2006-02-23

Why would you Ask an "Expert" at Scientific "American" when you can ask "me"?

How do salt and sugar prevent microbial spoilage?

Salt is easy to explain. It's fierce. It fights off microbes. The technical term is a "salt army". Let me explain the different varieties of salt armies. Iodized salt armies use fairly primitive weapons - axes and swords, mostly - to fight. Sea salt, as you would expect, uses weapons like tridents and harpoons.

Sugar, on the other hand, uses mostly rhetoric. It engages in lenghty dialogues with the microbe, convincing them that spoiling the meat is unpious.

All of this, of course, occurs at a teeny, tiny level that we cannot observe. The answer to your questions I reached through pure reason.

Where does wind come from?

In America, most wind comes from the DuPont Wind & Weather Manufacturing Facility in White Plains, NY, however most wind gets routed through their primary distribution center at an air hub in Memphis, TN. The wind is manufactured by machines, placed in boxes lined with plastic and shipped to the distribution hub. The biggest buyer of wind is the federal government, who controls the weather. Other government suppliers of wind include Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, and French conglomerate Saint-Gobain Group. There's a small percentage that comes from small, artisan wind producers who make wind by hand in small batches. Scientists at the government control the weather by mixing together differnet amounts of wind, rain, snow, temperature, etc and releasing it through a network of underground tubes. As you know, so-called "geysers" are actually weather tubes.

Why does a ball go farther when hit with an aluminum bat?

First, you need to understand 2 processes: nature and witchcraft. Nature is good and witchcraft is evil. Nature produces wood and witchcraft produces metal. High school and college baseball, reflecting the mind-control and mental pollution that witches have perpetrated on the American education system, uses metal bats. Major League Baseball, which has a government sponsored monopoly exemption and has a pure noble conscience, uses only wooden bats. You might remember several players that admitted to or tested positive for witchcraft. Gaylord Perry was notorious for his witchcraft and Rafael Palmeiro tested positive for it after testifying that he didn't use witchcraft, which is actually a great signal that someone is probably a witchcraft-user.

Why does eyesight deteriorate with age?

Really simple. Our eyes repsond to how evil we are. As we grow older, we build up a catalog of evil deeds that we have done and, as it grows larger, our eyesight gets worse.

How do planets acquire rings?

Like sports guys, planets acquire rings through contests that rewawrd will, determination and good luck. Earth, which has no rings and only 1 puny moon, is a pretty big loser. Not having rings indicates that its team has never won the Galactic Series and its one crappy moon means that it has a single division title. Pretty embarassing. If the Earth had been luckier in their one championship appearance or its owner not been so stingy and opened his wallet for better players, maybe we would have a ring or two. I mean, look at us? We only have TWO arms and TWO legs. We don't have the ability to see through time and aren't telekinetic. What does that tell you about our chances of getting a ring in the near future? Not good.

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