JAN. 3 ISSUE ANSWERS: When I study history, I like to find connections between different events of the past. When looking at the above game that is on display in the Roaring Through the 20’s theme in the archives museum and after doing a little historical research, I think I see possible connections between the World War I and Google, also known as the Alphabet Corporation. The game is a fantasy of a cartoon horse race. The Barney Google and Spark Plug Race was made in 1923 and based on a popular cartoon figure called Barney Google. Billy DeBeck was the creator of the comic strip in 1919. It became very popular, even inspiring a couple songs. It is a typical board game with Barney’s horse, Spark Plug, racing towards the finish line against his opponent’s horse. But what was the connection with WWI? After the war entertainment was a way to forget the tragedy of over 100 million participating in the fight. Because money was short for the American states as a result of supporting the war effort, states opened legal horse race gambling. Gambling fees brought money into a state’s treasury. Now we have a connection to WWI. Enter the mathematician, Edward Kasner, who was looking for an imaginary name for a number that had 100 zeros. He simply looked at his nephew, Milton Sirotta, a nine year old, and ask for a possible name for the large number. Milton, who had grown up reading Barney Google comics, suggested “a googol!” Later spellings became google, googoth power or googolplex. I’m pretty sure Google’s search engine, registered in 1997, borrowed the name from the comic character, Barney Google. Now that’s a connection! R. Beringer, Romeo Historical Society staff