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TIDBITS® SAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOFEBRUARY BABIES

by Kathy Wolfe From politicians to stars to artists — Many fa-mous folks were born this time of year. Let’s look into some notable people born during the second month.

• Although the name Tiffany is most often as-sociated with fine jewelry, Louis Comfort Tif-fany started out as a painter then moved to de-signing stained glass windows, lamps, mosaics and blown glass. He first gained fame when he redecorated many of the rooms in the White House in 1882, at the request of President Chester Arthur. It was Louis’ father Charles who founded Tiffany & Company in 1837, 11 years before Louis’ birth. Louis was 54 before he be-came that company’s design director, creating exquisite jewelry designs. Tiffany & Company now operates 83 stores in the United States and more than 100 international stores.

• “Biggest Loser” viewers are well acquainted with the no-nonsense methods of trainer Jillian Michaels, a February 1974 baby. At age 12, Mi-chaels weighed 175 pounds (79 kg) at a height of 5 feet (150 cm). To battle her weight prob-lem, her mother enrolled her in a martial arts class, which turned out to be a life-changing decision. In addition to her reality TV duties, she works as an ambassador for the American Cancer Society. turn the page for more!

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FEBRUARY BABIES (continued):

• You might not recognize the name of Daniel Lawrence Whitney, but you’ve probably heard his work. Better known as “Larry the Cable Guy,” this February 1963 baby got his start as a disc jockey at a Blue Springs, Missouri, radio sta-tion before advancing to the Blue Collar Com-edy Tour. He’s often heard saying, “Git ‘er done,” and “I don’t care who ya are, that’s funny right there.” You’ll usually see “Larry” in his trademark “redneck” attire — jeans, flannel shirt and cam-ouflage hat. He named his daughter Reagan because in his words, “Ronald Reagan was the greatest president ever.”

• Speaking of Ronald Reagan, can you name this February baby’s first screen role? It was the 1937 film “Love Is on the Air.” Reagan had actually started his career “on the air” when the University of Iowa hired him in 1932 to broadcast the Hawkeyes’ football games at the rate of $10 per game. Reagan appeared in over 50 movies, but his most famous is probably 1940’s “Knute Rockne, All American.” He entered active military duty during World War II in 1942, but because of his nearsightedness was prohib-ited from going overseas. He became Califor-nia’s 33rd governor in 1967 and held the office for two terms. Although Reagan ranks high in popularity as a U.S. President, he was actually defeated for the nomination in both 1968 and 1976, before finally winning in 1980. His admin-istration is remembered for the end of the Cold War. When Reagan died in 2004 at the age of 93, he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s Dis-ease for over ten years.

Page 2 Tidbits® of The Woodlands/West Spring

¥ On Feb. 16, 1878, the Bland-Allison Act -- which provided for a return to the minting of silver coins -- becomes the law of the land. During the 19th century, money was backed by actual deposits of silver and gold, unlike today when the value of American money is es-sentially secured by faith in the stability of the govern-ment.

¥ On Feb. 15, 1903, candy-store owner Morris Mich-tom places two stuffed bears in his shop window in Brooklyn, N.Y., advertising them as Teddy bears, after President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. Other toy man-ufacturers soon began turning out copies of Michtom’s stuffed bears, which would become a national child-hood institution.

¥ On Feb. 14, 1929, in Chicago, gunmen in the suspected employment of organized crime boss Al Capone mur-der seven members of George “Bugs” Moran’s North Siders gang. The so-called St. Valentine’s Day Massacre motivated federal authorities to redouble their efforts to find evidence incriminating enough to take Capone off the streets.

¥ On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of all people from military areas. The military in turn defined the entire West Coast as a military area, and more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps around the country.

¥ On Feb. 18, 1959, Ray Charles records “What’d I Say,” which went on to become one of the greatest rhythm-and-blues records ever made. The call-and-response song was created to fill time at the end of a concert, and the crowd loved it.

¥ On Feb. 20, 1974, Reg Murphy, an editor of The At-lanta Constitution, is kidnapped after being lured from his home by William Williams. Murphy was released after a $700,000 ransom was paid. Within hours, Wil-liams and his wife, Betty, were captured.

¥ On Feb. 17, 1986, Anne Tyler wins the National Book Critics Circle Award for her novel “The Accidental Tourist” (1985). The book, about the life of a travel-book writer after the death of his son and his subse-quent divorce, became a bestseller and was later made into a movie starring William Hurt.

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Tidbits® of The Woodlands/West Spring Page 4FEBRUARY BABIES (continued):

• Although we think of Gloria Vanderbilt as a jeans designer, she was first a painter, studying at the Art Students League of New York, and known for her oil paintings, watercolors and pastels. She also did artwork for Hallmark cards. She was born an heir-ess of the famous Vanderbilt railroad family, and, at the age of 15 months, inherited a half-share in a $5 million trust fund when her father succumbed to cirrhosis. It wasn’t until she was nearing 50 years old that she stepped into the fashion world, start-ing with a line of scarves. By the mid-1970s, her famous swan logo could be seen on clothing, per-fume, leather goods and liqueurs. Vanderbilt is the mother of CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper, who is the great-great-great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cooper himself was a model for Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren from age 10 to 13.

•. If Christie Brinkley hadn’t moved to Paris to study art in 1973, she may never have been the cover girl on three Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue editions and more than 500 other magazine cov-ers. As she stood in a Paris post office she was “dis-covered” by an American photographer, Errol Saw-yer, who took Brinkley’s first modeling pictures. Speaking of her discovery, Brinkley has said, “I was basically a surfer girl from California. I never looked like a model.” You’ve seen her photo on the cover of Vogue, Newsweek, Rolling Stone and Esquire, among others, as well Life magazine’s best-selling issue ever. She’s been the spokesperson for Cha-nel, Max Factor, Nissan, Revlon, Halston, Anheuser-Busch and many others. In her free time, Brinkley is an avid fan of the New York Islanders hockey team.

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1. Who was the last player before Florida’s Emilio Bonifacio in 2009 to hit an inside-the-park home run on Opening Day?2. The Chicago White Sox had four different managers during the 1990s. Name

two of them.3. How many Heisman Trophy winners have come from the University of Texas?4. Name the NBA teams Chuck Daly coached between 1981 and 1999.5. When was the last time the Florida Panthers made the NHL playoffs, and who did they face?6. NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski set a record in 2010 for most top-five finishes in the Nationwide Series. How many did he have? 7. Which tennis player has won the most Grand Slam men’s singles titles in the Open Era at the French Open?

¥ If you need to peel peaches quickly -- say, for a pie or cobbler -- boil a pot of water and immerse them for 30 seconds, then drop them immediately into an ice-water bath. The peels will just slip off.

¥ Use a laundry bleach pen on stubborn mildew spots when cleaning your bathroom grout. This also works on food stains on laminate kitchen counters.

¥ “It’s really hard to tell if your kid needs new shoes when he is a toddler. Some shoes fit perfectly well but are hard to put on little feet. From time to time, I trace my little one’s feet on a sheet of foam paper and cut it out. When I put that in the shoe, I can feel how much room is left, and it’s more rigid than a paper cutout. I

also can take it with me and use it to be sure whether he’d fit into a pair of new shoes or not.” -- O.F. in New York

¥ An old dish rack can be used to hold pot and pan lids in an organized way.

¥ No need for fancy, expensive moisturizers for lips and nails. You probably have a great one right in your kitchen cabinet: olive oil. You can rub it on your lips and nail beds at night for a great overnight moisture treatment.

¥ “We took the stuffing out of our bean-bag chair and filled it with stuffed animals. The kids get to keep all those soft toys; they still make a pretty good bean bag chair; and they aren’t strewn all over the playroom anymore.” -- B.L. in Florida

Send your tips to Now Here’s a Tip, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475 or e-mail JoAnn at heresatip@yahoo.com.

(c) 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.

FEBRUARY BABIES (continued):

• We’ve been listening to Don Pardo introduce “Saturday Night Live’s” “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” since the program premiered in 1975. Baby boomers may remember Pardo as the announcer on the original “Jeopardy!” game show with host Art Fleming from 1964 to 1975. Pardo, who turns 93 on February 22, officially retired from NBC in 2004 and now pre-records his Saturday Night Live introductions from a studio in his Arizona home.

• Two Hungarian sisters, both born in February, achieved movie stardom in America. Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor were born the same week two years apart, Zsa Zsa in 1917 and Eva in 1919. Eva was the first sister to come to the United States, along with her husband, Dr. Eric Drimmer, a Swedish physician who later was doctor to film legend Greta Garbo. Although Eva appeared nearly 30 movies, she’s best known for her portrayal of Lisa Douglas, the ditzy blond wife on the six seasons of the 1960s sitcom “Green Acres.” Zsa Zsa was Miss Hungary, 1936 and emigrated to the States five years later, where she had 40 film roles and scores of television appear-ances over the years. Neither sister was a stranger to marriage — Zsa Zsa had nine husbands, while Eva was married five times.

• Nearly everyone has seen the stunning black-and-white photographs of Yosemite National Park snapped by Ansel Adams. Adams very nearly didn’t become that famous photographer, since his am-bition as a child and young adult was to become a concert pianist. With a photographic memory, reading music and playing the piano came easily to the young Adams. At age 14, a family vacation to Yosemite led to the direction of his future. A gift from his father for the trip, a Kodak Brownie cap-tured Adams’ first photos of the Park. By age 20, his Yosemite prints had been published. He went on to shoot pictures of every American National Park.

Tidbits® of The Woodlands/West Spring Page 6

If you’re looking for a new hobby that doesn’t cost a lot, yet also might become a bit lucrative, consider these:

Stamps: Most people collect stamps for their beauty, for the educational factor of learning about other countries and to have an activity to share with their children. But behind those reasons also is the flickering hope that a very valuable stamp will be found, perhaps attached to an envelope in an attic or on a postcard in a flea market.There are numerous ways to start, the easiest being with mail you receive. However, gone are the days of receiving many handwritten letters with interesting stamps on them. Instead, join companies that send you samples -- you pay for only the ones you keep. Join an international postcard or pen pal club. Go to stamp shows or join a local club. Decide if there’s an area you’d like to concentrate on, perhaps U.S. Airmail, or commemorative stamps from the 1940s, or Pacific Island stamps. Thumb through stamp catalogs to see what catches your eye -- and let the hunt begin. Coins: Try not to spend more than the face value of the coin, especially while you’re beginning your collection. That way, if necessary, your coins can be spent. As with stamps, look

through catalogs and see what types of coins most appeal to you. Books: Begin with your favorite author and aim to collect all of them. Explore reissues of authors who have passed away. Obviously they won’t be writing more books. Sometimes there are no reissues, and the only available copies are what’s already out there. Hunt at flea markets, yard sales and on the Internet for copies to fill in your collection. Books, especially if you’re going to end up trading or selling them, can be tricky. Study book grading so you don’t overspend. The key when starting a new hobby or collection is to not break the budget. Put a monthly limit on just how much you’re willing to spend to add to your collection, and don’t go over that amount.Assume that you won’t make huge profits from your collec-tion if you sell. The best benefit might be in the enjoyment of the hunt.

NOTE: If you usually file early and itemize your deductions, the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t want your tax return yet. It’s not ready. The reason is that computers haven’t been pro-grammed to accommodate a few new changes in laws. Aim for the second half of February. If you use computer software, be sure to get the latest updates.

David Uffington regrets that he cannot personally an-swer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Write to him in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Or-lando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to columnreply@gmail.com.

Low-Cost Hobbies

1. MUSIC: How many strings does a ukulele have?2. MATH: What is the equivalent of the Ro-man numeral D?3. RELIGION: Who is the patron saint of phy-sicians?4. LITERATURE: Who wrote the play “Timon of Athens”?5. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: What does the Geneva cross symbolize?6. HISTORY: When did the Erie Canal open?7. MEASUREMENTS: What does a lux mea-sure?8. LANGUAGE: What is the meaning of the Latin word “veto”?9. MYTHOLOGY: Who is the Greek goddess of love?10. U.S. STATES: What state’s nickname is the Pelican State?

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) St. Valentine’s Day magic rules the entire week for romantic Rams and Ewes. Music, which is the food of love, is also strong. The weekend offers news both unexpected and anticipated.TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your aspects favor the arts -- which the Divine Bovine loves, loves, loves. Also, for those looking for romantic love, Cupid is available for requests. After all, his mother, Venus, rules your sign.GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Loving commit-ments continue to grow stronger. Ditto budding relationships. A recent move to help start up a new career-linked direction could soon begin to show signs of progress.CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Single Moon Children might be eager to take that proverbial chance on love. But your more serious side will feel better if you take things slowly and give your moonstruck self more time.LEO (July 23 to August 22) It’s a love fest for Leos and Leonas this week. Paired Cats might expect to be purr-fectly in sync. And with matchmak-ing friends, single Simbas searching for romance shouldn’t have too far to look.VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) More un-derstanding on both sides can work miracles in restoring ailing relationships to health. Make the first move, and you’ll be closer to your much-wanted reunion.LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Accept the fact that you are worthy of being loved, and you’ll find proof in what is revealed to you over the course of the week. Also accept a compliment offered with great sincerity.SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Plan-ning to take a new direction in life is exciting. And so is a new awareness of someone’s special affection. Expect a slow and mostly steady devel-opment of the situation.SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Although you might still feel you weren’t treated quite right in a recent matter, all that will work out in time. Meanwhile, enjoy the week’s special qualities and potentials. CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Deciding not to give up on a troubling romantic situation helps start the healing process. Expect to find some valuable insight into yourself as things move along.AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) The week is filled with positive potentials, but it’s up to you to make the right choices. The advice of someone who truly cares for you and your well-being can be priceless.PISCES (February 19 to March 20) It’s a good time to make yourself available to possibilities of the romantic kind. Already paired? Good. In that case, be sure to reassure that special person of your feelings.

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HAVE A HEART!We all know that hearts are synonymous with Val-entine’s Day. This week, Tidbits studies up on the human heart, the muscle that “takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’!”

• Just a little larger than the size of your fist, your heart weighs between 7 and 15 ounces (200 to 425 g). The average heart beats about 72 times per minute, which is about 100,000 times a day. You do the math —That’s 3.6 million times every year. If you live 70 years, that’s 2.5 billion beats over the course of your lifetime.

• Every day your heart pumps 2,000 gallons (7,570 l) of blood through your body’s 60,000 miles (96,560 km) of blood vessels. Turn on your kitchen faucet full blast for the next 45 years and that will equal the amount of blood pumped by your heart dur-ing your lifetime. That’s about 1.5 million gallons (5,678,118 l), which would fill about 200 tanker cars on a train.

• About four weeks after conception, a fetus’ heart starts beating. Its heart rate is about 150 beats per minute, twice as fast as an adult’s. At 12 weeks, its heart is pumping 60 pints (28 l) of blood every day.

• The heart cavity is made up of four parts, two upper chambers and two lower chambers. The upper compartments are called the right and left atria, and the lower chambers are the right and left ventricles. The body’s largest artery, the aorta, originates from the left ventricle, the largest and strongest chamber that pumps to all body parts. Its walls are about ½ inch (1.27 cm) thick. Your body contains about 75 trillion cells that receive blood from the heart. Only one body part, the cornea, re-ceives no blood.

• The word “cardiac” means “related to the heart,” and has its origins in the Greek word for heart, kar-dia.

February is Responsible Pet Owners’ Month. It’s an interesting designation, really, as I’m not entirely clear as to whether we’re supposed to be celebrating Responsible Pet Owners, or making pet owners feel guilty about not being as responsible as they should be.On one hand, I’m getting plenty of notices to remind my readers to take their pets in for check-ups (if they haven’t done so already), get their vaccinations up to date and basically work harder at keeping pets healthy and happy. On the other hand, I’m getting plenty of press releases about scads (that’s right, scads) of products that apparently are absolute must-haves in order to be a truly responsible pet owner.To me, it’s all a bit weird. Isn’t responsible pet ownership a year-round activity? Has it suddenly become OK to just condense our responsibility to our pets into the shortest month of the year? Is responsible pet ownership really being promoted, or is this just another way for marketers to

convince pet owners that they have to have the latest, most expensive tooth-brushing devices to keep their dogs’ teeth from just falling out?Not that there aren’t good products being touted. Safety harnesses to keep your pet in place while traveling in the car -- good idea. Better, safer chew toys for dogs -- another good idea.What I’m getting at is this: Designating a month for responsible pet ownership is a well-intentioned move, but truly responsible pet owners consider it a year-round occupation. Why not celebrate responsible pet owners for who they truly are -- compassionate people who see their pets as part of the family and make sure they get the care and love they deserve, all the time?

Pet OwnershipBy Sam Mazzotta

Looking for more pet advice and information? Check out pawscorner.com online! Send your pet questions and tips to ask@pawscorner.com, or write to Paw’s Cor-ner, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

HAVE A HEART! (continued):

• There’s a difference between the hearts of men and women. The man’s is typically about 2 ounc-es (62 grams) heavier, but beats about eight few-er times per minute.

• When you have a good belly laugh, up to 20 percent more blood is pumped throughout your entire body. This can contribute to stress reduc-tion, so laugh it up!

• The world’s first successful human heart trans-plant was completed in 1967 by South African physician Dr. Christiaan Barnard. The recipient Louis Washansky lived 18 days. Today, heart re-cipients live an average of 15 years. About 3,500 transplants are performed every year. After two years, about 80 percent of recipients are alive, and after five years, 73 percent of males and 67 percent of females still survive. Medical research has shown that same-gender transplants have better results.

• The world’s longest-surviving heart transplant recipient lived 31 years after his surgery. Tony Huesman was 20 years old when viral pneumo-nia damaged his heart and he received a new one in 1978. He lived until 2009, when ironically, it was cancer that claimed his life. Kelly Perkins received her new heart in 1995 and has since climbed Mt. Fuji, Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Matterhorn, Mt. Whitney and Argentina’s Cajon de Arenales.

1. Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski did it in 1968. 2. Jeff Torborg (1990-’91), Gene Lamont (‘92-’95), Terry Bevington (‘95-’97) and Jerry Manuel (‘98-’99).3. Running backs Earl Campbell (1977) and Ricky Williams (1998).4. Cleveland (1981-’82), Detroit (‘83-’92), New Jersey (‘92-’94) and Orlando (‘97-’99).5. It was 2000, when they lost to New Jersey in the conference quarterfinal round.6. He had 26 top-five finishes in 35 races.7. Bjorn Borg, with six.

1. Four2. 5003. St. Luke4. Shakespeare

5. Neutrality6. 18257. Light intensity8. “I forbid”9. Aphrodite10. Louisiana

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