When Do Fish Sleep?

by David Feldman

  Before silos were invented, cows gave less milk during winter because they had no green grass to eat. Silos gave the cows the lavish opportunity to eat sorghums all year long.

  Submitted by Susan C. Diffenderffer of Cockeysville, Maryland.

  Why Does Dialing 9 Usually Get You an Outside Line in a Hotel? And Why Does 8 Open a Long-Distance Line?

  For many years we’ve been looking at want ads in the newspaper and seeing positions open for PBX operators. We’ve always wondered what the heck they did. “PBX” sure sounds threateningly high-tech. Little did we know that we were already experts in the field.

  PBX systems are simply telephone lines designed for communication within one building or business that are also capable of interfacing with the outside world. Most large hotels have a PBX system. When you lift your phone up in your room, you become a PBX station user whether you like it or not.

  Most PBX systems reserve numbers one through seven for dial access to other internal PBX stations. In a hotel, this allows a guest in one room to call another room directly. Decades ago, one might have dialed for the operator to perform this function, but hotels found that patrons preferred the greater speed of direct access; and of course, direct dialing saved hotels the labor costs of operators.

  There is no inherent reason why 4 or 2 couldn’t be the access code for an outside line or long-distance access, but Victor J. Toth, representing the Multi-Tenant Telecommunications Association, explains how the current practice began:

  The level “9” code is usually used by convention in all commercial PBX and Centrex as the dialing code for reaching an outside line. This number was chosen because it was usually high enough in the number sequence so as not to interfere with a set of assigned station numbers (or, in the case of a hotel, a room number).

  Likewise, the 8 is sufficiently high in the number sequence to not interfere with other station numbers and has become the conventional way to gain access to long-distance services.

  Toth adds that it is easy to deny level 9 class of service to a particular phone or set of phones if desired. Most hotels, for example, make it impossible for someone using a lobby phone to dial outside the hotel, let alone long distance.

  Why Can’t (Or Won’t) Western Union Transmit an Exclamation Mark in a Telegram?

  Many of the origins of the customs we now take for granted are lost in obscurity. We are thankful to Paul N. Dane, executive director of the Society of Wireless Pioneers, who led us to two gentlemen, W.K. “Bill” Dunbar, and Colonel Ronald G. Martin, who could answer these two Imponderables authoritatively.

  Mr. Dunbar informs us that the original Morse code alphabet (but not the international code used for cablegrams and radiograms) did indeed provide for the exclamation mark: - - -. expressed it. “The early teletype machines with a three-row key-board may not have provided for the exclamation mark, and although later equipment did, it might not have been capable of conveying the exclamation point into a Telex circuit.”

  According to Colonel Martin:

  It is very easy to cause an error during the transmission of a message with a lot of punctuation therein. Therefore, Western Union, in order to prevent lawsuits, abolished it.

  Even if there were technological problems in printing an exclamation mark, a more compelling reason existed to shun it and other punctuation: Punctuation marks were charged as if they were words.

  Submitted by Fred T. Beeman of Wailuku, Hawaii.

  Why Do Telegrams End Sentences with STOP Rather than with a Period?

  Western Union, throughout most of its history, has charged extra for periods as well as exclamation marks. But the reasons for the exclusion of periods and the inclusion of STOP are fascinating and highly technical. Bill Dunbar, president of the Morse Telegraph Club, explains:

  In certain instances the word STOP, when used as a period, was free. I believe this was the case with transoceanic cablegrams. Hollywood sometimes showed STOP in domestic telegrams, which may have given the impression it was common usage. At one time when competition between Western Union and Postal Telegraph was keen, STOP was free, but this did not last long and usually it was a chargeable word, so naturally it wasn’t used much.

  The main reason for periods not appearing was a procedural one—the period was used to indicate the beginning and end of the body of a message. The preamble (i.e., call letters of sending office, the number of words in a message, type of service, and type of payment), origin city, the time and date were sent first. This was followed by the word TO, after which the receiving operator would drop down a line or two and move to the left of the page to write the address.

  At the end of the address, a period was sent, signifying that the next characters would begin the text of the message. At the end of the message, the sender would send another period and say SIG (signature), and the copying operator would drop down two lines to write the signature; he would also add the time the message was copied. If there was a period in the message, it was converted to STOP for transmission.

  The words TO, SIG and the periods were not written on the telegram, since they were procedural signals. Decimals were transmitted by sending the word DOT as 18 DOT 5. This might seem clumsy, but it eliminated any ambiguity as to whether a decimal point or the end of a message was indicated.

  PERIOD must have been considered instead of STOP to signify the period, but probably was rejected for one simple reason: STOP is two letters shorter. Colonel Martin adds that the word PERIOD is more likely to cause confusion when a telegram concerns time.

  Both Martin and Dunbar emphasize how important brevity of language and speed of transmission has always been to Western Union. But customers have proven to be just as frugal in their own way. Traditionally, Western Union charged a basic rate that allowed for ten free words. Any extra words or punctuation marks cost extra. Sometimes the need to squeeze a lot of information into ten words tested the ingenuity of the sender, as Mr. Dunbar’s story illustrates:

  The story is told of a man who sent the following message: BRUISES HURT ERASED AFFORD ERECTED ANALYSIS HURT TOO INFECTIONS DEAD

  Translated it reads: “Bruce is hurt he raced a Ford he wrecked it Aunt Alice is hurt too in fact she’s dead”

  Writers who are paid by the word try to be as verbose as possible. But a writer who has to pay by the word will try to squeeze nineteen words into ten.

  Submitted by Eileen LaForce of Weedsport, New York.

  Why Are Most Snack-Food Items, Such as Chips, Cakes, and Popcorn, Prepriced (on the Package) by the Manufacturers?

  How often have you scoured the aisles of your local supermarket looking for the elusive item on your grocery list? You despair of ever finding what you need when you encounter a young man arduously arranging packages on the shelf. “Where can I find the artificial coloring?” you inquire.

  “I don’t know. I don’t work here,” replies the man.

  Why can’t you ever find the people who supposedly do work at the damn store? This poignant episode, repeated in grocery stores throughout the land, explains—believe it or not—why most snack items are prepriced by the manufacturers.

  Most items in a supermarket, such as canned goods, are sent to the store by a warehouse distributor who handles many different brands. Snack-food manufacturers work on “store-door distribution,” providing full service to retailers. Potato chips or popcorn are brought to the stores in trucks displaying the logo of one company. The agent for the manufacturer rids the shelves of any unsold packages with elapsed expiration dates, restocks, and straightens up the shelves to make the company’s selling environment look attractive.

  Retailers have come to expect this kind of full-service treatment from the snack-food industry. Next to the expense of cashiers, pricing items is one of the costliest labor costs of grocery retailers: Stores welcome prepricing by the industry.

  Why do snack-food manufacturers go along with providing extra service to stores? Although manufacturers like retaining the control of pricing,
according to Chris Abernathy, of the Borden Snack Group, fear of retail overcharging is not the main purpose for the practice. By stamping the price themselves, Borden and other snack-food companies can run citywide or regional promotions by cutting the price on the package itself.

  Al Rickard, of the Snack Food Association, stresses that by stamping prices on packages themselves, manufacturers can guarantee equality of prices to outlets that sell their products. Snack foods are sold not only in grocery stores but in convenience stores, bowling centers, service stations, and other venues that are not used to putting price stickers on food items. Those establishments are more likely to sell snacks when they don’t feel they will be undercut in price by supermarkets.

  Most important, with store-door distribution manufacturers can assure themselves that their products are not languishing on the shelves because retailers are refusing to pull old goods. What all of the food items with prepricing have in common is their perishability. Most salted snack foods have shelf lives of approximately two weeks. Other prepriced items, such as doughnuts and bread, may have even shorter expiration dates. If they have to preprice snack items to guarantee the proper rotation of their goods, it is a small price to pay.

  Submitted by Herbert Kraut of Forest Hills, New York.

  Why Are the Commercials Louder than the Programming on Television?

  Having lived in apartments most of our adult lives, we developed a theory about this Imponderable. Let us use a hypothetical example to explain our argument.

  Let’s say a sensitive, considerate yet charismatic young man—we’ll call him “Dave”—is taking a brief break from his tireless work to watch TV late at night. As an utterly sympathetic and empathic individual, “Dave” puts the volume at a low level so as not to wake the neighbors who are divided from him by tissuethin walls. Disappointed that “Masterpiece Theatre” is not run at 2:00 A.M., “Dave” settles for a rerun of “Hogan’s Heroes.” While he is studying the content of the show to determine what the character of Colonel Klink says about our contemporary society, a used-car commercial featuring a screaming huckster comes on at a much louder volume.

  What does “Dave” do? He goes up to the television and lowers the volume. But then the show comes back on, and “Dave” can’t hear it. Ordinarily, “Dave” would love to forgo watching such drivel, so that he could go back to his work as, say, a writer. But he is now determined to ascertain the sociological significance of “Hogan’s Heroes.” So for the sake of sociology, “Dave” gets back up and turns the volume back on loud enough so that he can hear but softly enough not to rouse the neighbors. When the next set of commercials comes on, the process is repeated.

  Isn’t it clear? Commercials are louder to force couch potatoes (or sociological researchers) to get some exercise! When one is slouched on the couch, the walk to and from the television set constitutes aerobic exercise.

  Of course, not everyone subscribes to our theory.

  Advertising research reveals, unfortunately, that while commercials with quick cuts and frolicking couples win Clio awards, irritating commercials sell merchandise. And it is far more important for a commercial to be noticed than to be liked or admired. Advertisers would like their commercials to be as loud as possible.

  The Federal Communications Commission has tried to solve the problem of blaring commercials by setting maximum volume levels called “peak audio voltage.” But the advertising community is way ahead of the FCC. Through a technique called “volume compression,” the audio transmission is modified so that all sounds, spoken or musical, are at or near the maximum allowable volume. Even loud rock music has peaks and valleys of loudness, but with volume compression, the average volume of the commercial will register as loudly as the peaks of regular programming, without violating FCC regulations.

  The networks are not the villain in this story. In fact, CBS developed a device to measure and counterattack volume compression, so the game among the advertisers, networks, and the FCC continues. Not every commercial uses volume compression, but enough do to foil local stations everywhere.

  Of course, it could be argued that advertisers have only the best interests of the public at heart. After all, they are offering free aerobic exercise to folks like “Dave.” And for confirmed couch potatoes, they are pointing out the advantages of remotecontrol televisions.

  Submitted by Tammy Madill of Millington, Tennessee. Thanks also to Joanne Walker of Ashland, Massachusetts.

  Why Is U.S. Paper Money Green When Most Countries Color-Code Their Currency?

  Until well into the nineteenth century, paper money was relatively rare in the United States. But banknotes became popular in the mid-1800s. These bills were printed in black but included colored tints to help foil counterfeiters.

  However, cameras then in existence saw everything in black, rendering color variations in bills meaningless when reproduced photographically. According to the U.S. Treasury, the counterfeiters took advantage:

  the counterfeiter soon discovered that the colored inks then in use could easily be removed from a note without disturbing the black ink. He could eradicate the colored portion, photograph the remainder, and then make a desired number of copies to be overprinted with an imitation of the colored parts.

  Tracy R. Edson, one of the founders of the American Bank Note Company, developed the solution. He developed an ink that could not be erased without hurting the black coloring. Edson was rewarded for his discovery by receiving a contract from the U.S. government to produce notes for them. Edson’s counterfeit-proof ink had a green tint.

  In the nineteenth century, notes were produced by private firms as well as the treasury. But all notes, regardless of where they were printed, were issued in green, presumably to provide uniformity.

  Could Edson have chosen blue or red instead of a green tint? Certainly. Although our sources couldn’t tell us why green was the original choice, the treasury does have information about why the green tint was retained in 1929, when small-sized notes were introduced:

  the use of green was continued because pigment of that color was readily available in large quantity, the color was relatively high in its resistance to chemical and physical changes, and green was psychologically identified with the strong and stable credit of the Government.

  And besides, “redbacks” or “bluebacks” just don’t have a ring to them.

  Other countries vary the coloring of their bills as well as their size. And why not? Different sizes would enable the sighted but especially the legally blind to sort the denominations of bills easily. But despite occasional rumblings from legislators, the Treasury Department stands by its greenbacks.

  Submitted by Paul Stossel of New York, New York. Thanks also to Charles Devine of Plum, Pennsylvania; and Kent Hall of Louisville, Kentucky.

  Why Do We Have to Close Our Eyes When We Sneeze?

  We thought we’d get off easy with this mystery. Sure, a true Imponderable can’t be answered by a standard reference work, but would a poke in a few medical texts do our readers any harm?

  We shouldn’t have bothered. We understand now that a sneeze is usually a physiological response to an irritant of some sort. We learned that there is a $10 word for sneezing (the “sternutatory reflex”) and that almost all animals sneeze. But what exactly happens when we sneeze? Here’s a short excerpt from one textbook’s explanation of a sneeze:

  When an irritant contacts the nasal mucosa, the trigeminal nerve provides the affect limb for impulses to the pons, and medullai Preganglionic efferent fibers leave these latter two structures via the intermediate nerve, through geniculate ganglion to the greater petrosal nerve, through the vividian nerve and then synapse at the sphenopalatine ganglion…

  Get this outta here! Until Cliff Notes comes out with a companion to rhinology textbooks, we’ll go to humans for the answers.

  Our rhinologist friend, Dr. Pat Barelli, managed to read those textbooks and still writes like a human being. He explains that the sneeze reflex is a pr
otective phenomenon:

  The sneeze clears the nose and head and injects O2 into the cells of the body, provoking much the same physiological effect as sniffing snuff or cocaine. When a person sneezes, all body functions cease. Tremendous stress is put on the body by the sneeze, especially the eyes.

  As Dr. G. H. Drumheller, of the International Rhinological Society, put it, “we close our eyes when sneezing to keep the eyes from extruding.” While nobody is willing to test the hypothesis, there is more than a grain of truth to the folk wisdom that closing your eyes when you sneeze keeps them from popping out, but probably not more than three or four grains.

  Submitted by Linda Rudd of Houston, Texas. Thanks also to Michelle Zielinski of Arnold, Missouri; Helen Moore of New York, New York; Jose Elizondo of Pontiac, Michigan; Amy Harding of Dixon, Kentucky; and Gail Lee of Los Angeles, California.

  Why Don’t Grazing Animals that Roll in or Eat Poison Ivy Ever Seem to Get Blisters or Itching in Their Mouths?

  A few of the many veterinarians we spoke to had seen allergic reactions to poison ivy among animals but all agreed it was exceedingly rare. Poison ivy is not really poison. Humans develop an allergic reaction because of a local hypersensitivity to the oil in the plant. Veterinarian Anthony L. Kiorpes, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, informed us that the same plant that may cause a severe reaction in one human may not affect another person at all.