Do You Know Your Geography?

     We've been planning a trip to Wisconsin for a couple of months now, to see my daughter who moved there in the spring. So I've been spending a lot of time hunched over maps, drawing routes on google, checking out the states we will drive through -- Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.

     It's still up in the air about whether we will actually hazard this trip, considering the rise in Covid-19. But for all the aching back I've suffered in the planning, I have come across a few geographic surprises. I thought I'd share them with you, in the form of a quiz. So how much do you know about these United States of ours? Answers are at the bottom of the page.

     1. I used to live in New York State which is larger in area than Pennsylvania. But is New York larger than Wisconsin? So you tell me, which covers a larger area, New York or Wisconsin?

     2. Then which of these states is larger -- Pennsylvania or Ohio?

     3. Going farther afield (and out of my way), how about Florida or Idaho -- which is larger, area-wise?

     4. Now to population. Which state has more people, Wisconsin or Indiana?

     5. How about Pennsylvania vs. Illinois? Which one has the larger population?

     6. Okay, back to Idaho. Which state has a larger population, Idaho or Hawaii?

     7. Do you know the capital of Wisconsin -- is it Madison or Milwaukee?

     8.  Like I said, I used to live in New York. But when I did, I actually lived closer to the capital of Connecticut than I did to the capital of New York. The capital of New York is Albany. What's the capital of Connecticut?

     9. Now live in Pennsylvania. But I live closer to the capital of New Jersey than the capital of Pennsylvania. The capital of Pennsylvania is Harrisburg. What's the capital of New Jersey?

     10. The other place I like to visit is South Carolina. Is the capital Charleston or Columbia?

     Bonus:  I'm sorry I had to research this question. But it turns out that Wisconsin has twice the rate of Covid-19 as Pennsylvania -- just as many cases, with half the population. Which state currently has the most cases of Covid: California, Florida or Texas?

     Answers:

     1. Wisconsin at 65 thousand square miles compared to New York's 55 thousand. 2. Pennsylvania edges out Ohio, with 46 thousand sq. mi. compared to Ohio at a little less than 45 thousand. 3. Idaho. This one surprised me. Idaho is larger than Florida, with 84 thousand sq. mi. compared to 66 thousand 4. Indiana at 6.7 million people compared to Wisconsin's 5.8 million. 5. Pennsylvania wins at 12.8 million compared to 12.7 for Illinois -- Illinois used to be more populous but it is one of the few states that has lost population in recent years. 6. Idaho wins again, with 1.8 million compared to Hawaii's 1.4 million. 7. Madison. 8. Hartford. 9. Trenton. 10. Columbia. Bonus: Florida, with a seven-day average of over 11,000 new cases; Texas is averaging 10,000 a day and California 9,000. Pennsylvania has fewer than 1,000 cases a day.

Answers to: Do You Know Your Facts?

     I begin each year on this blog with a quiz. (See previous quizzes on side-bar to the right, under "Pages"). If you haven't already seen my last post Do You Know Your Facts? from Jan. 1, then make sure to go take the quiz first, then you'll be ready to see the answers.

     So here we go: The answers to the quiz, with some brief explanations.

     1. C. The official poverty rate in 2018 (latest figure available) was 11.8%, or approximately 38 million people, which was down from the previous year's rate of 12.3%. In 2010, at its height, the poverty rate was 15%. The 9.7% figure is the 2018 poverty rate for people age 65 and older -- the lowest rate for any age group.

     2. B. The U. S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development estimates that a little over 500,000 Americans are homeless. About two thirds stay in emergency shelters or temporary housing, about one third are on the streets or in abandoned buildings. The place with the highest rate of homelessness is Washington, DC, followed by Hawaii, New York, California, then Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Massachusetts. The good news: homelessness is down among all groups in the past ten years, especially veterans and families with children.

     3. C. The Pew Research Center analyzed income data and for 1980 classified exactly 59% of Americans as middle class, while 26% were lower income and 15% were upper income. Since then the middle class has decreased to 52% of Americans. The lower income group has expanded by 3 points to 29%. The upper income group has increased by 4 points to 19% of the population.

     4. D. The level was up to $11.4 million in 2019. For 2020 it's been increased to $11.58 million. So if your estate is worth $8 or $10 million your beneficiaries get it all tax free as far as the federal government goes.

     5. B. The wealthy can shield over $11 million from federal estate tax (and over $23 million as a couple). But Social Security beneficiaries start to be taxed when their "combined income" goes above $25,000 per year as a single, and $32,000 as a couple. The Social Security thresholds were set in 1994. If adjusted for inflation, the thresholds today would be about $44,000 for singles and $56,000 for couples.

     6. C. 101. Out of 435 members, 101, or 23.2% are women, with 88 Democrats and 13 Republicans. In addition, there are four non-voting women delegates  -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- representing Washington, DC, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

     7. D. There are 85 men for every 100 women age 25 - 29 with a college degree. Men catch up a little bit later on, earning 90 doctorate degrees for every 100 earned by women.

     8. D. While the number of people with dementia has increased because of the increase in the 65-and-over population, the rate of dementia among the elderly has actually decreased to 8.8%, largely because of higher levels of education. Higher education levels are generally associated with better health, including mental health.

     9. A. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the current obesity rate in America is 40%, affecting some 94 million adults. Obesity leads to an extra $147 billion in medical costs associated with diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer. In general, obesity rates are higher in middle-income people compared to either low or high income people.

    10. D. Decreased by about 30%. There were 23,000 murders in 1980 compared to a little over 16,000 in 2018 (the latest U. S. figure) -- and that's with a much larger population. The murder rate has actually dropped more, by about half. The bad news: before 1980 firearms accounted for a little over 50% of murders; now they are used in over 70% of murders.

    11. D. The Centers for Disease Control tallied 26,020 drug-related deaths in 2007. Ten years later the number had exploded to 70,237.

    12. D. According to ITOPF, a non-profit group of insurance oil-pollution compensation funds, the number of oil spills declined during the 1980s and have been few and far between since the mid-'90s, averaging only half a dozen annually in recent years.

    13. B. Get dangerously warmer. While we are spilling less oil, we are burning more. Almost all experts agree that the world is warming, though they disagree on how much -- estimates range from 3 degrees to 7 degrees Fahrenheit by late in this century. That may not seem like a lot, but it's enough to raise sea levels 8 to 20 inches which would put a lot of our beaches and coastal cities under water.

    14. C. Ulysses S. Grant (The initials give it away!) So insulting a president is nothing new. Grant, who placed 21st in his West Point class of 39 graduates, went on to become a Civil War hero, a notorious drunk, corrupt president and bestselling memoirist.

Quiz: Do You Know Your Facts?

     One article in last Sunday's New York Times proclaimed: "Everything has only gotten worse ..." while a few pages later a headline from the usually critical Nicholas Kristof told us, "This Has Been the Best Year Ever (Again)."

     So what are we to believe?

     I read an important book published last year called Factfulness by Hans Rosling. His message is that we need to rely on facts to inform us about the world, not our fears, emotions, or any rules of thumb or the popular media. All these sources feed into our prejudices and preconceived notions -- whether we're man or woman, young or old, Democrat or Republican -- and give us a distorted view of the world.

     In his book Rosling offers a quiz to test the reader's knowledge. For example, he asks: "In all low-income countries across the world today, how many girls finish primary school? A. 20%; B. 40%, or C. 60%." What do you think?

     Hans Rosling, who died in 2017 at age 68, was a Swedish physician and professor of international health. My quiz below is inspired by his book, but I've tried to focus my questions more on the United States. Still, the questions will hopefully illustrate his point that we need to know the true facts, not the facts as massaged by politicians, corporations, the internet or the media. That's the only way we can respond to real problems, and not get paralyzed by unfounded fears or misdirected sympathies.

     The answer above, by the way, is C. 60% of girls even in low-income countries get at least a primary school education. Most people think the number is lower than that -- an example of how we often believe things are worse than they really are.

     So put on your thinking cap. Here's the quiz:

1. What is the poverty rate in America today?
A. 15%    B  12.3%    C  11.8%     D. 9.7%

2. How many homeless people are in the U. S.?
A. 1 million    B. 500,000    C. 200,000    D. 100,000

3. Since 1980 the share of Americans judged to be middle class by the Federal Bureau of the Census has:
A. Increased significantly    B. Increased slightly    C. Decreased a little bit    D. Decreased drastically

4. In the year 2000 the federal estate tax kicked in for estates worth over $1 million. In 2020 the threshold is:
A. Still $1 million    B. $10 million    C. $11.4. million    D. $11.58 million

5. At what income level do Social Security benefits start to become taxable for a single person?
A. $0.00 (it's all taxable)    B. $25,000    C. $32,000    D. $60,000

6. How many women currently serve in the U. S. House of Representatives?
A. 154    B  132    C  101    D 87

7. For every 100 women age 25 - 29 who have at least a college degree, how many men of the same age have a college degree?
A. 124    B. 104    C. 96   D. 85 

8. In the year 2000 11.6% of people age 65 and over suffered from dementia. The latest figures show the rate of dementia among the elderly is:
A. 18%    B. 14%    C 11.6%    D. 8.8%

9. Currently the obesity rate in America is:
A. 40%    B. 30%    C 25%    D 12%

10. How have the number of murders per year changed over the past 40 years?
A. Almost doubled    B. Increased by about 20%    C. Remained about the same    D. Decreased  by about 30%

11. In 1999 there were 16,849 deaths due to drug overdose in America. What's the latest figure (as of 2017)?
A. 15,387    B. 22,200    C 36,010    D. 70,237

12. The number of major oil spills by tankers (defined as 1000 tons or more) was 636 in 1979. By 2016 that number decreased to:
A. 535    B. 121    C. 37    D. 6

13.  Global climate experts project that over the next 50 years the average temperature will:
A. Get slightly warmer    B. Get dangerously warmer.  C. Stay about the same   D. Get colder

14. The phrase: "The U. S. in his initials stands for 'Unbelievably Stupid'" refers to which president?
A. Gerald Ford    B. George W. Bush    C. Ulysses S. Grant    D. Donald Trump

     Come back in a few days for my next post to see the answers, which will offer both good and bad news . . . but also help us recognize progress when we've made it, and point us in the right direction when we're trying to solve ongoing problems.

Answers to: What's Your Baby Boomer IQ?

1. c)  Surely you didn't go for "Leave It to Beaver" starring Jerry Mathers as the Beaver. Instead, Bucky Beaver was the animated star of an Ipana toothpaste commercial of the 1950s and '60s -- Brusha, brusha, brusha, new Ipana toothpaste -- and if you're a true Baby Boomer you're probably humming that tune right now!

2. b)  After Nikita Khrushchev was ousted as the Soviet leader in 1964, Alexei Kosygin became Premier and Leonid Brezhnev rose to First Secretary. Although Kosygin, a reformer, was eclipsed by the more conservative Brezhnev, he managed to hang onto his position until two months before his death in 1980. Garry Kasparov, a Russian, is generally considered the best chess player of all time; and Carter's National Security Adviser was Zbigniew Brezezinski (whose daughter Mika is co-host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe.")

3. a)  It's a line from Bob Dylan's immortal hit "Like a Rolling Stone." The song never reached number one on the charts -- it stalled behind "Help" by the Beatles in 1965 -- but it did rate number one on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

4. d)  Everybody who was anybody at the time appeared on "Laugh-In" from Tiny Tim to Richard Nixon, from Bing Crosby to Flip Wilson. Everybody except Bill Cosby, former "I Spy" star and future accused sex molester.

5. b)  $1.60 per hour. President Johnson raised the minimum wage from $1.40 to $1.60 in February 1968 (an increase roughly the equivalent of $10 to $11 in current dollars).

6. b)  $25,000, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, compared to $319,000 today. But . . . the average square footage of a 1968 home was about 1600 square feet compared to an average of about 2400 square feet today.

7. c)  Toby. Kunta Kinte, the son of a proud Mandinka warrior, was forced to submit to the slave name Toby at the end of a whip.

8. c)  Rob and Laura Petrie, and their son Richie, lived in the suburb of New Rochelle,  NY.

9. a)  Malcolm X (1925-'65) was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. After his father was killed, he quit school and spent time in prison. He became a Muslim and eventually rose to be leader of the Nation of Islam. He declared himself a communist, preached separation of the races, and promoted drug-rehabilitation programs. In 1965 after he turned away from extremism and began to champion economic and social equality, he was assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam.

10. a)  In the final scene of Dallas in the 1979-80 season, J. R. was shot twice by an unseen assailant. The next episode, called "Who Done It?" aired on November 21,1980, and revealed that sister-in-law and mistress Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby) shot him in a fit of anger. The episode ranks second only to the 1983 M*A*S*H finale as the most-watched TV program of all time. 

11.d)  Louganis won a silver medal diving off the 10 meter platform in the 1976 Montreal summer Olympics. Americans boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, but he went on to take two gold medals in 1984 and two more in 1988.

12. c)  Cameron Diaz played one of Charlie's Angels in the 2000 movie and in the 2003 sequel. But she was not in the original TV series which aired from 1976 - 1981.

13. d)  American actress Grace Kelly (1929 - '82) appeared in High Noon, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and won the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in The Country Girl. Then in 1956, at age 26, she retired from the movies. She married Prince Rainier and became Princess Grace of Monaco -- no relation to Princess Di or the rock star Prince.

14. c)  Psycho (1960) was nominated for four Academy Awards but did not win a single one. The only Oscar director Alfred Hitchcock ever received was the Irving Thalberg award for lifetime achievement. Tippi Hedren starred in The Birds, but not Psycho, and most of the movie was shot in Hollywood and Arizona. Hitchcock made a cameo appearance, as he did in most of his films, as a man in a cowboy hat standing outside the office of Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh of the unfortunate shower scene.

15. c)  Ralph couldn't believe he "ate that whole thing" in a 1972 Alka Seltzer commercial.

16. d)  Chou en-Lai (1898-1976), also known as Zhou Enlai, was the first premier of the People's Republic of China. He served under Mao Zedong, survived The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four, and was credited with thawing relations with the West by arranging for President Nixon's visit to China in 1972. Chou died in 1976, a few months before Mao passed away.

17. a)  The Sting, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman, was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won seven including Best Picture, beating out the others in this category. American Graffiti was nominated for five Oscars that year but didn't win any. Cries and Whispers won Best Cinematography. The Exorcist won Best Writing and Best Sound.

18. b)  Sally Ride (1951-2012) was the first American woman in space as a member of the 1983 Space Shuttle crew. She is not to be confused with astronaut Judith Resnik or teacher Christa McAuliffe, both of whom perished in the Challenger disaster of 1986. Altogether, 60 women have been to space, 45 of them Americans. Ride died of cancer at the age of 61.

19. b)  The Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys 21 - 17 in the famous Ice Bowl, with temperatures at game time at -15 degrees, to win the NFL championship. Green Bay then went on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35 - 10 in the Superbowl. The Jets won two years later in 1969.

20. c)  Francis. Fitzgerald was his brother's middle name. Foley is a good Irish name that has nothing to do with the Kennedys.

Bonus question. Here's your answer . . .

     Score 19 or above:  You're a Baby Boomer genius!
     Score 17 or 18:  A near-genius.
     15 or 16:  Like the citizens of Lake Wobegon, you are above average.
     Below 15:  Well . . . you're still smarter than a 5th grader!

What's Your Baby Boomer IQ?

     If you were born between 1946 and 1964 you are a tried-and-true, certified, bona fide Baby Boomer. But the question is: Were you fully aware "that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans" as John Kennedy said in his 1961 inaugural speech, or that "there's a whole generation with a new explanation, people in motion ... " as Scott McKenzie sang in 1967?

     Take this quiz and find out how high your Baby Boomer IQ is . . . I'll have the answers for you in my next post.

1) Who was Bucky Beaver?
a) Star of the 1957 - '62 sitcom "Leave It to Beaver"
b) Snoopy's friend in Peanuts
c) A character in a toothpaste commercial
d) He told us not to start forest fires   

2) Who was Alexei Kosygin?
a) Russian chess master
b) Premier of the Soviet Union, 1964 - 1980
c) National Security Adviser for President Carter
d) Villain in the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice

3) "You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you" is from ...
a) Bob Dylan's 1965 song "Like a Rolling Stone"
b) Tom Wolfe's 1968 book The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test
c) The 1970 movie Five Easy Pieces
d) John Lennon's 1968 song "Revolution"

4) Who never appeared on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the iconic comedy that ran from 1967 - 1973?
a) John Wayne
b) Ringo Starr
c) Richard Nixon
d) Bill Cosby

5) What was the federal minimum wage in 1968?
a) $1.25 per hour
b) $1.60 per hour
c) $2.20 per hour
d) $2.40 per hour

6) What was the median price of a house in 1968?
a) $18,000
b) $25,000
c) $35,000
d) $52,000

7) Kunta Kinte was a Mandinka warrior in Roots. What was his slave name?
a) Alex
b) Tom
c) Toby
d) George 

8) Where did Rob and Laura live on The Dick Van Dyke Show?
a) New London, CT
b) New Holland, PA
c) New Rochelle, NY
d) New Brunswick, NJ 

9) Malcolm X
a)  Was a notorious Civil Rights leader
b)  Was a notorious New York gang leader
c)  Was a notorious 1970s rap star
d)  Played Will Smith's father in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"

10) Who shot J. R. in the final episode of the 1979-1980 season?
a) Kristin Shepard
b) Bobby Ewing
c) Sue Ellen Ewing
d) Clayton Farlow

11) In 1976 Greg Louganis won his first Olympic medal in
a)  Backstroke
b)  Breaststroke
c)  Gymnastics
d)  Diving


12) Who was not an original Charlie's Angel?
a) Farrah Fawcett
b) Jaclyn Smith
c) Cameron Diaz
d) Kate Jackson 

13) Princess Grace was:
a)  Princess Di's older sister
b)  Later became Queen of Luxembourg
c)  Was the mother of rock star Prince
d)  Married Prince Rainier of Monaco

14) Psycho
a)  Won Best Picture Academy Award in 1961
b)  Starred Tippi Hedren
c)  Featured a cameo appearance by director Alfred Hitchcock
d)  Was filmed on location in Portland, Oregon
 
15) "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" is a line from ...
a) The 1971 ad introducing the McDonald's quarter pounder
b) The 1967 movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
c) An Alka-Seltzer ad
d) Julia Child's groundbreaking TV cooking show

16) Chou en-Lai was ... 
a)  George H. W. Bush's favorite presidential meal
b)  Elected the first Asian-born mayor of San Francisco
c)  Leader of communist North Vietnam
d)  Premier of the People's Republic of China

17) What movie won Best Picture Academy Award in 1973?
a)  The Sting
b)  American Graffiti
c)  Cries and Whispers
d)  The Exorcist

18) Sally Ride
a)  Debuted in 1974 as a new ride at Disney World in Orlando
b)  Flew as the first American woman in space
c)  Climbed the charts as a hit record by The Rascals
d)  Was a slang word for cocaine

19) Who won the first Superbowl in 1967?
a)  Dallas Cowboys
b)  Green Bay Packers
c)  New York Jets
d)  Kansas City Chiefs

20) What was Robert F. Kennedy's middle name?
a) Fitzpatrick
b  Fitzgerald
c) Francis
d) Foley

Bonus Question) "I want to buy the world a _____"
a) Whopper
b) Coke
c) Pepsi
d) Pet rock

Answers to: Are These Baby Boomer Icons Dead or Alive?

     A few have passed on, but many are still with us, living out their lives in peace and relative obscurity. How many did you get right?

     1)  Bob Dole, wounded World War II veteran, was the Republican presidential contender who lost to Bill Clinton in 1996. Afterwards he became a Washington lawyer and lobbyist and also chairman of the campaign to build the World War II Memorial. He also made a number of TV appearances, including a celebrated ad for Viagra. Now alive and well at age 93, Dole lives in Washington and is married to former Cabinet member Elizabeth Dole.

     2)  Marion Barry was the only African American in the doctoral program in chemistry at the University of Tennessee, when he quit to focus on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He moved to Washington, DC, ran for school board and then city council. In 1977 he was shot when a group of radical Muslims took over the District building. Barry recovered and ran for mayor in 1978, won re-election in 1982 and again in 1986. By then Barry was plagued by rumors of womanizing, drug abuse and misuse of public funds. On Jan 18, 1990 he was famously arrested for drugs in a Washington sting operation. After spending six months in prison, Barry was back in politics, winning a fourth term as mayor, then in 1998 returning to the city council. He died of cardiac arrest in 2014, after having dominated Washington, DC, politics for a generation.

     3) Dion DiMucci, grew up in The Bronx singing with his father, a vaudeville entertainer, and in 1957 formed a group named after Belmont Ave. In February 1959 Dion was on tour with Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holy and others when he was invited onto the plane out of Clear Lake, Iowa. He elected to stay behind, and the plane crashed, killing everyone on board. Dion went on to produce hits such as "Teenager in Love," "Where or When" and as a solo artist "Lonely Teenager," "Runaround Sue." After his star dimmed in the 1960s  he experimented as a singer/songwriter and later with Christian music, before returning to his roots, and today at age 77, Dion continues to perform.

     4)  Annette Funicello leaped into our hearts as a Mouseketeer, then went on to become a teenage idol starring in movies like "Beach Party," "Bikini Beach" and "Beach Blanket Bingo." In 1992 Funicello announced she was suffering from MS. She died in April 2013 at age 70, but not before received a star on Hollywood's walk of fame -- and today in Disneyland Paris, there is a 1950s-themed restaurant, Annette's Diner, named after her.

     5) Michael Crichton was already wildly popular by the time Jurassic Park came out in 1990. He'd written his first medical thriller, The Andromeda Strain, while still a student at Harvard Medical School in the 1960s. He went on to write a dozen bestselling books, several movie scripts, and the NBC TV medical drama "ER". Crichton was diagnosed with throat cancer early in 2008 and died on Nov. 4, 2008 at age 66.

     6)  Kirk Douglas, born Issur Danielovitch in 1916, won a number of movie awards, but though he was nominated three times for Best Actor, his only Academy Award came as an honorary award for 50 years as "a creative and moral force in the movie industry." He suffered a severe stroke in 1996 but survived, and just celebrated his 100th birthday on December 9, 2016.

     7)  Alex Haley learned his craft in the Coast Guard when sailors would pay him to write love letters home to their girlfriends. Afterwards he (perhaps paradoxically) wrote for both Playboy Magazine and Reader's Digest and wrote The Autobiography of Malcolm X  before he struck gold with Roots, a novel based on his family history. He died in 1992, at age 70, while working on a sequel, a novel based on his mother's family that was eventually published as Alex Haley's Queen.

     8) Julie Andrews, born in England, rose to fame doing Broadway musicals, and went on to star in such classics as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. She continued working in both theater and film and, and now at age 81, is working on a new TV series called Julie's Greenroom.

     9) Rosa Parks was secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the of the NAACP when in 1955 she refused to obey the order of the bus driver to give up her seat to a white person. She was not the first African American to resist bus segregation, but she was certainly the most famous, becoming a symbol of the modern civil rights movement. She and her husband moved to Detroit in 1957 where she continued to work for fair housing and racial justice, and also wrote her autobiography. In her later years she suffered from dementia, and died in 2005 at age 92.

    10) Dick Cavett was a writer for The Tonight Show when he began to develop his own idea for a talk show. The Dick Cavett Show ran through the 1970s and while it was never as popular as its rival it did garner critical success as the "thinking man's" late-night TV show. Today, at age 80, Cavett still appears on TV, and is also working on Broadway and writing commentary for various publications.

    11) Diana Ross rose to fame as a founding member and lead singer for The Supremes., then went on to a successful solo career as a singer and actress. She has collected an armful of awards for her career and in 1993 was named Female Entertainer of the Century by Billboard magazine. Today at age 72 she still performs, having just come off a three-year In the Name of Love tour.

    12) Joyce Brothers had a PhD in psychology when in 1955 she went on "The $64,000 Question" game show and won the top prize answering questions about boxing. She then went on TV to offer advice about relationships. For years she had a column in Good Housekeeping and a syndicated newspaper column and wrote numerous magazine articles and several books, including her personal story, Widowed, about the death of her husband. Brothers died at home in New Jersey in 2013 at the age of 85.

    13) Bill Bradley was the Rhodes Scholar basketball player who delayed starting his professional career for two years after college so he could attend Oxford University in England. He played for the New York Knicks from 1967 to 1977, then went into politics, serving as U. S. Senator from New Jersey for three terms. He ran for president in 2000 but lost the Democratic nomination to Vice President Al Gore. Since then the 73-year-old Bradley has remained active as a corporate consultant and board member of several companies and charitable organizations.

    14) Michael Dukakis served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979, then again from 1983 to 1991. In 1988 he won the Democratic nomination for president, but was soundly beaten by George Bush in the general election. After leaving the governor's office Dukakis became a political science professor at Northeastern University, and after his wife was diagnosed with depression, he became active in issues regarding depression and alcoholism. Today he is 83 years old and still living in Boston.

    15) Dorothy Hamill was America's darling when she won the Olympic Gold Medal in figure skating in 1976. So, come on, we're all not that old! At age 60, Hamill continues to skate with the Broadway on Ice revue.

     

Are These Baby Boomer Icons Dead or Alive?

 
     Time does not go by so slowly, as the old Righteous Brothers* song, "Unchained Melody" claims. It actually goes by quickly, and sometimes we get so involved in our own lives, we lose track of what's going on elsewhere in the world -- who is still with us and who has passed on.

     Do you think it's morbid to guess whether these people are alive or dead? All these Baby Boomer icons have seen their time come and go, whether they're still alive or not. But I think they would be thankful if we pause -- now updated as of the beginning of 2017 -- and remember their contributions to our lives in terms of what they did, what they meant to us, and where they may be today.

     So in that spirit, can you guess: Who among these Baby Boomer icons is alive? And who is dead?

     1)  1996 presidential candidate Bob Dole                          Alive  or   Dead

     2)  Notorious Washington DC mayor Marion Barry            Alive       Dead

     3)  Singer Dion DiMucci                                                     Alive       Dead

     4)  Actress Annette Funicello                                              Alive       Dead

     5)  Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton                           Alive       Dead

     6)  Actor Kirk Douglas                                                         Alive     Dead

     7)  Roots author Alex Haley                                                Alive     Dead

   
     8)  Actress Julie Andrews         Alive     Dead

     9)  Activist Rosa Parks             Alive     Dead
 
    10) TV host Dick Cavett            Alive     Dead

    11) Singer Diana Ross               Alive     Dead

  
    12) Psychologist Joyce Brothers                                          Alive     Dead

    13) Basketball player and politician Bill Bradley                   Alive     Dead

    14) 1988 Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis                Alive     Dead

    15) Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill                             Alive     Dead

     For the answers, check back here later in the week. Meantime, Happy New Year to everybody, and may we all thrive in 2017!
                                      
     * Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers died at age 63 in 2003, while Bill Medley (they were not actually brothers) continues to perform as a soloist, as well as with Bucky Heard as a new Righteous Brother.

Answers to: Who Didn't Start the Fire?

     Wait! If you haven't already taken the quiz, first go down to the Jan. 1 post to test your knowledge of 20th century history according to singer/songwriter Billy Joel. And then . . . here are the answers to the references from "We Didn't Start the Fire, " a test of how well you know your Baby Boom history:


     1. c)  Doris Day, born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in 1922, scored the hit solo "Sentimental Journey" which became an anthem for soldiers returning from World War II. She was then voted favorite female star by U. S. soldiers in Korea in 1950. But her popularity went way beyond the armed forces. She made a number of movies and was named number one female box office star four times in the early 1960s. Day has been married four times (but not to Eddie Fisher); she went bankrupt in the late 1960s (not in 1951) and won a substantial judgment against her lawyer. She currently lives in Carmel, Calif., and is still active in animal rights.

     2. a) Johnny Ray (1927-'90) scored several hit records in the 1950s, including the double-sided hit single "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud that Cried." He is credited as a significant precursor to rock and roll and was a magnet for teen hysteria in the pre-Presley days of the early 1950s.

    3. a) Roy Cohn (1927-'86) made his name prosecuting Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, two American citizens convicted and executed for passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Cohn went on to become a key aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy when he launched his crusade against communists. Cohn was accused of doctoring evidence and resigned to go into private practice, then represented clients ranging from Donald Trump to John Gotti, from the Catholic church to the New York Yankees.

     4. c) Juan Peron (1895-1974) was president of Argentina from 1946 to 1955 when he was overthrown in a coup d-etat. Peron was controversial, pushing to improve the lives of laborers, but also inviting criticism for his strong-arm tactics. Peron's considerable popularity was eclipsed by his wife Eva Duarte (Evita), the poor actress who became his First Lady. Duarte died of cancer in 1952, at age 33, and later made her mark on popular culture with the 1970s musical Evita.

     5. d) Princess Grace (1929-'82), as American actress Grace Kelly appeared in High Noon, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and won the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in The Country Girl. Then in 1956, at age 26, she retired from the movies. She married Prince Rainier and became Princess of Monaco -- no relation to Princess Di or the rock star Prince.

     6. a) Peyton Place was the first American nighttime soap opera, which ran from 1964 to 1969. The TV series was based on the novel by Grace Metalious and the 1956 film starring Lana Turner. The TV show featured Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal, and gained fame for addressing relationships, violence, and political issues in a more modern, realistic manner.

     7. d) Chou en-Lai (1898-1976), also known as Zhou Enlai, was the first premier of the People's Republic of China. He served under Mao Zedong, survived The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four, and was credited for thawing relations with the West by arranging for President Nixon's visit to China in 1972. Chou died in 1976, a few months before Mao passed away.

     8. b)  The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) was a fictional account of British prisoners of war in Burma during World War II who built and in the end destroyed a railroad bridge for the Japanese. The movie, which dramatized the brutality of the Japanese toward POWs, won Best Picture Academy Award in 1958 and starred not Alan Alda, but William Holden and Alec Guinness.

     9. d) Charlie Starkweather (1938-'59) perhaps inaugurated the modern era of serial killers. He  murdered 11 people in Nebraska and Wyoming in December 1957 and January 1958. He was convicted, along with his teenage girlfriend, in 1959. He was executed, and she served 17 years in prison. Starkweather is not to be confused with Charles Whitman who killed 14 people form the clock tower of the University of Texas in 1966.

     10. a) Thalidomide was first marketed in West Germany in 1957 as a sedative to treat anxiety, nausea and insomnia, and was later prescribed to pregnant women to alleviate morning sickness. Its use spread to England, Canada and other countries before it was found to cause birth defects, including severe malformation of the limbs. Some 10,000 cases were reported, and only about half of those affected survived past infancy. The FDA prohibited attempts to market Thalidomide in the U. S., but the drug was distributed for testing purposes and resulted in 17 babies born in America with birth defects attributed to thalidomide.

     11. c) Psycho (1960) was nominated for four Academy Awards -- but not best picture -- and did not win a single one. The only Oscar director Alfred Hitchcock ever received was the Irving Thalberg award for lifetime achievement. Tippi Hedren starred in The Birds, but not Psycho, and most of the movie was shot in Hollywood and Arizona. Hitchcock made a cameo appearance, as he did in most of his films, as a man in a cowboy hat standing outside the office of Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh of the unfortunate shower scene.

     12. d) Belgians in the Congo refers to a period of upheaval after the Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960. There was a series of civil wars that involved the Belgians as well as UN troops, and brought the United States, the Soviet Union and communist China into the conflict. The war claimed some 100,000 lives -- including UN Secretary Dag Hammarskjold who died in a plane crash on Sept. 18, 1961. The crisis finally ended in 1965, at least for a time, when Joseph-Desire Mobutu established a dictatorship.

     13. a) Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein is a science fiction novel published in 1961. It tells the story of a human, born and raised on Mars, who arrives on Earth after World War III. He had never seen a woman, and struggles to understand and adapt to human culture. He studies various religions and eventually starts his own church and preaches free love -- and thus became a hero to many in the 1960s counterculture.

     14. c) Bay of Pigs invasion occurred in April 1961 as a CIA-sponsored counterrevolutionary effort against Fidel Castro who, the Americans feared, was inching closer and closer to communism. The exercise was planned under President Eisenhower and took place just months after John Kennedy was inaugurated. After the invasion Kennedy, who took most of the blame for its failure, imposed a trade embargo against Cuba, which in turn set the stage for the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

     15. a) Malcolm X (1925-'65) was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. After his father was killed and his mother institutionalized, he quit school and spent time in prison. He became a Muslim, dropped his "slave name" in favor of Malcolm X and rose to be a leader of the Nation of Islam. He declared himself a communist, preached separation of the races, and promoted drug rehabilitation programs. In 1965 after he turned away from extremism and began to champion economic and social equality, he was assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam.

     16. a) British politician sex refers to a scandal involving British Secretary of State for War John Profumo who had an affair with 19-year-old Christine Keeler. In March 1963 Profumo denied the affair in front of the House of Commons, only to confess a few weeks later. The scandal took on a new meaning when Keeler was also found to have been involved with a Soviet naval attache. No security breaches were discovered, but Profumo was forced to resign. He lived out the rest of his life doing volunteer work, and died in 2006 at age 91.

     17. b) Sally Ride (1951-2012) was the first American woman in space as a member of the 1983 Space Shuttle crew. She is not to be confused with astronaut Judith Resnik or teacher Christa McAuliffe, both of whom perished in the Challenger disaster of 1986. Altogether, 59 women have been to space, 45 of them Americans. Ride died of cancer at the age of 61.

     18. d) Heavy Metal Suicide refers the rise in the suicide rate in the 1980s, which peaked at 13 per 100,000 people in 1986. Families of several young suicide victims brought lawsuits against the heavy metal bands of Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest, claiming the lyrics caused young people to commit suicide. The suits were unsuccessful.

     19. b) Homeless vets back from Vietnam became an issue in the 1970s and '80s as many traumatized soldiers found it difficult to reintegrate into society. They had trouble finding jobs; many turned to alcohol and drugs to soothe their problems; and a disturbing number ended up poor and homeless and living on the streets.

     20. c) Bernie Goetz boarded a New York subway in December 1984 where he was approached by four young black men who demanded $5 from him. Goetz pulled out a pistol and shot all four men, then shot one of the men again as he lay on the floor, seriously wounding all of them. Goetz escaped, but turned himself in a few days later. He was charged with attempted murder and assault, but convicted only of carrying an unlicensed firearm. He spent eight months in prison and later lost a civil suit for $43 million. In the court of public opinion Goetz was praised by conservatives frustrated with high crime rates and vilified by liberals concerned about race relations and vigilantism -- a controversy that, apparently, still goes on to this day.

Quiz: Who Didn't Start the Fire?

     When Billy Joel was a kid he wanted to grow up to be a history teacher. Of course, as we all know, he instead became a hugely popular singer/songwriter.

     Joel had just turned 40 when young Sean Lennon was in his recording studio with a friend. The friend, for whatever reason, complained that "it was a terrible time to be 21." That made Joel, who was born in 1949, reflect on the time that he was 21, when the Vietnam War was going on, there were drug problems and civil rights issues and "everything seemed to be awful."

     The kid responded that Joel had grown up in the 1950s and "everybody knows that nothing happened in the 50s."

     The singer/songwriter started thinking about the people and events that had populated his life, starting in the year of his birth. He went on to write and record "We Didn't Start the Fire," a signature song which became a No. 1 hit and was nominated for the Grammy Award Record of the Year.

     Joel refers to more than a hundred people and events that had affected his younger days. Did they have any influence on yours? See if you can identify these references from Billy Joel's hit song by choosing the correct answer . . .


     1. Doris Day
a)  Recorded her hit song "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window" in 1950
b)  Married Eddie Fisher in 1950
c)  Was voted favorite female star by U. S. soldiers in Korea in 1950
d)  Went bankrupt in 1951

     2. Johnny Ray
a)  Bolted to the top of the charts with "Cry"
b)  Was Milton Berle's sidekick on "The Milton Berle Show"
c)  Played Davey Crockett's sidekick on TV
d)  Was convicted in the murder of Jack Ruby

     3. Roy Cohn
a)  Was an aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy
b)  Defended Richard Nixon
c)  Played Perry Mason on TV
d)  Was Ray Kroc's original partner in McDonald's

     4. Juan Peron
a)  Starred in the hit TV series I love Lucy
b)  Sang the hit song "Lemon Tree"
c)  Was president of Argentina in the 1940s and '50s
d)  Captured Adolf Eichmann in 1960

     5. Princess Grace
a)  Was Princess Di's older sister
b)  Later became Queen of Luxembourg
c)  Was the mother of rock star Prince
d)  Married Prince Rainier of Monaco

     6. Peyton Place
a)  Was a book and TV show
b)  Sits near Boardwalk in the game Monopoly
c)  Is a Louisiana town named for Peyton Manning
d)  Is the title of Katharine Hepburn's autobiography

     7. Chou en-Lai
a)  Was George H. W. Bush's favorite presidential meal
b)  Was elected the first Asian-born mayor of San Francisco
c)  Was the leader of the communist North Vietnamese
d)  Served as premier of the People's Republic of China

     8. The Bridge on the River Kwai
a)  Starred Alan Alda
b)  Won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1958
c)  Dramatized the cruel practices of the British in colonial India
d)  Was based on an actual event that occurred during the Vietnam war

     9. Starkweather homocide
a)  Took place at the book depository in Dallas
b)  Took place at the clock tower of the University of Texas in Austin
c)  Was the title of Huey Newton's autobiography
d)  Was the name of a killing spree in Nebraska in the 1950s

     10. Children of Thalidomide
a)  Suffered birth defects because of the drug
b)  Died from the defoliant used in Vietnam
c)  Were babies born after a scandal involving Trojan condoms
d)  Were children saved by the smallpox vaccine

     11. Psycho
a)  Won Best Picture Academy Award in 1961
b)  Starred Tippi Hedren
c)  Featured a cameo appearance by director Alfred Hitchcock
d)  Was filmed on location in Lewiston, Maine

     12. Belgians in the Congo
a)  Was a brand of candy popular in the late 1950s
b)  Was the name of a hit record by the British invasion group The Hollies
c)  Helped free the African nation from colonial rule by Germany
d)  Tried to mediate a civil war after the Congo gained independence in 1960

     13. Stranger in a Strange Land
a)  Was a science fiction book by Robert Heinlein
b)  Was the autobiography of James Baldwin
c)  Formed the tag line in an advertisement for the ill-fated Edsel
d)  Was a TV sit-com about two unlikely cousins living together in Chicago

     14. Bay of Pigs Invasion
a)  Occurred in 1964
b)  Was JFK's first step involving us in Vietnam
c)  Was a CIA misadventure set in motion by President Eisenhower
d)  Saved Guantanamo from falling into Castro's hands

    15. Malcolm X
a)  Was a notorious Civil Rights leader
b)  Was a notorious New York gang leader
c)  Was a notorious 1970s rap star
d)  Played Will Smith's father in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"

     16. British Politician Sex
a)  Refers to a sex scandal involving a British government official
b)  Was a new sexual position popularized by the movie "I Am Curious Yellow"
c)  Was a 1980s reference to gay sex
d)  Was the CIA code name for Margaret Thatcher's husband

     17. Sally Ride
a)  Debuted in 1976 as a new ride at Disney World in Orlando
b)  Flew as the first American woman in space
c)  Climbed the charts as a hit record by The Rascals
d)  Was a slang word for cocaine

     18. Heavy metal suicide
a)  Was the name of a Punk Rock band
b)  Was the name of a film by Andy Warhol
c)  Refers to the suicide of Nirvana star Kurt Cobain
d)  Refers to lyrics from Ozzie Osborne and Judas Priest allegedly glorifying suicide

     19. Homeless Vets
a)  Was the name of a movie starring John Voight
b)  Refers to the number of Vietnam vets who were poor and homeless
c)  Was a NY Post headline about New York's homeless problem
d)  Was Donald Trump's plan to register the homeless in Atlantic City

     20. Bernie Goetz
a)  Manufactured Guess jeans
b)  Was a character actor in the first Star Wars movie
c)  Shot four people in the New York subway
d)  Was the last person killed at the Berlin Wall in 1988

     So do you still think you know a lot about the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s? Check out my next post for the answers, and a few little-known Baby Boomer facts from singer-songwriter-historian Billy Joel.

Answer to: How Long Will You Live?

     I consulted several how-long-will-you-live websites to compile this quiz, along with various government statistics. So everyone starts with the number 84, which according to Social Security actuarial tables represents the overall average life expectancy of Americans in their mid-60s. Then, to figure out your own individual life expectancy, add and subtract according to the following schedule.

      1. If you're in your 50s, subtract 2 years. In your 60s, no change. In your 70s, add 3 years; in your 80s, add 7 years. (If you're younger than 50, you shouldn't be reading this blog; and if you're in your 90s, you're way beyond a quiz like this!)
  
     2. If you're a white male, subtract one year. White female, add two years. Non-white male, subtract 4 years. Non-white female, subtract one year. (Figures are from the CDC).

     3. Never married: subtract one year. Currently married: add one year. Divorced or widowed, no change

     4. If you answered A) add one year. If you answered D) subtract one year. If you answered B), then it's hard to generalize, but cancer survival rates are improving all the time. On average, subtract 3 years.

     5. If you answered A) add one year. If you answered D) subtract one year. If you answered B) then again, it's hard to generalize, but treatments are continually getting more effective. So on average, subtract 2 years.

     6. Add one year if you tend to drive in the right-hand lane, and another year if you answered always wear your seat belt. Subtract one year if you drive in the left-hand lane (in other words, if you are prone to speeding) and subtract another year for answering C), or over 15,000 miles a year.

     7. Add 2 years if you never smoked; add one if you gave up more than 10 years ago. Subtract one year if you smoke occasionally (one pack of cigarettes a month, or one cigar a week = "occasionally"); subtract 2 years if you smoke half a pack or more a day.

     8. Add one year if you checked no items. Subtract one year if you checked 2 or 3 items; subtract 2 years if you checked all 4 items.

     9. Add one year if you checked both B) and C); subtract one year if you checked both A) and D). Otherwise, no change.

     10. Add two years if you checked A) for regular exercise. Subtract one year if you answered D) for never.

     11.  Subtract one year if you checked A) and have no college experience. Add one year if you checked C) or D) -- there's a benefit to graduating from college but no appreciable actuarial benefit to more education.

     12.  Subtract one year if you answered A). (You're too gullible.) Subtract one year if you answered D). (You're too cynical). Add one year if you answered C) -- because no matter what our age we can always improve our prospects for a long and healthy life.


     The final number you end up with is an estimate of how long you can expect to live. But as you might imagine, this is a fairly short-handed quiz, and it's more a suggestion than a prediction. If you want something more comprehensive and therefore more accurate, I'd recommend the long-form calculator from the University of Pennsylvania.

     P. S. According to this quiz, I'll live until age 89, and B will live to 96. Which seems about right to me. Good luck ... and good health in the New Year!

Quiz: How Long Will You Live?

     When we're young, we think we will live forever. But we know it's not true. According to the Social Security Administration, roughly 10 percent of the original Baby Boomers have already died -- a few in Vietnam, many more from heart disease, cancer or car accident.

     But as we get older, it's hard not to wonder: Just how much more time do we have left? Take this quiz, based on several longevity sources, and get a best-guess estimate:


     1. Are you ...
     A) In your 50s
     B) In your 60s
     C) In your 70s
     D) In your 80s

     2. What is your demographic?
     A) White male
     B) White female
     C) Non-white male
     D) Non-white female

     3. What's your current marital status?
     A) Never married
     B) Married
     C) Divorced
     D) Widowed   

     4. Do you have a family history of cancer? (check only one)
     A) No
     B) I've had cancer
     C) A parent or sibling has had cancer
     D) More than one relative has had cancer

     5. Do you have a history of heart disease? (Check only one)
     A) No
     B) I have heart disease
     C) A parent or sibling has had heart disease
     D) More than one relative has had heart disease

     6. How do you drive? (Check all that apply)
     A) Usually in the left-hand lane
     B) Usually in the right-hand lane
     C) Over 15,000 miles/year
     D) Always wear a seat belt

     7. Do you smoke?
     A) Yes
     B) Only occasionally
     C) Never smoked
     D) Gave up more than 10 years ago

     8. How's your stress level? (Check all that apply within the past year)
     A) Serious worry about family member
     B) Death in family
     C) Divorced or separated
     D) Financial trouble

     9. Do you eat right? (Check all that apply)
     A) Lots of sweet drinks
     B) Lots of vegetables
     C) Lots of fruit
     D) Lots of carbs

     10. Do you exercise to the point of sweating?
     A) Regularly
     B) Sometimes
     C) Occasionally
     D) Never

     11. What's your education level?
     A) Attended high school
     B) Some college
     C) College graduate
     D) Graduate school

     12. Wait a second here ... how seriously can we take this quiz?
     A) It's science so I believe it
     B) Helpful but not authoritative
     C) Might inspire me to improve my lifestyle
     D) Utter nonsense

     Look for the answers and more detailed information -- and of course a few caveats -- in my next post. Meantime, Happy New Year!