Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 16, 1995 TAG: 9504180054
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A: April 30 is believed to be the date in 1945 when Adolf Hitler and his mistress, Eva Braun, committed suicide. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington said the collapse of Germany's Third Reich and the liberation of Dachau and other death camps culminated at the end of April 1945. The last Sunday-to-Sunday week in April is observed as Holocaust Week; this year's dates are April 23-30.
Q: Where did Hillary Clinton get $100 million to spend on educating women around the world?
A: The U.S. Agency for International Development allocated the sum for the education of girls and women in three regions of the world over a 10-year period, said a spokeswoman for Clinton. The first lady announced the grant at a recent U.N. summit on poverty, jobs and other social issues in Copenhagen, Denmark. The funds were appropriated by Congress before her announcement and trip.
Q: Julie Andrews won an Oscar in 1964 for ``The Americanization of Emily,'' but she didn't win one the next year for ``The Sound of Music.'' I had heard that the same person couldn't win two years in a row, but now Tom Hanks has done it. Is there a bias against women?
A: Two women have won the best actress Oscar in consecutive years. Luise Rainer was honored as best actress in 1936 for ``The Great Ziegfeld'' and in 1937 for ``The Good Earth,'' and Katharine Hepburn won in 1967 for ``Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' and in 1968 for ``The Lion in Winter.'' (Barbra Streisand also won as best actress in 1968, for ``Funny Girl'' - the vote was a tie.) Andrews, by the way, won in 1964 for ``Mary Poppins,'' not ``Emily.''
Q: When I channel-surf to avoid commercials on one station, I run into them on the others. Do networks and cable systems coordinate?
A: Not exactly - but the result is the same. A New York ad exec who works with TV productions said it has been this way ``since TV came on the scene,'' but it's more obvious now because people are able to change quickly to so many more channels. Situation comedies produced for the popular 8 p.m. slot and dramas for 10 p.m. are ``cut'' the same way for commercials, explained Betsy Frank, vice president of the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency. So viewers are likely to encounter the same ``cut'' no matter what channel they're watching, because so many shows start at the same time.
Q: When I served in the Korean War, I used the phonetic alphabet which began Able, Baker, Charlie and so on. Now it's Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. Why was it changed, and when?
A: The Army adopted a phonetic alphabet as early as 1914, but some of the words weren't suited for Spanish-speaking people. The first worldwide agreement on a standard spelling alphabet was reached in 1927 at the International Telecommunications Union Radio Conference in Washington. That, too, was a problem because some of its words weren't in everyday use. After more studies, an International Civil Aviation Organization alphabet was established in 1952. It ran into the same familiar snags. The new (and current) alphabet - Alpha through Zulu - was adopted in 1956.
Q: Would Sen. Strom Thurmond or Newt Gingrich be higher on the list of people in line for the presidency?
A: Gingrich (speaker of the House), then Thurmond (president pro tempore of the Senate). Both would follow Vice President Al Gore.
Q: Where is Bird Island? We think it's in North Carolina or South Carolina, but we can't find it on any maps.
A: No wonder you're mystified. It doesn't appear on the North Carolina map in the Rand McNally Road Atlas and it isn't mentioned in the North Carolina Division of Tourism's comprehensive, 170-page Travel Guide. But it's in North Carolina, a mile south of Sunset Beach, which is just north of the North Carolina-South Carolina border. To get to Bird, you have to wade across from Sunset when tides are low enough. Its inaccessibility is the reason it isn't widely known. Accommodations are available in nearby beach towns.
Q: Bradford pears seem to be among the earliest trees to blossom in spring. I'd like to plant some, but I want the proper variety. What is the botanical name?
A: Ask your nursery for genus Pyrus; species calleryana; cultivar Bradford.
Q: How much is first lady Hillary Clinton's and daughter Chelsea's tour of South Asia costing? Are taxpayers paying for their trip? If not, who is?
A: Karen Finney, a spokeswoman for Clinton, gave this information: ``Travel expenses for the White House, including President Clinton and the first lady, are appropriated by Congress, so there is a budget for travel-related expenses. However, for security reasons, we cannot release any figures on the amount.''
Q: I know that the term antebellum refers to the period before the Civil War, but what exactly do the words ante and bellum mean?
A: It's Latin. Ante means ``happening before''; bellum means ``war.'' Although antebellum commonly means before the Civil War, it conceivably could refer to the period before any war. In the South, especially in spring when tours of old homes are popular, you'll often hear references to antebellum homes: those built prior to 1860.
Q: What is the origin of topping off a construction project with a pine tree?
A: It is a very old custom. A tree symbolizes life and the fact that no lives had been lost to that point. It also indicates wishes for prosperity and good luck for the tenants.
Q: Wasn't Cape Canaveral, Fla., renamed Cape Kennedy after President Kennedy's assassination? Why was the name changed back?
A: President Lyndon Johnson changed the name from Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy on Nov. 29, 1963. That sparked a public outcry about changing the name of the land mass that always had been Canaveral. On May 29, 1973, Florida took action to change it back, and the U.S. Interior Department made it official Oct. 9, 1973. Today, the land mass in the Atlantic between Merritt Island and Titusville is Cape Canaveral, with the town of Cape Canaveral on its southern tip. Kennedy Space Center, with Spaceport USA, is on Merritt Island.
Q: What's the difference between philharmonic orchestra and a symphony orchestra?
A: There's no difference. Both are large orchestras composed of woodwind, brass, string and percussion instruments and organized to perform symphonic compositions.
Q: Why is the space shuttle Endeavour spelled with a ``u,'' in the English way, rather than with the customary American spelling?
A: It was named after the ship of English explorer Capt. James Cook, who explored the South Pacific, Antarctica and the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, among other places. He died in 1779. A student submitted the name during a NASA competition.
Q: If the ``The Star-Spangled Banner'' didn't become the national anthem until March 3, 1931, what was the national anthem before then?
A: There wasn't an official anthem until Congress passed an act that was then signed into law by President Herbert Hoover on the date cited. ``The Star-Spangled Banner'' wasn't new in 1931. It was written in 1814 and used by patriots in rallies and ceremonies for 117 years before being declared the anthem.
Q: Why are ambitious men referred to as Young Turks?
A: A Young Turk is an insurgent within any group, such as a political party, who supports progressive policies. The phrase originated from the Turkish reform party that dominated politics in Turkey for 10 years beginning in 1908. Many modern European innovations were introduced by these young Turks, who succeeded in making Turkey a republic.
Q: What is the telephone number for travel safety information on various countries?
A: The State Department's Office of Overseas Citizens Services can be reached at 202-647-5225. Using a touch-tone phone, you work your way through a menu of topics and countries, hearing advisories on crime, security, health, areas of unrest and instability, and threats to airline flights. Advisories are updated as conditions change. After listening to three advisories, you must call again.
Q: Is there a difference between a carousel and a merry-go-round?
A: They're one and the same. The first one was patented in 1871 to Willhelm Schneider of Davenport, Iowa. Since it didn't have mock horses moving up and down, it didn't make anyone merry. In 1898, inventor Charles Wallace Parker produced the first one with a jumping horse mechanism, sending merry riders round and round. Hence the second name.
Q: I heard Iran has bought some submarines. From whom and what class are they?
A: It's true. Iran went shopping in Russia a couple of years back to buy some of the old Soviet military hardware up for sale. The Kilo-class submarines Iran bought have diesel-electric engines and can run on battery power underwater, making them much quieter than a nuclear sub and therefore difficult to track. Also, since they're not nuclear-powered, they leave no heat signature. The sub can be very dangerous.
Q: Are there any laws regarding scattering ashes of someone who's been cremated?
A: None at all, said Jimmy Lewis of the North Georgia Crematory. Cremains, as they're called in the funeral trade, pose no health hazards, but if Uncle wants his ashes packed in shotgun shells and shot over his favorite hunting spot, you'll need to get permission if it's on private property.
Q: Do all golf balls have the same number of dimples?
A: The ruling bodies of golf - the U.S. Golf Association and the revered Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews - have made no regulation on the number of dimples in golf balls. The rules say only that a ball can be no larger than 1.68 inches in diameter and no heavier than 1.62 ounces, and can travel no more than 250 feet a second.
Modern golf balls for decades had an identical pattern of 336 dimples. But in the last decade, competition has caused manufacturers to tinker with the dimpled darling and claim longer and more accurate shots with fewer dimples, more dimples, smaller dimples, larger dimples, deeper dimples, and so on.
Q: I've always heard that brown eggs are more nutritious than white eggs. Why is this?
A: Eggshell color has nothing to do with nutritive value of the eggs. Neither has it to do with taste, but some believe the darker color in the yolks of brown eggs make them taste more eggy. The color of eggshells, which varies from white to deep brown, is determined by the breed of hen. Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire and Plymouth Rock are all breeds that lay brown eggs. They have red ear lobes, incidentally, and hens with white ear lobes lay white eggs.
by CNB