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Stump
Me Questions Answered in July 2004
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Q.: Who invented the keyboard and why did they choose the "qwerty" system?
- Tim T.
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A.: Believe
it or not, but there's a National Inventors Hall of Fame, and
Christopher Sholes was inducted in 2001. Here's his bio,
straight from the HOF:
Sholes invented the first practical typewriter and introduced the keyboard layout that is familiar today.
As he experimented early on with different versions, Sholes realized that the levers in the type basket would jam when he arranged the keys in alphabetical order. He rearranged the keyboard to prevent levers from jamming when frequently used keys were utilized. The rearranged keys in the upper row formed the order QWERTY, and the design exists to this day.
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Q.: In one of the
Far Side books, there was a word that they said meant the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you.
What's the word they used for that?
- Jaime K.
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A.: It
just so happens that I have The Far Side Gallery 4
sitting in my bathroom (hey, a guy needs something to pass the
time). Wouldn't you know it that page 61 has the
answer? You're looking for the word anatidaephobia.
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Q.: Why is heartburn called heartburn when it has nothing to do with your heart?
- No Name Given
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A.: The
number of resources available to answer this question boggles
the mind. So I took mine from Jackson Gastroenterology in Camp Hill, PA
(because their answer was easily the best one written):
Heartburn is a burning sensation felt behind the breastbone and sometimes in the neck and throat.
It is caused by stomach acid refluxing or splashing up into the esophagus
-- the muscular tube that connects the throat to the stomach.
At the lower end of the esophagus where it enters the stomach, there is a strong muscular ring called the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES).
The LES should remain tightly closed, except to allow food and liquid to pass into the stomach.
Heartburn occurs when the LES opens at the wrong time. Almost everyone has this occasionally, and it is nothing to be concerned about.
However, heartburn that is severe or that occurs frequently over a long period of time can be harmful.
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Q.: If Peter Piper picked a patch of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
- Zach
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A.: I'll
let Robert A. answer this one since it made the most
sense. Thanks for sending this in, Robert.
There are two answers
1) One - he picked a PECK of pickled peppers, not a patch.
2) Zero - you can't pick "pickled" peppers since they've already been picked
(how else would you pickle them?).
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Q.: Why are the months September through December all off in their meanings by 2: September-7; October-8; November-9; December-10?
- Matt
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A.: You
can thank Julius Caesar for that one. The calendar needed
to be fixed to reflect the number of days in a year, which
called for the adding of an extra day every four years (it
actually takes about 365.2422 days for the earth to complete
it's full revolution around the sun). He also decided to
rename the month of Quintillus to July. Augustus, his
nephew, renamed Sextillus to August. The remaining months
were left untouched.
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Q.: What time is it on the north pole? (all time zones meet there!)
- Jason W.
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A.: Paul
Walorski, a physics teacher, answered this one:
It's any time you want! All the time zones come together at both poles, so asking what time it is at the North Pole is like asking which way is north.
Local time at all other locations on the Earth's surface is based on the Sun's position relative to the celestial meridian, an imaginary line running north and south directly overhead.
Noon is based on when the Sun crosses the local meridian, which also corresponds to its highest point in the sky on a given day.
At the North Pole, there is no north/south line that can define a meridian.
Also, on any given day the Sun circles the sky at the same apparent altitude.
There is no "highest position" to define noon.
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Q.: In the book, The Firm, name the famous bar on the Gulf of Mexico on the Alabama / Florida border.
How many pool tables are inside the bar?
- Jonathan H.
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A.: It's
called the Flora-Bama, and it's located in Pensacola, FL.
December 2004 - Unfortunately, there's no way to tell how
many pool tables are inside because it sustained heavy damage
from Hurricane Ivan.
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