ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 30, 1997 TAG: 9704010010
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
Q: Did Judy Garland ever win an Oscar? An A&E network ``Biography'' program said she lost to Grace Kelly in 1954.
A: Although she lost that year to Kelly (for ``The Country Girl''), Garland, born in 1922, received a special award in 1939 from the academy for outstanding performance as a screen juvenile for her work as Dorothy in ``The Wizard of Oz.''
Q: Why is the Academy Award statuette called an Oscar?
A: The idea for the statuette came about in 1927, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded. For four years, it was referred to only as ``the statuette.'' According to one story, Margaret Herrick, the academy's former executive secretary, reported for her first day's work in 1931 as a librarian. A copy of the statuette stood on an executive's desk and she was introduced to it as the foremost member of the organization. She regarded it for a moment and then said: ``He reminds me of my Uncle Oscar.'' But there's another story. In this one, actress Bette Davis, herself a two-time winner of the award, said it was she who named it - after her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr. Both versions have stood the test of time, but no one knows for sure which is correct.
Q: When we were children, the Pledge of Allegiance included the words ``one nation, indivisible.'' Then it was changed to ``one nation under God, indivisible.'' Which president changed it, and when and why?
A: Dwight Eisenhower was president in 1954 when ``under God'' was added, but he didn't mandate the change. It was an act of Congress.
Q: Where was Yasser Arafat born? Is that his birth name?
A: Arafat claims he was born in Jerusalem, in what was then the British mandate of Palestine, on Aug. 24, 1929, but some sources say his birth certificate shows Cairo, Egypt, as the place of birth. His full name is Mohammed Abdel-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini. He acquired the nickname Yasser (sometimes spelled Yasir), which means easy-going, as a teen-ager.
Q: A recent article reported on a study that indicated the painkiller ibuprofen may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. What dosage was used in the experiment?
A: The study, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., didn't consider specific dosage recommendations. It simply looked at people who were taking anti-inflammatory drugs, said Sharon Rippey of the Hopkins School of Public Health. Dr. Walter F. Stewart, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at the school, was the lead author of the study. He is not making dosage recommendations, either, Rippey added.
As reported in the journal Neurology, the researchers found that people taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications for as little as two years had half the risk of Alzheimer's disease as those not taking the drugs. Although Stewart called the research ``a promising area,'' he and other physicians urged people to refrain from taking the medicines in hopes of preventing Alzheimer's. Instead, they recommended that the link first be explored in a clinical trial to establish proof.
Q: Whom do you contact if a previous employer does not send a W-2 income and tax withholding statement? What action is taken if such an employer doesn't send it, even though he has been notified that it wasn't received?
A: Employers are required to make W-2s available by Jan. 31, said Internal Revenue Service spokesman Eric Roberts. Although most employers mail the forms, they're not required to do so. You may need to visit the place of employment in person to get the W-2. If it's still not forthcoming, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. You'll be asked your name, address, Social Security number, daytime phone number and the name and address of the employer, date of employment, best estimate of income and the amount of tax withheld (listed on paycheck stubs).
IRS will send a packet including a substitute W-2, and the employer will be contacted and advised of the violation of IRS rules, Roberts said. You can use the substitute W-2 when you file your return, and if you receive the original W-2 later and the amounts are different, you'll need to file a 1040X, an amended return.
Q: How do I contact Dr. Jack Kevorkian? I want to send him a letter.
A: You can write him in care of his attorney, who will forward the letter. The address: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, c/o Geoffrey Fieger, 19390 W. Ten Mile Road, Southfield, Mich. 48075. Or you can fax him, again in care of Fieger, at 810-355-5148. Information also is available in the Internet under assisted suicide, Fieger's office said.
Q: During the Miss America pageant, credit was given at the end to a company named Equinox International for the contestants' makeup. Do you know anything about its products? Are they for sale locally?
A: The company, based in Las Vegas, offers a host of natural products - including makeup and hair and skin care items - as well as products for skin protection from the sun. Items are available for purchase only through an Equinox International representative. Information: 800-652-5161.
Q: If Comet Hale-Bopp is only 40 miles across, and it's millions of miles away, why does it shine brighter and look bigger than Venus and the moon and all the other planets closer to us?
A: The chunk of frozen stuff making up the comet's nucleus indeed is only about 35 or 40 miles across. But that isn't what makes it so visually spectacular, said David Dundee, astronomer at Fernbank Science Center. The comet's tail stretches millions of miles beyond its head and the comet itself is surrounded by a cloud of gas, called a coma, measuring about a million miles across. That is about the size of the sun, Dundee said. All the gas and dust reflects sunlight, and that's why it's so bright.
Q: Where can fans write to ice skater Scott Hamilton, recently diagnosed with cancer?
A: His agent is handling his mail. Write: Scott Hamilton, c/o Kevin Albrecht, IMG, 1 St. Clair Ave., East 700, Toronto, Ontario M4T 2V7, Canada.
Q: I've heard conflicting advice about filing income tax returns electronically compared to a paper return. What's best?
A: ``It depends,'' says IRS spokesman Eric Roberts. To file electronically, you need to pay a tax-return preparer who files it that way. To do it yourself, you need to have a computer and access to the Internet. Obviously it's more expensive to pay a preparer than it is to fill out your own return. But electronic filing has advantages. ``One of the most common errors we have is when people fill out their own returns and make mistakes in their math,'' Roberts said. Such errors are less likely with electronic filing. And if you're getting a refund, you'll get it faster if you file electronically because processing is speedier on the IRS end. Either way you file, refunds can be deposited automatically into your bank account.
Q: There are many references to a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion. Where is this found in the Constitution?
A: You have to look at the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling overturning abortion laws. In it, the court ruled that the Constitution's right to privacy protects a woman's personal decision about abortion. Over the years, the Supreme Court has asserted constitutional cover for a variety of activities not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. Many Supreme Court justices hold the Constitution's concept to be dynamic, not static.
Q: Where are the three U.S. servicemen convicted of rape in Okinawa imprisoned? Have they been discharged? If not, why not?
A: The three - two Marines and a Navy seaman - are serving their sentences in a special Japanese prison ward for U.S. service personnel just south of Tokyo. They were convicted in March 1996 of abduction and rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl in September 1995. Upon release, they will be given dishonorable discharges and flown back to the United States.
Q: What is the difference between choral, chorale and chorus?
A. Nick Jones, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's program editor/annotator, explains. All three words come from the Greek choros, which originally referred to the dance and dance music, but has expanded to mean music in general. A chorus is any group of people doing something together, especially lifting their voices in song. Chorus also can mean a composition intended to be sung by a chorus of singers. Choral, the German word accented on the second syllable, originally meant the unison melody of Gregorian chant, but it later was broadened to take in the great body of congregational hymns from the era of Martin Luther. The French word chorale is the equivalent of the German word choral. Not surprisingly, in English we prefer to use the French noun chorale instead of the German spelling choral to avoid confusion with the English adjective choral - accent on the first syllable - which we use to describe anything having to do with a chorus.
Q: Cheddi Jagan, the president of Guyana, died March 6 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington after undergoing heart surgery there in February. How can someone who is not a U.S. citizen be treated at Walter Reed?
A: State Department and Walter Reed officials said this is not the first time a foreign dignitary has been treated at the facility. Jagan had suffered a ``very serious'' heart attack in Guyana, and physicians there did not have the equipment or facilities to treat him, a State Department spokesman said. So the Guyana government asked the U.S. government whether it could make arrangements for Walter Reed to treat Jagan, with the understanding that costs would be reimbursed. Walter Reed representatives said it's standard procedure in such cases for the medical center to calculate a bill, which will be sent to the Embassy of Guyana in Washington.
Q: Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., is a big apologist for the tobacco industry. Does he smoke?
A: He doesn't smoke now, said Trish Shelton, a spokeswoman at Helms' Washington office.
Q: How are ZIP codes determined?
A: The first digit in the five- digit code designates one of 10 large areas. The second and third digits, together with the first, identify the area and sub-area. The last two digits identify the town or local post office within the sub-area. Four more numbers have been added to ZIP codes to further pinpoint addresses. The first two identify a group of streets or buildings, and the second two identify a group of boxes or, for example, a department within a firm.f+bf-b
Q: Is it true that azaleas at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia are packed with ice to keep them from blossoming out before the Masters tournament?
A: It's a ``great story'' and one that has gone around for years, said Glenn Greenspan at Augusta National, but it isn't true. He said the club covers 364 acres, and there isn't enough ice in all of Augusta to pack the shrubbery. ``We let Mother Nature take care of it,'' he added.
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