point don't we have to become full-time American Americans? We don't live in the United-hyphen-States of America. We became a nation when the colonies were able to restrain their individualism and work towards the common goal of freedom.
I remember the first time I saw the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington. I watched people searching the black marble for a name, scanning the wall with their fingers as if they were braille readers. Suddenly they would find a name and surrender to their grief, some falling to their knees weeping while their fingers caressed the letters in their loved one's name. I felt like a voyeur imposing myself into their suffering. I had to avert my eyes and leave the area. The Viet Nam Memorial is not divided into sections for service people with hyphenated names representing various national origins. It is a memorial to more than 50,000 Americans who gave their last full measure.
When you see the Stars and Stripes flying from a building or being displayed in a parade to honor our country, hold your hand over your heart and be thankful you are living here in freedom, regardless of your background. Be proud that many of the people who made the sacrifices to insure our freedom share your ethnicity. Acknowledge them. Cherish your shared heritage. Wear a smile. Look at Old Glory. Search out that common thread among her stars and stripes. Grasp it. Pull it tightly. And at least for the weekend let's remind ourselves that Americans are noted for being neighborly and extend our neighborhoods until they stretch from sea to shining sea.
It's a day when it is politically correct to be shamelessly patriotic. You can show the flag, wear your American Legion cap, and pledge allegiance to God and country without Michael Moore making a docudrama about you.
It is a day when families get together to celebrate the birth of this great nation. It is a day when neighbors get together at block parties and try to outdo each other by bringing their best food, best manners, and best of all forget the differences that pull us every which way until it appears we're coming apart at the seams. After September 11, 2001 we set aside our petty bickering and became united as our name ------ "United States" implies.
Then time passed and slowly but surely we drifted back to our old ways to where in the middle of 2013, as a nation, we may be divided than we've ever been. We're back to our political, petty, distrustful, selfish selves. We've settled into a familiar complacency and discontent where once more we are experiencing a lot of pluribus and not much unum. We are 237 years old this year. I'm wondering whether we'll see 240 or 250. Not because of attacks from without but from the way we have a tendency to implode when there is no major adversity to test our unity. The last presidential election was so contentious it slithered into a mudslinging slop-opera.
We are a much divided country where the people in the Blue States don't trust the people in the Red States. The Blue Staters think the Red Staters are gun slinging, bible-thumping corn-fed yahoos, and the Red Staters think the Blue Staters are elitist "America is always wrong," anti-God, hell bent on turning the country into a bigger welfare state than it already is.
Once we were the "Great Melting Pot," now we are a hyphenated nation with a national identity crisis. My background is Italian, with both sets of grandparents having emigrated from the old country. However, I'm always surprised whenever someone refers to me as an Italian-American. I am proud of my heritage, but it has little to do with who I am today, except that often I have red sauce stains on my shirt front. Italian sciences are indisputable. Yet, I can no more take credit for the genius of Michelangelo and Galileo, than I can accept the blame for the degradations of Mussolini and Capone. To quote that great sailor-philosopher, Popeye, "I yam what I yam."
It is understandable that immigrants want their places of origin to be recognized and remembered and to keep alive the traditions that made themwho they are. So let us celebrate being African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans and all the hyphenated ethnicities that make up our population.
But at some point don't we have to become full-time American Americans? We don't live in the United-hyphen-States of America. We became a nation when the colonies were able to restrain their individualism and work towards the common goal of freedom.
I remember the first time I saw the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington. I watched people searching the black marble for a name, scanning the wall with their fingers as if they were braille readers. Suddenly they would find a name and surrender to their grief, some falling to their knees weeping while their fingers caressed the letters in their loved one's name. I felt like a voyeur imposing myself into their suffering. I had to avert my eyes and leave the area. The Viet Nam Memorial is not divided into sections for service people with hyphenated names representing various national origins. It is a memorial to more than 50,000 Americans who gave their last full measure.
When you see the Stars and Stripes flying from a building or being displayed in a parade to honor our country, hold your hand over your heart and be thankful you are living here in freedom, regardless of your background. Be proud that many of the people who made the sacrifices to insure our freedom share your ethnicity. Acknowledge them. Cherish your shared heritage. Wear a smile. Look at Old Glory. Search out that common thread among her stars and stripes. Grasp it. Pull it tightly. And at least for the weekend let's remind ourselves that Americans are noted for being neighborly and extend our neighborhoods until they stretch from sea to shining sea.
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (July 12, 2013)
MERS Evolution
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued fresh details on a severe respiratory disease that has killed at least 40 people since last September. The U.N. agency said recent victims of the MERS virus have suffered less severe symptoms than those infected during the past few weeks had no symptoms at all. The new details mean that the previous estimated death rate of 50 percent from infection is likely to be to high. Most of the victims have been in, or recentlyvisited. Saudi Arabia and adjacent countries. The WHO stopped short of issuing a public health emergency declaration, which would place governments around the world on heightened alert to protect against the spread of the leadup to the October "haij" in Saudi Arabia, when more than 3 million Muslims from around the world will take part in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Invader Returns
The invasive water hyacinth plant is again threatening to choke the waters of Africa's greatest lake, endangering fishing along the Kenya-Uganda border. European colonists brought the decorative plant to Africa in 1879. It reached Lake Victoria 110 years lateer, forming thick mats that covered about 77 square miles by 1998. It then clogged hydroelectric facilities and caused losses to the fishing industry. But the plant virtually disappeared a few years later, some believe due to the introduction of a weevil intended to control the plant's growth, and other measures. But huge mats of the floating plant have reemerged in recent years, hampering fishermen and providing harbors for mosquitoes and snakes, locals complain.
Human Guides
A group of more than 100 loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings were helped to the southern Caribbean Sea by a corridor of human guides on the morning of July 1. The tiny turtles had hatched near the airport on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire. Runway lights and other man-made light sources there interfere with the turtles innate urge to find the ocean by following the brightest light, which has been since prehidtoric times the bright moon shining on the water. So to keep the hatchings from being drawn to the ddunnatural illuminations volunteers from Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire formed a human wall to create a distinct path for the baby turtles to scramble through. The group reported that 112 loggerheads made it safely to the sea. Loggerheads have been on the threatened species list since 1978, mainly due to pollution and development at their nesting sites.
Tropical Cyclones
Category-4 Typhoon Soulik was approaching Taiwan late in the week. The storm was later expected to make landfall in China.
* Hurricane Erick skirted Mexico's Pacific coast.
* Tropical Storm Chantal drenched parts of the Windward Islands, Hispaniola and Cuba.
Earthquakes
Residents of El Salvador's capital rushed into the streets as an offshore 5.9 magnitude quake struck the country.
* Earth movements were also felt in eastern parts of South Africa, the Bangladesh-India border region, western Sumatra, Papua New Guinea's New Britain Island and New Zealand's Hawkes Bav region.
Popo Blasts
Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano spewed ash 2 miles into the sky to the southeast of Mexico City, where residents of the capital awoke to find a fine layer of the volcanic debris on their cars. Those who live much closer to the volcano, and those in the path pf prevailing winds from around "Popo," have endured much thicker accumulations, which have coated their crops and homes over the past few weeks as the volcano has erupted with greater force. The ash has also polluted water supplies, stuned crop growth and has even disrupted flights at Mexico City's main airport with dozens of cancled flights.
Winged Whizzes
A group of cockatoos has demonstrated surprising intelligence by cracking a complex series of locks in order to gain access to food. The 10 untrained Goffin's cockatoos were observed solving the mechanical puzzle designed by a team of zoologists from Oxford University, Vienna University and the Max Planck Institute. In order to get to the nut, which was sealed away behind a transparent door in a wooden box, each bird had to open five seperate locks in a specific order. The process involved removing a pin, twisting out a cap screw, lifting a bolt, turning a wheel and then finally turning a latch. One bird, named "Pipin," was able to complete the puzzle by himself in less than two hours. Some of his feathered counterparts were able to gain access to the nut only after being presented with each lock one at a time or after watching another bird complete the task first. But all of the birds were able to repeat the task more quickly after the first time.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued fresh details on a severe respiratory disease that has killed at least 40 people since last September. The U.N. agency said recent victims of the MERS virus have suffered less severe symptoms than those infected during the past few weeks had no symptoms at all. The new details mean that the previous estimated death rate of 50 percent from infection is likely to be to high. Most of the victims have been in, or recentlyvisited. Saudi Arabia and adjacent countries. The WHO stopped short of issuing a public health emergency declaration, which would place governments around the world on heightened alert to protect against the spread of the leadup to the October "haij" in Saudi Arabia, when more than 3 million Muslims from around the world will take part in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Invader Returns
The invasive water hyacinth plant is again threatening to choke the waters of Africa's greatest lake, endangering fishing along the Kenya-Uganda border. European colonists brought the decorative plant to Africa in 1879. It reached Lake Victoria 110 years lateer, forming thick mats that covered about 77 square miles by 1998. It then clogged hydroelectric facilities and caused losses to the fishing industry. But the plant virtually disappeared a few years later, some believe due to the introduction of a weevil intended to control the plant's growth, and other measures. But huge mats of the floating plant have reemerged in recent years, hampering fishermen and providing harbors for mosquitoes and snakes, locals complain.
Human Guides
A group of more than 100 loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings were helped to the southern Caribbean Sea by a corridor of human guides on the morning of July 1. The tiny turtles had hatched near the airport on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire. Runway lights and other man-made light sources there interfere with the turtles innate urge to find the ocean by following the brightest light, which has been since prehidtoric times the bright moon shining on the water. So to keep the hatchings from being drawn to the ddunnatural illuminations volunteers from Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire formed a human wall to create a distinct path for the baby turtles to scramble through. The group reported that 112 loggerheads made it safely to the sea. Loggerheads have been on the threatened species list since 1978, mainly due to pollution and development at their nesting sites.
Tropical Cyclones
Category-4 Typhoon Soulik was approaching Taiwan late in the week. The storm was later expected to make landfall in China.
* Hurricane Erick skirted Mexico's Pacific coast.
* Tropical Storm Chantal drenched parts of the Windward Islands, Hispaniola and Cuba.
Earthquakes
Residents of El Salvador's capital rushed into the streets as an offshore 5.9 magnitude quake struck the country.
* Earth movements were also felt in eastern parts of South Africa, the Bangladesh-India border region, western Sumatra, Papua New Guinea's New Britain Island and New Zealand's Hawkes Bav region.
Popo Blasts
Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano spewed ash 2 miles into the sky to the southeast of Mexico City, where residents of the capital awoke to find a fine layer of the volcanic debris on their cars. Those who live much closer to the volcano, and those in the path pf prevailing winds from around "Popo," have endured much thicker accumulations, which have coated their crops and homes over the past few weeks as the volcano has erupted with greater force. The ash has also polluted water supplies, stuned crop growth and has even disrupted flights at Mexico City's main airport with dozens of cancled flights.
Winged Whizzes
A group of cockatoos has demonstrated surprising intelligence by cracking a complex series of locks in order to gain access to food. The 10 untrained Goffin's cockatoos were observed solving the mechanical puzzle designed by a team of zoologists from Oxford University, Vienna University and the Max Planck Institute. In order to get to the nut, which was sealed away behind a transparent door in a wooden box, each bird had to open five seperate locks in a specific order. The process involved removing a pin, twisting out a cap screw, lifting a bolt, turning a wheel and then finally turning a latch. One bird, named "Pipin," was able to complete the puzzle by himself in less than two hours. Some of his feathered counterparts were able to gain access to the nut only after being presented with each lock one at a time or after watching another bird complete the task first. But all of the birds were able to repeat the task more quickly after the first time.
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (July 5, 2013)
A Global Blast
The shock wave from the Feb. 15 meteor explosion over Russia was so intense that it traveled around the planet twice, according to new research. The finding was made by examining data from a global network of instruments designed to detect nuclear blasts. Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers say they looked at ultralow frequency acoustic waves, known as infrasound, and found the Chelyabinsk fireball caused the most powerful event ever recorded by the network. Alexis LePichon, from the Atomic Energy Commission in France, and colleagues determined that the energy of the explosion was equivalent to 460 kilotons of TNT. This makes it the most energetic natural event reported since the 1908 Tunguska meteor in Siberia.
Whaling on Trial
Australian government lawyers argued in the world court that Japan's annual whale hunt is nothing more than commercial slaughter of the marine mammals under the guise of science. Australia's case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague is countered by Japan's claims that its hunts are legal under a 1946 convention that allows limited catches for scientific research. But Australia argues that killing whales for research "only makes sense if there is a question that needs to be answered ....... a meaningful question." They say that Japan is merely enabling its whaling fleet to kill for the purpose of putting whale meat on Japanese dinner plates. Commerical whaling was halted in 1986 under an international moratorium. But Japan, Iceland and Norway have continued to conduct limited whaling expeditions despite a demonstrated lack of demand in the market-place for whale meat.
Climate of Fire
Scientists warn that catastrophic wildfires, like the one that killed 19 firefighters in Arizona, are part of a new "normal" for the environment of the American West Arizona has warmed faster than any other state since 1970, with temperatures rising at a rate of 0.72 degree Fahrenheit per decade. Climate expert Gregg Garfin of the University of Arizona points to a decade from 2001 to 2010 when his state was the hottest on record in both spring and summer. He says warmer winters have caused that season's precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow, allowing streams and the soil to dry out more quickly when spring's arid heat arrives. This makes it easier for dry vegetarion to burst into flames.
Summer of Hunger
A second consecutive wet, cool and unsettled summer across Britain has wiped out large populations of bees, moths and butterflies, according to a new National Trust report. It warns that the drop in the number of winged insects could cause birds and bats to go hungry for the remainer of this year. "Insect populations have been really very low. Then when they have got going, they've been hit by a spell of cool, windy weather......... so our environment is just not bouncing with butterflies or anything else," said Matthew Oates, a National Trust naturalist.
Tropical Cyclones
Typhoon Rumbia became the second tropical cyclone to strike South China's Hainan Island in less than two weeks with high winds and flooding rains. The storm later made landfall on the Chinese mainland.
* Hurricane Dalila churned the eastern Pacific off Mexico.
Earthquakes
At least 24 Indonesians were killed and more than 250 others were injured when a powerful earthquake destroyed homes near the northwestern tip of Sumatra.
* Italy's western Tuscany region was jolted by the second moderate quake within a 10-day period, causing slight damage to some homes and roads near the epicenter.
* Earth movements were also felt in western Nepal, eastern Afghanistan, Taiwan and southern Oklahoma.
Cicada Swan Song
The 17-year emergence of the Brood II cicadas during the past few weeks has been disappointing to some in the eastern United States, while others there say the insect's songs have been deafening. Entomologists say the cicadas' distribution this year has been a good year for the arthropod's rare mating season. While some neighborhoods or communities from North Carolina to New England have experienced cicada songs so loud they kept humans up at night, other noshow areas nearby have remained quiet. Brood II is only one of seversl broods that emerge once every 13 or 17 years in various regions. The songsof Brood II are now fading and will soon fall silent until 2030. But in 2021, Brood X, or the Great Eastern Brood, will emerge in far greater concentrations across a wide area from Chicago and Memphis, eastward to the Appalachians and the Atlantic coast of New Jersey and Long Island. Some of its greatest concentrations at that time are exxpected to be in northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The shock wave from the Feb. 15 meteor explosion over Russia was so intense that it traveled around the planet twice, according to new research. The finding was made by examining data from a global network of instruments designed to detect nuclear blasts. Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers say they looked at ultralow frequency acoustic waves, known as infrasound, and found the Chelyabinsk fireball caused the most powerful event ever recorded by the network. Alexis LePichon, from the Atomic Energy Commission in France, and colleagues determined that the energy of the explosion was equivalent to 460 kilotons of TNT. This makes it the most energetic natural event reported since the 1908 Tunguska meteor in Siberia.
Whaling on Trial
Australian government lawyers argued in the world court that Japan's annual whale hunt is nothing more than commercial slaughter of the marine mammals under the guise of science. Australia's case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague is countered by Japan's claims that its hunts are legal under a 1946 convention that allows limited catches for scientific research. But Australia argues that killing whales for research "only makes sense if there is a question that needs to be answered ....... a meaningful question." They say that Japan is merely enabling its whaling fleet to kill for the purpose of putting whale meat on Japanese dinner plates. Commerical whaling was halted in 1986 under an international moratorium. But Japan, Iceland and Norway have continued to conduct limited whaling expeditions despite a demonstrated lack of demand in the market-place for whale meat.
Climate of Fire
Scientists warn that catastrophic wildfires, like the one that killed 19 firefighters in Arizona, are part of a new "normal" for the environment of the American West Arizona has warmed faster than any other state since 1970, with temperatures rising at a rate of 0.72 degree Fahrenheit per decade. Climate expert Gregg Garfin of the University of Arizona points to a decade from 2001 to 2010 when his state was the hottest on record in both spring and summer. He says warmer winters have caused that season's precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow, allowing streams and the soil to dry out more quickly when spring's arid heat arrives. This makes it easier for dry vegetarion to burst into flames.
Summer of Hunger
A second consecutive wet, cool and unsettled summer across Britain has wiped out large populations of bees, moths and butterflies, according to a new National Trust report. It warns that the drop in the number of winged insects could cause birds and bats to go hungry for the remainer of this year. "Insect populations have been really very low. Then when they have got going, they've been hit by a spell of cool, windy weather......... so our environment is just not bouncing with butterflies or anything else," said Matthew Oates, a National Trust naturalist.
Tropical Cyclones
Typhoon Rumbia became the second tropical cyclone to strike South China's Hainan Island in less than two weeks with high winds and flooding rains. The storm later made landfall on the Chinese mainland.
* Hurricane Dalila churned the eastern Pacific off Mexico.
Earthquakes
At least 24 Indonesians were killed and more than 250 others were injured when a powerful earthquake destroyed homes near the northwestern tip of Sumatra.
* Italy's western Tuscany region was jolted by the second moderate quake within a 10-day period, causing slight damage to some homes and roads near the epicenter.
* Earth movements were also felt in western Nepal, eastern Afghanistan, Taiwan and southern Oklahoma.
Cicada Swan Song
The 17-year emergence of the Brood II cicadas during the past few weeks has been disappointing to some in the eastern United States, while others there say the insect's songs have been deafening. Entomologists say the cicadas' distribution this year has been a good year for the arthropod's rare mating season. While some neighborhoods or communities from North Carolina to New England have experienced cicada songs so loud they kept humans up at night, other noshow areas nearby have remained quiet. Brood II is only one of seversl broods that emerge once every 13 or 17 years in various regions. The songsof Brood II are now fading and will soon fall silent until 2030. But in 2021, Brood X, or the Great Eastern Brood, will emerge in far greater concentrations across a wide area from Chicago and Memphis, eastward to the Appalachians and the Atlantic coast of New Jersey and Long Island. Some of its greatest concentrations at that time are exxpected to be in northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (June 28, 2013)
Meteotsunami
Meteorologists and ocean experts are puzzled by a freak tsunami-like surge last month in the Atlantic that swept people off rocks and tossed divers onto reefs. More than 20tide gauges from Bermuda and Puerto Rico to the northeastern coast of the United States recorded the rare phenomenon on June 13. The greatest ocean heave was recorded at Newport, R. I., where it reached just under a foot above sea level. But a fisherman at new Jersey's Barnegat Inlet says he saw an approximately 6-foot wave come in during the surge. Some believe that a line of serve storms, which had just caused widespread damage over the northeastern U.S., generated a phenomenon known as a meteotsunami, or a tsunami caused by weather. The last significant meteotsumanis on the East Coast took place in 2008 at Boothday Harbor, Maine, and in 1992 at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Locust Plague
Madagascar risks having two-thirds of its crop overrun by locust swarms if it fails to act now, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns. "This could very well be a last window of opportunity to avert an extended crisis," said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva. The country's worst locust infestation in 60 years had spread across a wide swath of the country by early April, and FAO says the agency has been falling short in it efforts to raise funds from Western donors to combat the plague. Experts say there are now more than 500 billion ravenous locusts on the island nation, chomping through about 100,000 tons of vegetation each day. "If we don't act now, the plague could last years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars," cautioned Graziano da Silva.
Hurricane Suppression
New research by the U.K.'s meteorological office reveals that the air pollution from industry and vehicles may have kept down the number of Atlantic hurricanes during the 20th century. The burning of fossil fuel in Europe and North America throughout the 19th and 20th centuries released large quantities of particulates, or "aerosols" into the air. Aerosols can increase the brightness and lifespan of low-altitude clouds over the ocean, which, in large numbers, can cool bodies of water like the North Atlantic. According to a series of computer simulations created for the study, Atlantic hurricane activity was suppressed over the last 100 years due to such cooling. But efforts to clean up the air on both sides of the Atlantic have reduced aerosol emissions, especially through the phasing out of coal-burning power plants. This has caused the cooling effect to wane. The study suggests that the recent increases in Atlantic hurricane numbers could be the result of that cleaner air.
Alaskan Blast
Ash and cinders from Alaska's Pavlof volcano soared 5 miles into the sky as the mountain erupted with greater force than at any time since it roared to life in mid-May. "For some reason we can't explain, it picked up in intensity and vigor," said Tina Neal, an Alaska Volcano Observatory geologist. The U.S. National Weather Service issued an ash advisory for the area around the Alaska Peninsula, about 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, where Pavlof is located. Ash dusted nearby King Cove, but the plume of volcanic debris did not reach an altitude high enough to interfere with trans-Pacific jetliner routes. Pavlof has erupted about 40 times since Russia colonized Alaska in the 1700s.
Tropical Cyclones
Tropical Storm Bebinca drenched South China's island province of Hainan before losing force over far northern Vietnam. More than 12 inches of rainfall and storm-surge tides swamped farmland and burst flood barriers in some locations.
* Hurricane Cosme churned the open waters of the eastern Pacific off the Mexican coast.
Earthquakes
An unusually strong quake centered beneath northern Italy at midday on June 21 prompted many schools to evacuate as a precaution. The 5.2 magnitude shaking caused walls of some older buildings to collapse, but there were no reports of injuries.
* Earth movements were also felt in the central Indonesian island of Lombok, the northern Philippines, northern Tunisia, northern New Jersey and north-central Washington.
Cold War Defender
A Russian rocket scientist says that some of his country's Soviet-era intercontinental ballistic missiles could be used to destroy asteroids or any other objects that threaten to strike Earth. Sabit Saitgarayev told RIA Novosti that the Voyevoda (Satan) missiles could be used for destroying small space objects five to six hours before their collision with the Earth. Concerns over a catastrophic impact from an asteroid or comet have risen since a meteor exploded over Russia on Feb. 15, injuring more than 1,000 people.
Meteorologists and ocean experts are puzzled by a freak tsunami-like surge last month in the Atlantic that swept people off rocks and tossed divers onto reefs. More than 20tide gauges from Bermuda and Puerto Rico to the northeastern coast of the United States recorded the rare phenomenon on June 13. The greatest ocean heave was recorded at Newport, R. I., where it reached just under a foot above sea level. But a fisherman at new Jersey's Barnegat Inlet says he saw an approximately 6-foot wave come in during the surge. Some believe that a line of serve storms, which had just caused widespread damage over the northeastern U.S., generated a phenomenon known as a meteotsunami, or a tsunami caused by weather. The last significant meteotsumanis on the East Coast took place in 2008 at Boothday Harbor, Maine, and in 1992 at Daytona Beach, Fla.
Locust Plague
Madagascar risks having two-thirds of its crop overrun by locust swarms if it fails to act now, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns. "This could very well be a last window of opportunity to avert an extended crisis," said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva. The country's worst locust infestation in 60 years had spread across a wide swath of the country by early April, and FAO says the agency has been falling short in it efforts to raise funds from Western donors to combat the plague. Experts say there are now more than 500 billion ravenous locusts on the island nation, chomping through about 100,000 tons of vegetation each day. "If we don't act now, the plague could last years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars," cautioned Graziano da Silva.
Hurricane Suppression
New research by the U.K.'s meteorological office reveals that the air pollution from industry and vehicles may have kept down the number of Atlantic hurricanes during the 20th century. The burning of fossil fuel in Europe and North America throughout the 19th and 20th centuries released large quantities of particulates, or "aerosols" into the air. Aerosols can increase the brightness and lifespan of low-altitude clouds over the ocean, which, in large numbers, can cool bodies of water like the North Atlantic. According to a series of computer simulations created for the study, Atlantic hurricane activity was suppressed over the last 100 years due to such cooling. But efforts to clean up the air on both sides of the Atlantic have reduced aerosol emissions, especially through the phasing out of coal-burning power plants. This has caused the cooling effect to wane. The study suggests that the recent increases in Atlantic hurricane numbers could be the result of that cleaner air.
Alaskan Blast
Ash and cinders from Alaska's Pavlof volcano soared 5 miles into the sky as the mountain erupted with greater force than at any time since it roared to life in mid-May. "For some reason we can't explain, it picked up in intensity and vigor," said Tina Neal, an Alaska Volcano Observatory geologist. The U.S. National Weather Service issued an ash advisory for the area around the Alaska Peninsula, about 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, where Pavlof is located. Ash dusted nearby King Cove, but the plume of volcanic debris did not reach an altitude high enough to interfere with trans-Pacific jetliner routes. Pavlof has erupted about 40 times since Russia colonized Alaska in the 1700s.
Tropical Cyclones
Tropical Storm Bebinca drenched South China's island province of Hainan before losing force over far northern Vietnam. More than 12 inches of rainfall and storm-surge tides swamped farmland and burst flood barriers in some locations.
* Hurricane Cosme churned the open waters of the eastern Pacific off the Mexican coast.
Earthquakes
An unusually strong quake centered beneath northern Italy at midday on June 21 prompted many schools to evacuate as a precaution. The 5.2 magnitude shaking caused walls of some older buildings to collapse, but there were no reports of injuries.
* Earth movements were also felt in the central Indonesian island of Lombok, the northern Philippines, northern Tunisia, northern New Jersey and north-central Washington.
Cold War Defender
A Russian rocket scientist says that some of his country's Soviet-era intercontinental ballistic missiles could be used to destroy asteroids or any other objects that threaten to strike Earth. Sabit Saitgarayev told RIA Novosti that the Voyevoda (Satan) missiles could be used for destroying small space objects five to six hours before their collision with the Earth. Concerns over a catastrophic impact from an asteroid or comet have risen since a meteor exploded over Russia on Feb. 15, injuring more than 1,000 people.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Is English a great language or what?
When I was a student at Cheltenham High School the one course my friends told me to avoid was Latin. They reeled off the ditty "Latin as a language is dead as it can be, first it killed the Romans and now it's killing me." I took their advice.
A stern looking woman named Juanita Downestaught Latin at dear old CHS. I avoided her by being ahead of the curve and struggling my way through three years of Spanish. I tried French once and lasted one or two report periods and took off for typing class (which served me better anyway). Someone at the school had decided it would be a good idea to have an exchange teacher from Belgium teach us French with a Flemish accent. I could not understand her in any language.
I'm reminded of the story about 1930s and 40s big league player/spy Moe Berg who was a linguist and could converse in seven languages and, as a sportswriter once wrote, "could not hit in any of them."
So what happened? I ended up as an English teacher. If you think Latin, Spanish and French are hard, consider growing up in another country and coming to America and having to learn English. Also consider being a teacher and trying to make rational sense of the language to someone who clearly thinks you (and your language) are crazy.
Some examples (compiled, in all honesty, from stuff I've gathered from fellow teachers over the years) are in order to illustrate my remarks. We run a gubernatorial election and the winner becomes, not a goober (though some end up being one), but the governor. Pineapples have neither pine nor apples in them. Guinea, nor are they pigs. Of course there are no eggs in an eggplant, English muffins didn't come from England and French fries didn't start out in France. Italian hoagies didn't originate in Italy either.
Writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham. The plural of tooth is teeth, but why then isn't the plural of booth, beeth? Why doesn't Buick rhyme with quick? Why do teachers teach and preachers don't praut. Why is geese the plural of goose, but meese not the plural of moose?
How come you open up something because it is stopped up? Or open up your store in the morning and then close it up in the evening? In fact that little two-letter word "up" probably has more uses and meanings than any other word in the English language. You wake up, speak up, write up a report, clean up an leftovers, stir up trouble and work up an appetite. To get dressed up is quite another. Your house can burn up as it burns down.
A stern looking woman named Juanita Downestaught Latin at dear old CHS. I avoided her by being ahead of the curve and struggling my way through three years of Spanish. I tried French once and lasted one or two report periods and took off for typing class (which served me better anyway). Someone at the school had decided it would be a good idea to have an exchange teacher from Belgium teach us French with a Flemish accent. I could not understand her in any language.
I'm reminded of the story about 1930s and 40s big league player/spy Moe Berg who was a linguist and could converse in seven languages and, as a sportswriter once wrote, "could not hit in any of them."
So what happened? I ended up as an English teacher. If you think Latin, Spanish and French are hard, consider growing up in another country and coming to America and having to learn English. Also consider being a teacher and trying to make rational sense of the language to someone who clearly thinks you (and your language) are crazy.
Some examples (compiled, in all honesty, from stuff I've gathered from fellow teachers over the years) are in order to illustrate my remarks. We run a gubernatorial election and the winner becomes, not a goober (though some end up being one), but the governor. Pineapples have neither pine nor apples in them. Guinea, nor are they pigs. Of course there are no eggs in an eggplant, English muffins didn't come from England and French fries didn't start out in France. Italian hoagies didn't originate in Italy either.
Writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham. The plural of tooth is teeth, but why then isn't the plural of booth, beeth? Why doesn't Buick rhyme with quick? Why do teachers teach and preachers don't praut. Why is geese the plural of goose, but meese not the plural of moose?
How come you open up something because it is stopped up? Or open up your store in the morning and then close it up in the evening? In fact that little two-letter word "up" probably has more uses and meanings than any other word in the English language. You wake up, speak up, write up a report, clean up an leftovers, stir up trouble and work up an appetite. To get dressed up is quite another. Your house can burn up as it burns down.
Green men and greenbacks
by Phil Gianficaro
The man heard a strange noise, stepped outside his New Britain home, looked up and saw an unidentified object.
"I saw something that appeared to be my teenage son painting the shutters on the second floor," Mark Pachulla said. "my son? Doing chores without being asked? Couldn't be.
"That's as close as I've come to seeing something like a UFO. It was just like all those people who say they've seen flying saucers or weird blinking lights; I saw it, but couldn't believe what I was seeing, Aliens? Yeah, seeing my son doing work on his own, that was alien to me."
His surprisingly ambitious son on the ladder aside, Pachulla has never seen a UFO, but others claim to, including many throughout Bucks County over the past decade. There was that unusual object spotted hovering above Sesame Place in Middletown in 2008. And that unexplained conical beam of light flashing in the sky in Buckingham in 2009. And even as recently as October in New Britain, where a large spheerical object with three triangular lights was seen whooshing over Route 202 near the Duck Deli. But just as quickly as the object in the sky appeared, it was gone.
That wasn't the case 66 years ago this week in Roswell, N.M.
On a ranch near the now-infamous town in July 1947, something shiny fell from the sky and crashed. Was it a flying saucer? Was it a weather balloon? Was it a failed secret military experiment, given the proximity of nearby Roswell Army Air Field? Recovered in the debris were pieces of rubber, super-strong tin foil and metallic I-beams on which geometric symbols resembling hieroglyphics were etched.
Fifty years later, the Air Force explained the material recovered was from Project Mogul, a secret program of atmospheric balloons used to detect Soviet nuclear tests. Skeptics abound.
Whatever happened that day in the high plains of New Mexico was the best thing to happen to Roswell. The UFO legend has transformed the nondescript town into a tourist destination, complete with a UFO museum. The recently held Roswell UFO Festival included live music and entertainment, 5K and 10K walks and runs, a carnival, UFO seminars, UFO ice cream and souvenirs, and even alien costume contests for folks and their pets. There's even an eatery called the Cover-Up Cafe. The town's motto is "Alien City." Roswell has become Loch Ness without the monster.
If two strange-looking men from space landed their flying machine on my front lawn, it wouldn't surprise me. The universe is a big place; believing we're its only inhabitants reeks of arrogance.
My first personal experience with the UFO phenomenon occurred at an early age. The father of a close friend had an interest in UFOs that bordered on obsession. An eccentric, the man's home was littered with stacks of soft-and hard-cover books on the topic. On hot summer days, his son and I ate Fudgesicles and listened to The Byrds' "Eight Miles High" on their stereo; he was certain the mysterious truth in the sky came from so much farther away.
"See any Martians today, Mr. Buff? we'd jokingly ask.
He'd just laugh, nod his head knowingly, peer at us over the top of his eyeglasses and say, "Someday you'll see, boys. Someday."
Perhaps someday. But 56 years into this life, I've yet to look up and see an unidentified object ------ flying or otherwise.
Of course, our son is still too young to paint the shutters.
The man heard a strange noise, stepped outside his New Britain home, looked up and saw an unidentified object.
"I saw something that appeared to be my teenage son painting the shutters on the second floor," Mark Pachulla said. "my son? Doing chores without being asked? Couldn't be.
"That's as close as I've come to seeing something like a UFO. It was just like all those people who say they've seen flying saucers or weird blinking lights; I saw it, but couldn't believe what I was seeing, Aliens? Yeah, seeing my son doing work on his own, that was alien to me."
His surprisingly ambitious son on the ladder aside, Pachulla has never seen a UFO, but others claim to, including many throughout Bucks County over the past decade. There was that unusual object spotted hovering above Sesame Place in Middletown in 2008. And that unexplained conical beam of light flashing in the sky in Buckingham in 2009. And even as recently as October in New Britain, where a large spheerical object with three triangular lights was seen whooshing over Route 202 near the Duck Deli. But just as quickly as the object in the sky appeared, it was gone.
That wasn't the case 66 years ago this week in Roswell, N.M.
On a ranch near the now-infamous town in July 1947, something shiny fell from the sky and crashed. Was it a flying saucer? Was it a weather balloon? Was it a failed secret military experiment, given the proximity of nearby Roswell Army Air Field? Recovered in the debris were pieces of rubber, super-strong tin foil and metallic I-beams on which geometric symbols resembling hieroglyphics were etched.
Fifty years later, the Air Force explained the material recovered was from Project Mogul, a secret program of atmospheric balloons used to detect Soviet nuclear tests. Skeptics abound.
Whatever happened that day in the high plains of New Mexico was the best thing to happen to Roswell. The UFO legend has transformed the nondescript town into a tourist destination, complete with a UFO museum. The recently held Roswell UFO Festival included live music and entertainment, 5K and 10K walks and runs, a carnival, UFO seminars, UFO ice cream and souvenirs, and even alien costume contests for folks and their pets. There's even an eatery called the Cover-Up Cafe. The town's motto is "Alien City." Roswell has become Loch Ness without the monster.
If two strange-looking men from space landed their flying machine on my front lawn, it wouldn't surprise me. The universe is a big place; believing we're its only inhabitants reeks of arrogance.
My first personal experience with the UFO phenomenon occurred at an early age. The father of a close friend had an interest in UFOs that bordered on obsession. An eccentric, the man's home was littered with stacks of soft-and hard-cover books on the topic. On hot summer days, his son and I ate Fudgesicles and listened to The Byrds' "Eight Miles High" on their stereo; he was certain the mysterious truth in the sky came from so much farther away.
"See any Martians today, Mr. Buff? we'd jokingly ask.
He'd just laugh, nod his head knowingly, peer at us over the top of his eyeglasses and say, "Someday you'll see, boys. Someday."
Perhaps someday. But 56 years into this life, I've yet to look up and see an unidentified object ------ flying or otherwise.
Of course, our son is still too young to paint the shutters.
Life is Fragile, so enjoy it fully
Life. Most of us take it for granted until we are rocked by unexpected bad news. It could be news about yourself or about a loved one, a friend or someone whom you idolize.
It's then, and I believe only then, that you realize the fragility of life. Your thoughts run deep to a point that you may feel selfish. All the things that one complains about in normal day is so ludicrous the line at the grocery store is too long, damn traffic, bills, your boss.
Want, want, want, but never really understanding what you have ------- your health. Health is priceless. Without it, you might realize what nonsense all this other stuff is.
Listen, never take for granted what is so precious to us or our health. Visit a children's hospital one day and you will realize a lot about our own selfishness. I'm learning more each day just how lucky I am to have a beautiful, healthy daughter to enjoy each day that brings you a gift : waking up healthy and enjoying every moment for what it is.
Smile when the guy driving by cuts you off and flips you the bird ; promise it will make you feel better. Enjoy the day whether it's sunny or stormy : It's still your day. Yeah, I know it's a bummer when you get rained on at the beach, but there are always things much worse in the grand scheme.
I guess my simple message is live each day to the fullest because whoever came up with the expression "Life is short" sure the hell knew what he or she was talking about.
Health is priceless.
It's then, and I believe only then, that you realize the fragility of life. Your thoughts run deep to a point that you may feel selfish. All the things that one complains about in normal day is so ludicrous the line at the grocery store is too long, damn traffic, bills, your boss.
Want, want, want, but never really understanding what you have ------- your health. Health is priceless. Without it, you might realize what nonsense all this other stuff is.
Listen, never take for granted what is so precious to us or our health. Visit a children's hospital one day and you will realize a lot about our own selfishness. I'm learning more each day just how lucky I am to have a beautiful, healthy daughter to enjoy each day that brings you a gift : waking up healthy and enjoying every moment for what it is.
Smile when the guy driving by cuts you off and flips you the bird ; promise it will make you feel better. Enjoy the day whether it's sunny or stormy : It's still your day. Yeah, I know it's a bummer when you get rained on at the beach, but there are always things much worse in the grand scheme.
I guess my simple message is live each day to the fullest because whoever came up with the expression "Life is short" sure the hell knew what he or she was talking about.
Health is priceless.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Kennections
All five correct answers have something in common.
Can you figure out what it is?
1. What name for New Orleans was popularized by socialite Betty Guillaud, for the city's laid-back pace?
2. What's the more common name for Carcharodon carcharias, the largest predatory fish on earth?
3. What poet became the "first modern celebrity" when his Childe Harold's Pilgrimage was published in 1812?
4. In honor of the city's offical symbol, what prize is given to the best movie every year at the Berlin Film Festival?
5. What was the name of the pet mutt on The Brady Bunch?
Bonus : What's the "Kennection" between all five answers?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. The Big Easy
2. Great White Shark
3. Lord Byron
4. Golden Bear
5. Tiger
Bonus : All are nicknames of famous golfers
Can you figure out what it is?
1. What name for New Orleans was popularized by socialite Betty Guillaud, for the city's laid-back pace?
2. What's the more common name for Carcharodon carcharias, the largest predatory fish on earth?
3. What poet became the "first modern celebrity" when his Childe Harold's Pilgrimage was published in 1812?
4. In honor of the city's offical symbol, what prize is given to the best movie every year at the Berlin Film Festival?
5. What was the name of the pet mutt on The Brady Bunch?
Bonus : What's the "Kennection" between all five answers?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. The Big Easy
2. Great White Shark
3. Lord Byron
4. Golden Bear
5. Tiger
Bonus : All are nicknames of famous golfers
F. Y. I.
Table Tidbits
Cherry pie filing is the No. 1 filling sold in the U.S.
Shades of Change
Hydrangeas can change from pink to blue or blue to pink, depending on the amount of aluminum in the soil.
The Difference
In Louisiana, biting someone with your natural teeth is considered a simple assault but an aggravated assault if you use false teeth.
Quotable
by John Steinbeck, American writer (1902-1968)
"A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ."
Casting Calls
Angela Bassett landed the role of Tina Turner in the 1993 film "What's Love Got to Do with It" after it was offered to Whitney Houston, who declined.
Presidents' Files
President Chester A. Arthur owned 80 pairs of pants, which he changed several times a day.
Cherry pie filing is the No. 1 filling sold in the U.S.
Shades of Change
Hydrangeas can change from pink to blue or blue to pink, depending on the amount of aluminum in the soil.
The Difference
In Louisiana, biting someone with your natural teeth is considered a simple assault but an aggravated assault if you use false teeth.
Quotable
by John Steinbeck, American writer (1902-1968)
"A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ."
Casting Calls
Angela Bassett landed the role of Tina Turner in the 1993 film "What's Love Got to Do with It" after it was offered to Whitney Houston, who declined.
Presidents' Files
President Chester A. Arthur owned 80 pairs of pants, which he changed several times a day.
F. Y. I.
Quotable
by Julia Roberts, actor
"You know it's love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you are not part of their happiness."
Table Tidbits
Marinara sauce originated in Naples and comes from the Italian word "marinaro," meaning "sailor."
Still on the Books
In Devon, Conn., it is unlawful to walk backward after sunset.
Name Change
Female chickens are called pullets until they're old enough to lay eggs and become hens.
Back Then
The first baseballs were made by cobblers from the rubber remnants of old shoes.
State Stats
Graceland, Elvis Presley's home in Memphis, Tenn., is the second-most-visited house in the U.S.
by Julia Roberts, actor
"You know it's love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you are not part of their happiness."
Table Tidbits
Marinara sauce originated in Naples and comes from the Italian word "marinaro," meaning "sailor."
Still on the Books
In Devon, Conn., it is unlawful to walk backward after sunset.
Name Change
Female chickens are called pullets until they're old enough to lay eggs and become hens.
Back Then
The first baseballs were made by cobblers from the rubber remnants of old shoes.
State Stats
Graceland, Elvis Presley's home in Memphis, Tenn., is the second-most-visited house in the U.S.
What's happened to major league pitchers?
by Jerry Jonas
For five innings, I had twice walked the nearly-empty upper-deck grandstands of Shibe Park (later renamed Connie Mack Stadium) hawking a large tray loaded with dozens of Goldenbergs Peanut Chews.
Satisfied I had probably sold my quota of those 5-cent delights for the day, I settled comfortably into a seat overlooking the Philadelphia A's dugout to enjoy the game.
It was a relatively warm Saturday afternoon ----- July 21, 1945 ----- and the war with Germany had been over for more than two months, and in just over three weeks, the war with Japan would come to a violent end following the dropping of atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.
As a 14-year-old soon to enter my first year of high school, I was engaged in a summer job selling candy and soft drinks at the ballpark.
With a pass to see every A's and Phillies game (and I saw most of them), I was the envy of all the kids in my Kensington neighborhood.
I'd sell my wares for four or five innings, then take a seat and watch the game. Andwith a number of the ballplayers who had been serving in the military for the past four years being discharged and returning to their old teams, it was an interesting time for any baseball fan.
Two-time Most Valuable Player and future Hall of Fame slugger Hank Greenberg had served four years in the Army Air Force and was back full time in the lineup of the Detroit Tigers.
On that muggy day, with the first-place Tigers in town to play the last-place A's in the first of a four-game series, and with my selling chores completed, I was looking forward to possibly watching Greenberg knock one or more baseballs out of the park.
But I was in for a total surprise.
On that day, I wouldn't witness any slugging heroics. What I would get to see was a record-setting game and an unbelievable pitching performance I've never forgotten.
As I settled comfortably into my seat and perused my 10-cent scorecard, I was aware the A's had already scored a run in the third inning against Tigers starting pitcher Les Mueller. For the A's, submarine sinkerball pitcher Russ Christopher ---- then the ace of their staff ----- was on the mound and so far had held the Tigers scoreless.
In the eighth inning, the Tigers' Doc Cramer knocked in a run to tie the score.
That would be the last run for either team for the rest of the game. For the next 16 innings, the Shibe Park scorekeeper would hang nothing but a series of zeroes for both teams.
The game would go on for 24 innings and eventually be called for darkness, with neither team managing to send another run across the plate.
Christopher would pitch 13 of those innings for the A's before being lifted, and his reliever, Joe Berry, would throw 11. Unbelievably, Mueller would continue to throw for the Tigers until there were two outs in the 20th inning.
Christopher had to have thrown at least 150 pitches, while Mueller's pitches probably exceeded 200.
In future years, I would see several other pitching performances that seem incredible by today's standards.
Two come especially to mind.
For five innings, I had twice walked the nearly-empty upper-deck grandstands of Shibe Park (later renamed Connie Mack Stadium) hawking a large tray loaded with dozens of Goldenbergs Peanut Chews.
Satisfied I had probably sold my quota of those 5-cent delights for the day, I settled comfortably into a seat overlooking the Philadelphia A's dugout to enjoy the game.
It was a relatively warm Saturday afternoon ----- July 21, 1945 ----- and the war with Germany had been over for more than two months, and in just over three weeks, the war with Japan would come to a violent end following the dropping of atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.
As a 14-year-old soon to enter my first year of high school, I was engaged in a summer job selling candy and soft drinks at the ballpark.
With a pass to see every A's and Phillies game (and I saw most of them), I was the envy of all the kids in my Kensington neighborhood.
I'd sell my wares for four or five innings, then take a seat and watch the game. Andwith a number of the ballplayers who had been serving in the military for the past four years being discharged and returning to their old teams, it was an interesting time for any baseball fan.
Two-time Most Valuable Player and future Hall of Fame slugger Hank Greenberg had served four years in the Army Air Force and was back full time in the lineup of the Detroit Tigers.
On that muggy day, with the first-place Tigers in town to play the last-place A's in the first of a four-game series, and with my selling chores completed, I was looking forward to possibly watching Greenberg knock one or more baseballs out of the park.
But I was in for a total surprise.
On that day, I wouldn't witness any slugging heroics. What I would get to see was a record-setting game and an unbelievable pitching performance I've never forgotten.
As I settled comfortably into my seat and perused my 10-cent scorecard, I was aware the A's had already scored a run in the third inning against Tigers starting pitcher Les Mueller. For the A's, submarine sinkerball pitcher Russ Christopher ---- then the ace of their staff ----- was on the mound and so far had held the Tigers scoreless.
In the eighth inning, the Tigers' Doc Cramer knocked in a run to tie the score.
That would be the last run for either team for the rest of the game. For the next 16 innings, the Shibe Park scorekeeper would hang nothing but a series of zeroes for both teams.
The game would go on for 24 innings and eventually be called for darkness, with neither team managing to send another run across the plate.
Christopher would pitch 13 of those innings for the A's before being lifted, and his reliever, Joe Berry, would throw 11. Unbelievably, Mueller would continue to throw for the Tigers until there were two outs in the 20th inning.
Christopher had to have thrown at least 150 pitches, while Mueller's pitches probably exceeded 200.
In future years, I would see several other pitching performances that seem incredible by today's standards.
Two come especially to mind.
POP QUIZ (My Country)
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to answer a series of general questions about those events...........well, it can be surprisingly tricky. Even when the subject is as familiar as the U.S.A. Sure, we're a young country; but there's still 237 years of history to master. Plus, America is really big! From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam, there's just so much to know. But fear not, myfellow Americans: This quiz provides a refresher on our nation's history, geography, arts, and sciences, just in time for the Fourth.
So grab a pencil, take a deep breath, and see how much star-spangled trivia you really know.
1. Three of these foreign-sounding foods are actually American in origin. Which ones?
a) German chocolate cake
b) French fries
c) Russian dressing
d) Chinese chicken salad
e) Danish pastries
f) English muffins
2. The Stature of Liberty, dedicated in 1886, was a gift to the United States from the people of what nation?
3. Can you, the people, put these constitutional amendments in correct numerical order?
a) Women receive the right to vote
b) Freedom of speech is protected
c) Prohibition is repealed
d) The right to a jury trial is established
e) Slavery is abolished
f) The voting age is lowered to 18
4. Do you recognize the first words communicated by these technologies?
Match the medium to its message.
(1) Samuel Morse's commercial telegraph
(2) Alexander Graham Bell's telephone
(3) Feature film with synchronized dialogue
(4) YouTube video
(a) "All right, so here we are in front of the elephants."
(b) "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain't heard nothin' yet."
(c) "Mr. Watson, come here----I want to see you."
(d) "What hath God wrought?"
5. Which of the following products did botanist and inventor George Washington Carver make from peanuts?
a) Shampoo
b) Fake oysters
c) Fruit drink mix
d) Nitroglycerine
e) Insecticide
f) Printer's ink
6. Sequoyah is a hero of the Cherokee people because in 1821 he gave them what?
a) A decisive victory over the U.S. Cavalry
b) An elected government
c) A major land grant
d) A written language
7. Abner Doubleday is sometimes called the inventor of baseball. That's not true, but what was Doubleday's real historical claim to fame?
a) He ordered the first Union shots of the Civil War
b) He purchased Alaska from Russia
c) He was the only survior of the Alamo
d) He mapped the Oregon Trail
8. Match each president to his administration's domestic policy program.
(1) Franklin D. Roosevelt a) The New Frontier
(2) Theodore Roosevelt b) The New Deal
(3) Harry Truman c) The Square Deal
(4) John F. Kennedy d) The Great Society
(5) Lyndon B. Johnson e) The Fair Deal
9. The man on the $10 bill was never president. So why is he on the bill?
a) He was the first secretary of the Treasury.
b) He was chief justice of the Supreme Court
c) He said, "Give me liberty or give me death"
d) he was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence
10. Match these fabled Old West gunslingers to their real names.
(1) Billy the Kid a) Myra Shirley
(2) Butch Cassidy b) Robert Parker
(3) Calamity Jane c) Martha Canary
(4) Buffalo Bill d) William McCarty
(5) Belle Starr e) William Cody
(6) Annie Oakley f) Phoebe Moses
11. The Oscar for Best Picture has gone to a western ----- that quintessential American movie genre ------ only three times. Which of these classics was not a winner?
a) High Noon
b) Unforgiven
c) Dances With Wolves
d) Cimarron
12. The famous long glissando that opens composer George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" is played on what instrument?
a) Harp
b) Clarinet
c) Trumpet
d) Violin
13. Why was lyricist Francis Scott Key present at the British bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry the night he conceived "The Star-Spangled Banner"?
a) He was a militia member defending the fort.
b) He was a lawyer negotiating the release of a prisoner.
c) He was a doctor treating the wounded.
d) He was a barber cutting the British admiral's hair.
14. How much do you know about the fruits of America's literary labors? Complete each title with its missing ingredient.
(1) The House on ________ Street by Sandra Cisneros
(2) The _________ s of Wrath by John Steinbeck
(3) On the Banks of __________ Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
(4) The Adventures of _________ Finn by Mark Twain
(5) A ___________ in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
a) Plum b) Raisin c) Mango d) Grape e) Huckleberry
15. 90 Percent of America's freshwater is contained in the Great Lakes. Put the lakes in order of the amount of water each holds (from the most gallons to the least).
a) Lake Erie b) Lake Huron c) Lake Michigan d) Lake Ontario e) Lake Superior
16. The tip of the Washington Monument was constructed out of a material that (at the time) was one of the rarest and most precious substances on earth. What is that material?
a) Celluloid plastic
b) Stainless Steel
c) Rubber
d) Aluminum
17. Houston, we have a problem: These milestones in American space exploration are all mixed up. Can you put them in chronolgical order?
a) First American space walk
b) First landing on an asteroid
c) First American woman in space
d) First man on the moon
e) First Mars orbiter
f) First multinational manned mission
18. The Salt and Start treaties that the U.S. signed between 1972 and 1991 were aimed at limiting what?
a) Nuclear weapons
b) Greenhouse gas emissions
c) Human rights violations
d) Tax dodging
19. True or False : George Washington decorated the White House personally, not even accepting help from his wife, Martha.
20. Complete this title of one of the most important memoirs of the 19th century : Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : An American __________
a) Admiral b) Tycoon c) Slave d) Poet
21. Who is the only woman ever to lie in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol following her death?
a) Helen Keller b) Susan B. Anthony c) Rosa Parks d) Eleanor Roosevelt
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. a, c, d ; 2. France ; 3. b (First), d (Sixth), e (13th), a (19th), c (21st), f (26th) ; 4. (1) d, (2) c, (3) b, (4) a ; 5. All of them ;6. d ; 7. a ; 8. (1) b, (2) c, (3) e, (4) a, (5) d ; 9. a ; 10. (1) d, (2) b, (3) c, (4) e, (5) a, (6) f ; 11. a ; 12. b ; 13. b ; 14. (1) c, (2) d, (3) a, (4) e, (5) b ; 15. e, c, b, d, a (Lake Superior holds almost 3,000 cubic miles of water, more than the four other lakes put together) ; 16. d ; 17. a (1965) d (1969) e (1971) f (1975) c (1983) b (2001) ; 18. a ; 19. False ; 20. c ; 21. c
So grab a pencil, take a deep breath, and see how much star-spangled trivia you really know.
1. Three of these foreign-sounding foods are actually American in origin. Which ones?
a) German chocolate cake
b) French fries
c) Russian dressing
d) Chinese chicken salad
e) Danish pastries
f) English muffins
2. The Stature of Liberty, dedicated in 1886, was a gift to the United States from the people of what nation?
3. Can you, the people, put these constitutional amendments in correct numerical order?
a) Women receive the right to vote
b) Freedom of speech is protected
c) Prohibition is repealed
d) The right to a jury trial is established
e) Slavery is abolished
f) The voting age is lowered to 18
4. Do you recognize the first words communicated by these technologies?
Match the medium to its message.
(1) Samuel Morse's commercial telegraph
(2) Alexander Graham Bell's telephone
(3) Feature film with synchronized dialogue
(4) YouTube video
(a) "All right, so here we are in front of the elephants."
(b) "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain't heard nothin' yet."
(c) "Mr. Watson, come here----I want to see you."
(d) "What hath God wrought?"
5. Which of the following products did botanist and inventor George Washington Carver make from peanuts?
a) Shampoo
b) Fake oysters
c) Fruit drink mix
d) Nitroglycerine
e) Insecticide
f) Printer's ink
6. Sequoyah is a hero of the Cherokee people because in 1821 he gave them what?
a) A decisive victory over the U.S. Cavalry
b) An elected government
c) A major land grant
d) A written language
7. Abner Doubleday is sometimes called the inventor of baseball. That's not true, but what was Doubleday's real historical claim to fame?
a) He ordered the first Union shots of the Civil War
b) He purchased Alaska from Russia
c) He was the only survior of the Alamo
d) He mapped the Oregon Trail
8. Match each president to his administration's domestic policy program.
(1) Franklin D. Roosevelt a) The New Frontier
(2) Theodore Roosevelt b) The New Deal
(3) Harry Truman c) The Square Deal
(4) John F. Kennedy d) The Great Society
(5) Lyndon B. Johnson e) The Fair Deal
9. The man on the $10 bill was never president. So why is he on the bill?
a) He was the first secretary of the Treasury.
b) He was chief justice of the Supreme Court
c) He said, "Give me liberty or give me death"
d) he was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence
10. Match these fabled Old West gunslingers to their real names.
(1) Billy the Kid a) Myra Shirley
(2) Butch Cassidy b) Robert Parker
(3) Calamity Jane c) Martha Canary
(4) Buffalo Bill d) William McCarty
(5) Belle Starr e) William Cody
(6) Annie Oakley f) Phoebe Moses
11. The Oscar for Best Picture has gone to a western ----- that quintessential American movie genre ------ only three times. Which of these classics was not a winner?
a) High Noon
b) Unforgiven
c) Dances With Wolves
d) Cimarron
12. The famous long glissando that opens composer George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" is played on what instrument?
a) Harp
b) Clarinet
c) Trumpet
d) Violin
13. Why was lyricist Francis Scott Key present at the British bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry the night he conceived "The Star-Spangled Banner"?
a) He was a militia member defending the fort.
b) He was a lawyer negotiating the release of a prisoner.
c) He was a doctor treating the wounded.
d) He was a barber cutting the British admiral's hair.
14. How much do you know about the fruits of America's literary labors? Complete each title with its missing ingredient.
(1) The House on ________ Street by Sandra Cisneros
(2) The _________ s of Wrath by John Steinbeck
(3) On the Banks of __________ Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder
(4) The Adventures of _________ Finn by Mark Twain
(5) A ___________ in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
a) Plum b) Raisin c) Mango d) Grape e) Huckleberry
15. 90 Percent of America's freshwater is contained in the Great Lakes. Put the lakes in order of the amount of water each holds (from the most gallons to the least).
a) Lake Erie b) Lake Huron c) Lake Michigan d) Lake Ontario e) Lake Superior
16. The tip of the Washington Monument was constructed out of a material that (at the time) was one of the rarest and most precious substances on earth. What is that material?
a) Celluloid plastic
b) Stainless Steel
c) Rubber
d) Aluminum
17. Houston, we have a problem: These milestones in American space exploration are all mixed up. Can you put them in chronolgical order?
a) First American space walk
b) First landing on an asteroid
c) First American woman in space
d) First man on the moon
e) First Mars orbiter
f) First multinational manned mission
18. The Salt and Start treaties that the U.S. signed between 1972 and 1991 were aimed at limiting what?
a) Nuclear weapons
b) Greenhouse gas emissions
c) Human rights violations
d) Tax dodging
19. True or False : George Washington decorated the White House personally, not even accepting help from his wife, Martha.
20. Complete this title of one of the most important memoirs of the 19th century : Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass : An American __________
a) Admiral b) Tycoon c) Slave d) Poet
21. Who is the only woman ever to lie in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol following her death?
a) Helen Keller b) Susan B. Anthony c) Rosa Parks d) Eleanor Roosevelt
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. a, c, d ; 2. France ; 3. b (First), d (Sixth), e (13th), a (19th), c (21st), f (26th) ; 4. (1) d, (2) c, (3) b, (4) a ; 5. All of them ;6. d ; 7. a ; 8. (1) b, (2) c, (3) e, (4) a, (5) d ; 9. a ; 10. (1) d, (2) b, (3) c, (4) e, (5) a, (6) f ; 11. a ; 12. b ; 13. b ; 14. (1) c, (2) d, (3) a, (4) e, (5) b ; 15. e, c, b, d, a (Lake Superior holds almost 3,000 cubic miles of water, more than the four other lakes put together) ; 16. d ; 17. a (1965) d (1969) e (1971) f (1975) c (1983) b (2001) ; 18. a ; 19. False ; 20. c ; 21. c
Friday, July 5, 2013
Well, I declare!
The elementary school teacher stood before our third-grade class and asked what the Fourth of July represented. One kid said it was a day when he could eat as many hot dogs he wanted without his mom getting mad at him. Another recalled it as a time to hang the American flag on his front porch.
My favorite was the answer delivered with unintentional comedic precision by one of my best friends. As the teacher queried the class, he frantically waved his hand high in the air and shouted "Ooh! Ooh!" much like Arnold Horshack, the goofball "Sweathog" from the 1970s sitcom, "Welcome Back, Kotter."
When the teacher finally called on him, he slid out from his wooden desk, stood proudly and said, "It means the decoration of Independence!"
His hysterical malaprop aside, the kid wasn't entirely incorrect. What with the presenting of the stars and stripes and the tacking up of red, white and blue bunting, we indeed decorate our independence every July Fourth. It's a time-honored way Americans demonstrate their love of country.
We know hot dogs taste especially good off the grill that day. But how much do you truly know about the Declaration of Independence, the document that got the ball rolling 237 years ago? Yeah, yeah, we've memorized passages such as "When in the course of human events......." and "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal." But can you name the first person to sign the declaration? Do you know which English king the document addressed? Do you know what the document was written on?
So, go ahead on Thursday, scarf down those hot dogs and wave those flags. But beforehand, take a few moments to find out how much, or little, you know about the document that started it all. I present the Independence Day 13, one head-stratching question for each colony.
1. Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence?
a) Pearl S. Buck
b) Thomas Jefferson
c) Benjamin Franklin
d) Benjamin Franklin Pierce
2. From which English philosopher did the declaration committee get ideas for the document?
a) John Locke
b) Sir Francis Bacon
c) Bernard Mayo
d) Nigel Mustard
3. Who was the first person in Congress to sign the declaration?
a) John Hancock
b) Francis Lightfoot Lee
c) Button Gwinnett
d) Richard Stockton
4. Who was the oldest signer of the declaration, at age 70?
a) John Adams
b) Samuel Adams
c) Bryan Adams
d) Benjamin Franklin
5. On what material was the original declaration written?
a) Paper
b) Wood
c) Stretched animal skin
d) Betsy Ross's apron
6. Which colony did not vote on the adoption of the declaration?
a) Pennsylvania
b) New Jersey
c) New York
d) New Hampshire
7. Which signers of the declaration died on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day of its adoption?
a) Benjamin Franklin and John Stockton
b) Thomas Jefferson and Robert Morris
c) Benjamin Franklin and George Clymer
d) Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
8. Where was Benjamin Franklin born?
a) Lancaster
b) Boston
c) Philadelphia
d) Hamden, Conn.
9. Which Oscar-winning actress is a direct descendant of one of the signers of the declaration?
a) Susan Sarandon
b) Reese Witherspoon
c) Jessica Lange
d) Jodie Foster
10. Who was the only Catholic to sign the declaration?
a) Charles Carroll
b) Thomas McKean
c) Elbridge Gerry
d) Thomas Lynch, Jr.
11. From which king of Great Britain was independence declared?
a) William I
b) George II
c) George III
d) James I
12. One in eight signers of the declaration hailed from which college/university?
a) University of Pennsylvania
b) Harvard University
c) Quachita Baptist (Conn.)
d) Virginia Trinity
13. What was the estimated population of America at the time of the declaration?
a) 2.5 million
b) 5 million
c) 6 million
d) 9 million
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. b ; 2. a ; 3. a ; 4. d ; 5. c ; 6. c ; 7. d ; 8. b ; 9. b ; 10. a ; 11. c ; 12. b ; 13. a
My favorite was the answer delivered with unintentional comedic precision by one of my best friends. As the teacher queried the class, he frantically waved his hand high in the air and shouted "Ooh! Ooh!" much like Arnold Horshack, the goofball "Sweathog" from the 1970s sitcom, "Welcome Back, Kotter."
When the teacher finally called on him, he slid out from his wooden desk, stood proudly and said, "It means the decoration of Independence!"
His hysterical malaprop aside, the kid wasn't entirely incorrect. What with the presenting of the stars and stripes and the tacking up of red, white and blue bunting, we indeed decorate our independence every July Fourth. It's a time-honored way Americans demonstrate their love of country.
We know hot dogs taste especially good off the grill that day. But how much do you truly know about the Declaration of Independence, the document that got the ball rolling 237 years ago? Yeah, yeah, we've memorized passages such as "When in the course of human events......." and "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal." But can you name the first person to sign the declaration? Do you know which English king the document addressed? Do you know what the document was written on?
So, go ahead on Thursday, scarf down those hot dogs and wave those flags. But beforehand, take a few moments to find out how much, or little, you know about the document that started it all. I present the Independence Day 13, one head-stratching question for each colony.
1. Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence?
a) Pearl S. Buck
b) Thomas Jefferson
c) Benjamin Franklin
d) Benjamin Franklin Pierce
2. From which English philosopher did the declaration committee get ideas for the document?
a) John Locke
b) Sir Francis Bacon
c) Bernard Mayo
d) Nigel Mustard
3. Who was the first person in Congress to sign the declaration?
a) John Hancock
b) Francis Lightfoot Lee
c) Button Gwinnett
d) Richard Stockton
4. Who was the oldest signer of the declaration, at age 70?
a) John Adams
b) Samuel Adams
c) Bryan Adams
d) Benjamin Franklin
5. On what material was the original declaration written?
a) Paper
b) Wood
c) Stretched animal skin
d) Betsy Ross's apron
6. Which colony did not vote on the adoption of the declaration?
a) Pennsylvania
b) New Jersey
c) New York
d) New Hampshire
7. Which signers of the declaration died on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day of its adoption?
a) Benjamin Franklin and John Stockton
b) Thomas Jefferson and Robert Morris
c) Benjamin Franklin and George Clymer
d) Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
8. Where was Benjamin Franklin born?
a) Lancaster
b) Boston
c) Philadelphia
d) Hamden, Conn.
9. Which Oscar-winning actress is a direct descendant of one of the signers of the declaration?
a) Susan Sarandon
b) Reese Witherspoon
c) Jessica Lange
d) Jodie Foster
10. Who was the only Catholic to sign the declaration?
a) Charles Carroll
b) Thomas McKean
c) Elbridge Gerry
d) Thomas Lynch, Jr.
11. From which king of Great Britain was independence declared?
a) William I
b) George II
c) George III
d) James I
12. One in eight signers of the declaration hailed from which college/university?
a) University of Pennsylvania
b) Harvard University
c) Quachita Baptist (Conn.)
d) Virginia Trinity
13. What was the estimated population of America at the time of the declaration?
a) 2.5 million
b) 5 million
c) 6 million
d) 9 million
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. b ; 2. a ; 3. a ; 4. d ; 5. c ; 6. c ; 7. d ; 8. b ; 9. b ; 10. a ; 11. c ; 12. b ; 13. a
F. Y. I.
Quotable
by Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president (1809-1865)
"Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought."
Still on the Books
In Ridley Park, Delaware County, walking backward while eating peanuts in front of the Barnstormers Theater during a performance is prohibited.
Point of Origin
Fireworks were invented more than 2,000 years ago in China.
Table Tidbits
Americans consume 155 million hot dogs on the Fourth of July, enough to stretch from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles five times ---- with hot dogs left over.
Artillery Salute
In the 19th century, Independence Day was celebrated by firing explosives left over from various wars throughout the day.
Of Note
The bald eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird.
by Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president (1809-1865)
"Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought."
Still on the Books
In Ridley Park, Delaware County, walking backward while eating peanuts in front of the Barnstormers Theater during a performance is prohibited.
Point of Origin
Fireworks were invented more than 2,000 years ago in China.
Table Tidbits
Americans consume 155 million hot dogs on the Fourth of July, enough to stretch from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles five times ---- with hot dogs left over.
Artillery Salute
In the 19th century, Independence Day was celebrated by firing explosives left over from various wars throughout the day.
Of Note
The bald eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird.
Afraid of the Dentist?
These strategies can help.
I'm a rational person, but I have a deep fear of the dentist that I just can't overcome. Any suggestions?
I don't know too many people who enjoy a trip to the dentist. But the health of our teeth and gums is an important part of maintaining our dental and overall wellness. So we do it.
Some of my patients have such a fear of dentists that they avoid making dental appointments at all, or cancel appointments they do make. Almost to a person, they tell me they've "always" been afraid of dentists. Almost surely, the fear began with a visit to the dentist ------ maybe their first ----- when they were a child.
Regardless of why you have this fear, there are several things you can try to get yourself into a dentist's chair. Medications such as diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan) may help reduce anxiety.
But they are best used in combination with these cognitive and behavioral strategies :
Relaxation techniques have been used by people in Asia for thousands of years. On occasion,true nonsense can be perpetuated for thousands of years, but usually things that have lasted that long have proven their value.
Recent research at Harvard Medical School has even shown that relaxation techniques literally change body chemistry. They alter which genes are turned on and off. So consider this approach to your fear of the dentist. It really could work.
I'm a rational person, but I have a deep fear of the dentist that I just can't overcome. Any suggestions?
I don't know too many people who enjoy a trip to the dentist. But the health of our teeth and gums is an important part of maintaining our dental and overall wellness. So we do it.
Some of my patients have such a fear of dentists that they avoid making dental appointments at all, or cancel appointments they do make. Almost to a person, they tell me they've "always" been afraid of dentists. Almost surely, the fear began with a visit to the dentist ------ maybe their first ----- when they were a child.
Regardless of why you have this fear, there are several things you can try to get yourself into a dentist's chair. Medications such as diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan) may help reduce anxiety.
But they are best used in combination with these cognitive and behavioral strategies :
- Breathing techniques. Physical tension and emotional stress can make pain feel worse. Dep breathing can counter physcial and mental tension. Breathe in slowly and count to five. Then exhale to another count of five.
- Muscle relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation involves tensing and then releasing one group of muscles at a time. It can help to slow heart rate and promaote calmness. Just a few minutes of progressive muscle relaxation may help during an appointment.
- Desensitization. This approach combines deep breathing and relaxation with gradual exposure to the thing that triggers your fear. If you're afraid of needles, for example, you may look at pictures of a dentist's needle in a safe environment such as at home, while practicing relaxation and breathing techniques. The goal is to help you learn to relax while confronting a trigger of your fear.
- Distraction. Focusing your mind elsewhere is another way to lessen anxiety and pain. The more complicated the task, the better. Listening to music may help. But counting tiles on the ceiling or slats on a window blind may be even more effective.
Relaxation techniques have been used by people in Asia for thousands of years. On occasion,true nonsense can be perpetuated for thousands of years, but usually things that have lasted that long have proven their value.
Recent research at Harvard Medical School has even shown that relaxation techniques literally change body chemistry. They alter which genes are turned on and off. So consider this approach to your fear of the dentist. It really could work.
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