October 31 - November 13, 2017
The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read®
Issue 00330
• Armstrong • Cherryville • Coldstream • Fintry Please • Lavington Lumby454 • Spallumcheen • Vernon • www.tidbitsvancouver.com Westside Rd • Bold Medias Publishing For Advertising Call•(604) - 1387
TIDBITS® PLAYS THE GAME OF
MONOPOLY
by Kathy Wolfe Dust off your Monopoly board and join in a game on November 5, designated as Play Monopoly Day. In honor of this commemoration, Tidbits passes th ing Sept 6 Burger side choice and beer $14 $12 withalong pop 11am startabout in Restaurant am in Pub to close both places. Sept Burger will be a in hous the details this famous 11:30 board game. • The story was long told that the game of Monopoly had its origins as the innovation of an out-of-work heating contractor named Charles Darrow in 1932. But the history dates back nearly 30 years before that. Elizabeth Magie was an American woman who worked as a stenographer and secretary. Magie was strongly opposed to the idea of monopolies, and thus invented “The Landlord’s Game” in protest against the big monopolists of her era, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and as a tool to educate folks on the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies. • Magie applied for a patent for her game in 1903 and began independently manufacturing it in 1906. As she continued developing the game, adding cardboard houses and increasing rents, she re-patented The Landlord’s Game in 1923. • In 1932, Charles Darrow and his wife played Magie’s game several times at the home of friends, and as the Darrows were leaving, Charles asked his host for a written set of the rules. • Charles soon came up with his own game, basing the board on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He approached Parker Brothers about producing the game and was rejected. As Magie had, Darrow manufactured his new game independently, and experienced wild
Q: What did the 1930s Parker Bros artist say when asked to design the board for the new Monopoly game? A: “Sure, I’ll give it a Go.”
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“I Love that little paper!” success during the Christmas season of 1934 at a Philadelphia department store, with a selling price of $2. When Parker Brothers observed the sales performance of Monopoly, they changed their mind and purchased the game’s copyrights from Darrow, along with granting him royalties. Parker Brothers introduced the game of Monopoly on November 5, 1935. Darrow was soon a millionaire, and gave up his heating contracting career, pursuing something he really loved – growing hothouse orchids. As the popularity of Monopoly grew and it became a nationwide craze, 70-year-old Elizabeth Magie stepped forward, angered at the millions Darrow was earning. She conducted interviews, holding her own game board up to photographers’ cameras to prove she was the original inventor. Parker Brothers agreed to buy the rights to her patent, along with two other games she had created, for a reported $500 and no royalties. She soon faded into obscurity, and died a widow in 1948. Less than a year after Parker Brothers released Monopoly, the company was making 35,000 copies of the game per week. In 1936, the game was licensed for sale outside the United States. The Monopoly board contains 22 streets, divided into eight color groups containing two or three streets. As players move around the board, they purchase property, varying from $60 to $400 in price. The goal is to drive the other players into bankruptcy.
• A player must own all of a color group in order to build houses or hotels. Each game contains 32 houses and 12 hotels. • There are four railroads on the game board – Short Line, Pennsylvania, B&O, and Reading. The Short Line refers to the Shore Fast Line, which was a streetcar line that served Atlantic City. The Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads also served the City. The B&O, which stands for Baltimore and Ohio, did not serve this coastal beach city. Players collect $25 if they own one railroad, $50 for two, $100 for three, and $200 for all four. • Hasbro acquired Parker Brothers, including Monopoly, in 1991. Hasbro credits Charles Darrow as the game’s inventor • There were 10 original metal token playing pieces in the original game – an iron, lantern, racecar, purse, thimble, shoe, top hat, battleship, cannon, and a rocking horse. Of those, the racecar, top hat, and battleship remain. The Scottie dog, horse and rider, and wheelbarrow were added in 1942, and the rocking horse, lantern, and purse were retired. The iron was eliminated in 2013, and replaced by the cat. • In early 2017, Hasbro put the tokens up for an online vote to determine which pieces were no longer popular. More than 4.3 million people participated in the vote, resulting in the elimination of the thimble, the shoe, and the wheelbarrow. The long-time three were replaced by a penguin, a Tyrannosaurus, and a rubber duck. • In 2006, Hasbro released a special “Here and Now” Monopoly edition, designed to bring the game into the present. The game included playing pieces of McDonald’s fries, a Starbucks coffee cup, a New Balance sneaker, and a
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* “I have a great idea for cleaning skylights. Attach an old T-shirt to the broom end of a longhandled broom, then just mist with a cleaner. You can hold it up and scrub gently. The T-shirt material makes a great scrubber.” -- C.L. in Alabama * “In my house, cleaning up is a big issue. I have a large basket in the garage that is designated Toy Time Out. I ask the kids to pick something up and give them a time limit. If I have to ask again, the item goes into time out for a day. I typically get a good response to my requests.” -- Mom in Maryland * Thanksgiving Tip: “If you have one person responsible for putting prep dishes and pots and pans in the dishwasher while you are preparing the bird and side dishes for the table, you will be halfway done with dishes by the time the meal is over.” -- M.A. in Washington * “I buy extra supplies for Thanksgiving dinner as items go on sale. We always make extralarge portions of our side dishes, and put in an extra turkey while we’re eating! Freeze meals in individual containers for quick dinners throughout the busy weeks from Turkey Day to Christmas Day. Potatoes and vegetable casseroles freeze well, and they taste better than microwave dinners from the grocery store.” -- E.S. in Oregon * For a tailgating favorite, make this: Prepare a batch of macaroni and cheese, then add an egg and stir in. Butter the wells of a muffin tin, and fill with the mac and cheese. Top with a bit of shredded cheddar and bake for 20 minutes at 400 F. You can even make them super portable by using muffin liners. The gang loves these -- no fork necessary! Send your tips to Now Here’s a Tip, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803. (c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
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Modern décor with downtown living at the door A community of friends and neighbours Freedom to travel and explore new opportuni es Safe, secure Life Lease nancial investment
UNUSUAL PLANTS:
STRANGLER FIGS
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Toyota Prius. The railroads were replaced with airports, and other real estate from across the country, including Times Square and the White House, was exchanged for the Atlantic City properties. Passing Go netted $2 million instead of the original $200. More recently, in 2016, Hasbro introduced a cashless version called Monopoly Ultimate Banking, which eliminates paper money and uses debit cards and an electronic banking unit that keeps track of everyone’s funds. Players scan their bank card to buy properties in this new special edition, and the amount is deducted from total available funds. The card is also scanned to pay rent when a player lands on property owned by an opponent. One of the yellow properties, Marvin Gardens, is actually a misspelling of the actual name. The correct spelling is Marven Gardens, referring to a housing development in Margate City, located two miles (3 km) south of Atlantic City. It’s the board’s only property that is not located within Atlantic City. In 1995, Parker Brothers/ Hasbro finally acknowledged the misspelling, and apologized to the area’s residents. Over the years, many players have developed their own “house rules,” rules that have been made up by players. A well-known example is that of the “Free Parking” space jackpot. All of the money collected from Income and Luxury taxes, and Chance and Community Chest is placed in the center of the board rather than in the bank. When a player lands on Free Parking, they take the money. There is no such official rule in the instructions. But then, according to a Hasbro poll, 68% of Monopoly players have never read the official rules all the way through. According to Hasbro, the longest game of Monopoly played lasted 1,680 hours (70 days). From its humble beginnings in 1935, Monopoly has expanded to 114 countries and 47 languages. More than a billion people have played it, with more than 275 million Monopoly games sold.
Because November 1 - 7 is National Fig Week, Tidbits is focusing on the very unusual strangler fig. • The ficus aurea, or strangler fig is also known as the golden fig or banyan tree, a plant native to the southern Florida Everglades and the West Indies. The strangler is a parasite that begins its life as a tiny, sticky seed that lodges in the cracks and crevices in the bark of a host tree, deposited there by a bird, bat, or monkey. Oddly enough, the seeds will not germinate without passing through an animal’s digestive tract. • As it grows, the plant’s dangling roots grip its host, and its sprawling branches take in nutrients and water from the host tree. The favorite host is the cabbage palm tree, also known as the Sabal palmetto, the official state tree of both Florida and South Carolina. • As the large, dark green, leathery oval-shaped leaves of the strangler fig continue to mature, they block out the light to its host. The roots are fast-growing and aggressive. Once they reach the ground, they develop their own underground root system, encircling the host tree, but independent of the host. As the roots grow thicker into an intricate latticework, they squeeze the trunk of the host, completely robbing it of nutrients, making it impossible for sap to flow, resulting in its death. • A nearly complete sheath develops around the host, suffocating it, leaving a giant strangler fig with a hollow core and a “trunk” of a massive cylinder of roots. All that remains of the host is that hollow center. The strangler fig can reach a height of 70 feet (21.3 m) with a wide spreading crown. It may take several decades for the fig to completely kill the host tree. • As destructive as the strangler fig may seem to be, it is actually quite important to the ecology of tropical forests. The large hollow center provides shelter and breeding sites for bats, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Several times a year, the tree bears small golden yellow figs, about 1/3-inch (.76 cm) in diameter providing a sweet and juicy treat for parrots, toucans, hornbills, monkeys, gibbons, and bats. During certain seasons, the figs are
Paddle Wheel Hall Coffee House Friday, November 3rd, 7:00 pm Doors 6:30 pm 7813 Okanagan Landing Road, Vernon Admission $4
Join us for an Evening of Music & Fun! Musicians Call 250-558-4233 4233 for a playing time
Refreshments Available
OKANAGAN LANDING & DISTRICT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
For more information please call 250-558-4233 www.okanaganlanding.com
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the only source of food, and can comprise up to 70% of the diets of the rainforest animals. The trees flower almost continuously. • The strangler fig is a member of the mulberry family. Stranglers are far from the only figs in the rainforest ecosystem. There are nearly 1,000 different species of Ficus, found in every rainforest in the world. In Spanish, stranglers are called matapalo, which translates “killer tree.” • Every species of fig has its own exclusive species of tiny pollinating wasp, each about 2 mm long,
which enters the plant through an opening at the bottom of the fruit. It seems that each unique and specialized wasp never gets into the wrong fig! • The Hindus regard the banyan tree, or Ficus religiosa as a sacred plant, because they believe that Buddha once meditated beneath one. • One Ficus tree in India, The Great Banyan, has over 1,000 roots and covers an area of 4.675 acres. It’s about 250 years old, and is believed to be the largest Ficus tree in the world.
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LIPSTICK
Chili Rice Soup Is meat taking a hit on your grocery-store budget? Give this meatless chili a try. It has so much flavor, you won’t miss the meat. 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper 1 (14.5-ounce) can Hunt’s Tomatoes Diced in Sauce 2 cups reduced-sodium tomato juice 1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic 1 1/2 teaspoons chili seasoning 1 cup cooked rice 3 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) shredded Kraft 2 Percent Milk Cheddar cheese 1. In a large saucepan sprayed with olive oil-flavored cooking spray, saute onion and green pepper until tender. Add diced tomatoes, tomato juice, kidney beans, garlic and chili seasoning. Mix well to combine. 2. Bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add rice. Mix well to combine. Continue simmering for 15 minutes. 3. When serving, evenly sprinkle Cheddar cheese over top of bowls. Serves 6 (scant 1 cup). TIP: Usually, 2/3 cup uncooked instant or 1/2 cup regular rice cooks to about 1 cup.
* Each serving equals: 137 calories, 1g fat, 5g protein, 27g carbs, 71mg sodium, 39mg calcium, 5g fiber; Diabetic Exchanges: 1 Protein, 1 Vegetable, 1/2 Starch; Carb Choices: 1 1/2. (c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
Since November 11 is Red Lipstick Day, Tidbits is taking this opportunity to look up the facts on one of our favorite cosmetics. • We’ve been coloring our lips since prehistoric times, when women used readily available natural resources, such as crushed berries and the juice of fruits and plants. Around 2600 BC, Sumerian Queen Shub-ad blended white lead and crushed red rocks to paint her lips. The fact that it was poisonous didn’t seem to deter her. Five thousand years ago, women in Mesopotamia ground precious gems into dust and applied it to their lips and eyelids. • Ancient Egyptians made their lipstick out of dye extracted from seaweed, along with iodine and bromine mannite, which produced a deep purple shade. Unfortunately, the bromine was a dangerous toxin which frequently led to death, resulting in the coining of the term the “kiss of death.” This steered the Egyptians to a new formula of red carmine dye from cochineal insects, beetles, and ants, along with red ochre, a natural earth pigment containing iron. • Cleopatra of Egypt used lipstick regularly and especially favored red lipstick made of beeswax, crushed ants or carmine, with fish scales added for shine. The concoction not only colored her lips, it also protected them from the harsh Egyptian sun and desert wind. • During the 1500s, English Queen Elizabeth I popularized the look of a stark white face and bright red lips. At a time when pastors were condemning lip painting as the “devil’s work,” the Queen regularly painted her lips with crushed insects, tree sap, egg white, and fig milk. • First lady Martha Washington mixed beeswax, lard, sugar, almond oil, ground raisins, extract from the alkanet plant, and balsam to create her cherry-colored lips. • Paris perfumers introduced the first modern lipstick in 1884, made of deer tallow, castor oil, and beeswax, and wrapped in silk paper and applied with a brush. The first metal cylinder containers were introduced in 1915, but the familiar swivel-up tube didn’t hit the stores until 1923, patented by Nashville inventor James Mason, Jr. • Film stars such as Greto Garbo, Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe boosted the popularity of red lipstick. By the 1930s, Vogue magazine declared that lipstick was “the most important cosmetic for women.” During World War II, lipstick colors became political, such as the popular Victory Red shade. • New Jersey chemist Hazel Bishop created the first long-lasting, non-smearing lipstick in her kitchen and it hit the stores in 1950, immediately becoming all the rage. The first flavored lipstick debuted in 1973, manufactured by Bonne Bell and dubbed “Lip Smackers.” • Today’s lipsticks contain a variety of ingredients, including beeswax, oil, emollients, Vitamin E, collagen, amino acids, aloe vera, and sunscreen. Fish scales are still an ingredient, which provide a shiny film that doesn’t smear easily. • Ninety percent of women say wearing lipstick makes them feel better, and the average woman will use about 9 lbs. (4 kg) of lipstick in her lifetime. A poll shows that 40% of women own more than 20 tubes of lipstick. The average female applies lipstick anywhere from two to 14 times a day, and it’s estimated that most ingest up to 87 mg of lipstick every day, about four lbs. (1.8 kg) over the average lifetime. Lipstick is the most commonly shoplifted item.
Rambunctious Puppy Is Out of Control DEAR PAW’S CORNER: I recently adopted a whippy little mutt who has a ton of energy. “Curtis” will zoom around the house at light speed, sometimes running into furniture and knocking things over. He will not listen to me at all. How can I get him to obey and to calm down? -- Exhausted “Puppy Mom” in Denver DEAR PUPPY MOM: It sounds like Curtis needs more exercise time, preferably outdoors with plenty of space to zoom around. If you have a backyard with a fence, that’s a great place to let him run -- supervised, of course. If you don’t have a yard, scout out a fenced-in area where you can take him regularly -- but not a dog park, not yet. Curtis first needs to learn to come when you call. He needs to learn how to sit and stay. These three basic commands are the foundation of a dog’s training. Once you’ve let him run in an open space for several minutes and he’s spent that initial burst of energy, call Curtis to you. Use a firm, confident voice. Don’t plead. Don’t get angry. Don’t change your tone of voice. He may not respond right away; just call again. When he does come, give him praise (and a little treat). Do this every day until he responds each time you call. In fact, he may eventually spend less time romping around and come to hang out with you, the nice lady with the treats. Once he obeys this first command, begin teaching him “sit” and “stay.” There are plenty of websites with instructions on all three commands -- some off leash, some on -- such as Nylabone’s training tips. Try out different methods, and go with what works best for Curtis and you. Send your questions, comments and tips to ask@pawscorner.com. (c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
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by Samantha Weaver * It was 20th-century American journalist, editor and writing teacher Brenda Ueland who made the following sage observation: “Inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.” * If you heard the word “pantophobia,” you might (logically) assume that it means a fear of pants. You’d be only partially correct, however; those who suffer from pantophobia are, presumably, afraid of pants -- but that’s just because they’re afraid of everything. * You might be surprised to learn that the first Model T Fords weren’t black -- they were green with red stripes. * If you’re thinking of starting a business and want to get up and running right away, there’s a company ready to help you get started. Novanym, a branding firm based in Farnborough, England, can provide you with a unique name and its matching .com domain -- even your choice of three logos for your fledgling venture. For less than $700 you can brand your company as Aquinique, Spiranti or Fenmarch. Have a more generous budget? Try Mupkin, Cubexis or Zeqon, all in the $5,000 range. If you really want to go all-out -- and are in the right industry -- try Motaway for $25,727, or even InvestmentEtc, which is going for nearly $40,000. * You might be surprised to learn that if you add up all the deaths that are caused worldwide by tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS, the total would be less than a third of those attributable to pollution, which accounts for 16 percent of all global deaths. Thought for the Day: “Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars.” -Gwendolyn Brooks
Build a Shaklee business online while keeping your present job, using your computer and phone. Go to www.naturalfreedom.net to learn more.
BOOK WAREHOUSE #35, Alpine Centre, 100 Kal Lake Road OPEN on WEDNESDAYS, THURSDAYS and SATURDAYS 9 AM TO 1 PM Quality used books & more, most priced $1 or less Supporting Special Olympics, Vernon & other local charities Phone 250-938-9791 for more info. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
• APPLES • Empire & Jonagold $0.50/lb About 380’ of 4’ page wire PLUS 60 treated unused 6’, 8’ & 10’ fence posts $0.60/ft obo 250-503-0781 (Vernon)
Transformation of the VJH Gift Shop is complete, come in and check out our reorganized space and new displays. Fall items are in full stock with Christmas items coming soon.
SPECIALITY SHARPENING All your sharpening needs, and for your convenience, drop off and pickup at Vernon’s Water Store. 180, 4400 - 32 St (250)308-4866
BUYING GUNS OLD TIME SENIOR CITIZEN, WITH LIFE-TIME HOBBY OF SHOOTING, WILL PAY CASH FOR YOUR GUNS, INCLUDING ESTATES 250-832-2982 (Salmon Arm)
(c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
Mark your calendar for two upcoming community events. November 25th tickets are on sale for the 11th Annual Business Awards Gala and get ready to kick off the Holiday season with the Lumby Christmas Light Up December 3rd. Looking for more details contact the Chamber office. 250.547.2300 or email lumbychamber@shaw.ca.
Cheese… It’s a Natural evening “Spirited Tasting” event on Nov 4th. Get your tickets today! $25 in advance, $35 at the door. Limited seating. Call 250-546-8155
Get in the spirit and join us for our 27th Annual Chamber Christmas Luncheon presented by Okanagan Restoration Services. Enjoy a hot turkey lunch, networking, a visit from Santa and a huge amount door prizes generously donated by our local businesses! Friday Dec 8th 11:30 – 1:30. Register online at vernonchamber.ca or call Dianne at 250-545-0771.
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While in her 20s, “The Landlord’s Game” inventor Elizabeth Magie also invented a device that enabled paper to pass through typewriterrollers more easily.
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MEDITERRANEAN
1. $50 2. $2,000 3. $1,500 4. A ring 5. $20,580
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1. The Fast-Dealing Property Trading Game 2. North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Pacific Avenues
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