No. 167, December 1996
FREEDOM TRIVIA Everyone knows the Statue of Liberty! Do you know the Statue
of Freedom? Freedom was designed by Thomas Crawford and placed on the top of
the dome of the U. S. Capitol Building on December 2, 1863. Freedom was
restored in 1993 to commemorate the bicentennial of the Capitol Building. You
can learn more about Freedom in The Statue of Freedom a 1996 publication issued
by the Senate (Y 1.3:S.PUB.1040-40). Has this been in any of the trivial
pursuit games...maybe Freedom is too trivial.
GENE CLOCKS, "per", "tim", PER, TIM , AND TIME MEASUEMENT "per" and "tim"
are the two genes found in 1971 and 1984 which are responsible for the internal
clock mechanism in fruit flies and humans. PER and TIM are the two proteins
which are produced by these genes and further help explain how the internal
circadian clock works in man and animals. I guess genes and proteins are
comparable to the wheels and gears mechanism in my grandfather clock. "Taking
Apart the Body's Clock: How Do Molecules Tell Us the Time" is found in:
Frontiers, Newsletter of the National Science Foundation, December, 1996
pages 4-6 (NS 1.57:996/12) is a very easy- to- read article which mentions
but does not identify the four other recent articles published in Science
(magazine) about the internal clock in fruit flies. This clock is known as
the Gene Clock. Did you know that the NSF has a Science and Technology Center
for Biological Timing at the U. of Virginia in Charlottesville?
MONEY: HIDE AND SEEK Did you ever have an extra $20 bill and decide to "stash
it away" somewhere for a rainy day?? When it rained, you retrieved the money
from the hiding place. Have you ever forgotten you "stashed it away" and found
it months (or years) later?? There are many versions of the "hide and seek"
game with a variety of rules and ways of playing. Some of the versions of
this game enabled Richard S. Johnson to write: The Abondoned Money Book (MIE
Publishing 1992). The Council of State Governments has published CGS State
Directory: Directory III, Administrative Officials 1998. This Directory has a two
page listing of all the States which have an agency for Unclaimed Property. Most
recent is "Hidden Assests: Out of Sight...Out of Mind...Out of Luck?" FDIC Consumer
News, Fall, 1996 pages 2-3,4-5 (Y 3.F31/l8:24/ 996/fall ). This very informative
article will tell you how bank accounts, assets, and investments are lost. You can
learn how there can be unclaimed funds which their owners never claimed. The
article has a section "Tips for Preventing Money from Getting Lost in the First
Place". If you follow the suggestions provided in the article, you will need the
Council of State Governments State Leadership Directory (cited above) to
identify the "state unclaimed property office" mentioned in the article.
The Directory lists only 46 states, Washington, D. C., and Guam which have
unclaimed property offices. Do you think the 4 states and Puerto Rico, which
are missing from this Directory don't have an agency because they do no have
a unclaimed property problem in their state?
TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL Unless you physical and/or religious convictions prevent
it, almost everyone has at least tasted some alcoholic beverage. Some people go
no further, some drink moderately, some "more than moderate", and some are get
addicted and are alcoholics. Some people have never used tobacco in any form.
Some have tried one form (or another) of tobacco and have quit. Some people get
addicted and find it very difficult or impossible and some people don't want to
quit. Some of the people in each of the alcohol categories also fit into one
or more of the tobacco categories. Likewise, some of the people in the tobacco
categories also use alcohol... "The links between the use of alcohol and use
of tobacco are multiple and complex" is the beginning line of "Chapter 9,
Overview of Section I: Psychosocial and Biological Mechanisms" by Raymond Niaura
and Saul Shiffman in Alcohol and Tobacco: From Basic Science to Clinical
Practice ,(HE 20.8315:30) a 1995 title from the National Institute for Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism. This 323 page volume is available for $13.00 from the
Superintendent of Documents with S/N 017-024-01588-1. This volume tells what
happens to people who both drink and smoke."Heavy drinkers tend to heavy smokers"
is the topic of "Do Drinking and Smoking Go Together?" by Saul Shiffman and Mark
Balabanis in Alcohol Health and Research World V. 20, No. 2, 1996 pages 107-110
(HE 20.8309:20/2) is a second article which discusses the obstacles for the
alcoholic/smoker who is in an alcohol treatment program.
BOSTON TEA PARTY ANNIVERSARY It was 203 years ago on December 16, 1773
that the people of Boston held the famous Boston Tea Party. The tea party was
held at the hour it was in spite of the fact that the tide was very low. The
low tide caused the tea to pileup on the beach and wash up onto the shore as the
tide rose. Eventhough Boston harbor did not become a "big cup of tea", all the
tea was dumped. This account of what happened was researched by Donald W. Olson
and Russell L. Doescher who researched the history of the party and determined
that at the time of the Party there was a low tide. Sky & Telescope, December,
1993, pages 83-86 is where you will find the article by these two physicists.
After 200 years, have we learned how to hold a tea party?
CASSANDRA & GIFTS If you saw the 1987 movie "No Way Out" how much detail did
you catch? Kevin Kostner was the Naval Officer in the Pentagon who is trying
to find out who killed his girfriend. The girlfriend was Sean Young and Gene
Hackman (the Secretary of Defense) was the culprit. Part of Kostner's search
involved "breaking into" the Department of State's database to identify a woman's
bracelet which was possibly a gift to a federal employee (i.e. the murderer).
The plot is fiction but the Department of State database is real and shortly you
will have access to 1999 gift information. Look for "Office of Protocol; Gifts to Federal Employees
from Foreign Government Sources Reported to Employing Agencies in Calendar Year
1999, Notices" Federal Register, V. 65, No. 58, March 15, 2000 pages 15936-15979.
This annually appearing list cites the "Name and title of the recipient, gift,
date of acceptance, identity of foreign donor and value, and circumstances
justifying the acceptance." Cassandra once warned the Trojans about the Greeks
bearing gifts. Currently, the United States Code, Title 5, Section 7342(f) and
Code of Federal Regulations, Title 22, Part 3.6 requires all gifts from foreigners
to federal employees to be identified and listed in the Federal Register not
later than January 31 each year. Notice the date of the Federal Reigister.
FLUOROSCOPES AND THE 40+ If you are over 40 years of age, or know about
fluoroscopes, you may recognize the following. In the late 1940s and early 1950s,
some stores which sold shoes utilized fluoroscope machines in which one would
insert his/her feet and see the position of the toes in relation to the tip of
the shoes you were buying. These were x-ray machines which were hazardous to
one's health. You can read more in "Radiation Continuing Concern with Fluoroscopy"
by Ricki Lewis, FDA Consumer V. 27, No. 9, November, 1993 pages 18-21
(HE 20.4010:27/9). This FDA article may be old but the concern is new. On
December 22, Sunday at 10:00 P.M. on the A&E CABLE Channel, the pogram "The
Straight Dope" had a portion devoted to the 1940s and 1950s health problem of
the fluoroscope. The dangers of these machines were definitely present for
childern and for salesmen who lost fingers to cancer. It was also stated that
if you had been near these machines and you were going to develop cancer it
would occur within 15 years. These machines were banned in the mid-fifties.
Did you ever see what your toes look like in an x-ray machine?
WHAT ARE YOU WORTH? Once upon a time, we learned the value of the chemicals
in the human body made it (i.e. you and me) worth 98 cents. In 1988 the Federal
Government brought up the economic question: if it costs NIOSH a (few) million
dollars to pass some regulation(s) to save workers lives, are those workers lives
worth it(i.e. regulatory cost(s))? The government was very concerned about your
value! A very good introduction to this topic and a bibliography of some
literature (as of 1988) is availble in "Federal Agency Valuations of Human Life"
by Clayton P. Gillette and Thomas D. Hopkins on pages 367-408 of Administrative
Conference of the United States, Reports and Recommendations, 1988 (Y 3.Ad6:9/988).
Dated December 1988, this 42 paged text issued as" Report for Recommendation 88-7"
is discussed in the 1993 edition of Code of Federal Regulations, Title 1, Ch. III
(1-1-93) in Part 305.88-7 "Valuation of Human Life in Regulatory Rulemaking
(Recommendation No. 88-7)" (AE 2.106/3:Part 1/2/993). Recommendation No. 88-7 is
still available on the shelf, but the legal basis is now a mystery to me. The Code
of Federal Regulations regulatory discussion section was removed in 1993 and is
missing from the 1994 edition of Title 1 leaving only a bibliographic citation
under Part 305 "Recommendations of the Administrative Conference of the United
States". In the 1995 edition of Title 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations, we
have the last appearance of this regulation and Chapter III. It was Public Law
104-52, Title IV, Independent Agencies (Nov. 19, 1995) which, by February 1, 1996
terminated the Administrative Conference of the United States, (Code of Federal
Regulations, Title I, Chapter III) and our regulation about human value. With the
regulatory basis of human value now lacking, we have to see what the federal legal
sources say about human value. Stay tuned for the next chapter of our tasty serial:
"WHAT ARE YOU WORTH?"
THOUGHT OF THE MONTH: Sometimes trying to understand people can be like trying
to (hold a mirror in front of your face and) see what you look like with your eyes
shut. Did you ever try it? (Thought is courtesy of POGO)
http://www.nku.edu/~yannarella/news9612.html
January 27, 1997, Revised May, 2000