From: dw@unislc.uucp (Dan Wright)
Subject: Imponderables
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Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Distribution:  world
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 15:24:28 GMT

There's a book named "Why Clocks Run Clockwise and other Imponderables"
by David Feldman.  He's sort of a Cecil wanna-be.  He tries to be funny
but he's about as milk-toast as Dick Clark.  Most of the questions he
entertains are obvious.  I don't recommend the book.  However, I've
paraphrased some of the more interesting points:

 -- What does zero degrees Fahrenheit signify?

German physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, inventor of both the alcohol
and mercury thermometer, meant 0 to represent an equal ice-salt mixture
and 100 to represent body temperature.

 -- Washington D.C. streets are named alphabetically;  why is there
    no J street?

1) J is easily confused with I
2) Pierre L'Enfant and other city designers hated John Jay, first
   Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

 -- Why do dogs walk around in circles before lying down?

To "make a nest";  flattening grass, defining territory, and spreading
scent (scent being especially important for blind deaf newborns).

  -- How do they shell pine nuts?

With difficulty.  An almond-shelling machine only does a half-decent
job.  Most pine nuts from China are shelled by people using hammers and
their hands.

  -- Why is one side of aluminum foil shiny and the other dull?

During the last rolling, two layers of aluminum are passed through the
mill together.  The shiny side faced one of the rollers, the dull side
faced the other aluminum layer.

  -- Doughnut-shop employees pick up doughnuts with tissue so their
     hands never touch the doughnuts.  Why do they then place the
     used tissue in with the doughnuts -- germs and all?

A Dunkin' representative admitted it isn't the greatest idea.

  -- Does the Post Office add flavoring to the glue on stamps?

Nope.  Commemorative stamps have a blend of corn dextrin and water,
while work-a-day stamps have polyvinyl acetate and dextrin, with a
bit of propylene glycol to reduce paper curl.

  -- Why does "heat lightning" always seem far away and why don't you
     hear the thunder?

"Heat lightning" is not some different kind of lightning.  It is regular
lightning which is so far away that you don't hear it and rather than
seeing the bolt all you see is the clouds light up briefly.  [Sorry,
this one's obvious, but I do know some people who honestly believe in
"heat lightning"]

  -- Why are flush-handles on toilets on the left side?

Used to be you would pull the chain with your right hand while seated.

  -- When a fly lands on the ceiling, does it perform a loop or a roll
     in order to get upside-down?

It raises its forelegs above its head, grabs the ceiling, then flips
around.  Thus it does a loop, but not aerodynamically.

  -- How do they print the M&M on M&M chocolate candies?

Mars Inc. won't tell but they hint it's similar to offset printing.

Here are some questions which the book said it had no answer to:
---------------------------------------------------------------

  -- Why is yawning contagious?

  -- Why do we give apples to teachers?

  -- Why does looking at the sun cause some people to sneeze?

  -- Why do only older men seem to have hairy ears?

[Incidentally, clocks run clockwise because sun-dials run clockwise
in the northern hemisphere]


------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Wright   UNIX compilers support   UNISYS    Salt Lake City

"Learned men are the cisterns, not the fountainheads, of knowledge"