# Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=242 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 243 --- ## [Was jesus a big man in his day?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-a-big-man-in-his-day/115859)
**Author:** [@Blueangel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blueangel)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [June 27, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-a-big-man-in-his-day/115859 "2002-06-27T18:13:16Z")
:cool: I know this is nitpicking but when i read this question in the long version I was hoping dear cecil would point out the fact that its impossible for "sightseers to view the matflower because the mayslower was tur… --- ## [Who killed Jesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/114226)
**Author:** [@juanjuan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/juanjuan)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [June 26, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/114226 "2002-06-26T06:14:04Z")
An accurate account of the trial before Pilate is at http://www.ubook.org/upapers/ubpaper185.html Link to Staff Report, edited in by CKDH: Who killed Jesus? --- ## [Hexagonal Halo?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hexagonal-halo/115059)
**Author:** [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 26, 2002, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hexagonal-halo/115059 "2002-06-26T02:53:09Z")
From Who decided saints have halos? A quick google search of “hexagonal halo” turned up this At first I was thinking, with the hexagon and all, it had to something satanic (a Judas halo or similar). But that doesn’t… --- ## [Why isn't there a Channel One on TV?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-there-a-channel-one-on-tv/115838)
**Author:** [@LPetrazickis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LPetrazickis)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [June 25, 2002, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-there-a-channel-one-on-tv/115838 "2002-06-25T18:08:10Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_372 Could you please give me a year for this alleged sack of Rome by the Huns? If I remember correctly, the silly Christians canonised Pope Leo III for no sack occuring during his… --- ## [Radio heard through teeth fillings, small update](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-heard-through-teeth-fillings-small-update/112924)
**Author:** [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 24, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-heard-through-teeth-fillings-small-update/112924 "2002-06-24T20:09:47Z")
In this 1991 column, “Is it possible to hear radio broadcasts through your teeth?”, the Master notes that while there is some evidence that radio broadcasts can on occasion be picked up by teeth fillings, “The whole busi… --- ## [Turkeys & S&M](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-s-m/114960)
**Author:** [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [June 24, 2002, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turkeys-s-m/114960 "2002-06-24T04:57:23Z")
I just wanted to comment that in the long-running feud between Slug and Cecil, the depiction of Cecil as an S&M turkey is simply inspiring: What’s the deal with S&M, bondage and discipline, etc.? --- ## [Who decided saints have halos?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-saints-have-halos/115133)
**Author:** [@laurielounge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurielounge)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [June 24, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-saints-have-halos/115133 "2002-06-24T00:47:12Z")
Um, Cecil… I’m confused. You say that halos were introduced into Christian art sometime in the fourth century AD by the Greeks and Romans, but introduced to the Buddhists by Greek invaders in the third century AD. Was … --- ## [anoterh perspective](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anoterh-perspective/115330)
**Author:** [@buffs99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buffs99)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anoterh-perspective/115330 "2002-06-21T21:56:06Z")
Much of Western literature is deeply rooted in mythology, and beyond just literature. Many purport that the statements within a piece of work are false. Could this column not perfectly describe arguments about the Bibl… --- ## [Avodadro's number](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avodadros-number/112030)
**Author:** [@PosterChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PosterChild)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avodadros-number/112030 "2002-06-21T13:14:52Z")
I probably should be able to remember this from college/high school, but I can’t. In this column Son of Dex explains Avogadro’s number pretty well, but I got confused when he said: It sounds circular to me. If a mole… --- ## [Polish halos](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polish-halos/115173)
**Author:** [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polish-halos/115173 "2002-06-21T04:16:42Z")
Re: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_040.html I refuse to be offended, because I think people who go around being “offended” by every little thing are just sad. (The Starbuck’s ad being simply the latest, saddes… --- ## [Beantown](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beantown/113777)
**Author:** [@larod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larod)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beantown/113777 "2002-06-21T00:52:41Z")
Cecil’s very detailed answer to the question, “Why is Boston Called Beantown,” left out a small but possibly important detail concerning the bean. The beans themselves were a valuable commodity on the triangle trade bei… --- ## [On Halos: Angel with a Millstone/Frisbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-halos-angel-with-a-millstone-frisbie/115056)
**Author:** [@brantgoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brantgoose)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 20, 2002, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-halos-angel-with-a-millstone-frisbie/115056 "2002-06-20T20:15:24Z")
After a bit of research, I think I found the same “Angel with Millstone” that Cecil mentions in his answer to the question, “Why do Saints have halos?” (13-April-1984). http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_040.html I… --- ## [Who Killed Jesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/114233)
**Author:** [@chrisweuve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisweuve)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/114233 "2002-06-19T21:58:45Z")
I would also recommend Paula Fredriksen’s Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity. She argues in favor of John’s account of multiple trips to Jerusalem throughout Jesus’s pub… --- ## [Joseph Stalin, seminarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joseph-stalin-seminarian/114539)
**Author:** [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 18, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joseph-stalin-seminarian/114539 "2002-06-18T20:30:11Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020614.html First of all, let me point out that I’m not the PC-fixed kind of guy who runs amuck (verbally) whenever he detects the slightest misformulation in a hot topic. Nonetheless… --- ## [Can stainless steel and running water remove the smell of garlic?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-stainless-steel-and-running-water-remove-the-smell-of-garlic/114352)
**Author:** [@GloriaMundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GloriaMundi)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 17, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-stainless-steel-and-running-water-remove-the-smell-of-garlic/114352 "2002-06-17T06:13:54Z")
Link: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990618b.html In my own experience the smell does disappear for a while, but usually it returns (diminished though) after half an hour or so. It doesn’t matter whether the wate… --- ## [Lirty Dies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lirty-dies/113504)
**Author:** [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [June 15, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lirty-dies/113504 "2002-06-15T05:04:26Z")
Your call for a popular movement for Spoonerisms has already been answered by The Capitol Steps. Over the years, they’ve documented all sorts of Lirty Dies by such famous people as Wee Pee Herman (cops caught him when t… --- ## [Pubic hair's higher purpose.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-hairs-higher-purpose/113325)
**Author:** [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [June 14, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-hairs-higher-purpose/113325 "2002-06-14T16:54:36Z")
My ex’s physician told her to stop shaving her mons because the hair there acted as a cushion against impact during intercourse and at the time my ex was complaining of pain in her pubis. Evolutionarily speaking perhaps… --- ## [Alternative ending to the Book of Job](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-ending-to-the-book-of-job/113941)
**Author:** [@Quechan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quechan)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 14, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternative-ending-to-the-book-of-job/113941 "2002-06-14T12:30:48Z")
I read your comment on dual endings for the Book of Job with great interest. I’ve written a one-man original drama based on Job, in which I perform the life and thoughts of Job. In the course of writing and re-writing m… --- ## [Why isn't the cloning of a mammoth likely?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-cloning-of-a-mammoth-likely/97712)
**Author:** [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Replies:** 55\ **Last updated:** [June 13, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-cloning-of-a-mammoth-likely/97712 "2002-06-13T21:34:36Z")
In Cecil’s column on the color of dinosaurs he mentions that scientists aren’t likely to succeed in their attempts of making a clone out of the frozen mammoth that was found. Unfortunately he didn’t go into much detail.… --- ## [Chapstick Addiction Revisited](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chapstick-addiction-revisited/113322)
**Author:** [@RobOz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobOz)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [June 13, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chapstick-addiction-revisited/113322 "2002-06-13T05:22:38Z")
I didn’t check the forums thoroughly, so hopefully this hasn’t already been brought to light. When I was younger, I was put on Acutane for my skin. This started to dry out the areas around my nostrils and my lips. The… --- ## [What is Jesus Christ's middle name?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-jesus-christs-middle-name/34173)
**Author:** [@harold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harold)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [June 12, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-jesus-christs-middle-name/34173 "2002-06-12T02:41:16Z")
Jesus H Christ! Cecil you had many significant historical explanations, but you ignored plain old bible verses, the source for many common phrases. H stands for Himself or at least thats what I had always heard. I did a … --- ## [How do we know which way it rotates?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-which-way-it-rotates/110569)
**Author:** [@obidiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obidiah)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [June 10, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-know-which-way-it-rotates/110569 "2002-06-10T22:20:28Z")
The milky way, that is? Don’t we know? --- ## [Wizard of Oz comments](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-comments/113018)
**Author:** [@mandielise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandielise)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [June 10, 2002, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wizard-of-oz-comments/113018 "2002-06-10T18:41:47Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mwickedwitch.html I had heard in my American History class that the whole book was a political statement; that everyone and everything in it was a symbol. The Wicked Witch of the West… --- ## [Helium and changing your pitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helium-and-changing-your-pitch/113150)
**Author:** [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [June 9, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/helium-and-changing-your-pitch/113150 "2002-06-09T23:29:45Z")
I just read Alphagene’s report Why does helium make your voice squeaky? I believe I have a nit to pick. The explanation is that: So your vocal cords vibrate at their normal speed, but because sound moves more quickly … --- ## [virgin rubber!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-rubber/112217)
**Author:** [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [June 9, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virgin-rubber/112217 "2002-06-09T19:10:09Z")
In Cecil’s recent column on WW2 scrap drives, at http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020531.html, he writes: Huh huh, you said “virgin rubber”! Huh huh, huh huh! --- ## [Implanting Microchips?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/implanting-microchips/18890)
**Author:** [@Honeyko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honeyko)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [June 9, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/implanting-microchips/18890 "2002-06-09T14:05:42Z")
\[mail to Cecil\] In re: The Straight Dope: Is it possible to implant a microchip in somebody’s brain? http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_045.html …your conclusion is one of dubiousness. I thought you might like to… --- ## [Wind and water currents](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wind-and-water-currents/111666)
**Author:** [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [June 9, 2002, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wind-and-water-currents/111666 "2002-06-09T10:42:20Z")
This is only marginally related to lake-effect weather, but does anyone know WHY wind and water currents are designated differently; one for the direction TO which it flows, the other for the direction FROM which it flo… --- ## [water freezing still remains a mystery](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-freezing-still-remains-a-mystery/108486)
**Author:** [@jjokinie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjokinie)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [June 8, 2002, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-freezing-still-remains-a-mystery/108486 "2002-06-08T11:12:07Z")
Yeah, since your answers on the subject of water freezing did not make me convinced, and I couldn’t find a way to answer, I must start a new thread. Now we have a given temperature of very VERY hot water (sample B), an… --- ## [More info on eunuchs](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-info-on-eunuchs/111269)
**Author:** [@King\_Prawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Prawn)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 8, 2002, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-info-on-eunuchs/111269 "2002-06-08T05:38:23Z")
There once was a eunuch/castration FAQ at http://www.bmezine.com but it seems to have disappeared, or been hidden in the “extreme” section. But there are still a few interviews at http://www.bmezine.com/news/bmenews.htm… --- ## [aluminum-scrap drive](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-scrap-drive/112086)
**Author:** [@Gdgyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gdgyi)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [June 7, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aluminum-scrap-drive/112086 "2002-06-07T22:09:23Z")
Cecil wrote: “A 1941 aluminum-scrap drive to help the plucky Brits pulled in 70,000 tons of aluminum pots and pans, but only virgin aluminum could be used to manufacture aircraft.” This is just a thought, but could not… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=241) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=243)