Questions That Flicker in Your Mind and Are Too Trivial To Remember

Sharon’s Search For Ultimate Truth to

Questions That Flicker Through Your Mind That Are Often Too Trivial to Remember

Those of you who know me know that I have the tendency to ask silly questions. Questions of an almost childish nature, like, “Why is the sky blue?” or “How does the toilet flush?” These questions, while they do not actually plague my mind, do pop up from time to time. And one cannot help sometimes but to stop and wonder, “Yeah, why is that?” I’m sure most of these questions have some sort of historical or scientific explanation, but until I find the answers to them, they will remain a mystery to me. In a way, these questions ultimately lead to the big question, “What is the meaning of life?” I’m sure the philosophers out there probably have some insight on that one, but we’ll save that one for another time.

I’ve seen many websites that list a bunch of random questions, but they never make any attempts to answer them. That, my friends, is how this site is different. This site strives to answer all the silly, stupid, trivial, inane, etc… questions that all thinking beings have thought of at some point, but have hardly dared to ask out loud for fear of embarrassment.

So here is my growing list of questions. For those of you out there who may stumble upon this, please feel free to provide me with answers or any other interesting questions. I would love to hear them. Email me at chevy29127@yahoo.com.

And the List Begins….

1) What is the origin of pink lemonade? (8/13/03)

a. Why pink? Why not blue lemonade, or purple lemonade? What is it about the color pink that has allowed it to establish itself as an alternate color to the natural yellow of lemonade?

b. POSSIBLE ANSWERS #1: I’ve searched far and wide for an answer to this one (via the World Wide Web) and have heard several theories:

i. According to the SE Missourian, pink lemonade was a circus invention:

“Consider, for example, pink lemonade. In her account of circus life and legends, Linda Granfield points out the reason the drink is so often associated with the big top. It was invented there. The first batch of the stuff was concocted by the manager of a circus lemonade stand who, having run out of water, in desperation seized on a bucketful he came across in the dressing area of the bareback rider. The fact that the water was slightly pink, owing to the fact that a pair of red tights had been rinsed out in it, did not stop the enterprising mixologist. His new drink quickly sold out and soon pink lemonade became the ‘drink of circuses.’”

Urban legend or myth? You can be the judge of that.

ii. Another gentleman, by the name of Kenny Byerly, has a more witty theory involving corporate conspiracy and mass advertising to the sexes. Definitely worth reading.

2) Who created the universal standard for paper sizes? (8/13/03)

a. This really is a universal standard. Currency size varies from country to country, but not paper sizes (although other countries may have different names for them). For example, how did we get the following names and their corresponding measurements:

i. Letter – 8.5” X 11”

ii. Legal – 8.5” X 14”

iii. Tabloid – 11” X 17”

iv. Business Cards – 2” X 3.5”

The greatest conundrum of all is the last one. The business card standard has such a large impact on our society. It defines not only the size of business cards, but of credit cards, ATM/debit cards, ID cards, etc… and defines the size of our wallets, which in turn determines the size of our back pockets (for most men, at least, and some women). Why exactly 2” X 3.5”? If the dimensions were smaller, we’d have smaller wallets. Perhaps anything smaller would make these items more prone to being lost. If the standard dimensions were larger, the excess material used would probably not be necessary, and it would become too cumbersome to lug the things around.

b. POSSIBLE ANSWER #1 (8/16/03):

i. A-HA! I have found the answer to some of these sizes at the American Forest and Paper Association Website! Very interesting facts indeed. Check out the answer through the link, but to paraphrase what they wrote:

“Back in the late 1600's, the Dutch invented the two-sheet mold. The average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms was 44". Many molds at that time were around 17" front to back because the laid lines and watermarks had to run from left to right. Sounds big?...well to maximize the efficiency of paper making, a sheet this big was made, and then quartered, forming four 8.5" x 11" pieces.

This was well before paper machines dominated hand made paper labor. A couple centuries later when machines dominated the trade (although many hand made paper makers still existed), and the United States decided on a standard paper size, they stuck with the same size so as to keep the hand made paper makers in business.

Oddly enough, the United States used two different sizes - the 8" x 10.5" and the 8.5" x 11". Separate committees came up with separate standards, the 8" x 10.5" for the government and the 8.5" x 11" for the rest of us. Once these committees found out about each other a couple years later, they agreed to disagree until the early 1980's when Reagan finally proclaimed that the 8.5" x 11" was the official standard sized paper.”

c. POSSIBLE ANSWER #2 (8/16/03)

i. I realize now that this standard paper thing is really bigger than I thought it would be. Silly me… You’d think that the existence of a universal standard would signal to me that some large power was behind it all. Of course, it didn’t. I have come to find that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the driving power behind ALL standards in the world. WOW! Big Brother is watching us. Kind of a small reminder that there are man-made powers that drive this world, and make our self-value seem oh-so-puny. At any rate, I’ve discovered that there is a science to this paper-sizing concept. All the sizes have a height-to-width ratio of the square root of two! This link presents this concept and shows the sizing of everything from our letter-sized paper down to playing cards, and even toilet paper!

3) Related to Question 2: Why are women’s wallets so much larger than men’s? (8/13/03)

a. As a female who likes to travel light, I have often struggled with finding a women’s wallet that could either fit in my back pocket or into my small purse. Most of the time I find nothing that fits in either category, and resort to purchasing a guy’s wallet.