European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Naming places has never been simple chorejq7aschenrach Goose pimple Junction va., is put on the map. Mole Hill is made into Mountain w. A. Scratch ankle ala., receives recognition. Naughty girl Meadow ore., returns to its More descriptive original whorehouse Meadow. These decisions Are among the Many made by the . Board on geographic names although they Are far from the most important ones. The important ones often reflect and in some cases institutionalize changes in . And world thinking. Thus Saigon was changed to to Chi Minli City peking replaced with Beijing Cambodia was switched to Kampuchea a and Back a and Cape canaveral a centuries old name was restored after a decade As Cape Kennedy. Quot names Are As important to countries As they arc to individuals. Look at the name changes accompanying the political changes in Eastern Europe. The boards not just a part of history. Its involved with breaking news a says its executive Secretary Richard r. Randall. The Board was created by president Benjamin Harrison in 1890 to make sense of the Many Western Frontier names that had reached Washington during the 1880s. Many places had american Indian names names with several Spellings or in the Case of Alaska More than one name. The boards Job was to decide which names the Federal government would use it set the Standard for the rest of the country. In the first two years 5,000 names were standardized. 3 he two world wars touched off urgent demands for uniformity among thousands of foreign names. Today the Board has approved nearly 7 million . And foreign names. With no budget of its own the Board is composed of representatives from nine government agencies that have a special interest in geographic names including the postal service and the Cia. It uses staff at the . Geological Survey and defense mapping Agency. It is consulted by the state department other Federal agencies commercial map makers and news organizations. Rarely does the Board initiate new names or changes. For . Names it reviews and usually heeds local requests. For foreign names it generally adopts the names used by the governments of other countries or follows state department policy. Thus Ceylon became sri Lanka British Honduras Belize and upper Volta Turkina faso. But Burma did no to become Myanmar. A Twete sticking with Burma for the time being a says Randall of the decision not to adopt the name that the asian nation announced last year. A a Burma a a valid name and we believe another change May follow Quot Randall explains. A your policy is not to make changes overnight a but Many news organizations and map makers already have switched. The Board also is sticking with its tradition of using popular English language names for countries a Japan not Nippon a but recognizes both Monehen and Munich and moskva and Moscow. A a we be been trying to drop the English names but we just can to. There Are too Many Quot Randall says. A if we changed the Danube River or the great Wall of China you a lose an  with the soviet unions changing political climate some places May regain their identity. Some newspapers have started putting Lithuania instead of . . In datelines from the Baltic states capital Vilnius. Perhaps the boards biggest Challenge has been converting several million names to the roman alphabet from numerous other alphabets. A decade ago adoption of the pinyin system resulted in sweeping name changes for China. Although it May seem that almost every . Place has a name the Board reviews about 1,000 proposals for new names or name changes in the United states. Even after a Century of giving places names Randall says a a there a no standing still or stopping and saying a now we be done  a National geographic at a glance Portugal size 35,553 Square Miles a including azores and Madeira islands slightly smaller than Indiana population 10,240,000 1989 estimate main language portuguese currency escudo $1 = 139 travel restrictions none for americans overview Portugal shares the iberian Peninsula with Spain and has Many of the same geographic contrasts. The North is largely Hilly or mountainous the Central Interior is Lowland Plains especially around the two main Rivers the Douro and the Tagus and Beautiful beaches bordered by Rocky Cliffs make up the Southern Algarme coast. Because of its Long coastline Portugal has always been attracted to the sea. Explorers and navigators made it an International Power in the 15th Century and fishing remains a major Industry today. Lisbon the capital sits on a protected Bay where the Tagus empties into the Ocean. The azores and Madeira Atlantic Island groups Are part of Portugal. Its a fact Portugal is known for its Fine wine but even More for its Cork it is the worlds main supplier and the Oak for making wine  questions q Why Are Moths attracted to burning candles a it is the warm Wax not the flame that attracts male Moths to lighted candles according to Philip s. Callahan a Florida entomologist and researcher. Callahan said experiments have demonstrated that the particular Wavelength of infrared radiation emitted by warm Candle Wax coincided with the Wavelength x emitted by sex attractant chemicals produced by female Moths. This invisible radiation could be detected by Light conducting spines protruding from the antennas of male Moths Callahan said and misidentified As radiation from female Moths. Callahan said he believes that when a male Moth flies to its destruction in a Candle flame it thought it had found a female Moth. It was just bad Luck for male Moths that radiation from female Moths happened to have the same Wavelength As radiation from Candle Wax. A a q what is a Jet Trail made of a. A a a Jet Trail is basically composed of tiny ice crystals a says Lee Grenci a meteorologist at Pennsylvania state University. When Jet air planes typically flying at altitudes of 30,000 or 35,000 feet bum fuel one of the products of combustion is water vapor. The water vapor collects around tiny particles which serve As condensation particles. Grenci says that crystals of ice form almost instantaneously As the extreme cold of the High Altitude makes the water go directly from the gaseous form to the solid form without passing through a liquid state. The ice crystals then spread out and form a visible Trail in the sky. New York times Page 10 c sunday september 16,1990