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Rage from page 8

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your expectations can help.

Virginia Tech. “The best thing to do first then is to elicit the opposite response—relaxation,” he says. You remember what your mother told you about counting to 10? It works in this situation. Take some time before you react.

Get real. Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at Santa Clara University, says you should take inventory of the situation. “We all have to have more reasonable expectations about our flying experience,” he says. If there’s a weather delay, you probably should not expect to reach your destination for a while. Reframing

Put the delay into perspective. “Simply stopping to remind ourselves that though this is a difficulty, it is not the end of the world, and it might be no one’s fault,” says Gail Sahar, a professor of psychology at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., whose area of research includes the psychology of blame.

Most importantly, don’t lash out at airline employees. They are just the messenger. If you start screaming at them, you may be arrested or banned for life from flying that airline.

Rage continued on page 14

Imposter from page 5

The FBI would soon catch-up with him for his prior U. S. military AWOL status.

For these charges of desertion, Demara would serve 18 months in the Naval Disciplinary Barracks at San Pedro, California.

Demara would continue to masquerade as other elite personas, adding a remarkable – yet criminal – legacy to his dubious resume.

Back in the United States he proceeded to obtain personal records and identities of others, such as when he assumed the persona of a Dr. Benjamin Jones and worked as an assistant warden in a Texas prison in 1955.

His celebrity and exposure from the Canadian Royal Navy row in major newspapers clipped at his heels, making his identity thefts more difficult.

In 1957, Demara was again arrested in North Haven, Maine.

On two occasions he successfully posed as assistant prison warden and deputy warden in two different prisons.

When a prisoner recognised him from a LIFE magazine feature story, Demara hot-footed it to Penobscot Bay Island, where he morphed into the identity of Martin Godgart, a high school teacher. From this escapade, Demara would again be uncovered, this time sentenced to six months in prison for impersonating the south central Maine teacher, Martin Godgart.

Like a chameleon, he changed guises and looks, adding different hues and colours to his identity palette.

While a monk in the Brothers of Christian Instruction, Demara would eventually found a college in Alfred, Maine, called La Mennais College. Demara was so brilliantly convincing -- together with his high I. Q. -- that he actually got his new college chartered by the State.

However, when someone else was appointed to head the new college, Demara left in anger.

The college which was founded on Demara’s idea in 1951 existed until 1959 when it moved to Canton, Ohio, and changed its name in 1960 to Walsh College, now officially known as Walsh University.

DEMARA APPEARS (AS HIMSELF) ON TV’S “YOU BET YOUR LIFE” WITH GROUCHO MARX.

On 12 November 1959, Ferdinand Demara appeared as himself on the widely-popular television game show, “You Bet Your Life,” hosted by famed comedian, Groucho Marx, a segment which can viewed today on YouTube.

On the “You Bet Your Life” quiz show, Groucho Marx was fascinated at Demara’s ability to successfully fake his skills as a surgical doctor. The conversation

Pet Parade Mila

Mila is pet of the week at your Rancho Coastal Humane Society. She’s a 4-1/2-year-old, 36-pound, female, Jack Russell Terrier / Smooth Coated Collie mix.

Mila and her 5 siblings were born at an animal sanctuary in Mississippi after their mother was found stray. They were transferred to Rancho Coastal Humane Society through Friends of County Animal Shelters (FOCAS.) Mila was adopted, then returned after almost 4 years.

The $145 adoption fee for Mila includes medical exam, spay, up to date vaccinations, registered microchip, and a one-year license if her new home is in the jurisdiction of San Diego Humane Society.

Visit Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas or log on to www.SDpets.org.

Open 11 to 4, Friday through Monday, and by appointment Wednesday and Thursday.

proceeded as such:

Groucho: “When you did these surgeries, what did the other doctors think of you? Did they watch you operate?”

Demara: “When I was in Halifax, at the Royal Canadian Navy’s Headquarters, I gave seminars in internal medicine to other doctors!”

Throughout his enigmatic lifetime, Ferdinand Demara and his infamy gained a strange mix of complicated celebrity and notoriety and peculiar acceptance. A most puzzling mixed-bag of public perception, seemingly viewed through prismatic lighting.

Demara’s transformations and evasive personalities which he morphed into as easily as one slips on a sports coat, makes it difficult to perceive the real man behind the different masks. He is as elusive as trying to nail down Jell-O.

What was the true motivation behind Ferdinand Demara’s impersonations?

DEMARA’S MOTIVE WAS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER IMPOSTERS: HE NEITHER SOUGHT WEALTH OR POWER.

Unlike other imposters, he did not seek wealth, power, or any semblance of fortune. None of his impersonations brought large sums of money.

Instead, Demara was after an elusive quality of ‘respect.’ He only wished to be ‘somebody’ and, in the process, became many ‘somebodies’ through identity theft.

As one source phrased it, “He never seemed to get (or seek) much monetary gain in what he was doing – just temporary respectability.”

That, and the thrill of the chase; the emotional charge of deceiving the keenest minds and tweaking their noses in the process.

Demara, himself, was quoted as saying his motivation was also: “Rascality, pure rascality.” continued on page 13

He had a variety of interesting friendships. He had a close relationship with movie actor, Steve McQueen, of whom Demara delivered last rites in November of 1980.

Demara’s own personal physician, Dr. John J. Zane of Anaheim, California, believed Demara to be a ‘pathological liar,’ a clinical term in which a person may actually believe in their own fabrications. This may account for Ferdinand Demara’s intrepid and unswerving confidence and conviction which powerfully convinced others that he was, indeed, the person he was pretending to be.

On 7 June 1982, the 6-foot, 350pound Ferdinand Demara died of heart failure and complications from diabetes, the latter of which necessitated the amputation of both his legs.

Pet of the Week

Meet Molly! This little lady is sweet as can be and can’t wait to find a home where she can be spoiled and loved as she deserves! Don’t let a few grey whiskers fool you – Molly may be 9 years young, but she is an active pup with a happy little pep in her step! The way to her heart is through tasty treats and giving her pets all over. She’s ready to be your best pint-sized pal! Adopt Molly at San Diego Humane Society’s Escondido Campus at 3500 Burnet Dr. If you have questions about the adoption process, you can visit sdhumane. org/adopt or call 619-299-7012.

Online profile: https://www.sdhumane.org/adopt/available-pets/animal-single. html?petId=859802

The Computer Factory

845 W. San Marcos Blvd. 760-744-4315 thecomputerfactory.net

“Lore: A body of traditions and knowledge typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.”

Last week we discussed the massive disconnect in perceptions and beliefs between the older and younger generations. For convenience sake we’ve divided the “older” and “younger” generations into those born before or after 1990. Predictably, the further we diverge from the dividing point (1990) in each direction, the more extreme the differences.

In the 19th century 90% of Americans lived in rural multi-generational family units. The skills required to feed, clothe and raise a family changed little from one generation to the next. Life skills like hunting, fishing, animal hus-

Generation Gap: Part II of II The Death of “Lore”

bandry, farming, making clothes, food preparation, construction, child care, traditional medicine etc. were passed on from the older generations to the younger. The practical knowledge of seniors combined with the strength and vigor of the young, bonded families together in highly efficient multi-generational family units.

20th century technology brought unprecedented and massive change in American and other World cultures. Today 80% of American families live and work in urban rather than rural settings. Technology had eliminated the need for most of the life skills that bonded extended families together in the previous century. Food, clothing and other needs are mass produced. Urban living and transportation technology brought life’s necessities within easy reach. The usefulness of traditional technology (lore) largely lost its relevance to modern living and with it, the some of the practical value of seniors. Technology also brought independence to seniors in the form of Social Security, Medicare and a range of senior based living, transportation and service options.

Today America leads the world in wealth, standard of living and senior Independence. While over 90% of American seniors shared housing with multi-generational relatives in the 19 th century, today only 6% of seniors live with extended families. The fact that Americans no longer grow up in multi-generational households contributes somewhat to the generation gap. Rapid technological change in the 21st century and the Internet based accessibility to the entirety of human knowledge has led to the obsolescence of much of the accumulated “lore” possessed by seniors. America’s education system in recent years has become government funded enterprise staffed and managed by “labor unions.” As is typical of labor union run entities, the emphasis eventually turns from serving its clients to serving its members. The recent growth in education costs far outpaced inflation and while the USA continues to lead the World in the “per student” education costs at all levels, the quality of our education system continually produces student test results near the bottom of those of similar “developed” nations. We are no longer getting our money’s worth from the education industry monopoly?

But perhaps we no longer need an expensive education bureaucracy or even to exercise our own limited cognitive abilities. An AI (Artificial intelligence) equipped machine with access to the Internet can typically provide a better solution to any problem than we humans with our limited internal knowledge base. Perhaps we’ve reached the limit of our onboard “smarts.” If machines can do a better job of thinking, perhaps we simply need to have them design machines that will also feed and care for us.

Where do we go next? The 2007 movie classic “Idiocracy” has an answer.

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John Van Zante’s Critter Corner

I Like Mutts (And I Cannot Lie)

Questions Day on January 22nd, National Cat Lady Day on April 19th, and Take Your Cat to Work Day on June 19th .

One of my cat loving buddies says, “We’re cat people. We can’t agree what or when to celebrate, so we come up with more holidays.” (His words…not mine.)

One of our spotlights in Pet Parade this week is Mila. She’s a mutt. That’s perfect! July 31st and December 2nd are National Mutt Days.

We celebrate National Mutt Day twice. Meanwhile, National Cat Day is celebrated on October 29th and several other times per year. There are more than 200 cat-related holidays. There’s National Black Cat Appreciation Day on August 17th, Answer Your Cat’s

National Mutt Day encourages Americans to save and celebrate mixed breed dogs.

There are millions of loving and healthy mixed breed dogs in shelters and rescues, waiting for people to adopt them and take them home. Mutt Day is a reminder for families to find the mutt that’s perfect for them.

A group of mutt owners was laugh- ing at a guy as he struggled with his out-of-control, purebred dog at a park in Encinitas. When the laughter died down, he yelled, “At least I didn’t get a mutt!” Just then, the purebred ninja dog jumped the fence and disappeared across the parking lot. One of the mutt owners yelled back, “If you catch him, show him his purebred papers!”

Most trainers agree that mixed breed dogs learn, obey, and train the same as purebreds. It’s up to the owners to be consistent.

How do you know what mix of mutt you got? If that matters to you, it’s easy to get a DNA test that shows you which breeds all that love and companionship come from.

Whether you’re getting a purebred with papers, or a standard American mutt, find the dog who fits your personality and your lifestyle. If you don’t find it right away, keep looking. Your perfect dog is waiting for you.

By the way, for cat people in need of another holiday, June 24th is Cat World Domination Day.

Oodles from page 3 with Parkinson’s and their care partners are held the first Monday of every month from 10 am until noon at San Rafael Church, 17252 Bernardo Center Drive, Rancho Bernardo, in the Parish Hall.

Our featured speaker for Monday, August 7th is Jeff Seckendorf from the Parkinson’s Association of San Diego who will present “Living with Purpose”. Separate breakout sessions for People with Parkinson’s and care partners will follow the presentation to discuss successes and challenges.

Come learn, share, meet, and enjoy the free refreshments with other involved Parkinson’s persons. Please call (760) 749-8234 or (760) 5181963 if you have any questions.

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You Are Sacred Gathering of Native Americans

August 10-13

Los Coyotes Reservation Campground

2300 Camino San Ignacio Road

Warner Springs

A 4-Day gathering for us to embrace our culture and traditions. This free event is for Native and Indigenous folx aged 18- 30 provided by ‘ataaxum Pomkwaan.

The GONA is a safe space designed for the support of healing and the building of healthy communities.

For more information contact Cassie Whitten at 951-297-0483, email: cassiewhitten7@gmail.com

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Escondido Senior Travel Meetings

Escondido Senior Travel Service’s holds a monthly meeting at 1pm in the Park Avenue Community Center, 210 Park Avenue. The next meeting is September 11, 2023. No meeting in August. Upcoming trips are Knox Berry Farm, September 28 and Laughlin, October 30, November 1, 2023 and December 7, Christmas with Sinatra.

The Travel Office is located at the Park Avenue Community Center, Escondido, and is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10 A.M. to 12 P.M. Phone number 760 2941851. Call for details.

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Carlsbad’s TGIF Concerts in the Parks

Carlsbad’s TGIF Concerts in the Parks series, one of the city’s most popular summer activities, is back in person this summer and celebrating its 36th anniversary with an exciting lineup of performances that will have crowds dancing the night away.

Calavera Hills Community Park

July 28: Jungle Fire (Afro/Latin/ Funk)

An Afro/Latin Funk band creating a melting pot of Afro-Caribbean and West African rhythms with a heavy break beat funk.

Alga Norte Community Park

August 4: Betamaxx (1980s)

A high-energy, nostalgia-filled rock concert that keeps the dance floor packed from beginning to end with an 80s music experience.

August 11: The FABBA Show (A Tribute to ABBA)

An homage to pop sensation ABBA that will take you on a glittery, sparkling, and truly magical journey back to the disco and the 70s.

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Summer Movies

In The Park

Summer Movies in the Park is the largest free and family-friendly outdoor movie series in San Diego County, with dozens of hosting sites and over a hundred screenings. It launched in 2007 as a ‘take back our parks’ initiative – in sync with the County’s Live Well vision to sustain safe, healthy and thriving communities.

Shows run May through October, in neighborhoods from the beach to the desert, and everything in between. Each movie event gives residents a reason to visit their local parks after dark, deterring inappropriate loitering and park use, and bringing additional safety and security to residents’ favorite locales.

Events begin as early as 6 p.m., though actual movie start times are 15 minutes after sunset. Before the movie, many locations provide additional entertainment like arts and crafts, games, costume contests, music, dancing and food trucks.

Movies, dates and locations are subject to change. For more information, visit summermoviesinthepark.com. ***

Bates Nut Farm Craft Fairs

Bates Nut Farm hosts a variety of craft fairs throughout the year, all of which prove to be very popular.

Crafters are encouraged to sign up for vendor space now before spaces are all taken. These upcoming events still have spaces available:

Pumpkin Festival

September 30th - October 1st

Filling up fast but there are still a few spaces left. This very popular craft fair runs during the opening of Valley Center’s largest event of the year, the Bates Pumpkin Patch.

Christmas on the Farm

November 4th & 5th

This craft fair is for vendors who want to participate in a holiday craft fair but don’t want to spend their Thanksgiving weekend selling their wares. There will be great food and live music. East County Cruisers Car Show is November 5th so there are a lot of visitors coming to the farm this weekend.

Santa’s Coming

November 24th - 26th

Santa pays a visit during this great holiday event, and there will be lots of other family-friendly activities as well.

A craft fair application is available online at www.batesnutfarm. biz or stop by a pick one up in the office Monday-Friday from 9-5.

Chuckles from page 5

I love your smile, your face, and your eyes

Damn, I’m good at telling lies!

My love, you take my breath away. What have you stepped in to smell this way?

What inspired this amorous rhyme? Two parts vodka, one part lime.

•••

She was worried at first. But then he explained that you can’t get pregnant on April Fool’s Day.

•••

A fool and his money . . . Can throw one helluva party! ***

“I love airports because the rules of society don’t apply. Eat a pizza and have a glass of wine at 7 am while in track pants. Nobody cares.”

~ Anonymous

“I’d like to have a kid, but I’m not sure I’m ready to spend 10 years of my life constantly asking someone where his shoes are.”

~

Damien Fahey

“Why yes, I can carry on a conversation made up entirely of movie quotes.”

~ Anonymous

“I’m sure wherever my Dad is, he’s looking down on us. He’s not dead, just very condescending.”

~

Jack Whitehall

Man About Town from page 4

$10. (Well, $9.99 is under $10!)

A great value and great food!

My server has been Shirley. She is from Jakarta, speaks the Malaysian language as well as English . . . is very pleasant and attentive.

I enjoy their food so much that I had lunch there Saturday and ordered a second luncheon special to go . . . for either dinner or a late night snack.

It’s a newer restaurant, less than one year old, neat, clean, lovely decor, and an attentive staff. They also serve wine and beer.

It’s one of my newest “go-to” places. Try it. I think you’ll be pleased.

“Trying is the first step toward failure.”

~ Homer Simpson, The Simpsons ***

A four-year-old child, whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old Gentleman’s’ yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, ‘Nothing, I just Helped him cry.’

Teacher Debbie Moon’s first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted.

A little girl said, ‘I know all about Adoption, I was adopted.’

‘What does it mean to be adopted?’, asked another child.

‘It means’, said the girl, ‘that you grew in your mommy’s heart instead of her tummy!’ ***

Flour and Water

How come when you mix water and flour together you get glue?.. and then you add eggs and sugar... and you get cake?

Where did the glue go?

from a few hundred people in 1943 to more than 6,000 in 1945.

In 1943, there was anxiety among the U.S. scientists the Germans might be making better progress on an atomic weapon than they were. Oppenheimer discarded a proposal to use radioactive materials to poison German food supplies. Oppenheimer questioned whether enough strontium could be produced without letting too many in on the secret. In a letter he wrote: “I think we should not attempt such a plan unless we can poison food sufficient to kill a half a million men.”

The joint work of the scientists at Los Alamos resulted in the world’s first nuclear explosion, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. Oppenheimer had given the site the codename “Trinity.” Years later he said a verse entered his head at that time: translated as “I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Among those present with Oppenheimer in the control bunker at the Trinity site were his brother Frank and Brig. Gen. Thomas Farrell. When Frank Oppenheimer was asked what Robert’s first words after the test had been, the answer was, “I guess it worked.” A month later atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which brought about the end of World War II. The public was not aware of the “Top Secret” Manhattan Project until after the war. By 1946, the pub- lic was made aware of secret U.S. atomic bomb plans being passed by Russian spies, which resulted in the Soviet Union becoming a nuclear power.

In October 1945, Oppenheimer was granted an interview with President Harry S. Truman, who was not made aware of the Manhattan Project until he became president upon Roosevelt’s death in April 1945. Oppenheimer told Truman he felt as though he had “blood on my hands.” The remark infuriated Truman, who quickly ended their meeting. Truman later told Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson, “I don’t want to see that son-of-abitch in this office ever again.”

After the war, Oppenheimer became chairman of the newly created U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He lobbied for international control of atomic power to avert a nuclear race with the Soviet Union.

At his 1954 security clearance hearings, he flatly denied being a member of the Communist Party but did identify himself as a” fellow traveler,” which he defined as “someone who agrees with many of communism’s goals but is not willing to blindly follow orders from any Communist Party apparatus.” Oppenheimer was stripped of his security clearance. He died Feb. 18, 1967, at the age of 62. The recently released bio-pic, “Oppenheimer,” is now showing in theaters.

Demara lived in near-anonymity in Orange County, California, where he worked as a Baptist minister, then a visiting chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital in Anaheim, until illness halted him from being an imposter.

During his last days, under the care of Dr. John J. Zane, his doctor said: “He was about the most miserable, unhappy man I have known. Over the past few weeks, all he said was he wished to die and go to heaven.”

History has no shortage of infamous imposters, liars, swindlers, and cheats. If anything, this scurrilous cup truly runneth over.

There was Victor Lustig, the con artist who posed as a government official and fraudulently sold the famed Eiffel Tower in France in the 1920s.

There was Christopher Rocancourt, the French imposter who masqueraded as a French nobleman, and also as an heir to the Rockefeller family. This is not original and many ordinary imposters have accomplished such insidious deeds – most recently with past U. S. presidents.

Let’s not forget Cassie Chadwick, a Canadian woman who successfully defrauded the U. S. banks out of millions of dollars by claiming to be an illegitimate daughter and heiress of Andrew Carnegie.

More recently, in March of 2022, 33-year-olde female imposter, Inna Yaschchyshyn, succeeded in masquerading as billionaire “Anna de Rothchild,” heiress to the Rothchild fortune. She used this ploy to mingle and play golf with former President Donald Trump. She has been investigated by the FBI.

And so the list of Great Pretenders goes on, seemingly with no end in sight.

However, these past imposters –as successful and devious as they were – all were only one-dimensional; none had the wide spectrum of devious skills as the multitalented and deceptive imposter, Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr.

Demara’s exploits were simply beyond the reach of any other.

Yet, such villains, such criminals, should never be idolised nor romanticised. Nevertheless, as with dictators, Mafia godfathers, historical villains of every stripe on the world stage – they remain within our history books, films, documentaries and nightly newscasts.

Of such things, the public still wishes to know.

SPECIAL THANKS to all our readers with marvelous story suggestions on what topics you most wish to read about. Please keep those suggestions coming!