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As we turn our attention this month to socks, you might ask yourself how can one squeeze 350 words out of that topic. Well, the same way we can have three days of the calendar calling our national attention to it. First, there’s National Sock Day (Dec 4). Then there’s National Lost Sock Day (May 9). And now, this month, there’s National Crazy Sock Day (March 21).

 

The crowded calendar should have a National Too Many Special Days Day, but there’s no room for it, what with the likes of National Squirrel Appreciation Day (Jan 21), National Tater Tot Day (Feb 2), and National Dance Like Chicken Day (May14).

 

But National Crazy Sock Day has merged with National Down Syndrome Awareness Day, the day falling in the third month—for trisomy, and on the twenty-first day—for chromosome 21. So, there’s at least some downsizing (no pun intended). Wearing crazy, silly, or colorful socks on this day is a way to celebrate our friends and family members with Down syndrome.

 

Humans, of course, have 22 autosomes (non-sex chromosomes), which have been arranged according to size from largest to smallest, chromosome 1 being larger than chromosome 2 and so on. But it turns out, with more modern analysis, chromosome 22 is actually slightly larger than 21 in terms of numbers of base pairs and 20 is slightly larger than 19. The smaller the chromosome, the less likely duplicated genetic material will cause problems. The smallest chromosome of all is the y chromosome which only males possess. Trisomy y is less common than trisomy 21, but its manifestations are not too problematic, and most males with an extra y chromosome don’t even know it.

 

Socks, as you may know, decrease the likelihood of developing blisters, which according to this scholarly article, results from decreasing the friction coefficient. This article mentions the fact that triathlon participants are more likely to develop friction blisters on their feet because, unlike runners and walkers, they are loathe to wear socks. Going from swimming to biking to running, they would have to dry their feet and then pull on the socks which might take an extra minute.

 

Albert Einstein was no triathlete, although you might call him a mathlete. But he gave up socks early in life, annoyed by the constant creation of holes near the big toe. Later, his theory of general relativity predicted the existence of black holes, which he also found annoying.

 

So, naturally, there is a National No Socks Day (May 8) or you can go sockless on Einstein’s birthday this month, March 14 (also Pi Day as discussed in an earlier blog). Or you can wait for National Barefoot Day (June 1) and ditch the socks and shoes altogther, decreasing your friction coefficient to zero (or close).

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