Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307040286
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY PARHAM and GERRIE FERRIS COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A: Yes. The FBI classifies homicides as follows: The first is murder, which can be single, double or triple - based on the number of victims slain at one time and place. Mass murder is four or more at one location. Spree killings are multiple slayings at two or more locations with no emotional cooling-off period in between. Serial murder is three or more separate events with an emotional cooling-off period between murders and taking place at a different location.
Q: What Indian tribe declared war against the Germans during World War II?
A: Indians were subject to the draft, and many served without resistance. But some tribes believed the draft infringed on their rights as a sovereign, separate nation, and the Iroquois of New York state declared a symbolic declaration of war, as they had done before in World War I.
Q: What does the word Neanderthal mean?
A: It comes from the Neander River Gorge near Dusseldorf, Germany, where in 1856 Franz Meyer of Bonn University discovered the first prehistoric human fossil.
Q: What's the secret to the crisscross pattern seen on many athletic fields.
A: "It's no secret," explained Ed Mangan, groundskeeper for the Atlanta Braves. "It's simply mowing in different directions; there is nothing done to the mower or the blades to effect the pattern. The pattern really is a byproduct of good grass care. Crosscutting keeps the turf from getting a grain and growing in one direction and thereby creates an upright, denser turf."
Q: I once read a simple and humorous definition of the different political systems in the world, such as communism, socialism. I don't know where I read it. Can you find it?
A: We found this, which appeared in an FDR-era farm journal.
Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor because he doesn't have a cow.
Communism: You have two cows. The government takes both and gives you the milk.
Facism: You have two cows. The government takes both and sells you the milk.
Nazism: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.
New Dealism: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots one, milks the other and throws the milk away.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Q: Has the Catholic Church ever declared any apparitions of the Virgin Mary genuine?
A: Hundreds of Marian apparitions have come to the attention of Catholic authorities in the past two centuries. After investigation, the church has declared these seven authentic: Rue du Bac (Paris, 1830); La Salette (France, 1846); Lourdes (France, 1858); Pontmain (France, 1870); Fatima (Portugal, 1917); Beauraing (Belgium, 1933); and Banneaux (Belgium, 1933). The late archbishop of Atlanta, James Lyke, said last year that he had "grave doubts" about the authenticity of the apparitions of Nancy Fowler of Rockdale County, Ga., and asked fellow bishops to discourage pilgrimages to the site.
Q: Which current Supreme Court justices defend Roe vs. Wade? Which ones want it overturned?
A: Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Harry Blackmun and John Paul Stevens voted in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey in 1992 to allow states to place some restrictions on abortion, but the decision said that "the woman's right to terminate her pregnancy before viability is the most central principle of Roe vs. Wade. It is a rule of law and a component of liberty we cannot renounce." Those who wanted Roe overturned, with regulation left entirely to the states, were Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Byron White, who is retiring.
Q: Is there a best guess as to who "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame really is?
A: Last year, CBS's "60 Minutes" did an in-depth investigation into "Deep Throat's" identity. After comparing all the known facts and matching possibilities with all known suspects, it pointed a finger at former acting FBI Director Patrick Gray as Bob Woodward's and Carl Bernstein's source. Gray lived in an apartment only four blocks from Woodward, close enough to easily check prearranged balcony signals, and easily could have gone undetected as he descended to his building's underground garage, where they could have met many times. "60 Minutes" concluded that Gray, "in language and personal style, fits Woodward's description of `Deep Throat' in detail after detail."
Q: Do any theaters show captioned movies for the hearing impaired?
A: We didn't find a theater showing captioned movies, although AMC Theaters does provide amplifying headsets. Many captioned movies are available at video rental stores. For a catalog of what's available, write Modern Talking Picture Service, 5000 Park St. North, St. Petersburg, Fla. 33709
Q: Where did the phrase "You can't shout fire in a crowded theater" come from?
A: In March 1919, the Supreme Court heard the case of three men charged with inciting young men to resist the draft. In affirming their convictions, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the famous dictum, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater, and causing a panic."
Q: I read that Japan has the longest continuous hereditary monarchy, but hasn't Queen Elizabeth II of England been on the throne the longest of any living monarch today?
A: No. The king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), ascended to the throne on June 9, 1946. Queen Elizabeth II took the throne on Feb. 6, 1952.
Q: Why must a horse with a broken leg be destroyed instead of having the leg repaired?
A: There's no way to keep a horse off its feet for recovery, as with humans on crutches, in beds or in wheelchairs. A horse's massive body cannot be supported for long on three legs before another leg starts breaking down and painful arthritis sets in, explained Dr. Allison McNally of the Atlanta Equine Veterinarian Service. Given Prairie Bayou's injury in the Belmont Stakes, there was no way to surgically repair such an explosive compound fracture. A few years ago, Alydar, another famous thoroughbred, broke a bone in his stall and doctors set it, but confining him in a splint-crutch rigging was soon deemed painful and inhumane, and he also had to be destroyed.
Q: How do creationists explain dinosaurs?
A: Creationist Kurt Wise, head of the Creationist Research Center at William Jennings Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn., said creationists - who generally take a literal view of the biblical story that the universe was created in seven days - are not unanimous in their explanation of dinosaurs. Explanations range from the more "progressive" creationists, who believe that the seven days in Genesis actually is a much longer period than seven 24-hour periods, to the archconservative view that dinosaurs represent satanic genetic engineering gone awry. Wise's view is that man and dinosaurs were created on the same day, albeit hours apart, and did not inhabit the same place on Earth. He cites the book of Job beginning with Chapter 40, Verse 15, where God says to Job, "Look now at the behemoth which I made along with you."
Q: What is NASDAQ an acronym for?
A: The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system. The NASD is a self-regulatory agency that tracks activity in over-the-counter stocks and provides prices to brokers and newspapers.
by CNB