TIDBITS® RESEARCHESCAREERS CUT SHORT

by Kathy WolfeThe music industry has suffered many sad losses over the years. This week, Tidbits brings a sampling of those talented legends whose premature deaths resulted in promising careers cut short. • Baby boomers will recall Ricky Nelson as one

of the biggest teen idols of the 1950s and 1960s. Starting out on his family’s television show “Ozzie & Harriet,” Nelson began his recording career in 1961 with the million-selling “Travelin’ Man,” fol-lowed by another chart topper “Hello, Mary Lou.” He was still recording in the 1980s with his Stone Canyon Band when he composed the hit “Garden Party.” As Nelson, his fiancée and band members were jetting to a New Year’s Eve 1985 perfor-mance, a fire caused by a malfunctioning heater broke out in their DC-3, and the plane crashed, killing the 45-year-old singer and several others.

• Soul singer Otis Redding recorded just one mil-lion-seller and No. 1 hit. Just three days after re-cording “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” in 1967, the 26-year-old Redding and his band boarded a plane in Wisconsin, encountered a storm, and crashed into Lake Monona. Four months later, the song hit the top spot on the charts.

• One crash took the lives of three rising stars in 1959. Considered a pioneer of rock and roll, 22-year-old Buddy Holly, only a year and a half into his career, had already scored hits “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue.” He was on the “Winter Dance Party” tour in February of 1959 with 17-year-old new-comer Ritchie Valens, a teen idol who had just re-leased “La Bamba,” and 29-year-old “Big Bopper” Richardson. The Bopper had recently scored a big hit with “Chantilly Lace.” The winter weather was bitter cold as the tour got underway, with the situ-ation aggravated by a malfunction of the heater on their bus. After completing their gig in Clear Lake, Iowa, the group was due to play in Fargo, North Dakota, the following night. The Big Bopper had the flu, and Holly made the decision to charter a plane to Fargo. With limited seating on the Beech-craft Bonanza, they flipped a coin for seats. Valens won the toss. Bass player Waylon Jennings gave

Week of December 26, 2011 Vol. 1, Issue 45

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1. Which 1960s group released “Pretty Ballerina”?2. Name the only Top 10 single re-leased by the Mar-Keys.3. This reggae group released “Fat-

tie Fattie” and “I’ve Got a Feeling”?4. What Philadelphia soul singer had a No. 1 hit in 1972 with “Me and Mrs. Jones”?5. Which group had a hit in 1975 with “Don’t Leave Me This Way”?6. Fact or fiction: When a CD boxed set was re-leased with a bar code as part of the graphics, stores scanned it instead of the real code.

Answers1. The Left Banke, in 1966. The song went to No. 15 on the Billboard chart. 2. “Last Night,” in 1961.3. The Heptones, both in 1966. Legend says the trio got its name from a bottle of hair tonic. 4. Billy Paul. The song won Paul a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance.5. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. “Don’t Leave Me This Way” rose to No. 3 on the disco list. The next year, Thelma Houston netted a No. 1 hit with the same song.6. Fact. In 2005, store clerks were actually scanning a large bar code that was part of the cover art of the “Elec-tric 80s” CD set, resulting in a lower price to consumers. The real code was on the back.

White Chocolate Cheesecake

If you’re celebrating the New Year with a party, be sure to include this scrumptious cheesecake on the menu. It looks as festive as it tastes.

2 (8-ounce) packages fat-free cream cheese1 (4-serving) package sugar-free instant white-chocolate pudding mix2/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder1 cup water1 cup reduced-calorie whipped topping1 (6-ounce) purchased chocolate pie crust1/2 teaspoon almond extract4 to 5 drops red food coloring1 tablespoon slivered almonds1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips3 maraschino cherries, quartered

1. In a large bowl, stir cream cheese with a spoon until soft. Add dry pudding mix, dry milk powder and water. Mix well using wire whisk. Blend in 1/4 cup whipped top-ping. Spread mixture evenly into pie crust. Refrigerate while preparing topping.2. In medium bowl, gently combine remaining 3/4 cup whipped topping, almond extract and food coloring. Evenly spread topping mixture over set filling. Sprinkle almonds, chocolate chips and cherry pieces evenly over top. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Serves 8.

¥ Each serving equals: About 206 calories, 6g fat, 11g protein, 27g carb., 641mg sodium, 1g fiber; Diabetic Ex-changes: 1 1/2 Starch, 1 Meat, 1 Fat.

THE BOLD AND THE BEAU-TIFULRidge narrowed the list of sus-pects to find out who stole the Forrester designs. Stephanie

apologized to Beverly for her false accusations and asked her to return to her internship. Rick urged Hope to act on her feelings for Liam or lose him forever. Pam seethed with jealously over Donna and Nick’s blossom-ing relationship. After Pam opted out of cooking Christ-mas dinner, the undomesticated Logan sisters were put in charge. Hope and Thomas took in the sights of the seasons together in Los Angeles. Wait to See: Chance brings Liam and Hope together at a resort in Mexico.

DAYS OF OUR LIVESSecrets began to unravel in Salem as EJ promised Ni-cole that there were none between them. Carrie encour-aged John to use Alice’s secret IOU against Stefano. Madison kept a cryptic phone call from Brady. Daniel turned to Lexie for support for his health issues. Marle-na had a hard time believing that new evidence actually could exonerate John. Brady and Madison grew closer as they opened up about their troubled childhoods. Sami and Rafe prepared for their vow renewal ceremony in the town square just as EJ arrived. Wait to See: John faces a financial crisis.

GENERAL HOSPITALMichael and Sam bonded over their shared traumas. Matt interrupted a potential holiday celebration between Elizabeth and Lucky. Dante took Lulu to Manhattan to get a glimpse of what it was really like to be married to a cop. Lucky left for Ireland again. Shawn surprised Carly with a fully decorated home. Sam realized that Jason watched Franco’s sinister DVD. Dante and Lulu said “I do” in a surprise wedding. An emotional Robin burst into tears while wrapping gifts. Wait to See: Ethan receives another message from The Woman in White.

ONE LIFE TO LIVERex stayed behind in Texas after he was bumped from his flight, leaving him face to face with Gigi/Stacy. Meanwhile back in Llanview, Aubrey helped Shane decorate for Christmas as they waited for Rex to return. Viki walked up just in time to see Clint kissing Kim, but didn’t get the full story. Neela and Jack grew closer, making her feel guilty for secretly recording his confes-sion. The professor helped Gigi/Stacy learn what really happened the night Gigi “died.” Irene warned Todd that he would lose everything if the truth came out that he was Victor’s killer. Wait to See: Surprises unfold as the lights go out in Llanview. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESSA drunken Nikki confessed to Diane’s murder, but the judge didn’t believe her and sent Victor off to prison. Devon was overjoyed when his sister, Ana, surprised him for Christmas. Meanwhile, Ana didn’t recognize her estranged mother, Harmony. Nikki told Deacon that she was filing for an annulment. Kevin canceled his wedding to Chloe at the last minute, saying he needed more time to think. Nikki was greeted by her guardian angel after she crashed into a tree. Wait to See: Adam and Sharon reunite.

up his winning seat to the Bopper. Within minutes after takeoff, the craft crashed, killing all aboard. It was “the day the music died,” according to the 1971 Don McLean musical tribute “American Pie.”

• The career of 30-year-old Jim Croce was flourish-ing in 1973. He had topped the charts with three hits, “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim,” “Time in a Bottle” and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” But life on the road was taking its toll on the young singer, and he became homesick for his wife and infant son. Two months after “Leroy” hit No. 1, Croce chartered a plane home for a break. Shortly after takeoff from a Louisiana airport, the Beechcraft E18S hit a tree, killing Croce and four others.

• Considered one of the greatest singers of all time, the velvet-voiced crooner Karen Carpenter, along with brother Richard, racked up 17 Top 20 hits and sales of more than 100 million records in the 1970s, including “Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun.” Yet this beautiful girl with the whole-some image struggled with anorexia for years, and desperate to look slim on stage, dropped as low as 79 pounds. The eating disorder took its toll on her heart and eventually claimed her life in 1983 when she was just 32.

• Even young people have heard the music of Big Band trombonist Glenn Miller, although his music career was only three and a half years long. Such hits as “In the Mood” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo” have endured for decades, and even the re-issues of his hits 40 years after his death have achieved gold status. Miller and his swing band scored 31 Top Ten hits in 1940 and another 11 in 1941, making him the top recording artist for both years. In 1942, the 38-year-old Miller left behind his $20,000-per-week income and joined the Army, organizing a 45-member military band that per-formed for troops and war-bond rallies. In 1944, on a flight to Paris, his plane disappeared over the English Channel. It wasn’t determined whether the craft had been shot down or had crashed due to bad weather. The plane was never recovered.

• Patsy Cline was already a Grand Ole Opry star at 26 and the nation’s number one female art-ist at age 29. Her recording of “I Fall to Pieces” was the Song of the Year for 1962. She survived a nearly fatal head-on collision in 1961 but could only cheat death for one more year. In 1962, after a short five-and-a-half-year career, Cline was killed in a plane crash at age 30 in a swampy woodland in Tennessee. She’s number 46 on Rolling Stone’s list of “100 Greatest Singers of All Times.”

• Back in the late 1960s, Ronnie Van Zant and a couple of his high school buddies formed a South-ern blues-rock band, calling it My Backyard. In a sarcastic tribute to their P.E. teacher Leonard Skin-ner, who was famous for rebuking long-haired stu-dents, they changed their name to Lynyrd Skynyrd. The group was at the peak of their career in the mid-1970s with sell-out concerts and increasing record sales, thanks to mega-hits “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama.” In 1977, just three days after the release of their sixth album, the band’s private charter plane crashed on its way to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, killing Van Zant and five others. Although four members of the band survived the crash, they disbanded shortly afterward. Ten years later they reunited, with Ronnie’s younger brother Johnny as the new lead singer. The band, with sev-eral member changes, continues to tour today.

• For decades, Salvatore “Sonny” Bono was a re-cording artist, composer, record producer and ac-tor. Alongside wife Cher, he decked himself out in fur vests, boots, bell-bottoms, beads and long hair, a classic “hippy.” His duet with Cher “I Got You, Babe” rocked the charts, and their television variety show scored high in the ratings. When his music career began to fizzle, he ventured down a completely different path, that of politician. He was elected mayor of Palm Springs in 1988 and a U.S. Congressman in 1994. (He is the only mem-ber of Congress to have scored a Billboard No. 1 pop single.) In 1998, while skiing near Lake Ta-hoe, he struck a tree and perished from his injuries.

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1. LANGUAGE: From what language are all the modern Ro-mance languages derived?2. SCIENCE: What term describes the lowest point in a satel-lite orbiting the Earth? 3. HISTORY: When did Labor Day become a federal holiday in the United States?4. INVENTIONS: What was Eli Whitney’s most famous inven-tion?5. GOVERNMENT: In what year was the U.S. Constitution ratified?6. GEOGRAPHY: What nation calls itself Espana in its native tongue?7. ANCIENT WORLD: Where did the Minoan culture flourish?8. POETRY: Who wrote the poem called “The Waste Land”?9. MUSIC: What Beatles’ album features the songs “Rocky Raccoon” and “Helter Skelter”?10. MEASUREMENTS: How many pints are in a quart?

Answers1. Latin 2. Perigee 3. 1894 4. Cotton gin 5. 1789 6. Spain7. Crete 8. T.S. Eliot 9. “The Beatles” (The White Album)10. Two

Q: Like you, I am an avid fan of “New Girl” on Fox. I was wondering what happened to Coach,

the character played by Damon Wayans Jr., who was in the first episode and then suddenly left? -- Giselle F., via e-mailA: When “New Girl” filmed its pilot episode in spring 2011, the original roommates were Coach (played by Damon), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Nick (Jake Johnson), with Jess (Zooey Deschanel) taking Winston’s room, since he was off playing basketball in Latvia. However, Damon also was co-starring on the ABC show “Happy Endings,” which at the time “New Girl” began production was looking like it wasn’t going to get renewed for another season. So, when “Happy Endings” did indeed get renewed, the producers at “New Girl” had to find a new fourth roommate and opted for Winston (Lamorne Morris) to return from Latvia to reclaim his old room.

***Q: I was super-bummed when I found out that “Cougar Town” wasn’t going to air on ABC until January as a midseason replacement, and now I am hearing that that might not even happen! Please tell me it hasn’t been canceled. -- Bridget D. in North CarolinaA: I have good news and bad news: The goods news is that “Cougar Town” will be back this season; the bad news is its return has been pushed back until March. More bad news: Instead of its planned 22-episode season, the order has been cut to 15 episodes. This news makes me super-bummed too, as I have been going through some serious withdrawals, and have been forced to drink wine out of Big Joe while reading Laurie Keller’s hilarious Twitter feed (twitter.com/TheLarmy) and throwing pennies in my Bobby Cobb Official Competition Penny Can as I wait with bated breath for new episodes from my favorite Pinot-swilling gals and their awesome sidekick fellas.

***Q: A while back you mentioned that Fox was going to make an animated version of “Napoleon Dynamite.” Are those plans still going forward? -- Jeremy G., via e-mailA: It’s full-steam ahead on the weekly cartoon adaption

of “Napoleon Dynamite,” which will be voiced by the movie’s stars, including John Heder, Efren Ramirez, Tina Majorino, Aaron Ruell, John Gries and the gang. The 13-episode series premieres on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 8:30 ET, right in the middle of Fox’s super-successful “animation block.”

***Q: I was watching “Robocop” over the weekend and wondered what its star, Peter Weller, can be seen in now? He was so good in that movie! -- George T., Omaha, Neb.A: Peter Weller, who very recently was a regular on “Dexter” playing Stan Liddy, is the latest big-name star to be cast in the newest “Star Trek” movie, which is yet untitled. The film’s details are being kept under wraps, but I can tell you that Peter is playing a principal character in the May 2013 sequel to the 2009 megablockbuster.

PHOTO: Zooey Deschanel

HOLLYWOOD -- It’s make it or break it time. NBC isn’t saying whether “Community” is coming back, even though TV Guide readers voted it the show they most wanted to save. Now

ABC is on the brink of cancelling “PanAm.” Karine Vana-sse (Colette) recently tweeted, “We received THE call ... “PanAm” is only coming back for one more episode, after Christmas.” ABC quickly stated there are five more shows to air through February, and it’s still in contention for a second-season pickup. What they’re not saying: If ratings don’t im-prove, the show is toast! So if you love “PanAm,” as I do, bet-ter get those cards, letters and e-mails to ABC, or “PanAm” won’t be flying on the network anymore.

***In 1978, I met Judy Lewis, then Barbara Vining on “General Hospital.” We became good friends, and she trusted me with a big secret about her life. I already knew she was the daughter of “The Farmer’s Daughter”: Oscar-winning film and TV star Loretta Young. But what nobody knew was that she also was the daughter of film legend Clark Gable. Apparently, Young and Gable had a night of passion while filming “The Call of the Wild” in l935. Young hid Judy in a convent for 19 months while she arranged to adopt her. When Judy was 15, Gable unexpectedly turned up at her house. She was thrilled to meet him, but didn’t know why he wanted to spend time with her. It wasn’t until much later that she learned the truth.I kept her confidence until l994, when she revealed the truth in her book “Uncommon Knowledge.” She told me at that time, “It feels so good to be able to openly be who I really am; you can’t know how important that is!” Loretta Young never acknowledged that Gable was the father until her autobiogra-phy was published after her death in 2000. Judy passed away Nov. 25 in Gladwyne, Pa., of cancer. She was 76.

***I received a letter asking about John Davidson. “I loved ‘The John Davidson Show’ and ‘Hollywood Squares’ when he hosted, but he’s fallen off the radar. Where is he?” I met John at one of his first jobs, “The Prince and The Pauper,” in a little theater across the street from Carnegie Hall in NYC. He soon landed “Foxy,” a Broadway show with Bert Lahr (the lion in “The Wizard of Oz”). He’s currently wowing them, live, in “The Palm Springs Follies” in Palm Springs, Calif., until Dec. 31. To see him now, Google “Palm Springs Follies” with John Davidson, and you’ll see that there may be snow on his roof, but there’s still fire in his 70-year-old furnace!

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After his streak of Sprint Cup championships was broken this year by Tony Stewart, Hendrick Motorsports stalwart Jimmie Johnson is “highly motivated” to get back to his usual winning ways. (John Clark/NASCAR This Week photo)

Jimmie Johnson Still Chomping at

the Bit

Tony Stewart won his third championship in 2011, and no

one has ever been more spectacular down the stretch. He won five of the final 10 races, the most ever since the Chase was implemented in 2004, and yet still won only by tie-breaker over Carl Edwards, who had the same number (2,403) of points.Edwards has finished second or third three times now and has the best average finish, 4.9, of any driver in Chase history.So who is the favorite for 2012? It’s obvious, even though it’s neither Stewart nor Edwards.The favorite is the driver who won championships in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010: Jimmie Johnson.Johnson finished sixth, 99 points behind Stewart and Ed-wards. It wasn’t a championship season, but it wasn’t bad, at least not by any standards other than those established by Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, Chad Knaus.“Highly motivated” was the way Johnson referred to himself at the Sprint Cup Awards Ceremonies in Las Vegas.“Motivation comes easy for all of us,” he said. “I know that question is asked a lot, but we just want to race, and if we’re going to spend all the time to do all this, we want to be racing

for the championship.”Johnson won five straight championships. Only Richard Pet-ty and Dale Earnhardt have ever won more than five total. Can Johnson win eight and break the record?“I want to believe in it,” he said. “How long I can race into my career? I think there is a chance, I don’t know how real-istic that chance is, but I want to believe in it and think that I can.”Johnson paid tribute to Stewart, who became the first driver-owner to win a championship since Alan Kulwicki in 1992.“I didn’t think it was possible,” Johnson said. “I don’t think any of us felt that we would see it take place again or even get close to it. ... It’s a huge feat that I think everybody wrote off and said would never happen again.”

$10OFFwhen you get your pet fixed at a

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Pets to the Rescue

There’s a good crop of pet books this season, but two really stand out from the pack of training and pet-care tomes I normally receive. These are perfect for curling up with beside the fire in the new year.

You might, or might not, remember the story of the library cat named Dewey, who ruled the Spencer, Iowa, public library for nearly two decades as its resident cat. Library director Vicki Myron along with author Bret Witter published a series of books about Dewey. Now, they’re back with another great addition to the plucky cat’s story: “Dewey’s Nine Lives: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions” (New American Library). Myron and Witter present nine true stories of cats and their people, illustrating the way pets affect and change our lives for the better.If you’re more interested in a good piece of fiction, take a break with “Walking Back to Happiness” (Berkeley Books) by Lucy Dillon. It’s a well-composed, smart tale of Juliet, who is grieving the recent loss of her husband and rarely leaves the house except to walk her husband’s terrier, Minton. Her mother and sister both try to lift her spirits in between their own busy lives, but it isn’t until Juliet begins walking her mother’s aging Lab, Coco, that things begin to change. It’s a sensitive depiction of grief and healing, with a bit of romance thrown in.

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¥ On Jan. 5, 1643, in the first record of a legal divorce in the Ameri-can colonies, Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is grant-ed a divorce from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston.

¥ On Jan. 7, 1785, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon, making the first crossing of the English Channel by air. After almost crashing, the two men were forced to throw nearly everything out of the balloon to lighten the ship.

¥ On Jan. 4, 1847, Samuel Colt rescues the future of his faltering gun company by winning a contract to provide the U.S. government with 1,000 of his .44 caliber revolvers. Though never cheap, by the early 1850s, Colt revolvers were inexpensive enough to be a favorite with Americans headed westward during the California Gold Rush.

¥ On Jan 8, 1877, Crazy Horse and his warriors -- outnumbered, low on ammunition and forced to use outdated weapons -- fight their final losing battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana. On May 6, Crazy Horse led approximately 1,100 Indians to the Red Cloud reservation near Nebraska’s Fort Robinson and surrendered.

¥ On Jan. 6, 1925, in Madison Square Garden, Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi sets a new indoor world record, running a mile in 4:13.5. In the 5,000-meter race, the “Flying Finn” broke another indoor world record in 14:44.6. Nurmi often ran holding a stopwatch to pace himself, an innovation he developed.

¥ On Jan. 3, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower closes the Ameri-can embassy in Havana and severs diplomatic relations between the United States and Fidel Castro’s government in Cuba. The action sig-naled that the United States was prepared to take extreme measures to oppose Castro’s regime.

¥ On Jan. 2, 1971, 66 football (soccer) fans are killed in a stampede at a stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, as they attempt to leave a game. The tragedy was caused by the crush of spectators all leaving at the same time on the same stairway.

“Cool” Candles Add Warm Glow

Let’s make fire with ice! Impossible, you say? Well, it just depends on how you

look at it. Follow my easy process for creating these super “cool” candles that add

a warm glow to any evening.

To make several medium-size candles, you’ll need:

--1-pound box of paraffin wax (available in the canning section at most markets)

--1 saucepan and a tin can, such as a coffee can

--Candle coloring (optional)

--Ice cubes crushed into medium-size chunks. Your kids may fill a gallon plastic bag about three-quarters full with

ice. Secure the top. Let them use a hammer to break the ice into small chunks.

--Empty and clean pint- or quart-size cardboard milk cartons with the tops cut off

--A white or colored taper candle for each ice candle, 1 inch shorter than the cut carton. Trim the candle from the

bottom, if necessary.

An adult should fill the bottom of the saucepan with a few inches of water and place the tin can in the center. Put a

chunk of paraffin inside the can along with extra candle stubs you might have around the house. Add coloring if you

wish. Stir occasionally as the wax melts, keeping a constant eye on it since it is flammable.

For a wick, your school-age child can place a taper candle in the middle of a milk carton and pack the ice around it.

When the wax is melted, an adult should use a potholder to lift the can out of the saucepan and pour the melted wax

directly into the milk carton over the ice and around the taper candle. As the wax melts the ice, you’ll hear cracking

and popping!

Once the wax is hard, drain off the water a time or two. Peel the carton away from the candle and enjoy the surprise

of your work of art! The ice will have formed interesting pockets, like a chunk of Swiss cheese.

To use, set it on a plate and surround it with marbles. When you light the candle, give your preschooler the job of

saying “Ta-da!” as you stand around proudly watching the creation flicker on a winter’s night.

Note: An adult should always be present when burning candles.

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PASTA PARTICULARSSince pasta is one of the world’s favorite foods, it’s worth

a look into some of its history, ingredients and statistics.

• If you’ve eaten pasta this week, you’re part of the 77

percent of Americans who eat it at least once a week.

One-third of the population dines on pasta at least three

times a week. If you’re an average American, you’ll eat

about 20 pounds of the stuff this year. But if you’re a

resident of Italy, that figure is 60 pounds!

• Not surprisingly, the word “pasta” has its origin in

the Italian language, and translates “paste,” meaning

a combination of flour and water. High-quality pasta

comes from semolina flour, which comes from durum

wheat. Using softer flour will result in mushy pasta.

North Dakota is the top American producer of durum

wheat, 73 percent of the U.S. total. That’s enough to dish

up about 13.7 billion servings of spaghetti! One bushel

of wheat yields about 42 pounds of pasta. Almost two

million tons of pasta is produced in the United States

every year.

• Not all pasta is produced from wheat flour. Some varieties

are made from rice, barley, corn and beans.

• Explorer Marco Polo dined on pasta in China in the courts

of Kubla Khan during the 13th century. It’s believed that

the Chinese were eating pasta as early as 3000 B.C.

• Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing pasta to

America. During his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to

France, he tasted a pasta dish while visiting Naples,

Italy, and enjoyed it so much, he had crates of pasta and

a pasta-making machine shipped to America in 1789.

However, it wasn’t until 1848 that a Frenchman named

Antoine Zerega opened America’s first commercial pasta

plant in Brooklyn, New York. He used one horse in the

basement to power the machinery and placed the strands

of pasta on the roof to dry them out.

• Don’t confuse pasta with egg noodles. Pasta is produced

by kneading flour and water together. According to

government regulations, egg noodles must be at least 5.5

percent egg in order to bear that label. The word noodle

translates from the German nudel, meaning “paste with

egg.” So if a noodle doesn’t contain eggs, it’s not a

noodle!

• There are about 600 different shapes of pasta, but its main

types are flat (such as fettuccine and lasagna), tubular

(manicotti, penne and macaroni), shaped (the wheel-

shaped rotelle and bowties), strand pasta (spaghetti and

angel hair), spirals (fusilli) and the small soup pasta.

Those little bowties are officially known as farfalle.

But this term doesn’t have anything to do with ties. It

actually means “butterflies.” Ditaloni, also known as

thimble pasta, is shaped like small cups, and stellini are

star-shaped, while anellini are tiny rings of pasta. The

word linguine translates from the Italian word meaning

“tongues,” and the very thin strand vermicelli means

“little worms.”

• If your recipe instructs you to cook your pasta “al dente”

(which literally translates “to the tooth”), it means it

should be a bit firm, but still tender.

• Counting calories? There are about 200 calories and 40

grams of carbohydrates in one cup of cooked spaghetti.

Shoveling Snow Is Hard on Heart

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My hus-band is 73. I am sure he’s going to die this winter. He insists on shoveling our snow, and we have

lots of it. He says it’s good for him; it gives him exercise. This from a man whose other exercise consists of popping open a beer can. He comes in after he’s cleared the walk, puffing and exhausted. Please talk some sense into him. -- M.L.

ANSWER: After every snowstorm, city emergency rooms fill with older men who have had a heart attack after cleaning their snow-covered walks. Snow shoveling is strenuous exercise. It burns 420 calories an hour. The heart rate of a shoveler rises to 170 beats a minute, and the systolic blood pressure (the first number of a read-ing) exceeds 200. Of course, the demand depends on the depth and weight of the snow. Older hearts cannot support such stress.In addition to the work of shoveling, cold weather adds more de-mands on the heart.Unless a man your husband’s age has had medical clearance for such exhausting exercise, he is tempting fate.

***DEAR DR. DONOHUE: A friend has a case of constant hiccups. Can you suggest any possible cures? -- P.W.

ANSWER: Hiccups come from involuntary contractions of the diaphragm, the horizontal muscle sheet that lies between the chest

and the abdomen. It is the principal breathing muscle. Sometimes persistent contractions can be traced to gallbladder problems, dis-eases of the pancreas, reflux of stomach acid into the esophagus (heartburn) or an abscess on the abdominal side of the diaphragm. However, most of the time, no cause is found. For temporary hic-cups, gulping food and simultaneously swallowing air sometimes brings them on. So can carbonated beverages.Through the years readers have provided me with hundreds of home remedies for dealing with hiccups, and I welcome new ad-ditions. Swallowing a teaspoon of sugar irritates the throat, which sets in motion a reflex that can end hiccups. Breathing into a paper bag raises the blood carbon-dioxide level, which, in turn, raises blood acidity, and that triggers a release of calcium. Calcium can spark nerve signals to stop hiccups. Putting angostura bitters on the back of the tongue is another sometimes-successful trick.Hiccups that last longer than 48 hours aren’t likely to respond to home remedies. Medicines have to be turned to. Chlorpromazine, omeprazole, metoclopramide and baclofen are often successfully used.In cases that are resistant to medicine treatment and that are disrupt-ing a person’s life, doctors can interrupt, in a number of ways, the transmission of nerve signals conducted to the diaphragm by the phrenic nerve.

***DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 34 and have been jogging for 10 years. I do it year-round. I’ve noticed this winter that my knees feel stiff before I run. They don’t hurt during the run or after. Could this be a sign that I’m getting arthritis? -- B.C.ANSWER: It’s not likely that at age 34 you’re coming down with arthritis. It’s more likely a weather thing. Cold weather thickens joint fluid. That makes joints stiff. Warming the fluid by exercise relieves the stiffness.

That “Free” Lunch Could Cost Plenty

Those free-lunch seminar scams are still going on. That’s because it’s lucrative for scammers. They want to separate you from your money, and too often they succeed.The American Association of Retired Persons has released a study on victims of scam semi-nars and other financial risks to seniors.

The study showed that people who are more likely than the general population to fall for investment scams have the following behaviors: They will listen to sales pitches on the phone, attend promotions where a free night’s stay or a meal is given, provide personal information to salespeople, allow people to come into their home for a sales pitch, read junk mail, not hang up on tele-marketers, and call 1-800 numbers to send for free information.In other words, they’re opening themselves up to being scammed.Even if one of these financial seminars is hosted by your local senior center or another trusted local organization, do your home-work in advance. Call the center to ask who checked it out, and how. Go online and do a search for the company’s name. What are their true qualifications? Are they local? See if there are any complaints at the Better Business Bureau.And if you go to a free lunch seminar (don’t go, but if you do): Don’t fill out any forms that give your personal information. Even giving your telephone number could be a step toward being harassed. They’ll want to visit you at your home, where you’re more vulnerable and have all your financial information handy so they can determine how much you’re worth and decide how to fine tune their approach.And leave your checkbook at home.

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¥ It was American journalist and satirist Ambrose Bierce who made the following sage observation: “There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of

old things we don’t know.”

¥ Those who study such things say that when a ladybug is frightened, it squirts a foul-smelling goo from its knees.

¥ You might be surprised to learn that approximately 40 percent of the oxygen in the world’s atmosphere is provided by the verdant plant growth of South America’s Amazon River basin.

¥ Mayan artwork dating back as far as 700 A.D. shows people preparing chocolate beverages. Chocolate was so valued by the natives of the Americas, the Maya even used cacao beans as currency.

¥ For reasons that aren’t quite clear, in 1960 Macy’s department store introduced a vending machine that dispensed men’s underwear. After an initial flurry of shoppers coming to see the new contraption, the machine was doomed to obscurity due to lack of interest.

¥ Here’s a question for the ladies: Are you a philematophobe? If you’re a woman who hates to be kissed, you are.

¥ In 1958, then-Vice President Richard Nixon made a state visit to Venezuela. It seems he wasn’t terribly popular there, and one of the protesters spit on him. The Secret Service detained the man, and an irate Nixon kicked him in the shins.

¥ Only about 37 percent of the newspapers published in the Unites States are recycled.

¥ The next time you’re thinking about getting a new pet, consider this: Animal behaviorists say that a puppy can’t hold a memory for more than 45 seconds.

¥ Researchers at Yale University have determined that people think more efficiently in the winter than in the summer.***Thought for the Day: “A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.” -- Gian Vincenzo Gravina

Internet Fraud Soars, Are You Prepared?

If 2012 has a theme, it might well

be the Year of Increased Internet

Fraud. The problems don’t occur

as much with what we block out with our virus protection

as they do with the parts we do let in: email we open and

websites we visit. One source pegs the increase in “phish-

ing” (getting your information) at 1,200 percent in just the

past six months. It’s only going to get worse.

During the recent holidays, right in the middle of online

shopping season, customers received fake messages sup-

posedly from a major online store. The email looked gen-

uine: the content looked right, the subject line was one

that many people would open -- but the sender’s address

was forged, and it asked for personal information.

That’s the key right there: When an email or a site wants

your data, beware. The collection form might be a duplicate

of the info-gathering method of the legitimate site and look

very authentic.

What do they want? They want your personal information

any way they can get it. It might be a direct steal when

you help by typing in your name and information. It might

be that you’re tricked into downloading a keystroke logger

program that will capture everything you type in.

Here are some initial steps you can take to protect yourself:

1. Err on the side of caution. Be skeptical. Don’t click any

links, even out of curiosity. (Even clicking might start a

download of spyware.) Don’t provide any personal infor-

mation that’s asked for. If in doubt, close the email, close

your email client completely, delete your browsing history

and close all your browser windows. Then navigate to that

company’s website in your normal way by typing in the

URL. Be sure your browser’s phishing filter is turned on.

2. Better yet, pick up the phone. Call the company and tell

them about the email you’ve received. (They’ll want to

know.) Ask if the mail was legitimate and if something is

wrong with your account.

To learn more in general about online fraud, go online

to Fraud Watch International [www.fraudwatchinterna-

tional.com]. Explore the tabs for Fraud Education and

Consumer, but especially the Phishing Alerts. Click one

event in the very long list, especially if you recognize the

company, and explore how the fraud was accomplished.

There are graphics and text to describe each step.