Do Penguins Have Knees?

by David Feldman

  Lloyd Johnson, ex-executive director of the Society for American Baseball Research, led us to the earliest written source for this story, Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player, a manual published in 1867 that explained how to set up a baseball club. Included in Beadle’s are such quaint by-laws as “Any member who shall use profane language, either at a meeting of the club, or during field exercise, shall be fined—cents.”

  A chapter on scoring, written by Henry Chadwick, assigns meaning to ten letters:

  A for first base

  B for second base

  C for third base

  H for home base

  F for catch on the fly

  D for catch on the bound

  L for foul balls

  T for tips

  K for struck out

  R for run out between bases

  Chadwick advocated doubling up these letters to describe more events:

  H R for home runs

  L F for foul ball on the fly

  T F for tip on the fly

  T D for tip on the bound

  He recognized the difficulty in remembering some of these abbreviations and attempted to explain the logic:

  The above, at first sight, would appear to be a complicated alphabet to remember, but when the key is applied it will be at once seen that a boy could easily impress it on his memory in a few minutes. The explanation is simply this—we use the first letter in the words, Home, Fly, and Tip and the last in Bound, Foul, and Struck, and the first three letters of the alphabet for the first three bases.

  We can understand why the last letters in “Bound” and “Foul” were chosen—the first letters of each were already assigned a different meaning—but we can’t figure out why “S” couldn’t have stood for struck out.

  Some baseball sources have indicated that the “S” was already “taken” by the sacrifice, but we have no evidence to confirm that sacrifices were noted in baseball scoring as far back as the 1860s.

  Submitted by Darin Marrs of Keller, Texas.

  What Are the Skins of Hot Dogs Made Of?

  Our correspondent wondered whether hot dog skins are made out of the same animal innards used to case other sausages. We recollect when we sometimes used to need a knife to pierce a hot dog. Don’t hot dog skins seem a lot more malleable than they used to be?

  Evidently, while we were busy chomping franks down, manufacturers were gradually eliminating hot dog skins. Very few mass-marketed hot dogs have skins at all any more. Thomas L. Ruble, of cold-cut giant Oscar Mayer, explains:

  A cellulose casing is used to give shape to our hot dogs and turkey franks [Oscar Mayer owns Louis Rich] during cooking and smoking, but it is removed before the links are packaged. What may have seemed like a casing to you would have been the exterior part of the link that is firmer than the interior. This texture of the exterior of a link could be compared to the crust on a cake that forms during baking.

  Submitted by Ted Goodwin of Orlando, Florida.

  Why Is Comic Strip Print in Capital Letters?

  The cartoonists we contacted, including our illustrious (pun intended) Kassie Schwan, concurred that it is easier to write in all caps. We’ve been printing since the first grade ourselves and haven’t found using small letters too much of a challenge, but cartoonists have to worry about stuff that never worries us. Using all caps, cartoonists can allocate their space requirements more easily. Small letters not only vary in height but a few have a nasty habit of swooping below or above most of the other letters (I’s make a’s look like midgets; and p’s and q’s dive below most letters).

  More importantly, all caps are easier to read. Mark Johnson, archivist for King Features, reminded us that comic strips are reduced in some newspapers and small print tends to “blob up.”

  We wish that our books were set in all caps. It would automatically rid us of those pesky capitalization problems. While we’re musing…we wonder how Classics Illustrated would handle the type if it decided to publish a comics’ treatment of e. e. cummings’ poetry?

  Submitted by Carl Middleman of St. Louis, Missouri.

  Why Are Peanuts Listed Under the Ingredients of “Plain” M&Ms?

  We’ve always felt that “peanut” M&Ms weren’t as good as “plain” ones—that the synergy between Messrs. Goober and Cocoa just wasn’t there. As lovers of chocolate and peanuts and, come to think of it, hard candy shells, as well, you could have knocked us over with an M&M when two readers brought it to our attention that “plain” M&Ms contain peanuts.

  We contacted the folks at M&M/MARS to solve this troubling Imponderable and we heard from Donna Ditmars in the consumer affairs division. She told us that peanuts are finely ground and added to the chocolate for flavor. The quantity of peanuts in the candy is so small that “labeling laws do not require that we list this small amount of peanuts as an ingredient, we do so voluntarily so that consumers will know that it is in the candy.”

  Why is listing the peanuts so important? Nuts are the source of one of the most common food allergies.

  FLASH: Just after the publication of the hardcover edition of Do Penguins Have Knees?, we heard surprising news from the external relations director of M&M/MARS, Hans S. Fiuczynski. Starting in January, 1992, the company no longer includes any peanuts in its plain candies. Even so, this Imponderable will not become obsolete. M&M/MARS will continue to list peanuts as an ingredient on the label, just in case a small amount of peanuts inadvertently appears in the plain candies.

  Submitted by Martha Claiborne of Anchorage, Kentucky.

  Thanks to Susan Wheeler of Jacksonville, North Carolina.

  Why Do the Volume Levels of Different Cable Networks Vary Enormously Compared to Those of Broadcast TV Networks?

  Anyone with an itchy hand and a remote control device that can control volume levels knows how often one must adjust the volume control when flipping around stations. Anyone without a volume control on a remote control device has probably walked the equivalent of 892 miles in round trips from the La-Z-Boy to the TV set to keep the Pocket Fisherman commercial from blasting innocent eardrums.

  We were confronted with a lot of shilly-shallying about this Imponderable from folks in the cable television industry until we heard from Ned L. Mountain, chairman of the subcommittee on Quality Sound in Cable Television of the National Cable Television Association. Mountain doesn’t offer any quick solutions, but he does explain the historical and technological problems involved. He lists three advantages that broadcast stations have over cable outlets in transmitting even audio levels:

  1. The FCC mandates strict standards for broadcast maximum peak audio levels.

  Most TV stations also employ sophisticated and expensive audio processing equipment to maintain a consistent level for their station. Since they only have one channel to worry about, they can afford it.

  2. At the point where signals originate for a community (called the “head ends”), broadcast stations have personnel to monitor the levels. Most cable head ends don’t. Humans can make “subjective audio level control” adjustments as necessary.

  3. Most broadcast stations have converted to stereo; while they did so, they took the opportunity to upgrade their audio facilities. The result: a more uniform sound among broadcast outlets.

  Cable operators must also conform to the FCC standard for peak program levels, but are under numerous handicaps, as Mountain explains:

  A cable operator must attempt to achieve this standard on as many as 30 to 40 channel simultaneously from sources over which he has no control.

  The problems start at the sources. Most cable programs are satellite delivered using various technologies where there are no standards, only “understandings.” The programmers themselves may or may not use the same type of audio processing as that employed by over-the-air broadcasters.

  The cable operator many times compounds this problem by inserting locally generated commercials on these channels. The sound of these may or may not match the network on any given day.
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  This equipment is automated, and the head end is generally unattended. Without standards or expensive “automatic gain control devices, the levels can and do vary from channel to channel.”

  Mountain’s subcommittee consists of programmers, satellite transmission experts, cable operators, and equipment manufacturers. Their first task is to get the programmers and satellite delivery systems to coordinate the quantification of their audio standards, so that operators at least know how to set levels.

  Even though this problem annoys us no end, we can’t help being won over by Mountain’s sincerity and a hook that is going to compel every reader of this book to buy the next volume of Imponderables:

  David, I wish there were an easy answer to your question. I can assure your readers, however, that there are significant efforts being expended within our industry to investigate and solve these problems. Perhaps by the time your next issue is in print, we will have made significant inroads and I can give you an update.

  We’ll be waiting.

  Submitted by M. Ian Silbergleid of Northport, New York.

  Why Are Men’s Shoe Heels Built in Layers?

  Rubber is most durable and attractive material for heels, but according to Lloyd E. Brunkhorst, vice-president of research and engineering for Brown Shoe Company,

  A thick rubber heel is often too soft, and the result is instability. Therefore, a heel base made of polyethylene ½″ to ¾″ thick, with a ½″ or so rubber top lift, gives the best performance.

  William Kelly, of Brockton Sole and Plastics, echoes Brunkhorst’s sentiments, and adds that polyethylene better withstands the moisture to which heels are constantly subjected.

  Both sources indicated that the “stacked leather look,” which is now in fashion, requires many layers of quarter-inch-thick leather to form the heel. The few shoes that are manufactured with unlayered rubber are considered to be “low class.”

  Polyethylene heels are cheaper than rubber, which reduces not only the cost of the shoe to the manufacturer and consumer but the cost of repairing the shoe. In many cases, the entire heel need not be replaced when damage occurs. As Brunkhorst mentions, replacement of a top lift rather than a whole heel is much less expensive, and the lifts are more readily available than whole heels.

  Submitted by an anonymous caller on “The Ray Briem Show,” KABC-AM, Los Angeles, California.

  Why Are Horses’ Heights Measured to the Shoulder Rather Than to the Top of the Head?

  David M. Moore, Virginia Tech University’s veterinarian and director of the Office of Animal Resources, compares measuring a horse to trying to measure a squirming child. At least you can back a child up to a wall. If the child’s legs, back, and neck are straight, the measurement will be reasonably accurate:

  But with a horse, whose spinal column is parallel to the ground (rather than perpendicular, as with humans), there is no simple way to assure that each horse will hold its head and neck at the same point. Thus, measurements to the top of the head are too variable and of little use.

  Dr. Wayne O. Kester, of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, told Imponderables that when a horse is standing squarely on all four feet, the top of the withers (the highest point on the backbone above the shoulder) is always the same fixed distance above the ground, thus providing a consistent measurement for height. Kester estimates that “head counts” could vary as much as two to six feet.

  Submitted by Gavin Sullivan of Littleton, Colorado.

  Why Are the Edges on the Long Side of Lasagna Usually Crimped?

  Farook Taufiq, vice-president of quality assurance at The Prince Company, had no problem answering this Imponderable:

  The curls at the edge of lasagna strips help retain the sauce and the filling between layers. If the lasagna strips are flat, the sauce and the filling will slip out from between layers while cooking as well as while eating.

  Now if someone will only invent a method of keeping lasagna (and its sauce) on our fork while it makes the arduous journey from the plate to our mouths, we would be most appreciative.

  Submitted by Sarah Duncan of Mars, Pennsylvania.

  What Happens to Your Social Security Number When You Die? How and When, If Ever, Is It Reassigned?

  You don’t need to be a hall-of-famer to get this number retired. John Clark, regional public affairs officer of the Social Security Administration, explains:

  Each number remains as unique as the individual it was first assigned to. When someone dies, we retire the number.

  The first number was issued in 1936. The nine-digit system has a capacity for creating nearly one billion possible combinations. A little more than a third of the possible combinations have been issued in the fifty-five years since the first number was issued.

  It’s comforting to know that you can take something with you.

  Submitted by Albert Mantei of Crystal, Minnesota.

  What Exactly Are We Smelling When We Enjoy the “New-Car Smell”?

  You didn’t think that only one ingredient could provide such a symphony of smells, did you? No. Detroit endeavors to provide the proper blend of constituents that will provide you with the utmost in olfactory satisfaction. (We won’t even talk about the exotic scents of European and Asian cars.) C. R. Cheney, of Chrysler Motors, provided us with the most comprehensive explanation and the most poignant appreciation:

  The smell we all enjoy inside a new vehicle (that “new-car smell”) is a combination of aromas generated by fresh primer and paint, and the plastic materials used on instrument panels, around the windows, and on door trim panels. Plus, there are odors given off by carpeting, new fabrics, leather, and vinyl used for soft trim and upholstery. Rubber, adhesives, and sealers also play a part in creating this unique smell that never lasts as long as we would like and seems nearly impossible to duplicate.

  Submitted by William Janna of Memphis, Tennessee. Thanks also to Jerry Arvesen of Bloomington, Indiana, and David Nesper of Logansport, Indiana.

  Why Are Some Cleansers Marked “For Industrial or Commercial Use Only”? How Are They Different from Household Cleansers?

  With few exceptions, the chemicals and detergents used in commercial cleansers are no different from those marketed to home consumers, although industrial-strength cleanser is likely to contain much less water than Fantastik or Mr. Clean. Why? The answer has more to do with marketing and sociology than technology.

  Until the 1950s, most cleaning was done with soaps (fatty acids and lye) rather than detergents (made from alkaline substances). Unlike detergents, soap didn’t need much water to add to its cleaning effectiveness. When using soap, consumers rarely added water.

  When synthetic detergents were introduced in the 1950s, most home consumers didn’t adjust properly. According to Tom Mancini, of U.S. Polychemical, manufacturers were forced to add water to detergents designed for home use because consumers wouldn’t add enough water to the products to make them work effectively. Consumers also enjoyed the convenience of applying cleanser directly to a sponge or dirty surface rather than first diluting the detergent with water.

  Of course, consumers have had to pay for the privilege; commercial cleansers are much cheaper than home equivalents, and not just because industry buys cleansers in bulk. When you buy a cleanser in a big plastic package at the supermarket, you are carrying mostly a big package of water, the equivalent of buying a package of ready-to-drink ice tea rather than a jar of iced tea mix.

  Industrial users have totally different priorities. They are quite willing to sacrifice a little convenience to save money; by buying a concentrated product, companies can save on unnecessary packaging. Professional cleaners also realize that detergents need to be diluted to work effectively. In almost all cases, “industrial-strength” cleansers can be used in the home if diluted sufficiently.

  There is one major difference in the ingredients of home and industrial cleansers. Home consumers care about how their cleansers smell. In most cases, corporate decision makers don’t c
are much about the smell of cleansers (although the janitors, who have to work with the stuff all the time, undoubtedly do); as a result, many household cleansers contain perfume to mask the odor of unpleasant ingredients. Perfume jacks up the price of the product without adding anything to its cleaning ability.

  Submitted by Jeffrey Chavez of Torrance, California.

  Why Are the Letters “Q” and “Z” Missing from the Telephone Buttons?

  The whereabouts of the missing “Q” and “Z” are very much on the minds of Imponderables readers. In fact, this is easily one of our top ten most frequently asked questions. We have heretofore restrained ourselves from answering it because we’ve seen the solution bandied about in print already. So we won’t call it an Imponderable (we called these questions that have already been in print but just won’t go away Unimponderables in Why do Dogs Have Wet Noses?), but we will answer it anyway, since it segues neatly into the next Imponderable, a phenomenon less often written about.