ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609300101
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
Q: When I'm driving toward a major city and see a sign giving the mileage at, say, 20 miles, what does that mean - to the city limits or the heart of the city?
A: It means you're 20 miles away from the ``road mileage center'' of the city, or downtown.
Q: The credits for the season premiere of ``Seinfeld'' said: ``In memory of our friend, Marjorie Gross.'' Do you know who she was, and what happened to her?
A: Gross, a ``Seinfeld'' writer and producer, suffered from ovarian cancer and died June 7 at 40. She wrote a humorous article about her cancer in The New Yorker in April.
Q: I read an article about four women trying to stay off welfare by making soap, and I want to order some. How can I contact them?
A: Write or call: Mountain Women Soap, P.O. Box 285, Conway, N.H. 03818 (603-447-1312). Because everything is made by hand by a limited number of women, and different colors, fragrances and designs can be specified, there's no set price. It's best to write or call for a brochure, a spokeswoman said. There is no minimum order, and wholesale orders can be arranged.
Q: I saw an advertisement for airline service stating that flights to Dallas were subject to the Wright Amendment. What is that?
A: It takes its name from former House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, who wrote an amendment to the International Air Transport Act mandating that no flights can be scheduled from Love Field near downtown Dallas to any destination outside Texas and its four border states. It was intended to ensure the success of Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport by forcing airlines to use it instead of the older, but closer-in, Love Field. Wright is from Fort Worth.
Q: Which states or regions of the United States have the highest divorce rate?
A: The 1995 Statistical Abstract of the United States lists divorce rates per 1,000 people for 1993, the latest figures available. The United States is divided into nine regions. The highest divorce rate was in the East South Central region (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi), at 6.1. West South Central (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas) was second, with 5.8. The state with the highest rate was Arkansas, with 6.9. The national average was 4.6. There's a caveat, however: Statistics for some states, such as California and Illinois, were not available.
Q: Friends and I recently watched the video of ``The Manchurian Candidate.'' It was out of circulation for many years. One friend said the State Department ordered it taken off the market, and another said it was Frank Sinatra's decision. What was the real reason?
A: In 1988, when the 1962 movie came back on the market, The Washington Post reported on the lore surrounding its lengthy absence from the public eye. The article didn't mention any government agencies being involved. It quoted screenwriter George Axelrod, who had adapted the Richard Condon novel for the screen, as saying Sinatra, one of its stars, along with the film's producers and United Artists, decided to call the movie in after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Condon, however, said Alexrod's version was ``ridiculous.'' He went on to say he didn't think it ever actually was pulled from release. ``It had begun to peter out and play on late-night television,'' he said. ``I know Sinatra has a very high regard for it. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if he put the film away, as one does, as an anchor to windward.''
Q: Will you list the 10 U.S. cities that have the highest cost of living?
A: Naturally it's subject to change, but Places Rated Almanac recently listed these as the Top 10 most costly places to live (some are counties or city pairs/groups): San Francisco; New York; San Jose, Calif.; Honolulu; Orange County, Calif.; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.; Santa Barbara-Santa Maria- Lom
Q: When is the next rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida?
A: NASA's unmanned Mars Global Surveyor is scheduled for liftoff at 12:11 p.m. Nov. 6. The next shuttle launch, a 16-day Columbia mission with five astronauts aboard, is scheduled for liftoff at 2:47 p.m. Nov. 8. It will be the last space shuttle launch in '96.
Q: Sally Ride is called the first American woman to rocket into space. Does that mean a woman from somewhere else, probably Russia, was first?
A: A female Soviet cosmonaut orbited Earth 20 years before Ride. Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova spent two days, 22 hours, 50 minutes on a flight aboard Vostok 6, launched June 16, 1963, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ride's ride was June 18-24, 1983.
Q: I have seen the position of vice president referred to as ``veep.'' What is the origin of that?
A: In the late '40s, more and more corporate vice presidents were informally termed VPs, so the familiar form ``veep'' was a natural. It was first used in referring to the nation's vice president with Alben Barkley of Kentucky, according to Safire's New Political Dictionary. Senate Majority Leader Barkley was the popular choice for Harry Truman's vice president when Justice William O. Douglas turned down the nomination. Barkley's successor, Richard Nixon, apparently didn't care for the term, saying: ``I think `veep' was a term of affection applied to Mr. Barkley and should go out with him.'' Although American Speech magazine in 1955 relegated veep to ``linguistic obsolescence,'' it's still used occasionally.
Q: How does the Nielsen TV rating system work? How can we become a Nielsen family?
A: There's no simple way to know exactly how many people are watching any given TV program, but Nielsen Media Research, based in New York, is able to estimate the audience by drawing a sample and then counting the number of viewers in the sample. For its national ratings estimates, the company tabulates information from more than 4,000 households, containing more than 10,000 people, who have agreed to participate. In some homes, metering equipment on TV sets, VCRs, cable boxes and satellite dishes automatically keeps track of when the sets are turned on and what they are tuned to. In others, for specific local markets, viewers keep written diaries. Nielsen says its families are a cross-section of households selected in a way that gives every household an equal chance of being picked. You can't volunteer; Nielsen does the picking and keeps identities confidential.
Q: How long must members of Congress serve to be eligible for a pension? At what age can they start drawing it? How much do they get, and is it based on length of service? Are lawmakers considered civil service workers? How do Cabinet secretaries fit into the pension system?
A: Lawmakers are vested after five years and can begin collecting upon retirement from the government if at least age 50, said Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union in Alexandria, Va. The fewer the years of service, the later members have to wait; those with five years must wait until 62. They're entitled to 2.5 percent of their salaries per year of service, capped at 80 percent of the final year's pay, with subsequent cost-of-living increases (current salaries for members of Congress are $133,600 a year).
The pension plan for members of Congress is part of the civil service retirement system, but the formula used for computing their benefits is more generous than the one rank-and-file federal employees normally would have, Sepp said. Cabinet secretaries have a plan of their own. .
Q: How can I contact the Presidential Commission on Debates? I'd like to express my views on its decision to block Ross Perot.
A: A commission spokeswoman said it is ``accepting'' public comment on its recent decision by e-mail (debates96xc2usa.pipeline.com) or by regular mail (Presidential Commission on Debates, 601 13th St. N.W., Suite 310 South, Washington, D.C. 20005).
Q: Articles about Spiro Agnew's death referred to his use of the term ``nattering nabobs of negativism'' to refer to the press. Where does the word nabob come from? Can you list other expressions Agnew made famous at the time?
A: Nabob is a Hindi word for governor, but in English the word has come to mean a self-important potentate. In his speeches, Agnew began using alliteration to describe his targets during the congressional campaigns of 1970. Among his early favorites: ``pusillanimous pussyfooters'' and ``vicars of vacillation.'' As reporters and others began to take note, Agnew increased his oratorical pyrotechnics, some of it tongue in cheek.
The remark about reporters that you refer to was delivered Sept. 11, 1970, in a speech in San Diego. It is attributed to William Safire, one of Agnew's speechwriters. Here's the full sentence: ``In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negavitism. They have formed their own 4-H Club: the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.''
Q: Shannon Lucid is said to have spent more time in space than any other American and any other woman. Who holds the overall record for the longest time in space in a single mission?
A: Two Russians, Col. Vladimir Georgeyevich Titov and flight engineer Musa Khiramanovich Manarov, spent 365 days, 22 hours, 39 minutes and 47 seconds on a mission that began with launch Dec. 21, 1987, and ended when they landed Dec. 21, 1988, near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
Q: News reports about Fausto, the storm that struck Baja California recently, called it a hurricane. Shouldn't it have been referred to as a typhoon, because it was in the Pacific?
A: It was correct to call it a hurricane because it was in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. A hurricane is defined as an area of low air pressure with winds of 74 mph or higher that forms over oceans in tropical regions in either the North Atlantic Ocean or eastern North Pacific. If the storm had been in the western Pacific area and the China seas (in the vicinity of Japan or China, for example), it would have been referred to as a typhoon.
Q: I`ve seen several references to a college football team's scout team. What is that?
A: It's composed of second- and third-string players who, for practice, imitate the next opponent the first-stringers will play. The scout team performs in the offensive and defensive styles that the next opponent is expected to use.
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