Toothpicks

Emily Post pulls no punches when it comes to the etiquette of using toothpicks in public: Don't! Fair enough--but then again, Emily Post probably never spent much time in western Maine. If she had, she would have known that toothpicks are considered things of beauty and utility in the area's backwoods towns. They're the reason for harvesting the forests of white birch (a good-sized tree can be turned into about 4 million toothpicks).

The Titanic may have been the largest ship of its day, but San Francisco artist Steven J. Backman has shrunk it to the size of a toothpick. Backman, 45, was inspired to create a replica of the ill-fated ship by the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking this year. He didn't carve it from a single toothpick; rather he started making the miniature liner by deconstructing a single toothpick. "I cut it up into paper-thin pieces and then re-glue the toothpick back together," he explained in a phone call Thursday.

Before snapping the suitcases shut and zipping all the backpacks for this year's road trip, make sure the bags are crammed with plenty of marshmallows, toothpicks, masking tape, balls of many sizes, a spray water bottle and a guide to the finger alphabet used in sign language. Throw in a couple of fishing vests, even if hooking a big one has nothing to do with this year's vacation agenda.

Re "Picky, picky, picky," Opinion, Oct. 30 Nature provides the best toothpicks -- namely, cactus needles. The prickly pear has nice, long needles. As they come off the plant, they are too sharp to use. But if one nips one-sixteenth of an inch off their points, they are perfect. George Schroedter Glendora

Re "Picky, picky, picky," Opinion, Oct. 30 Nature provides the best toothpicks -- namely, cactus needles. The prickly pear has nice, long needles. As they come off the plant, they are too sharp to use. But if one nips one-sixteenth of an inch off their points, they are perfect. George Schroedter Glendora

These seashell toothpicks can add a special touch to your hors d'oeuvre tray. Or spear chunks of fruit or olives to float in summer drinks. The picks are so cute that you'll hate to throw them out after eating your nibbles. Seashell hors d'oeuvre picks, set of 50 in burlap pouch, $6.99 at Say Cheese, 2800 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake, (323) 665-0545, and Iris Intrigue Boutique, 962 Mission St., South Pasadena, (626) 441-5461.

Joe King, 39, a professor of electrical engineering at University of the Pacific in Stockton, intends to glue the last of 110,000 toothpicks in place on his scale model of the Eiffel Tower in time for the Paris landmark's May, 1989, centennial "whether anybody cares or not." King--"People tend to call me the toothpick king"--is hoping, of course, that someone will.

Five years ago, Bob Haifley said, God spoke to him. And God told him to build a life-size figure of Jesus using toothpicks. "I was in my work truck on Lone Hill and Cienega avenues in San Dimas when God told me to do it," he said. "I said, 'Gee, I can't do that. You're asking me to undertake a task that will take 10 years.' " But, equipped with tweezers, glue and boxes of sandwich, flat, square and round toothpicks, Haifley began.

When his hot-air balloon with "God Is Love" emblazoned on the side succumbed to desert rot, Leonard Knight knew he needed a better way to spread the good news. So he decided to paint a few biblical phrases on a hilly mound near the broken truck he calls home in a gravelly and desolate Imperial County squatters' encampment known as Slab City. That was seven years ago. Knight, 62, has been painting brightly colored religious messages and soothing pastoral scenes ever since.

Question: Do you know anything about "personal toothpicks"? I have one that I found in a drawer of an old vanity. I think it is ivory. It is nicely carved at the top and the point is intact. * Answer: Ivory toothpicks were part of a 19th-century gentleman's grooming kit. Some men carried them in pocket-size holders. Or, the toothpicks might have stood in special holders on a dresser or tabletop. Most of the plain ones were made in the Far East.

Nothing is perfect. Even the oldest and simplest devices can stand some improvement, as their users -- and inventors -- know all too well. Take the toothpick. According to anthropologists who have studied 2-million-year-old fossilized teeth, our hominid ancestors used prairie grass stalks to clean their teeth, making toothpicking the oldest known human habit. But despite 2 million years of tinkering, we have yet to find the perfect device.

I picked up a miniature toy scooter outside my house the other day. It had lost a tiny part and appeared to have been abandoned by the neighbor boy while at play with my two sons. It is an attractively constructed device just the right size for a pet mouse to ride. The machined and cast metal surfaces gleam with precision. The little red plastic wheels turn with ease. As an older boy, I can understand its lure. As an adult and educator, I am cautious of its promise.

These seashell toothpicks can add a special touch to your hors d'oeuvre tray. Or spear chunks of fruit or olives to float in summer drinks. The picks are so cute that you'll hate to throw them out after eating your nibbles. Seashell hors d'oeuvre picks, set of 50 in burlap pouch, $6.99 at Say Cheese, 2800 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake, (323) 665-0545, and Iris Intrigue Boutique, 962 Mission St., South Pasadena, (626) 441-5461.

Liberals are having conniption fits over President Bush's first three months of compassionate conservatism: arsenic in tap water, salmonella in school lunches and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Many are wondering what's next.

Question: Do you know anything about "personal toothpicks"? I have one that I found in a drawer of an old vanity. I think it is ivory. It is nicely carved at the top and the point is intact. * Answer: Ivory toothpicks were part of a 19th-century gentleman's grooming kit. Some men carried them in pocket-size holders. Or, the toothpicks might have stood in special holders on a dresser or tabletop. Most of the plain ones were made in the Far East.

I found the article about gum treatments by Kathleen Doheny ("Three New Methods to Work Up the Gums," Oct. 26) very interesting, especially for an omission. Just over 30 years ago, a dentist in Tucson put me on a regimen of daily toothpick exercise therapy that restored the health of my gums and has maintained them without any need for medications or any treatments beyond the usual semiannual cleaning. When I relate this to L.A. dentists, they don't seem to be familiar with it and express skepticism.

Liberals are having conniption fits over President Bush's first three months of compassionate conservatism: arsenic in tap water, salmonella in school lunches and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Many are wondering what's next.

The Titanic may have been the largest ship of its day, but San Francisco artist Steven J. Backman has shrunk it to the size of a toothpick. Backman, 45, was inspired to create a replica of the ill-fated ship by the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking this year. He didn't carve it from a single toothpick; rather he started making the miniature liner by deconstructing a single toothpick. "I cut it up into paper-thin pieces and then re-glue the toothpick back together," he explained in a phone call Thursday.

Before snapping the suitcases shut and zipping all the backpacks for this year's road trip, make sure the bags are crammed with plenty of marshmallows, toothpicks, masking tape, balls of many sizes, a spray water bottle and a guide to the finger alphabet used in sign language. Throw in a couple of fishing vests, even if hooking a big one has nothing to do with this year's vacation agenda.

The Crenshaw Cougars remained undefeated with a stunning 121-66 win over tournament host Thousand Oaks Friday in the championship game Friday at Newbury Park High. Kris Johnson, who signed with UCLA, scored 40 points, Cal-bound Tremaine Fowlkes had 27 points and 12 rebounds and Houston-bound Tommie Davis had 21 assists. The Cougars have not lost a game since the Washington tournament last December. Records: Crenshaw 5-0; Thousand Oaks 5-2.