Do Penguins Have Knees?

by David Feldman

  These POS systems assure correct pricing and inventory counting of every item sold, along with a lot of other information that helps us run our business more efficiently. Every evening by 7:00 P.M., we can tell you exactly how many of any one of our 3000+ line items were sold that day in our 5,000 stores across the country.

  Each individual store transmits sales data, every day, to Fort Worth [Tandy’s corporate headquarters]. As that is being done, our Fort Worth computer can update the individual stores’ files with new prices, or newly available product information, as well as sending them important information bulletins.

  The system assures that every customer is getting the benefit of every sale price in effect on the date of purchase [we assume this up-to-the-minute price accuracy applies to price rises, as well], even if the sale price somehow escaped notice by our employees. Sales are written up about three times as quickly, and with the error rate reduced by a factor of one hundred to one over previous methods.

  Don French, chief engineer for Radio Shack, adds that in many cases salespeople are away from the counter helping customers, making it relatively easy to have money stolen: “Keeping the money in a drawer makes it a little harder for this to happen.”

  Submitted by Doc Swan of Palmyra, New Jersey.

  How Do They Decide Where to Put Thumbnotches in Dictionaries?

  A frustrated David S. Clark wrote to us:

  When I updated my New World Dictionary a year or two ago I thought I’d bought a defective copy. The thumb indexes didn’t match with the first page of the letter indicated. When I later bought a Merriam-Webster’s and found the same situation, I concluded it must be a cheaper way to thumb index. Is there some other reason?

  A good question, David, and you were right in concluding that saving money had a lot to do with the new indexing system. Maybe not too many other people have lost sleep over this issue, but dictionary publishers have.

  Some form of visual indexing is necessary to make a dictionary user-friendly. But thumbnotches are expensive to install. Most unabridged dictionaries contain thumbnotches at the beginning of each alphabet entry, but this is impossible in thinner collegiate dictionaries, where twenty-six thumbnotches would bleed into each other. Furthermore, thumbnotching at the beginning of each letter is expensive.

  Merriam-Webster Inc. found an elegant solution that has been widely imitated. John M. Morse, manager of editorial operations and planning, explains:

  For a good many years, thumbnotches in our dictionaries have referenced two letters of the alphabet each; for example, in the Ninth Collegiate there is one notch for L and M. In the past, this LM tab would have been placed at the beginning of the letter L, but in 1978 (during the life of the eighth edition) we changed over to an automatic thumbnotching system which places the tab somewhere close to the middle of the pages devoted to the referenced letters. In part this was done to control the costs of thumbnotching and so the price of the dictionary, but it is not really a disadvantage to the dictionary user.

  When a user goes to the dictionary to find a word beginning with L or M, we have no way of knowing which word is being sought, but we do know it will fall within the roughly 120 pages on which words beginning with L and M appear. Under the old system, one could find the tab and still be 100 pages or more away from the desired word. With the tab nearly in the middle of those pages, one is never more than, say, 70 pages away.

  It is true that this is a break with tradition and it is also true that we have received perhaps several hundred letters from users who feel uncomfortable with the new system, but we think most people become used to the arrangement quite quickly. We have sold millions of dictionaries indexed in this way, and other publishers have since followed our lead, so that now it is fair to say that most thumb-indexed desk dictionaries sold in this country use this indexing system.

  Submitted by David S. Clark of Northridge, California.

  What Is the Purpose of the Button You Press to Unlock the Key from the Ignition on Some Cars? If It Is a Worthwhile Mechanism, Why Isn’t It on All Cars?

  The purpose of the ignition locking mechanism is to comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standard that mandates that the key that deactivates the engine also lock the steering column. But foiling a car thief poses safety risks. If you accidentally pulled out the key while the car was in motion, you had better pray for sparse traffic and rubber guard rails on the road: You wouldn’t be able to steer.

  To avoid inadvertent key withdrawal and the resultant steering column locking, the standard mandates that a separate action (other than turning the key) be required to pull the key out of the ignition. If the car’s gear shift selector is mounted on the column, the movement to the park position is considered a “separate action.”

  But if the shift is mounted on the floor or console, another motion is required. Thomas J. Carr, director of safety and international technical affairs for the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of the United States, told Imponderables that most manufacturers comply by using an unlock button, but others require the key to be pushed in toward the column to release it for withdrawal.

  Submitted by William C. Nielsen of Rolling Hills Estate, California.

  How Did Kodak Get Its Name? Is It True That the Name Comes from the Sound of the Shutter?

  Standard Oil of New Jersey was roundly criticized when it changed its name to Exxon, a word chosen for its euphony and uniqueness rather than any obvious meaning or associations. The name change was deplored by editorialists for confirming the soullessness of the post-World War II era.

  But George Eastman trademarked “Kodak” in 1888. And the word didn’t mean a darn thing.

  The Eastman Kodak Company gets asked this question so often that they have prepared a pamphlet on the subject. Yes, they have heard the rumor that Kodak was the onomatopoeic description of the shutter closing, but the truth, although more prosaic, is fascinating nonetheless. As Eastman Kodak describes it, “George Eastman invented it out of thin air!” In several letters, Eastman described the less than scientific process that led to the creation of one of the most famous trademarks of the United States:

  I devised the name myself…. The letter “K” had been a favorite with me—it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter…. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with “K.” The word “Kodak” is the result.

  …it was a purely arbitrary combination of letters, not derived in whole or part from any existing word, arrived at after considerable search for a word that would answer all the requirements for a trademark name…. it must be short; incapable of being misspelled so as to destroy its identity; must have a vigorous and distinctive personality; and must meet the requirements of the various foreign trademark laws.

  The last point is important. One can’t receive a trademark if the proposed name is merely an existing word (or words) found in the dictionary that accurately describes the item. As Eastman wrote in 1906, “There is, you know, a commercial value in having a peculiar name.”

  Submitted by John M. Clark of Levittown, New York.

  Why Are There Ridges (Often Painted Black) on the Sides of Most School Buses?

  Those ridges are called “rub rails,” and their main purpose is to add strength to the sides of the vehicle. According to John Chuhran, of Mercedes-Benz of North America: “If they were flat, the sides of buses would have more of a tendency to flex.”

  Rub rails have an additional benefit. Pete James, regional director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, told Imponderables that rub rails also help maintain the structural integrity of the bus when it is broadsided. The rub rails help prevent the crashing vehicle from penetrating farther into the bus.

  Why are the rub rails painted black? No, they are not racing stripes. The answer is murky indeed. Although there is a national standard mandating that school buses be painted “national school bus chrome yellow,” some states require that b
oth the rub rails and bumpers be painted a contrasting color to “stand out” from the yellow. In most cases, this color is black. Different sources attribute the choice of black to everything from aesthetics to hiding marks on the school bus to differentiating the rub rails from the main panel of the bus to making the school bus look different than other buses.

  Pete James feels that the black stripes actually detract from the instantaneously recognizable look of school bus yellow. Karen E. Finkel, executive director of the National School Transportation Association, notes that several states specify that their buses may not be painted black. Yet Kentucky specifies that “the area between the window rub rail and the seat rub rail be painted black so that the white letters for the school district name will show up better.” In matters of color choice, states’ rights still prevail.

  Submitted by Jens P. Aarnaes of Schaumburg, Illinois.

  Why Do All the Armed Forces Start Marching with the Left Foot? Is There Any Practical Reason? Is This Custom the Same All Over the World?

  Bottom line: We can only answer the third question with any confidence. As far as we can ascertain, soldiers all over the world step off on the left foot.

  We contacted many of our trusty military sources about why the practice spread. They collectively shrugged their shoulders.

  Imponderables has been besieged by questions about the origins of left/right customs (e.g., why we drive on the right side of the road, why the hot water faucet is on the left, why military medals are worn on the left) and found that usually the practices stem from a technical advantage.

  What possible advantage could there be in starting a march with the left foot? We received a fascinating speculation on the subject by Robert S. Robe, Jr., president of The Scipio Society of Naval and Military History, which may not be definitive but is certainly more sensible and interesting than anything else we’ve heard about the subject.

  When warfare was institutionalized in prebiblical times so that trained armies could fight one another on a battlefield, the evolution of infantry tactics in close formation required regimented marching in order to effectively move bodies of heavy and light infantry into contact with an enemy.

  I am hypothesizing that some long forgotten martinet discovered by accident or otherwise that a soldier advancing at close quarters into an enemy sword or spear line could, by stepping off on his foot in unison with his fellows, maintain better balance and sword contact to his front, assuming always that the thrusting or cutting weapon was wielded from the right hand and the shield from the left. The shield would also protect the left leg forward in close-quarter fighting.

  Robe’s explanation echoes the usual explanation of why we mount horses from the left. The horse itself couldn’t care less from what side its rider mounts it. But in ancient times, when riders wore swords slung along the left side of the body (so that the swords could be unsheathed by the right hand), riders found it much easier to retain their groin if they mounted on the left.

  Submitted by John Williams of North Hollywood, California. Thanks also to Ann Czompo of Cortland, New York, and Sylvia Antovino of Rochester, New York.

  Why Do Rabbits Wiggle Their Noses All the Time?

  Rabbits don’t wiggle their noses all the time, but enough to make one wonder if they have a cocaine habit or a bad allergy. Little did we suspect that this charming idiosyncrasy is a key to the workings of the rabbit’s respiratory system. There are at least four reasons why rabbits’ noses twitch away.

  1. The movement activates the sebaceous gland (located on the mucus membranes) and creates moisture to keep the membranes dampened and strong. Furthermore, like other animals (including, ahem, dogs with wet noses), rabbits can smell better off of a wet surface.

  2. Frequent wiggling expands the nasal orifices, or nares, so that the rabbit can inhale more air. Like dogs with wet noses, domestic rabbits can’t perspire. According to Dr. T. E. Reed, of the American Rabbit Breeders Association, nose wiggling actually helps rabbits cool themselves off on hot days:

  The only method of cooling themselves is by expiring the super heated air from the respiratory tract to the environment and through the convection of heat from the ears…. The inhalation…of a voluminous amount of air is extremely important.

  The normal respiratory rate in the domestic rabbit is approximately 120 breaths per minute. However, during extremely hot weather, it is not uncommon for the respiratory rate to approach 300 to 350 breaths per minute.

  The nares [control] the amount of air rabbits can inhale. In order to increase the volume of air that is inhaled, the rabbit will twitch its nose by activating the various types of muscles surrounding each of the nostrils to increase the orifice size.

  3. When a rabbit’s whiskers are touched, the muscles surrounding the nostrils expand and contract in order to sharpen the animal’s olfactory abilities.

  4. If a rabbit continuously wiggling its nose appears to be nervous, T. E. Reed reminds us that it might be:

  When a rabbit is calm and unattended, each of the nostrils usually will remain in a stationary position. However, if the rabbit gets excited, the rabbit’s pulse rate and respiratory rate increase and there is a nervous intervention to the nose that causes a constriction and relaxation of the paranasal muscle—the “wiggle” that most lay individuals observe.

  Although some readers have speculated that the “wiggle” is caused by the continual growth of the incisor teeth, each of the rabbit experts we spoke to disputed the claim.

  Submitted by Garnett Budd of Eldorado, Ontario. Thanks also to Jason Gonzales of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

  Why Are There Legless Ducks in the Crest of Cadillacs?

  Jil McIntosh, who writes for several automotive magazines and owns a 1947 Cadillac, told us that two rumors abound about the ducks on the Cadillac crest: that the six ducks signify the original founders of the Cadillac company; and that each duck stands for one of the six cylinders.

  These rumors are wrong on all counts. Cadillac was founded by one person, a Civil War riflemaker, Henry Leland, in 1902. After selling the company to General Motors, Leland proceeded to introduce the Lincoln, which later became Cadillac’s main luxury rival.

  McIntosh laughs off the cylinder theory:

  The first Cadillacs were one-cylinder, and then four-cylinder. In 1915, Cadillac brought out their first V-8 engines…. No six-cylinder engine was ever used until the Cimarron of the mid-1980s (and I hope some Caddy stylist rots in hell for that one!). So the cylinder theory is out; and since Leland was the main brain, the partnership theory is out. The crest is actually a coat of arms.

  But not just anybody’s coat of arms. The Cadillac is named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the French explorer who founded the city of Detroit in 1701. McIntosh told Imponderables that “the Cadillac coat of arms crest is a version of Cadillac’s family crest, which had been in his family for 400 years prior to his birth.”

  Those aren’t ducks in the crest—they are merlettes, heraldic adaptations of the martin (a kind of swallow). The merlettes on the Cadillac crest have no beaks or legs. When merlettes appear in threes, they refer to the Holy Trinity.

  The Cadillac division receives many queries about the birds, and has even explained why the merlettes are missing legs:

  The merlettes were granted to knights by the ancient School of Heralds, together with the “fess” [the wide, dark horizontal band separating the two upper birds from the one on the bottom of the quarterling], for valiant conduct in the Crusades. The birds shown in black against a gold background in this section of the Cadillac arms denote wisdom, riches, and cleverness of mind, ideal qualities for the adventurous and zealous Christian knight.

  Of the merlette, Guillaume, an ancient historian, says: “This bird is given for a difference, to younger brothers to put them in mind that in order to raise themselves they are to look to the wings of virtue and merit, and not to the legs, having but little land to set their feet on.”

  The Cadillac crest has grace
d every Cadillac ever built, often in several places. The crest has changed cosmetically from time to time—it has been lengthened or thinned, adorned with laurel leaves, etc. But the heraldic design has remained the same.

  We hope we have answered the Imponderable once posed by Chico Marx: Viaduct(s)?

  What Is the Technical Definition of a Sunset or Sunrise? How Is It Determined at What Time the Sun Sets or Rises? Why Is There Natural Light Before Sunrise and After Sunset?

  The definitions are easy. A sunrise is defined as occurring when the top of the sun appears on a sea-level horizon. A sunset occurs when the top of the sun goes just below the sea-level horizon.

  But how do scientists determine the times? No, they do not send meteorologists out on a ladder and have them crane their necks. No observation is involved at all—just math. By crunching the numbers based on the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, the sunrise and sunset times can be calculated long in advance.