• Film critic Roger Ebert took his last drink in August 1979. One of the things that helped make that his last drink was Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), where he heard many interesting stories about fellow alcoholics discovering AA. For example, he heard a Native American tell about crawling out from under an abandoned car (the closest thing to an address that he had), then seeing a police officer and asking where was an AA meeting. The police officer replied, “You see those people going in over there?” Another example: A hippie’s VW van broke down on a lonely road in Alaska. She started walking on a frozen stream. She heard bells ringing, and she sat down and waited to freeze to death. She really did hear bells –they were on a sleigh, and the people on the sleigh rescued her and took her to an AA meeting. A third example: A priest hid in the janitor’s closet in the priest’s own church so he could listen to an AA meeting – that was his very first AA meeting.
• Comedians Eddie Cantor and Bert Williams and some other Ziegfeld Follies stars were invited to eat at the home of fist-fighter Jack “Twin” Sullivan, who unfortunately played a cruel practical joke on Mr. Cantor, who was Jewish. Mr. Sullivan served pork chops, which everyone but Mr. Cantor ate. Seeing that Mr. Cantor wasn’t eating his pork chops, which of course as an observant Jew who kept kosher, Mr. Cantor would not do, Mr. Sullivan offered to bring him a sandwich. However, the sandwich was made out of ham, which of course Mr. Cantor did not eat. Mr. Sullivan then offered Mr. Cantor eggs, but when he brought the eggs out to Mr. Cantor, they were covered with bacon and bacon grease.
• When Jonas Salk, working with many other scientists, developed a vaccine for polio, they first tested it on animals. It then needed to be tested on human beings, including children, who were the most likely to contract the disease. Of course, children can be very afraid of getting a shot, and some of the children participating in the study started crying. William Kirkpatrick, who worked at the D.T. Watson Home near Pittsburgh, a home for children with disabilities, volunteered to get the first shot of vaccine so that he could show the children that getting the shot did not hurt. On July 2, 1952, he became the very first person to be inoculated with the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Salk and others.
By the way, Dr. Salk did not want the vaccine to be named after him. He thought that a better name would be the Pitt vaccine because he had started working on the vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. Of course, people were grateful that a vaccine to stop the deadly disease polio had been developed. A merchant in Hohokus, New Jersey, painted the words “THANK YOU, Dr. Salk” on his shop window. Teachers had their young students write thank-you letters to Dr. Salk. (Actually, the fame that came to Dr. Salk was a bit much. When he became engaged to Françoise Gilot, the media annoyed them. To protect their privacy, they announced that they would be married on a certain day, but they actually got married the day before the announced date.) Albert Sabin later developed another polio vaccine that supplanted the Salk vaccine. Humanity is deeply grateful to both men.
• Paul Zindel’s books for young adults have often been censored or challenged by would-be censors. Mr. Zindel responded by keeping track of the ideas of the people he calls the CensorKooks. For example, one woman in Pennsylvania wanted to censor the word green in all school textbooks. Why? Green is the color of the Devil. In Cincinnati, a man wanted all vowels to be censored from all library books. Why? “If you can’t say it, you can’t do it.” Mr. Zindel once heard a would-be censor on a talk show scream, “And what are they teaching in our schools? They are teaching ‘Catcher in the Rye’! ‘The Pigman’! And ‘Lord of the Flies’! — three of the filthiest books ever written!” The would-be censor might have been better able to present his case if he had actually read these books — or he might have decided that these books didn’t need to be censored.
• On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York City. Very few survivors were found after the towers fell. However, a former Marine named Dave Karnes and a Marine named Sgt. Thomas (his other name is not known) found two survivors buried in the rubble: Port Authority police officers Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLoughlin. Mr. Karnes was an accountant working for Deloitte Touche in Wilton, Connecticut. When he heard about the attack on the World Trade Center, he got a military haircut, put on an old uniform, loaded his car with gear, and drove to the site. Police saw his uniform and his gear and waved him on to the site, where he met Sgt. Thomas and together they started searching the rubble.
• Apple Macintosh was introduced to Americans in 1984 in a TV commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. The commercial opened with the face of Big Brother projected hugely on a TV screen, telling the zombie-like masses, “For today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth.” As Big Brother speaks, a woman carrying a sledgehammer runs into the room of zombies as she is pursued by the Thought Police. She throws the sledgehammer into the TV screen, which explodes. The commercial ends with the announcer saying, “On Jan. 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’”
• The Family Visitation Center at Athens County Children Services needs new toys and arts and crafts. Please send monetary donations to Family Visitation Center, Athens County Children Services, PO Box 1046, Athens, OH 45701.
• Mel Stone of the Chicago Daily News disliked it when other reporters lifted his articles, rewriting them and printing them in their newspapers. He once wrote about food riots in Serbia and mentioned a banner that said, “Er us siht la Etsll iws nel lum cmeht.” According to the Daily News article, this can be translated as “The municipality cannot aid.” Jim and Dave McMullen lifted the article, rewriting it and publishing it in their “Post & Mail,” including the message on the banner. Mr. Stone gleefully pointed out that if you read the banner backward, it says, “The McMullens will steal this FOR sure.” Later, he became general manager of the Associated Press of Illinois, for which he wrote an article about a rebel leader in India whose name was Siht El Otspueht. The United Press (which was not associated with United Press International) lifted the article, rewriting it and publishing it. Mr. Stone gleefully pointed out that if you read the rebel’s name backwards, it says, “The UP stole this.”
• Caroline Mast, who played women’s basketball for Ohio University in the 1980s, was a solid player who did not dazzle with acrobatics. After her games – and I personally witnessed many of them – fans would think that Caroline had a quiet night although her team had won yet again. Then the fans would look at the box score and see that she had scored 30-plus points again.
• While attending Emerson College, Jay Leno heard about a business that sold term papers, and he decided to take advantage of this service. It worked beautifully — his teacher returned his paper with the grade of A. Unfortunately, his teacher asked him to tell the class about hotel/motel management, and Mr. Leno had to admit that he had no interest in the subject and no knowledge of it. The teacher shouted, “YOU WROTE A TERM PAPER ABOUT IT AND RECEIVED AN A!” Mr. Leno said, “I did? Oh, yeah — that’s right.” Too late. The teacher ran to his desk, grabbed his paper, and ripped it to bits, screaming, “F! GET OUT!” Today, Mr. Leno still can’t believe he turned in the term paper without reading it first.
• English actress Joanna Lumley is a goddess—literally. In 2009, the people of Nepal declared that she is a goddess because of her work as a very visible member of the Gurkha Justice Campaign. Gerkhas are Nepalese soldiers who fight as a part of the British army. As a result of the work of the Gurkha Justice Campaign, an ex-Gurkha who has been a member of the British army for over four years can now settle in the United Kingdom, if the Gurkha wishes.
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