Read How Does Aspirin Find a Headache? Online
Authors: David Feldman
How Does Aspirin Find a Headache? (2 page)
We break down Imponderables into two categories. Type A Imponderables are the mysteries of everyday life that have always driven us nuts. Like why do lion tamers use kitchen chairs to fend off wild animals? Or why don’t disc jockeys identify the titles and artists of the songs they play anymore?
Type B Imponderables are just as perplexing. These are mysteries we had never contemplated until our readers brought them to our attention. Believe us, we had never worried before about why the Muppets are left-handed, or why the Three Musketeers didn’t carry muskets. But once we heard the questions, we
had
to find out the answers.
The readers of our last six
Imponderables
books have supplied us with scads of great Type A and Type B Imponderables. If we are stumped by a particularly challenging Imponderable, we convert it into a Frustable (short for Frustrating Imponderables) and ask readers to help bail us out. And in the Letters section, we let you enumerate our multifarious shortcomings.
We implore you to help us in our quest to stamp out all types of Imponderability, wherever they should lurk. If you are the first to submit an Imponderable we use in a book or provide the best solution to a Frustable, we offer you a grateful acknowledgment and a complimentary autographed copy of that book.
Want to contribute to this noble pursuit? See the last page to find out how you can join in. Don’t be afraid. We’re not carrying kitchen chairs.
Why
Don’t We Ever See Cockroaches in Our Usually Crumb-Filled Cars?
Our correspondent, Manny Costa, wonders why an automobile, laden with assorted crumbs, wouldn’t be a buffet paradise for our little scampering friends. Mary H. Ross, professor of entomology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, isn’t willing to state unequivocally that cockroaches are never found in cars, but she agrees it is rare. And she offers two main reasons why.
For one, cars may get too cold. Cockroaches dislike the cold and would refuse to stay in the car. Secondly, water is essential for cockroaches’ survival and reproduction.
Richard Kramer, director of research, education, and technical resources at the National Pest Control Association, told us that while cockroaches require food every seven to ten days, they must take in water every three days. Perhaps a cockroach might be attracted to a stretch limousine with a leaky wet bar, but most of us don’t drive limos.
If you really want to entice cockroaches into your automobile, Kramer suggests scattering your empty beverage cans alongside your array of crumbs—you may be able to “support a cockroach infestation for a limited period of time.”
Submitted by Manny Costa of Warwick, Rhode Island
.
Why
Does Barbie Have Realistic Nylon Hair While Ken Is Stuck with Plastic Hair or Painted Hair?
Poor Mattel is being attacked from all sides. Many feminists have criticized Barbie for setting up unrealistic expectations among girls about what their bodies should look like. Mattel answers, understandably, that Barbie was created to be a fashion doll, a model-mannequin suitable for hanging a variety of clothes upon. Of course, girls fantasize about themselves
as
Barbie, and this identification with the doll is precisely what the critics are worried about.
As if these complaints weren’t enough for Mattel to worry about, here come six female
Imponderables
readers accusing the company of reverse discrimination. “What’s the deal with Ken’s hair?” they all wondered.
Informal chats with a gaggle of Barbie enthusiasts, both young and middle-aged, yielded the information that most girls are indifferent to Ken. To these fans, “Barbie doll” connotes visions of loveliness, while “Ken doll” evokes the image of the sterile figure atop wedding cakes.
Mattel’s research indicates that there isn’t much demand among girls for more realistic hair for Ken. Lisa McKendall, manager of marketing communications for Mattel, provides an explanation:
In general, the most popular play pattern with fashion dolls among young girls is styling the hair. That is why long, combable hair is such an important feature of fashion dolls. Since the Ken doll’s hair is short, there is much less to style and play with, so having “realistic” hair has not been as important.
Needless to say, “Ken hair” is much cheaper for Mattel to produce, particularly because painted hair doesn’t have to be “rooted” to the top of the doll’s head.
The choice of hairstyles for the Barbie lines is not taken casually. Meryl Friedman, vice-president of marketing for Barbie consumer products, told
Imponderables
that the length and texture of dolls’ hair depends upon which “segment,” or line of Barbies, Mattel is conceptualizing. Friedman reports that the best-selling doll in the history of Mattel is the “Totally Hair Barbie” line. The Barbie in the Totally Hair line is ten and one-half inches long—and the doll is only eleven and one half inches tall. In this particular segment, even Ken has combable, if short hair, as McKendall explains:
…the Ken doll
does
have realistic-looking hair and actually comes with styling gel to create many different looks. A special fiber for the hair called Kankelon is produced specifically for us in Japan.
Friedman reports that in 1994, a Ken will be produced with longer hair.
Who says the men’s liberation movement hasn’t achieved anything?
Submitted by Dona Gray of Whiting, Indiana. Thanks also to Laura and Jenny Dunklee of Sutter Creek, California; Jessica Barmann of Kansas City, Missouri; Rebecca Capowski of Great Falls, Montana; and Nicole McKinley of Rochelle, Illinois
.
Believe it or not, that little “o” is an artistic statement. According to Brenda F. Gatling, chief, executive secretariat of the United States Mint, the designer of the reverse side of the one-cent piece, Frank Gasparra, simply preferred the look of the little “o” alongside the big “F.” And this eccentricity is not an anomaly; the Franklin half-dollar and several commemoratives contain the same, puny “o.”
Submitted by Jennifer Godwin of Tyrone, Georgia
.