Do Penguins Have Knees? (24 page)
Read Do Penguins Have Knees? Online
Authors: David Feldman
Davidoff concedes that in a pinch, placing the thermometer above the tongue might not be a total disaster:
In principle, you could get a reasonably accurate temperature reading with a thermometer above your tongue
if
you hadn’t recently been mouth breathing or hadn’t recently eaten or drunk anything,
if
you held the thermometer reasonably firmly between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, and
if
you kept it there long enough.
They sure do, although they are discreetly hidden underneath their feathers. Anatomically, all birds’ legs are pretty much alike, although the dimensions of individual bones vary a great deal among species.
Penguins, like other birds, have legs divided into three segments. The upper segment, the equivalent of our thigh, and the middle segment, the equivalent of our shinbone, or the drumstick of a chicken, are both quite short in penguins.
When we see flamingos, or other birds with long legs, they appear to possess a knee turned backwards, but these are not the equivalent of a human knee. Penguins, flamingos, and other birds do have knees, with patellas (knee caps) that bend and function much like their human counterparts.
We spoke to Dr. Don Bruning, curator of ornithology at the New York Zoological Park (better known as the Bronx Zoo), who told us that the backwards joint that we perceive as a knee in flamingos actually separates the bird equivalent of the ankle from the bones of the upper foot. The area below the backwards joint is not the lower leg but the upper areas of the foot. In other words, penguins (and other birds) stand on their toes, like ballet dancers.
Penguins are birds, of course, but their element is water rather than sky. Penguins may waddle on land, but their legs help make them swimming machines. Penguins use their wings as propellers in the water, and their elongated feet act as rudders.
So rest assured. Even if you can’t see them, penguins have legs (with knees). And they know how to use them.
Submitted by John Vineyard of Plano, Texas. Thanks also to Ruth Vineyard of Plano, Texas
.
How
Do They Make Hot Dog Buns That Are Partially Sliced?
Now that we solved the Imponderable of why there are ten hot dogs in a package and only eight hot dog buns in a package (see
Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?
), we can tackle a few less challenging bread Imponderables without guilt.
Barbara K. Rose, manager of consumer affairs at Continental Baking Company (the folks who bring us Wonder Bread and Twinkies), answered this question with ease:
The hot dog buns are removed from the baking pans and placed on a conveyer-type system. These buns slide past circular blades that are mounted on rotating vertical shafts. Two buns are allowed between each blade: the bun on the right is sliced on the right side; the bun on the left is sliced by a blade on the left. These blades are set to slice only a specific distance into the bun and will not slice through. The tops of the buns hold them together.
Submitted by Laurie Hutler of Boulder Creek, California. Thanks also to Robert Chell of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Deb Graham of Mt. Vernon, Washington
.
How
Do They Fork Split English Muffins? What Causes the Ridges in English Muffins?
English muffins also run past circular blades, actually two blades, which slice only one-quarter inch or so into the muffin. But each muffin is also “forked,” passed through two spinning wheels with Roman spear points. These spears penetrate into the muffin anywhere from one to one and one-half inch, depending upon the baker’s preference.
Tom Lehmann, director of baking assistance at the American Institute of Baking, told
Imponderables
that the initial one-quarter-inch slice of the outer edges of the muffin yields a smooth consistency. The forking doesn’t sever the muffin into two separate pieces but does produce the perforations by which they slice the muffin and the ridges, nooks, and crannies that provide the rough texture for which English muffins are famous.
Continental Baking’s Barbara Rose reports that her company found that fork splitting didn’t work on their Raisin Rounds, which are sliced all the way through the muffin: “Raisin Rounds must be sliced because the raisins will accumulate on the fork splitting machinery causing several mechanical breakdowns and halting production.”
Submitted by Donna Burks of Gilroy, California. Thanks also to Ruth Mascari of Monkton, Maryland
.
Why
Do Cat Hairs Tend to Stick to Our Clothes More Than Those of Dogs or Other Pets?
A cat’s hair is the most electrostatic of all pet hairs, which may be the main reason why cat hairs stick to clothes. But the physiology of cat hair also contributes to kitty cling. Dr. John Saidla, assistant director of the Cornell Feline Health Center, explains:
The hair coat in the cat consists of three different types of hair: primary or guard hairs within the outer coat: awn hairs (intermediate-sized hairs forming part of the primary coat); and secondary hairs (downy hair found in the undercoat).
The guard hairs are slender and taper towards the tip. The cuticles on these hairs have microscopically small barbs that are very rough. This is the main reason cat hairs stick to clothing, and it is this hair that is found most commonly on clothing.
The awn hairs have broken or cracked cuticles that are rough and would aid in their clinging, also. The secondary hairs are very thin and are wavy or evenly crimped. These hairs are caught and held in more roughly textured clothing.
Submitted by an anonymous caller on Owen Spann’s nationally syndicated radio show
.
Why
Are You Never Supposed to Touch a Halogen Light Bulb with Your Fingers?
Conventional light bulbs use soda-lime glass, which is perfectly functional. But tungsten-halogen bulbs are made of much more durable quartz glass because they must withstand much higher temperatures, a minimum of 250 degrees Centigrade.
Rubin Rivera, of Philips Lighting, told
Imponderables
that quartz halogen lamps must not be touched with the fingers because the natural oils from the skin, in combination with the high temperatures reached by the bulbs when illuminated, will cause the crystalline structure of the bulb glass to change.
Caden Zollo, product manager of The Specialty Bulb Co., adds that contact with human oils can cause the glass to crack and leak. Air can then get into the filament and, in extreme conditions, can cause the bulb not only to leak but to explode.
To avoid this “explosive” situation, some halogen lamps come with a separate outer bulb so that the lamps can be touched. If your hands have come in contact with the bulb, or you need to clean the bulb, wiping it with denatured alcohol will reverse the effect of your greasy hands.
Submitted by Gail Lee of Dallas, Texas
.
Why
Is There an “H” Inside of the “C” in the Hockey Uniform of the Montreal Canadiens?
The “H” stands for hockey. When the team was founded in 1909, it was known as “Club Canadien” and its sweaters sported a big white “C.” This tradition lasted all of one year, when the club switched to a red uniform with a green maple leaf and a Gothic “C.” Not content to rest on its fashion statement, the team changed its look again, adopting a blue, white, and red “barber pole” symbol featuring the letters “CAC,” which stood for Club Athlétique Canadien.
In 1917, the Club Athlétique Canadien folded, but owner George Kennedy replaced the “A” inside the large “C” with the letter “H,” to signify “hockey.” The letters then stood for “Club de Hockey Canadien,” the official name of the team for more than seventy years.
Submitted by Bob Tatu of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
.
Why
Don’t Radio Shack Stores Use Cash Registers?
Have you ever noticed that most of the time when you make a purchase at Radio Shack, salespeople ask you for your address? Clearly, the Tandy Corporation likes to compile as much information about its business as possible, and no figures are of more interest than how their individual stores are faring in sales and inventory control.
Befitting a retail business that specializes in high technology, cash registers don’t impart enough information to satisfy the Tandy Corporation. Ed Juge, Radio Shack’s director of market planning, explains:
Radio Shack does not use cash registers. They’re decades-old technology. Every company-owned Radio Shack store is equipped with state-of-the-art electronic point-of-sale terminals, which are really “diskless” Tandy 1000 SX computers, tied to a multi-user Tandy computer in the office area.
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?
