Tidbits of Grand Forks - March 9, 2023

By Janet Spencer

FAST FACTS ABOUT LAKES

• There are around 117 million lakes on planet Earth, covering about 3.7% of the surface. About 75% of them are smaller than the size of two football fields.

• A majority of the world’s lakes are located in just four countries: Canada, Finland, Russia, and Sweden—plus Alaska.

• More than 60% of the lakes of the world are in Canada, more than any other country. Canada is the largest source of fresh water in the world.

• 85% of the world’s lakes are located at elevations less than 1,600 feet above sea level. There are two reasons: First, mountainous terrain restricts lake size. Second, the countries with the most lakes were scraped flat by glaciers during the last ice age, leaving many dips and depressions where water collects.

• Water will remain an average of 9 days in the atmosphere; 2 weeks in rivers; 10 years in the largest lakes; 3,000 years in the ocean; up to 10,000 years in deep groundwater; and 10,000 years in the polar icecap.

Quiz Bits

What is the largest manmade lake in the United States? What was the name of Noah Wylie’s character on the TV series “ER”?

Which musical features a character named Tracy Turnblad? What year did Bob Seger release “Against the Wind”? What percentage of the world’s population has brown eyes?

THE GREAT LAKES

• The five Great Lakes that border the U.S. and Canada contain around 21% of the world’s fresh water.

• Lake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes, and the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world. Lake Huron is the world’s 5th largest lake, and Lake Michigan is the 6th largest lake. Lake Erie ranks 13th, and Lake Ontario is not far behind at 15th.

• Lake Superior is generally considered the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. It contains roughly 10% of all the earth’s fresh surface water.

• 36% of the Great Lakes lie in Canadian territory. Lake Michigan is the only one of the five lakes that lies entirely within the U.S. boundary.

• The area covered by the Great Lakes is more than the entire states of Pennsylvania and New York combined.

• About 13% of the U.S. population lives around the Great Lakes.

• The word Michigan comes from the Algonquian word “machihiganing” meaning “big lake.” “Ontario” meant “fine lake.” Lake Huron, named after the Huron Indians, came from the French word “hure” meaning “messy hair” because this particular tribe wore their hair in a bristly mohawktype cut. Lake Erie has a tail-like shape, and the Iriquois word “erielhonan” meant “long tail.”

• Lake Erie is the warmest of all of the Great Lakes because it’s the farthest south, but it also freezes over more than the other lakes because it is so shallow.

• The Niagara Falls, between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, have eaten their way 7 miles upstream since their formation 10,000 years ago. At this rate, they will disappear into Lake Erie in about 22,000 years.

Dr.

SPORTS QUIZ

What 1972 arcade video game from Atari was based on table tennis?

In 1965, what Basketball Hall of Famer was traded from the San Francisco Warriors to the Philadelphia 76ers for Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Neumann and cash?

How many years did Patrick Kane play for the Chicago Blackhawks?

He played tight end for the Denver Broncos (1986) and Green Bay Packers (1987-88). His brother played linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs (198691) and Seattle Seahawks (1993). Who are they? What national team won the first two World Baseball Classic tournaments held in 2006 and 2009?

What is the most goals scored in one game by NHL’s Connor McDavid?

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LAKE BAIKAL

• Lake Baikal located in southern Siberia is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world, containing 22–23% of the world’s fresh surface water. It contains more water than all of the North American Great Lakes combined. It supports some 1,200 different animals and 600 types of plants, 75% of which are found only in that lake.

• Lake Baikal is also the deepest lake in the world. It is 5,387 feet at its deepest point. It is considered among the world’s clearest lakes and is considered the world’s oldest lake at 25 million years.

GREAT SALT LAKE

• The Great Salt Lake in Utah, a land-locked body of water, is an average of 6 times saltier than the sea, though the salinity varies from place to place. It is so salty it never freezes over completely.

• No fish live there because it’s too salty. The only things that live there are a species of brine shrimp and the larvae of a type of fly. The lake is famous for its outbreaks of flies, sometimes numbering 370 million per mile of shoreline, providing food for the many birds that flock to the lake.

• It’s only 14 feet deep on average.

• It is the world's 34th largest lake. It’s the largest lake west of the Mississippi River and the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere.

• As with other salt lakes, the salt accumulates because the lake has no outlet. The water that enters the lake, carrying small amounts of dissolved salt, can only evaporate, leaving the salt behind. Over time, the lake becomes more and more salty.

• One of Morton Salt’s biggest plants harvests salt from this region.

...continued

Dr. Brian Jongeward D.C.

REMARKABLE LAKES

The Dead Sea bordering Jordan and Israel is actually a lake, being a landlocked body of water. It is the world’s lowest lake at 1,371 ft below sea level. Just like the Great Salt Lake, there is no outlet and it grows steadily more saline as time passes, to the point where it is too salty to sustain life aside from microorganisms and algae.

Lake Titicaca located on the border of Bolivia and Peru at an altitude of 12,507 feet, is the highest commercially navigable body of water in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, it is the largest lake in South America. Its name comes from an indigenous phrase meaning “rock of the puma” because the lake is shaped somewhat like a puma.

• Located in in the northern reaches of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, Blue Lake, also known as Rotomairewhenua in the local native language, is known as the world’s clearest lake. Visibility in the lake is up to 262 ft, meaning the water is considered almost as clear as distilled water.

• At an average depth of nearly 2,000 feet, Oregon's Crater Lake is the deepest lake totally within the borders of the continental United States.

• The Caspian Sea is actually considered to be not only the world’s largest lake, but also the world’s largest salt lake. It stretches nearly 750 miles from north to south, with an average width of 200 miles.

• The highest lake in the world is the volcanic crater lake of Ojos del Salado on the border of Chile and Argentina in South America. It sits nearly 21,000 feet above sea level.

• The largest freshwater lake in the world by length is Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, Africa which is 410 miles long.

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by Freddy Groves

Honor Flights 2023

By the time you read this, the first Honor Flights of the year will be taking place.

Honor Flights are free trips to Washington, D.C., for veterans, a day of visiting the memorials and monuments dedicated to their service. The trips leave from one of 124 hubs around the country, with all details managed by a crew of volunteers. In 2022, there were 21,800 veterans who made the Honor Flights and 18,709 guardians with them. Since starting in 2005, Honor Flights have escorted over a quarter of a million veterans on these trips.

Because of the ages of elderly veterans, flights are currently restricted to veterans from the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War eras.

For those not near a hub, or for those in the five states without hubs, there is the Lone Eagle program (loneeagle.honorflight.org). Any veteran is eligible, but priority is given to veterans from the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam eras. Each veteran needs to have a guardian along on the trip. Children or grandchildren are eligible, but they must be 18 years or older.

For veterans who are seriously ill (and who have less than one year to live), there is the TLC program. TLC in this case is taken to mean Their Last Chance -- veterans who might not have time in the future to make a regular Honor Flight. Each TLC veteran needs to have one guardian, a trained caregiver who will manage all the required medical care for that veteran. The costs are picked up by a donor. For specific info, contact Bobbie Bradley at 937-521-2400 ext 104.

To see the 2023 schedule and learn more about Honor Flights, go to www.honorflight.org.

Will you open your wallet to send a few dollars to Honor Flights to help more veterans make the trip? They're a nonprofit with a four-star Charity Navigator rating. You can donate online at the website or send a check to Honor Flight, Box L-4016, Columbus, OH 43260-4016.

by Lucie Winbourne

• Think money doesn't grow on trees? Try telling that to a certain dog in Colombia. After seeing students pass money to a food stall attendant, the enterprising pooch began a regular practice of "paying" for dog biscuits with tree leaves.

• In a few American cities, Halloween was originally called "Cabbage Night." The name came from a Scottish fortune-telling game in which girls would use cabbage stumps to predict the identity of their future husband.

• Best-selling author Maya Angelou was San Francisco's first Black streetcar conductor.

• Sea sponges, like humans, sneeze to clear their internal filter systems. Unlike humans, such sneezes last about half an hour.

• In the 18th century, some wealthy folks with gardens decorated their plots with "ornamental hermits" -- actual people whom they paid to dress like a Druid (however they took that to look) and wander around their estates.

• America's eighth president, Martin Van Buren, tried to keep a pair of tiger cubs given to him by the Sultan of Oman, but Congress made him send them to the zoo.

• The space between the bottom of a cabinet and the floor is called the toe kick.

• "Chess boxing" is a sport in which opponents alternate between rounds of chess and boxing until either competitor is checkmated or knocked out.

• In 2004, Alice Pike tried to use a fake $1 million bill to purchase $1,675 worth of merchandise at Walmart, expecting to receive change from the undoubtedly startled cashier. Well, she did think the bill was genuine ... as she remarked (from jail), "You can't keep up with the U.S. Treasury."

• The WD-40 Company never patented the WD-40 formula in order to avoid having to publicly disclose its trade-secret ingredients. ***

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• In 1526 or 1527, the Inca ruler, Huayna Capac (“the young mighty one”), died, possibly due to an infectious disease brought to the New World by Europeans. His designated heir died too. Therefore the empire was split in two, with two of Huayna’s other sons each ruling half of the kingdom: Atahualpa ruled the northern part from Quito, and Huascar ruled the southern part from Cusco.

• Not surprisingly, civil war broke out between the two brothers. Huascar captured and imprisoned Atahualpa, who escaped, and subsequently waged war on Huascar. It was a crushing defeat and Atahualpa eventually killed his brother. He then invited all the leaders in Cusco to come together in order to divide up the country. This was a ruse, and he slaughtered everyone who showed up in order to protect his throne.

• Just as things were settling down and Atahualpa was ascending to power, the Spanish conquistadors arrived. The band of 168 Spaniards was led by Fransisco Pizarro. Atahualpa had an army of 80,000 men and did not consider the Spaniards a threat.

• When Pizarro invited Atahualpa to a feast in his honor, Atahualpa left his army behind and showed up with a contingent of just 5,000 unarmed soldiers. When they arrived, Atahualpa was given the option of converting to Christianity along with the entire Inca empire, while also recognizing King Charles V of Spain as their sovereign leader. When Atahualpa asked by whose authority these demands were made, he was shown a Bible. He looked through it, announced that it “did not speak to him” as it was in a foreign language, and threw the Bible on the ground.

• Atahualpa’s act of sacrilege, combined with his refusal to immediately adopt Christianity, gave Pizarro all the reason he needed to open fire. His 168 men, armed with horses and guns, slaughtered all 5,000 of Atahualpa’s men, while Atahualpa was taken prisoner.

• Knowing that the Spaniards were greedy for silver and gold, Atahualpa offered to fill a large room with gold once, and silver twice, to earn his freedom. The Spanish quickly agreed and the gold began flowing in from all corners of the Andes. The room measured 22 feet long, by 17 feet wide, and 8 feet tall. Over 24 tons of treasure was delivered over the course of the next eight months, whose value would top $50 million today. Most of it was in the form of priceless art and it was all crushed and melted down, resulting in an incalculable cultural loss.

• After securing the ransom, rumors flew that Atahualpa had ordered a general to bring a large army to wipe out Pizzaro and his men. Pizzaro used that as an excuse to execute Atahualpa. When Atahualpa was horrified by the prospect of being burned at the stake due to his belief that burning would ruin his soul, Pizzaro gave him the option of converting to Christianity and being killed by strangulation instead. This Atahualpa did.

• The rumors of the large army descending on Pizzaro were false. There was no army.

• Pizzaro installed a puppet regime of Atahualpa’s other brothers while he himself ruled with an iron fist, making Atahualpa the last of the Inca rulers.

• Cultural destruction followed on a large scale. It took just eight years for the Spanish to all but destroy an ancient culture, replacing it an unjust system centered around slavery. And they kept all the gold and silver.

Word Spiral Answer: BEAUTIFUL

by Matilda Charles

Shrinkflation: Beating Them at Their Own Game

"Shrinkflation." That's a word that's been in the news lately, and one that we need to pay attention to.

We know prices are increasing on our groceries. We see it every time we look at the price tags on the shelves when we shop, and certainly at the checkout. But shrinkflation is a different thing and can be harder to spot. Shrinkflation is sneaky price increases.

In shrinkflation, the prices don't go up, but what we get comes down. This is impacting most things across grocery stores, including dairy, shampoo, meats, frozen foods, toilet paper, pet food, pastries, candy bars, laundry detergent, sliced cheese, tea bags ... well, everything.

Example: The price of a can of beans stays the same, but we get fewer ounces. Example: The price of a loaf of bread stays the same, but it's smaller. Same with cereal, which you'll have noticed when the box sizes changed.

In my case, one particular item (frozen meatballs) at my local store dropped from 64 meatballs to 56 ... fewer for the same money.

Keep an eye on the unit pricing on the tag on the grocery store shelf. Yes, it's in tiny print (which is one reason to carry a small magnifying glass at all times), but the numbers will tell you the unit price per fluid ounce, pound or count. Over time you'll be able to see if you're getting less for your money.

Look at generics to save money (and, in many cases, get a better product) or just change brands. Buy more than one if the price is good, but watch the expiration dates.

Lastly, consider signing up for a store's loyalty card if you get cash benefits for doing so, and sign up for the emailed weekly sales flyer to shop from.

By shopping carefully, we can beat them at their own game.

SERVICE BITS

• On March 17, 1756, St. Patrick's Day was celebrated for the first time in New York City at John Thompson's Crown and Thistle public house. Interestingly, Thompson was nicknamed "Scotch Johnny," and his tavern was only part-time Irish.

• On March 16, 1834, Charles Darwin, on the HMS Beagle, anchored in the British-owned Falkland Islands for the first time, to carry out a zoological survey. At first unimpressed by the desolate landscape, he soon discovered fossils of about 400 million years old, most of which are now housed in London's Natural History Museum.

• On March 13, 1997, a heated debate was launched among believers in UFOs when a series of unidentified lights appeared above Phoenix, Arizona. It was later revealed that the lights were not from alien aircraft, but illumination flares dropped from a U.S. Air Force plane.

• On March 18, 1922, British lawyer Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced to prison in India on the charge of civil disobedience after urging for mass civil disobedience, including boycotts of British educational institutions and law courts and foreignmade goods. His speeches always emphasized the wrongness of physical violence. He served just two years of his six-year sentence.

• On March 15, 1956, the musical "My Fair Lady" made its Broadway debut. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion," it starred Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews in the lead roles of domineering Professor Henry Higgins and his protegee, the equally strong-willed but good-hearted Cockney flower seller named Eliza Doolittle. It was an immediate smash hit.

• On March 14, 2014, it was announced that public transportation systems in Paris, France, would run for free for three days in an effort to combat the heavy smog and air pollution the country was experiencing due to unseasonably warm temperatures.

• There are millions of species of mushrooms in the world. Of those, about 700 are edible, while around 400 are toxic. There’s a saying that states, “All mushrooms are edible – some, only once.”

• There are about two dozen potentially deadly mushrooms in the U.S. Most “poisonous” mushrooms will cause unpleasant symptoms, but are not life threatening. On average, one or two people die of mushroom poisoning in the U.S. every year.

• Of the approximately 10,000 calls received by Poison Control Centers each year, about 80% involve toddlers at the stage where they put everything in their mouths, including mushrooms growing in their yards. Only about 5% of those children develop symptoms requiring medical intervention, and about 1% are admitted to the hospital.

• Compared to deaths by lightning (around 100), bee and wasp stings (up to 50) and peanuts (up to 100) mushrooms are pretty safe.

• Many toxic mushrooms have a delayed onset of symptoms and often take days to kill a victim. Some mushrooms are innocuous unless they are eaten raw, or eaten with alcohol.

• The Death Cap causes about 80% of mushroom deaths worldwide. The Destroying Angel comes in second place.

• The toxin contained in Death Caps is called amanitin. Consider that it takes up to 400 mg of Ibuprofen or 650 mg of aspirin to treat a headache. If you have an infection, you might take 500 mg of antibiotic twice a day. A 16-ounce cup of coffee contains 320 mg of caffeine. Yet it takes only 6 mg of amanitin to kill 50% of adults who consume it.

• Amanitin kills by shutting down the body’s ability to synthesize proteins, preventing the formation of new protein cells. As protein cells grow old and die, they are not replaced. Organs that are most dependent on protein, such as the kidneys, bear the brunt of the poison. The liver is greatly affected because it filters toxins. A person who has eaten one of these mushrooms will feel sick a few hours after ingesting it, and then will recover. But within a few days, liver failure is inevitable without treatment. The death rate from ingesting the Death Cap is about 10% in countries with modern medical services, and ranges up to 50% in countries without access to medical services. The amount of toxin that kills is often a hair’s breadth away from a dose that causes no illness at all. Surprisingly, one of the best antidotes for poisoning by Death Cap is an extract from milk thistle.

• Emperor Claudius died when his wife Agrippina served him a meal laced with Death Cap mushrooms, so that her son Nero could become emperor.

• Morel mushrooms, like many mushrooms, contain a toxin that is destroyed by heat. At a banquet given for Vancouver city leaders in 1992, the chef made a salad and added a generous amount of raw chopped morels. The result was that 77 out of 483 guests required medical attention for gastric distress.

• Interestingly enough, the substance in morels that causes illness is called gyromitrin. Gyromitrin is also used as rocket fuel. It’s toxic when vaporized, and people who boil mushrooms containing gyromitrin have gotten sick just by breathing the steam of a pot of boiling mushrooms. Gyromitrin gets far more toxic if mushrooms are eaten several times within a short period. It loses strength when the mushroom is dried.

Sports Answers

King Features Syndicate, Inc.

1. Sign is different. 2. Drape is shorter.

3. Pole stripes are reversed. 4. Number is different.

5. Hat is moved. 6. Tie is shorter.