Why do the spouters on some water fountains produce two streams of water that merge into one before reaching your parched lips? Why not just one stream to start with? –Steven Palkovitz, Alexandria, Virginia
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“In 1896, Halsey W. Taylor lost his father to an outbreak of typhoid fever caused by a contaminated water supply. This personal tragedy led the young Halsey Taylor to dedicate his life to providing a safe, sanitary drink of water in public places. . . . The historic Double Bubbler(TM) projector was designed by Halsey Taylor himself, and still ranks as the most important innovation in the industry’s history. It projects two separate streams of water, which converge to provide an abundant ‘pyramid’ of water at the apex of the stream. This gives the user a fuller, more satisfying drink.”
The Double Bubbler serves other purposes as well. You get less spraying, presumably because the water slows down when the two streams merge. The double streams also act as a sort of pressure regulator. If the water pressure is unusually strong one day, a single-stream fountain might give the unwary sipper a shot in the eye. When the twin streams of the Double Bubbler meet, however, their upward momenta tend to cancel each other out no matter how high the pressure gets.
The same reasoning applies to decades. I will grant you that the 200th decade AD will not begin until 1991. But “decade” refers to a ten year period. Any ten year period. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines the sixties as “the years 60 to 69 in a lifetime or century.” If someone tells you they live in New York “in the East Sixties,” you wouldn’t expect them to live on 70th Street, would you? The ’90s (and the 1900s) will end as the year 2000 begins. But the 20th century will still have a year to go. –John Cork, Los Angeles
