Issue 7

Big Rock Marketing Group For Ad Rates call: (260) 467-3394 [email protected] 1 Issue 7 Volume 1 Issue 7The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read®

TIDBITS® LOOKS AT THE INGENUITY OF

INVENTORS by Kathy Wolfe

We all know about Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, but what about some of the more unfamiliar people whose resourcefulness resulted in some pretty clever devices? This week, Tidbits looks at a just a few of those folks.A Canadian inventor, Harry Wasylyk, hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, is responsible for the invention of the disposable green polyethylene garbage bag. He started his operation in his kitchen in 1950, intending them for commercial use only, rather than for ordinary consumers. His first customer was the Winnipeg General Hospital. He teamed up with an employee of an Ontario Union Carbide plant, Larry Hanson, and the pair sold their invention to Union Carbide, who marketed them for home use under the name “Glad.” • Thomas Jefferson wore many hats over the course of his lifetime — lawyer, statesman, architect, agronomist, linguist, naturalist. This third President of the United States also penned the Declaration of Independence. In addition to his many political activities, Jefferson was also the inventor of the swivel chair, a plow, a portable copying press, a macaroni-making machine, and mechanical dumbwaiters that enabled his servants to send wine bottles from the cellar to the dining room at Monticello.

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INVENTORS (continued):• Earle Dickson was a cotton buyer

working for Johnson & Johnson in 1921 when his wife’s kitchen mishaps inspired an invention. His bride was frequently cutting her fingers while preparing meals, and he was patching up her injuries with gauze and adhesive tape. Dickson developed a compact bandage of small pieces of gauze and surgical tape that could be easily applied, and pitched his idea to plant management. A position as company vice president came along as the years went by, as well as a place on the board of directors. When Dickson died in 1961, Johnson & Johnson’s sales of Band-Aids topped $30 million a year.

• As a Minnesota manufacturing plant worker during the World War I era, Charles Strite partook of his meals in the plant cafeteria. After being served burned toast countless times, he devised a machine that would turn off the heat and pop up the bread when the toast was done. Although General Electric had already marketed a toaster in 1909, their model only toasted one side at a time and had to be manually turned off. Strite added springs and a timer to his appliance and patented his “Toastmaster.” His later models added a lightness and darkness lever.

• While Swiss chemist and textile engineer Jacques Brandenberger was seated in a restaurant in the early 1900s, a glass of wine was spilled on the tablecloth. As the chemist watched the waiter replace the cloth, an idea occurred to him — a transparent, protective film that would make cloth waterproof. After many experiments, he came up with what we know today as cellophane. The first company to use cellophane in the United States was the Whitman’s candy company, which wrapped its fine chocolates in the film. Brandenberger’s patent rights were later sold to the Dupont company. In 1912, he also began manufacturing a clear, thin film used in making gas masks.

• Josephine Cochran didn’t invent the mechanical dishwasher because she was tired of washing dishes. This socialite politician’s wife was just tired of her hired help chipping and breaking her dishes! In 1886, she invented the Cochran Dishwasher, and the contraption made its debut at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, winning the fair’s highest award.

Page 2 Tidbits® of Fort Wayne, Allen CountyBusinesses were the only ones who seemed interested, and a smaller home model didn’t come out until 1914. She founded a company for her dishwasher, one which eventually became Kitchen Aid.

• Chicago’s 1893 Exhibition was also the site for the unveiling of mechanical engineer Whitcomb Judson’s invention, the “Clasp Locker,” a device credited as the first zipper. Actually, sewing machine inventor Elias Howe had already patented an “Automatic Continuous Clothing Closure” in 1851, but his sewing machine success kept him too busy to market his fastener. Judson marketed his with the opening of the Universal Fastener Company, giving him recognition as the inventor. However, his original zipper bore little resemblance to those of today. One of Judson’s employees, Gideon Sundback, actually developed a design with interlocking teeth, and received a patent first for his “Hookless Fastener,” then another for the improved “Separable Fastener.” Whitcomb Judson was no stranger to the world of inventions, having been awarded 30 patents throughout his career, including 14 patents for a street railway system that ran on compressed air.

• Although Sarah Boone wasn’t the first to invent an ironing board, she is credited with a major improvement to the design. Patent No. 473,653 was issued to this former slave in April of 1892, making her one of the first, if not the first African-American woman to receive a patent. An “ironing table” patent had been awarded in 1858, but Boone’s featured a narrower design, enabling users to effectively iron sleeves and bodies of garments.

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Of Fort Wayne, Allen Co. Published weekly by

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As owners of Tidbits of Fort Wayne, Allen County we hope that you find our paper interesting to read while you either wait to be seated, waiting for your

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TO YOUR GOOD HEALTHBy Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

Viruses Sometimes Attack the Heart

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: A friend in his late 40s thought he had the flu and called his doctor for medicine. Later he had trouble breathing and went to the emergency room, where they said he was having a heart attack. Several hours later, he passed away. An autopsy showed that a virus had attacked his heart. I know there are many types of viruses, but what kind did he have? How does a person get this kind of virus? If it had been found in time, could something have been done to stop it? -- R.R.

ANSWER: Your friend had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. Viruses are one cause of it. The virus most often involved is the Coxsackie virus, named after the New York town where it was first identified. Myocarditis can be so mild that it produces no symptoms. Or it can be so overwhelming that it is fatal. It occurs at any age. Often, a respiratory infection (even a common cold) or a gastrointestinal disorder (stomach flu) might precede it. A young person -- and your friend is considered young -- struggling to breathe puts the doctor on alert to suspect that a failing heart is responsible and that a viral infection of the heart could be the cause.

Coxsackie viruses are transmitted from one person to the next through respiratory droplets or from foods, hands or utensils contaminated with the virus. We have no medicine that kills this virus. Most of the time, none is needed, since nearly all Coxsackie infections are minor troubles. In cases like your friend’s, medicines to keep the heart beating forcefully usually can tide a person over the dangerous period of heart failure. Your friend’s story is tragic.

The booklet on congestive heart failure describes the more common kinds of it, not the kind due to viral infections. Readers can order a copy by writing: Dr. Donohue -- No. 103W, Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Canada with the reader’s printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.(c) 2011 North America Synd., Inc. All Rights Reserved

By Chris

Richcreek

1. Matt Stairs tied a record in 2010 by playing for his 12th major-league team. Name either of the two pitchers to hold the mark.2. Hank Aaron was one of three major-leaguers who played for both the Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers. Name either of the other two to do it.3. At the end of the 2010 college football season, how many schools in the Big 12 had won at least one national title in football?4. Name the last team before the 2006-08 Detroit Pistons to lose in the round before the NBA Finals three years in a row.5. Who was the last New York Ranger before Derek Stepan in 2010 to begin a season with a hat trick?6. Who ended Russian Alexander Karelin’s winning streak of 13 years at the 2000 Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling finals? 7. Name the golfer who came from behind in the final round to beat Tiger Woods in the 2009 PGA Championship.

Answers1. Mike Morgan and Ron Villone.2. Felipe Alou and Phil Roof.3. Five -- Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado and Texas A&M.4. The Boston Celtics, 1953-55.5. Ron Murphy, in 1955.6. American Rulon Gardner.7. Y.E. Yang.(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

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Tidbits® of Fort Wayne, Allen County Page 4

By Samantha Weaver

• It was British author and publisher Ernest Benn who made the following observation: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”

• If you live in Michigan, make sure you keep this in mind: If you want to hunt with a slingshot, you’ll need a special license.

• If you took all the other planets in our solar system and rolled them into one big ball, that ball would fit inside the gas giant Jupiter.

• The next time you’re heading to Chicago, plan a stop in the nearby town of Niles. While there you can visit the Leaning Tower of Niles, a recently renovated half-size replica of the somewhat more famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The attraction was built in 1934 by industrialist Robert Ilg as part of a recreation park for employees of his Hot Air Electric Ventilating Company of Chicago.

• Although Billy the Kid was a notorious 19th-century outlaw, he never robbed a store, a stagecoach, a bank or a train.

• A flea can jump 13 inches in a single leap. That may not seem like much, but to achieve a comparable feat, you would have to make a 700-foot jump.

• Those who wish to cut federal spending today might want to take note of this historical fact: In 1790, United States senators earned a grand total of $6 per day -- and only when Congress was in session.

• The ancient Romans appreciated smooth, hairless skin -- but to get that look they used pumice stones to sand off the hair. Ouch.

***Thought for the Day: “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” -- Oscar Wilde

(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

TOP TEN VIDEO, DVD as of Feb. 12, 2011

1. Red (PG-13) Bruce Willis2. Secretariat (PG) Diane Lane3. The Social Network (PG-13) Jesse Eisenberg4. Takers (PG-13) Chris Brown5. Dinner for Schmucks (PG-13) Steve Carrell6. Saw: The Final Chapter (R) Tobin Bell7. The Town (R) Ben Affleck8. Buried (R) Ryan Reynolds9. Case 39 (R) Renee Zellweger10. Inception (PG-13) Leonardo Di Caprio

Top 10 DVD Sales1. Takers (PG-13) (Sony)2. The Social Network (PG-13) (Sony)3. Death Race 2 (R) (Universal)4. Despicable Me (PG) (Universal)5. Alpha and Omega (PG) (Lionsgate)6. Stone (R) (Anchor Bay)7. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (PG-13) (Summit)8. Salt (PG-13) (Sony)9. Dinner for Schmucks (PG-13) (DreamWorks)10. Machete (R) (Fox)Source: Rentrak Corp.(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

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The Tidbits® Paper is a Division of Tidbits Media, Inc. • Montgomery, AL 36106(800) 523-3096 • E-mail: [email protected] • All Rights Reserved ©2008

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Page 5For Advertising Call (260) 467-3394INVENTORS (continued):

• The Frisbie Baking Company opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1871, and earned a good living selling pies to many of the New England colleges, including Yale. Beginning in the 1940s, Yale students discovered that tossing the empty pie tin made for great fun, and students turned it into a game. Meanwhile, out in California, an L.A. building inspector, Walter Frederick Morrison, who was quite interested in flying saucers, invented a plastic flying disc in 1948, and named it the Pluto Platter. When Wham-O toy executives spotted Yale students engaged in pie-pan tossing, they convinced Morrison to sell them his rights. Wham-O renamed the disc the Frisbee in honor of the pie company, although it altered the spelling slightly. Today, the games of Ultimate Frisbee and Disc Golf draw thousands of players a year as the plastic saucer continues to rise in popularity. Incidentally, William Morrison’s family was no stranger to inventing — his father had invented the automotive sealed-beam headlight.

• A different kind of disc was developed in 1971 by Alan Shugart, an engineer at IBM. Shugart introduced the first “memory disc,” better known as the floppy disc, an 8-inch flexible plastic device coated with magnetic iron oxide, capable of storing computer data. This first floppy disc could hold 100 KBs of data. Shugart spent his off-hours founding a five-star restaurant in Monterey, California, and attempting to get his dog Ernest on the ballot for Congressman, a venture he chronicled in his book “Ernest Goes to Washington (Well, Not Exactly).”

1. GEOGRAPHY: The North Sea is a part of what larger body of water?

2. MOVIES: Who directed the movie “Nashville”?

3. COMICS: What was the name of Clark Kent’s boss at “The Daily Plan-et”?

4. THEATER: How many Pulitzer Prizes did Eugene O’Neill win in his lifetime?

5. BIBLE: What was the name of Abraham’s wife?

6. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What was the name of the apartment building where John Lennon lived before he was murdered?

7. ANATOMY: Where are the adrenal glands located?

8. HISTORY: What revolution did Ernesto “Che” Guevara helped lead?

9. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Which U.S. president helped organize the Rough Riders cavalry?

10. BUSINESS: Which company has the nickname “Big Blue”?

© 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

Answers1. Atlantic Ocean2. Robert Altman3. Perry White4. Four5. Sarah 6. The Dakota 7. On top of the kidneys8. Cuban Revolution 9. Teddy Roosevelt 10. IBM

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Tidbits® of Fort Wayne, Allen County Page 6OVERCOMING THE ODDS:

THOMAS EDISONThomas Edison is hailed as “the wizard of Menlo Park” and “the greatest inventor who ever lived.” But to reach that success, he encountered many obstacles that threatened to derail him. Take a look at how this wizard overcame them. • The youngest of seven children,

Thomas Edison didn’t learn to talk until he was nearly four years old. Difficulty with words and speech, along with an inability to focus, followed him into the schoolroom. Today he most probably would have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). After only three months in the local one-room schoolhouse, the teacher informed Edison’s parents that Tom’s brains were “addled” or “scrambled.” And so came the end of Edison’s formal education. His mother withdrew him and began to educate him at home.

• Edison’s father encouraged the young boy to read great classic literature and rewarded him with a dime for each one he read. Edison had a great love for Shakespeare and even considered becoming an actor for a time because of it. When Edison’s interest in the sciences advanced beyond his parents’ abilities, they hired a tutor for him.

• A bout of scarlet fever and untreated chronic ear infections led to severe hearing loss for the young Edison. He became completely deaf in his left ear and lost 80 percent of the hearing in his right.

• As a teenager, an event occurred that changed the course of his life. As he boarded a train, the stationmaster’s young son walked onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. A quick-thinking Edison grabbed the boy and saved his life. As a reward, the stationmaster helped Edison become skilled in the use of the telegraph and Morse code. A job with Western Union followed,

working 12 hours a day, six days a week. In his free time, he was experimenting with various inventions, and six months later, received his first patent for his electric vote-recording machine.

• After being fired by Western Union for doing too much moonlighting, Edison had the time to concentrate on his experiments, and while in his mid-20s, came up with a stock ticker for which he received $40,000 when he sold its rights to a private corporation. By age 30, he had invented the first phonograph.

• It’s a misconception that Edison invented the light bulb. The light bulb had been around for many years; what Edison did was improve on the original with the first incandescent electric light, a more reliable, longer-lasting source of light with a carbonized filament suitable for home use.

• As Edison’s wealth increased, he had the resources to have an operation that very likely could have dramatically improved his hearing. He refused to do it, afraid that he “would have difficulty re-learning how to channel his thinking in an ever more noisy world.” His one regret about his hearing was that he could not hear the sounds of singing birds, creatures that he loved so much. He collected more than 5,000 feathered friends in a private aviary.

• Over the course of his career, Edison was patenting an item every two weeks, and amassed 1,093 patents for a variety of inventions, including the dictaphone, mimeograph and motion picture camera. He founded 14 companies, including General Electric, still one of the largest publiclytraded companies in the world.

• Edison’s efforts were not without failures, although he refused to view them as such. After 1,000 unsuccessful tries at the incandescent bulb, he said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

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YOUR BUSINESS HEREfor more information call (260) 467-3394

Agent Orange Benefits Expanded for Korea Vets

When the Department of Veterans Affairs added three illnesses as presumptives for Agent Orange exposure last year, service in Korea was added to the list of locations for a limited scope of time, 1968 to 1969.

That time period has now been expanded to April 1, 1968 through Aug. 31, 1971, and you must have been in a specific unit that the VA and Department of Defense determine did indeed serve near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) where Agent Orange was sprayed.

If that describes your service, and if you have an illness on the list of Agent Orange presumptives, or if you served at that place and time and your child has spina bifida, get your paperwork in. File your claim for health care and compensation as soon as possible.

For more information, go to www.publichealth.va.gov and click on Hazardous Exposure, then scroll down to Agent Orange.

For more information on AO in the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the Agent Orange page has a special announcement link near the top of the page.

To look at the final document, go to www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID: VA-2009-VBA-0021 entitled Herbicide Exposure and Veterans with Covered Service in Korea.

If you can’t get to a computer, you can call to get help in determining if your service in Korea qualifies: Helpline: 1-800-749-8387 Press 3.

If you want to get started with the free Health Care and Agent Orange Registry Health Exam, call 1-877-222-8387 and ask to speak to the Environmental Health Coordinator. You also can get the free exam at your closest VA medical facility.

If you’re looking for your buddies, check www.koreanwar.org, the Korean War Project. Search by service and unit. They also have an Agent Orange section with additional information.

Write to Freddy Groves in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to [email protected].(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

TownBitsIntroducing Infinite Fitness

Local fitness company, Infinite Fitness, located at 2618 Maplecrest (in Georgetown Shoppes, next to Papa John’s Pizza) is now running small group Body Transformation fitness classes. These classes, designed for quick, safe fat loss and general fitness, are short in duration and use minimal equipment so the exercises are safe and easy to do. Infinite Fitness is owned and operated by fitness coach Dave Elder, CFT.

How does the Body Transformation program work?• Short duration, high intensity sessions designed to MELT FAT, tone

the body and tighten the tummy without countless hours in the gym!!• Workouts can be modified to suit every age and ability level.• It kick-starts your metabolism to start burning more fat, even while

you sleep!• It will help you shed inches and pounds of fat so you LOOK and

FEEL better with more strength and energy!

The Body Transformation classes are currently being offered at 6am, 8am, 9am, 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm. For more information or to register, contact Dave Elder at 260-602-6708 or email [email protected].

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February 14, 2011

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SHOELACESHow much do you really know about those useful little laces that tie up your shoes? This week, Tidbits delves into their history and brings you all you need to know! • Some short of “shoe tie” has existed

since ancient times. Early humans tied animal hides to their feet with pieces of leather, jute, hemp, strips of bark or long grasses. Evidence from 3,000 B.C. shows sophisticated insulated leather shoes fastened with ties of lime tree bark strips. As early as the 12th century, folks were weaving a type of lace through hooks on the front or side of shoes.

• The name of Harvey Kennedy isn’t a familiar one, but he holds a special spot in history. Kennedy is credited with the invention of the modern shoelace. Although the idea had been around for thousands of years, Kennedy received the first shoelace patent in 1790, and made a cool $2.5 million for his efforts (equivalent to about $50 billion in today’s money). However, it wasn’t until the 20th century that shoelaces became widely popular. At that time, people were wearing slip-on, buckled or buttoned shoes. The buttoned shoes required a special button hook to fasten, which was a rather tedious process.

• Why does your shoe seem to come untied all the time? Shoelaces of today are often made of synthetic fibers, which makes them slippery and more apt to come undone than cotton ones. Synthetics, however, are longer-lasting and less prone to rot. Untied shoes shouldn’t always be viewed as a nuisance. According to an old superstition, if your laces continually become untied, it’s a sign that you will receive a letter full of good news.

• Teaching a child to tie his shoes? Remember the age-old rhyme — “Right over left, left over right, makes a knot both tidy and tight.”

• That little plastic tube at the end of your shoelace is called an aglet. Its obvious purpose is to make it easier for the lace to thread through the eyelets and prevent fraying. In the old days, aglets were a decorative item, and were made of glass, metal, stones or even precious gems and metals, even silver and gold for the shoes of the wealthy. The word “aglet” comes from the old French word aguillette, which translates to “needle.” This in turn originated from the Latin acus, also meaning “needle.”

• A clear plastic aglet begins as a thin piece of tape, twice the width needed. It is then wound around the uncut shoelace. Heat and solvent

are then applied, melting the plastic tape onto the lace and sealing the tape to itself. When it cools, the shoelace is cut through the middle of the coating, creating two finished laces.

• If your running shoes have five or six pairs of eyelets, do you know what length of shoelaces to buy? Those shoes will require 36-inch (91 cm) laces. Shoes with three or four pairs need 27-inch (68 cm) laces, while you’ll have to buy 72-inch (183 cm) laces for your work boots with 10 or 11 pairs of eyelets.

• They’re not just for tying your shoes! Albany police officers caught in the field without their handcuffs used shoelaces to tie up a suspect. A burglar in a British jail escaped his cell by using a shoelace to jimmy the latch’s lock. And a visually-impaired U.S. Army captain uses them to run marathons! After losing his sight in combat in Iraq, the soldier began long-distance running with the help of a guide who holds one end of a shoelace while he holds the other.

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Tidbits® of Fort Wayne, Allen County Page 8

1. Is the Book of 1 Peter in the Old or New Testament or neither?2. In Matthew 13, what baking item does Jesus compare to the kingdom of Heaven? Eggs, Milk, Salt, Yeast3. According to Jeremiah, where does one go to find balm? Corinth, Joppa, Derbe, Gilead

4. From Micah 7:19, where does God place forgiven sins? Depths of sea, Heathen hearts, Past the stars, Fiery pits5. Who tested the will of the Lord with a fleece? Jehu, Gideon, Amos, Ahaziah6. On which “Mount” did King Saul die? Sinai, Moriah, Pisgah, Gilboa

ANSWERS: 1) New, 2) Yeast, 3) Gilead, 4) Depths of sea, 5) Gideon, 6) Gilboa

For more trivia, log on to www.TriviaGuy.com.(c) 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

Do You have what it takes to be a great sales rep? If so we are looking for you.

Send your resume to [email protected]

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