Tidbits of Grand Forks - September 29, 2022

By Kathy Wolfe

Here is Tidbits’ tribute to guys from various walks of life named Jim!

• In 1912, Oklahoma-born Jim Thorpe became the first Native American to win Olympic gold medals, victorious in the pentathlon and de cathlon in Stockholm, Sweden. The King of Sweden called him the greatest athlete in the world. Yet within months, Thorpe’s medals and titles were revoked when it was discov ered he had been paid for playing two seasons of minor league baseball, violating the rules of amateur status. The following year, he signed to play major league baseball with the New York Giants, the first of four MLB teams in his six-year career. Three years into his baseball career, this phenomenal athlete began playing pro football at the same time. Thorpe played football for 13 years, retiring at age 41. His next move was a Hollywood acting career, appearing in more than 60 films from 1931 to 1950. In 1951, Thorpe’s life was immortalized in the movie “Jim Thorpe – All-American,” with Burt Lancaster in the role of the famous athlete. Thirty years after his death in 1953, the International Olympic Committee restored Thorpe’s Olympic titles and medals. In 1986, professional athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics.

What Jim began his role as “Gomer Pyle” in 1960?

What Jim was a founder of the group Led Zeppelin in 1968?

Name the musician who re corded the album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean. This famous Jim died defending the Alamo, and has a hunting knife named after him. Who is he?

Chuck Woolery was the origi nal host of which TV game show?

What was the name of the man wearing the yellow hat in the “Curious George” book series? What was the location of the first White Castle restaurant? What’s the name of the newspaper where Clark Kent works? On average, cats sleep how many hours a day?

GUYS NAMED JIM (continued):

• When you hear the name Jimmy Dean, maybe your first thought is sausage, but there was much more to this man than breakfast sandwiches! Dean was first a country singer and radio and television host, beginning with his first hit “Bum ming Around” in 1953. His 1954 radio program launched the careers of Patsy Cline and Roy Clark. Dean was a TV personality on CBS by 1957 and had a blockbuster hit “Big Bad John” in 1961, #1 on the Billboard charts, a million-co py gold record, and a Grammy Award winner. A TV variety series, “The Jimmy Dean Show,” was next, running from 1963 to 1966. He had a role in TV’s “Daniel Boone” series, and even a role in a James Bond movie opposite Sean Connery. He founded his sausage company in 1969. When he died in 2010, he was entombed in a 9-foot-tall piano-shaped mausoleum overlooking the James River on his Virginia estate.

• Jimmy Dean helped another famous Jim boost his career, when he regularly featured one of his creations on “The Jimmy Dean Show.” Puppe teer Jim Henson brought his piano-playing dog, Rowlf, to the program in 1963. In 1969, PBS ap proached Henson to be part of their new groundbreaking children’s educational show, “Sesame Street.” He became nationally famous with his puppet characters Kermit the Frog, Bert and Er nie, Miss Piggy, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Mon ster, and Big Bird. Henson called them “muppets,” a combination of the words “marionette” and puppets.” “The Muppet Show” premiered in 1976 and ran for five seasons. A full-length film “The Great Muppet Caper” was next in 1981. In 1984, “Muppet Babies” debuted, a seven-year run for Henson. His successful career, including 4 Emmy Awards, was cut short in 1990, when he died at age 53 from complications of bacterial pneumonia.

F: Running back Jim Brown never missed a game during his NFL career.

F: Jim Brown never won an NFL Championship.

many MLB teams did Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer play for?

Members of Jimmy Buffett’s fan club are known as “Parrotheads,” while younger fans are called “parakeets” or “keets.”

The first Parrothead club was founded in Atlanta in 1989. The lyrics of Buffett’s 1979 song “Fins” were re-written and the song is played at Miami Dolphins home games.

GUYS NAMED JIM

• Remember the song “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown?” It was written and recorded by Pennsylvania musi cian Jim Croce and hit #1 on the Billboard charts in July, 1973. After several unsuccessful studio al bums and numerous singles, Croce’s breakthrough came in 1972 with “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” and “Time in a Bottle.” The day before his fifth album containing “I Got a Name” was to be released, at the height of his career, Croce was killed in a plane crash, perishing at age 30.

• Jim Croce was friend and mentor to another Jim, one who rocketed to fame with “Margaritaville” and “Come Monday.” With the death of Croce, his record company reached out to Jimmy Buffett to help fill the space. Buffett’s first Top 40 hit, “Come Monday” was in 1974. “Margaritaville” spent 22 weeks on the charts in 1977, and was the inspiration for the singer’s chain of restaurants, followed up with a second chain, Cheeseburger in Paradise. Buffett is also a “New York Times” Best-Selling author, with at least six books, in addition to two children’s books co-written with his daughter. Also an avid baseball fan, Buffett has been partowner of two minor-league teams. AnheuserBusch launched Buffet’s beer label, LandShark Lager,” in 2006. His music, tours, businesses, and writing have all contributed to his estimated net worth of $600 million.

• Jimi Hendrix and his band Gypsy Sun and Rain bows closed out the Woodstock Music & Art Fair on August 18, 1969, the final musician to perform during the four-day concert. He took the stage at 8:30 Monday morning due to delays cause by rain. Held in New York state on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm, the event was attended by 400,000 people. Woodstock was the scene of Hendrix’s now-famous rendition of the U.S. national anthem. In 1969, Hendrix was the world’s highest-paid rock musician. In September of 1970, he was dead at age 27.

Joe Martin

GUYS NAMED JIM

• “Hey, Vern, It’s Ernest!” Actor Jim Varney first shouted that phrase in 1987 when “Ernest Goes to Camp” was released. Varney played the role of hillbilly Ernest P. Worrell in 9 movies, including “Ernest Saves Christmas,” Ernest Goes to Jail,” and “Ernest in the Army.” He won an Emmy Award for his children’s series, which aired in 1988, fea turing conversations with his unseen friend Vern. In the midst of all the slapstick comedy, Varney had a love of Shakespeare and desired to perform Hamlet, but had been typecast in the goofy Ernest role. He frequently wore disguises so that fans wouldn’t recognize him. Varney did go on to star in the big-screen version of “The Beverly Hillbil lies” and voiced Slinky Dog in the “Toy Story” franchise. As a lifetime chain smoker, Varney suc cumbed to lung cancer at age 50.

• Where is Jimmy Hoffa? That was the big question in 1975 when the labor union leader and activ ist disappeared from the parking lot of a Detroit restaurant. Well-known as being involved with organized crime, the Teamster leader had been convicted of jury tampering, attempted bribery, conspiracy, and mail and wire fraud. He served less than five years of his 13-year sentence be fore being released from prison in 1971. In July, 1975, Hoffa was scheduled to meet with Mafia kingpins to settle their feuds and develop a “peace agreement.” He was never seen alive again. Decades of searching various Michigan sites by FBI agents turned up nothing. One widely-held theory was that Hoffa was buried under the new Giants’ Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey, which was under construction at the time of his disappear ance. As recently as 2020, the search was back on in a 53-acre New Jersey landfill with no definitive results. It’s believed among experts that he was cremated in 1975 by his assassins. No one has ever been charged.

by Lucie Winbourne

• Because we know you've always secretly won dered, that depression on the flexure of your arm is called a chelidon.

• In 1992, Saab created a prototype vehicle called Prometheus that featured a joystick in place of a steering wheel. While it increased safety and space, it also proved more tiring and challenging to use, and the car never made it to production.

• A one-eyed yellowtail rockfish at the Vancouver Aquarium was given a prosthetic eye by the fa cility's head veterinarian after being bullied by its fellow fish on its blind side.

• Here's an incentive to keep up your hygiene: When scientists examined the genetic makeup of bacte ria in navel lint from 60 volunteers, one notable subject who hadn't washed for several years was found to host two species of extremophile bacteria that typically thrive in ice caps and thermal vents!

• The modern high jump technique was created by Dick Fosbury and dubbed the Fosbury Flop.

• Dooley Wilson, who played Sam at Rick's Cafe Americain in "Casablanca," was an experienced musician and bandleader, but a drummer, not a pianist. He mimed his piano performance, and "As Time Goes By" was dubbed in later.

• A linguistic study revealed that winter workers in Antarctica began to develop a new accent as a re sult of being isolated together for several months.

• Sharks have existed on Earth for roughly 50 mil lion years longer than trees.

• John Joseph Merlin, often credited with inventing roller skates, debuted them at a 1760's masquerade in London by rolling into a room as he played the violin ... then crashing head-on into a quite expen sive mirror. ***

Thought for the Day: "The history of Western sci ence confirms the aphorism that the great menace to progress is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge." -- Daniel J. Boorstin

Financial Solutions for the Military

Homeless Veterans Still Need Help

Right about now the weather is cooling off. Or, if it hasn't, it soon will. Before we know it, hard win ter will be upon us. As of this year, there are 38,000 homeless veterans who will be living outside in that weather.

Homeless people make up 7% of the population, but 13% of the homeless population are veterans. Over half have a disability. Nearly three-quarters have sub stance abuse problems. Fully half are over the age of 50. Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?

Despite all the programs the Department of Vet erans Affairs has come up with to reduce veteran homelessness, our comrades are still out there by the thousands. Large dollars are budgeted for this, grants handed out to community homeless advocacy groups, studies done, numbers arranged in neat columns on printouts, meetings held -- and the numbers just don't go down an appreciable amount. In fact, the point-intime (PIT) count numbers (every homeless veteran counted in a single day) for the past several years have been inching upward, despite all the efforts to manage the problem.

We, on either an individual or group basis, need to step up.

Start by making calls. Call Voluntary Services at the closest VA hospital and ask what they need. Hook up with the CEC (community employment coordina tor) at the hospital and offer your help. Work at a Stand Down. Sign up to drive veterans to medical appoint ments and job interviews.

On a smaller level, band with others and prepare to open your wallets just a little bit. Remember: While what we do might seem negligible in the whole range of efforts, it won't be a small thing for the veteran who gets a thick winter coat, some dry socks, a ride to the VA clinic or your skills in drafting up a resume.

Keep this number handy: National Call Center for Homeless Veterans 877-424-3838. They answer 24/7 and have help for homeless veterans or those who are in danger of becoming homeless.

by Freddy Groves

by Jeff Pickering

MARS

Tidbits delivers what you need to know about Mars, “The Red Planet.”

• There’s a specific name for the scientific observation and study of the planet Mars, Areology. The word has its roots in the name of the Greek god of war, Ares, the son of the Greeks’ chief deity Zeus and his wife Hera. Its Roman equivalent is Mars. Both cultures associated the planet with war because its color resembled the col or of blood. Ancient Chinese astronomers referred to it as “the fire star,” while the Egyptians called it “Her Desher,” meaning “the red one.”

• When the ancient Babylonians first cre ated the week, dividing it into seven days, they named each day after a heavenly body. Tuesday is the “day of Mars.” The name of the month of March is also derived from Mars.

• Mars’ red color is due to the large amounts of the mineral iron oxide found in the rocks and soil on its sur face. Its reddish color makes it possible to spot Mars with the naked eye at night from Earth. Galileo first observed Mars in 1609 with a basic telescope.

• Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system. Only Mercury is smaller. Mars’ diameter at its equator is 4,222 miles, about 53% the diameter of Earth. Yet the area of its surface is about equal to the area of Earth’s landmass. The difference in size is because a large part of the Earth’s surface is covered by water.

• Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, about 143 mil lion miles away. Earth’s distance from the Sun is about 93 million miles.

• Gravity on the planet is about 38% of Earth’s, mean ing that if you weigh 100 lbs. on Earth, you would weigh 38 lbs. on Mars.

• While the temperature on Mars might reach a maxi mum of 70 degrees F, its average temp is about -80 degrees F . It can drop as low as -200 degrees F. Because of Mars’ very thin atmosphere, it can’t pre serve the small amount of heat it gets from the Sun.

• Most of Mars’ atmosphere, about 95%, is carbon di oxide. There’s just a tiny amount of oxygen, about 0.145%. Its low atmospheric pressure is the reason why liquid water can only exist on the surface for a very short time. Yet the planet has ice on its north and south polar regions, made up of air that freezes during winter.

• A day on Mars is 24 hours and 37 minutes, almost the same as a day on Earth. However, a year is almost twice as long, 687 days, due to the fact that Mars is farther away from the Sun and it takes a longer time for it to orbit that star.

Mars is home to the tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons. It rises 85,000 feet above the surface, about three times tall er than Mt. Everest. The solar system’s longest and deepest canyon is also on Mars, Valles Marineris, four times deeper than the Grand Canyon and six times longer.

• In 1975, NASA sent up the first two spacecrafts with the specific objective of studying the surface of Mars. Viking 1, launched on August 20, took the first photograph of Mars from its surface on July 20, 1976. Viking 2 was launched September 9, 1975.

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Scammers and the Omicron Vaccine

The latest scam against seniors appears to have start ed the very day the new Covid omicron vaccine was an nounced as being approved by the Food and Drug Admin istration.

The call I received promised to help me get to the front of the line ... ahead of all the people who were going to be eligible at the same time. All I had to do was provide my banking information or Medicare card number so they could "hold a place" for me in the appointments.

After all, the scammer said, millions of people were going to be rushing to get the vaccine. I didn't want to be left out, did I?

I had a few minutes, so I decided to test the scammer's actual knowledge about the vaccine. He was fuzzy on the information and stumbled to answer, sometimes making it up as he went.

Here are some facts to remember should you get one of these vaccine scam calls:

The truth is that not everyone is going to be eligible. Those who haven't had any previous Covid vaccines can not get the omicron vaccine until they take the other ones. Then you have to wait two months before getting the new one.

The Pfizer booster will be for those age 12 and over, with the Moderna for those 18 and up. They don't know yet about children younger than those ages.

No, at this point there haven't been any clinical trials about how well the omicron version works. Mice, yes, but people, no. (Moderna and Pfizer both did mini-tests of 600 people each.)

The omicron vaccine will cover not only the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, but also the original Covid as well. It's called a "bivalent" vaccine because it covers both.

But the big thing to remember: These scammers don't want to help you get the new omicron booster. They only want your personal information.

Matilda Charles

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is seeking volunteers age 18 and older to provide a break for family caregivers. Share your skills and talents, meet new people and make a positive impact in your community by giving a few hours weekly. No prior experience required, and training is provided.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is seeking volunteers age 18 and older to provide a break for family caregivers. Share your skills and talents, meet new people and make a positive impact in your community by giving a few hours weekly. No prior experience required, and training is provided.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is seeking volunteers age 18 and older to provide a break for family caregivers. Share your skills and talents, meet new people and make a positive impact in your community by giving a few hours weekly. No prior experience required, and training is provided.

• On Oct. 6, 1866, the Reno gang carries out the first rob bery of a moving train, making off with $13,000 from a train in Indiana. This new method of sticking up moving trains in remote locations that were low on law enforce ment, instead of trains sitting in depots, soon became pop ular in the American West.

• On Oct. 4, 1927, sculpting begins on the granite images of presi dents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt at Mount Rushmore. Jefferson's image was originally fashioned to the right of Washington. Within two years, the face was badly cracked, and workers blasted the sculpture off the mountain. Sculpting began again with Jefferson on the left side of Washington.

• On Oct. 5, 1947, President Harry Truman makes the first televised presidential address, asking Americans to cut back on food to help starving Europeans. He requested that the public voluntarily forgo meat on Tuesdays, eggs and poultry on Thursdays and to save a slice of bread each day.

• On Oct. 8, 1956, New York Yankees right-hander Don Larsen pitches the first no-hitter in the history of the World Series. It was a perfect game that no one matched until Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay in 2010.

• On Oct. 9, 1967, socialist revolutionary and guer rilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, is captured and executed by the Bolivian army. In 1997, Guevara's remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by Presi dent Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.

• On Oct. 7, 1983, Sean Connery stars in "Never Say Never Again" as the British secret service agent James Bond, a role he last played in 1971. The film's title referenced the fact that the Scottish-born actor had previously remarked that he would never play Agent 007 again.

• On Oct. 3, 1995, Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the double murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, despite a DNA match, a wound on Simpson's hand, the recent purchase of a Stiletto knife and matching shoeprints at the scene.

King Solomon wrote that “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life” and “The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splen dor of the old.” This week, Tidbits combs up some facts on this glory, strength and splendor!

• Your hair grows in follicles, a tunnel-shaped tube on your scalp. Average folks have 100,000 to 150,000 follicles, which contain pigment cells that produce the pigment melanin, which gives hair its color. As a person ages, the pigment cells begin to die, so that without the melanin, new hairs grow in lighter, in varying shades of gray, silver, or white. When the follicle no longer produces melanin, there won’t be any more colored strands.

• A scientific study has revealed that hydrogen per oxide naturally occurs in hair follicles. As we age, it builds up and blocks the production of melanin.

• Several factors cause hair to go gray. The num ber one reason is genetics. Your propensity for gray hair has already been determined by the time you’re born, including whether you’ll be prema turely gray. Race also plays a role in when a per son begins to gray. Caucasians begin to go gray in their mid-30s (redheads the earliest of all), Asians in their late 30s, and African-Americans in their mid-40s. It’s considered prematurely gray if you’re gray before age 20 as a Caucasian, age 25 for Asians, and 30 for African-Americans.

• There’s not much good to be said about smoking, and its effect on hair color is no exception. One study brought to light the fact that smokers are 2.5 times more likely to gray before age 30 than nonsmokers.

• Lack of nutrients can contribute to gray hair, including Vitamin B12 and D-3 deficiency, low calcium, zinc, and iron levels. Experts suggest adding walnuts to the diet, as they are a good source of copper, which aids pigment produc tion in the follicles. Health conditions such as thyroid disease and vitiligo can contribute to early graying. Vitiligo destroys pigment-mak ing cells in the scalp as well as the skin, causing patchy skin color loss.

• Is it true that when you pluck one gray hair, three new ones grow in its place? Not at all. Because each hair follicle can contain only one hair, pulling it out will not enable the follicle to produce multiple hairs. However, if you do pluck one gray hair, another gray hair will re place it. It’s not a good idea to pull out the gray, because this action can damage follicles to the point that they no longer grow hair.

• Gray hair is coarser and thinner than your natu ral color, because its cuticle is thinner.

• Will you ever go to bed with a full head of dark hair and wake up gray or white? That’s another myth, since hair that’s already grown doesn’t change color.

• What’s the effect of stress on graying? Stress can contribute to a condition that causes you to shed hair up to three times faster than normal. When the hair comes back, it’s quite possible that it will be gray. A stressful event, such as chemotherapy, can also cause hair to grow back gray or white.

• How many people are gray? Gray hair seems to follow the 50-50-50 rule – Fifty percent of the population has about 50% gray hair at age 50.

• Why do some men have a gray beard and dark hair, or vise versa? Body hair grays at a differ ent rate than scalp hair. However, eventually, it’s likely that all of a person’s body hair will go gray.

Quiz Answers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Jim Nabors Jimmy Page Jimmy Buffet Jim Bowie “Wheel of Fortune”

Ted Shackleford Wichita, KS The Daily Planet About 15 hours

Sports Answers

Jim Craig Nine seasons (1957-65) True False (1964) Number 9

6. 7. 8. 9.

6. 7. 8. 9. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

5 (1989-1993) One. Balti more Orioles (19 seasons) True True (1972-96)