Free Why do Clocks run clockwise? by David Feldman Page B

described “a dish of balls of sweetened dough friend in hog’s fat, and called dough nuts or oly
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    koeks.” Fried cakes became so popular in New York and New England that shops sprouted up that specialized in serving them with fresh-brewed coffee. In 1673, the first store-bought fried cakes were made available by Anna Joralemon in New York. Mrs. Joralemon weighed 225 pounds and was known affectionately as “the Big Doughnut.”
    The gentleman usually credited with the “invention” of the doughnut hole was an unlikely candidate for the job—a sea captain named Hanson Gregory. Supposedly, Captain Gregory was at the helm of his ship, eating a fried cake one night, when stormy weather arose. Gregory, needing both hands to steer the ship, spontaneously rammed the cake over one of the spokes. Impressed with his creation, Gregory ordered the ship’s cook to make fried cakes with holes from then on.
    Many other legends surround the creation of the doughnut hole.
    Plymouth, Massachusetts, advances the notion that the first doughnut hole was created when, in the seventeenth century, a drunken Indian brave shot an arrow through a kitchen window, punching out a piece of dough from the center of a cake just about to be fried. Pretty lame, Plymouth.
    Regardless of the origin of the holes in doughnuts, we have learned that bakers disagree about its role in the making of a quality doughnut. Certainly, good doughnuts can be made without holes.
    Thomas A. Lehmann, director of bakery assistance at the American Institute of Baking, told us that yeast-raised doughnuts can be made quite easily without the hole and points to the bismarck, or jelly-filled doughnut, as a perfect example. Lehmann adds, though, that if bismarcks were fried on the surface, the same way as conventional yeast-raised doughnuts, the hole-less dough would tend to overex-pand, turning into a ball shape. That is why most bakers prefer submersion frying, which results in a more uniform and symmetrical finished product.
    “Cake” doughnuts, which are chemically leavened, can also be made without holes, but many experts believe that they lose their desired consistency without them. Glenn Bacheller, direc WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 63

    tor of product marketing for Dunkin’ Donuts, explains why the hole is important: “Heat does not penetrate the donut as readily [without the hole] and the interior of the donut tends to have a doughy texture. The only way to prevent this is to fry the donut longer, which results in the exterior of the donut being over fried.”
    Why Does a Newspaper Tear Smoothly Vertically and Raggedly Horizontally?
    Newsprint is made up of many wood fibers. The fibers are placed on printers in pulp form, consisting of 80 to 90 percent water—the newsprint dries while in the machine. The printing machines are designed to line up the fibers in a horizontal position to add tear strength to the sheet vertically.
    The basic purpose of lining up the fibers in one direction is simply to add stability to the sheet when the press is running. According to Ralph E. Eary, national director of production and engineering for the newspaper division of Scripps Howard, “All standard size newspapers are printed vertically on an unwound sheet of newsprint.”
    A rip in one sheet endangers the whole printing process, and at best costs money and time.
    In other words, the finished newspaper has a grain, just as a piece of meat or linen has a grain. (Even notice how hard it is to tear a bedsheet in one direction and how easy in another?) When you rip the newspaper vertically, you are tearing with the grain, or more accurately, between grains. The same principle is in effect when one consumes Twizzlers brand licorice. Individual pieces rip off easily if you tear between the slices; only Conan could rip off pieces horizontally.
    Submitted by L. Stone, of Mamaroneck, New York. Thanks also to: Julia Berger, of Richmond, Virginia, and Virginia E.