Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9308190014
SECTION: MISCELLANEOUS PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: They are confiscated by U.S. marshals and sold if their owners don't turn up - and, for obvious reasons, they don't. The ships, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, are in nasty, often leaky condition and not worth much.
Q: Under the new military policy, will sexual orientation questions be asked for anyone whose job requires a security clearance?
A: No. Questions pertaining to an individual's sexual orientation will not be asked on security questionnaires. But the guidelines state that an individual's overall conduct `is a legitimate security concern only if it could make an individual suscepible to exploitation or coercion, or indicate a lack of trustworthiness, reliablility or good judgment that is required of anyone with access to classified information.'
Q: What is the price of a gallon of gasoline in Europe?
A: Here is a sampling from a few countries: Italy, $5.10; France, $3.86; Germany, $2.87; Britain, $2.55.
Q: Did J. Edgar Hoover ever hire women for the FBI?
A: He never recruited a woman as an agent. When he took over in 1924, there were some women in such posts, but they all left. Today the FBI includes 1,252 female agents, or about 11 percent of the force.
Q: In the DieHard 500 stock car race in Talladega, Ala., recently, why did Darrell Waltrip, who finished in 37th place, win as much money as Greg Sacks, who finished in sixth place.
A: The awarding of NASCAR prize money is sometiimes one of the most complicated aspects of a race, because of large amounts of `contingency money,' which is paid to drivers and teams that have certain sponsor decals on their cars. For example, Unocal, the gasoline used by NASCAR, pays the `Unocal Challenge.' That is an award that increases each week if it is not won. It goes to anyone who wins the pole and then subsequently wins the race. The only catch to winning the Unocal money is that you have to have a Unocal decal on your car. It's like the same for other sponsors. Some drivers, like Rusty Wallace, like what is known as the `clean look,' meaning fewer decals. That's why, at a race earlier this year, Wallace won but took home less money than the driver who finished second but had more sponsor decals on his car.
Q: Has there been any recent thought given to having public schools with girls in one school and boys in another?
A: Some cities, including Milwaukee, New York, Baltimore and Detriot, have tried segregating boys and girls in their public school systems, creating `academies' geared to the specific problems of inner-city black male teen-agers. But most of the schools never opened, or they involved only a classroom or two because of fear of lawsuits. When the `boys only' schools started, they appeared to be successful and had widespread community support, but the American Civil Liberties Union, various women's rights groups and subsequent court decisions stopped separation by sex.
Q: What 50 counties are most important to the United States?
A: An as yet unreleased State Department report called `State 200' was commissioned during the Bush administration to `re-evaluate and overhaul' the manner in which our foreign policy is formulated and executed. Results were to reflect the changing dynamics of international relations, with less emphasis on the threat of war and more on global economics, technology and trade. The 50 countries ranked `most important according to an evaluation of U.S. intrests' are, in descending order: Germany, France, Britian, China, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Israel, Canada, and Iraq. The next 40, in order, are Italy, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, Cuba, Libya, Argentina, Spain, El Salvador, South Korea, Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, Ethiopia, Syria, Peru, Greece, Zaire, Jordan, Kenya, Venezuela, Brazil, Sudan, Iran, Chilie, Jamaica, Lebanon, Senegal, Singapore, Malaysia, Sweden, Netherlands, Colombia, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and Bolivia. The report says Iraq's importance will diminish and Ukraine's will increase.
by CNB