Q. How does an ATM machine know how much money to dispense?
A. automatic teller machines have been in use since the late 1970s nationally. The ATM card is a manufactured plastic card with the customer's account number and PIN (personal indentification number) encoded onto the magnetic tpe, which is secured to the card. ATMs "read" the magnetic tape much the samw way a cassette is "read" by a tape deck. the user then has to verify the PIN after the card is inserted. "After two or three tries, if you fail to put in the PIN, the ATM keeps the card," says Shirley Cox, a vice president with Overton Bank. "It's a combination electric calculator and money counter. Instead of an electronic read out, you get money." ATMs usually dispense $10 bills and $20 bills, and they can stick. "If you get overpaud, the next person will get shortchanged," said Curt Von Der Ahe, Overton president.
Q. Why do flowers bloom in the spring instead of the fall?
A. Not all flowers bloom in the spring. Many plants produce flowers in the summer, some come in late summer, others in fall and even winter! That's while the clever gardener can keep flowers around throughout much of the year. For example, most people first see the crocuses bloom in the spring. Clematis sprouts it's blossoms in the summer. The butterfly bush and rose of sharon bloom in late summer. The spider flower comes out in fall, and some camellias bloom in winter.
Q. About how much sleep do dogs need?
A. Dogs are more or less on the human schedule. They sleep eight or nine hours at night and day. However, they may take naps now and then. Cats, on the other hand, need alot more sleep. they spend between 16 and 18 hours a day snoozing. They like to be up and about at night. However, they sometimes adapt to the people they live with.
Q. How is it there is an oval office in a rectangle White House?
A. Actually there are three oval rooms in the White House, plus the President's Oval Office in the West Wing. The Oval Office is modeled after the three original oval rooms in the main part of the White House. The three oval rooms in the main part of the house are the Diplomatic Reception Room on the ground floor, the Blue Room, a reception room on the first floor, and the Yellow Oval Room on the second floor. The Diplomatic Reception Room faces south and curves outward with the south portico.