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Stump
Me Questions Answered in February 2003
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Q.: How many times does John Grisham use the name K.O. Lewis in his books?
- No Name Given
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A.: The
name of the assistant director of the F.B.I appears in two
books: The Pelican Brief and The Firm.
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Q.: Who
has the e-mail address dragon@aol.com?
- Justin
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A.: I
found his resume online (amazing what you can find when you look
for it). His name is Andrew Dragon.
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Q.: Why are clocks in catalogs or sales ads always shown with the hands at 10 past 2 or sometimes 20 past eight?
- Jan R.
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A.: Actually,
the time you'll see more often than not is 10:10 because that
arrangement draws attention to the logo and frames the
manufacturer's name.
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Q.:
Why don't chickens migrate north in the winter?
- Andrew
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A.: For
one thing, birds don't migrate north in the winter...they head
south. Secondly, chickens don't have the physical
capability to fly that far because their bodies are too big to support flying long distances.
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Q.: Does the
Garden of Eden exist? If so, where is it? And why
hasn't anyone gone there?
- No Name Given
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A.: According to a recent
show on The Discovery Channel, the Garden of Eden is believed to
be near the town of Tabriz in northern Iran. A small town
now sits directly on top of the site believed to be the location
of the Garden.
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Q.: Re Mickey Mouse's original name (STUMP ME, Aug 2000):
Didn't a Disney cartoon character visually identical to Mickey first appear in a cartoon called "Steamboat Willy?"
I suppose one could argue that Mortimer/Mickey was just playing the role of Willy, but that would be the easy way out?
- Supermum
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A.: According
to the book, The Disney Studio Story, Steamboat Willie
was Mickey's third appearance. Mickey originally appeared (along with an early version of Minnie ) in a short silent animation called
Plane Crazy, followed shortly by Gallopin Gaucho.
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Q.: Did the
Australian Bell Shakespeare Company rewrite its 1998 version of King Lear
so Lear's eyes were taken out instead of Gloucesters?
- Lee H.
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A.: Well,
I asked them and got a one-word answer (appearing exactly as it
was sent to me): NO. By the capital letters I assume they
were a bit upset that the question was even presented to them.
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Q.: In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
- Matt
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A.: November, although they don't celebrate it anymore (at least not with the same gusto as in the
past. The date for the revolution was October 24th, 1917
according to the Julian calendar, which was used in Russia in the days of the
revolution. The Gregorian calendar, the one used today,
showed the date as November 6th, 1917.
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Q.: What does a barber's pole represent?
- Richard H.
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A.: According
to Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things,
barbers used to cut hair, trim beards and practiced the cure-all
remedy of bloodletting. During a bloodletting, it was customzry
for a patient to squeeze a pole tightly in one hand, so that the
veins would swell and the blood gush freely. The pole was
painted red to minimize blood stains, and when not in use, it
hung outside the shop as an advertisement. The pole would
be wrapped round with the white gauze used to bandage bloodlet
arms. The red and white pole was eventually adopted as the
official trademark of the barber-surgeon guilds.
The gilt knob later added to the top of the pole represented
the brass basin that served the profession's dual role of
letting blood and whipping up shaving lather.
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Q.: Who came up with the original Murphy's Law?
- K.Y.
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A.: Captain
Edward A. Murphy. According to The Desert Wings
(and reprinted on the Edwards Air Force Base Web site), Murphy's
Law was born on Edwards Air Force Base in 1949. Murphy was
an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981, which was designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash.
One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, he cursed the technician responsible and said, "If there is any way to do it wrong, he'll find it."
The contractor's project manager kept a list of "laws" and added this one, which he called Murphy's Law.
Shortly afterwards, the Air Force doctor (Dr. John Paul Stapp) who rode a sled on the deceleration track to a stop, pulling 40 Gs, gave a press conference. He said that their good safety record on the project was due to a firm belief in Murphy's Law and in the necessity to try and circumvent it.
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