History

WHAT WOULD you say if I told you that you could profoundly cut your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer? Significantly decrease your risk for Alzheimer's disease, too? And, better yet, that you could do all this without spending a single dime? Impossible, right? Wrong. All that and more may be possible simply by following the sage advice of Dr. Michael Mosley, a British medical journalist and co-author of The FastDiet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting . The "Fast Diet" is all the rage in Britain and could take flight here as well.

Q: For the last two months, I have been taking a green coffee bean extract recommended by Dr. Oz on his show. So far, I've lost 10 pounds without even trying. What's your opinion of it? A: Generally, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. But this stuff may actually work. Excitement about the weight-loss magic of green coffee bean extract began this year, after a "randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, linear dose, crossover University of Scranton study.

BECAUSE the Barnes Foundation is an art collection, people overlook its important history: Matisse visited and designed a mural for it. If any city could appreciate preserving history, you'd think it was Philadelphia. We could move Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell to Washington, making it easier for tourists to see more American history in one place. Maybe it would draw more tourists and money. But it would be just as stupid as moving the Barnes. Wayne Bremser, San Francisco

The first Big 5 game in First Union Center history was more than 35 minutes old before a pulse was detected in the building. The game between Villanova and Penn had been over for, say, 20 minutes when Penn's Jeff Schiffner fouled Villanova's Gary Buchanan in the backcourt with 4:46 remaining. The Wildcats had long since clinched only the fourth perfect Big 5 record in school history and the first since 1985, when Villanova coach Steve Lappas was a first-year 'Nova assistant on a team that would go on to some prominence that spring.

IT WAS A game that will go down with the great ones. 1969: Villanova vs. La Salle, with two of the best ever, Kenny Durrett and Howard Porter. 1986: No. 20 Temple, comes from 20 points back in the second half to beat La Salle. 2008: La Salle goes 16-29 from the three-point line to beat NCAA-hopeful St. Joseph's. All these games were at the Palestra. On Feb. 18, it was hot, sweaty and it smelled. It seemed that the sea of gold owned everything to the east and a wave of maroon occupied everything to the west.

Here's a quiz for all you history buffs. Which American president called big businessmen "malefactors of great wealth"? a. Jimmy Carter b. Harry Truman c. Franklin Delano Roosevelt d. Theodore Roosevelt The answer, of course, is d. Theodore Roosevelt was no Marxist, but he clearly understood the dangers of unbridled capitalism. That's why he fought to dissolve the railroad trust and other huge monopolies. I wonder whether our current President knows this history.

For more than 50 years, Philadelphia has struggled with the question of how we are to survive as a modern metropolis after the manufacturing jobs that fueled the city's growth for 150 years left after World War II. How was the city to prosper as a destination, as somewhere more than a pit stop between New York and Washington? How were we to develop new jobs and a vibrant tourist industry? What, in the end, makes Philadelphia unique? The answer is simple: It's the history. Philadelphia is believed to have the largest collection of 18th-century buildings in North America.

Graeme Park, a state historical site, is sponsoring a children's summer history program for youngsters in grades 3 through 6. Activities explore the day-to-day routine of colonial life, including cooking in a fireplace and period crafts and games.

Seafaring reenactors exchanged gunfire with pirates yesterday in a day of nautical adventure at Penn's Landing. The two-hour spectacle brought to life the classic book series Horatio Hornblower by novelist C.S. Forester.

The other day, President Reagan said, "How we vote on Nov. 4 may influence the course of history. " Remember this, and vote for Bob Edgar as the next U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. Help restore dignity and sanity to the Senate. His voting record as a U.S. representative reveals his consistent concern for humanity. Sylvia and Milton Casper Philadelphia.

WHAT IS NOW Ocean City, Md., was discovered by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. But its modern history dates to the 1870s, when a group of investors established the beach resort. Among those backers were several Philadelphians whose contributions are apparently saluted in the name of the town's main drag, Philadelphia Avenue. A landmark dating back to that era is the Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum, on the Boardwalk's southern end at 1st Street, in a two-story building that originally housed the local headquarters of the forerunner to the U.S. Coast Guard.

YOU'D expect a movie about a song that has become the Hebrew "Hokey Pokey" to be playful. And "Hava Nagila (The Movie)" is that, in spades. That wedding, party and bar mitzvah staple, a song that the whole world knows and virtually no one knows anything about, is a ready punch-line, a musical eye-roller for some and a no-brainer for any band or singer that works the wedding circuit - Jewish or gentile. But Roberta Grossman's cute documentary gives weight to the tune, tracing its lineage to a town - Sadagora, in the Ukraine - and the 19th century.

Robert Landis had wracked up seven DUI arrests before he stepped behind the wheel of his Dodge Ram Pickup truck on the moonlit night of April 26. The 49-year-old West Chester man's blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. Beer cans were strewn about his car along with two unopened PennDOT letters concerning his license suspension and an application for an ignition interlock. Landis is now charged with homicide by vehicle while under the influence, DUI - at the highest level, aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, driving with a suspended or revokes license and other related criminal charges in the death of Liam James Crowley, the district attorney's office announced.

I was first introduced to Dr. John Heysham Gibbon in 1948, when I became a resident at Thomas Jefferson Medical College Hospital. As my principal teacher in surgery, he was a great influence. Gibbon was a pioneer investigator in the heart-lung machine. I first heard of the machine in 1946, when Gibbon came back to Jefferson. By that time, he had been working on the idea for 16 years. He first thought of the idea in 1930, while working in Massachusetts with Dr. Edward Churchill, the famous Boston surgeon.

* CONSTITUTION USA WITH PETER SAGAL. 9 p.m. today, WHYY 12. * TED TALKS EDUCATION. 10 p.m. today, WHYY 12.   IT DOESN'T take PBS' "Constitution USA with Peter Sagal" long to get to Philadelphia, where the document got hammered out. First, though, Sagal had to buy a motorcycle. Traveling on a customized red-white-and-blue Harley-Davidson - what could be more American? - the host of NPR's "Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!" crisscrosses the country in this monthlong series to talk with people about the document that was ratified nearly 225 years ago and has been causing arguments ever since.

The driveway around Merion's handsome clubhouse directs visitors not with standard traffic indicators but rather with small signs discreetly inscribed with the golf club's iconic logo, a directional arrow, and one simple word, "Please!" That understated civility is a Merion trademark. It's reflected in the rules governing the golfing shrine: No hats under cover. No collarless shirts or sockless feet. No denim or cargo pants. No use of electronic devices. No mulligans on the first tee. No range-finders on the course, where - no surprise - there are no yardage markers or tee directions.

BACK IN THE series, now back to Boston. The Celtics, winners of the most NBA championships, are two victories from making more history. Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 18 rebounds and the Celtics stayed alive in the NBA playoffs, cutting the New York Knicks' lead to 3-2 with a 92-86 victory last night at Madison Square Garden. The Celtics will host Game 6 tomorrow night, needing two victories to become the first NBA team to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a series. "We just wanted to keep it going," Brandon Bass said.

WASHINGTON - The first chops, to the forehead, did not go through the bone and are perhaps evidence of hesitancy about the task. The next set, after the body was rolled over, was more effective. One cut split the skull all the way to the base. "The person is truly figuring it out as they go," said Douglas Owsley, a physical anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution. In the meantime, someone - perhaps with more experience - was working on a leg. The tibia bone is broken with a single blow, as one might do in butchering a cow. That's one possible version of an event that took place sometime during the winter of 1609-10 in Jamestown.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When the Kentucky Derby was first run in 1875, black jockeys were dominating the sport, as they had done since horses first started racing in fields all over America before and after the Revolution. In that first Derby, 13 of the 15 horses were ridden by African-American jockeys. Exactly 15 of the first 28 Derbies were won by black jockeys, former slaves and sons of former slaves. Isaac Murphy was the first rider to win the Derby three times. Judging by his statistics, he may have been the greatest jockey who ever lived.

The year was 1983, and newlyweds Linda and Ray Tschoepe started to look for their first house. "We had a strong idea of what we wanted," says Ray. During their search, they happened upon a redbrick Queen Anne Victorian with a wraparound porch in North Wales. The house, built in 1897, was designed by architect Milton Bean for William and Andora Frank. From the curb, the Tschoepes yearned for it, even though it wasn't for sale. After looking at nearly 50 houses, they made an offer on one in Ambler.