Vol 21: #14 • I Told You So • (3-30-2025) Tidbits of Coachella Valley by Tidbits of Coachella Valley

TIDBITS HAS THE LAST LAUGH

by Janet Spencer

Throughout the annals of history there have always been determined individuals who became so enamored with the lofty goals and brilliance of their ideas that they ignore the warning flags raised by others. But in some cases, it's also turned out that the flag wavers were the ones who were wrong. This week Tidbits has a few such gems for you that have concluded by giving the accused individual the right to say, "I told you so!"

CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was the Imperial Japanese Navy Marshal Admiral and the Combined Fleet commander-in-chief during World War II. He was in charge of naval operations in the Pacific theater when his superiors informed him he would be heading up a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The success of the sneak attack, he was told, was certain to cripple the entire U.S. warship fleet and open the way for Japanʼs complete victory and control of the Pacific theater.

• Yamamoto strongly cautioned his high command

TRIVIA NEWSFRONT

(Answers on page 16)

SPORTS BY THE NUMBERS

• Number of tennis matches in the Wimbledon Championship: 650

• Number of tennis balls used throughout the Wimbledon Championship: 42,000

• Weight of a tennis ball, in ounces: 2

• Number of miles a tennis player will run during an average pro match: 3

• Total minutes of action in a typical 2.5-hour baseball game: 18

• Number of stitches on a regulation major league baseball: 108

• Number of baseballs major league teams use per season: 850,000

• Dollars Babe Ruth paid the fan who had his 700th home run ball, so he could keep it for himself: $20

• Number of home runs Babe Ruth hit: 715

• Number of home runs Hank Aaron hit: 755

• Number of home runs Barry Bonds hit: 762

• Number of consecutive baseball games Cal Ripken played for the Baltimore Orioles: 2,632

• Average speed of a Nolan Ryan pitch: 100 MPH

• Number of strike-outs by Nolan Ryan over his 27-year career: 5,714

• Number of batters Nolan Ryan struck out in his best season, 1973: 383

• Number of no-hitters Nolan Ryan threw: 7

• Age of Tiger Woods when he made his first holein-one: 8

1. GEOGRAPHY: Mount Everest is part of which mountain range?

2. MOVIES: Which color film was the first to win an Academy Award for Best Picture?

3. ASTRONOMY: Which planet in our solar system is believed to be the windiest?

4. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: Where is the U.S. Constitution stored?

5. ANIMAL KINGDOM: What is a group of lemurs called?

6. TELEVISION: Which city is the setting for the dramatic series “The Wire”?

7. GEOLOGY: Which country has the most active volcanos?

8. LITERATURE: Which character in a Charles Dickens novel famously said, “Please, sir, I want some more”?

9. ART: Which Dutch artist is considered a master of light and shadow, creating dramatic effects in paintings?

10. SCIENCE: What is an ectothermic animal?

• Age of Tiger Woods when he won the Masters in 1997: 21

• Number of strokes Tiger Woods won by in 1997, setting an unbroken record: 12

• Average number of miles run by professional soccer players during a single game: 7

• Amount of actual gold in an Olympic gold medal: 1 percent

• Percent of an Olympic gold medal that is silver: 93

• Percent of an Olympic gold medal that is copper: 6

• The last year that Olympic gold medals were solid gold: 1912

• Number of Olympic medals won by swimmer Michael Phelps: 28

• Number of Phelps’ medals that were gold: 23

• Number of Olympic gold medals won by Mexico since 1900: 13

• Number of individual panels on every soccer ball: 32

• Number of FIFA World Cup soccer tournaments since they began in 1930: 22

• Number of FIFA World Cup soccer tournaments won by the host country: 6

• Number of winning World Cup teams Pelé played on: 3

• Number of cow hides required to see the NFL through a single season: 3,000

• Number of NBA games Wilt Chamberlin fouled out of: 0

• Average number of players each year in the NBA: 500

• Number of lanes in the world’s largest bowling alley, in Japan: 116

• Maximum speed of a badminton shuttlecock: 112 MPH

• Speed at which table tennis balls can travel, in MPH: 100

• Average number of times a professional volleyball player will jump per game: 300

• Number of days of the year when there are no professional sports games being played (NBA, NFL, NHL, NLB): 3 

against the plan, saying they would likely only succeed in “waking a sleeping giant,” and they would ultimately pay a great price for their aggression. He estimated that even if the attack was successful, it would buy Japan only about 18 months of superiority. His advice was ignored.

• After the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. immediately declared war against Japan and the battle for the Pacific was underway. Regarded as the turning point of the war, the crucial Battle of Midway was indeed about 18 months after Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto lost face after this defeat. American forces shot down his plane on April 14, 1943, and he never lived to see his prediction of Japan’s disgrace come true with their ultimate surrender after U.S. atom bombs decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

IT’S

NOT A GERM

• In the early 1900s, Dr. Joseph Goldberger worked for the Public Health Service in Georgia. He was asked to find out what caused a disease called pellagra. At the time, it was thought the illness was contagious, and spread through contaminated water. Goldberger noticed that prisoners came down with pellagra but not guards, sailors but not captains, orphans but not nuns. He suspected it was the diet.

• He proved his theory by experimenting with the diets of prisoners and orphans. Those who received daily portions of meat, milk, and egg yolk never got sick, while those fed mostly carbs did. He could deliberately cause pellagra by simply withholding these items from their diets, and just as easily cure it. Long before vitamins were discovered, he was ridiculed by the medical community for his theory.

• Goldberger went one step further. He deliberately tried to infect himself, his wife,

and a selection of test subjects with pellagra by swabbing bodily fluids and secretions from sick people and transferring them to the healthy. Yet he was never able to find a single germ that could pass the illness from one person to another. Eight years after Goldberger died, the B vitamin called niacin was isolated and named, and the pellagra sickness was irradicated.

PROBLEM PUMPS

• Dr. Max Joseph Von Pettenkofer was a Bavarian chemist who was certain that the epidemic of cholera was caused by being poor, dirty, and breathing bad air. He mocked doctors Robert Koch and John Snow, who insisted cholera was caused by bacteria spread through contaminated water.

• To prove his point, in 1892 Von Pettenkofer drank water teeming with cholera germs, convinced it was safe. To his dismay, he immediately came down with cholera, but recovered.

• John Snow then stopped a serious cholera epidemic in London by removing the pump handle from a contaminated public well, proving cholera is indeed spread through bad water. Other populated areas soon followed suit and the epidemic was eliminated.

NORTHERN NONSENSE

• In 1897, many people thought Secretary of State William Seward was plain stupid to buy the land of Alaska from Russia for a hefty $7.2 million, at the cost of two cents an acre. This is equal to $129 million or 36 cents per acre today. The entire region was thought to be a useless wasteland and a foolish purchase.

• But scoffers changed their tune with the Klondike gold rush in 1896, followed by the discovery of other rich resources in its soil, including oil, and the realization of its high value as a strategic military defense base.

DECISIVE DILEMMA

• Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was on duty at the Soviet Air Defense Forces in 1983 when a nuclear early-warning system alert signaled that the U.S. had launched five missles toward Russia. It was his duty to immediately rush the warning to the supreme command, authorizing them to quickly retaliate by returning the deadly nuclear exchange.

• But he hesitated. The system was brand new and subject to errors. He had been told that any nuclear war would start with a heavy blitz, not just five missles. The bombs did not show up on his radar. Should he send the warning anyway as

required? The fate of two entire nations literally rested in the tip of his finger on the button.

• In a decisive moment, he rethought the threat and decided instead to wait. heading off what would have become a disasterous all-out nuclear war. Although he was reprimanded for failing to follow protocol, an investigation later proved that he had been correct in his assumption that the erroneous report was due to a malfunction. Stanislav is lauded today as "the man who saved the world."

DRUG DERAILMENT

• In 1960, Frances Kelsey was a pharmacologist serving as a medical reviewer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). When an application for a new drug called thalidomide crossed her desk, she refused to approve it. She did not believe there had been enough clinical trials to prove that the new drug was safe.

• Thalidomide was being used widely in 20 other nations, routinely prescribed to pregnant women to control morning sickness and to help them sleep. The manufacturer insisted it was as safe as aspirin.

1. What sale price did Google offer to Excite CEO Larry Page, who refused to buy the the growing company?

2. What is Google's estimated worth today?

After the Treaty of Versailles was signed, French General Ferdinand Foch noted how harshly the punitive conditions imposed on Germany were handled. He remarked, "This is not peace. This is an armistice for twenty years!" It was signed June 28, 1919. World War II began September 1, 1939. Foch had been off on his prediction by only 64 days.

By Lucie Winborne

* Africa is the only continent with land in all four of Earth’s hemispheres.

* The highest golf course in the world is the Tuctu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru, sitting 14,335 feet above sea level at its lowest point.

* Vladimir Putin’s grandfather worked as a chef for Rasputin, Lenin, and Stalin.

* Bluetooth technology was named after 10th-century King Harald Bluetooth, who united Denmark and Norway, just like technology united computers and cellphones.

* Colonel Sanders got fired from a dozen jobs, was a lawyer who once assaulted his own client in court, started a restaurant that went out of business, and found himself broke at the age of 65. That’s when he started KFC.

* The Mayans drilled holes in their teeth to insert semiprecious stones.

* North Korea’s 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, nicknamed “The Hotel of Doom,” is the world’s tallest unoccupied building.

* Iceland has an official book-buying season that runs from September through December. More than half of all the books sold in the country are purchased during the month before Christmas.

* Australian compass termites construct their mounds on a north-south axis.

* Hasbro has a “Monopoly Speed Die” and an official rulebook for “extreme” Monopoly variants.

* Composer Richard Wagner used to preserve his own nose hair clippings for posterity.

***

Thought for the Day: “If you always have something in your life that you’re trying to improve upon, then every day you have a reason to get out of bed, and you have a reason to achieve something and feel good.” -- Nick Offerman

by Mary Hunt

Take the Sure Thing, or Straighten Up and Fly Right

by Mary Hunt

DEAR MARY: We live in Nevada and own a second home in Arizona. My husband wants to sell the Arizona property and then use the proceeds to pay off our credit debt, auto loan and home equity loan on the Nevada property -- about $165,000 total.

I disagree. I think we should rent the Arizona property to generate income and benefit from its future appreciation.

My husband is concerned that if we are unable to rent it out, we will not be able to handle two mortgage payments plus our other debts as well.

I turning to you for advice. What should we do? -- Lorna

Dear Lorna: Let’s say you sell the Arizona property and pay off your debts, and then it turns out you were right that you could have easily rented the property and made a killing on its appreciation. Even though you would have forgone a return on investment, you are debtfree, and you own a home in Nevada.

But let’s say you don’t sell, and it turns out he was right: You can’t rent the house, and you can’t keep up with both mortgages plus the big load of unsecured debt. In that case, you could lose everything. You have to see that as a real possibility.

My advice is to see this as an opportunity to show your husband a great deal of respect by trusting his decision.

There’s something in this for you, too. This gives him the opportunity to meet your need to be taken care of and to feel financially secure.

This looks like a win-win. However, before you do anything, be sure to check with a tax professional to learn what taxable event, if any, selling the Arizona property might trigger.

DEAR MARY: I am an airline pilot for a major carrier and have a $70,000 credit card debt plus a mortgage. I’m not proud to say we have no savings or emergency fund.

Soon, I will get a windfall of about $40,000. Should I use that to pay down the unsecured debt? -- Stan

Dear Stan: If you were to do that, you would still have $30,000 unsecured debt plus a

mortgage. Sounds a lot better, for sure.

But what happens next month, when you have an unexpected emergency, or next year, when you lose your job? You’ll feel you have no choice but to run to the credit cards for a bailout, and before you know it, you’ll be back at $70,000, or probably more.

My advice is to use that windfall to fund your contingency fund, which is a pool of money equal to three months’ (six is better) living expenses, known by many as an emergency fund.

Sock it away in a savings account, where it can earn some amount of interest. Now live as frugally as you can, and attack that $70,000 nut with all the gusto you can muster.

Put yourself on a strict spending diet. Just knowing you are not sitting on the edge of financial doom will give you the courage to endure short-term sacrifice.

All you need now is persistence and determination. * * *

Mary invites questions and comments at https://www.everydaycheapskate.com/contact/, “Ask Mary.” This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.

Want to Work for Tidbits?

Tidbits is in need of independent contractor help distributing our newspapers to businesses in the Coachella Valley. A retired husband/wife team is preferred, who wish to supplement their monthly income by driving and distributing to a specified delivery route in the Cathedral City area. Requires year-round commitment of one day per week, either Thursday or Friday, during regular business hours. One person needed to drive; the other to place copies at delivery locations.

Interested parties must posess a responsible work ethic, furnish their own vehicle and auto insurance, and have a friendly demeanor when dealing with the public. Interested couples call Erik at 760-320-0997 for further information.

• Russia is the world’s largest country. However, if Siberia withdrew from Russia and became its own country, Siberia would be the largest country in the world.

• Siberia accounts for 77% of the land mass of Russia. It’s equal in size to Canada and Greenland combined. Canada is the world’s second largest country.

• Canada is known for having the greatest number of lakes in the world. There are an estimated 31,752 lakes in Canada that are larger than one square mile in surface area. This figure jumps to about two million if lakes of all sizes are counted. A massive nine percent of Canada’s surface is covered in lakes. Over 50 percent of the world’s natural lakes are in Canada.

• Canada also has the longest coastline globally, stretching 151,019 miles (243,042 km).

• What country has the greatest number of islands? That would be Sweden with over 200,000 followed by Norway and Finland. Canada comes in fourth, and Indonesia fifth, with only 17,000.

• The lowest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was in Alaska at -80°F (-62°C) on Jan. 23, 1971, in Prospect Creek in central Alaska, north of Fairbanks.

• The highest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was 134°F (56.7°C) in Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913. This temperature is also the highest reliably measured temperature on Earth.

• Hawaii is the only state that has never seen a subzero temperature. The lowest temperature ever

recorded there was 12°F (-11°C) on the islands' highest peak at 13,803 feet on Mauna Kea.

• Nauru, an island nation in Micronesia, is one of the smallest countries in the world after Vatican City and Monaco. It measures only six times the size of Central Park in New York City and has a population of about 11,000.

• Least forested country? Oman, in the Middle East, with 0.01 percent of its land mass covered with trees.

• The most forested country is Suriname, on the Atlantic coast of South America just north of Brazil, which is 97.3 percent forested

• The largest lake in the world is the Caspian Sea in Western Europe, which is four times larger than the second largest lake, Lake Superior.

• The difference between a lake and a sea is that a lake does not have a direct outlet to the ocean.

• About 87 percent of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere, mainly because there’s far more land mass in the north.

• The Northern Hemisphere includes North America and Central America, Europe and Asia, the north half of Africa, and the top of South America.

• The only continents entirely in the Southern Hemisphere are Australia and Antarctica, both sparsely populated.

• The country of South Africa has three capitals.

• Out of the nearly 200 countries in the world, the 25 countries with the lowest life expectancy are all clustered on the African continent. Of those, Nigeria has the world’s lowest life expectancy at 54.64 years. Outside of Africa, Haiti has the worst life expectancy with 65.12.

• At the top of the life expectancy list is Japan, with an average life expectancy of 84.85 years. The U.S. comes in at #48 at 79.46 years, right behind Albania and Panama, but just above Estonia.

• Only about three percent of the entire population of the 54 countries on the African continent are over the age of 65. Of the 44 European countries, 18 percent of their population is over age 65.

• Richest country in the world per capita? Luxembourg (bordering France). Poorest? Burundi (central Africa).

• If the world’s entire monetary value were distributed equally among every resident in every country, each person would have about

$12,000.

• The most peaceful country in the world, in terms of number of conflicts in which it has participated, is Iceland.

• Despite its name, the Salton Sea is actually a lake because it is landlocked. It is also the largest inland lake in California. 

Tidbits of Coachella Valley

by Dana Jackson

Q: Is it true that Lucy Hale was almost Hannah Montana? Can she sing? -- K.W.

A: Yes, Lucy Hale, who is best known for her role on the teen drama series “Pretty Little Liars,” is a vocalist as well as an actress. She won “American Juniors,” a children’s spin-off of “American Idol,” and she’s also released several singles over the years.

She also submitted a taped audition for the lead role in the Disney series “Hannah Montana,” but the role eventually went to Miley Cyrus. She did, however, end up guest-starring on another teen sitcom “Drake & Josh.”

Hale says despite losing out on the role that made Cyrus a star, she is grateful for the experience of auditioning, since it made her want to become an actress.

Q: I was upset to learn that “FBI: International” has been canceled. Is there a chance that Jesse Soffer could return to “Chicago P.D.” now? I hope so. -- N.E.

A: CBS recently announced the cancellation of not only “FBI: International” but another spin-off, “FBI: Most Wanted.” While the “FBI” franchise might not be as popular as NBC’s “Chicago,” it’s still a popular commodity for the network, which is why they’re launching a new spin-off to fill the void of both procedurals.

According to Screen Rant, “’FBI: CIA’ will involve the two named agencies cooperating to-

gether to prevent acts of domestic terrorism” with two main characters -- one from each agency. It will mostly be set in New York City.

While it’s not officially greenlit for the fall schedule, “FBI: CIA” is expected to be premiering then. In fact, the show will first air this spring as a “back-door pilot” during “FBI,” which is the original flagship series that started it all. “FBI” is currently in its seventh season on CBS and airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET.

As far as the cast of the new spin-off, no one has been announced, but fans are hopeful that some of their favorite cast members from both “International” and “Most Wanted” will pop up permanently or in guest appearances.

Yes, it’s possible Soffer could return to “Chicago P.D.” in the role he played for ten seasons. He chose to leave in 2022 to take on new acting challenges, which led him to “FBI: International.” Perhaps he’ll take a break before his next project, wherever it shall be.

Q: What’s the latest on Ted Lasso returning? Is it officially coming back for another season? -- T.W.

A: Yes, Jason Sudeikis, who plays the titular role of the eternally optimistic football coach, has made it official! “Ted Lasso” will be back on Apple TV+ for a fourth season.

The announcement arrives a full two years since the airing of what was presumed to be the series finale. The actor recently announced on the Kelce Brothers’ “New Heights” podcast that Ted would be coaching a women’s football team this time.

As far as casting news, the only returnees we know for certain in this early stage of development are Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham (Rebec-

ca), Brett Goldstein (Roy) and Jeremy Swift (Higgins). * * *

Send me your questions at NewCelebrityExtra@gmail.com, or write me at KFWS, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803.

King Features News Syndicate

Good Recipes from

Chicken Carbonara

A decadent dinner doesn’t mean hours in the kitchen with this pasta, topped with baconstudded, creamy Pecorino Romano cheese and egg sauce.

12 ounces linguine

4 slices bacon

12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 medium shallot

2 clove garlic

4 large eggs

1/3 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat large covered saucepot of salted water to boiling on high. Cook linguine as label directs.

2. Meanwhile, in 12-inch skillet, cook ba-

con on medium 6 to 9 minutes or until browned and crisp. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt.

3. Transfer cooked bacon to paper towel. Add chicken to same skillet with drippings. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook chicken 2 minutes or until just starting to turn opaque, stirring occasionally. Add shallot. Cook 2 minutes, stirring. Add garlic. Cook 1 minute or until chicken is cooked through (165 F), stirring. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Crumble bacon.

4. In large bowl, whisk together eggs, Pecorino and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper until well-combined. Add bacon and cooled chicken mixture to eggs.

5. When pasta is cooked, drain well. Add to large bowl with egg mixture, tossing to coat. Divide among 4 serving plates. Garnish with parsley, if desired. Serves 4.

Caribbean Cobb Salad

Mango and shredded rotisserie chicken take center stage in this lime-infused Caribbean Cobb Salad.

1 small (2 to 2 1/2 pounds) rotisserie chicken

1/3 cup mango chutney

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1 bag (10 ounces) romaine salad mix

1 large red pepper, cut into strips

2 (ripe) mangoes, peeled, pitted and cut into thin strips

2 cups packaged shredded carrots

1. Remove skin and bones from chicken; coarsely shred meat.

2. Make mango dressing: In small bowl, stir chutney and lime juice until blended, breaking up any large pieces of fruit with side of spoon. Set aside.

PonderBits

Unless you're the lead dog the view never changes.

Just once, I want the username and password prompt to say "close enough."

My wife said I hadn't heard a word she was saying, and I thought that was an unusual way to start a conversation.

Is it ok for a vegan to eat animal crackers?

3. Place romaine on platter; arrange pepper strips, mangoes, chicken and carrots on top. Serve with dressing. Serves 6.

 Each serving: About 305 calories, 7g total fat (2g saturated), 84mg cholesterol, 450mg sodium, 30g total carbohydrate, 4g dietary fiber, 29g protein.

Enjoy Tidbits with

By John Allen DIAMOND LIL

by Brett Koth

Donald

NEXT WEEK IN TIDBITS CHEERS FOR SOME

Holidays & Observances This Week

3/30 National Doctor's Day

3/31 U.S. Border Control Day

4/1 U.S. Air Force Academy Day

4/2 National Autism Awareness Day

4/3 Pony Express Day

4/4 Pass lt Forward Day

4/5 Gold Star Spouses Day

Dog Talk with Uncle Matty

By Matthew Margolis

People who have little dogs tend to agonize like Hamlet over the question of: To housebreak, or to paper train?

Those with big dogs don’t think twice about it. Owners of Great Danes and Newfoundlands unanimously agree that they don’t want their dogs doing their business in the house. Which is exactly what paper training is: teaching your dog to do his business in the house.

The truth about paper training is that you really can’t do it. Not successfully. Not consistently. It isn’t natural. In fact, it goes against a dog’s very nature.

Dogs are territorial. When walking your dog, I’m sure you’ve noticed that his sniffer kicks into overdrive. That’s what dogs do: They go outside, they sniff around, they lift their leg and they mark their territory. Usually, they mark more than one spot. Left to their own devices, they’d mark many more spots than the average dog owner will tolerate on a single excursion.

Paper training your dog means expecting him to go on the same spot every day, day after day, month and month, year after year, without fail. It means asking him to forgo a very basic instinct. This is why housebreaking is the better choice for big dogs and small dogs. Housebreaking is teaching your dog to do his business outside and only outside. It allows your dog to be a dog, and it allows your house to remain clean, sanitary and free of unpleasant surprises.

I talked to a man with a 7-year-old Yorkie the other day. From Day One, his dog was paper trained. And those piddle pads worked for four years, when suddenly and without warning, everything changed. This man and his wife spent the next three and a half years dodging puddles and picking up poop. Now, their house stinks, their carpets are a mess, and they called me right after the straw broke the camel’s back. That’s right. He stepped in it.

When you have a little dog, it’s easy to get lazy. And paper training is the lazy man’s solution

Cody's Corner: Turn to Page 10

(CryptoQuip Solution on page 12)

SENIOR NEWS LINE

by Matilda Charles

Starting a Garden Indoors

The many feet of snow still remaining on the New England ground where I live is an indication of just how far I am from starting a vegetable garden this year. However, it’s not too early to start vegetable seeds indoors.

Not all vegetables are good candidates for starting inside from seed (root vegetables such as carrots won’t do well started in shallow containers), but peppers, onions and spinach are good candidates for geting started while still indoors. Later, I’ll add seedlings for more variety, including marigolds to repel garden pests.

On my to-do list:

Schedule the handyman guy with his tiller to come and break up the ground in a month. There’s no sense in me renting a heavy machine that I have no strength to operate.

Order a load of mulch for delivery later to be spread for weed control and preserving moisture in the soil.

Cut the milk cartons I’ve saved over the winter into seed germination pots. A 3-inch depth will be deep enough -- and these containers are free. A layer of plastic wrap will serve as a humid-

Collect from my neighbor all the popsicle sticks her grandchildren have left so I can use them as plant markers.

Be sure the indoor grow light works, and that I don’t need a new bulb.

But most fun of all the things on my to-do list will be choosing the seeds and deciding what to grow. Catalogs have been arriving (they all also have websites), each more beautiful than the last.

If you have no yard, consider container gardening. If you have a sunny location, you can grow peas, strawberries, lettuce, potatoes, spinach and so much more right outside your door. Do an online search for “container vegetable garden” for advice on the size of containers to use, the type of soil and a list of vegetables that should not be planted next to each other.

* * *

Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into her column whenever possible. Send email to columnreply2@ gmail.com.

Cody’s Corner (from page 9)

to the age-old question of what to do when your dog has to go. Plop some newspaper on the kitchen floor and call it yellow journalism.

This little dog problem -- what I call toy dog syndrome -- affects many people. Its symptoms involve the following thought process: little dog, little urine, little poop, little trouble. And so the decision is made to paper train the little guy.

After three and a half years of narrow escapes and smelly messes, this couple still argued, “But it’s such a small amount!”

Housebreaking is thought to be the harder road to climb. But if that’s true at all, it’s only in the short term. Here are a couple of tips to get you off on the right foot:

-- Start young. Older dogs can be housebroken, but it’s much easier to instill good habits than to break bad ones.

-- Begin training in the spring or summer. Cold, harsh weather makes it harder for humans to stay the course with the training program. And housebreaking means taking your dog outside to eliminate several times a day.

Once you understand the housebreaking process and what it involves, it’s really just a matter of consistency on your part. Feed, water, walk. Feed, water, walk. That consistency coupled with an age-appropriate diet for your dog is the key to successful housebreaking.

For detailed information on housebreaking your dog, check out “When Good Dogs Do Bad Things” in your local library, or visit unclematty. com.

Woof!

* * *

Dog trainer Matthew “Uncle Matty” Margolis is the co-author of 18 books about dogs, a behaviorist, a popular radio and television guest, and the host of the PBS series “WOOF! It’s a Dog’s Life!” Read all of Uncle Matty’s columns at www.creators.com, and visit him at www.unclematty.com.

YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY

by Tom Margenau

The GPO Repeal Backlash Has Begun

I predicted this was going to happen. The public outcry over the repeal of the Government Pension Offset law has begun. I am hearing from more and more people (mostly women) who want to know why retired teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees are getting Social Security spousal and survivor benefits that they can’t get. Here is a typical recent email.

Q: My sister and I are both retired teachers. I taught in a private school in Colorado, where I paid into Social Security. My sister taught in Dallas, where she paid into the Texas Teachers Retirement program and not Social Security. So I get a Social Security retirement benefit and she gets a Texas teacher’s pension. Surprisingly, they are both about the same amount. We each get about $3,000 per month. We’re also both widows. Until recently, neither of us could get widows benefits because our own retirement pensions prevented us from getting anything from our husband’s Social Security. But apparently a new law was recently passed called the Social Security Fairness Act that allows my sister to get full Social Security widows benefits. However, I still can’t. How in the world is that fair?

A: It’s not fair. I’ve been preaching that the misnamed Social Security Fairness Act is a bad law. And as a result, I’ve been receiving angry and even hateful emails from retired public employees around the country. I want them to listen to your story. (In today’s column, I will be dealing only with the repeal of the Government Pension Offset, not the repeal of the related Windfall Elimination Provision.)

First, here is some background to help you understand what GPO was all about. Throughout the history of Social Security, the law has always said that a Social Security retirement benefit offsets any spousal or widows benefits a person might be due.

Here are a couple quick examples. Mary is getting $3,000 in her own Social Security retirement benefit. Her deceased husband Frank was getting $2,800. Mary can’t get widows benefits because her own Social Security benefit is higher than her potential widows benefit.

Or we could change that example a bit and say that Frank was getting a $4,200 retirement benefit before he died. In this scenario, Mary will keep getting her own $3,000 Social Security check, but she will get an extra $1,200 in widows benefits to take her up to Frank’s $4,200 level.

Again, that Social Security benefit offset has been in place ever since the beginning of the program in the 1930s. But by the mid-1970s, Congress noted a glitch in that law. The retirement benefits paid to public employees who worked at jobs that were not covered by Social Security but who had spouses who did work and pay into Social Security, were not subject to any offset. In other words, in our example above, if Mary was a retired teacher in Texas who was getting $3,000 in a Texas teacher’s retirement pension, she would have been able to get that pension AND have received

full Social Security widows benefits on Frank’s record. (Either $2,800 monthly in the first example or $4,200 in the second.) There would have been no offset.

Congress correctly said that was unfair. So in the 1970s, they passed the Government Pension Offset law that essentially said that a public employee retirement pension would offset any spousal benefits due just as Social Security retirement pensions had always done.

You would think that everyone would recognize the fairness of that. But that is not what happened. Public employees went into a rage thinking that they were being cheated out of spousal and widows benefits from Social Security that everyone else could get. They totally misunderstood the point that Social Security retirement benefits had always offset and spousal or widows benefits due. The GPO law was simply treating their public retirement pensions in the same way that Social Security retirement pensions had always been treated.

Anyway, public employee unions and advocacy groups spent the next 40 years lobbying Congress to repeal the GPO law. Bills to repeal GPO were introduced in every Congress. And every year, those bills were defeated. Why? Because the GPO law made sense -- it made sure that all working Americans were treated fairly.

But then we got into the politically wacky 21st century where there seemed to be constant partisan battles in Congress over budgets and continuing resolutions and government shutdowns and all other forms of fiscal chicanery. Amid all that mess, it became easier for GPO repeal advocates to get their bills into the hopper of an otherwise distracted Congress. And each year, they seemed to get closer and closer to having their way. Finally, in December 2024, literally almost at the last minute of the last day of Congress, they tacked on the totally misnamed “Social Security Fairness Act” into a mix of other bills, and it became law.

So now we are right back where we were 40 years ago. Public employees can get spousal and widows benefits that no one else can get.

1. The book of Balam is found in the a) Old Testament b) New Testament c) Neither

2. From 2 Chronicles 14, where was Abijah buried? a) City of David b) Jerusalem c) City of Gath d) Nazareth

3. According to Numbers 33, how old was Aaron when he died? a) 102 b) 112 c) 123 d) 132

4. Which of these sons of Jesse did not go into battle with Saul? a) Eliab b) David c) Abinadab d) Shimea

5. From 2 Kings, who was Elijah's successor? a) Solomon b) Elisha c) Nimshi d) Nimrod

6. Which of Saul's daughters loved David? a) Merab b) Michal c) Sheebanahan d) Mahilah

(Answers on page 16)

But back to the teacher who sent the email I quoted at the beginning of the column. With the repeal of GPO, her sister, the teacher from Texas, will now be able to get her teacher’s retirement pension AND full widows benefits from Social Security. But the letter writer, the private school teacher from Colorado, will never be able to get widows benefits. If anybody thinks that is fair, then please explain it to me.

Here is one more even weirder and less fair part of the Social Security Fairness Act. As I mentioned many times in this column, as an old federal retiree, I collect a civil service retirement pension -- not Social Security. (Feds hired since 1984 do pay into Social Security and will retire with Social Security benefits.) Even though I get a comfortable civil service pension, with the repeal of the GPO, I am now able to collect a dependent husband’s benefit on my wife’s Social Security account. Anybody with a Social Security retirement pension the same size as my civil service benefit would never be able to do that. So why can I? And for that matter, why can millions of retired teachers, firefighters and police officers do the same? No one has ever been able to give me a good answer to these questions either.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has two books with all the answers. One is called “Social Security -- Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-to-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security.” The other is “Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts.” You can find the books at Amazon.com or other book outlets. Or you can send him an email at thomas.margenau@comcast.net. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

4-15-25

Floater in Eye Proves To Be Extremely Distracting

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 67-yearold male with generally good vision. I’ve had a few floaters in my eyes over the years, but they have generally been small and have not significantly affected my vision. However, about six months ago, I suddenly had a large floater appear in one of my eyes that did affect my vision. It is right in the center of my field of vision and is very distracting.

I had a checkup with my optometrist soon after, and she said there were no major issues with my eye. She said that my brain would adjust to the floater so I would not notice it as much. However, six months later, I still find it very distracting. I frequently have to move my eye to try and get it out of my center vision so

I can see clearly. Are there any treatments that can be done to remove distracting floaters? --

D.H.

ANSWER: “Floaters” are bits of cellular debris in the vitreous humor, which is the gel-filled space in between the lens and the retina. The sudden appearance of floaters can represent serious eye disease, such as a detached retina, so it was wise to get an evaluation when you noticed a sudden change.

The eye does not have a way to remove floaters, so you will have them as long as you live unless you do something about it. As your optometrist said, they don’t bother most people; however, several of my readers over the years have been so bothered by floaters that they have undergone surgical vitrectomy. This is the removal by an experienced opthalmologist of all the gel material from the vitreous cavity, including all (or nearly all) of the vitreous opacities that cause floaters. Published complication rates with this procedure are less than 1% in experienced hands.

I have also read about using a laser to break up large floaters into smaller and presumably easier-to-ignore pieces, but I have no personal experience with this. In addition, the literature is mixed.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual questions, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.

VETERANS POST  

by Freddie Groves

A Slimmed-Down VA

The staffing cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs continue. As of today, another 585 non-mission-critical or duplicate contracts are terminated, out of 90,000 existing contracts totaling $67 billion. This will put $900 million back in the kitty to be spent on veterans, their caregivers, families and survivors.

That’s a lot of money.

It makes me wonder how those contracts came to be in the first place. The canceled contracts covered such services as taking minutes at meetings, leadership coaching, mentoring staff, creating meeting agendas and creating PowerPoint slides (laughingly called “executive support.”)

Are those not things that staff should be doing?

These contract cancellations are on top of the additional 1,400 probationary positions that were eliminated (employees who had worked for the VA for less than a year), saving $83 million to be spent on veterans for benefits, services and health care.

Meanwhile, plans continue to fill 300,000 mission-critical positions at the VA that were exempted from the hiring freeze. These include: 94,000 nurses, 8,300 psychologists, 12,000 pharmacists and 3,000 physical therapists -- all hands-on for care of veterans.

I do, however, worry about the VA Office of Inspector General in all of these cuts. I hope cool heads prevail and they take a moment to realize just how much money the VAOIG saves by identifying, investigating and auditing VA waste. At this time I can’t find any mention of staff cuts at the VAOIG, thankfully. Recent updates on their activities show scammers being caught for fraud ($1 million), fraud ($300,000) and more fraud ($392,000). In the last 12 months, the OIG has derailed schemes totaling $3 billion being stolen from the VA. If anything, I would wish that the VAOIG be listed as a “mission critical” department and have their staff doubled. My second wish would be that the penalties (prison time, fines and restitution) also be doubled. Too often the criminals seem to only get a slap on the wrist for their scams against the VA. The judicial system also needs to be fixed. * * *

Freddy Groves regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Send email to columnreply2@gmail.com.

really can't miss that heavy, muscular guy sitting over there. He's burly recognizable.

-- by Jim Miller

Navigating Social Security as It Downsizes

DEAR SAVVY SENIOR: My local Social Security office was recently shut down because of staff layoffs and largescale downsizing by the Department of Government Efficiency. All this disruption makes me very nervous, as I’ll be applying for my Social Security retirement benefits later this year. My question is, how are we supposed to get help with our Social Security questions or problems now that our office is closed? What can you tell me? -- Anxious Aaron

Dear Aaron: I’ve been getting a lot of questions on this very topic. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is facing massive budget cuts and layoffs under President Donald Trump’s administration, which is leading to dozens of office closures and a lot of angst across the country.

Led by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), many Social Security experts believe these deep staff cuts could cause interruptions in monthly benefit payments, an increase in improper payments, delays in the processing of new benefit applications and disability claims, and longer wait times for Social Security help.

There are 73 million Americans who currently receive Social Security benefits, including seniors, children and people with disabilities. Many rely on these benefits for the bulk of their income, so any disruption or errors in payments or other service delays could cause a lot of problems for beneficiaries.

Advocacy groups are urging concerned Americans to contact their members of Congress and demand protections for the program. To find your elected members contact information, go to Congress.gov/

members/find-your-member.

With that said, here’s how you can best navigate the SSA as they downsize. Use SSA.gov. Most Social Security business today can be conducted online.

To get started, just go to SSA.gov/ onlineservices where you can create a personal online “my Social Security” account so you can view your latest statement and earnings history, apply for retirement, disability, and Medicare benefits, check the status of an application or appeal, request a replacement Social Security card (in most areas), print a benefit verification letter, and much more. Their website also has a wealth of information and answers to frequently asked questions that you can access at SSA.gov/faqs

Phone Assistance

If you can’t conduct your Social Security business online or you need some extra help, you can also get phone assistance by calling your nearby field office (see SSA. gov/locator for contact information) or by calling the SSA national number at 800-7721213 (TTY 800-325-0778) between 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday.

This number has many automated service options you can use without waiting, but if you do need to speak to a representa tive, wait times are typically shorter early in the morning (between 8 and 10am) or later in the afternoon (between 4 and 7pm). You may also experience shorter wait times later in the week (Wednesday to Friday) and later in the month.

If you need to visit your nearby SSA office, it’s best to call and make an appoint ment first as walk-ins have much longer wait times. To make an appointment call 800-7721213 or contact your local SSA office.

Be Patient

Also remember to practice patience and plan ahead. With all the SSA staff cuts, delays and longer wait time will be inevitable. And if you’re planning to start drawing your Social Security benefits in the near future, it’s best to apply as early as possible as the SSA recently announced that new applicants who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an SSA field office in person to complete the verification process. That will take some addition time. This change will also apply to unverified existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.

You can apply for benefits up to four months before you expect to receive them. Applying as early as possible can help ensure they’re available when needed.

Box

Send your senior questions to:

or visit

org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

Savvy Senior, P.O.

5443, Norman,

73070,

SavvySenior.

• Despite enormous pressure from the drug manufacturer and its representatives, Kelsey refused to rubber-stamp the drug. Her staunch refusal prevented the drug from being distributed throughout the U.S. Meanwhile, in the other nations where the drug was commonly prescribed, doctors reported a wave of deformed babies born with missing limbs due to the damaging side effects of thalidomide.

• Ultimtely, the drug was universally banned in 1962 and dubbed as "the biggest anthropogenic medical disaster ever.”

FUTURE FLICKS

• Noted movie reviewer Roger Ebert, made this prediction for the future back in 1987: “We will one day have high-definition, widescreen television sets and a push-button dialing system to order the movie you want at the time you want it. You’ll not go to a video store but instead order a movie on demand and then pay for it. Videocassette tapes as we know them now will be obsolete both for showing prerecorded movies and for recording movies.

• “Today seventy-five percent of the gross from a typical art film in America comes from as few as only six different theaters in six different cities. Ninety percent of the American motion-picture marketplace never shows art films. With this revolution in delivery and distribution, anyone, in any size town or hamlet, will see the movies he or she wants to see.” Ebert was right.

COMMUNICATION CALCULATION

• Almost 100 years ago, inventor Nikola Tesla was quoted in “Colliers Magazine” in 1926 with this prediction for the future: “We shall one day be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of even thousands of miles.

• “The instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket. We shall be able to witness and hear events--the inauguration of a president, the playing of a world series game, the havoc of an earthquake or the terror of a battle--just as though we were present.”

• If Tesla were still with us today he could quite smugly say, “Told you so!” 

by Jason Jenkins

Getting rid of that nasty slice should be the goal of millions of golfers worldwide. Simply stated, one cannot truly enjoy the benefits of advanced golf without first beating that nagging slice. While there are dozens of tips to help cure a slice causing swing, try rehearsing this simple “slap over” drill every time you play, practice, or have time in the backyard.

The basic concept is to take your golf address position without a club, allowing the hands to be facing palms together. Leave the left arm and hand in place while making a half backswing motion. The goal is to move forward in attempt to slap the left hand and cause it to turn over (palm up). The follow through should be short to see how the forearms cross over as you’re still in the golf posture. By “slapping over” the hands and arms, you’re rehearsing the needed action for the swing to create straighter shots.

range after

before each

several

Presented by Bill Baker, founder of The Solar Initiative, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit Solar Educational Forum.

The idea of Go Figure is to arrive at the figures given at the bottom and right-hand columns of the diagram by following the arithmetic signs in the order they are given (that is, from left to right and top to bottom). Use only the numbers below the diagram to complete its blank squares and use each of the nine numbers only once.

DIFFICULTY: �

by Linda Thistle

Vol 21: #14 • I Told You So • (3-30-2025) Tidbits of Coachella Valley