2/6/12  ...Which Starts with L Which Stands for Pound?

      Infrequently Answered Question #65: Why is pound abbreviated 'lb' when there's no L or B in the word?

      A: It's confusing because 'lb' is not an abbreviation for the word pound, but an abbreviation of another word which is a symbol for pound, libra.

      Here's how it works. A pound is a basic unit of weight which can be measured on a balance scale. Libra is Latin for scale. From libra to scale to weight to pound. So, the symbol for pound is libra which has an L and a B and is abbreviated 'lb'.

      This also explains the symbol for British money, the pound. You know, £. It's a script L with a crossbar for Libra. This is found on a computer keyboard at option-3. And shift-3 gets you a different pound sign, #. Well, sort-of a pound sign as it's only a pound sign on a telephone. On a computer # stands for the word number, which is abbreviated 'no' despite there being no O in number.

      To go off on another tangent, the astrological symbol for Libra is not £ or # but a horizontal line with a hump in the middle over a straight line. You won't find that on a computer keyboard so you'll have to type out the word. On a telephone pad you'd have to dial 5-4-2-7-2 to spell libra. Then again, there's no longer a dial on a phone to dial yet we say dial anyway.

      What I can't tell you is why ounce is abbreviated 'oz' when there's no Z in the word. But you didn't ask so I'm off the hook.

1/16/12  Electric Blueberries Aren’t Green

      Infrequently Answered Question #64: Why are blueberries red when they're green?

      A: For the same reason green beans are green when they're green. Sort-of.

      Your question is actually an old joke riddle my father used to say. One he never explained and I didn't get until I figured out the word green didn't signify color, but meant unripe. You know, as in eating green apples will make you sick. Except Granny Smith apples are green after they're green and don't make you sick.

      Now-a-days green has another meaning it didn't back in my youth. Eco-friendly and all that. Though a lot of what's claimed to be green is not as eco-friendly as is supposed. Some of these green ideas started for other reasons and then became fashionably green, even though they're not really so green.

      Take electric cars. These were originally championed in the 60s to reduce smog. Which they do, as long as the power plant generating the electricity is located outside the city. The car itself doesn't produce emissions, but if it's charged from a fuel-burning power plant that does... basically it becomes an emission relocation program. Mostly, electric cars are green when they're painted green.

12/5/11  Red Light on Modern Myths

      Infrequently Answered Question #63: I am thinking of buying a red car. Are drivers of red cars really more likely to get speeding tickets?

      A: No. Statistics show they are slightly less likely to get speeding tickets. But the difference is so small it is statistically meaningless. That the police target red cars for speeding is just another modern myth. Here are a few more modern myths that seem to make the rounds:

Suicide rates go up during Christmas.
Crime goes up during a full moon.
When arrested you're allowed one phone call.
Inuits have over 100 words for snow.

      Suicide rates are constant throughout the year. Crime rates are constant regardless of the phase of the moon. In the US by law you are allowed as many phone calls as it takes to get a lawyer or arrange bail.

      Inuits have about as many words or descriptions for snow as English speakers have. In English there's powder, hardpack, slush, sleet, drifts, blizzard, white-out, flakes, flurries, and more. Inuits probably talk about snow more than English speakers, but they don't have a lot more words to do it.

10/7/11  Of Fruits and Nuts

      Infrequently Answered Question #62: Is Post Grape-Nuts cereal made of grapes or nuts?

      A: Neither. When Post Grape-Nuts first hit store shelves in 1898 it contained maltose. In those days maltose was known as grape sugar. That's the grape part of Grape-Nuts. The nut part comes from the cereal's crunchiness and nutty flavor.

      This is a case of a name based on a notion of the time that no longer is in vogue. Such are fads, in foods and product names. Like adding o-rama to a name in the 50s, or cyber or e- tacked onto names now-a-days. Though I suppose not for cereal. A bowl of Cyber-Nuts, anyone? Doesn't work.

      On the other hand, Post Raisin Bran does contain grapes. Only dried grapes, which are called raisins. Whether there's any maltose in there, I couldn't say. Wine is made from grapes. Don't know about the malt content of wine. Malt liquor should have malt. I can't imagine folks having malt liquor with breakfast. For breakfast, maybe.

9/19/11  Skip the Knees

      Infrequently Answered Question #61: What is the only mammal with four knees?

      A: They like to say the elephant, but not really. Depends on what you want to call a knee.

      Elephants have the same basic skeletal structure and musculature as other quadrupedal mammals. Though the bone lengths and angles may differ a bit, their legs are built and work the same way. It only looks like elephants have four knees because their legs are fat all the way to the ground, they don't taper like horses and the like. So a skinny joint on a horse doesn't look like a knee, but does on an elephant even though they are the same thing.

      What IS different about elephants is they are the only four-legged mammal with just one gait. A gait is the order and timing of how the feet hit the ground. Elephants walk, but don't gallop, trot, pace or canter. They're just too heavy. Nonetheless with such a big stride a brisk walk can cover a lot of ground pronto.

      Being bipedal humans don't really trot, cantor, pace or gallop either. But we do have two gaits. For people, walking, trotting and running are all different speeds of one gait, where it's one foot in front of the other equally timed. The second gait is skipping, where you alternate little hops on one foot then the other.

8/10/11  Who Knows?

      Infrequently Answered Question #60: Which is more important, nature or nurture?

      A: Which is to ask if we are more a product of our genetics or our environment. I don't know that we can work that out logically or otherwise.

      Consider the Spartans, a warrior culture. Young men were raised to be warriors and so became warriors. They were a product of their culture. Except, who created the culture to begin with if not the Spartans? It's not like the culture was there first and they just fell into it against their will or by accident. I mean, it's hard to imagine a group of pacifists would found a settlement, develop their customs and ways of living, and then, oops! they're a warrior culture. Would that happen?

      So then, were Spartans warriors because they had a warrior culture, or did they have a warrior culture because Spartans were warriors to begin with? Does culture create people or do people create culture? Obviously culture can't predate the people who founded it. Though once it gets going... seems one reinforces the other.

      What we have here is a question of direction of causation. Which is cause and which is effect? Or in everyday language: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Answering that probably wouldn't help much since chickens don't have what you'd call culture. The chicken crossed the road to get to the other side, not to get to the opera.

6/14/11  Remember?

      Infrequently Answered Question #59: Do you remember the Alamo?

      A: Egad! it completely slipped my mind. And the Maine, too.

      Which may raise the question, do I have a good memory. Some folks have really good memories. Good memories as in effective, like total recall, not good memories like happy memories. Good could also mean reliable, as in recalling things accurately, or recalling them at all. So you could have good memories of things you don't really remember, or maybe didn't happen the way you remember at all.

      I recently became acutely aware I don't have a good memory in the reliable sense while talking about "the good old days" at Orbit magazine and Suck.com. I rather remember being involved in both, what I did generally, but I was woefully short on events, specifics, details. I seemed to have no stories to tell. I've forgotten all my memories!

      They say you are the sum of your experiences. But if you don't recall any of them, what does that make you? Who are you then? To be or not to be, what was the question?