ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612240016
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 7 EDITION: METRO
Q: Is it possible to see a satellite with an inexpensive, nonprofessional telescope? If so, what strength does it need to be?
A: You don't need a telescope. It's possible to see satellites with the naked eye, according to David Dundee, astronomer at Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta. The best time is just before sunrise or just after sunset when the satellite best reflects the light, he said. The Hubble space telescope, for instance, orbits Earth every 90 minutes, and if you're in the right place at the right time you can see it with no visual aid. It's also possible to see the Russian Mir space station, he added. A telescope is specifically not recommended for satellite watching, Dundee said, because it looks at a ``very small piece of the sky at a time.'' He recommended a good pair of binoculars instead.
Q: I know that Frank Sinatra received an Academy Award for ``From Here to Eternity,'' but didn't he also get one for a documentary he did in the 1940s? Also, what other honors has he received?
A: You're talking about ``The House I Live In,'' a short subject released by RKO Radio, about the importance of tolerance in a democracy. The musical short, for which Sinatra donated his services, did receive a ``special'' Academy Award in 1945, but a spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said such ``special awards'' typically go to a film's producer and director, not the performer. In this case, she said, it went to Frank Ross and Mervyn LeRoy. The 1945 Academy Award for best documentary went to a short subject, ``Hitler Lives?'' Sinatra's other lifetime honors have included Grammy awards for album of the year in 1959, '65, and '66; best vocalist in '59, '65 and '66; and record of the year in '66. He received Peabody and Emmy awards in '65; the Jean Hersholt Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in '71; the Golden Apple Award, for male star of the year, from the Hollywood Women's Press Club, in '77; a humanitarian award from Variety Clubs International in '80; the Cross of Science and the Arts (Austria) in '84; the Presidential Medal of Freedom in '85; a Kennedy Center honor in '86; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP in '87; and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in '94.
Q: We're fascinated with Gordon Lightfoot's song ``The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.'' Do you know any details about the wreck?
A: A storm was brewing Nov. 9, 1975, as the 729-foot Fitzgerald left Superior, Wis., for Detroit, carrying 26,000 tons of taconite ore pellets. The next day, a gale hammered the freighter with 30-foot waves and winds exceeding 90 mph. Capt. Ernest McSorley reported topside damage and said his ship was listing, but issued no distress call. ``We are holding our own,'' McSorley radioed at 7:10 p.m. Moments later, the Fitzgerald - only 15 miles from the safe haven of Whitefish Bay in the southeastern corner of Lake Superior - disappeared from radar screens. On the morning of Nov. 11, Richard Ingalls, rector of the Mariners' Church of Detroit, tolled its bell 29 times for the ship's 29 crewmen. Lightfoot, a Canadian songwriter and himself a Great Lakes sailor, read newspaper accounts of Ingalls' tribute and composed the mournful ballad, which notched the ship a place in American folklore.
Q: What exactly is bleached flour, and why does it need to be bleached?
A: It's just basic all-purpose, regular white flour. The alternative, unbleached flour, simply hasn't had a whitening agent added to ``bleach'' it. If a recipe calls for bleached flour, it's only for color and has nothing to do with nutrition. Whether flour is bleached or unbleached, it's still not nutritionally equal to whole wheat flour.
Q: What companies provide credit reports for consumers?
A: Equifax Credit Information Services, P.O. Box 105873, Atlanta, Ga. 30348 (800-685-1111); Trans Union Corp., Consumer Relations Division, P.O. Box 390, Springfield, Pa. 19064-0390 (800-916-8800); and TRW, P.O. Box 8030, Layton, Utah 84041-8030 (800-682-7654). TRW requires that you make your request in writing.
Q: What schools make up the Ivy League, and where did the name come from?
A: The colleges referred to as the Ivy League are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. All are ``old-line'' institutions with thick-vined, aged ivy covering their walls. But that's not necessarily the origin of the Ivy name. One theory is that journalists in the mid-1930s, comparing Fordham to Columbia and Princeton, came up with Ivy League as a putdown. But the name caught on. Another theory, and one that makes more sense, is that an interscholastic league for athletic competition decades earlier - with Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale - was called Four League. The Roman number IV was used, making it IV League, and in referring to it vocally, IV became Ivy.
Q: How can I attend the taping of ``The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' in New York?
A: Telephone requests for tickets are not accepted, but you can listen to recorded information by calling 212-664-3057. All requests must be made by sending a postcard with your name and address to: NBC Studios, Rosie O'Donnell Show, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10112. There's a waiting list of eight or nine months for tickets, according to NBC, but standby admission is possible.
Q: The landing of the space shuttle often is delayed. How many days are built into the schedule as a safety factor?
A: NASA says every space shuttle mission has at least two extra days allotted: a ``weather day,'' in case of unfavorable weather conditions, and a ``systems day'' in case of problems with the shuttle's computer systems. All shuttles also carry two extra days of food, air and fuel, said NASA's Ed Campion, and sometimes astronauts can conserve more. On a recent mission, for example, there were enough consumables conserved to last the astronauts another four days, Campion said.
Q: The FBI has requested the public's help in viewing videotapes and photos of Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta before and after the bomb. Have investigators also asked CNN International, Sky News satellite channel and the BBC to publicize the effort among foreign visitors who were here?
A: The agency doesn't make appeals to individual networks, said the FBI's Jay Spadafore. But the news conference at which a $500,000 reward was announced, was open to all accredited media, so ``it's quite possible'' that international media got the word, he said.
Q: What are the ``12 days of Christmas''?
A: The song ``The Twelve Days of Christmas'' refers to the period between Christmas and Epiphany. The Christmas season ends on Epiphany, Jan. 6.
Q: I saw where Ulysses S. Grant was the first president to call for the line-item veto, 1873. But it wasn't his idea, was it? I believe it was part of the Confederate Constitution, which would predate that.
A: You're right. The Constitution of the Confederate States was adopted March 11, 1861. Article I, Section 7, Paragraph 2 says, in part: ``The president may approve any appropriation and disapprove any other appropriation in the same bill. In such case, he shall, in signing the bill, designate the appropriations disapproved; and shall return a copy of such appropriations, with his objections, to the House in which the bill shall have originated ... ''
Q: Recent talk about Delta merging with Continental reminds me of Eastern Airlines' problems that ended in bankruptcy. Whatever happened to Eastern's former president, Frank Lorenzo, who was so vilified by employees?
A: Lorenzo, also former chairman of Continental Airlines and the Texas Air Corp., now is chairman of Savoy Capital Inc., an investment and advisory company in Houston. And by the way, the talk about Delta and Continental merging was just that - talk. A few days after the initial reports, Continental spokesmen said there were no plans to merge with any other airline. Delta maintained mum on the issue all along.
Q: I heard something about a park ranger who had been struck by lightning seven times. Do you have any details?
A: You're referring to the late Roy C. Sullivan, a ranger at Shenandoah National Park in western Virginia, who was struck by lightning seven times over 34 years. Sullivan said he would notice an aroma of sulfur, his hair would bristle, and within three seconds it would get him. He described the sensation as ``like being cooked inside your skin.'' He never knew why it happened. Sullivan's first time was on a lookout tower in 1942, when he lost a big toe nail. He was hit again while driving a truck in 1969 (lost eyebrows); in his front yard in 1970 (left shoulder seared); at a ranger station in 1972 (hair set on fire); while standing beside his car in 1973 (legs seared and hair set on fire again); at a campground in 1976 (ankle injured); and while fishing in 1977 (chest and stomach burned). But it never killed him. He did that himself on Sept. 28, 1983, with a pistol. Reportedly he was rejected in love.
Q: The United States is making a big deal out of its plan to destroy all its plutonium, but published reports didn't mention what Russia is doing. Will it destroy its supply, too?
A: The United States hopes that, by its action, it will persuade Russia to follow the same course. But there is disagreement among government officials and others about that hoped-for response. Russia has expressed concern to U.S. negotiators that disposing of plutonium by vitrification (encasing it in glass) would make it retrievable. Therefore, the Russians have been reluctant to move aggressively to destroy their plutonium stockpile. White House science adviser John Gibbons said that, by using both vitrification and commercial reactors to burn up the plutonium, the United States is ``sending the strongest possible signal to the Russians and the rest of the world'' that America is committed to destroying its plutonium. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, however, predicts that Russia will be encouraged to produce more weapons-usable plutonium from used nuclear reactor fuel.
Q: When will tickets go on sale to Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta in 2000?
A: The only way to get tickets to any Super Bowl is through the official NFL lottery. To attend Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta in January 2000, send a certified mail request (maximum of two tickets per household) between February and June 1999 to: NFL Super Bowl Tickets, 410 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022. You will be notified if your name is drawn.
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