Pointless Questions...with Aaron Mucciolo

I was having lunch with some friends today when a startling brilliant new word came into my vocabulary. Trying to describe the ambiguous situation between her and a guy, my friend said “It’s not a relationship, it’s a whatevership.”
I just thought the campus should know that there’s a word out there for half of the dating scenarios you’re in, have gone through, or will be having.

Why do some types of hair frizzle and curl in humid weather? –Katherine Blauvelt, OC ‘02
In a word, genetics. In several words: “It has to do with the uptake of humidity in the hair,” says Bill King, manager of Research and Development at Conair. “As the hair takes on water it curls around in genetically predetermined patterns.” Hair strands from different people might look pretty much the same, but different hair types look different in cross-section. Straighter hair is circular, while curlier hair is more flattened or elliptical. The different shapes bend and curl in different ways when pressure—such as the weight of water—is applied to them. Limp or flat hair might not necessarily be genetic. If your hair care products leave a heavy residue finer hair may get weighed down as the residue picks up water in the air.
Frizzing is slightly a different story. The shaft, the part of each hair strand that we see, is actually made up of three layers. The outermost layer is called the cuticle, which is formed by tightly packed, overlapping ‘scales.’ When water works its way inside, the scales start to spread out. “Frizziness is just cuticle damage,” says Mr. King. “The cuticles pick up humidity and expand, like shingles on a house.”

And now an update…
Two weeks ago, as you may recall, I dispelled a somewhat common internet rumor that more deaths each year are caused by donkeys than plane crashes. Well www.snopes.com, a spectacular site on urban legends (which I failed to consult on the question), believes they tracked down the origin of the rumor—really its first incarnation. In a July 23, 1987 London Times article the author cites “one expert [who] estimated that more people in the world are kicked to death by donkeys than die in plane crashes.”
Not fully trusting Snopes though, I hit the microfilm in Mudd (did you know we have the Times on microfilm back through 1788? Crazy, man…). The article does say just what I quoted—‘Health’ section, page 9. So an offhanded comment by someone eventually became internet fact.

Please send your questions on over to me. Email your questions to aaron.mucciolo@oberlin.edu or mail ‘em to Pointless Questions c/o The Oberlin Review, Wilder Box 90, Oberlin, OH 44074. Your name will only be used with your permission.