Do Penguins Have Knees? by David Feldman

turn aside from the faith for those who are weak in understanding? For if thou wilt explore history, thou hast the Books of the Kings; or seekest thou for words of wisdom and eloquence, thou hast the Prophets, Job, and the Book of Proverbs, wherein thou shalt find a more perfect knowledge of all eloquence and wisdom, for they are the voice of the Lord.
     
    Later Christian scholars, including Augustine, embraced the study of the liberal arts.
    Potter calls Martianus Capella of Carthage’s The Marriage of Philology and Mercury the “definitive” work on the liberal arts:
     
         This fourth-century allegory had nine books. The first two described the wedding of the daughter of Wisdom, a mortal maiden who represented schooling, and Mercury, who, as the inventor of letters, symbolized the arts of Greece. The remaining seven books describe the bridesmaids. Apollo did not admit two other “bridesmaids,” medicine and architecture, “inasmuch as they are concerned with perishable earthly things.”
     
    Many people attack the modern liberal arts education, saying that little is taught that pertains to our actual lives now. Little do they know that this lack of “relevance” is precisely what characterized the liberal arts from their inception. In ancient times, servile folks had to sully themselves with practical matters like architecture, engineering, or law. Only the elite freemen could ascend to the lofty plateau of the contemplation of arithmetic.
    Today, the meaning of liberal arts is murky, indeed. Art, other hard sciences besides astronomy, foreign languages, philosophy, history, and most social sciences are often included under the umbrella of liberal arts. Just about any school that doesn’t train you for a particular profession is called a liberal arts institution.
     
    Submitted by Bill Elmendorf of Lebanon, Illinois. Thanks also to Brianna Liu of Minneapolis, Minnesota .
     
     
    Why Do Birds Tend to Stand on One Foot While Sleeping? Why Do Birds Tend to Bury Their Heads Under Their Wings While Sleeping?
     
    In When Do Fish Sleep ?, we discussed the amazing locking mechanism of birds’ toes that enables them to perch on telephone wires without falling off. In fact, they can perch just as easily while standing on only one leg. Since they can balance as easily on one leg as two, one of the main reasons for perching on one leg (whether or not they are sleeping) is simply to give the other leg a rest.
    But birds also seek warmth, and perching on one foot gives them a “leg up” on the situation, as Nancy Martin, naturalist at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, explains:
     
         Since birds’ feet are not covered with feathers, they can lose significant amounts of body heat through their feet, especially when standing on ice or in cold water. With their high metabolic rates, birds usually try to conserve as much energy as possible, hence the habit of standing on one leg.
     
    A corollary: Birds also stick their head under their feathers to preserve heat.
     
    Submitted by Lee Dresser of Overland Park, Kansas. Thanks also to Jocelyn Noda of Los Angeles, California .
     
     
    Why Is a Marshal or Sheriff’s Badge Traditionally a Five-Pointed Star but a Deputy’s Six-Pointed?
     
    The five-pointed pentacle is the symbol of the United States Marshal’s Service. In ancient times, the pentacle was used by sorcerers and believed to impact magical powers. As late as the sixteenth century, soldiers wore pentacles around their necks in the belief that they made them invulnerable to enemy missiles.
    But it turns out that even early American lawmen forged a new tradition of forsaking old traditions at the drop of a hat. It just isn’t true that sheriffs always wore five-pointed stars and their deputies six-pointed ones. Charles E. Hanson, Jr., director of The Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, Nebraska, wrote Imponderables that one could despair of trying to find logic to the patterns of