<![CDATA[Straight Dope Message Board - Comments on Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb en Wed, 16 May 2012 10:47:51 GMT vBulletin 60 http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/images/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Straight Dope Message Board - Comments on Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb Word with vowels in sequence http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651850&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 09:14:54 GMT Besides facetious, the word is aerious denoting airy. Besides facetious, the word is aerious denoting airy. ]]> Ardent1 http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651850 ditch nukes http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651832&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 03:44:26 GMT it doesn't matter how much power the 3rd world countries need, when they can't get it the population will die off to what they can produce and live with
we will not need anywhere near as much as this article predicted
if sally struthers can't even get enough food to feed them, how do you think they are going to get enough energy to even boil their beans?
not trying to be nasty, just looking at it honestly


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NOTE FROM MODERATOR:
LINKS TO WHAT I THINK ARE THE COLUMNS UNDER DISCUSSION:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...em-and-em-coal
which was related to
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...ear-power-safe ]]> mdtljt http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651832 Has a 200 mpg carburetor been suppressed by the oil industry? http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651736&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 11:57:00 GMT Cecil has been sucking in decades of exhaust fumes. STEVEN SEAGAL WARNS THE WORLD ABOUT (REAL EVIL)!! ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SUPPRESSED... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SIm4fwdROo Cecil has been sucking in decades of exhaust fumes.

STEVEN SEAGAL WARNS THE WORLD ABOUT (REAL EVIL)!!

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SUPPRESSED...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SIm4fwdROo ]]> Nezello http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651736 Schmidt Sting Pain Index http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651488&goto=newpost Fri, 11 May 2012 20:35:47 GMT http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...thing-on-earth

I didn't see the sting of a puss caterpillar, Megalopyge in Justin's list. I guarantee you he hasn't been stung by one or I promise you it would have been included.

Puss caterpillars are apparently encountered from Florida to Texas in the US, and a number of people go to the hospital every year after being stung by them. While living in Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean), I reached for a piece of fruit in a tree and a beautiful golden caterpillar fell from a branch and grazed my arm. The sudden, intense pain felt somewhere between burning fire and corroding acid. It traveled up my arm into my elbow and shoulder joints and did not subside for 7 hours. Ice, ibuprofen, stronger pain killers; nothing helped. My heart raced and I really was afraid I might die.

The literature says that the larger the caterpillar, the more venom they carry in their stinging hairs. The US version is said to grow to around an inch long. The one that stung me was 2 1/2 inches long - over twice as long as what any of the experts have described, that I've been able to find. I showed it to elders in the Caribbean village where I lived, and none of them had ever seen one before.

I've took a picture of it next to a ruler. Since I apparently discovered this subspecies, I get to name it: Megalopyge DiabolicalAssHoleai ]]> JillGat http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651488 <![CDATA[Sangry! [...and words ending in -gry]]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651431&goto=newpost Fri, 11 May 2012 09:01:35 GMT As in, I'm sangry that sangry wasn't included in the list of English words ending in -gry.

Also sangry that I was not allowed to use SANGRY! as the title of this thread.

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LINK TO COLUMN: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...-ending-in-gry ]]> bowlweevils http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651431 The environmental cost of chubbies http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651243&goto=newpost Wed, 09 May 2012 21:06:20 GMT Hi Cecil & co,

A possible oversight on the environmental impact of the overweight.

Have you considered, that while the porkers might consume more, they will have a much shorter timescale to do it in given that their life expectancy is considerably less than average.

Overall, their excess consumption will be over a shorter period of time and it will all balance out....

Cheers

Simon Garrington
Cardiff
UK

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LINK TO COLUMNS: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3048/followup and possibly http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...nergy-resource ]]> Simon G http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651243 Was Hitler Jewish? http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651134&goto=newpost Tue, 08 May 2012 20:46:06 GMT The recent thread by *GermanicPride (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650850)* has brought up a question. The column (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/797/was-hitler-part-jewish) argues that Hitler was not Jewish because the claim that his grandfather might have been... The recent thread by GermanicPride has brought up a question. The column argues that Hitler was not Jewish because the claim that his grandfather might have been Jewish is not substantiated.

However, there is another claim with regards to Hitler's ancestry, specifically

Quote:
Many, for example, have drawn attention to his Jewish heritage (his great-great-grandmother was a Jewish maid).
http://www.military-history.org/fact...nown-facts.htm

I'm not sure which person to which this refers. It could mean either Maria Anna Neugeschwandter, or Anna Maria Goeschl, or possibly someone else.

http://0.tqn.com/d/history1900s/1/0/U/6/Hitanc5.JPG

Does anyone know more about this claim? Can narrow down the identity intended? Refute the claim? ]]> Irishman http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651134 <![CDATA[Comment on "head over heels:.]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650985&goto=newpost Mon, 07 May 2012 16:33:51 GMT In the Head Over Heels column, reprinted recently, Cecil said:

Quote:
Years ago one often heard the equally nonsensical expression "cheap at half the price." Amazingly enough, years of ridicule by word mavens have largely succeeded in stamping out this barbarism in favor of the more sensible "cheap at twice the price" — a welcome if unexpected victory. Maybe "head over heels" will meet the same fate.
I had always thought that "cheap at half the price" was a humorous dig at an earlier "cheap at twice the price." Was this really not the case? ]]> Yllaria http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650985 Why do many people repeat the urban legend myth that Hitler was part Jewish? http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650850&goto=newpost Sun, 06 May 2012 13:29:53 GMT It seems this is repeated all over the internet, do people really believe rumours over truth?

The third possibility is that Adolf Hitler's grandfather was Jewish. Rumours to that effect circulated in Munich cafes in the early 1920s, and were fostered by sensationalist journalism of the foreign press during the 1930s. It was suggested that the name `Huttler' was Jewish, `revealed' that he could be traced to a Jewish family called Hitler in Bucharest, and even claimed that his father had been sired by Baron Rothschild, in whose house in Vienna his grandmother had allegedly spent some time as a servant. But the most serious speculation about Hitler's supposed Jewish background has occurred since the Second World War, and is directly traceable to the memoirs of the leading Nazi lawyer and Governor General of Poland, Hans Frank, dictated in his Nuremberg cell while awaiting the hangman.


So no Hitler wasn't Jewish, he was a full blooded Austrian!


MODERATOR NOTE==I've deleted a large block of copyrighted text and will link to the original, a scholarly book by IAN KERSHAW(1998)

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/k...aw-hitler.html

I've also moved the thread from General
Questions to Comments on Cecil's columns
samclem, Moderator ]]> GermanicPride http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650850 Re:Is there a gender neutral substitute for his or her http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650710&goto=newpost Sat, 05 May 2012 01:31:01 GMT @Deborah Cameron points out, the sentence "The man went berserk and killed his neighbor's wife" is unobjectionable on its surface. But stop to think: why "his neighbor's wife"
instead of "one of his neighbors"?

~~Can you come up with a different way to express an age range, a gender, proximity to the man's house, and a wee' bit of inference in three other words or less?
Writing "Dear Sir /Madam" or such drives me nuts too.
But, Dear Debbie, that was a stupid comment. ]]> zeprider1 http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650710 Origin of the Birds and the Bees http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650517&goto=newpost Thu, 03 May 2012 15:47:24 GMT Cecil, what about the song that had the chorus, "The birds do it, the bees, do it, even educated fleas do it,"?


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LINK TO COLUMN: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...s-and-the-bees ]]> Bubbaclaw http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650517 Artificial Insemination of Animals http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650465&goto=newpost Thu, 03 May 2012 03:43:05 GMT Link to column.

I think it was Popular Science magazine that some years ago listed the top-10 worst jobs in the world. ("Astronaut" made the cut. I guess it's not all glamor.) I distinctly recall "bull-semen collector" being on there. ]]> Siam Sam http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650465 Hip Hip Hurray http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650403&goto=newpost Wed, 02 May 2012 17:32:05 GMT "This theory obliges us to believe that a significant fraction of the rioters were students of Latin. " -- or that their priests were students of Latin. Church and state often colluded to foment pogroms. ]]> oscaroscar http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650403 Smedley Butler http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650197&goto=newpost Tue, 01 May 2012 01:33:39 GMT In 1934, Butler testified to the Special Committee on Un-American Activities Congressional committee (the "McCormack-Dickstein Committee") on these claims.[1] In the opinion of the committee, these allegations were credible.[2] No one was prosecuted. ]]> BedleySmutler http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650197 Humans as Carnivores ? http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650060&goto=newpost Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:24:34 GMT Sure we can tolerate eating flesh, blood vessels, arterial plaque, fat and even hair just as we can tolerate smoking tobacco and using heroin. That is not a rational argument in favor of ingesting these substances or that we were fitted for them by nature. An alcoholic feels better after a few... Sure we can tolerate eating flesh, blood vessels, arterial plaque, fat and even hair just as we can tolerate smoking tobacco and using heroin. That is not a rational argument in favor of ingesting these substances or that we were fitted for them by nature. An alcoholic feels better after a few drinks. Does that imply that he needed the alcohol? Come on...the thing about truth is that it stands on its' own authority and requires no references than a moments' reflection. ]]> realfood http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650060 Extra cost of being overweight http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649960&goto=newpost Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:50:16 GMT Regarding:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3048/followup

It's very interesting reading about the fuel difference. What is the additional effect of greater passenger weight on things like wear and tear on car tires, engines having to work harder, etc? ]]> gargunkle http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649960 Artificial Insemination http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649881&goto=newpost Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:38:01 GMT From here

I can confirm the AV thing - our animal reproduction lecturer once demonstrated it's use with gusto on a bull. If I recall correctly she waved the filled device around a little too vigorously afterwards and I was glad to be a few students back.

For greyhounds one gets a plastic glove and a pot.

For rams they use an electro-ejaculator, and I'm told they do this in gorillas too, although for understandable reasons they tend to sedate the gorilla first.

One wonders why they don't use it in pandas actually. ]]> psythe http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649881 Turnpike http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649872&goto=newpost Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:36:40 GMT You left out Turnpike and pike You left out Turnpike and pike ]]> Labdriver101 http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649872 <![CDATA[What's the deal with angels?]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649839&goto=newpost Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:00:36 GMT Fascinating! Thanks for doing the research for me. :) Fascinating! Thanks for doing the research for me. :) ]]> AuraWAlker http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649839 Saltpeter http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649694&goto=newpost Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:11:55 GMT The reason saltpeter was in the Navy food was as a preservative, of course. Corned beef was a method of preserving meat at ambient temperature for an indefinate period. The nitrates and nitrites (sodium and potassium) are what gives cured meats (hotdogs, salami, bacon, and especially ham and... The reason saltpeter was in the Navy food was as a preservative, of course. Corned beef was a method of preserving meat at ambient temperature for an indefinate period.

The nitrates and nitrites (sodium and potassium) are what gives cured meats (hotdogs, salami, bacon, and especially ham and corned beef) that pink color. As such, consumption of them is ubiquitous; if they really had that effect, we'd almost all be uninterested.

When you buy nitrate for home curing, it's usually called "pink salt" or "Prague powder." You can make bacon and corned beef without them (I do), but it looks different. ]]> MacLir http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649694 Regarding Your article About Ben Franklin http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649682&goto=newpost Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:13:28 GMT Please send me your sources http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2522/whats-the-true-story-on-benjamin-franklin Thank you, Rick Mann Please send me your sources

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...jamin-franklin

Thank you,
Rick Mann ]]> Rick Mann http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649682 <![CDATA[RE: In the song "Hotel California," what does "colitas" mean?]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649592&goto=newpost Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:20:20 GMT going back to this post, you never answered the question...Colitas is a mexican term for the buds on a marijuana plant. so when he says "warm smell of colitas, rising up in the air" he's talking about the smell of marijuana... ]]> edgar.flowers http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649592 <![CDATA[Sucking, and I don't mean through a straw]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649542&goto=newpost Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:00:55 GMT We all know the scientific mechanism that allows us to suck liquids through a straw, but what about sucking in a limp spaghetti noodle ? I can't believe that atmospheric pressure can push that limp noodle into my pursed lips any more that I can push my limp............... ]]> The Flying Dutchman http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649542 allergic to sex http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649343&goto=newpost Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:03:40 GMT This is in response to an earlier post by someone asking if a person can be allergic to sex. You might consider this: Some people have a problem with prostaglandins. I have been diagnosed with Systemic Mast Cell Disease and one of the things that was occurring was reactions after sex...not... This is in response to an earlier post by someone asking if a person can be allergic to sex. You might consider this: Some people have a problem with prostaglandins. I have been diagnosed with Systemic Mast Cell Disease and one of the things that was occurring was reactions after sex...not always and to varying degrees. Turns out it was the prostaglandins that were triggering the reactions. (Go to NORD website and look up the disease if you want more info.) Every human produces prostaglandins but because I had an underlying disease my body viewed an increase of prostaglandins in my body as an allergen at times. I hope this helps you find an answer. ]]> graceforseven http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649343 SD cite sighting today http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649340&goto=newpost Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:19:00 GMT Cecil on peeing on subway third rails, in CBS/Chicago: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/04/23/man-dies-after-peeing-on-l-tracks-in-evanston/ Cecil on peeing on subway third rails, in CBS/Chicago:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/04/...s-in-evanston/ ]]> Leo Bloom http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649340 autoerotic asphyxiation http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649079&goto=newpost Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:47:32 GMT That is what David Carradine died of. He was found hanging in the closet of a hotel in Thailand. He went to Thailand to Bangkok and ended up well hung.:D That is what David Carradine died of. He was found hanging in the closet of a hotel in Thailand. He went to Thailand to Bangkok and ended up well hung.:D ]]> Allen L http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649079 Siphons http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649071&goto=newpost Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:59:33 GMT I'm somewhat new around here, so please pardon me if this has already been hashed.

I was going through the archives and ran across the Cecil post on siphons. The conclusion seemed to be "well it could be air pressure or it could be 'cohesiveness'".

I recommend two thought experiments, neither of which require a trip to the moon.

The first, verifying that air pressure is a factor: Imagine you're siphoning out of a jar. Now, while you're siphoning, put a tight lid on the jar that allows no more air in (and has a tight seal around the hose. You can easily imagine that once a vacuum forms in the jar, the water will stop flowing. This can be verified experimentally as well. Think glugging milk jugs and "stuck" ketchup.

The second, "cohesiveness" of the water is also a factor. Imagine our jar is now a reservoir of water behind a dam. Our hose is also now much larger. While almost any size hose can be imagined to work while the water is flowing, once we stop the flow, larger hoses will self-drain. After draining we won't be able to re-start the flow without pumping enough water to fill the pipe. There is probably some maximum pipe/hose diameter at which water simply will not siphon but will instead self-drain. There may be a physics/manufacturing engineer available who knows how to calculate this size for water.

So it looks like both are required factors for siphoning.

jas ]]> zipmo http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649071 Is marijuana stronger now? http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649040&goto=newpost Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:55:26 GMT Today's column: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...-it-used-to-be

The lead-in question was from the SDMB from 2007, original thread found here: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=405689 I've closed that thread (since it was from 2007 with a 2012 revival) and directed comments here. ]]> C K Dexter Haven http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649040 <![CDATA[Why is the "missionary position" called that?]]> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648929&goto=newpost Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:29:20 GMT Here's the column in question: Why is the "missionary position" called that?

Cecil in his 1992 column gives the earliest citation from OED as 1969 but it's been antedated since then.

From OED:

Quote:
missionary position n. [see quots. 19291] a position for sexual intercourse in which a woman lies underneath a man, facing him.

[1929 B. Malinowski Sexual Life of Savages x. 284 The natives [of the Trobriand Islands] despise the European position and consider it unpractical and improper.

1929 B. Malinowski Sexual Life of Savages xiii. 403 Tokolibeloa, once a famous Don Juan,‥insisted that this was misinari si bubunela, ‘missionary fashion’, one of the novel immoralities introduced by Christianity.]

1948 A. C. Kinsey et al. Sexual Behavior Human Male x. 373 Malinowski‥notes that caricatures of the English-American position are performed around the communal campfires, to the great amusement of the natives [sc. the Trobrianders of the south-western Pacific] who refer to the position as the ‘missionary position’.
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NOTE FROM MODERATOR: Later in this thread, aldiboronti found Cecil's revision from 2005: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...position-again -- CKDH ]]> aldiboronti http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648929 Hip Hip Hurrah http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648906&goto=newpost Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:40:07 GMT The column focused on the "Hip Hip", but what of the "Hurrah"?

I used to be married to a Danish girl and they claim that "hurrah" was a viking battle cry used when slaughtering everyone, no special "hurrah" dispensation given by race, religion, or region. ]]> Nunka http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648906 Ramadan beyond arctic circle http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648594&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:23:02 GMT Dex wrote about jewish and islamic dieatary laws in the article:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...hing-in-common

I've had a discussion here in Finland with several muslim friends about following Ramadan beyond arctic circle. The problem lies that if Ramadan falls on mid summer the sun never sets and during mid winter it never rises. The concensus that my muslim friends came up is that one should follow Meccas sun rise and set times in this case. How widely followed ruling this is I don't know, but it makes sense. ]]> tavaritz http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648594 Sex before athletic events http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648568&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:36:02 GMT I have heard this claim too, again specifically within the martial arts community, and usually in reference to men (who appear to be the majority of martial artists). Mirkin and Hoffman's survey isn't that specific because 1) they asked athletes of all sorts if they refrained, not if it made a difference and 2) it didn't actually attempt to measure their performance directly.

One teacher could ALWAYS tell when his long-time students had "had their oil changed" prior to class and would rib them about it. Anecdotal, yes, but interesting.

My personal belief is that a really prolonged, awesome sex session will leave the participants in that state of blissful relaxation where indeed reflexes and general physical aggression would be noticeably slowed. And that this would apply to both men and women. ]]> hazmatdance http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648568