TIDBITS 43 CDA

www.tidbitscda.com For Ad Rates call: (208) 755-9120 [email protected]

of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th 2014

TIDBITS® LOOKS AT LIGHT BULBS

by Janet SpencerOn October 21, 1879, Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb of practical value when he dis-covered that carbonized cotton filaments would burn for 40 hours in a vacuum inside a glass bulb. Come along with Tidbits as we turn on the lights!LIGHT BULB FACTS• Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb. He merely improved it. The search for electric lighting had begun some fifty years before Edi-son ever sat down to work on the problem, but all methods either burned out too fast or emitted poisonous gasses. • In 1878 Edison promised that in six weeks he would solve the problem of the incandescent light. Fourteen weeks and 1,600 experiments later, he discovered that cotton thread that had been burned to ash was the best filament to use in the vacuum of a light bulb. • Edison subsequently invented the power plant and an electrical distribution system that made electricity widely available. The power compa-ny he started is General Electric. • Filaments in modern incandescent light bulbs are made from a coiled thread of tungsten that’s 21 inches long (53 cm) and half as thick as a hu-man hair. (Continued next page)

Page 2 www.tidbitscda.comTIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th

LIGHT BULBS (cont’d)• Today’s light bulbs use a filament of tungsten because it’s a strong metal that can withstand high temperatures without melting. It is heated to around 4,500 degrees F. (2,482 C). This high temperature makes the wire glow with heat. Tungsten comes from the Swedish language, with “tung” meaning heavy and “sten” meaning stone.•Three-way light bulbs have two different fila-ments: one 50-watt filament and one 100-watt filament. They can be turned on individually or together to produce 150 watts.•If there were any air inside the bulb, the fila-ment would burn up. Most bulbs contain nitro-gen and argon, which lengthen the life of the filament and prevent electricity from jumping around inside the bulb.•Different kinds of modern day bulbs such as black light and ozone lamps are used for such things as detecting ringworm, revealing art forg-eries, finding minerals and water underground, killing odors, and inducing chickens to lay more eggs.STREETLIGHT FACTS•Vapor lamps use a gas rather than a wire to produce light. Instead of heating up a wire, the gas is energized, giving off light. Mercury vapor gives off a blue light, and sodium vapor gives off a yellow light. Vapor lamps produce more light than incandescent bulbs and last up to 100 times longer. •Fluorescent lights are a type of vapor lamp that use a combination of mercury and argon vapor. When electrical current passes through the va-por, it gives off ultraviolet light. The inside of the bulb is coated with phosphor, which lights up when struck by the ultraviolet light. Fluores-cent lights are popular because they use 20% of the energy of incandescent bulbs, and produce 20% of the heat. (cont’d)

From the Publisher’s DeskBy : Evelyn Bevacqua

A “tidbit” is defined as “a tasty morsel to be enjoyed before the meal”. And that’s just what Tidbits® is – a non-controversial, weekly paper dedicated to publishing entertaining morsels for the mind, food for thought as it were: trivia, fun facts, amusing stories and oddities.Tidbits is distributed to over 200 locations throughout the area. Tidbits can be found in res-taurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, offices, banks, libraries, hair salons, auto repair shops, motels, hospitals, medical & dental waiting rooms, retail stores, etc.Our weekly readership is 14,800. If you would like to add your event, stories, ad info or any comments, please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] or call me at 208.755.9120.

What is Tidbits?

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EVENT CALENDAR

ARTWALK5-8pm every second Friday from April -

December, stroll through beautiful Down-town Coeur d’Alene and enjoy local and

nationally acclaimed artists. Visit support-ing galleries, shops, restaurants and busi-nesses with your friends and family. A

family-friendly, free event! Apr 11, May 9, Jun 6, Jul 11, Aug 8, Sep 12, Oct 10,

Nov 14, Dec 12

Scarywood Haunted NightsOctober 3 - November 1

Silverwood Theme Park transforms into an eerie, fun-filled land of frightful crea-tures for the season. Open on select dates

through October.

Oct. 24Spooky Trail Halloween Party

priestlake.org

Oct. 25Downtown Harvest Festival

CDA

TIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th

STREETLIGHTS (cont’d)• Vapor lamps have some disadvantages. Sodium vapor lamps when used indoors can cause a vari-ety of ills ranging from eye strain to nausea due to the absence of blue light. And fluorescent light has been implicated in some studies in which mice developed cancer more frequently when living under fluorescent light than those living under incandescent light.• In a compact fluorescent bulb, electricity passes through a gas-filled tube and produces ultraviolet light which is absorbed by a phosphor coating on the inside of the tube which produces the visible light. Phosphor emits light in a narrow wave-length. If a CFL used only one type of phosphor, it would give off a single color. The solution is to use a variety of slightly different phosphors to produce a wide spectrum of light. This can be customized for different purposes, giving us the choice of “daylight”, “soft white”, “warm white” and other colors.• A 100-watt incandescent light bulb converts only 2.6% of its energy into visible light. The rest is converted to heat, which is why you’ll burn yourself if you touch a light bulb that is turned on. Compact fluorescent bulbs are more efficient: they convert 7.7% of their energy into light, and the rest into heat. That may not seem like a lot, but it’s almost three times as energy efficient as the incandescent.• The most efficient commercial light bulbs are low pressure sodium lamps which convert 27% of their energy to light, but because they produce a harsh yellow color, they are not commonly used inside the home.

What is Tidbits?

Tidbits® of Dallas County Page 4 www.tidbitscda.com Page 4

by Samantha Weaver

It was President John F. Kennedy who defined happiness as “the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.”

Any novelty seeker planning a trip to Japan ought to include a trip to the town of Susami, home to the world’s deepest underwater post-box. A scuba diver who would like to send a unique message should head to the local dive shop and buy a special water-resistant postcard, then use an oil-based marker to write the mes-sage. On a dive off the town’s coast, the diver can head down 30 feet to deposit the mail in a red postbox, which is checked every few days by a dive-shop employee. All the postcards are then taken to the local post office and sent on to the recipients.

Considering the ever-increasing cost of postage, you might be surprised to learn that the U.S. Postal Service was free until 1863.

Milton Hershey, creator of the iconic Hershey Bar and founder of the Pennsylvania company town that bears his name, grew up in a Menno-nite family, working on the family farm. He had no formal schooling past the fourth grade. He served as an apprentice to a candy maker, then started his own confectionery. It failed. His sec-ond attempt also was a failure. His third attempt in the candy business was such a success that he sold the company for a large profit in 1900. He immediately used the proceeds from that sale to come up with his own formula for milk choco-late and create the Hershey Company.

Those who study such things say that 20 percent of American men have spent at least one night in jail.

Thought for the Day:“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” -- Pablo Picasso

(c) 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.


UP IN LIGHTS• In 1911 the first neon sign was patented. Neon is a colorless, odorless gas found in our atmo-sphere at a ratio of 1 part neon to 55,000 parts air. When concentrated in a glass tube, it con-ducts electricity and produces a red glow. The color can be changed by altering pressure or adding other gasses. • If you would like to make your own neon tubes, here’s the recipe: Simply liquefy a large quantity of air, and allow it to boil. Collect the first gasses that escape when it reaches boiling point. That will be a mixture of helium, neon, and nitrogen. Remove the nitrogen through chemical absorp-tion, then chill the remaining mixture to -310 f. (-190 C) and pass it over charcoal, which will absorb the helium. Now heat the charcoal to re-cover the neon. LAVA LAMPS• What is a lava lamp made of? The moving blob is specially compounded wax, floating in a tube of mineral oil. When heated by the 40-watt light bulb below, it expands and becomes less dense than the liquid it’s suspended in and starts to rise. At the top of the globe, the wax cools and begins to sink again. HANDY TIP• If you don’t want bugs buzzing around your porch lights, use yellow light bulbs. Yellow is invisible to many insects so they won’t be at-tracted to the light. A WORLD RECORD• The world’s oldest functioning light bulb is lo-cated at the fire department in Livermore, CA. It was installed in 1901. It’s been lit ever since, and has been turned off only a handful of times, mostly accidentally, or when it was transferred

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Tidbits® of Dallas County Page 6 www.tidbitscda.comTIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th

or from a restaurant or fast food that is hidden under a hamburger patty or fried in a Vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and yes, fats, are critical to a healthy body. Our body uses them to repair, build, and promote many biological functions that are vital to health. Without them, slowly over time, our bodies start to break down. The word “degeneration” means that you are breaking down faster than you are rebuild-ing. We also call this “disease”.Because shelf life is imperative to making a lot of money, the vitamin industry has focused its manufacturing process to that end. Compromis-ing quality for shelf-life – for dollars in their pockets. Most “vitamins” today are really just a compilation of chemicals with fancy names and fancier advertising aimed at convincing the consumer they can’t live without them. While it is true that supplements are vital today if you desire a quality life free of illness, chemicals disguised as vitamins (counterfeits, if you will), are more harmful than helpful.If you want to learn the difference between nat-ural and synthetic vitamins and how to tell the difference when you look at a vitamin label, stop by Vital Health or e-mail [email protected] and ask for our handouts, “Natural vs. Syn-thetic and How to Read Vitamin Labels” and “4 Ways to Determine if Your Supplements are From Chemicals or From Food.”

Why do we take vitamins anyway? Aren’t there enough nutrients in the foods we eat? Well, un-less your diet consists primarily of fresh vegeta-bles and fresh fruits, good quality proteins and all are organic, the answer is a Unfortunately, to-day we live in a world where the nutrients have been processed right out of the foods we eat. In fact, some foods are anti-nutrients – mean-ing they take more nutrients to process them in our bodies, than the value we receive from them! That’s discouraging. But it’s been happening for a long time now. It started during the first third of the last century when we “refined” flour and sugar to make an inhospitable environment for bugs and to reduce rancidity. The bugs knew there wasn’t enough nutrients left in those processed foods to keep them alive, so they avoided them. Too bad we’re not as smart as bugs!We started acclimating our taste buds to foods which were over-cooked, fried, boxed, canned, dehydrated, pulverized, homogenized, pasteur-ized - commercialized. I am amazed at the num-ber of people who rarely eat real food anymore! When I counsel with patients, clearly half of them haven’t had a fresh plate of steamed vegetables in months. When they do, it’s either microwaved (rendering the nutrients in them biologically un-available to the body),

By Dr. Holly Carling

Dr. Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with over 34 years of experi-ence. Dr. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care servic-es and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’ Alene clinic. Visit Dr. Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthandfitness.com to learn more about Dr. Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Dr. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.

Are Vitamins Really Necessary?

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PHOTO: Barbra StreisandTop 10 Pop SinglesThis Week Last Week1. Meghan Trainor No. 1 "All About That Bass"2. Taylor Swift No. 2 "Shake It Off"3. Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj No. 5 "Bang Bang"4. Nicki Minaj No. 3 "Anaconda"5. Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora No. 4 "Black Widow"6. Sam Smith No. 6 "Stay With Me"7. Ariana Grande feat. Zedd No. 7 "Break Free"8. Charli XCX No. 10 "Boom Clap"9. Sia No. 11 "Chandelier"10. Jeremih feat. YG No. 12 "Don't Tell 'Em"Top 10 Albums1. Barbra Streisand new entry "Partners"2. Chris Brown new entry "X"3. Tim McGraw new entry "Sundown Heaven Town"4. George Strait new entry "The Cowboy Rides Away: Live"5. Train new entry "Bulletproof Picasso"6. One Republic No. 57 "Native"7. Maroon 5 No. 2 "V"8. Lecrae No. 1 "Anomaly"9. Motionless in White new entry "Reincarnate"10. Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators new entry "World on Fire"Source: Billboard(c) 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.

Tidbits® of Dallas County Page 8 Page 8FITNESS TIP OF THE WEEKJohn Caylor is a body transformation expert at Precision Fitness in Hayden and Certified Nutrition Coach with Venice Nutrition. John has been voted Best Personal Trainer in Northern Idaho in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 by the North Idaho Business Journal and is available for personal training and nutrition consulting by calling (208) 755-9099 or via email at [email protected]. You can follow John on his Facebook personal training page at http://www.facebook.com/johncaylorpersonaltraining.


3 Simple Steps To Transform Your Body!!Here are the 3 steps to take you from your un-happy "before" picture to your life-changing "after" picture.Step One: Feel DisturbedIt has been said that emotion creates motion. This is essential when it comes to personal transformation.Just like those people in the "before" pictures, to transform your body you must first decide that you can't live another day in the body you cur-rently have.Get your emotions stirred up.Make a list of all the reasons that you're ready to lose weight and get fit.Get disturbed.

Step Two: Decide What You WantWithout clarity you'll never get where you want to go.Now that you're disturbed with the body you have, decide what the body you can accept looks like.Think in concrete and specific terms.Just like the captions under ‘before" and "after" pictures - "Theresa lost 50 lbs," "Matt lost 8 inches from his waist," "Leslie went from a size 20 to a size 4."

Get a clear picture in your mind of what you’ll look like in your “after” picture and decide what the caption will read.Step Three: Take ActionThe time spent between your inspiration (now) and taking action determines whether you will succeed or fail.Don't allow yourself to get stuck between inspi-ration and action - there is always somethingthat you can do immediately.

Page 9For Advertising Call (334) 505-0674 Page 9TIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th

Tidbits® of Dallas County Page 10 www.tidbitscda.com

Dr Ashley is board certified in Family Medicine and in Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. She provides a mix of traditional with alternative medicine and specializes in bio-identical hor-mones for both men and women.

Q&A with Susan Ashley, MD


False Positives are common. In the US , the risk of having a false-positive test over 10 mammo-grams is 58-77%. When a woman is told she may have breast cancer, it causes anxiety and psychological distress. And, of course, more testing, such as biopsy or surgery, which carries their own set of risks. Mammograms may not work if you have dense, or fibrocystic, breasts. Up to 50% of women have dense breast tissue, which makes mammograms even harder to read. Dense breast tissue and cancer both appear white on an xray, making it nearly impossible for a radiologist to detect cancer in these women. Breast density laws have been passed in CA, Connecticut, NY, Virginia and Texas, making it mandatory for radiologists to inform their patients who have dense breast tissue that mammograms are basi-cally useless for them. A law is now being con-sidered at a federal level. There are other screening options, such as ultrasound and thermography, neither of which have radiation. Breast thermography, or digital infrared imaging, is FDA approved. It is based on the principle that pre-cancerous and cancer tissue is higher in metabolic activity and blood flow than normal breast tissue. This causes tem-perature variations in the tissue, which can be among the earliest sign of breast cancer. Women with dense or fibrocystic breasts, or implants, do not cause difficulties in reading thermograms. Just as unique as a fingerprint, each person has a particular infrared map of their breasts.Next week we'll learn about what we can do to decrease our breast cancer risk.

Breast Cancer Part 2 Last week I discussed how the largest study to date involving 90,000 women showed that mam-mograms did not decrease one's risk of dying from breast cancer, not even by one day. And how the Swiss Medical Board recommended no new mammography screening programs be intro-duced.Today we'll discuss more about mammograms and alternative screening options available.Before your next mammogram, be aware of the following: Mammograms may offer less benefit than you think. Mammograms prevent in absolute terms only one breast cancer death per 10,000 women. Mammograms may increase risk of breast can-cer in women with a BRCA 1/2 mutation. These women are particularly vulnerable to radiation induced cancer. Women with this mutation who were exposed to diagnostic radiation, including mammograms, before age 30 were twice as likely to develop breast cancer. The radiation-induced cancer is dose-dependent, meaning the higher the dose, the higher the risk of cancer developing.

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Tidbits® of Dallas County Page 12 www.tidbitscda.com

TOP TEN MOVIES

1. The Equalizer (R) Denzel Washington, Mar-ton Csokas 2. The Maze Runner (PG-13) Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario3. The Boxtrolls (PG) animated4. This Is Where I Leave You (R) Jason Bate-man, Tina Fey5. Dolphin Tale 2 (PG) Morgan Freeman, Ash-ley Judd6. No Good Deed (PG-13) Taraji P. Henson, Id-ris Elba7. A Walk Among the Tombstones (R) Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens8. Guardians of the Galaxy (PG-13) Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel9. Let’s Be Cops (R) Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr.10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PG-13) Me-gan Fox, Will Arnett


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1. Name the Ray Davies song released by Dave Berry in 1965.2. They started as the Four Lovers, Frankie Ty-ler, and the Topics. What name did they eventu-ally settle on?3. Which group released “Macho Man”?4. Which group released “Let Your Love Go” in 1971?5. Name the song that contains this lyric: “Didn’t hear your wicked words every day, And you used to be so sweet, I heard you say that my love was an addiction, When we cling our love is strong, When you go you’re gone forever, You string along, you string along.”

Answers1. “The Strange Effect.” Davies, a member of the Kinks, never released a studio recording of the song, but it can be found on live record-ings.2. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, naming themselves after a bowling alley. They went through 18 incarnations before settling on that.3. The Village People, in 1978. It was their sec-ond single.4. Bread.5. “Karma Chameleon,” by Boy George and Culture Club, in 1983. In an interview, Boy George explained the song, “If you don’t act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that’s nature’s way of paying you back.”


Tidbits® of Dallas County Page 14 www.tidbitscda.comTIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th

Famous CanadiansWOODWARD & EVANS• Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the light bulb. However, two Canadians success-fully produced and patented an electric filament lamp five years before Edison turned his mind to electric lighting. • Medical student Henry Woodward lived next to Matthew Evans, who was a doorman at a ho-tel near where they lived in Toronto. They spent their spare time together and enjoyed perform-ing amateur science experiments.• One evening in 1873, they hooked up an induc-tion coil to a primitive battery. There was a spark at the contact post which intrigued them. It was bright enough to illuminate their entire work bench. They couldn’t help but think that if they could confine that spark in a glass globe, they’d have a marvelous invention on their hands. • Woodward and Evans reasoned that passing current through a high resistance filament would increase the temperature of the filament material and cause it to glow. They experimented with various types of filaments and discovered that a carbon rod worked best. They enclosed the car-bon rod filament inside a glass tube which had originally been a boiler level indicator, then con-nected electrodes to both ends. Before testing their primitive light tube, Woodward and Evans replaced the air inside the tube with nitrogen to prevent the carbon rod from catching fire. • Woodward and Evans took their contraption to Morrison’s Brass Foundry in Toronto for testing. Evans recalled, “There were four or five of us sitting around a large table. Woodward closed the switch and gradually we saw the carbon be-come first red and gradually lighter and lighter in color until it beamed forth in beautiful light.” (cont’d)

by Freddy Groves

New Claim FormsNew claim forms are coming, says the Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs. It plans to produce a one-size-fits-all disability form for veterans, their families and survivors. The VA says the new form will eliminate guesswork and make it easier for applicants to “clearly state what ben-efits they are seeking.” At this point, an initial benefits or compensation claim could be written on a sheet of notebook paper and still be a legal claim opening. But do-ing it that way means information often is miss-ing if actual forms aren’t added soon.What I don’t get is why this haphazard method of applying for benefits was ever allowed to start. Place the call to the VA, say, “I need the right form to apply for (fill in the blank),” and the form is sent. Right?With the new forms, applicants will be told up front what additional information is needed. Theoretically, including the correct information or evidence the first time will allow the VA to move more quickly to process the claim.The VA also plans to streamline the “Intent to File a Claim” process, giving veterans a whole year to produce the information needed to com-plete the claim. (If you intend to file a claim but don’t yet have all your information or evidence, file now. Your start date will begin when the VA first receives it, not months from now when you have all your information to send in.)You don’t actually need to fill out a form at this point. You can write on a sheet of paper that you intend to file a claim, briefly state what the claim is for, and give your identifying information. You’ll be sent the correct form.Look for the new forms in March 2015. If you want to know more about VA forms, go online to www.va.gov/vaforms or www.ebenefits.va.gov.

Freddy Groves regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Send email to [email protected].(c) 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.

Page 15

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Dear TamaraI recently purchased a bottle of spray on hair color that was supposed to lighten my natu-ral hair color. It made it Orange! Now I am wearing a hat and I am afraid to do anything else because I’m afraid of what will happen if I put anything else on my hair. Can you help?The Hat Girl!

Dear Hat Girl,I am sorry you have orange hair and having to wear hats. First off, sprays to lighten hair can only lighten your hair to a certain level. It sounds like your natural hair color must be pretty dark for it to have turned the color orange. It’s was smart of you, and a good thing, to not put another color over the or-ange as most spray on hair lighteners contain a metal in the solution which is very difficult to color over. You could have lost all your hair or have breakage so bad that you would have had to cut your hair extremely short.

Do not try to fix this yourself. I would make an appointment with a color specialist and explain what you did. I recommend you bring in the spray that you used on your hair so that the hair color specialist can see what you used and know exactly what kind of hair color product to use on you to correct what you did. If this spray has any metal in it there are only certain color procedures that can be used to correct the orange color.

Sometimes you cannot color the hair at all if it's too brittle from the spray lightener you used. When this happens you should cut off all the damaged hair and then work to save the remaining hair. Either way your hair will need to be conditioned with the proper condi-tioner. My best advice: Always consult with a professional hair color specialist before doing any kind of hair coloring on yourself. Better yet, go to a quality salon and let them work their magic on you. You’ll be glad you did!


WOODWARD & EVANS (cont’d)• Encouraged by the results, they invested in a dynamo to power the lights. Woodward and Ev-ans were subsequently granted patents in Cana-da and the U.S. for their incandescent light tube. Next, they went out to find investors so they could set up a company to supply electric lights to the public. And that’s when they ran into trou-ble.• They found some initial backers, but didn’t bring in enough money to get the company off the ground. When they asked for additional funding from their investors, most of the original stockholders declined. When Evans and Wood-ward were publicly criticized for creating a “use-less invention,” funding evaporated and frustra-tion set in.• By 1879, Thomas Edison was experimenting with light bulbs and he discovered the patents that already existed. He contacted Woodward and Evans and asked them if they would sell the American patent to him. They sold out for the sum of $5,000, which would be worth about $125,000 today. Six years later, Edison bought the Canadian patent as well.• Edison was far better situated to commercial-ize and distribute the new invention. Demand for electric lighting grew rapidly. • Edison was also forced into business with chemist Joseph Swan, who had patented the same idea in Britain. Swan would not sell his patent, so Edison and Swan went into business together.• Great inventions are often built on innovations by many people, inventors improving and ex-panding on advancements of others until a work-able article is achieved. Edison’s incandescent light bulb is an example of that process, and it all began with a couple of Canadians.

www.tidbitscda.comTIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th Page 16THOMAS EDISON• Thomas Edison had three months of schooling, which ended when he heard the teacher telling the inspector that he was addled. When he told his mom, it made her so mad that she told the teacher off and took him out of school. In spite of the lack of education, Edison patented over 1,000 inventions in his lifetime, averaging one new pat-ent every two weeks during his adult life. In one four-year period, he averaged one patent every 5 days.• Edison arrived penniless in New York City at the age of 22. He persuaded a friend to let him sleep in the office of the Gold Indicator Co., a stock-ticker firm. When the stock ticker broke down, Edison repaired it after everyone else failed. He improved the design, and when the president of the company asked him how much he wanted for the patents, he couldn’t decide whether to ask for $5,000 or $3,000, so he said, “How much are you offering?” and the president said, “How would $40,000 strike you?” whereupon Edison replied, “Yes, I think that will be fair.” He used the money to open his a workshop and begin his inventing career.• The first invention he ever tried to sell was an electric vote-recording machine. He tried to sell it to Congress, but was refused. When a congres-sional vote was taken orally, it took 45 minutes, which gave congressmen plenty of time to trade votes. A faster method of voting would cut down on the vote trading.• In 1878 Thomas Edison was awarded a patent for the phonograph. He used a small metal cyl-inder covered with tin foil. He originally envi-sioned it as a business machine for dictation. This infuriated stenographers because they feared be-ing put out of work.

by Freddy Groves

New Claim FormsNew claim forms are coming, says the Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs. It plans to produce a one-size-fits-all disability form for veterans, their families and survivors. The VA says the new form will eliminate guesswork and make it easier for applicants to “clearly state what ben-efits they are seeking.” At this point, an initial benefits or compensation claim could be written on a sheet of notebook paper and still be a legal claim opening. But do-ing it that way means information often is miss-ing if actual forms aren’t added soon.What I don’t get is why this haphazard method of applying for benefits was ever allowed to start. Place the call to the VA, say, “I need the right form to apply for (fill in the blank),” and the form is sent. Right?With the new forms, applicants will be told up front what additional information is needed. Theoretically, including the correct information or evidence the first time will allow the VA to move more quickly to process the claim.The VA also plans to streamline the “Intent to File a Claim” process, giving veterans a whole year to produce the information needed to com-plete the claim. (If you intend to file a claim but don’t yet have all your information or evidence, file now. Your start date will begin when the VA first receives it, not months from now when you have all your information to send in.)You don’t actually need to fill out a form at this point. You can write on a sheet of paper that you intend to file a claim, briefly state what the claim is for, and give your identifying information. You’ll be sent the correct form.Look for the new forms in March 2015. If you want to know more about VA forms, go online to www.va.gov/vaforms or www.ebenefits.va.gov.

Freddy Groves regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Send email to [email protected].


www.tidbitscda.com Page 17TIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th

THOMAS EDISON (cont’d)• Thomas Edison was almost totally deaf when he invented the phonograph.• He developed a device to electrocute cock-roaches while he was living in Memphis, TN in 1866.• When Edison was only 31, his reputation was already so great that when he announced he was attempting to invent an electric light bulb, the value of stock in gas companies plummeted.• At the San Francisco World Fair in 1915, an official “Edison Day” was declared. The first transcontinental telephone line had been strung between New Jersey and California just in time for the fair. In front of a crowd, Edison phoned his home in New Jersey— one of the first ever long-distance calls. • He felt that memory was composed of electron particles that spread through space, never dying or changing, but leaving the head of a dying hu-man being in search of another host. Psychics could pick up and hear these messages, and Edison was sure a machine could do the same. He devoted several years of his life to building such a contraption. For years, he also worked on a valve-operated receiving set whose purpose was to deliver messages from the spirit world. He died before either invention was ever com-pleted.• Henry Ford had the greatest affection for Thomas Edison. They worked together and be-came good friends. Ford believed in reincarna-tion, and perhaps believed that one’s soul exited the body with the last breath exhaled on earth. He asked Edison’s son to hold a test tube next to Edison’s mouth when he breathed his last in 1931. He did so, and the test tube was discov-ered in Ford’s personal things after his death in 1950. The test tube is now on display at the Ford museum.

Avoid Drug Copay CouponsIf clipping coupons keeps some money in our pockets, we're all for it. But there's one type of coupon you don't want to use: drug manufactur-ers' coupons to save you money on your drug-plan copays.You see, it's illegal. It's part of the anti-kick-back laws. And while the drug companies are the ones at fault, there's recent news that you, the coupon user, could be implicated if you use those coupons in conjunction with your Medi-care Part D. Here's how this works:Drug companies give copay coupons to entice you to buy their brand-name drugs instead of the generic that your drug plan offers. This is il-legal, because it encourages people to purchase drugs that are paid for by a government health-care program, such as Medicare Part D.And why should you care (besides the fact that it's illegal)? Because in the end it will cost you money. Here's how:If you buy a drug that costs $100 with a $20 co-pay and use a coupon for $10, you pay only $10 out of pocket. The Plan D program then pays the balance. However, the Part D plan might have a contract to purchase a generic of the drug for only $40. By purchasing the more-expensive drug with your $10 coupon, you've just made your Part D plan pay a larger amount. Ultimate-ly your drug-plan costs will go up ... as well as taxes.How could you be implicated in this? Read the tiny print on the coupon itself. It might say that the coupon can't be used for drugs covered un-der a federal health-care program. The informa-tion also might be buried on the drug company's website. If the company is caught, it will point to the small text it provided.

Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot person-ally answer reader questions, but will incorpo-rate them into her column whenever possible. Send email to [email protected].(c) 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.

www.tidbitscda.comTIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th Page 18

Q: How Can I Make My Computer Faster?

A: Like a ship encrusted with barnacles, com-puters sometimes slow down because they’re loaded with unwelcome passengers in the form of Viruses, Malware, & Spyware. You also may be in need of more space on your Hard Drive, a Ram upgrade, or may even require the latest Operating System. At NexGen, we will figure out the problem using the latest diagnos-tic tools on the market at no cost to you!

NexGen Computer ServicesOffice: 208-762-3530Fax: 866-279-7756

7560 N Government Way Suite # 2Dalton Gardens, Idaho 83815

www.NexGenComputerServices.com

Q: What Happens If My Neighbor’s Tree Falls in My Yard?I recently came across this article from Erie Insurance and thought it was a pretty good read that addresses a question we get often this time of year. So what does happen if my neighbor’s tree falls in my yard or my tree falls in my neighbor’s yard? Let’s find out…

A: Trees can be tricky, but for the most part homeown-ers are responsible for what falls into their own yard. So

if your neighbor’s tree falls in your yard, your homeowners insurance would typically help cover the cost of removing the tree and remedying the damage it caused, after your deductible.The same is true in reverse: If a tree on your property falls in your neighbor’s yard, your neighbor should file a claim with his or her insurance company.In most cases, neighbors are able to work things out without too much trouble. If there’s ever an issue, you can rely on your claims adjuster to help straighten everything out.The claims processIf a tree falls on your house, make sure to take some photos. Then call your claims adjuster, who will evaluate the damage and explain how your homeowners coverage comes into play. It’s recommended that you call your claims adjuster before you contract to have the tree removed. Sometimes trees fall on cars. If it’s not safe or possible to remove the tree from the car yourself, you should call a professional to remove it. (Again, talk to a claims adjuster first and take a few photos of the fallen tree on your car.) Depending on the damage, both your homeowners and the optional comprehensive coverage you may have under your auto policy could provide coverage for the loss.

Dickinson Insurance Agency 609 North Syringa StreetPost Falls, Idaho 83854 Phone: (208) 262-7111

www.tidbitscda.com Page 19TIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #29 July 14th

I have been advertising in Tidbits for some time now and love it. Positive people and a great paper, I'd recommend Tid-bits as an affordable op-portunity for business growth in any industry.

TIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #30 July 21stTIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #43 Oct. 20th


Dear Auntie M.,

Please send your questionsor comments to

[email protected]. I shall be frank and honest with my

response and provide resourceswhere appropriate.

I’ve been a smoker for over 40 years and enjoy it. Some-times I chew, too. I’ve tried to quit but the patches don’t work. My wife hates it and makes me smoke outside. She says I smell like an ashtray and won’t kiss me. I have to keep my clothes in a separate closet and sleep inthe guest room. I don’t think that’s fair but I do it. My pickup is a smoking zone so she won’tride in it which is okay with me. I’m sick and tired of being nagged all the time by her and the kids and the grandkids. I tell them it’s my body and my health and just accept it. So what if I wheeze and cough - you’ve got to die from something. I’ve worked hard for them all my life and they should show a little gratitude for all I’ve done for this family. Now I’m in the doghouse for staying late at the bar having a few beers so I can smoke. It’s their fault I don’t want to come home. How do I get them off my a__ and let me smoke in peace?A Smoker in Smelterville

Dear A Smoker,You’ve created quite the story to justify your ad-diction. Why are you letting cigarettes run your life? I appreciate that you have worked hard and been a good provider for your family. But, do you love them? They certainly care for you or they wouldn’t be hounding you to quit. Are you at all familiar with the effects of lung disease? Do you know that each cigarette shortens yourlife? Besides breathing and lung issues smok-ing greatly increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. If you’ve been smoking for 40 years you need to get honest with yourself and admit how it has affected your health. The good news is, despite all the scary facts, there is hope. As soon as you stop your lungs and other smoke-damaged organs will start to repair themselves. If that and your family’s love aren’t incentive enough to quit then you may need psychologi-cal help. Sabotaging your health and your rela-tionships by harming yourself is serious. Get the help you need. DECIDE to take back control of your life and your health. You and your loved ones deserve it.




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Top 10 DVD, Blu-ray Rentals1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (PG-13) Chris Evans2. The Other Woman (PG-13) Cameron Diaz3. Think Like a Man Too (PG-13) Kevin Hart4. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (PG-13) Andrew Garfield5. Draft Day (R) Kevin Costner6. Divergent (PG-13) Shailene Woodley7. Mom’s Night Out (PG) Sarah Drew8. Transcendence (PG-13) Johnny Depp9. Oculus (R) Karen Gillan10. Noah (PG-13) Russell Crowe

Top 10 DVD, Blu-ray Sales1. Godzilla (PG-13) Warner Pros.2. The Fault in Our Stars (PG-13) Fox3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (PG-13) Disney4. The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Seventh Season (PG-14) Warner Bros.5. Arrow: The Complete Second Season (TV-14) Warner Bros.6. Think Like a Man Too (PG-13) Sony7. Barbie and the Secret Door (NR) Universal8. Castle: The Complete Sixth Season (TV-14) Disney9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (PG-13) Sony10. Brick Mansions (PG-13) FOX

Source: Rentrak Corp.


TIDBITS of Kootenai County, Idaho Issue #35 August 25th

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