Tommy Contest Page 5
of the River Region
June 25, 2019 Published by PTK Corp.
The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read® To place an Ad, call: (334) 452-9296 TIDBITS® STUDIES UP ON
METEORS & ASTEROIDS by Kathy Wolfe
Tidbits looks to the heavens in observation of International Asteroid and Meteor Watch Day on June 30. • Millions of asteroids orbit the sun, with most of them in the asteroid belt, a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, moving in the same direction as the planets. They are made up of different rocks, and might have metals such as nickel and iron in their constitution. • Asteroids are nothing like planets in appearance. While planets are round, asteroids have jagged and crooked shapes. Some are hundreds of miles in diameter, but some are as small as pebbles. • The first asteroid to be discovered is also the largest-known. Ceres was discovered on New Year’s Day in 1801 by an Italian priest, Guiseppe Piazzi, who was also a mathematician and astronomer. It was called an asteroid from the Greek word meaning “star-like or starshaped.” For over 50 years, Ceres, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, was considered a new planet, but was reclassified after other objects were discovered in similar orbits. With a 590-mile (950-km) diameter, Ceres is the 33rd-largest known body in our solar system. It is now qualified, along with Pluto and three other bodies, as a dwarf planet. • By 1866, 88 asteroids had been discovered, and by 1891, 322 had been identified. Nine years later, 464 had been found. By the year 2000, the number had grown to 108,066, and in the last 18 years, the total has expanded to 757,626. (Continued next page)
Vol 8 Issue 26 shannon@riverregiontidbits.com
Page 2
Tidbits® of the River Region (Front page continued)
1. Is the book of 2 Timothy in the Old or New Testament or neither? 2. From Luke 6, what did Jesus tell His disciples to do to those who cursed them? Smile, Walk away, Laugh, Bless them 3. What instrument did David play for Saul that caused the evil spirit to depart? Drum, Harp, Tambourine, Flute 4. From John 3, who lifted up the serpent in the wilderness? Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, Moses 5. What horrible things did Ezekiel see filling a valley? Serpents, Locusts, Dry bones, Demons 6. Who was the father of James and John? Zebedee, Nahum, Haggai, Hizkiah? Sharpen your understanding of scripture with Wilson’s Casey’s latest book, “Test Your Bible Knowledge,” available in stores and online. (c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
• Asteroids are classified by their composition. C-types, also called chondrites, are made of clay and silicate, and are rich in carbon. The S-types are the “stony” asteroids, composed of rock and nickel-iron mixtures. M-types are metallic. About 75% of asteroids in our solar system are the C-type. • In February, 2019, a Japanese spacecraft accomplished an amazing feat, that of landing on the surface of an asteroid. The probe, Hayabusa2, had been studying this particular asteroid, Ryugu, a rock about 0.6 mile (1 km) in diameter, for several months. In order to collect samples of the rocky surface, the craft fired a metal projectile at the surface to break the area into smaller fragments, which were collected by a device at the top of a horn. The craft will collect other samples before its return to Earth in December, 2020. • When asteroids smash into each other, small pieces of the asteroid may break off. These pieces, called meteoroids, are small chunks of rocky or metallic material that travel through space. Some might be as small as dust, and are then known as micrometeoroids. As the pieces travel through the Earth’s atmosphere, they are heated by friction, which causes the rock to glow. We see it as a long streak of light we call a meteor, or shooting star, even though they’re not stars at all! Even though we only see shooting stars at night, they are actually occurring all the time. The word “meteor” has its origin in the Greek word for “high in the air.” • The tradition of wishing upon a shooting star dates back to around 135 A.D. in Greece. The ancient Greeks believed that God separated the sphere of the heavens from the sphere of the Earth in order to see what humans were doing. An old Pawnee Indian legend tells of a man eaten by animals but brought back to life by the gods and returned to Earth in the form of a shooting star. They consider meteor showers a good omen, a sign of reincarnation. • If the rock doesn’t burn up or vaporize in the atmosphere and makes it to the Earth’s surface, it becomes a meteorite. Because about 70% of Earth is covered by water, many of the meteorites fall into oceans unbeknownst to most. About once a year a car-sized meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, but it usually burns up before hitting the Earth’s surface. About once every 2,000 years, a football fieldsized object will impact the ground. • A 60-ton meteorite was found by a farmer plowing his fields in Namibia, Africa in 1920. It’s believed that the meteorite, about 84% iron and 16% nickel, had fallen thousands of years before. Named the Hoba Meteorite, from the African word for “gift,” it’s the largest known space rock on Earth. It was declared a national monument in 1955 in order to curb the vandalism that was taking place. • In February, 1969, a meteorite about the size of a car landed in northern Mexico in the state of Chihuahua. Because it landed near the village of Pueblito de Allende, it’s known as the Allende Meteorite. Over the next 25 years, about 2 or 3 tons of pieces were collected, ranging in weight (Continued next page)
“Be known before you’re needed” Advertise with Tidbits (334) 452-9296 (Page 2 continued)
from 0.035 oz. (1 gram) up to 240 lbs. (110 kg.) and even today, the occasional pieces are found. • The sixth-largest known meteorite is the largest in the United States, and was discovered in the state of Oregon in 1902 by a miner. Scientists believe the Willamette Meteorite actually landed in Canada or Montana and was transported by glacial ice during floods at the end of the last Ice Age. In 1905, the 32,000-lb. (15,000-kg) rock was purchased by William Earl Dodge, Sr., a New York businessman who owned one of the nation’s largest mining companies, the Phelps Dodge Corporation. His purchase price was $26,000 (close to $700,000 in today’s dollars), and the meteorite was then displayed at the Portland World’s Fair, the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. Following the fair, it was donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where it is still displayed. It’s estimated that more than 40 million have viewed the space rock over the years. • June 30 was declared International Asteroid and Meteor Watch Day to commemorate the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact over Siberia, Russia, on that day in 1908. A large explosion occurred that morning, flattening 770 square miles (2,000 sq. km) of forest, knocking down an estimated 80 million trees. It’s believed to have been caused by the air burst of a meteor. No impact crater has ever been found, and it’s the theory that the rock disintegrated at an altitude of 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km) above the Earth’s surface. Witnesses reported a column of blue light moving across the sky about ten minutes before a bright flash and the sound of the explosion. The shockwave was estimated as equivalent to a 5.0 on the Richter Scale.
Page 3
Page 4
Tidbits® of the River Region
REMARKABLE PEOPLE:
J.K. ROWLING
June 26 has been declared Harry Potter Day, with internationally famous author J.K. Rowling as the creator of this series of books. This week, Tidbits focuses on the rags-to-riches story of this remarkable writer. • Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born to an aircraft engineer father, who worked at the Rolls Royce factory in Bristol, England, and a science technician mother, and grew up in Gloucestershire, England. She was already an aspiring author at age six, penning a story about a rabbit, and at age 11, writing her first novel about the owners of seven cursed diamonds. • After being rejected by Oxford University, Rowling entered Exeter University, studying French and classic literature. While sitting on a train from Manchester to London that had been delayed, she envisioned the idea of the adventures of a boy attending a school of wizardry. • Rowling’s mother, who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when J.K. was a teenager, passed away when Rowling was 25, an event that she has described as the most traumatizing moment in her life. Rowling had been working on the first Harry Potter book for about six months, but she hadn’t told her mother of her project, which became a great source of grief for her. • Following her graduation and her mother’s death, she moved to Portugal to teach English, and married a Portuguese journalist there. Their daughter was born the following year, but when the marriage ended after just 13 months, Rowling and her daughter moved to Scotland to be near her sister. In her suitcase were the handwritten first three chapters of “Harry Potter.” • She and her daughter lived in a tiny (Continued next page)
Outstanding Warrants:
Williams, Samuel DOB: 06/25/2019 Black/Male 5’8” 175 lbs Hair: Black Eyes: Brown
Wanted for: Failure to Appear Domestic Violence 1st
by Samantha Weaver * It was Academy Award-nominated actress and comedian Lily Tomlin who made the following observation: “Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy 2 percent that get all the publicity. But then -- we elected them.” * You might be surprised to learn that it requires a whopping 30 tons of ore from a gold mine to produce a single gold ring. * You are almost certainly aware of the fact that the Impressionist painter Claude Monet is famous for his paintings of water lilies. However, you may not be aware of the fact that he painted more than 300 pictures of water lilies. The same water lilies, in fact -and they can be seen today in a pond behind his house. * Those who study such things say that people during the Stone Age used shells and even shark teeth to shave. * If you think about it, you’ll realize that an oldfashioned hourglass has more moving parts than the most expensive luxury watch on the market today. * Researchers conducting a study at the University of California have found that men are more likely than women to use shortcuts. * During the 19th century, first lady Lucy Hayes, wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, was widely known as “Lemonade Lucy.” It seems she was an ardent supporter of temperance and therefore didn’t allow alcohol to be served in the White House during her husband’s four years in office. * For reasons that are still not clear, in the 15th century in Florence, Italy, women were banned from wearing buttons. *** Thought for the Day: “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” -- Eleanor Roosevelt (c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
“Be known before you’re needed” Advertise with Tidbits (334) 452-9296
Page 5
(Page 4 continued)
Edinburgh tenement in near poverty, living on government benefits as J.K. struggled to work on the first book. Seven years after she had begun, the book was finished, and she began sending it out to publishers. Twelve publishers rejected it. Finally, in 1997, when Rowling was 32, Bloomsbury Children’s Books bought the manuscript for about $4,000, and it was released in the U.K. in June of that year. It was released in the United States the following year, the first of seven books that narrated the life of Harry and his companions at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. • The first Harry Potter film was released in 2001, with seven more to come, concluding in 2011. • Rowling embarked on a new series in 2013, crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, numbering four books to date. She debuted as a screenwriter in 2016, with “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” • In 2018, Rowling became the first author to attain billionaire status, with sales of more than 450 million Harry Potter books contributing to that achievement. However, she didn’t retain that status for long. As a noted philanthropist, she has given away enough to reduce her worth below billionaire. A gift of 10 million British pounds opened the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic in Edinburgh. Her pet project is eastern European orphanages. After seeing photos of children caged in beds in Romania, she began donating millions of pounds to establish a foundation to save the children. In her words, “I was as poor as it’s possible to be … Now I am able to give.”
By Chris Richcreek
1. Who were the only two major-league pitchers to strike out Hall of Famer Ted Williams three times in one game? 2. Name the pitcher who is the all-time leader in strikeouts for the Texas Rangers. 3. When was the last time before 2017-18 that the Green Bay Packers missed the NFL playoffs in consecutive seasons? 4. How many consecutive losses had the Penn’s men’s basketball team sustained against rival Villanova before beating the Wildcats in 2018? 5. Zdeno Chara currently ranks fourth among Boston Bruins defensemen for career points (467). Name the first two on the list. 6. When was the last time before 2018 that no African nation men’s soccer team made it past the first round of the World Cup? 7. In what year and at what event did tennis great Andre Agassi complete his career grand slam? (c) 2019 King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Kellie Martin Please call 334-452-9296 within 7 days of this issue to claim your prize!
Tommy Count ______ This week’s winner receives a
$25 Dollar Gift Certificate from
Farmers Market Cafe Register to win by sending an email to entertommycontest@gmail.com or USPS to PTK Corp., PO Box 264, Wetumpka, AL 36092 with the following information: 1) Your name (first and last), and, 2) the number of times you find Tommy in the ads in the paper. From the correct entries a winner will be selected. You must be 18 years of age to qualify. The gift certificates will range in value from $25 to $100 each week. Entries must be received by midnight each Friday evening. Last Week’s Ads where Tommy was hiding: 1. Aroostook Golf Course, p.1 2. Pondstocker, p.3 3. Farmers Market Cafe, p.7
Page 6
TidbitsÂŽ of the River Region
Credit Cards Now Accepted
“Be known before you’re needed” Advertise with Tidbits (334) 452-9296
Page 7
TYPING
BIBLE TRIVIA ANSWERS:
1) New; 2) Bless them; 3) Harp; 4) Moses; 5) Dry bones; 6) Zebedee
1. Bobo Newsom in 1939, and Jim Bunning in 1957. 2. Charlie Hough, with 1,452 strikeouts. 3. It was 2005-06. 4. Fifteen -- the last time the Quakers won was in 2002. 5. Ray Bourque (1,506 points) and Bobby Orr (888). 6. It was 1982. 7. It was the 1999 French Open.
Celebrate World Typing Day on June 23 by exploring the facts on this technique and the machine that started it all. • June 23 is the anniversary of the granting of U.S. patent number 79,265 awarded to Christopher Sholes, Samuel Soule, and Carlos Glidden for a typewriter in 1868. Although several other inventors had been working on models for several years, the 1868 model was the first to be commercially marketed. Sholes, a mechanical engineer, was the primary inventor, and was financially and technically supported by the other two. The trio had already received a patent for a pagenumbering machine. • Sholes’ first invention could only type uppercase letters, but subsequent improvements resulted in two more patents on an improved typewriter. However, he had trouble raising money for development and in 1873, he sold his rights for $12,000 to the Remington Arms Company, a rifle manufacturer, and the machine became known as the Remington 1 typewriter. The Remington, introduced in 1878, added the shift key, enabling the use of both upper and lower case letters. • The machine caught on quickly, and author Mark Twain became the first author to submit a typewritten manuscript to his publisher. • Most typewriter and computer keyboards today use the QWERTY layout, referring to the order of the first keys on the top letter row of the keyboard. It’s the same layout developed by Christopher Sholes for his first typewriter. • Early keyboards required two actions to print some symbols. For example, the exclamation point could only be produced by typing an apostrophe, then backspacing, and typing a period. A semicolon was made by typing a colon, backspacing, and typing a comma. • The first fully electric typewriter, the Blickensderfer, was patented in 1891 and introduced to consumers at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. It consisted of just 250 parts, compared to a standard typewriter’s 2,500. • Typing speed is measured in “words per minute” or WPM, a measurement consisting of five keystrokes. For example, the word “apple” counts as one word, while “applesauce” counts as two. Some folks use the “hunt and peck” form of typing, (also known as Eagle Finger), a two-fingered method in which the typist has to find each key by sight. Touch typists have memorized the position of the keys and keep their eyes on the copy at all times. The average “hunt and peck” typist reaches typing speeds of about 35 WPM, while the touch typist averages speeds in excess of 80 WPM. • In 1936, an alternative layout, known as the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard was introduced. Those who utilize this layout claim that typing requires less finger motion than QWERTY, along with a reduction in finger distance. Typists claim that 70% of the keyboard strokes are done on the Dvorak’s home row, the easiest row to reach, compared to 52% on the QWERTY. The bottom row, the hardest to reach, contains just 8% of keys (the least common letters) on the Dvorak keyboard, with 16% of those letters on the QWERTY keyboard. • One of the world’s fastest typing records was achieved by a woman using the Dvorak keyboard. Barbara Blackburn maintained a speed of 150 WPM for 50 minutes, 170 WPM for shorter periods, and a top speed of 212 WPM. Barbara had failed high school typing class, but excelled upon discovering the Dvorak keyboard.
* On June 30, 1859, Emile Blondin becomes the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. The feat was witnessed by some 5,000 spectators. Blondin wore pink tights and a yellow tunic, and carried a balancing pole. * On June 26, 1917, during World War I, the first 14,000 U.S. infantry troops land in France. By the war’s end on Nov. 11, 1918, more than 2 million American soldiers had served on the battlefields of Western Europe, and more than 50,000 lost their lives. * On June 25, 1950, in one of the greatest soccer upsets of all time, an American team composed largely of amateurs defeats its more polished English opponents, 1-0, at the World Cup in Brazil. Assembled just days before the match, the U.S. team included a dishwasher, two mailmen, a teacher and a mill worker. * On June 29, 1964, two dozen New Zealand Army engineers arrive in Saigon as a token of that country’s support for the American effort in South Vietnam. * On June 28, 1972, President Richard Nixon announces that no more draftees will be sent to Vietnam unless they volunteer for such duty. He also announced that a force of 10,000 troops would be withdrawn by Sept. 1, which would leave a total of 39,000 in Vietnam. * On June 27, 1988, heavyweight champion Mike Tyson knocks out challenger Michael Spinks with a left hook in the first round. The match lasted just 91 seconds. * On June 24, 1997, Air Force officials release a 231-page report dismissing longstanding claims of an alien spacecraft crash 50 years earlier in Roswell, New Mexico. The UFO rumors began in 1947 when a rancher found shiny material scattered on his land. The Air Force said it was a downed weather balloon. (c) 2019 Hearst Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Page 8
A Father’s Day Portrait of Pop So many family photos hide in our computers, scrapbooks and photo albums. Some make it into frames on a dresser or piano. But how about taking a step beyond photos, and display an original portrait on a wall in your home? This Father’s Day, surprise Dad with a present he’ll love -- a portrait drawn by your child. OK, so, it sounds like a unique gift idea, but how do you draw Dad? I asked Cynthia McGovern, art specialist at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, for a few portrait-drawing tips she uses with her students. She suggests that you encourage your child to feel her face/head contours, nose, cheekbones, eyebrows and ears with her fingers. Together, talk about the location of these features. Combining the tactile, the visual and a little discussion builds on understanding of shape and position. Plus, there is the added benefit and fun of sharing time to look -really look -- at one another. Now transfer that knowledge of “face basics” to your own drawing of Dad. HERE’S HOW: -- Take a photo of Dad from the waist up to use as inspiration for the portrait. -- On the matte side of an 8-inch-by-12-inch sheet of poster board, sketch Dad’s portrait with a pencil. Be sure to include his neck and shoulders so that it doesn’t look like a floating balloon head! Also, add pupils looking in a particular direction when drawing the eyes. For fun, add Dad’s favorite pet, or put a hat on his head of a favorite team or pasttime. -- Go over the pencil lines with a color crayon. Press heavily. -- Use a standard Crayola water-color paint kit to paint the portrait. Be sure the paint is very watery so that it appears transparent on the poster board. Don’t worry if the paint goes over the crayon lines, as it adds to the natural look of the portrait. Let dry. (Or, simply color with crayons and use watercolors for the background). FRAME IT UP! Make and decorate a frame made from a cereal box: Cut a large cereal box into two squares or rectangular shapes larger than the portrait you are framing with one piece slightly larger than the other. The larger of the two pieces is the frame and the small piece is the backing. Cut out the center of the frame to leave an opening for the art to show. Put a few globs of glue randomly on the frame front, and affix pieces of pasta shells, wheels, rotini, elbows, etc. For a jazzy look, an adult may spray it with gold paint outside. Let dry, then attach the portrait to the backing with tape. Place the frame on top. Tape in place. *** Donna Erickson’s award-winning series “Donna’s Day” is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www.donnasday.com and link to the NEW Donna’s Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is “Donna Erickson’s Fabulous Funstuff for Families.” (c) 2019 Donna Erickson Distributed by King Features Synd.
Tidbits® of the River Region
1. How did teen idol Ricky Nelson get his start? 2. Maxine Brown recorded “Oh No Not My Baby” in 1964. Name the male artist who did a cover in 1973. 3. Elton John and Tim Rice collaborated on what three songs from “The Lion King”? 4. Which 1984 Bruce Springsteen song was used as candidate John Kerry’s theme song in the 2004 presidential election? 5. Name the song that contains this lyric: “Way down in Louisiana close to New Orleans, Way back up in the woods among the evergreens, There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood.” Answers 1. He starred in “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” on TV and radio beginning in 1949, along with his entertainment family, then went on to a music career, releasing “I’m Walkin’” in 1957. 2. Rod Stewart. 3. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “Circle of Life” and “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.” 4. “No Surrender.” 5. “Johnny B. Goode,” by Chuck Berry, in 1958. It was the first song to talk about making money playing rock ‘n’ roll and is likely autobiographical. (Berry was born on Goode Avenue in St. Louis.) (c) 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.