Stump Me Questions Answered in June 2002

2)  The Comanche RAH-66 is the United States Army's new Reconnaissance and Attack Helicopter being developed by Boeing Sikorsky.  The first flight of the Comanche took place on 4th January 1996.  The program entered Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) in June 2000, which requires the construction of 13 aircraft in addition to the two prototypes by 2006.  Full scale production is scheduled to begin in 2007 and continue through 2025.

In an armed reconnaissance mission, Comanche can recognize and identify targets and digitally transmit the information to the battlefield commander in near real-time, select the optimum force deployment and co-ordinate the attack.

However, using cursive handwriting the answer would be "syzygy," which is an alignment of three celestial objects (like the sun, earth and moon).

As for his salary, the article reports that Papanickolas started as a grip making $2.75 an hour and he now makes $40, although there is some doubt as to whether or not he still works for Disney.  One of his last known jobs was on the set of Seinfeld, which was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, which is a part of AOL/Time Warner, not Disney.

The direction that Lincoln faces on the cent was not mandated -- this was simply the choice of the designer.

2)  According to the Iron Chef Web site, there have been 296 episodes since the show started in 1993.

3)  It's already out.

4)  It's due to the refractions on light passing through dust particles in the upper atmosphere.  Light - as in the colors of the rainbow - pass through the dust or get reflected back out through the atmosphere.  Blue is passed through, thus we see the color blue in the sky.  Thanks to Lee H. for the help.

A "point" is 1% of the total loan value.  Usually, a person pays a standard amount (in the case of my company, one point) to a mortgage company to do his loan.  In addition, the broker often makes money through rebate points, which are points given by the lender to the broker to "buy" the loan.  This varies by interest rate.  Also, a prospective homebuyer can take advantage of what are called discount points, which is where the borrower pays a fee of a certain amount of points to the lender to "buy down" the interest rate.  This can be very effective and a much better use of money than a high down payment, as even one point paid might lower the rate enough to save tens of thousands of dollars over the term of the loan.

2)  Alan Kay of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center originated the idea of a portable computer in the 1970s.  Kay envisioned a notebook-sized, portable computer called the Dynabook that everyone could own, and that could handle all of the user's informational needs.  Kay also envisioned the Dynabook with wireless network capabilities.

Arguably, the first laptop computer was designed in 1979 by William Moggridge of Grid Systems Corp.  It had 340 kilobytes of bubble memory, a die-cast magnesium case and a folding electroluminescent graphics display screen (click here for a picture).

I did some further checking with the U.S. Patent Office, and found that on October 18, 1982, a patent was filed for a portable computer (patent number 4,571,456 ).  Here's the summary:

Portable computer 
Abstract
A portable computer is contained within an outer metal case which physically encapsulates and protects the working components of the computer in the closed, portable configuration. The metal case includes a base which serves as a heat sink for transferring waste heat from heat producing electrical components to the surroundings in the open, operating configuration of the computer. The heat producing components are mounted and located in the base to maximize the transfer of heat to the base. A display housing is pivotally mounted on the base by hinge assemblies for swinging movement between a closed and latched position on the base and an upward and rearwardly inclined angle for viewing by an operator positioned in front of the computer. Stop pins coact with the hinge assemblies for holding the display housing at the desired angle of view, and torsion springs are associated with the hinge assemblies for preventing inadvertent slamming of the display housing against the base during closing. Electrical cables are guided from the base through the hinge assemblies and to the display by cable guides which protect the cables against snagging and unnecessary flexure. A single connector connects an audio circuit on a modem to use either a standard hand set for voice communications or a passive speaker and microphone as an acoustic coupler for data communications.

Inventors: Paulsen; David C. (Santa Clara, CA); Edens; Glenn T. (Menlo Park, CA); Nakamura; Karl S. (Santa Clara, CA); Gallatin; David M. (San Jose, CA); Hobson; Stephen R. (Palo Alto, CA); Moggridge; William G. (Palo Alto, CA) 
Assignee: Grid Systems Corporation (Mountain View, CA) 
Appl. No.: 435126 
Filed: October 18, 1982

Sarcastic - They're just saving the numbers for themselves.
Cynical - Psychics are full of crap and can't predict the future.
Advocator - Nobody's ever asked for THIS week's numbers.
Paranoid - Oh, they know.  They know everything.  But they're not telling us because they don't want to get caught.  If they get caught, some government spook's going to kidnap them and run a bunch of tests.  Oh, they know alright.

The interview - "It just sounded like the right name." says James. "I found out later it meant some kind of airplane maneuver or something . . ."

The chat - "I came up with the name "Shondells" during study hall in high school. It just sounded musical! And anything with an E-L-L-S on the end was fair game!"

In the three years that I have been writing the advice column, "Ask Mr. Golf Etiquette," there is one question from readers that keeps coming up over and over again. Golfers everywhere want to know why golfers everywhere holler "FORE!" when they send a ball careening off in the wrong direction.

Well, imagine my surprise when I was recently reading a book entitled, A History of Golf, by Robert Browning, (1955, J.M. Dent & Sons) and found the very reference for which I had been searching. Browning, a Scot, was the editor of the magazine called, Golfing from 1910 to 1955 and was a scholar devoted to tracing the authenticity of the many claims about the games history and lore.  I will let Browning's work describe the situation for interested readers:

"Dr. Neilson, a keen student of Scottish history and literature, discovered a passage in the works of John Knox which, shorn of the eccentricities of sixteenth-century spelling, reads as follows: 'One among many comes to the East Port (i.e., gate) of Leith, where lay two great pieces of ordnance, and where their enemies were known to be, and cried to his fellows that were at the gate making defence: "Ware Before!" and so fires one great piece, and thereafter the other.' The cry of 'Beware before' -- Look out in front -- was, of course, the signal for the defenders of the gate to drop to the ground in order that the guns might be fired over them.

The situation is not dissimilar to that of the golfer intending to drive over the head of someone on the fairway in front, and the way in which the military signal 'Ware before!' might in the course of time be cut down to "Fore!" needs no explaining. 'Look out in front!' It is the most democratic of shouts, which no one dares to let pass unheeded. During an Open Championship at Sandwich many summers ago, I saw a future King of England scurrying apologetically off the fairway in response to a distant bellow of "Fore!" from one of our less distinguished professionals."

2)  Yoga involves techniques for stretching, strengthening and relaxing the body.  People  use it to help increase lung capacity, improves muscle tone, regulate metabolism, stimulate the blood supply to the internal organs, stress management, and to help relax and focus.

3)  Bigfoot, or as it's often called in Canada, the Sasquatch, is mentioned in several Native American legends.  The 7 to 8-foot-tall man/ape has been sighted in North America for centuries.  Before the European invasion, Native Americans knew of the creature and gave him the name Sasquatch, which means “hairy giant.”

One of the earliest recorded sightings of Sasquatch by a non-Native American occurred in 1811 near what is now Jasper, Alberta, Canada by a fur trader named David Thompson.  Since then there have been many sightings of the creature in Western Canada, and in several states of the U.S., especially the Pacific Northwest, Ohio, and even as far south as Florida, where the swamp-dwelling beast is known as the Skunk Ape.

"Did you ever wonder what the WD in WD-40 stands for?  The name was lifted right out chemist Norm Larsen's laboratory notebook.  Way back in 1953, he was trying to concoct an anti-corrosion formula, which worked on the basic principle of displacing water.  On his 40th try, Larsen finally got it right.  Hence the name WD-40.  It literally means Water Displacer, 40th try."  Thanks to everyone who sent this one in.

After the movie the men went to the post's beer garden to further calm their nerves, and after a few hours were feeling pretty courageous.  Strolling back to camp, Private Eberhardt announced that he expected the next day's jump to be no different than any other.  His friends immediately began to razz him, saying he'd be so scared he'd barely remember his name.  This ticked off the six-foot-eight Eberhardt, who was known for his confidence and powers of concentration.  According to Gerard M. Devlin, author of Paratrooper! (1979), he declared, "All right, dammit! I tell you jokers what I'm gonna do! To prove to you that I'm not scared out of my wits when I jump, I'm gonna yell `Geronimo' loud as hell when I go out that door tomorrow!"

Next morning half the platoon strapped on their chutes and boarded planes while the other half sat by the edge of the jump field to watch the drop.  By now everyone had heard about Eberhardt's promise.  The lead plane flew over the field at low altitude and the men began spilling out as planned.  As the chutes popped open, the guys on the ground could clearly hear a shout of "Geronimo!" followed by an Indian war whoop.  Eberhardt had made good on his boast and the unofficial yell of U.S. airborne troops had been born.  Thanks to Cecil Adams for the answer.