Glue

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Orlando Gonzalez said he remembers meeting the Boston Marathon bombing suspect in the white hat about four months ago.  "I think he came over here and bought glue," said Gonzalez, 38, who works at a City Paint store in Cambridge. He watched through a store window Friday as police blocked off nearby streets and SWAT teams wielding long guns patrolled the streets. He said he didn't remember the man that the FBI has identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, until he saw his photos at a televised FBI press conference and again from a reporter outside his store Friday morning.

Peg Edey of Huntington Beach was hard at work one recent morning, brushing rubber cement on bright green eucalyptus leaves that would become the scales on a life-size dinosaur figure. As part of Southern California's annual Tournament of Roses frenzy, Edey was in the cavernous Fiesta Parade Floats Co. workshop in Duarte, among hundreds of workers swarming over 16 floats, sticking on leaves, bark, seeds and flower petals.

This letter is in response to the article "No Fume Threat Found at School" (Orange County section, Feb. 25). Much of the information included in the article is inaccurate and incomplete. A significant number of students, teachers and therapists continue to experience symptoms due to carpet fumes. We believe that parents of the children enrolled in Plavan School, Fountain Valley, should be informed of the symptoms, which include headaches, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, skin rashes and menstrual irregularities/hormonal changes.

POP! POP! POPCORN! Bet you can't wait to eat some. Sorry! If you're talking about small wildflowers commonly found in the Santa Monica Mountains, you can't eat them, but you can let Chloe Chais, 10, and brother Jonathan, 7, of Beverly Hills, show you how to do an art project. They first did research on popcorn flowers, then made this illustration using tissue paper and real popcorn. Jonathan and Chloe learned there are several species of popcorn flowers. They are members of what is commonly known as the fiddleneck family of plants.

Barry Bonds' home run record has been removed ... not from the record books, like many people have wished, but from the walls of the San Francisco Giants' ballpark in San Francisco. The commemorative plaque honoring Bonds' record-setting 756th home run has disappeared from the right-center brick facade in AT&T Park, where it has hung since the start of the 2008 season. No one seems to know exactly what happened to it. Giants spokeswoman Staci Slaughter said Tuesday night that the team is conducting an investigation as to where the hardware may be. “We're not sure what happened," she said.

The Texas Rangers say they have great chemistry, but not in the way pitcher C.J. Wilson talked about chemistry Friday. "You have to use a low pH solution, an acidic solution," Wilson said. He was not talking about doctoring the ball. He was talking about repairing his finger ? specifically, the middle finger on his pitching hand. Wilson was forced from Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday when a blister on the finger turned bloody. Wilson said he has dealt with a recurring blister problem all season.

12You don't have to leave home to create one-of-a-kind gift wrap that will set your packages apart. Turn plain brown grocery bags into stunning wraps using scraps of paper found around the house, some shoe polish and a few simple tools. There's no need to spend $8 or more for a roll of fine wrapping paper when materials are free and right at your fingertips. Polka-dot scrap wrapping paper Materials Brown paper grocery bags Scraps of paper from magazines, newspapers, envelopes, sheet music, catalogs, junk mail, maps -- whatever is around the house Scissors Pinking shears (optional)

Please warn our favorite Broadway star Carol Channing ("Her Desert Stage" by Ruth Ryon, March 3) to remove that four-drawer file cabinet and lamp from her bedside in Rancho Mirage. One mild 4 a.m. earthquake tremor could send the lamp crashing down on the bed pillows. Two two-drawer files placed side-by-side (with lamp for bedside reading) will enhance the bedroom appearance and make an excellent place for one more of the Hirschfeld sketches. While we're on subject of quake safety, clay or quake "glue" to hold wall pictures securely above a headboard is another needed quake safety reminder.

I suffer from trichotillomania. I pull hairs constantly, and this leaves little bald spots. I heard on your radio program about an amino acid to calm this compulsion. Trichotillomania is a condition in which people feel an overwhelming urge to pull hair from their heads, eyebrows, eyelashes or even pubic area. Physicians don't understand the cause. There is no Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment. Researchers reported in July in the Archives of General Psychiatry that the amino acid N-acetylcysteine could help.

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Switch It AM-FM Radio introduced a new twist to its Boom Ball radios--three models featuring four LED lights that flash to the beat of the music. The round radios--built with clear Lexan, the heavy-duty plastic used in airplane windows--are shatterproof. They feature multicolored internal parts, an external speaker and a headphone adapter that can be plugged in for dual-channel sound, volume control and channel selector.