Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BADA-BING, BADA-BOOM! According to a report in the New York Daily News, organizers of the city's annual Columbus Day Parade have decided again this year to ban the cast of "The Sopranos" from taking part in the march. Advertisement The Columbus Citizens Foundation, which organizes the parade, has condemned the HBO drama as offensive to Italian-Americans. The newspaper quoted Columbus Weekend chairman Max Di Fabio as saying that the actors from "The Sopranos" are "not welcome" to take part in the parade. "It would be like an atheist preaching in a church," said Di Fabio. Paul Borghese, president of the Guild of Italian American Actors, told the paper that the Columbus Citizens Foundation had agreed to allow James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and the rest of the actors on "The Sopranos" to ride on the guild's float. (Thanks to UPI Hollywood Reporter Pat Nason) Advertisement THINGS WE DON'T UNDERSTAND New measures have been taken to ensure the security of mosquito control trucks in Houston after repeated calls from citizens worried about terrorists hijacking the trucks or sabotaging their spray. As many as 20 to 25 calls were being received daily at the Harris County (Texas) Health Department, according to spokeswoman Sandy Kachur. The calls began after crop-spraying aircraft were temporarily grounded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In Houston during the hot months, about a dozen trucks routinely patrol the county at night spraying for mosquitoes in areas where there is concern about St. Louis encephalitis. "The callers were concerned about who was driving the truck," she said. "They said they didn't know if the truck had been hijacked. Some were worried whether the chemicals were the ones they were supposed to be using." Kachur said new security measures were installed to reassure the public. The drivers now report to their supervisors every 30 minutes, instead of every hour, to report where they are on their nightly route. In addition, precautions have also been taken to check the trucks, drivers and their loads before they leave on their nightly patrols and when they return. Advertisement Kachur said the calls have slacked off since the new safety measures were imposed and the public was assured the trucks were secure. NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS New Mexican caves -- including Carlsbad Caverns -- contain a 4000-year annual record of rainfall stored in banded stalagmites. That's according to this week's edition of the journal Science, which reports researchers correlate that record with the archaeological record of culture changes in the American Southwest. Victor J. Polyak and Yemane Asmerom of the University of New Mexico used uranium-series dating and the thickness of annually formed bands in the stalagmite columns (where thicker bands indicate more moisture that year) to reconstruct the region's prehistoric and historic levels of rainfall. Some wetter-than-present-day periods coincide with the rise of corn agriculture and the population expansion and the move from pit dwellings to above-ground structures that occurred during the Pueblo period. Drier periods coincide with the appearance of ceramics and cotton, redistribution of populations from higher to lower altitudes, and the historic abandonment of Pueblo cliff dwellings. (Thanks to UPI Science Writer Jim Kling) TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING Do you prefer yard work to making love? If so, you might be among the 71 percent of Americans pollsters have classified as "home enthusiasts." Advertisement For the past four years, Home and Garden Television has teamed up with Yankelovich Partners, a marketing research firm, to investigate the American consumer's continuing infatuation with the home. And for the third straight year, "extensive proprietary interviews" reveal that yard work gets the nod over lovemaking. Moreover, female home enthusiasts favor gardening, redecorating --- and even "reorganizing" -- over "having sex/making love." (Thanks to UPI's Lou Marano in Washington) AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY At a time when polls show 40 percent of New Yorkers are afraid of flying, some 800 people from Oregon have booked a trip to the Big Apple in a unique airlift that will take more than 60 flights. It even has an operational name -- "Flight for Freedom." "The mayor (New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani) said 'If you're thinking of coming to New York, do it now' so we are," said Sho Dozono, the chairman of the Portland, Ore., Chamber of Commerce, a travel agent and organizer of the tour. The four-day trips by the Oregonians began Thursday and they'll be easy to spot because they'll be wearing buttons that say "Oregon Loves NY." The New York City tour is quite a deal. For under $435, the tourists get airfare and three nights at the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel, where U.S. Rep. David Wu will host a dinner for them. They'll see the city -- including Wall Street -- and visit a memorial to victims of the World Trade Center. Advertisement Originally, Dozono thought maybe as many as 200 people might book the bargain deal -- but four times that many did. (Thanks to UPI's William M. Reilly in New York)
