Why do Clocks run clockwise? Read online

  Submitted by Claudia Wiehl, of North Charleroi, Pennsylvania.

  10 / DAVID FELDMAN

  Why Do They Need Twenty Mikes at Press Conferences?

  If you look carefully at a presidential press conference, you’ll see two microphones. But at other press conferences, you may find many more. Why the difference?

  Obviously, all the networks have access to the president’s state-ments. How can they each obtain a tape when there are only a couple of microphones? They use a device called a “mult box” (short for “multiple outlet device”). The mult box contains one input jack but numerous output jacks (usually at least eight outputs, but sixteen-and thirty-two-output mult boxes are common). Each station or network simply plugs its recording equipment into an available output jack and makes its own copy. The second microphone is used only as a backup, in case the other malfunctions. The Signal Corps, which runs presidential news conferences, provides the mult boxes at the White House.

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  It’s more likely, though, that a press conference will be arranged hastily or conducted at a site without sophisticated electronics equipment. It is at such occasions that you’ll see multiple microphones, with each news team forced to install its own equipment if it wants its own tape.

  All networks and most local television stations own mult boxes.

  Of course, the whole purpose of the mult box is to promote pooling of resources, so the networks, on the national level, and the local stations, in a particular market, alternate providing mult boxes.

  There usually isn’t a formal arrangement for who will bring the mult box; in practice, there are few hassles.

  Some media consultants like the look of scores of microphones, believing it makes the press conference seem important. A more savvy expert will usually ask for a mult box, so that the viewing audience won’t be distracted by the blaring call letters on the microphones from a single pearl of wisdom uttered by the politician he works for.

  Why Do Some Localities Use Salt and Others Use Sand to Treat Icy Roads?

  Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, creator of the Fahrenheit temperature scale, discovered that salt mixed with ice (at a temperature slightly below the freezing point) creates a solution with a lower freezing point than water alone. Thus, salt causes snow and ice to melt.

  Most localities haven’t found a better way to de-ice roadways and sidewalks than salt. Salt is also effective in keeping hard packs of ice from forming in the first place. While a number of chemicals have been developed to melt ice, salt remains a much cheaper alternative.

  So why don’t all localities use salt to treat icy roads? Ecolog 12 / DAVID FELDMAN

  ical problems have led some municipalities to ban the use of salt outright. Salt causes corrosion of vehicles, pavement, bridges, and any unprotected steel in surrounding structures. Salt also harms many kinds of vegetation.

  The effectiveness of salt as an ice remover also has distinct limita-tions. Salt is best used in high-traffic areas; without enough traffic to stimulate a thorough mixing of ice and salt, hard packs can still develop. Below approximately 25° F, salt isn’t too effective, because ice forms so fast that the salt doesn’t have a chance to lower the freezing point. And salt applied on top of ice doesn’t provide traction for drivers or pedestrians.

  Sand, by contrast, provides excellent traction for vehicles when grit comes in contact with tires, whether the sand is exposed on top of the surface of the ice or mixed in with slush or snow. Sand doesn’t require high-volume traffic areas to work effectively, it does little or no harm to vegetation, vehicles, or road, and is (pardon the expression) dirt cheap.

  There is only one problem with sand: it doesn’t melt snow or ice.

  Salt tries to cure the problem. Sand attempts to treat the symptoms.

  Some localities have experimented with sand-salt combinations.

  Actually, most sand spread on pavements already contains some salt, used to keep the sand from freezing into clumps when mixed with the snow.

  While salt is considerable more expensive than sand, cost is rarely the main criterion for choosing sand over salt. Joseph DiFabio, of the New York State Department of Transportation, told Imponderables that salt costs approximately twenty dollars per ton, compared to five dollars per ton for sand. In fact, sand must be applied in a greater concentration than salt, about three times as much. Because maintenance crews must use three times as much sand to treat the same mileage of roadway, they must return to reload their trucks with sand three times as often as with salt. The eventual cost differential, therefore, is negligible.

  Submitted by Daniel A. Placko, Jr., of Chicago, Illinois.

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  Why Is the Telephone Touch-Tone Key Pad Arranged Differently from the Calculator Key Pad?

  Conspiracy theories abound, but the explanation for this Imponderable reinforces one of the great tenets of Imponderability: when in doubt, almost any manmade phenomenon can be explained by tradition, inertia, or both. A theory we have often heard is that the phone company intentionally reversed the calculator configuration so that people who were already fast at operating calculators would slow down enough to allow the signals of the phone to register. It’s a neat theory, but it isn’t true. Even today, fast punchers can render a touch-tone phone worthless.

  Both the touch-tone key pad and the all-transistor calculator were made available to the general public in the early 1960s. Calculators were arranged from the beginning so that the lowest digits were on the bottom. Telephone keypads put the 1-2-3 on the top row. Both configurations descended directly from earlier prototypes.

  Before 1964, calculators were either mechanical or electronic devices with heavy tubes. The key pads on the first calculators actually resembled old cash registers, with the left row of keys numbering 9 on top down to 0 at the bottom. The next row to the right had 90 on top and 10 on the bottom, the next row to the right 900 on top, 100 on the bottom, and so on. All of the early calculators were ten rows high, and most were nine rows wide. From the beginning, hand-held calculators placed 7-8-9 on the top row, from left to right.

  Before the touch-tone phone, of course, rotary dials were the rule.

  There is no doubt that the touch-tone key pad was designed to mimic the rotary dial, with the “1” on top and the 7-8-9 on the bottom. According to Bob Ford, of AT&T’s Bell Laboratories, a second reason was that some phone-company research concluded that this configuration helped eliminate di

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  aling errors. Ford related the story, which may or may not be apo-cryphal, that when AT&T contemplated the design of their key pad, they called several calculator companies, hoping they would share the research that led them to the opposite configuration. Much to their chagrin, AT&T discovered that the calculator companies had conducted no research at all. From our contacts with Sharp and Texas Instruments, two pioneers in the calculator field, it seems that this story could easily be true.

  Terry L. Stibal, one of several readers who posed this Imponderable, suggested that if the lower numbers were on the bottom, the alphabet would then start on the bottom and be in reverse alphabetical order, a confusing setup. This might have entered AT&T’s thinking, particularly in the “old days” when phone numbers contained only five digits, along with two exchange letters.

  Submitted by Jill Gernand, of Oakland, California. Thanks also to: Lori Bending, of Des Plaines, Illinois, and Terry L. Stibal, of Belleville, Illinois.

  What Is the Difference Between a “Kit” and a

  “Caboodle”?

  Anyone who thinks that changes in the English language are orderly and logical should take a look at the expression “kit and caboodle.”

  Both words, separately, have distinct meanings, but the two have been lumped together for so long that each has taken on much of the other’s meaning.

  Both words have Dutch origins: “Kit” originally meant tankard, or drinking cup, while “Boedel” m
eant property or house WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 15

  hold stuff. By the eighteenth century, “kit” had become a synonym for tool kit. For example, the knapsacks carried by soldiers that held their eating utensils and nonmilitary necessities were often called

  “kits.” “Boodle” became slang for money, especially tainted money.

  By the nineteenth century, “caboodle” had taken on connotations of crowds, or large numbers.

  Yet the slurring of meanings occurred even before the two terms became inseparable. The Oxford English Dictionary quotes from Shelley’s 1785 Oedipus Tyrannus, “I’ll sell you in a lump the whole kit of them.” In this context, “caboodle” would seem more appropriate than “kit.”

  By the mid-nineteenth century, “kit” had found many companion words in expressions that meant essentially the same thing: “kit and biling”; “whole kit and tuck”; “whole kit and boodle” and “whole kit and caboodle” were all used to mean “a whole lot” or “everything and everyone.” The Dictionary of Americanisms cities a 1948 Ohio State Journal that stated: “The whole caboodle will act upon the recommendation of the Ohio Sun.”

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  The expression “kit and caboodle” was popularized in the United States during the Civil War. The slang term was equally popular among the Blue and the Gray. Although the expression isn’t as popular as it used to be, it’s comforting to know that old-fashioned slang made no more sense than the modern variety.

  What Is the Purpose of the Ball on Top of a Flagpole?

  We were asked this Imponderable on a television talk show in Los Angeles. Frankly, we were stumped. “Perhaps they were installed to make the jobs of flagpole sitters more difficult,” we ventured. “Or to make flagpole sitting more enjoyable,” countered host Tom Snyder.

  By turns frustrated by our ignorance and outwitted by Mr. Snyder, we resolved to find the solution.

  According to Dr. Whitney Smith, executive director of the Flag Research Center in Winchester, Massachusetts, the ball may occasionally be combined with a mechanism involved with the halyards that raise and lower a flag, but this juxtaposition is only coincidental.

  Much to our surprise, we learned that the ball on top of a flagpole is purely decorative.

  Actually, the earliest flaglike objects were emblems—an animal or other carved figure—placed atop a pole. Ribbons beneath these insignia served as decoration. According to Dr. Smith, the importance of the two was later reversed so that the design of the flag on a piece of cloth (replacing the ribbons) conveyed the message while the finial of the pole became ornamental, either in the form of a sphere or, as the most common alternatives, a spear or (especially in the United States) an eagle.

  George F. Cahill, of the National Flag Foundation, believes that a pole just isn’t as pleasing to the eye without something on top.

  Spears don’t look good on stationary poles, and eagles, while visually appealing, are more expensive than balls or spears. Cahill adds another advantage of the ball: “On poles that are car WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 17

  ried, a spear can be a hazard, not only to individuals, but to wood-work and plaster, and eagles are cumbersome and easily breakable.

  So, the ball gives the pole a safe and rather attractive topping and finish.”

  We speculated that perhaps birds were less likely to perch on a sphere than a flat surface, thus saving the flag from a less welcome form of decoration. But Cahill assures us that birds love to perch on flagpole balls.

  We may never have thought of these balls as aesthetic objects, but objets d’art they are.

  Why Does Wayne Gretzky Wear a Ripped Uniform?

  Hockey players don’t tend to make as much money as, say, top basketball players, but surely the biggest star in hockey can afford an unmangled uniform. Can’t he?

  Actually, Gretzky’s uniform isn’t ripped, and he is not trying to affect a “punk” look. Gretzky always tucks one corner of his shirt into the back of his pants, which only makes his shirt appear to be torn. The story of how Gretzky started this practice is a fascinating one, told to us by the National Hockey League’s Belinda Lerner: It began when Wayne was a young hockey player competing with older boys. His uniform shirt, if left out of his pants, would hang down to his knees. Wayne tucked the shirt inside his pants to give a taller appearance. Now Wayne, who is six feet tall, tucks in the corner of his shirt out of habit and superstition. Bill Tuele, Public Relations Director for the Edmonton Oilers, tells me Wayne has a piece of Velcro sewn into his pants so the shirt is securely fastened throughout the game.

  Submitted by Lorin Henner, of New York, New York.

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  Why Is There Always Pork in Cans of Pork and Beans? Does That Tiny Little Hunk of Fat, Which Is Presumably Pork, Really Add Flavor? It’s Disgusting to Look at, So Why Do They Put It In?

  Why Not “Lamb and Beans” or “Crickets and Beans”? Why Always Pork?

  Perhaps it will comfort you to know that yes, indeed, the pork is placed into the can for flavor. Pork and beans are actually cooked in the can. One fairly large piece of pork is placed in the can before cooking. After being heated during processing, it melts down to the size you see in the can, its flavor having permeated the beans.

  We spoke to Kathy Novak, a Consumer Response Representative at Quaker Oats, the parent company of Stokely-Van Camp, who told us that they receive quite a few inquiries about the pork from fans of Van Camp’s Pork and Beans, including more than a few angry missives from those who opened a can that inexplicably did not contain the piece of pork. So there is no doubt that the pork does have its fans. James H. Moran, of Campbell’s Soup Company, says that many of his company’s customers eat the pork, while others do not.

  Do manufacturers have to include a piece of pork to call the product “Pork and Beans”? Not really. Some producers use rendered pork liquid instead of a solid piece of meat, and are legally entitled to call their product “Pork and Beans.”

  Submitted by Joel Kuni, of Kirkland, Washington.

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  How Do Military Cadets Find Their Caps After Tossing Them in the Air upon Graduation?

  Be it West Point, Annapolis, or Colorado Springs, the tradition is the same: at the end of graduation ceremonies, after the class is called to attention for the last time and the immortal words “You are dismissed” are uttered, the former cadets fling their caps in the air. Occasionally, hats will fly at sporting events as well. How are they retrieved?

  The press and relatives grab a few. But the vast majority of the caps are claimed by children. Lieutenant Colonel James A. Burkholder, Commandant of Cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy, wrote that after most, but not all, of the graduates throw their hats in the air, “children under 12 are allowed to scramble to get [the hats]. It becomes ‘finders keepers.’ Keeping the children off the field prior to that moment is also a sight to see. Thus, 20 / DAVID FELDMAN

  after graduation, you will see children with their ‘treasures’ and others, without hats, in all sorts of despair.”

  Could the cadets find their caps if they did want them? Possibly.

  Caps have a pocket with a piece of cardboard in the inside lining, on which cadets write their names with a felt pen. More often than not, however, the ink will have worn off or become smeared. As the graduating classes at West Point usually number about a thousand, the chances of someone actually finding his own hat are remote.

  Is the hat tossing rehearsed? Choreographed? No. It is a spontaneous gesture, albeit a spontaneous gesture repeated yearly. Is it frowned upon? Not really. As Al Konecny, Assistant Public Affairs Officer at West Point, told us, there is nothing wrong with the graduates tossing away a part of their uniform—it’s no longer their proper uniform, anyway. They’ve just been promoted!

  Submitted by Merry Phillips, of Menlo Park, California. Thanks also to: Paul Funn Dunn, of WSOY, Decatur, Illinois.

  Why Does American Electricity Run on
A.C. Rather Than D.C.?

  Direct current flows only in one direction. Alternating current flows back and forth continuously. Thomas Edison was a proponent of direct current (he had a financial stake in it), which worked fine in the early days of electric light, because the generators were very close to the lights that used electricity.

  But as demand for electric light increased, D.C. proved inadequate.

  Electric current loses the least energy when traveling at high voltages.

  It was then uneconomical to transform D.C. to the high voltages necessary for long-distance transmissions. Direct current circuits would have required generating stations

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  every three or four miles, unfeasible in the sprawling United States.

  In 1885, a young man named George Westinghouse bought the U.S. patent for alternating current from inventor Nikola Tesla. Not only could A.C. transmit higher voltages more cheaply than D.C., the voltages could be raised or lowered by switching only one transformer. With its relative flexibility and lower cost, A.C. quickly became the U.S. standard.

  Submitted by Larry Hudson, of Nashville, Tennessee. Thanks also to: John Brandon, of Davis, California.

  What Is That Sniffing Noise Boxers Make When Throwing Punches?

  Listen carefully to any boxing match, or to any boxer shadowboxing, and you will hear a sniffing sound every time a punch is thrown.

  This sound is known to many in the boxing trade as the “snort.”

  A “snort” is nothing more than an exhalation of breath. Proper breathing technique is an integral part of most sports, and many boxers are taught to exhale (usually, through their nose) every time they throw a punch. Scoop Gallello, president of the International Veteran Boxers Association, told Imponderables that when a boxer snorts while delivering a punch, “he feels he is delivering it with more power.” Gallello adds: “Whether this actually gives the deliverer of the punch added strength may be questionable.” Robert W. Lee, president and commissioner of the International Boxing Federation, remarked that the snort gives a boxer “the ability to utilize all of his force