When Do Fish Sleep? (33 page)

Letters

We have received more than two thousand letters since the publication of
Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?
. Most of them posed Imponderables or tried to answer Frustables. But some corrected or added information to our answers or contained priceless comments about the topics in our first two volumes of
Imponderables
. Here are some of our favorites.

On the Relative Merits of Round vs. Flat Toothpicks

We commented that even the manufacturers of flat toothpicks couldn’t provide any reason why they were superior to round toothpicks, except for their lower price. Who would have thought that this topic could rouse emotions? Some letters were thoughtful, others passionate
.

Flat toothpicks have uses round ones don’t have, such as smearing small amounts of various kinds of goo onto surfaces (epoxy cement is one) and in being able to enter crevices closed to round toothpicks. Flat picks, with their greater surface, are in my experience superior to round ones for testing doneness of cakes, custards and so on….

M
AX
H
ERZOG
Augusta, Georgia

When I read your slam at flat toothpicks in
Imponderables
, I thought, “Gee, I hope I can find this guy’s address so I can straighten him out.” And lo and behold, there it was. You even invited comment. You must be a brave man. If you can’t stand the thought of reading a defense of flat toothpicks, skip this part.

I
hate
round toothpicks, The damn things are too fat and too close to their little pointy ends, which means that they won’t go between my teeth at the gum line far enough to push out the bits of whatever gets stuck in there. Flat toothpicks will. So what if I have to throw a few away when they break before I can accomplish much; they’re cheap, as you pointed out.

Furthermore, being pointed on both ends, round toothpicks are worthless for polishing the front surfaces of my teeth, unless I chew them down a bit first. I think the makers of flat toothpicks should square off those big ends, but at least those ends aren’t pointy as on those round jobbers, and I can do some good with them

Whenever a restaurant has only round toothpicks, I take out my pocket knife and whittle ’em down so they’ll go through the gaps. I haven’t worked up the nerve yet to do this in front of the maître d’, but one of these days I will, scattering toothpick slivers on the carpet, to make sure the message is absorbed.

A
LAN
M. C
OURTRIGHT
Seattle, Washington

On Why Countdown Leaders on Films Don’t Count Down to One

Your information is correct until you reported that the number one is the start of the picture. Although there isn’t a one on Academy Leader, the picture actually starts on what would be zero. The forty-seven frames of black film that follow the single frame bearing a “2” are for the projectionist to open the dowser and allow light through the projector. A quick “beep” is usually heard along with the number two, indicating that the sound is in sync with the picture.

In theaters that alternate between two projectors, there is a mark that appears in the upper right-hand corner of the picture, which tells the projectionist to start the other projector up to speed, and then a second mark, which is when the projectionist actually should change over to the new reel. This countdown leader allows a precise amount of time for the projector to get up to speed, so that when the changeover occurs the viewer will not have missed any of the movie.

B
RIAN
M. D
EMKOWICZ
Chief Projectionist, IMAX Theater Baltimore, Maryland

On Why American Elections Are Held on Tuesday

Election day is not the second Tuesday in November but is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

S
TEVEN
J. R
IZZO
Islip, New York

On Why Balls Are on Top of Flagpoles

I was always taught that the answer was longevity of the pole. In the days when flagpoles were wooden, the end grain of the wood was exposed if not capped by a ball or other type of finial. End grain absorbs dampness more readily than any other part of the wood….

G
AVIN
D
UNCAN
Tabb, Virginia

Several veterans, including retired Army Sergeant Robert E. Krotzer of Hephzibah, Georgia, wrote to say that they were taught that the purpose of the ball was to keep the flag from being caught on the pole when the wind blew the flag upward. The flag experts we spoke to admit that this is the reasoning the Army provides, but insist that even a sphere doesn’t stop a flag from getting stuck on top of a pole
.

On Why the Sound of Running Water Changes When Hot Water Is Turned On

I do not deny the validity of the causes you discussed, however the
pitch
of that sound at a given rate of flow depends on the density of the water. Hot water is substantially less dense than cold water…. The fundamental fact of physics is that different density fluids have different natural frequencies of vibration while flowing through a given orifice.

Just turn on any hot-water faucet that has been off long enough for the water content to get cold some distance down the pipe. Then stand back and listen. You will clearly hear a change in pitch as the hot water arrives. The change is sudden and cannot be explained by any adaptive change of the pipes. It is the direct result of the change in the natural frequency of the water itself. The noisier the flow the more noticeable the change.

S
TEFAN
H
ABSBURG
Farmington Hills, Michigan

On Why We Aren’t Most Comfortable in 98.6° F Temperature

In
Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?
, you wrote we would feel most comfortable when it is 98.6° F in the ambient air—if we were nudists.

Not
exactly
so. Human beings use up caloric energy, derived from food, to make motions with our muscular bodies. This process yields a certain amount of excess energy in the form of heat. Our bodies radiate this excess heat into the ambient air. When severely overheated, our bodies hasten the action by evaporating sweat. But we must have a means to
keep
our body temperature at 98.6° F or we die of heat prostration.

If we were all nudists and the ambient air
everywhere
was 98.6° F, we’d feel discomfort the moment we began to move. Lacking a temperature differential in the ambient air, our bodies could no longer radiate heat easily. First we’d sweat, and then we’d all die.

The only hope to remain alive would be to remain as motionless as possible for as long as possible, but sooner or later the excess heat from involuntary motions (like the heart and lung muscles) would build up.

So a 98.6° F temperature wouldn’t be “comfortable” very long…. We need a slightly lower temperature in the air sooner or later.

D
ON
S
AYENGA
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

On Bird Droppings

You can’t get away with anything with
Imponderables
readers. We simplified a little by calling the white stuff surrounding the black dot in bird droppings “urine.” One reader noticed
.

Mammals and amphibians get rid of nitrogenous waste in the form of urea dissolved in water. This is the material we commonly call urine. Birds and reptiles cannot accomplish this. They get rid of their nitrogenous wastes in a white semisolid form called uric acid. This is the white material in the birds’ droppings.

There are two reasons why birds and reptiles use uric acid for waste disposal. One is because it is a water conservation technique. The other reason is perhaps more important. Bird and reptile embryos develop inside a hard shell. If they were to produce water-soluble urea while developing, it would end up poisoning the embryo before it could fully develop and hatch.

This leads us to the answer of another interesting question, “What is that ‘gooky’ stuff inside the shell after a baby bird hatches?” It is the remains of what is called the “allantois,” the garbage can where nonsoluble uric acid is deposited while the embryo is developing.

S
ANDY
J
ONES
Manassas, Virginia

On the Purpose of the Half Moons on Fingernails

Although our explanation—lunula are trapped air and serve no biological purpose—was correct, one reader did find a way to use them:

When preparing a patient prior to surgery requiring a full anesthetic, I was told to remove all nail polish prior to admission. When I asked why, I was told that recovery room personnel can monitor blood pressure by observing changes in the color of half moons.

M
ICHEALE
W
ILLIAMS
Portland, Oregon

On the Mysterious Fruit Flavors Contained in Juicy Fruit Gum

When I was in college, I made the synthetic flavors of oil of pineapple (ethyl butyrate) and oil of banana (amyl acetate). I found when mixed in precisely a certain ratio, I got the distinct aroma of Juicy Fruit….

Incidentally, if one wishes to synthesize ethyl butyrate, be prepared. Butyric acid is one stinking, sickening smelling acid. But once mixed with ethyl alcohol and concentrated sulfuric acid, the ethyl butyrate emerges with a sweet pineapple aroma.

H
AROLD
E. B
LAKE
Tampa, Florida

On the Purpose of Pubic and Underarm Hair

Most of the experts we contacted speculated that this body hair served as a sexual attractant. But in a letter to
Human Evolution,
one reader dissented. We reprint part of the letter with his permission:

Public and axillary hair have been assumed to be biologically non-functional and therefore relegated to a role of mere sex attractants or to signal sexual maturity. Yet if one examines the action of axillary and pubic hair it can be seen that these patches serve as a kind of lubricant for arm and leg movements repectively and must have been retained in that capacity or evolved separately when other body hair was lost. One can easily observe the friction-reducing function of axillary hair by shaving under one arm and noting the added friction of the shaved arm. The fact that pubic hair extends up the abdomen beyond the point where it facilitates leg movement may mean that body hair was lost while our forebears were still walking in a crouch or on knuckles; for it comes into function, particularly the lateral portions, in that position. It would serve well for a semicrouched or sometimes-crouched proto-hominid that had lost most of its body hair. As our ancestral mothers began losing their body hair, fatty breasts and pubic and axillary hair could have all evolved simultaneously. The hair patches were selected for the purely biological function of reducing friction whereas general loss of body hair gave rise to the necessity of fatty breasts for providing the crucial psychological role of softness, comfort, and security for the infant.

N
OEL
W. S
MITH
State University of New York
Plattsburgh, New York

On Why Ranchers Hang Old Boots Upside-down on Fence Posts

The longest chapter in
Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?
was a futile attempt to answer this Imponderable. We confirmed that Nebraska was the epicenter of boot-hanging activity. We even found the son of the man reputed to have started the practice. But even he didn’t know why his father hung the boots. Some readers had their own ideas
.