ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602060009
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
Q: Does every state pay prison inmates who agree to work?|
A: No, three states do not. Arkansas, Texas and Georgia no longer do.|
Q: What is the origin of the expression ``salt of the earth,'' meaning a good person? It seems like salting the earth, which would be ruinous to crops, wouldn't be a compliment.|
A: Salting the soil would damage it for farming, but that's not where the term comes from. In ancient times, salt was highly valued. In fact, Roman soldiers were paid in salt (sal); sal was the origin of the word ``salary.'' In Matthew 5:13, Jesus says to his disciples: ``Ye are the salt of the earth or her kind is the salt of the earth. It's the supreme compliment.|
Q: Retired Gen. Colin Powell was quoted as saying American troops were used 28 times while he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That sounds like a lot. Is it really true?|
A: Almost. There were 28 ``crises'' during Powell's chairmanship, with U.S. troops used 27 times, said his spokesman, Bill Smullen. The one exception occurred only a few days after Powell took the post Oct. 1, 1989. That incident - a failed coup attempt in Panama - caused U.S. troops to be put on alert, but they were not deployed. The 27 occasions in which U.S. forces were deployed included Operation Just Cause, again in Panama, in December 1989; Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 1991; Provide Comfort, to help Kurds in Northern Iraq, which began soon after Desert Storm and is ongoing; and Restore Hope, in Somalia, 1993-94. Some crises lasted only a few hours, others a few months, and some continue, Smullen said. Powell's chairmanship ended when he resigned Sept. 30, 1993. Gen. John Shalikashvili now holds the post.|
Q: President Clinton said his administration has reduced the size of the federal government by 200,000 people. Do you have any details?|
A: In January 1993, when Clinton took office, the government's ``on-board'' work force - permanent, temporary, part-time and seasonal workers, but not members of the armed forces or the now-privatized Post Office or the legislative and judicial branches - stood at 2,188,700. As of October, the latest statistics available, the total was 1,984,170, a decline of 204,530. According to the Office of Personnel Management, downsizing has been accomplished by a hiring freeze, attrition, buyouts and early retirements, privatization, introduction of labor-saving technology and involuntary separations. The work force is now the smallest in 30 years, OPM said.|
Q: How can I tell which milk has the bovine growth hormone in it? I want to avoid it.|
A: All milk contains the protein hormone bovine somatotropin, often called BST, because it occurs naturally in cows, nutrition experts say. So you can't avoid it if you drink milk. Cows may be treated with additional BST to produce more milk, but the hormone won't affect humans because it's ``species-specific,'' said Holly Alley, nutrition and health specialist at the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service. That means it works only in bovines. Milk from cows treated with supplementary BST contains no more of the hormone than that from cows not treated with it, Alley said. If you're concerned about reports linking BST with some forms of cancer, you'll be reassured to know that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, the American Medical Association and the American Cancer Society all have cleared milk from BST-treated cows. BST has no effect on humans, Alley said, because it is broken down differently in our digestive systems.|
Q: What do the letters ``http'' mean in reference to the Internet?|
A: The literal meaning is hypertext transfer protocol. Transfer protocol is the means by which the thousands of computers and networks that make up the World Wide Web communicate with each other. The WWW was developed to make use of the Internet easier for nontechnical users. The letters http are part of an address.
Q: I've had chemotherapy for cancer treatment, and now I find that I cannot donate blood. Why? Will this prevent me from donating organs?|
A: Chemotherapy treatment for cancer precludes both blood and organ donations. Dr. Alfred Grindon, medical director of the Red Cross Blood Services Division, Southern Region, said the American Red Cross adheres to donor suitability standards set by the American Association of Blood Banks. A person cannot donate blood if there is a history of cancer that has been treated with chemotherapy. A Red Cross nurse will talk with a person before giving blood to determine donor suitability. Likewise for organs, said Lee Jenkins at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, which works with the Georgia Coalition on Donation. ``Even if the cancer is in remission, if a person has had cancer and chemotherapy, he or she cannot be an organ donor,'' Jenkins said. It's possible that a person treated with chemotherapy in the past may be able to donate corneas. Check with your doctor.|
Q: People talk about ``virtual reality.'' What is that?|
A: It's technology using computer-generated sights and sounds to transport you to worlds that exist only inside the computer. Imagine putting on a headset that shuts out the real world around you and gives you a realistic, three- dimensional, computer-generated visual image accompanied by appropriate sounds. Perhaps it's a simulated, but realistic, image of an auto race, with a view across the hood of the car as if you were driving, augmented by all the right noises. It's almost like being there, hence ``virtual'' reality.|
Q: Sen. Bob Dole has referred to President Clinton as an ``elitist.'' What does that mean?|
A: ``Elitism'' refers to leadership by an aristocracy - whether of the intelligent, the wealthy, the tastemaking, the meritorious or the merely powerful. So one who practices elitism is an elitist. It's almost meaningless, because people use the terms elitist and elitism to blast anybody else who disagrees with their philosophy, regardless of where on the political spectrum any of them may be.|
Q: Our Japanese exchange student, who is preparing a paper about American history, asked a question I can't answer: Why do some people, just before leaping off of something tall, yell the word ``Geronimo''?|
A: According to legend, Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo, in escaping from U.S. Cavalry pursuers at Medicine Bluffs, Okla., jumped to freedom down a steep cliff and into a river below. He supposedly cried out his name in defiance of the troopers. A film about the Indian warrior's life, making the rounds in the 1940s, featured the leap to freedom with the ``Geronimo!'' shout. So the expression was adopted as the battle cry of U.S. paratroopers leaping from their aircraft. It later was expanded to any battle cry.|
Q: The House voted 403-2 on commissioning a Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded to evangelist Billy Graham and his wife. Who voted against it, and why?|
A: Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.) voted no, but Slaughter said her vote was in error and that she supported the bill. She moved immediately to state her correct position on the House floor by saying: ``Mr. Speaker, On roll call vote No. 13, on the bill just passed, I mistakenly voted nay. I had intended to vote yea.'' Schroeder spokeswoman Andrea Camp said Schroeder's vote was against the principle of commemoratives in general. ``She believes commemoratives should be issued only after a person has died, the same principle followed by the Postal Service in issuing commemorative stamps,'' Camp said. ``She also thinks Congress has real issues such as budget legislation to deal with and shouldn't be spending time on symbolic things such as naming post offices and giving out commemoratives.''
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