Word: thumb
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, he had helped out in his spare time in the vineyards and chicken houses on his mother's 50-acre ranch in the Napa Valley region of California. Now, on his suburban acreage in Westchester County, he is trying his not-necessarily-so-green thumb on apples (nine on the bough this year) and raspberries (a nice spoonful...
Diverted Thief. The answering machines are only mildly Buck Rogerish compared with Marcom Inc.'s call diverter. A thumb wheel is set with the number where the owner will be, and incoming calls are transferred there. Lawyer Melvin Belli has one, switches early-morning calls to the hamburger stand where he breakfasts. And since the call is transferred without the caller's being any the wiser, the device should be a boon to wayward husbands or junior executives who have slipped out for a quick pick...
Household Word. Far from bowing down to Orville, the milling and baking industries banded together with unions in an outfit called the Wheat Users Committee. Led by Maurice Rosenblatt, an astute professional lobbyist with a green thumb for controversy, the committee printed 5,000,000 pamphlets attacking the proposed "bread tax," a phrase that became a household word overnight. The pamphlets, distributed free at supermarkets around the U.S., explained that if the wheat plan were passed, housewives would soon be paying more for bread as well as for flour, crackers, cookies and cereal. Before long, outraged mail against the wheat...
...return the car as close to factory condition as possible. Many of the cars are rescued from the junk heap; others are bought from philistines who have put in engines from other cars and replaced original with makeshift parts. To discover how the car once was, restorers thumb through old Ford service booklets, then set out to find the missing parts. Many are found at the restorers' annual swap. A perfectionist who had been looking for five years for a i-in. front-seat adjusting screw picked one up at Dearborn last week for $5. Show Race. Next...
...whether the parents are right for the school. The key to acceptance often lies in the references they supply for their child, influential names collected from family friends or at cocktail parties and business lunches. But an admissions director deluged with reference letters may observe the old rule of thumb that "a thick folder indicates a thick boy." An edge is conceded to parents with prominent names or prominent bank accounts; yet any hint that they are trying to buy their way in, explains Henry D. Tiffany Jr., headmaster of Allen-Stevenson, "is practically the kiss of death...