ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606030019
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
Q: A hope chest owned by Marilyn Monroe was discovered recently. What was in it?
A: The trunk, kept for three decades by a confidante of the actress, was obtained by American Movie Classics cable channel and awarded as part of an AMC sweepstakes. Publicists were on hand when Zsa Zsa Gabor browsed through the trunk last month at Planet Hollywood in Beverly Hills, Calif. Gabor worked with Monroe on the 1952 film ``We're Not Married.'' What Gabor found wasn't much, but it was enough to thrill the winner, Karl Huggins, 33, of Indianapolis: a Brownie camera, sunglasses, a deck of playing cards, magazines and newspapers with articles about Monroe, a book about Abraham Lincoln and a black beaded purse.
Q: How does closed captioning for TV work? The visual representations are often a meaningless phonic representation of the actual words. Do computers with some sort of voice recognition technology prepare the captions?
A: When programs are prerecorded for later broadcast, captions are typed into a computer and added to the videotape before broadcast. If a script is available, captions also are typed in advance for programs that are broadcast live and are added to the TV signal during broadcast. For live broadcasts with spontaneous dialogue, the dialogue is recorded on a shorthand machine linked to a computer, and the computer instantly produces encoded subtitles. And this is where the nonsensical words sometimes crop up.
Q: Who sings the love song during the dance sequences in ``The Bridges of Madison County''?
A: That's the late Johnny Hartman crooning ``I See Your Face Before Me.'' Two other Hartman songs, ``It Was Almost Like a Song'' and ``For All We Know,'' also are on the ``Bridges'' soundtrack.
Q: I've heard that lightning never strikes the same place twice. What about tornadoes?
A: It would be a mistake to think that lightning or a tornado could never hit the same place twice. In fact, tornadoes have been known to strike twice at the same location on several occasions, because the conditions that spawned them lingered. Baldwyn, Miss., was struck twice by tornadoes during a 25-minute period March 16, 1942. Two tornadoes occurred 45 minutes apart May 30, 1879, in Irving, Kan. Austin, Texas, had two tornadoes in rapid succession May 4, 1922. Even so, the mathematical chance that a specific location will be struck by a tornado even one time in any one year is quite small. The Weather Almanac says the probability of a tornado striking a given point - even in areas frequently subject to tornadoes - is 0.0363, or about once in 250 years. In the far-western states, the probability is close to zero. .
Q: What was the total national debt when President Jimmy Carter left office? How does that compare to when Ronald Reagan and George Bush left?
A: Carter left office in January 1981; the national debt at the end of fiscal year 1981 was $994.84 billion, according to the Treasury Department's Bureau of Public Debt. Reagan left in January '89; the debt was $2.87 trillion. Bush left in January '93; the debt was $4.35 trillion. At the most recent accounting, April 3, the debt was $5.1 trillion.
Q: Hundreds of people died when a ferry sank in Lake Victoria in Tanzania. With such huge ferries, how big is the lake?
A: It covers 26,828 square miles, which makes it the second-largest freshwater lake in the world. Only Lake Superior, covering 31,700 square miles, is larger.
Q: People are talking about how hot it's going to be in Atlanta during the Olympics, but wasn't it awfully hot in Barcelona, Spain, during the Summer Games there? How about Los Angeles and Seoul, South Korea? Also, what other cities have summer heat comparable to Atlanta's?
A: Let's consider the averages first. The average highs and lows for July are 81 and 69 in Barcelona and 88 and 69.5 in Atlanta. Barcelona's Games were held July 25 to Aug. 9, 1992. High temperatures during the period ranged from the upper 70s (day 6) to 90 (days 14 and 16). Highs most days were in the upper 80s, and spectators and athletes alike considered it ``scorching.'' The Games in Los Angeles were July 28 to Aug. 12, 1984. Opening day's high was near 90, but temperatures fell quickly to a high in the upper 70s before moving into the mid-80s for most of the rest of the period and then back to the high 80s. Seoul's Games, Sept. 17 to Oct. 2, 1988, were the coolest, with highs from the upper 60s to the lower 80s.
Other cities with July temperatures similar to Atlanta's: Beijing, 89/71; Hamilton, Bermuda, 85/72; Honolulu, 85/73; Madrid, Spain, 87/62; Rome, 88/64; Miami, 89/76; New Orleans, 91/74; Orlando, 92/73; Washington, 88/70.
Q: Some news reports about the Freemen in Montana have referred to the location as Jordan, and others have called it Brusett. The Freemen themselves call it Justus. Can you explain?
A: As previously reported, the Freemen call their 960-acre compound ``Justus Township,'' saying it's an independent entity with its own laws and courts. It is 30 miles northwest of Jordan. Brusett is a small crossroads about 15 miles from the compound.
Q: On an average day, how many people in the United States are killed in automobile accidents?
A: The number is ``about 112,'' said Tim Hurd of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington.
Q: Oxygen canisters in the cargo hold are being investigated in connection with the ValuJet crash. Aren't these same canisters above the heads of every passenger on a plane? Why aren't they hazardous anywhere in a plane?
A: When canisters are mounted in their normal position above passenger seats, they're insulated and there is no flammable material around them, said Preston Hicks of the National Transportation Safety Board. Only when the oxygen masks are pulled to the full extent of the tubing is the arming pin released, activating the oxygen generator. If the oxygen generators are in the hold of an aircraft and not properly packaged so that they're insulated and separated from each other, they are potentially hazardous, Hicks said.
Q: I've heard there's a place called Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Where is it, and where did it gets its intriguing name?
A: Head-Smashed-In is in southwestern Alberta, 11 miles northwest of Fort Macleod. The site is a cliff where Plains Indians herded buffalo over the edge to their death, enabling the natives to harvest meat and fur from the carcasses later. A spokeswoman at the site's museum and interpretive center said researchers think the practice may date as far back as 9,000 years. Displays at the interpretive center describe the tradition and offer insights into the life and customs of Plains Indians, especially the Blackfoot.
Q: A TV newscaster said Randy Weaver, whose wife and son were killed by federal agents in the Ruby Ridge incident, was in the Green Berets. Is that true? Did he serve in Vietnam?
A: Weaver was a sergeant in the Army's Green Berets. He did not see combat and spent his tour of duty working with engineering equipment at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Q: Did Walt Disney have a family?
A: Yes. He and his wife, Lillian Marie Bounds Disney, had two daughters, Diane Marie and Sharon Mae. A spokesman in the archives department at Disney headquarters in Burbank, Calif., said recently that Lillian and Diane are ``alive and well'' and living in California, and Sharon died about two years ago.
Q: What is the status of the DuPont heir accused or murdering a wrestler?
A: A Pennsylvania judge rejected a defense request that 57-year-old chemical company heir and murder suspect John E. du Pont be released on bail for placement in a Philadelphia psychiatric hospital. He is awaiting trial on murder charges in the Jan. 26 shooting death of Olympic gold-medal wrestler Dave Schultz. In denying the request, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Patricia Jenkins said Du Pont posed too great a risk of fleeing, and she noted that his lawyers gave no evidence that he was mentally ill and needed treatment. His lawyers immediately appealed the ruling to the state Superior Court. Du Pont's arraignment is scheduled May 30, pending a court-ordered evaluation of his mental competency.
Q: I've heard that ``Gilligan's Island'' is the most-rerun television show in history because of syndication all over the world. Is that true? When were the original episodes produced?
A: No statistics are available about the most-watched TV series worldwide, but Atlanta Journal-Constitution TV writer Phil Kloer said his guess would be ``I Love Lucy,'' not ``Gilligan's Island.'' It's very common for shows like those to be translated into dozens of languages and aired all over the world, Kloer said. ``Gilligan's Island'' had 98 original episodes and was shown on CBS from Sept. 26, 1964, to Sept. 4, 1967, before going into reruns and syndication.
Q: Is it true that all or most of the oil from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay is being sold to Japan?
A: That's not quite right.
But it's certainly possible that Japan could buy Alaskan oil in the future. When the Alaska pipeline was proposed, Congress passed a law dictating that all Alaskan oil must remain in the domestic market, said Joe Lastelic of the American Petroleum Institute in Washington. But the ban on foreign sales has been removed by Congress, he said, so the Alaskan oil can be sold anywhere on the world market ``to anybody who pays the price.'' Japan, China and other countries have expressed interest, but no contracts have been signed and ``not one drop from Prudhoe Bay has ever gone to Japan.''
Q: How many games did Babe Ruth appear in?
A: Not counting his time in 1914 with the Baltimore Orioles, a minor-league team back then, Ruth played in 2,503 games: 261 with the Boston Red Sox, 1914-18 (American League); 2,214 with the New York Yankees, 1920-34 (American League); and 28 with the Boston Braves, 1935 (National League).
Q: I'm 5 feet tall and weigh 100 pounds, the perfect weight for my height. But the Red Cross tells me I can't donate blood because donors have to have a minimum weight. Why?
A: For the safety of the donor, the American Red Cross and most other blood banks require a person to weigh at least 110 pounds to donate a full unit of blood. A blood donor weighing less than 110 pounds has a greater chance of a negative reaction to the donation than does an average donor, said Dr. Alfred J. Grindon, medical director for the American Red Cross Blood Services, Southern Region. About one pint of blood is collected from each donor, he said. This is about 12 percent of a person's blood volume - too much to take safely from a person weighing 100 pounds.
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