BEAR LEFT: We knew those GPS devices were pretty accurate but
get this:

Myrtle Baker of Emporium was driving to State College with her
daughter Bonnie Miller of Coudersport, going by way of Wykoff
Run.

“Bear left, 300 yards,” said the device.

Sure enough, Myrtle tells us, there was a bear 300 yards ahead
on the left-hand side of the road!

In case you didn’t know it, Wykoff Run is in perhaps the most
remote part of Pennsylvania, located within the Quehanna Wild Area.
We’d guess it’s in or close to Cameron County.

Given that as background, you might understand Myrtle’s next
comment concerning her oh-so-accurate GPS: “What if an elk shows
up?”

BELLY BOX: Here’s a first for Round the Square: a Control Chief
“sighting.”

Mike Bell writes from Shinglehouse: “Did anyone notice the
Control Chief ‘Belly Box’ controller used in the opening scene of
the last episode of NCIS? I’m a former employee of Control Chief
and was very excited to see one of our local products displayed on
national TV. The show started with a grandpa who ran a junk yard
giving his grandson the control box to crush a car. Very cool.”

OH, ZIPPO: Of course, we can’t leave Zippo out of any sightings
— and there have been a bunch of them lately.

Joe Bennett writes from West Lafayette, Ind.: “Zippo plays a key
role in a recent episode of the PBS mystery series ‘Foyle’s War.’
The series, set in Hastings, England, during and after World War
II, follows the career of police detective Christopher Foyle.”

“In an episode titled ‘Killing Time,’ Foyle’s discovery of a
packet of Zippo flints at the scene of a murder leads him to the
killer, an American army major. In a climactic scene, Foyle
confronts the murderer after the major lights a cigarette with a
Zippo lighter.

“The Bradford-made lighter appears frequently throughout the
series. As far as I know, this is the first time Zippo flints have
turned up  in a movie or TV series. The flints shown in ‘Foyle’s
War’ appeared to be attached to a strip of cardboard covered with
clear plastic or cellophane.

“Zippo lighters also are appearing regularly in the HBO WW II
series ‘The Pacific.’”