Word: fishing
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Casa Encantada. He lives there alone and, with 19 servants at his call, does nothing for himself; he will not even buy his own clothes. While his hotels like to proclaim their appeal to gourmets, Hilton is indifferent to fancy food, preferring to dine on corned beef hash, tuna-fish casserole and tea served in plastic cups ("It's more sanitary."). Though his hotels pride themselves on the original works of art they hang in lobbies and guest rooms (the New York Hilton has 8,500 specially commissioned works), one of the least appreciative viewers is Conrad Hilton...
Marine biologists have wondered for years why fish and other creatures that live at middling ocean depths carry rows of little searchlights on their bellies. The searchlights (photophores) are cup-shaped organs that are lined with highly reflective tissue and contain luminous cells whose light is concentrated into a downward-pointing beam. Biologists reason that since photophores evolved independently in fish (vertebrates), shrimps (crustaceans), and squids (mollusks), they must have important survival value. But what was it? The bright beams of the photophores shining downward would seem to be a disadvantage, serving only to draw the attention of predators...
...Nature, William D. Clarke of General Motors Defense Research Laboratories, Santa Barbara, explains a likely purpose of the photophores. The creatures that carry the belly searchlights, he says, live at ocean depths (less than 3,000 ft.) where sunlight barely penetrates. These waters are the hunting ground of fish with eyes that point permanently upward. What they normally see is the last faint trace of sunlight, which looks like a dim blue ceiling. When they see a dark and edible-looking object silhouetted vaguely against the ceiling above, they dart up and grab...
...Clarke believes that photophores actually protect their bearers by confusing the enemy. The fish cruising below are rather nearsighted, so they do not see the little searchlights as points of brightness. Instead, the lights blend together as in a badly focused photograph, making the silhouette look dim and fuzzy against the lighted ceiling. So the hungry fish with the upturned eyes look elsewhere for dinner...
Fickle Flickers. Children's tastes change so rapidly that companies catering to the market survey it constantly to detect each flicker of interest. Popeye is currently out; so are Doctors Kildare and Ben Casey, model trains (they are considered old-fashioned), and tuna fish. Among the current ins: Mr. Magoo, electric toothbrushes, army toys, English bikes, kosher foods, pizza pies, and Frankenstein monsters...