Why do Clocks run clockwise? (17 page)

Submitted by Cecilia F. Boucher, of Roslindale, Massachusetts.

Thanks also to: Walter Bartner, of New York, New York; Thomas
Cunningham, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; L. T. Quirk, of Red
Bank, New Jersey; and Richard Rosberger, of Washington, D.C
.

Why Do All Packaged Bakery Goods Seem to Be
Registered by the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture?

In 1933, the state of Pennsylvania passed a Bakery Inspection Act mandating that all bakery goods must be inspected and registered in order to be sold in the state. Further, no packaged bakery goods could be sold in Pennsylvania unless the registration notice was printed on its wrapping. The law was enacted to ensure not only the wholesomeness of the food but the accuracy of the weight stated on the package and the health of the employees handling the food (all bakery employees must have an annual physical examination).

It is easy to understand why Pennsylvania would want to protect the welfare of its citizens, but why are Pepperidge Farm cookies, Hostess cupcakes, Wonder bread, and other nationally distributed baked goods also registered by the Pennsyl WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 121

vania Department of Agriculture? Because the law does not exempt out-of-state bakeries from having to print “Registered by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture” on its packaging—without it, the goods cannot be sold anywhere in Pennsylvania. Instead of going to the extra expense of printing separate wrappers for the state of Pennsylvania, manufacturers include its registration on their labels all across the country.

How does Pennsylvania monitor the wholesomeness in bakeries out of state or out of country? According to Dick Elgin, of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the state has reciprocal agreements with food inspection units in other states. Most states have laws regulating the wholesomeness of bakeries; it is only the requirement to print the state’s “seal of approval” that differentiates Pennsylvania.

Meat, poultry, and eggs are the only foodstuffs that require inspec-tions by the federal government. While the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture registration won’t promise you great taste or even good nutrition, it will reassure you that the plant where your cookie was baked was inspected at least once a year and that some inspector lived after popping a similar cookie into his or her mouth.

Submitted by Carol Jewett, of New York, New York
.

122 / DAVID FELDMAN

How Do They Keep All the Raisins in Cereal Boxes
from Falling to the Bottom?

The Rule of Popcorn Physics, which states that unpopped popcorn kernels fall to the bottom of the bowl, has saved many a tooth for generations. The explanation for this immutable law is easy enough to comprehend: unpopped kernels fall to the bottom both because their density is greater than expanded popcorn and because our handling of the corn creates crevices for the unpopped kernel to slide down.

Many inquisitive types have searched for corollaries to the Popcorn Physics rule. For example, the tenet of Slithery Sundaes posits that regardless of how much syrup or toppings one puts atop ice cream in a sundae, it will all fall to the bottom of the bowl anyway, collecting in a pool of glop.

So it was not without a feeling of reverence and awe that we approached the subject of raisins in cereal boxes, tiny dried grapes that seem to defy the usual laws of food gravity. Linda E. Belisle, at General Mills, supplied the simple but elegant solution.

Raisins are added to boxes only after more than half of the cereal has already been packed. The cereal thus has a chance to settle and condense. During average shipping conditions, boxes get jostled a bit (the equivalent of our stirring the contents of a popcorn bowl while grabbing a fistful), so the raisins actually sift and become evenly distributed throughout the box.

The tendency of cereal to condense within the package is responsible for the warning on most cereal packages that the contents are measured by weight rather than volume. Little did you know that this condensation was also responsible for the Law of Rising Raisins.

Submitted by James A. Hoagland, of Stockton, California
.

WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 123

Why Do Runs in Stockings Usually Run Up?

A complicated issue, it turns out, but one that the folks at Hanes and L’eggs were happy to tackle. The direction in which runs will go is determined by the type of stitching used in the construction of the hosiery. The leg portions of most panty hose and sheer nylons are woven in what is called the “jersey stitch” or “stocking stitch.”

The jersey stitch is produced by one set of needles when all of the needles produce plain stitches at every course. Hosiery made from jersey stitches runs or “ladders” both up and down.

Most manufacturers use the jersey stitch for their basic panty hose and stocking styles. Jersey stitches provide a smoother feel and a sheerer look than other constructions, yet they are still durable and stretch well.

124 / DAVID FELDMAN

Other often-used stitches include the “run resist,” the “float,” and most popular, the “tuck,” all of which
will only run up
. L’eggs, for example, uses the tuck stitch on their control-top panties. When the yarn in the stitch is severed, it will only run upward. The purpose, according to L’eggs, is “to prevent the run from encroaching onto the part of the hose that you can see.”

Why don’t the manufacturers always use a stitch that will ladder up, then, as this construction will most often prevent the run from being visible? Hanes Hosiery’s answer is that tucks, run-resist, and float stitches all feel rough on the leg and look heavier on the leg than the jersey stitch. Most manufacturers use the float and tuck stitches for stockings that are designed to look heavier, particularly patterned and mesh hosiery.

Submitted by Sara Vander Fliet, of Cedar Grove, New Jersey
.

Does Putting Women’s Hosiery in the Freezer
Forestall Runs?

On one thing L’eggs and Hanes can agree. Despite all folk wisdom and advice columns to the contrary, putting hosiery in the freezer does not forestall runs. Mary S. Gilbert of L’eggs states that “hosiery is made of synthetic fibers which are not affected by cold.”

WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 125

Eleanor Pardue, product evaluation manager at Hanes, was familiar with the nylon in the freezer claim, but remains firm: Based on the physical testing I am familiar with, there is no difference in the breaking strength of nylon which has never been frozen and nylon that has been frozen. I do know that one can wear two identical pairs of stockings manufactured at the same time under identical circumstances and one pair may run the first time worn while the other pair may last through ten wears.

Submitted by Bonnie Gellas, of New York, New York
.

Why Do Traffic Signals Use Red, Yellow, and Green
Lights? Why Is the Red Light on Top, Green Light
on the Bottom, and Yellow Light in Between?

Traffic signals actually predate the existence of the automobile. One was installed outside of British Parliament in 1868. This signal (and some early American variations) had two semaphore arms, like a railroad signal, that acted as a physical impediment to oncoming traffic.

The English device was designed to control the flow of pedestrians, and some feature was needed to make it functional at night. The easiest solution was to adapt the system used for railroad signals—red and green gas lamps would signify when one could proceed (green) or had to stop (red). This British prototype wasn’t a rousing success—it blew up shortly after its introduction, killing a London policeman.

126 / DAVID FELDMAN

A lively controversy has developed over where the first modern traffic signal designed to control automobile traffic was in use. Although Salt Lake City and St. Paul lay claim to the crown, the green-red signal installed on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914

is generally credited with being the first.

Although the traffic signal’s colors might have been arbitrarily lifted from the railroad’s, there is an important safety reason for the consistency of the configuration today. As recently as the 1950s, many traffic signals, especially in busy urban intersections, were displayed horizontally rather than vertically. The current vertical design with red on top was adopted in order to aid color-blind individuals who might be confused by different layouts. According to Eugene W. Robbins, president of the Texas Good Roads/Transportation Association, the red in traffic signals has some orange in it and the green has some blue in order to make it even easier for the color blind to distinguish them.

Submitted by John Branden, of Davis, California. Thanks also to:
Maya Vinarsky, of Los Angeles, California; Sean Gayle, of Slidell,
Louisiana; Eddie Haggerty, of Waseca, Minnesota; William De-bovitz, of Bernardsville, New Jersey
.

WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 127

Why Are Cows Usually Milked from the Right Side?

Although this subject is usually not part of the veterinary school curriculum, we went right to the organization best suited to answer the Imponderable: the American Association of Bovine Practitioners and its officer Dr. Harold E. Amstutz. Although Dr. Amstutz said he had never considered this question before we posed it, he was ready with a sensible explanation:

Since most people are right handed, it is more logical to sit down on the right side of the cow and have more room to maneuver the milk bucket with the right hand between the cow’s front and rear legs. There would not be nearly as much room to maneuver the bucket with the right hand if a right handed person were to sit on the left side.

In general, we think of “right” as correct and “left” as being wrong. Cows have no preference since we milk them from either 128 / DAVID FELDMAN

side in today’s milking parlors. The only ones that would have a preference are those that were trained to be milked on one side and then someone tried to milk them from the other side. The milker would probably be kicked in that case.

Submitted by Marci Perlmutter, of Warren, New Jersey
.

Why Do Many Merchants Ask Customers to Put
Their Addresses and Phone Numbers on Credit
Card Slips?

If Visa or MasterCard or American Express needed your address or phone number, wouldn’t they reserve a spot on their credit-card slips for them? Clearly, it is the stores that want such data.

But why do the stores need this information? If you charge goods on a stolen credit card, it is the creditor, not the merchant, who gets stuck with the bill, as long as the merchant complies with all of the security arrangements (such as verifying all purchases above a certain amount).

The credit-card companies themselves couldn’t think of a good reason for stores to ask for address and phone number. After all, if somebody is going to steal a credit card, he is unlikely to provide accurate instructions on how to locate him. Perhaps, one credit-card executive speculated, the stores make this request in order to compile a mailing list.

So we talked to merchants. Their reasons turned out to be prosaic.

Some of them mentioned that they carry insurance on bad checks, and that part of the agreement with insurance companies is that all customers must supply addresses, phone numbers, and driver’s license or social security number. If they don’t WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 129

include these data, merchants aren’t reimbursed for bad checks. Although they realize that such precautions are irrelevant when it comes to collecting money from credit cards, some merchants believe that by forcing employees to collect addresses and phone numbers from all noncash customers, clerks would be less likely to forget to ask for the information from people using checks.

All of the merchants in New York City gave one reason, and several mentioned it as the only reason, for asking customers to include address and phone numbers, and this explains why the practice is uncommon in small towns. With the information provided they can contact customers when they leave their credit card at the store by mistake!