# Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=248 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 249 --- ## [Foil and Baking Potatos](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foil-and-baking-potatos/100003)
**Author:** [@oskie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oskie)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [April 4, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foil-and-baking-potatos/100003 "2002-04-04T18:53:02Z")
With respect to the column of June 9, 1995, regarding whether a potato should be wrapped with the foil shiny side or out prior to baking, I would like point out that the foil is totally unnecessary. While it may not make… --- ## [High John the Conqueror](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-john-the-conqueror/101603)
**Author:** [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [April 4, 2002, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-john-the-conqueror/101603 "2002-04-04T18:34:05Z")
What is “High John the Conqueroo” made famous by blues singers? Cecil identified this celebrated mojo herb with St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), but one of the top experts on African-American mojo says it’s jala… --- ## [Disintegration of Chewing Gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disintegration-of-chewing-gum/69295)
**Author:** [@princessdana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/princessdana)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [April 3, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disintegration-of-chewing-gum/69295 "2002-04-03T15:20:11Z")
Sorry to argue against those who say that this phenonmena is caused by heat or oral enzymes… but I think you’re wrong. I am a constant gum-chewer, and the only time I’ve ever had my gum disintegrate is a) at moments… --- ## [Baby Pigeons](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-pigeons/63818)
**Author:** [@Idali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idali)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [April 1, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-pigeons/63818 "2002-04-01T17:32:13Z")
I think all the baby pigeons are living outside my dining room window. A couple of pigeons began building a nest on top of a cable box out there a few months ago, and have been having babies since. First, there were a co… --- ## [lorem ipsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lorem-ipsum/55062)
**Author:** [@shattered\_innocents](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shattered_innocents)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [April 1, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lorem-ipsum/55062 "2002-04-01T12:24:13Z")
from http://burks.brighton.ac.uk/burks/foldoc/9/67.htm "‘Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…’ “This continues at length and variously. This is not really Greek, but badly garbled Latin. It started life as extracted Cicero’s “… --- ## [Twitting Twerps about Twats](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitting-twerps-about-twats/100747)
**Author:** [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [March 31, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twitting-twerps-about-twats/100747 "2002-03-31T02:11:14Z")
I was sure somebody else would have gotten to this before me but I guess I’m the only one with direct access to the OED online thanks to my library card. As far as I know, what you get online is the whole shebang - none… --- ## [Comment on a 22-year-old column](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255)
**Author:** [@Znutar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Znutar)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-a-22-year-old-column/100255 "2002-03-30T19:46:39Z")
I note the recent reuse of old columns. Hope the straightdope is still generating new columns. Though I have all the Straight Dope books, I hadn’t previously noticed that the column reprinted today (original day 29-Augus… --- ## [Easy marijuana plant de-bugging](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-marijuana-plant-de-bugging/100459)
**Author:** [@smurfette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smurfette)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-marijuana-plant-de-bugging/100459 "2002-03-30T18:35:42Z")
Cecil’s column www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_023.html brought to mind a remedy my mother once told me for that very problem. Apparently, if you mix about 5 drops of “Ivory” dish-soap (she said no other brand works)… --- ## [Definition of a word (Twit/Twat/Twirp)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-of-a-word-twit-twat-twirp/100757)
**Author:** [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definition-of-a-word-twit-twat-twirp/100757 "2002-03-30T16:25:21Z")
Regarding the Twit/Twat/Twirp column ( here), I know no authoritative work like OED or other dictionaries list pregnant (or ripe) goldfish as a definition of twit/twat/twirp, but once a large segment of the population “… --- ## [The 'Smiley' inventor](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smiley-inventor/100771)
**Author:** [@fitandhappy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fitandhappy)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smiley-inventor/100771 "2002-03-30T16:19:42Z")
The inventors of the canonical smiley, i.e., two eyes and a mouth on a yellow background, the one best rememberd for its part in the ‘acid house’ music scene in the late 80’s early 90’s (there may well be other versions … --- ## [Roaches die on their backs](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roaches-die-on-their-backs/100793)
**Author:** [@getatme11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/getatme11)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roaches-die-on-their-backs/100793 "2002-03-30T11:36:49Z")
i remember reading a science oriented magazine a few years back that gave quite a different explanation of why many insects(not sure if all do) wind up on their backs when they die… the article stated some commonly know… --- ## [Worst Catholic Saint](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-catholic-saint/98538)
**Author:** [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Replies:** 36\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-catholic-saint/98538 "2002-03-30T06:54:16Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020315.html Augustine? Augustine? Because he lived a life of debauchery before his conversion? There’s this doctrine called Atonement which you might want to investigate. See, in Chr… --- ## [Fifth Third and National Bank Charters](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-third-and-national-bank-charters/100820)
**Author:** [@Don\_Bosman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Bosman)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-third-and-national-bank-charters/100820 "2002-03-30T06:48:26Z")
Regarding your answer to “Whats with this Fifth Third” The answer about why there were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th National banks is that is the order in which they received their federal charter to be banks. They oper… --- ## [Cecils Column About Rare Meat](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-about-rare-meat/100863)
**Author:** [@jeel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeel)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-about-rare-meat/100863 "2002-03-30T03:50:09Z")
I need help. I searched the archive high and low, but I cannot find a thread in Cecil’s column explaining what the red stuff in rare meat really is (as opposed to blood). He had a scientific name for the stuff. If anyb… --- ## [Do Disney movies contain subliminal erotica?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-disney-movies-contain-subliminal-erotica/99445)
**Author:** [@JisMiNe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JisMiNe)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [March 30, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-disney-movies-contain-subliminal-erotica/99445 "2002-03-30T01:32:43Z")
There is another thing in Aladin… Abu the monkey, says “Oh shit” in the lava scene in the Cave of Wonders just before the lava bubble Abu is standing on pops, he says it, high pitched between chatterings. --- ## [Binocular critters bob their heads, too!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/binocular-critters-bob-their-heads-too/98945)
**Author:** [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [March 29, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/binocular-critters-bob-their-heads-too/98945 "2002-03-29T19:08:22Z")
First, here’s the link to Cecil Adams’s pigeon column, and some rude replies to it. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_016.html Paul G.'s missive, though he cites a famous horny thologist, asserts that owls and o… --- ## [Diseases from toilet seats](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-from-toilet-seats/99847)
**Author:** [@surel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surel)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [March 29, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diseases-from-toilet-seats/99847 "2002-03-29T04:54:03Z")
When I was at camp we had several cases of poison ivy caught through the public toilet seat. And the only two people who were poison ivy free said that they didn’t sit directly on the seat. I’ve also heard you can catch… --- ## [Electroshock Therapy](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electroshock-therapy/100590)
**Author:** [@kapteyns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapteyns)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [March 28, 2002, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electroshock-therapy/100590 "2002-03-28T18:05:13Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990319.html A new therapy is being developed which will hopefully be able to replace ECT. It is called transcranial magnetic stimulation. When a small electromagnet is held agains… --- ## [Yankee Doodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-doodle/100428)
**Author:** [@Haplo781](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haplo781)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 28, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yankee-doodle/100428 "2002-03-28T00:56:18Z")
Regarding the use of the word “Doodle” in “Yankee Doodle,” I was told in elementary school by one of those folks who comes by to do an assembly once a year that “Doodle” was a general insult along the lines of “nimrod” o… --- ## [New illustrator for old columns](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-illustrator-for-old-columns/99113)
**Author:** [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [March 26, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-illustrator-for-old-columns/99113 "2002-03-26T13:53:49Z")
Along with two of the classic columns republished this week, I noticed that they had illustrations that were not with the original column, nor do they seem to be drawn by Signorino. They’re unsigned and most definitely n… --- ## [Cockroaches on the top floor?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-on-the-top-floor/100038)
**Author:** [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 25, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-on-the-top-floor/100038 "2002-03-25T22:02:11Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_019.html Killing Cockroaches Ok. I live on the top floor of an apartment building. My cleaning habits aren’t that great…I accidently leave food out for days at a time, etc. The s… --- ## [Sinclair-green Brontosauri](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sinclair-green-brontosauri/99802)
**Author:** [@tommy\_jonq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tommy_jonq)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [March 25, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sinclair-green-brontosauri/99802 "2002-03-25T16:52:24Z")
Contrary to movies like “Giant,” crude oil is not black. Very often, it’s a pale green color. If exposed to air, various components like gasoline evaporate away, leaving a dark-brown sludge that can appear black. Crud… --- ## [Rainbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbows/99942)
**Author:** [@jiHymas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jiHymas)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 25, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rainbows/99942 "2002-03-25T16:03:58Z")
OK, so rainbows are produced when water reflects inside a water droplet at 40-42 degrees, or when reflected twice at 51 degrees (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a910329.html). I knew the first number as I am current… --- ## [Re: Is eating silver food garnishes bad for you?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-is-eating-silver-food-garnishes-bad-for-you/98922)
**Author:** [@John\_Thurner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Thurner)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [March 25, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-is-eating-silver-food-garnishes-bad-for-you/98922 "2002-03-25T04:48:20Z")
Re:Is eating gold and silver food garnishes bad for you? Given the usual thoroughness of the reports, I was a little suprised to see that SDSTAFF Ken didn’t mention argyria (silver poisoning) when talking about the safe… --- ## [Pigeon Politics](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pigeon-politics/99252)
**Author:** [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [March 24, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pigeon-politics/99252 "2002-03-24T16:57:31Z")
Once again, I have a bone to pick with Cecil’s answers, old though they may be. Last week, it was his endorsement of vinegar as a solution to cat-spray odor, which really does not work. Now it’s pigeons I don’t think Ce… --- ## [Is Ellen White demonstrably wrong?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ellen-white-demonstrably-wrong/98576)
**Author:** [@Philote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philote)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 24, 2002, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ellen-white-demonstrably-wrong/98576 "2002-03-24T15:42:46Z")
In the staff report on whether masturbation will shrink the penis, Jill gives a list negative side effects of masturbation, which are attributed to the writings of Ellen White (one of the early leaders of the Seventh-day… --- ## [Yet another Slug spelling error](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-slug-spelling-error/99742)
**Author:** [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [March 24, 2002, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-slug-spelling-error/99742 "2002-03-24T10:34:22Z")
In the illustration for the Were 40% of Native American women forcibly sterilized in the 1970s? column, the door from which an arm is extended is incorrectly labeled: STERILE IZATION Obviously, in order to conform wit… --- ## [Cats, Catnip and the Catnip Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-catnip-and-the-catnip-gene/98080)
**Author:** [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [March 24, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-catnip-and-the-catnip-gene/98080 "2002-03-24T02:12:10Z")
In Cecil’s article What is it with cats and catnip? he makes no mention of the catnip ‘gene’. As I’ve heard it there is a gene present in cats that has them respond to catnip. If the cat lacks this gene then they ignor… --- ## ["Was Hitler a Christian"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/99631)
**Author:** [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [March 22, 2002, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/99631 "2002-03-22T22:22:04Z")
I just finished Christianity on Trial by Vincent Carroll & David Shiflett and decided to Google the quote “One is either a Christian or a German” One of the listings was SDMB staff reports: Was Hitler a Christian? In t… --- ## [When are the Staff Reports resuming?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-the-staff-reports-resuming/99384)
**Author:** [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [March 22, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-are-the-staff-reports-resuming/99384 "2002-03-22T01:01:14Z")
I mean, Cecil’s columns are indeed classics, but I’d wager a good percentage of us website users already have the books they appear. Now that the board has been upgraded (and presumably that means that whatever the Chica… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=247) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=249)