March 25 - 31, 2016 Bold Medias Publishing
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Issue 00264 www.tidbitsvancouver.com
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TIDBITS® INVESTIGATES SOME OF
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by Kathy Wolfe The unexplained…the unresolved…the unanswered. This week, Tidbits investigates some baffling happenings whose endings haven’t yet been written. • On June 1, 1937, aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan departed Miami on a 29,000 mile (46,671 km) journey, attempting to circumnavigate the globe. Their last contact was on July 2 from the vicinity of Howland Island in the central Pacific Ocean, just 7,000 miles (11,265 km) from completing their goal. Earhart stated in her last radio transmission that the plane was low on gas. Within an hour of that contact, searches had begun, including 60 planes launched from an aircraft carrier that stayed in the area until July 18. The plane had disappeared without a single trace. The official version of her disappearance is that she crashed and sank in the 18,000-foot-deep (5,486 m) ocean. Another version claimed that the plane went down in the Marshall Islands and the pair were picked up by the Japanese, imprisoned in Saipan, and executed there. Yet another theory states that they remained castaways and lived out their lives on a Pacific island. Scores of searches have been launched over the years, including the most recent in June, 2015, when a 14-member team scoured the uninhabited South Pacific island of Nikumaroro with no results.
Q: Why did the runner quit the race against Bigfoot? A: He couldn’t face defeet
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Call Today (250) 832-3361 preparing to shoot “Glass Castle” with Woody Harrelson. Best supporting actress Alicia Vikander’s next is “Jason Bourne,” with Matt Damon, due July 29, and “The Light Between Oceans,” with Michael Fassbender, coming Sept. 2.
PHOTO: Leonardo Di Caprio Photo credit: Depositphotos.com HOLLYWOOD -- The day this year’s Oscar nominations were announced, Jan. 14, was when nominees began negotiating their next film projects. Leonardo Di Caprio, best actor for “The Revenant,” has one of its writers, Mark L. Smith, penning the screenplay for the film “Conquest” as he zeros in on a movie about Beat writer Jack Kerouac. In his speech, Di Caprio talked about climate change and is preparing to produce the film “The Sandcastle Empire,” also for Paramount, to illustrate the point. Meanwhile, he and Martin Scorsese are readying their sixth collaboration with “The Devil in the White City,” which is supposed to be even more violent than “The Revenant.”
HISTORY’S MYSTERIES (continued): • In November of 1971, Dan Cooper, having paid $18.52 for a ticket, boarded a Boeing 727 on Northwest Airlines Flight 305 in Portland, Oregon, along with 36 others, bound for Seattle. (A press communication later mislabeled the man as “D.B. Cooper.”) Shortly into the flight, Cooper passed a note to the flight attendant, advising her that his briefcase contained a bomb. Thinking he was giving her his phone number, she stuck the unopened note into her pocket. Her indifference caused Cooper to speak to her, “Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb.” The note listed a demand for $200,000 in unmarked $20 bills and four parachutes. He received his cash and parachutes when the plane landed in Seattle, he set the passengers free, and commanded the pilot to fly him to Mexico, flying “low and slow” and leaving the back door unlocked. Five Air Force fighter planes tailed the jet, but not a
Brie Larson, winner for best actress, already has completed three films: the romantic musical comedy “Basmati Blues” (with Scott Bakula, Tyne Daly and Donald Sutherland), “Free Fire” (with Sharlto Coply and Armie Hammer) and the $190 million production of “Kong: Skull Island” (with Tom Wilkinson, Tom Hiddleston, John C, Reilly, John Goodman and Samuel L. Jackson) for March 2017 release. She’s currently
In 2013, a California couple unearthed 1,400 gold coins stored in tin cans buried in their backyard. It was later revealed that $30,000 worth of similar gold coins had been stolen from the U.S. Mint in San Francisco in 1901. No one was ever convicted of the crime. Today, the coins’ estimated value is $10 million.
E S R COTG E I O L A person interested in the paranormal explanation of crop circles.
Best supporting actor winner Mark Rylance is filming director Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” with fellow supporting actor nominee Tom Hardy. He’ll work again with “Bridge of Spies” director Steven Spielberg, playing the title role of “BFG,” a giant who sets out with a 12-yearold girl to capture man-eating giants invading their human world. The Disney film is based on a book by Roald Dahl, who gave us “James and the Giant Peach,” “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Matilda” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The late Melissa Mathison, who wrote “E.T.,” wrote the screenplay for “BFG.” She was married to Harrison Ford from 1983-2004. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who has won three consecutive Oscars for “Gravity,” “Birdman” and “The Revenant,” has three films upcoming: “Knight of Cups,” with Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman, due March 4; “Last Days in the Desert,” with Ewan McGregor, out in May; and “Weightless,” with Ryan Gosling, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Alejandro Inarritu, who won back-to-back Oscars for directing “Birdman” and “The Revenant,” has not announced his next project, Meanwhile, producer Harvey Weinstein has landed sixtime “Dancing With the Stars” mirror-ball winner Derek Hough to embody the Gene Kelly role in “Singing in the Rain” (considered by critics to be the best movie musical ever made), coming to Broadway later this year. With the kind of winters they have in New York, maybe it should be called “Singing in the Snow”!
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1. Name the popular bandleader whose plane disappeared over the English Channel and was never located. 2. Who is 10 feet tall, weighs 500 lbs., and is covered in dark reddish hair. 3. Where are 60 mysterious stones each weighing 6 tons located? 4. Where did U.S. Navy Flight 19 disappear? 5. What famous actor and industrialist disappeared in November, 1970?
and Asia Minor put together,” located in the Atlantic just beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which is believed to be the Strait of Gibraltar. The location has been linked with the Greek island of Santorini, which was destroyed by a volcano around 1600 B.C. The philosopher Aristotle joked about “Plato’s ability to conjure nations out of thin air and then destroy them,” soul witnessed Cooper’s jump into the rainy but the legend of the long-lost utopia still night somewhere between Seattle and Reno, fascinates today. No trace of the city has ever Nevada. And D.B. Cooper has never been seen been found. again. Nine years later, a family vacation led to the discovery of some of D.B. Cooper’s ransom • UFO or government cover-up? In the summer of 1947, 75 miles (121 km) from Roswell, New money. An eight-year-old boy was looking for Mexico, a sheep rancher discovered some firewood near the border between Washington unusual debris in his pasture – metal sticks, and Oregon discovered $5,800 in decaying $20 chunks of plastic, foil reflectors, and heavy bills along the banks of the Columbia River. The paper-like material. It wasn’t long after the serial numbers confirmed it was the hijacker’s rancher contacted the authorities that soldiers money. No other money has ever been found, invaded his property and quickly scooped the and considering the rugged wilderness, the FBI pieces into armored trucks. While the U.S. has always maintained that Cooper could not military assured the public that it was a crashed have survived his caper. weather balloon, the pieces didn’t resemble • In 1587, Englishman John White led 120 that at all. Many insisted that the debris was a colonists to establish a settlement on Roanoke crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft, complete Island, North Carolina. Just a few weeks later, with alien passengers. The UFO supporters his daughter gave birth to the first English child claimed that the craft and its occupants had born in the New World. Shortly afterward, been captured and covered up by the military. a shortage of supplies sent White back to Fifty years later, the military issued a report England. His return to North Carolina was declaring that the mysterious wreckage was drastically delayed for three years by a naval part of a top-secret atomic espionage project war with Spain. When White finally landed called Project Mogul. The report stated that the on Roanoke in 1590, the settlers had vanished fragments really were a weather balloon, but without a trace. The buildings had collapsed one whose real purpose was to carry classified and houses were dismantled. The only clue left information. Yet there are still those who to their whereabouts was the word “Croatoan” subscribe to the UFO theory, as demonstrated carved on a fence post and “CRO” on a tree. by the hundreds of thousands of annual visitors Some believe this referred to Croatoan Island to the Roswell site. (Hatteras Island today), 50 miles (80 km) south. It was also the name of a small group of Native • In November of 1872 the ship Mary Celeste left New York harbor with Captain Briggs, his Americans in the area. Searches turned up no wife, daughter, and eight crew members, with survivors, but it may well be that the settlers a destination of Italy. A month later, the ship sought help from the tribes and were gradually was discovered floating in the Atlantic with assimilated. A 1709 publication quoted Croatans who claimed to have white ancestors, and early colonists reported encounters with gray-eyed Native Americans. • Experts have long debated whether the Lost City of Atlantis was real or fictional. Described in Plato’s dialogues written about 330 B.C., Plato described it as a powerful and advanced kingdom that fell from the gods’ favor and sank into the ocean around 9600 B.C. “in a single day and night of misfortune.” Supposedly, the kingdom was on an island larger than “Libya
no one aboard. The captain’s log and the life boat were missing; otherwise, the undamaged ship was intact. None of the travelers were ever seen again. The ship had been renamed after
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numerous other mishaps had befallen the craft, including three captains dying aboard the ship and the breakout of supposedly accidental fires. UNUSUAL ANIMALS:
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An Animal Planet poll revealed that vampire . bats are the third-most feared animal in the world. Wolves and gorillas are the only ones ahead. Some of history’s mysteries include crimes that were never solved. Tidbits checks out some unsolved The bumblebee bat, native to Thailand, is the mysteries that have not been explained. world’s smallest mammal, only about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) long, and weighing less than • There’s been no sign of Teamsters’ Union president Jimmy Hoffa since July 30, 1975. That’s the day he a penny. The largest bat is the Giant Golden told his wife he was meeting two men (reportedly Crowned Flying Fox that lives on islands in Mafia leaders) at Detroit’s Red Fox Restaurant for the South Pacific. This species weighs about lunch. Hoffa had been involved with organized 3 lbs. (1.3 kg) and has a wingspan of up to 6 crime for many years during his union work. He feet (1.8 m). had been convicted of attempted bribery of a Many people associate bats with rabies, but grand juror and fraud, and was sentenced to eight in the U.S., an average of only two people years, of which he served less than five. Shortly die per year from rabies from a bat. Bats after his release from prison, he received a $1.7 can also spread histoplasmosis, or “cave million lump sum pension from the Teamsters. disease,” a fungus found in bat droppings. On the day of his disappearance, bystanders claim Those who breathe in the infected spores they saw Hoffa taken away in the back seat of a can experience chills, muscle and joint pain, car. The mobsters denied having any scheduled chest discomfort, and a rash. meeting with Hoffa. Although several individuals have claimed responsibility for Hoffa’s death, no Bat dung, called guano, is one of the richest human remains have ever been found and the fertilizers available, with high levels of case remains open. One theory is that his body phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. was buried under New Jersey’s Meadowlands During the U.S. Civil War, guano was used to stadium. Another is that it is in a Michigan gravel make gunpowder. pit. Most theories involve his body being encased As nocturnal animals, bats sleep during the in cement. day, hanging upside down from trees or from the roofs of caves, gripping with their sharp • Was Massachusetts Sunday School teacher Lizzie Borden really an ax murderer? Although she claws. On the hunt at night, they might fly 30 was acquitted of the murders of her father and miles (48 km) to locate food, which they can stepmother, since 1892, she has remained the locate in total darkness. They find insects prime suspect, and no one else was ever charged. by emitting high-pitched sounds, 10 to 20 A hatchet was discovered in the basement of the beeps per second and listening for echoes. family home, but the handle was broken off and The bat has a very long tongue for feeding, the blade was clean. Lizzie’s father was extremely which it wraps around its rib cage when not wealthy (almost $10 million in today’s money) in use. While some mammals might glide, the bat is the only mammal capable of continued flight. The wing membranes make up about 95% of the bat’s body surface area. Many bats have a long life span, including the brown bat that can live nearly 40 years.
WHODUNIT?
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BATS
Tidbits has bats in the belfry! We’re taking the time this week to examine this large group of nocturnal mammals. • There are more than 1,200 species of bats, and they comprise nearly a quarter of all mammal species on earth. More than half of all bats in the • U.S. are either endangered or their population is declining. • Although to many, bats seem scary and creepy, they are vital to the ecosystem in controlling pests and participating in pollination. Seventy percent of bats consume insects, contributing to a large part of natural pest control. One brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in one hour! • Nearly 30% of the other species have a diet of various fruits. A very small percentage dine on fish, mice, and frogs. • There are only three species of what we call vampire bats, those that feed on the blood of • animals, and all of those are native only to Latin America. Many of us fear these blood drinkers, but they can be very beneficial to humans. Their saliva contains an enzyme that dissolves blood clots, which can be used to treat stroke victims.
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• A colony of bats usually varies in size from 100 to 1,000 bats. The world’s largest known bat colony in the world is in Texas’ Bracken Bat Cave, where more than 20 million bats live. When groups exit the cave, the mass is so large, it resembles a gigantic storm on radar.
1. Who is Yeti? 2. Where does Nessie supposedly live?
OVER 75 DISPLAYS!
VERNON SPRING HOMESHOW 2016
There’s never been a better time to...Renovate, Landscape, Decorate! Saturday - April 23 (10am - 5pm) • Sunday - April 24 (10am - 4pm) VERNON CURLING CLUB • www.bchomeshows.com
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including a mentally disturbed surgeon, a barber, a butcher, a bootmaker, and a poet. In 1992, the diary of a Liverpool cotton merchant named James Maybrick was discovered, containing descriptions of the crime only the killer could have known. However, the man who had uncovered the diary admitted to its forgery three years later.
A man in a movie theater notices what looks like a bat sitting next to him. “Are you a bat?” asked the man, surprised. “Yes.” “What are you doing at the movies?” The bat replied, “Well, I liked the book.”
and was very unpopular, having made many enemies through shady business dealings. However, Lizzie had frequently exhibited signs of mental instability and hostility toward her stepmother. • Although Bruno Hauptmann was executed in 1936 for the kidnapping and murder of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh, there are many who believed Hauptmann was framed for the crime. He denied all accusations and claimed he had been beaten by the police. The 20-monthold child was taken from his bed in March of 1932 and a massive investigation was launched within less than an hour. A ransom note asking for $50,000 was found in the nursery, but after it was paid, the location given as to where the baby could be found proved false. Seventy-two days later, the body was found in the woods near the Lindbergh house. Money with serial numbers matching the ransom was found in the home of Hauptmann, who claimed he was keeping it for a friend, who had since died. He maintained his innocence to the end, and his final words included the statement, “I protest my innocence of the crime for which I was convicted.” Trial discrepancies and new evidence discovered in recent years have raised doubts about Hauptmann’s guilt. • More than 125 years after five London women were murdered in a killing spree, Jack the Ripper remains a mystery. Over 100 suspects have been named as the possible serial killer,
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South Seas Chicken Over Rice Dinner for two and no leftovers!
Cat Tears Up Furniture * In savory recipes (think cream-based soups) that call for heavy cream, try this amazing, healthy substitute from “Cooking Light”: Cook 1/2 cup brown rice in 2 cups chicken stock for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Blend with 1 cup low-fat milk in a blender until smooth and creamy. A savings of over 700 calories and almost 90 grams of fat per cup! * “Got leftover cake? Freeze it! At my daughter’s birthday party we had a really delicious cake, but almost half of it went uneaten. It seemed a shame to throw it away and too gluttonous to eat it all before it spoiled, so we decided to freeze it in slices. It froze perfectly, icing and all, and we were able to enjoy it several more times over the following month.” -Amy in Florida * If your toilet is slow to flush but does not appear to be stopped up, check the water valves underneath the rim of the toilet. Clear any built-up mineral deposits with a straightened out paperclip. This allows the water to flush the bowl more effectively. * Early spring is a great time for garden clean-up chores. Remove dead or damaged limbs on trees and shrubs. Remove suckers at the base of plants. Spruce up your garden beds to get them ready for annuals. * “To make gluing easier when crafting, I pour an entire bottle of white school glue into a glass mason jar with lid. I use paintbrushes to do my paper crafts, as the glue spreads well with a brush. If I am unable to use a brush, I use a straw to capture glue and “drop” it on other projects. The straw makes it easier to get the glue into cracks or small spots as necessary. Just put a straw down in the glue, cover the open end with your finger, remove it from the jar and position the glue end of the straw where it needs to go, then remove your finger.” -- J. in Maryland
DEAR PAW’S CORNER: We adopted a friend’s cat sight unseen. “Tara” is a beautiful young tiger-striped cat, but she claws at every furniture leg in the house. My sofa, for example, is pretty much ruined. How can I get this behavior to stop? -Patricia, via email DEAR PATRICIA: Almost all cats claw at handy chair legs, and often prefer the corners of sofas -- the more expensive, the better, it seems. However, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your furniture for a friend’s cat. There are a few things you can do to minimize the scratching. I can’t guarantee that it will go away, but you should be able to save future sofas from the same fate. First, protect your furniture legs (specifically the furniture that Tara is targeting the most) by wrapping thick cloth or even multiple layers of newspaper around them, and taping in place with masking tape. (Duct tape could leave behind residue.) To discourage Tara from clawing at the protective layer, cover it with plastic wrap or tape -- when she sinks her claws into the tape, the uncomfortable sensation will stop the clawing. Next, give Tara some things that she CAN claw, and that she can spend her time with: multiple scratching posts and toys. Third, spent more time with Tara, playing, petting or just being in the same room. Help her work off extra energy and assure her that despite the change in homes, she has nothing to worry about -- and much of the anxiety that may be behind her obsessive clawing may ease. If these steps don’t reduce the amount of furniture clawing going on, talk to Tara’s vet about medication that could ease her anxiety.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
8 ounces skinned and boned uncooked chicken breast, cut into 12 pieces 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup unsweetened orange juice 1 tablespoon orange marmalade spreadable fruit 1 1/2 cups frozen sliced carrots, thawed 2 teaspoons I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light Margarine 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary 1 cup hot cooked rice 1. In a large skillet sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray, brown chicken and onion for 5 minutes on each side. Stir in orange juice, spreadable fruit, carrots, margarine and rosemary. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken and carrots are tender, stirring often. 2. For each serving, place 1/2 cup rice on a plate and spoon about 1 cup chicken mixture over top. Serves 2. HINTS: 1) Thaw carrots by placing in a colander and rinsing under hot water for one minute. 2) Usually 2/3 cup uncooked instant rice cooks to about 1 cup. * Each serving equals: 301 calories, 5g fat, 26g protein, 38g carb., 161mg sodium, 66mg calcium, 4g fiber; Diabetic Exchanges: 3 Meat, 2 Vegetable, 1 Starch, 1 Fruit, 1/2 Fat; Carb Choices: 2 1/2.
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“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.” -Amelia Earhart
V.J.H. Auxiliary Gift Shop (at the hospital) “Check out our Craft Section” We have Colouring Books/Crayons in carry bags, Fairy Tutus and Head rings Baby bibs and Burp Clothes, Receiving Blankets and Quilts. Hanging Tea Towels, Placemats and Aprons, Scarves and Chemo Hats, Bookmarks. All made by Auxiliary members.
Kodak inkjet 3 in 1 printer. 4 yrs old. Black and white and color cartridges (one month old). Works fine. $20 (250) 549-1205 (Vernon)
Wanted: Purchasing old Canadian & American coin collections & accumulations. Old gold & sterling! Private, Prompt & confidential. 250-548-3670 (Shuswap)
Smartview Exteriors Providing Quality Service Since 2005 End of April Special 20% Off Smart Energy Vinyl Windows and Doors Government Grants Available Free Estimates Call Stan 250-317-4437 smartviewexteriors.ca
Wish to lease an executive 3 bed room home in Vernon or Coldstream area for 2 to 4 years by retired couple who just sold the family farm. Nondrinkers Non-smokers No pets – possession date May or June (250) 542-1984
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FUNDRAISER FOR MEEKA GARAGE / BAKE SALE SATURDAY APRIL 2nd 900 - 200 11700 Coldstream Creek ROAD WE WILL ACCEPT EMPTIES and WE HAVE A BIT OF EVERYTHING THANK YOU
Double VM Bible Camp “Fund Raiser”
- Roast Beef Dinner Live Auction & Dessert Auction Lumby Community Hall (2250 Shields Ave.) Friday, April 8, 2016 @ 6:00 PM $18. Door Prizes, Toonie Toss & Games
Scooter for Seniors. In new condition. Asking $1000. Ergonomic Excercise Bike. Barely used. Excelllent condition. $300. Call for more details. (250) 832-2855 (Salmon Arm)
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Glenn Miller Sasquatch (Big Foot) Stonehenge, England The Bermuda Triangle Howard Hughes
1. The Abominable Snowman 2. In the Scottish Highland’s deep freshwater Loch Ness
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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CEREOLOGIST
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