The Birmingham News from Birmingham, Alabama • 56

FOURTEEN THE BIRMINGHAM NEW SA GE-HERALD SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 1939 UNCLE RAY'S CORNER RIDDLES FUN ADVENTURE INVENTION HISTORY TRAVEL NATURE SCIENCE BIOGRAPHY MOHAMMEDAN YEAR LASTS 354 DAYS MUSIC OF TWO KINDS OF INDIANS 1. The Incas of Peru, Chile and Bolivia were better civilized than most Indians in the New World. Here we see modern Indians of the Lake Titicaca region dressed in old-style costumes. An Indian boy is playing, or trying to play, on a set of huge pipes which produce music of a sort. The man holding a spiked scepter is dressed like an Inca ruler of centuries ago.

Three Persian dervishes singing a New Year song. Uncle Ray Speaks Of Good Resolutions For New Year 2. A flute made from a special kind of gourd is used in India to charm the deadly cobra. The snake-charmers keep moving from village to village to amaze residents with their strange power. We are told that the secrets of their trade have been handed down from father to son for hundreds of years.

The first day of January is our New Years Day, but the year does not start on that date in all countries. The Mohammedans of Egypt, Persia and other lands have a different New Years Day. So have the Chinese, the Hindus and the Jews. The Mohammedans date their time from the year we call 622, which, for them, was the Year one. In that year, the prophet Mohammed ran away from the city of Mecca where he was born.

He fled because he had feared enemies of the religion he had started to preach. He reached Medina, another city in Arabia, safely. Mohammedans Live In 1357 The Mohammedan year is shorter than ours. Most often it contains 354 days, but there are leap years with one extra day. The Mohammedans say they now are living in the year 1357.

Their next New Years Day will come on Feb. 21. Mohammedan holy men known as "dervishes will be among those who will celebrate the New Year. The official Chinese calendar is like ours in some ways, but it starts to count years from the revolution which turned China into a republic. Nineteen hundred and twelve is the year one by this plan.

The coming year, starting Jan. 1, will be the year 28. Popular Calendar Different That is the official calendar plan, but the popular Chinese calendar has its New Year at a different time. The time keeps changing, since the year starts with the first new moon after the sun enters the sign of Aquarius. The old-style Chinese New Year does not come before Jan.

21 or later than Feb. 19. We often hear the statement that a Chinaman commits suicide if he cant pay his debts" on New Year's Day. That may happen, but it is not the common custom. New Years Day is a time for paying debts, but if a man cannot pay, the usual thing is to make a new debt in order to pay the old ones.

If he cannot borrow money to pay his debts, a Chinese business man is more likely to leave town than to take his own life. Later he may come back with the money. By the Chinese style of counting, the year one took place in the year we call 2696 B. C. This means that their counting of time started more than 4,600 years ago.

The Jewish calendar starts even further back, and the present year is numbered 5699. Fifty-seven hundred years will have been counted when Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, comes next Sept. 14. The Jews-have had a long and interesting history, but in many periods it has been sad. In ancient times the Jews were held as slaves in Egypt and in Babylonia.

In the Middle Ages they suffered fearful wrongs in Europe, and today all the world knows how they are being treated in Germany. (For General Interest section of your scrapbook.) frankness seems to be at a premium. Be sure and understand all undertakings. After 5:15 p.m. do not give in to impulse.

Jan. 5: Thursday Sudden events and surprisingly conditions, favorable in nature, may be met with today. Important changes may be made, strike out along vital lines. Revising, expanding older methods, installing new systems in home and business should have splendid financial results. Around this date world conditions are apt to make some thrilling progress.

Jan. 6: Friday Between 10:20 a.m. and 6:31 p.m. fairly good influences prevail, favoring domestic affairs, artistic efforts, ordinary pursuits, and a time when harmony should prevail in your relationship with others. Previous to 10:20 a.m.

and after 8:31 p.m. be cautious in promises, contracts, and agreements, as disputes can easily arise. The influences of this time incline toward discord, disagreement, criticism or unfavorable decisions. Jan. 7: Saturday A good deal of useful work may be accomplished today through concentration and a determination to be deliberate and moderate.

The combination of influences operating throughout the day and evening mainly favor real estate and land transactions, dealings with conservative people, general business, but avoid sudden changes. HOW TO USE THESE INDICATIONS TO BEST ADVANTAGE Should you receive an important on or near a register or radiator and the vapor will slowly go into the air. A good forced air heating system is fitted with a part which will give the air just the right amount of moisture. There are other things I might say about health, but our space is just about gone for today. We shall have time in the new year, however, to return to the subject.

Now I wish to send you my greetings, and to express the hope that you will find the new year bright, happy and worthwhile. (Copyriflnt. PuDlnnert snaicatl THE PLANETS As we celebrate our New Year, many of us make good resolutions. We resolve to be better, or to do things better, than in the year gone by. The good resolutions are not al-w a carried out, but I thinK it is worth while to make them.

At least we can try to do better, and if we do not succeed, we at least can give earnest effort. There are two resol utions which uld seem to be good for anyone to take care of our health and safety, and to add to our knowledge. The word health came from the Anglo-Saxons, and means sound or "whole. If we are healthy, we are free from disease, and our vital organs are working well. The heart, the lungs and the stomach are the best known of our vital organs.

When they are all in good working order, the chances are that we feel well. 1 lie heart task is to pump blood around the body. The blood passes through hundreds of small tubes, and takes food and air to millions and millions of tiny cells. Health experts tell us exercise is healthful because it helps the blood to circulate well. On the other hand we must be on our guard against too much exercise in a short space.

If we work our bodies too hard, we may overstrain the heart, and there is no good sense in doing that. The lungs take oxygen from the air we breathe. From the lungs the oxygen is passed along to the blood stream. No person can live long without oxygen. Heated air inside homes in Winter often does not have enough moisture in it, and such air is not so healthful as we should have.

Several methods of "humidifying the air that is, adding moisture to it have been worked out. Sometimes the air is humidified by steam which is allowed to escape from a radiator. A bowl of water, or a metal container, may be kept 3. When a marriage is held in India, music often is provided by a man who blows a large and queerly-shaped horn. He holds it high above his head, and by blowing hard he makes an ear-splitting din with it.

The other musicians in this picture are playing instruments which do not make nearly so much noise. Alice Denton Jennings, eminent astrologer, has prepared this forecast for readers of The Birmingham News, This guide will aid you, for it indicates the most auspicious time to begin any new endeavor, whether it is business, social or domestic. Jan. 1: Sunday The year 1939 will be filled with influences that bring renewed energy and increased desires to people in general which should make this year one of greater achievement People born between Feb. 19 and March 21 of any year will be especially favored.

Today until 4:36 p.m. is a time to advance personal interests. After 4:36 p.m. friction and restlessness should be watched to attain best results. Jan.

2: Monday The entire day until 4:33 p.m. inclines to peace, and good will, a favorable period for comfort and dealings in affairs pertaining to pleasure and when you can express yourself artistically. Those born the early days of January should guard their health around this date, and be very slow about entering transactions involving land and in dealings with older people. After 4:33 p.m. work may be extremely heavy or hard, so do not expect to finish anything quickly.

Jan. 3: Tuesday While today is not favorable for new beginnings, it will be a time when well directed action and working soberly and with a well defined plan, will bring glow but favorable results. Jan. 4: Wednesday People will be in extreme and unexpected moods before 12:20 noon. This is not an auspicious time for those things that require your signature, dealing with agents and travel.

Between 12:20 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. telephone call, giving you the first news of a certain thing, look and see If the influences at that particular time is friendly or unfriendly. The outcome of that call will be colored by the influences prevailing then. If you would like to have an astrological chart covering your sign of the xodlac, write to Alice Denton Jen nings, 14 Roswell Road, Atlanta, sending your birthdate, address, self-addressed stamped envelope and 10 CABOOSES STREAMLINED Railroads Now Rebuilding Cars, Making Changes CHEYENNE, Wyo.

UP) -With streamliners a reality, the railroads now think it about time to rebuild cabooses. The Union Pacific is spending a month modernizing the cars that tail-end freight trains on the Sidney, to Ogden, Utah division. Similar projects are under way on other divisions. Most important change, railroad men say, is that of discarding the old, smelly kerosene lamps used in the cabooses for 50 years. They are being replaced by kerosene mantle lamps that utilize a bright-burning mantle instead of the old-fashioned wick.

The new ones also "wear a modernistic shade. expects to throw in its first team against Rather. WHOLESALE ATTACK Student Beats Five Professors Simultaneously At Chess AMHERST, Mass. UP) John C. Rather, of Brooklyn, Amherst College freshman, played six professors simultaneously in a chess game recently, defeated five of them and tied the other.

Then he pointed out to the professors where they made their mistakes. The faculty, at an early date..