Imponderables: Fun and Games Read Online Free PDF Page B

titles and artists of the songs played on the stations. One PD we consulted, who wished to remain anonymous, indicated that his policy of heavy backselling had nothing to do with helping record companies:
     
    We try to backsell as much as possible for two reasons. First, it answers the listeners’ primary question: What was that we just heard? Second, it helps us with our research. How are we supposed to ask listeners to call in our request line if they don’t know what they’ve heard on our station?
     
    Consultant Steve Warren suggests that there are alternate ways of supplying listeners with information about titles and artists, including manned request lines and listener hotlines (in which an employee answers questions about the music, the station, contests, etc.). Warren indicated that at times it doesn’t hurt to have calls come in directly to the DJ—it’s a good way for jocks to stay in touch with their fans.
    Disc jockeys have so many chores to perform besides listening to music that many are understandably not excited about IDs; after all, their time on the air is extremely limited. So, we guess we can’t be too hard on our very Human Numan for not frontselling or backselling every song. After all, he estimates that on his average three-hour shift, he speaks on-air for a grand total of seven minutes .
     
    Submitted by the guy in the shower, New York, New York.
     
    Postscript:
     
    Since this chapter was written, Human Numan has left terrestrial radio for the less rigid format of Sirius Satellite Radio.

WHY IS THE HOME PLATE IN BASEBALL SUCH A WEIRD SHAPE?
     
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    U ntil 1900, home plate was square like all the other bases. But in 1900, the current five-sided plate was introduced to aid umpires in calling balls and strikes. Umpires found it easier to spot the location of the ball when the plate was elongated. If you ask most players, it hasn’t helped much.
     
    Submitted by Bill Lachapell of Trenton, Michigan.
Thanks also to Michael Gempe of Elmhurst, Illinois, and
John H. McElroy of Haines City, Florida.

HOW DO FIGURE SKATERS KEEP FROM GETTING DIZZY WHILE SPINNING? IS IT POSSIBLE TO EYE A FIXED POINT WHILE SPINNING SO FAST?
     
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    I mponderables readers aren’t the only ones inter ested in this question. So are astronauts, who suffer from motion sickness in space. We consulted Carole Shulman, executive director of the Professional Skaters Guild of America, who explained:
     
    Tests were conducted by NASA several years ago to determine the answer to this very question. Research proved that with a trained skater, the pupils of the eyes do not gyrate back and forth during a spin as they do with an untrained skater. The rapid movement of the eyes catching objects within view is what actually causes dizziness.
     The eyes of a trained skater do not focus on a fixed point during a spin but rather they remain in a stabilized position focusing on space between the skater and the next closest object. This gaze is much like that of a daydream.
     
    So how are skaters taught to avoid focusing on objects or people in an arena? Claire O’Neill Dillie, skating coach and motivational consultant, teaches students to see a “blurred constant,” an imaginary line running around the rink. The imaginary line may be in the seats or along the barrier of the rink (during layback spins, the imaginary line might be on the ceiling). The crucial consideration is that the skater feels centered. Even when the hands and legs are flailing about, the skater should feel as if his or her shoulders, hips, and head are aligned.
    Untrained skaters often feel dizziest not in the middle of the spin but when stopping (the same phenomenon experienced when a tortuous amusement park ride stops and we walk off to less than solid footing). Dillie teaches her students to avoid vertigo by turning their heads in the opposite direction of the spin when stopping.
    What surprised us about the answers to this