Action (May 1941 - Mar 1958)

THE LIGHTNING CALCULATOR Do you want to appear as a lightning calculator? If so, use this example as your guide to a good trick. Write down 99, then request a fried to give you some numbers smaller than your numbers — say 35. Place 35 under 99 and you can quickly write the multiplication answer — 3,465. And here's how: Subtract in your mind 35 from 100 which leaves 65, the last two figures in the total. Then subtract one from 35 and you have 34, or the first two figures of your answer. A pull of eight pounds is required to break a single horse hair. The weight of the heart is from 8 to 12 ounces. It beats 100,000 times in 24 hours. When it is Saturday on the Alaskan side of Bering Strait it is Sunday on the Asian side — fifty miles away. Do you know what makes the stars twinkle? It is because of the irregularities in density of the air. The United States does not own the Panama Canal, only a perpetual lease from Panama. The approximate geographic center of the United States is In Smith County, Kansas. The largest library in the world is not In America or Great Britain. The Soviet Union's 12,000,000 volume collection In Moscow Is believed to be the largest. A group of our present day strategists were gathered around cussing and discussing the war In Its various phases; the wisest and loudest of the crowd was vociferously denouncing the strategy of our army and navy: "Where Is our Navy," he belched "and what are they doing?" A yeoman stepped up and handed him a paper saying, "Brother, just sign your name to this enlistment blank and you'll damn soon find out!" Well anyway, what's the use of giving good advice, wise men don't need it, and focis won't take it. TALKING Is one of the attn* butes that distinguishes the human animal from the dumb animal. It is presumed that the more fluent and expressive the language of a race, the higher the degree of civilization of that race. Nevertheless and notwithstanding, that is not always true. For instance, right now fluent and loose talk is taboo. No matter how well you can express yourself and no matter how ardently you desire to tell someone that you heard someone else say, don't do it. Save it and you may save not one but many lives and possibly a whole convoy of ships. Few of us realize how Impo.'tant It is right now that we do not repeat stories that we hear. What If somebody does tell you that he knows of a high school kid who Is making $85.00 per week holding down his firsr job at an airplane factory. This may be pure enemy propaganda. Don't believe the rumor monger when he whispers in your ear that "the airplane factories are stalling; they are not putting out planes the way they say they are." Stories of this type are whispered about by the enemy agents and should be singled out by you for a particular squelching. Don't give the enemy help and assistance by peddling this type of manufactured propaganda. The sole Intent is to lower civilian morale and you should be working to raise it, not lower It. Perhaps if we stopped to think how the enemy uses our remarks and loose talk to develop a complete picture of the whole situation, we would hesitate to talk in public about anything connected with the war. It Isn't our own talk alone that Is disastrous, but the sum total of all our talk that gives accurate Information. It's the old law of averages working. For instance, if all the enemy agents in a certain district (and we have them right here in our midst) should report that the talk of that district centered around, say, certain movements of troops and planes, even though no one had any definite Information, the foreign finger of espionage would be pointed to the place most helpful to the enemy. If we happened to live in that district, undoubtedly we would Innocently contribute our share of information by talking over what we had happened to hear. When enough of us talk about the same thing, the cat is generally out of the bag. That Is what we must stop. If you must say something, talk about your relatives or In-laws; they are much safer subjects nowadays, In spite of the known dangers of that pastime. ★ Biography of a War Veteran (Continued from page 9) Howard Child was In command of eight men who captured seventeen prisoners, two machine guns and twenty-five hundred rounds of ammunition at a point three hundred yards In advance of the rest of the regiment. When word reached the commanding officer, he ordered Corporal Child to hold the position at all cost while the rest of the Company moved up In line. For this bit of enterprising leadership. Corporal Child was awarded the D.S.C. and later the Navy Cross. Later, (July 19th), Howard Child was wounded In action and again on October 5th (gas). He was in a base hospital when the Armistice was signed and never returned to his old regiment. Returned to the U. S. as a casual, Howard enjoyed a sixty day furlough before being discharged. Taking up his vocal work with the Chicago Orchestral Sextette, he soon found that the effect of the gas on his vocal chords was so severe as to make a singing career out of the question. A succession of jobs followed until today finds him In the uniform of a police officer at 20th Century-Fox. His son, Claude, Is now a Staff Sergeant in the Marines, on detached service with U. S. Army Signal Corps Headquarters at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. 10