Q. Many times I've heard the expression “I look like the wreck of the Hesperus.” Where did this come from and what does it mean?
A. It means you look really battered or disheveled. It originally came from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1839 poem based on real-life ship wrecks off Gloucester, Mass., where some 20 bodies were washed ashore. The poem ends:
"Such was the wreck of the Hesperus,
In the midnight and the snow!
Christ save us all from a death like this,
On the reef of Norman's Woe!"
Q. A recent Call the Courier question was about the percentage of households nationally that have computers. Can you give more specific information about Iowa?
A. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 88.9 percent of Iowans live in a household with a computer, slightly above the national average.
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Q. With the earthquakes in Nepal, how did that affect the Dalai Lama's monastery?
A. The Dalai Lama is closely associated with the Namgyal Monastery, which relocated from Tibet to India in 1959. A donation was made by the Dalai Lama Trust for Nepalese relief efforts, according to the trust. According to other news reports, some Nepalese monasteries suffered heavy damage, while others came through largely intact.
Q. Can an employer legally require an employee to work 25 days in a row?
A. According to an Iowa Workforce Development staffer, "The state of Iowa is an at-will state, so an employer is allowed to do almost anything he wants to do with the employer-employee relationship. The only thing the employer cannot do is act out of discrimination." This assumes there is no union contract to the contrary in place.
Q. How can I reach the corporate offices for Popeye's Chicken?
A. Write to Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen Inc., 400 Perimeter Center Terraces, Suite 1000, Atlanta, GA 30346; call (404) 459-4450; or send email through the website at www.popeyes.com.
Q. Will “Blue Bloods” return this fall for a new season? What channel will it be on?
A. According to CBS, the show will start its new season on Sept. 25.
Q. We have Mediacom for our phone, internet and TV. The phone service and internet has been out for almost three weeks and we can’t find out what the problem is. Do you know when our service will return in the 50701 area?
A. Mediacom isn't reporting any general outages in Waterloo lasting that long. A customer service representative said you'll need to find a functioning phone, perhaps a cell phone, and call with your account information so they can see what the problem is -- call (844) 274-6753.
