European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Focus 994 How to weigh carriers and other heavy questions by Cox news service Gas i be always wondered when i read that an aircraft Carrier say weighs so Many thousands of tons. How do they weigh such things do they have really big Scales As All during the construction of an aircraft Carrier and throughout the life of the vessel detailed records of the weight of construction materials and additional installations Are kept like people aircraft carriers tend to put on a few pounds with age As they take on new equipment. The Navy also routinely reads the draft Marks which Are painted in 1-foot intervals on the Bow and Stem. Thanks to archimedes principal which says a body immersed in water is buoyed by a Force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid the Navy by knowing the volume of the underwater Hull can figure the weight More or less. Is have members of Congress always been Able to take vast amounts of Money from lobbyists was this at once forbidden and then condoned How did the lobbying situation develop to the Point where it is today a Congress has always been wide open partly because 200 ago the nation s founders never could have visualized the millions and millions of dollars that eventually would Wash Over the country s governing and lawmaking process. It did t take too Long though for some folks to notice How much Money flowed through the hands of our elected officials. If there had been restrictions Early on " said Melissa Metcalf of common cause Georgia it would have put people like satirist Mark Twain out of  there have been some attempts to Stem the tide. Usually after scandals like the Teapot dome there have been a flurry of controls but they have always been More show than substance Metcalf said. State Legislatures Are Way ahead of Congress in cleaning up their acts. In the past 20 years All states have instituted some sort of lobbying Reform. Things that would be absolutely unheard of in our state Legislatures today Are still permitted in Washington said Metcalf. How Many members Are there in the House of representatives and How much has this number increased Over the past decade a you Are probably under the common misconception that the number of House members goes up and Down based on population while the number of senators remains at two for each state. The Senate part is right but Here is How it works in the House scientific equations determine How much ships like the Eisenhower weigh. S4s file there Are 435 members representing 435 districts. After the census is taken every 10 years the 435 districts Are divvied up among the states using a reapportionment formula based on population. Some states May gain and some May lose but the number 435 stays the same. Then we get to redistricting which is what the states do to decide the shape of congressional districts after the Federal reapportionment. The number of House members has not been enlarged since being set by statute at 435 in 1 91 2 because of the belief that to keep adding members would make the body too unwieldy. G s it is known that american u-2 spy pilots had been shot Down by the former soviet Union Over its territory but has a russian spy Pilot Ever been shot Down Over the United states a to the Best of my knowledge we have never shot Down a russian spy plane Over this country said a defense department spokesman. Camera obscure which literally Means dark chamber and is the name Given to an optical device that was the predecessor of the camera. With the Legal education i am getting from watching the . Simpson coverage i have Learned that to meet with a judge in camera Means to meet in private in his Chambers obviously without cameras so Why in camera As in latin camera originally meant vaulted ceiling and later came to mean vault or room. In old French it came to mean  so How did this get to be a Kodak the camera of photography comes from the phrase i read that All previous Heisman trophy winners get to vote on new Heisman candidates. Since Simpson is a former Winner will he be voting this time As he will be sent a ballot said a spokesman for the downtown athletic club in new York which sponsors the award. Is i be heard mention that the cause of juvenile diabetes had been found to be a virus and that there is vaccine to cure it. Can you provide More information on this As it was reported last month that research done by or. Massimo Trucco of the University of Pittsburgh strongly suggested that Type i diabetes also called juvenile diabetes the most severe form of the disease is caused by a virus infection in the pancreas. Viruses had been suggested As a cause of diabetes before but these Are the strongest findings to Date. Trucco s study is a provocative finding that needs to be followed up and it will be said Kenneth Farber executive director of the juvenile diabetes foundation International. There is no vaccine yet but if the cause is a virus then a vaccine becomes definite possibility. Do you have a question about the news then ask it and the Atlanta journal Constitution will try to find the answer and publish it in this column. Write Nis a kiss next the kiss question in therom Iuri Shimun Japan s largest newspaper. Without shame there is no sense of restraint. If we lose that we re no different from  despite Many recent articles on the kissing controversy shame still seems to be winning out Over Public passion with the Genera  Survey this summer of 400 japanese men revealed that 71 percent had never kissed a woman in a Public place. Of the 29 percent who admitted to kissing at train stations airports or Street Corners More than half said they were embarrassed to admit it Apap is it is or Idit. Id id id out r. R 22 the stars and stripes wednesday november 16f 1994