And now for today's tip

And now for today's tip...

23-SKIDDO

The phrase "23-skiddo" comes from the New York City police department

back before World War I.

If you've ever been to the City, you know that the wind can really

whip down those avenues. The best wind (or the windiest corner) in the

city is found at 23rd and Broadway--where the Flatiron Building

stands. Back in the old days, men would stand along the Flatiron and

wait for the wind to show off passing ladies' gams. The police, after

having taken a few looks themselves, would move the men along. The

phrase in the force? 23-skiddo.

And now for today's tip...

BACK AND FORTH

Answer to our previous question: Last time, we asked you, If you

discover wax in your Cucurbitaceae, what should you do? (A) call a

doctor, (B) find some matches, (C) cancel your credit cards. This is

the last of our Halloween-related questions, and the answer is (B)

find some matches. Cucurbitaceae is a classification of vegetables

that includes squashes, gourds, and our friend the pumpkin.

Technically speaking, the pumpkin is the species Cucurbita maxima.

Rather than giving kids candy this Halloween, you could have given the

gift of learning and told them this little tidbit. They would have

loved you for it!

And now for today's question! Who "invented" the pendulum?

And now for today's tip...

HURRICANE NAMES

When I was growing up, I was forced to learn French. Somehow I

couldn't seem to get the whole masculine and feminine tense thing

down. What do you mean a pencil is masculine?

Well anyway, we in the United States mastered this and applied a

gender only to items such as cars, boats, and hurricanes. And, in our

infinite wisdom, those were always female in nature. But along came

the Equal Rights Amendment and suddenly the simple tradition of naming

things after women became a problem. Even the names of hurricanes were

changed. Starting in 1979, the National Hurricane Center and the

committee that keeps the hurricane names, the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO), began alternating between male and female

hurricanes.

The WMO maintains six lists that are used in rotation causing the list

for 1999 to be used again in 2005. What's interesting is that if a

storm is really deadly, it's name is retired (for reasons of

sensitivity)--kind of like retiring a number in baseball.

And now for today's tip...

IN FULL SWING

Answer to our previous question: Last time, we asked who "invented"

the pendulum. While it can't be said that anyone actually invented the

pendulum per se, the principles behind the pendulum were first put

forth by good old Galileo. The rate of oscillation of a simple

pendulum, which moves back and forth on a single plane, is dependent

on the length of the pendulum--not on the weight or arc. Galileo is

said to have figured this out while watching a chandelier sway in a

storm. He noted the potential applications for timekeeping--thereby

inventing the grandfather clock--and went on to discover other things,

which is why he's in the history books.

And now for today's question! A Foucault pendulum is designed to

demonstrate what? (A) the effect of temperature on oscillation, (B)

the effects of air friction, (C) the rotation of the earth

And now for today's tip...

BANANAS

Bananas always seem to spoil before I can get through the bunch. What

really gets me is that when I put them into the refrigerator, they

become rotten faster than they do in the heat! What gives?

The truth is that bananas don't spoil in the fridge, it's just that

their skins turn black. The problem is that bananas are from the

tropics and are not able to deal with temperatures in the mid to low

40s. What happens is that the cold temperatures kill some of the cells

on the peel, causing them to turn black. The fruit inside stays fresh.

And now for today's tip...

BURN, BABY, BURN

Answer to our previous question: Last time, we asked you what a

Foucault pendulum is designed to demonstrate--(A) the effect of

temperature on oscillation, (B) the effects of air friction, or (C)

the rotation of the earth. Named after French physicist Jean Bernard

Leon Foucault, the Foucault pendulum is used to demonstrate the

rotation of the earth. It consists of a heavy bob suspended on a long

wire--Foucault used a 62-pound bob suspended from a 220-foot wire. The

earth's rotation causes the pendulum, which is set in motion along a

single plane, to slowly rotate relative to the ground beneath it. At

the North Pole, a Foucault pendulum would rotate completely every 24

hours; at the equator, it wouldn't rotate at all.

And now for today's question! What does the term "Fahrenheit 451"

signify?

And now for today's tip...

CAFFEINE

Ever wonder how caffeine works? Well, this is your lucky day--we're

going to tell you.

We must work backward though. First sleep. When we sleep, something

called adenosine binds to receptors in your brain. This causes

drowsiness and slows down nerve cell activity. It also causes blood

vessels to dilate in order to allow more oxygen in during sleep. This

all adds up to a good night's rest.

Like many other evil chemicals, caffeine is able to fool its target,

the adenosine receptors, by looking just like the cells it is

blocking, the adenosine. Caffeine binds to the receptor, but instead

of slowing the brain, it actually speeds cells up. Caffeine takes all

available spaces for adenosine and thus makes it hard for the

receptors to perform their normal tasks. Caffeine also causes the

blood vessels to constrict, thus limiting the amount of oxygen that

can get into the blood stream. (This explains why you don't get a very

good night's sleep if you drink coffee late at night--caffeine blocks

the benefits of deep sleep.)

All of this activity alerts the pituitary gland, which thinking

there's an emergency, releases adrenaline. The result? Your hands get

cold, your muscles tense up, you feel excited, and your heart rate

increases.

As if that's not enough, caffeine also increases dopamine levels just

like heroine and cocaine. This activates the pleasure center in your

brain and helps the drug become addictive.

And now for today's tip...

SAVE THE PLANETESIMALS!

Answer to our previous question: Last time, we asked you what the term

"Fahrenheit 451" signifies. Science fiction fans will recognize this

as the title of Ray Bradbury's famous 1953 novel, which dealt with a

futuristic book-burning government. The upshot of the title is that

paper ignites at 451 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. Fahrenheit is

one of the earliest temperature scales, and was devised by German

physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit in the early 1700s. Fahrenheit

also constructed the first thermometer employing mercury instead of

alcohol.

And now for today's question! What are planetesimals?

And now for today's tip...

WATCH THE SKIES

Answer to our previous question: Last time, we asked you to define the

Matrix. As you may remember, that was the promotional catchphrase used

to build buzz for the film before its initial release. The trouble is,

even after seeing the movie, many people still don't know the answer.

Here's the scoop, cobbled together from the film itself, plus plenty

of conjecture from fan Web sites: The film is set about 200 years in

the future. It seems there was a war between humans and the machines,

which the machines won. But we blocked out the sun during the war, so

now the machines need to keep us alive to drain our bio-energy. The

Matrix is a virtual reality hallucination used by the machines to keep

us humans preoccupied while they drain our energy in underground

feeding labs. Not a very efficient solution--there's a

conservation-of-energy problem here, for one thing. In this case, plot

holes equal sequels: Stay tuned.

And now for today's question!

What science fiction classic was originally titled Watch The Skies?

And now for today's tip...

BIG CHUNKS OF IRON

Answer to our previous question: Last time, we asked you what

planetesimals are. Well, first off, they're big. Theoretically,

planetesimals are huge chunks of stone and iron that were formed

billions of years ago while the earth was still forming. What we know

now as asteroids are but fragments of these ancient monsters. The most

recent and popular theory of how the moon was formed states that the

still-forming Earth collided with a planetesimal about three times the

size of Mars. The debris from the impact eventually congealed into the

moon. No one knows for sure, though, and many geologists have pointed

out that such a collision should have left a huge crater on the earth,

unless the planet basically melted again after impact. But other

geologists say that didn't happen. This is a good topic to stay away

from at geologists' dinner parties.

And now for today's question! Where is the largest known meteorite in

the world?

And now for today's tip...

HORSEPOWER

Ever wonder how they determined horsepower? I had always envisioned a

big spring attached to a horse that measured its ability to pull and

figured that a car was attached to the same spring to measure its

horsepower.

James Watt originated the concept of horsepower in 1783. Watt wanted a

way to promote the strength of his steam engine. To be on the safe

side, he overstated a horse's power in comparison to his engine. So,

in reality, the power of his engine was one and a half times that of

the horses he used in this experiment--not one horse power as he had

said.

Today's measure of horsepower is actually fifty percent more than a

real horse's power.

nd now for today's tip...