When Do Fish Sleep? (6 page)
Submitted by Scott P. Frederick of Wilmington, North Carolina. Thanks also to Mike Bartnik of Omaha, Nebraska; and Dan and Patty Poser of San Luis Obispo, California
.
What
Are Dimples? And Why Do Only Some People Have Them?
Dimples are a generic name for indentations of the skin. Dimples are produced when muscle fibers are attached to the deep surface of the skin, such as in the cheek or chin, or where the skin is attached to bones by fibrous bands, such as the elbow, shoulder, and back.
Dimples are most likely to appear where the skin is most tightly attached to the underlying bone. Anatomist Dr. William Jollie, of the Medical College of Virginia, indicates that “dimples probably are due to some developmental fault in the connective tissue that binds skin to bone.”
So all this time we’ve envied those with dimples but didn’t realize that they were exhibiting an anatomical flaw! And the tendency toward dimples seems to be hereditary. You have your father to blame, Michael Douglas.
Submitted by Donna Lamb of Stafford, Texas
.
Why
Do Bath Towels Smell Bad After a Few Days When They Are Presumably Touching Only Clean Skin?
Most towels are made of 100% cotton. While it’s true that after a shower you have eliminated most of the germs and dirt from your skin, the process of rubbing a towel against the body rubs off dead skin that sticks to the moist towel. Towels become an ideal nesting place for the mildew endemic to humid bathrooms.
Most people flip a fan on or open the windows when showering but then turn off the fan or close the windows when they dry themselves. Jean Lang, director of Marketing at Fieldcrest, says it is much more important to promote circulation
after
the shower. Without dispersing the moisture, the bathroom becomes like a terrarium. The same type of mildew that afflicts plastic shower curtains attacks towels, especially if the towels have never dried completely from their last use.
We remember our windowless high school locker room with little nostalgia. The lack of ventilation and circulation led to mildew and smelly towels. We would have gladly endured the smell of garbage for the odious aroma of schoolmates’ moist towels.
Submitted by Merry Phillips of Menlo Park, California. Thanks also to Paul Funn Dunn of Decatur, Illinois
.
How
Do Stamp Pads Keep Moist When They Are Constantly Exposed to the Drying Influence of Air?
The ink used in stamp pads has a glycol and water base, which forms a mixture that actually absorbs moisture from the air. On a humid day, this hygroscopic effect allows the stamp or stamp pad to replenish any moisture lost on dry days.
Submitted by Russ Tremayne of Auburn, Washington
.
Why
Are Tupperware
®
Brand Products Sold Only at Parties? Couldn’t They Make More Money by Selling the Stuff in Stores Too?
Until Earl Tupper came along, most housewares were made of glass, ceramics, wood, or metal—traditional, dependable materials. In 1945, Tupper established Tupper Plastics and tried to market his containers in retail stores.
Tupper’s products bombed. Consumers feared that plastic material would prove flimsy, and they didn’t understand or believe that Tupper’s innovative airtight seal would keep foods fresh. Two salespeople with experience demonstrating Stanley Home Products on the party plan saw Tupper’s products and convinced him that sales would mushroom if his plasticware were demonstrated. Early tests were highly successful. In 1951, Tupperware Home Parties was incorporated, and all Tupper products were removed from store shelves.
Now that the public has learned that Tupperware plastic is durable and effective, why doesn’t Tupperware compete with less established brand names in K-Mart’s and Macy’s? Tupperware is convinced that the party approach has unique advantages. Lawrie Pitcher Platt, Tupperware’s director of Public Relations and Community Affairs, explains:
Tupperware brand products continue to be sold on the party plan because each dealer is like a teacher. He or she demonstrates the many subtle features designed into the pieces shown and discusses product care and the full lifetime warranty. Tupperware brand products are a lifetime purchase, unlike many products manufactured today, and it is management’s belief that learning about use and care enhances the value to the customer.
Translation: The Tupperware dealer justifies the higher cost of its product.
As of 1989, Tupperware has 89,000 independent dealers in the United States alone and 325,000 in forty-two countries worldwide. With such a solid sales force base, Tupperware would jeopardize the revenue of its dealers by selling Tupperware brand products on a retail basis again. Why risk a retail rollout when Tupperware already has a dedicated sales force devoted solely to its product? Avon and Fuller Brush have experienced problems with direct sales of late, but Tupperware’s success may be partly attributable to its party concept, in which the “sponsor” gets rewarded with free merchandise for throwing the party. And unlike many direct sellers, Tupperware doesn’t necessarily invade customers’ homes. About 25% of all Tupperware parties in the United States are now held outside the home.
Submitted by Charles Kluepfel of Bloomfield, New Jersey
.
In the wild, primates pick at their own hair frequently but for short periods of time. Usually, they are trying to rid themselves of parasitic insects, insect webs, or remnants of food.
Monkeys in captivity are much less likely to be riddled with parasites, but may be afflicted with another skin problem. Monkeys exude salt from the pores of their skin. The salt lands on loose bits of skin, and monkeys will often pick through their hair trying to shed the salty flakes.
A Monkey, unlike a human, has no difficulty in scratching its back (or any other part of its body, for that matter). Most animal behaviorists assume that apes—be they gibbons or chimpanzees—search through one another’s hair for purely social reasons. One psychologist, H. H. Reynolds, noted that chimpanzees are not altruistic or naturally cooperative: “Grooming behavior appears to be one of the most cooperative ventures in which chimpanzees engage.”
Perhaps mutual grooming in monkeys is akin to the human handshake, whose original purpose was to signal that a potential weapon, the outstretched hand, would not turn into a clenched fist.
Unless they’ve been breeding some pretty strange cows in Wisconsin, we would expect cows to produce white milk. All the folks in the dairy industry assured us that they haven’t bred a mutant race of cows just to produce orangeish cheddar cheese.
Cheddar cheese is artificially colored with natural ingredients, most commonly annatto, a seed obtained from the tropical annatto tree, found in Central America. Kraft, the largest seller of cheese in the United States, uses a combination of annatto and oleoresin paprika, an oil extraction of the spice paprika, to color its cheddar cheese. Depending upon the natural color of the milk and the amount of annatto added, cheese can be turned into a bright orange color or a more natural-looking yellow shade.
The only reason why cheesemakers color their product is because consumers seem to prefer it. Regional tastes differ, though. Some areas of the eastern United States prefer white cheese, while most of the rest of the country favors yellow. Kraft even makes white “American Singles,” although the artificially colored yellow slices far outsell them.
Submitted by Christoper S. von Guggenberg of Alexandria, Virginia
.
What
Is the Circle Adjacent to the Batter’s Box on Baseball Fields?
This area is known as the fungo circle. Coaches stand in the fungo circle during pregame practice and hit balls to infielders and, more frequently, outfielders.
Why confine the coach to stand in one small area? So he won’t wear out the grass on the field!
Submitted by Terrell K. Holmes of New York, New York. Thanks also to Ronald C. Semone of Washington, D.C
.
What
Exactly Is One Hour Martinizing?
Countless millions have passed dry-cleaning stores with the words
ONE HOUR MARTINIZING
emblazoned on the sign and wondered: What the heck is “Martinizing”? Can it really be done in one hour? Is it painful, and if so, can an anesthetic be administered?
Don’t worry. Be happy. Martinizing is a service mark of Martin Franchises, Inc., the largest chain of franchised dry-cleaning establishments in the United States. Martinizing was first registered with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office in 1950 by the Martin Equipment Corporation, a manufacturer of dry-cleaning machines.
The equipment business and trademarks were later sold to the American Laundry Machinery Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, also a manufacturer of cleaning equipment. Although Martinizing was once part of the sales division of the American Laundry Machinery Company, it has spun off into a separate entity, still located in Cincinnati.
Today if an aspiring dry cleaner wants the know-how and name recognition that a franchise can provide, he or she will likely choose Martin, since it is the best-known name in the dry-cleaning field, and start-up costs are relatively low.
What’s special about One Hour Martinizing? As far as we can tell, nothing. They use the same chemicals, solvents, and cleaning methods as other dry cleaners, and can “Martinize” in one hour, just as most dry cleaners can handle a job in one hour.
The folks are relying on the notion that if you patronize another establishment, you can say your clothes have been dry cleaned but you can’t brag that they’ve been Martinized.
Submitted by Dominic Orlando of Arlington, Texas. Thanks also to Peter B. Child of Seattle, Washington
.
