Why does newspaper tear straight in one direction and crooked in the perpendicular direction? –Kevin Bower, Tyler, Texas
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Newsprint is made by pouring wood pulp onto a moving wire-mesh conveyer belt. The wood fibers line themselves up parallel to the belt’s direction of travel, giving the paper a grain akin to tree grain. After drying and pressing, the paper is wound onto rolls. When the roll is fed into the press, the grain once again is parallel to the direction of travel, i.e., vertically on a typical broadsheet newspaper page. Good thing, too, because paper is stronger with the grain than across it, so it’s less likely to tear going through the press. Anyway, when you tear down the page, you’re going between wood fibers, so the rip is straight. Crosswise there’s no such natural path and the tear is ragged. If it bugs you, buy a scissors.
Of the 27,000-plus so-called Christian religions, about 99 percent worship on Sunday. However, all Biblical indications are that the Sabbath or Lord’s Day is the last day of the week, that is, Saturday. Isn’t every priest, minister, and TV preacher helping us break a commandment by holding worship services on Sunday instead of Saturday? They use the excuse that the Resurrection occurred on the first day of the week, Sunday. Still, nowhere in the Bible does the Lord say, “thou shalt change the Lord’s Day from the last to the first day of the week.” –Saint Michael of San Antonio, Texas
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