Pointless
Questions...with Aaron Mucciolo
Ive
got a question for me. What is that second wind that
gets you rolling during a long, long, long night in front of a computer
typing your Constitutional Law paper? Ill look into that after
I wake up Sunday.
When a bunch of birds are chirping at each other at once, are
they having a meeting? Maya Levy, double-degree fifth-year
When youre hearing all the birds in the trees, theyre
all just doing their own thing...mating calls, or singing,
says Phyllis Dague, an assistant with Cornell Universitys
Lab of Ornithology. Birds may call out to the entire field, but
they are just trying to reach one other bird, generally their mate
or their potential mate. Theyd be chirping the same chirp
if there were 50 birds, or if they were flyin solo.
The only exception that came to Ms. Dagues mind was crows.
Individual crows do communicate to a group of their fellow feathered
flyers when they act as a sentry for the group, sitting up in a
tree keeping watch and then calling out warnings about any possible
dangers.
Okay,
I was just doing some deep thinking here. If you can be nonchalant,
can you be chalant? my esteemed editor, Blake
Rehberg
Yes you can, but it requires you to be Old French. Chalant was a
conjugation of the Old French verb chaloir, meaning to be
concerned. At some point, the prefix non was added
to provide a word with the complete opposite meaning describing
a person who isnt likely to become upset about much. The English
apparently lifted nonchalant directly into their language in the
late 17th century and didnt bother to take the original word
along for the ride.
Whats
the geographical center of the United States? the office staff,
trying to help me fill some space
The Census Bureau considers the geographical center of any area
to be the point where, if the surface were of a uniform weight,
the surface would balance.
Including Alaska and Hawaii the center is on the western border
of South Dakota in Butte County, 17 miles west of Castle Rock.
If you are considering just the continental 48 states, the center
is in Smith County, Kansas, just outside of Lebanon, in the middle
of a pig farm.
Well,
looks like that does it for this year of Pointless Questions. And
please, remember, keep those questions coming over the summer, Gibsons
never sold any recipe to Entenmanns, and never go up against
a member of our armed forces when alcohol is on the line.
Got
questions? Great! Ive got spare time on my hands and no other
usable skills! E-mail aaron.mucciolo@oberlin.edu or write to Pointless
Questions, c/o The Oberlin Review, Wilder Box 90, Oberlin OH, 44074.
Your name will be used only with your permission.
|