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Do you have a question for me? Click on the word "Comments" at the bottom of this entry and leave your question. Questions can be of any kind: factual, advice, opinions, etc. EACH question asked will be addressed -- even if I cannot answer it. I would love to know where you are writing from (city -- and country if not America).

Face to Face

Putting aside whatever ethical issues you might have with the face transplant performed last year in France, you have to marvel at the science involved.

This article in the Australian newspaper, The Sun Times, details the story, and includes the first photograph of Isabelle Dinoire since the operation.

If Hippos and Tortoises Can Do It...

Some good news: Owen (left) and Mzee are still together more than a year after Owen was rescued from the beach just days before the Asian Tsunami waves hit the coast of Kenya in 2004.

The one-year-old male hippo had been separated from his herd, then swept downriver to the ocean. Wildlife rangers found him, and put him in an enclosure with the 100+-year-old tortoise. The pair bonded; and have lived, eaten, and slept together ever since.

"Mzee" means "old man" in the Swahili language.

Thanks to Matt for this story.

Boeken

Am reading this book.

Just finished this book.

Apparently, it's Television

Last week I posed the question: What is the greatest invention of the 20th century -- other than computers and anything related to computing?

The answers you gave were very interesting. Many were items I never would have thought -- the interstate freeway system, the Dada Art Movement, or the Pill. I find it equally interesting that some items were not mentioned -- like genetic manipulation, or refrigeration.

Here in alphabetical order are all the items nominated as the greatest invention of the 20th century, and the year they were invented (which, in some cases, is a matter of debate). Some things, like broadcasting, were invented in stages over several years; so I chose the date of the first regular broadcast as the date it was invented.

Airplane - 1903 if you believe the Wright Brothers theory; 1906 if you believe the Alberto Santos-Dumont theory.

Antibiotics - 1944, streptomycin

Atomic Bomb - 1945

The Beatles - 1960

Broadcasting - 1920, the first regular radio broadcast to an audience

Dada Art Movement - 1915

Interstate Freeway System - 1956, as the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways Act

Penicillin - 1928

The Pill - 1960

Plastic - 1907, first entirely synthetic material

Polio Vaccine - 1952

Sliced Bread - 1928

Sulfa Drugs (antibacterial) - 1935

Tampon - 1929

Television - 1922 - 1939, first broadcast

24 H in a D

This is so interesting. How many can you get? Tell me in the comments section of this entry.

Call for Mrs. Calabash!

Randy in Ft. Worth said: At the close of his act, Jimmy Durante would always say "Goodnight Mrs. Callabash, wherever you are." Who was Mrs. Callabash?

Thank you for the question, Randy. I hope you are not holding your breath for an answer to this, because Durante never said and no one really knows. I have heard many explanations -- all of which seem equally plausible.

It might have been a woman running a restaurant in Calabash, North Carolina, who served Durante when he was traveling through town. I have heard reference to a woman running a boarding house who gave Durante free room and board when he was not yet successful in vaudeville. I would like to believe (as, I think, would most people), he was referring to his first wife Jeanne Olsen who died in 1943 after more than 20 years marriage.

Putting on Airs

Confused Guy asked: What are "air rights"? How could you sell the "air" over your building?

Thank you for the question, Confused Guy. First off, in most cases air rights come with land. You buy land and you own all the air above it -- just as one generally gets the rights to water and minerals below it.

Selling of air rights is a little tricky to explain -- and seems to apply only to New York (for now).

Basically, in New York, there are limits to how high you can build a building. However, if you want to build higher than the limits, you would need additional air space. You can acquire the right to that additional air space by purchasing it from someone. In other words, you would buy the air space above one property and put it atop your property allowing you to build higher than the limit allows.

Here's a simplified example: Let's say the building limit is 35 floors; but you want to build 70 floors. You own a space of land next to a flat parking lot. You own 35 floors worth of air above your land; the parking lot owner does too. You purchase the "air rights" over the parking lot and now have the right to build in 70 floors worth of air.

Some cases I encountered in researching this got much more complicated than the above example -- including one building that is going to stretch sideways into the air above neighboring buildings.

Newton: Neither Cookie nor Cake

Dizzy asked: How is it possible that if I drop a bowling ball and a tomato out of my second-storey window at THE SAME TIME, they will hit the sidewalk at the SAME TIME TOO?

Thank you for the question, Dizzy. We can thank Isaac Newton (1643-1727) for the answer to this question -- which I do not pretend to fully understand.

Basically put, gravity acts on things in our world: objects don't really "fall," they are pulled downward. The larger the object (and more mass) the more gravity pulls it.

Air resistance also acts on falling objects. The larger the object the more resistance it encounters.

A bowling ball is heavier, so it is pulled faster. However, being larger, it meets more air resistance, which slows it down.

A tomato is smaller, so it is pulled slower. However, being lighter it meets less air resistance, which does not slow it down as much.

These two situations balance each other, allowing them to hit the ground simultaneously.

Newton never came up with a law to cover the amounts of damage caused by such an experiment, so I suggest it only be attempted by professional bowlers and farmers.

By Any Other Name...

Mass Bradley asked: Why was Beaver Cleaver called "Beaver" or (my favorite) "The Beav"?

Thank you for the question, Bradley. There are two explanations.

First, the real one: The show's writer, Joe Connelly, served during the war with a shipmate called "The Beaver." When looking for a name for the television character, he chose that.

Second, the television one: The name was explained in the last episode, "Family Scrapbook." Wally could not pronounce his younger brother's name "Theodore." He pronounced it odd, and the parents switched it a little to make "Beaver."

Almost makes you wish you didn't know, doesn't it?