# Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=24 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 25 --- ## [What if the Cuban missile crisis had gone badly?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-cuban-missile-crisis-had-gone-badly/737473)
**Author:** [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Replies:** 27\ **Last updated:** [December 3, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-the-cuban-missile-crisis-had-gone-badly/737473 "2015-12-03T18:04:00Z")
Good column about an incident which has long fascinated me (although Cecil is more sanguine about the risk of the near-extinction of humanity in October 1962 than I am). For those interested in reading more, I recomme… --- ## [Jugs Of Water On The Lawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugs-of-water-on-the-lawn/349679)
**Author:** [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [December 2, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugs-of-water-on-the-lawn/349679 "2015-12-02T11:38:23Z")
From this column here: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_070.html This silly practice \[of putting jugs of water on a lawn to deter dogs\] has been floating around since the late 1970s, and by now has spread all ov… --- ## [Are bananas radioactive](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bananas-radioactive/738737)
**Author:** [@waddlingeagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waddlingeagle)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [December 1, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-bananas-radioactive/738737 "2015-12-01T23:49:06Z")
The column “Are Bananas Radioactive?” greatly understates the case. In fact, all organically grown, non-GMO, gluten-free food is radioactive. :eek: --- ## [Did band leader Glenn Miller die in a French brothel?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-band-leader-glenn-miller-die-in-a-french-brothel/511030)
**Author:** [@navoyosky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/navoyosky)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [November 30, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-band-leader-glenn-miller-die-in-a-french-brothel/511030 "2015-11-30T21:16:52Z")
Being new, I am at loss in responding to the original thread and so I have submitted the same title thread. The true story on Glenn Miller’s death came from his closest friend and which was written in a 1994 copyright a… --- ## [David Niven](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/738778)
**Author:** [@admin\_mostlycocoa.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/admin_mostlycocoa.com)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [November 29, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-niven/738778 "2015-11-29T00:00:51Z")
I’d like to see some response to what the gentleman wrote about David Niven being kind of a butler or valet to Glenn Miller. From what I’ve read, it appears that Niven had a rather distinguished war record. Can you com… --- ## [Why isn’t heroin used for lethal injections?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-heroin-used-for-lethal-injections/736159)
**Author:** [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)\ **Replies:** 61\ **Last updated:** [November 27, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isn-t-heroin-used-for-lethal-injections/736159 "2015-11-27T20:07:38Z")
Link. I’m having a hard time parsing Slug’s illustration. Is this a (condemned) prisoner in the lower-left half of the picture (wearing stripes)? How exactly is he oriented? Working from right to left, I presume the fou… --- ## [Clean Fill](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-fill/738392)
**Author:** [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [November 26, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-fill/738392 "2015-11-26T19:02:10Z")
In addition to the list given in the article "Why do you see signs saying, “clean fill wanted”?: Organic material is also rejected … no compost or branches or leaves or anything else that will decompose in the soil and… --- ## [Dollars and dimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollars-and-dimes/736056)
**Author:** [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Replies:** 68\ **Last updated:** [November 26, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollars-and-dimes/736056 "2015-11-26T18:18:59Z")
Regarding Whose face used to be on the dime? \[ol\] \[li\]People call it the “Mercury dime”, but the figure on it is Liberty, all the same.\[/li\]\[li\]Dollars were abandoned for a long time because people didn’t like them. Th… --- ## [Turkey talk](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkey-talk/738568)
**Author:** [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [November 25, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkey-talk/738568 "2015-11-25T18:36:45Z")
In today’s column, bibliophage talks turkey and Turkey, but ultimately breaks down into an interminable barrage of geographic puns. Enough already! If you keep this up, I will demand that you call the Bosporus! He’ll … --- ## [MLK critism](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlk-critism/492726)
**Author:** [@kennboy1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kennboy1)\ **Replies:** 21\ **Last updated:** [November 23, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlk-critism/492726 "2015-11-23T14:57:14Z")
??? Wtf? Wow, gay, orgies, affairs with 3 women yet he was suppose to be gay. Hypocrite? I guess we don’t remember that Fbi had streamed cocaine into urban neighborhoods, one of the “Muslims” who killed Malcolm X was an… --- ## [La Cucaracha](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-cucaracha/738117)
**Author:** [@fredricwilliams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fredricwilliams)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [November 21, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-cucaracha/738117 "2015-11-21T00:24:33Z")
Great piece – just came upon it after google suggested maybe this wouldn’t be the little children’s version, which I knew to be deception practiced on the young. Only one minor point. Porque no tiene, porque le falta T… --- ## [Old Downy Dispenser Info](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-downy-dispenser-info/737897)
**Author:** [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [November 20, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-downy-dispenser-info/737897 "2015-11-20T21:53:41Z")
At the end of the Downy Dispenser SDSAB article it mentions a price and address to get a device. From 1999. I assume that this was verified as still valid info when the article was placed back on the front page? Right? --- ## [Energy requirements of walking uphill vs downhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/energy-requirements-of-walking-uphill-vs-downhill/736799)
**Author:** [@psythe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psythe)\ **Replies:** 38\ **Last updated:** [November 19, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/energy-requirements-of-walking-uphill-vs-downhill/736799 "2015-11-19T15:46:47Z")
Original Link While I concur with Cecil, it got me wondering why this question should have come up in the first place. \[substitute “you” with "the original poster’s wife\] My guess is that when you’re walking downhill, … --- ## [Can elephants jump?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796)
**Author:** [@officious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/officious)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [November 19, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796 "2015-11-19T00:51:23Z")
You say that elephants are so heavy that they can’t jump and the wild they keep at least three feet on the ground at all times. But a t-rex was as big as an elephant and it had only two legs, so presumably it often had … --- ## [Basic Plots](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-plots/737454)
**Author:** [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [November 18, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-plots/737454 "2015-11-18T02:33:45Z")
Regarding this column: What are the seven basic literary plots? - The Straight Dope My Father graduated college in 1959, with a major in Communications and a minor in Theater. He used to say that there were, IIRC, 12 b… --- ## [Crisis = 危機](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crisis/736542)
**Author:** [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [November 15, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crisis/736542 "2015-11-15T20:26:41Z")
Was Slug given the characters in question to draw, or did he actually research himself to find out which characters we were talking about? I was somewhat shocked to see the right characters there and not generic faux-… --- ## [The whole nine yards (again)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-again/736720)
**Author:** [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [November 14, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-again/736720 "2015-11-14T16:37:50Z")
From the bottom of Who invented the cocktail umbrella — and why? - The Straight Dope I’m sure it’s come up, but I had a quick search of the forum and I couldn’t see it mentioned, so I thought I’d mention that an 1855 us… --- ## [Domesticating Animals](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-animals/736947)
**Author:** [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Replies:** 23\ **Last updated:** [November 10, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domesticating-animals/736947 "2015-11-10T15:07:09Z")
Regarding this Report What does it take to domesticate an animal? - The Straight Dope There’s some interesting work out there on domestication. I’ve read Jared Diamond’s book, and as someone who grew up on a farm I thin… --- ## ["Diamonds" Missing a Facet](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-missing-a-facet/735375)
**Author:** [@Little\_Brother\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Brother_1)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [November 9, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diamonds-missing-a-facet/735375 "2015-11-09T22:32:49Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1452/how-did-diamonds-come-to-symbolize-a-wedding-engagement No offense to Spmgbord, but there’s a darker issue that is entirely omitted from the response-- especially considerin… --- ## [Okay, I'll bite. What about the Cadaver Synod?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-bite-what-about-the-cadaver-synod/733625)
**Author:** [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Replies:** 34\ **Last updated:** [November 8, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-ill-bite-what-about-the-cadaver-synod/733625 "2015-11-08T04:04:55Z")
Re: How does a new pope decide what name to take?, by SDStaff paperbackwriter, Oct. 5, 2015. Okay. Tell us about the Cadaver Synod. --- ## [Dyslexics untie! Spelling reform movment](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dyslexics-untie-spelling-reform-movment/736865)
**Author:** [@Sputnikkk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sputnikkk)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [November 7, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dyslexics-untie-spelling-reform-movment/736865 "2015-11-07T17:01:16Z")
What do you think of spelling reform? Should changes be made to the English language to make it easier to write and read. How far should it go? Should redundant letters be removed in words like ‘accommodate’ and ‘tomorro… --- ## [Are Poor Spellers Stupid?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-poor-spellers-stupid/600351)
**Author:** [@njharley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njharley)\ **Replies:** 149\ **Last updated:** [November 7, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-poor-spellers-stupid/600351 "2015-11-07T12:10:58Z")
Not all poor spellers are stupid. There are those who are uneducated, cognitively impaired, dyslexic, dealing with English as a second language (how does ANY non-English-speaking adult learn this convoluted language?), … --- ## [Destroying the Moon - orbital instability?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-the-moon-orbital-instability/736099)
**Author:** [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [November 7, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroying-the-moon-orbital-instability/736099 "2015-11-07T11:59:43Z")
The column: Can we get more discussion on what would cause this instability, and how the Moon prevents it? --- ## [Why don’t we eat rabbits?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522)
**Author:** [@gallant205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallant205)\ **Replies:** 77\ **Last updated:** [November 4, 2015, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-we-eat-rabbits/735522 "2015-11-04T07:52:02Z")
Cecil says: Given our need for more sustainable sources of protein, though, consumers might someday have to make a choice: bugs or bunny? Jeff says: groan --- ## [Has anyone gotten hurt or killed following bad GPS directions?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-gotten-hurt-or-killed-following-bad-gps-directions/665136)
**Author:** [@Pascal666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pascal666)\ **Replies:** 39\ **Last updated:** [October 30, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-gotten-hurt-or-killed-following-bad-gps-directions/665136 "2015-10-30T03:19:10Z")
Link to column An Ohio bank says a bad GPS navigator is the reason it repossessed the wrong house, and threw out all the possessions inside. --- ## [Peyronies Disease News](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyronies-disease-news/735961)
**Author:** [@david\_42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/david_42)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [October 28, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peyronies-disease-news/735961 "2015-10-28T15:51:03Z")
There are several treatments that have been developed in the last 15 years, the foremost of which is collagenase. This is an enzyme that breaks down scar tissue. It is injected into the hardened portions of the penis and… --- ## [Rabbit meat exports from New Zealand](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-meat-exports-from-new-zealand/735752)
**Author:** [@corieltauvus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corieltauvus)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [October 28, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-meat-exports-from-new-zealand/735752 "2015-10-28T04:35:22Z")
As late as the 1950s a Wellington (NZ) man of Greek extraction named, I believe, John George had a license to export rabbit meat from New Zealand. He also exported skins, which even today are used in the production of th… --- ## [The origin of cop...](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-cop/349224)
**Author:** [@smellincoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smellincoffee)\ **Replies:** 29\ **Last updated:** [October 26, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-cop/349224 "2015-10-26T21:16:31Z")
I read once that “cop” stood for constable on patrol. --- ## [Early swastika interpretations](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-swastika-interpretations/281986)
**Author:** [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [October 26, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-swastika-interpretations/281986 "2015-10-26T06:00:10Z")
in the following Straight Dope Classic article: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_156.html , Unca Cece says of the swastika: My “favorite” theory about what the swastika symbolized comes from the works of my fa… --- ## [Tapeworm eggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tapeworm-eggs/735548)
**Author:** [@Norman\_Yarvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norman_Yarvin)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [October 23, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tapeworm-eggs/735548 "2015-10-23T16:00:29Z")
As regards: “You could ingest millions of tapeworm eggs and they’d have absolutely no effect…” I take it neurocysticercosis didn’t show up on your radar: http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jun/03-hidden-epidemic-tapewor… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=25)