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| LIFE IN SOLERA | MAY 2025 | 23 Thi & Tha By the Solera Ghostwriter Why does a man tip his hat to greet a lady? In the days of chivalry, a knight raised the visor on his helmet to show peaceful intentions. It, therefore, became customary for a knight to raise his visor when a lady approached. As helmets got smaller and lighter the custom changed to raising the entire helmet. It is this custom that has come down to us as tipping one's hat to a lady. Why builders put a small tree on top of a Frame? In ancient times the success of building projects was believed to depend more on the mood of the gods than on the builders' skills. To appease the gods and drive away evil spirits, the builders would attach plants thought to be inhabited by good spirits to the tops of their buildings as soon as the frames were completed. These plants, often decorated with flowers, ribbons, and strings of eggs, were supposed to lend their life-giving powers to the buildings and show that the buildings were as safe and solid as the ground in which the plants once grew. Builders today still observe these superstitions by placing a small tree on the top frame of a new building. The custom is called "topping out." Ice on back of neck to stop nose bleeds? The ice reduces the temperature in the area of the neck containing the blood vessels carrying blood to the nose. This causes the vessels to contract and close up, thus stopping or slowing the flow of blood. Why opossums sleep upside down by their tails? The opossum's tail is, of course, prehensile, meaning that it is well adapted to grasping and holding on to things. And the opossum uses its tail in just that way. It holds on to tree limbs to keep from falling, holds on to its young to keep them from falling, and it sometimes even hangs by its tail — and one or more of its paws — when it is eating, grooming its young, or reaching for something it could not reach in any other way. But the fact is, opossums do not sleep hanging upside down by their tails, and drawings of them doing this are inaccurate. Opossums sleep on top of limbs, in cervices or in recesses just like most other arboreal animals. Why does hair turn gray? The color of hair is due to a pigment called melanin, and the lightness or darkness of hair is determined by the amount of melanin it contains. When people get older, the body usually stops producing this pigment, leaving the hair without color — that is leaving it gray or white.