# Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=320 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 321 --- ## [Mrs. Howells given name](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-howells-given-name/105)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 22, 1999, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mrs-howells-given-name/105 "1999-06-22T05:14:00Z")
Re. your Oct '97 column on "what was Mrs. Howell’s given name: Sherwood Shwartz indicates in his book on Gilligan’s Island (I forget the exact title) that Mrs. Howell’s given name was Eunice Wentworth. This came up in an… --- ## [Is there such a thing as a "stupid mistake?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-stupid-mistake/107)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 1999, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-stupid-mistake/107 "1999-06-21T22:13:00Z")
This probably does not belong here, but I wanted to keep it close by the “question” issue. I am of the opinion we humans are generally doing the best we can with the brains we are given, and mistakes are inevitable. Can… --- ## [Dead Man's Hand](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-mans-hand/106)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 1999, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-mans-hand/106 "1999-06-21T21:56:00Z")
OK, so we all know that Wild Bill Hickock was holding “aces and eights” when he was shot dead. So, what was the 5th card? --- ## [Yams/Dioscura/twins?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-dioscura-twins/103)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 1999, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yams-dioscura-twins/103 "1999-06-19T22:39:00Z")
It’s interesting that Cecil mentions that yams are rumored to lead to multiple births, and also says that they are in the genus Dioscura. Wasn’t Dioscuri another name for Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins? Is that how … --- ## [olfactory hallucinations](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olfactory-hallucinations/102)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 1999, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olfactory-hallucinations/102 "1999-06-19T22:31:00Z")
I occasionally experience olfactory hallucinations, vivid and undeniable smells of things which cannot possibly exist in the area I happen to be at the time. Phantom smells are known to occur as part of epileptic seizure… --- ## [Re: What's the origin of "tit for tat"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-whats-the-origin-of-tit-for-tat/101)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 1999, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-whats-the-origin-of-tit-for-tat/101 "1999-06-19T21:50:00Z")
I trust you completely, Cecil, but I was always under the impression it was from “this for that”. I’m changing my opinion now. Anyway, that not why I wrote - the main reason I wrote was because the aforemention of “boob… --- ## [The ol' Grandfather Clause](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ol-grandfather-clause/100)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 1999, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ol-grandfather-clause/100 "1999-06-19T05:57:00Z")
I read your column in the archives on whether time travel was possible, and you mentioned the Grandfather Clause, where if you go back in time and kill your Grandfather, it would become impossible for you to have been bo… --- ## [Monty Hall Open's a door.....](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-hall-opens-a-door/99)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [June 19, 1999, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-hall-opens-a-door/99 "1999-06-19T03:38:00Z")
Cecil; Your assumptions were almost on the mark, but not quite… Here is the original question again: Suppose you’re on a game show and you’re given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the other… --- ## [Seeing the early Universe](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-the-early-universe/930)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [June 18, 1999, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-the-early-universe/930 "1999-06-18T19:44:00Z")
Mr McAfee: Ok, I’ll take a crack at this one. Think of it this way: we’re standing INSIDE what is actually an ONGOING explosion. When we look far away, we’re trying to see the inside rim of that explosion, like trying … --- ## [Irridated Food](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irridated-food/98)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 17, 1999, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irridated-food/98 "1999-06-17T18:26:00Z")
Does anyone know of a board which addresses the question of irridated food for human consumption? The USDA is currently considering proposed rules to control salmonella, e.coli, listeria etc with atomic radiation. Anyon… --- ## [Valences](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valences/929)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [June 16, 1999, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/valences/929 "1999-06-16T23:53:00Z")
In the column about “Fire and Brimstone”, some member of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board writes: Actually, sulfur dioxide forms sulfurous acid when exposed to water (although air generally does contain some wa… --- ## [Chinese foot binding and worse](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-foot-binding-and-worse/97)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 14\ **Last updated:** [June 16, 1999, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-foot-binding-and-worse/97 "1999-06-16T22:30:00Z")
In a past column Cecil pontificated that in order of cruelest practices bestowed on women: Clitoredectomy (female circumcision) Chinese foot binding Victorian corsets Now I won’t argue that any of these practices are … --- ## [Conscienceness - common sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conscienceness-common-sense/96)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 16, 1999, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conscienceness-common-sense/96 "1999-06-16T14:53:00Z")
He must not get out much. I find common sense is the rarest quality in humans. --- ## [Re: Conciousness](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-conciousness/95)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 15, 1999, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-conciousness/95 "1999-06-15T22:54:00Z")
I was most fascinated to read the analogy about the person in the “black box” with only two slots, INPUT and OUTPUT, and the rule book. I disagree with the notion that such a system can be considered conscious. This sys… --- ## [G-Spot & Vaginal v. Clitoral Orgasms](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-spot-vaginal-v-clitoral-orgasms/94)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 26\ **Last updated:** [June 13, 1999, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-spot-vaginal-v-clitoral-orgasms/94 "1999-06-13T19:12:00Z")
In his column about discovery of the clitoris, Cecil writes: “recall Freud’s bizarre claim that women had two kinds of orgasms, clitoral and vaginal–an idea not fully put to rest until the work of Masters and Johnson. Mo… --- ## [Is the Earth Getting Lighter or Heavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-earth-getting-lighter-or-heavier/93)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 12, 1999, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-earth-getting-lighter-or-heavier/93 "1999-06-12T15:26:00Z")
Great answer, but, I had always thought that the Earth when created was much smaller by 20% than it is today and that is spun 28,000 to 32,000 MPH. It’s orbit was closer to the sun and allowed more sunlight. This provi… --- ## [Why don't humans have blue hair?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-humans-have-blue-hair/92)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 12, 1999, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-humans-have-blue-hair/92 "1999-06-12T03:43:00Z")
Oh, but we shall. A recent article on ABCNEWS.com reported that a U. of Penn team looking for baldness genes managed to manipulate gene coding for an enzyme known as beta galactosidase, which turns the hair follicle blue… --- ## ["Una poca de gracia"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/una-poca-de-gracia/925)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 11, 1999, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/una-poca-de-gracia/925 "1999-06-11T08:44:00Z")
My best guess is that “gracia” here means something like “style” or “class”. You can’t dance La Bamba if you don’t have some style. “Tener gracia” in English could mean any of a lot of positive things…to be funny, classy… --- ## [Things in the Gas Tank](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-the-gas-tank/922)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [June 11, 1999, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-the-gas-tank/922 "1999-06-11T01:14:00Z")
Perusing the mailbag archives about sugar, sand & golf Balls in the gas tank, I was reminded of a vengeful high school chum who told me that she wanted to inject some ping-pong balls with drano, then put them in the gas … --- ## [Us dirty humans...](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dirty-humans/90)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 38\ **Last updated:** [June 11, 1999, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-dirty-humans/90 "1999-06-11T00:51:00Z")
I’m curious…if men’s houses have lower bacteria counts than women’s, would that partially explain why women seem to get sick more often? --- ## [possible ancient origin of the smiley face](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-ancient-origin-of-the-smiley-face/88)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 10, 1999, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-ancient-origin-of-the-smiley-face/88 "1999-06-10T05:17:00Z")
The aboriginal inhabitants of the Arctic, once known as Eskimos but now known as the Inuit, had a legend of a little imp. Ivory carvings of this little fella can be found, not only in the Canadian Arctic but also in the … --- ## [obscenities](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscenities/86)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [June 9, 1999, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscenities/86 "1999-06-09T05:13:00Z")
Cecil’s assertion that “most” foreign languages employ a curse word indentical in meaning to our “f-word” is way off-base. Actually, I’ve found in my linguistic studies that, with the exception of French and the few obsc… --- ## [If a bullet falls . . .](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-bullet-falls/87)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [June 8, 1999, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-bullet-falls/87 "1999-06-08T21:22:00Z")
From Straight Dope Classics Regarding the column about a fired bullet versus a dropped bullet (which hits the ground first), wouldn’t there be some sort of “float” or wing effect; would Bernoulli’s Principle have an eff… --- ## [World's Busiest Airport](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-busiest-airport/85)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 8, 1999, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-busiest-airport/85 "1999-06-08T09:50:00Z")
As any youth growing up in Oshkosh, WI is taught, the answer to “The World’s Busiest Airport” deserves an asterisk, at least for one week each summer. That week is the time for the annual Experimental Aircraft Associatio… --- ## [Followup on words that spell other words backwards](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/followup-on-words-that-spell-other-words-backwards/920)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [June 8, 1999, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/followup-on-words-that-spell-other-words-backwards/920 "1999-06-08T02:42:00Z")
Songbird described the difference between a palindrome and an anagram right, I think, but there’s a more specific term than anagram to describe a word, such as sung, that backwards spells a different word. Lewis Carroll … --- ## [sutra-neti](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sutra-neti/84)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [June 7, 1999, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sutra-neti/84 "1999-06-07T00:39:00Z")
I was recently browsing the arcive and came across the article “Can a yoga swallow a cloth and have it come out the other end”. In the article it mentioned sutra-neti the purifing exercise where you snort a string and ha… --- ## [re: "Bloody"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-bloody/917)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [June 5, 1999, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-bloody/917 "1999-06-05T14:37:00Z")
I remember reading once that “bloody” as an oath was a corruption of “by our Lady”–Mary, of course. If so, it would probably, since it has a fairly Roman Catholic ring to it, predate the Anglican Church. Naturally, I ca… --- ## [Admiral House](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-house/916)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 4, 1999, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-house/916 "1999-06-04T21:23:00Z")
That’s the name of the official Veep residence. Just a small detail that Jill left out of her informative reply. --- ## [Me and Julio -- what was it we were doin?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-what-was-it-we-were-doin/83)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [June 3, 1999, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-and-julio-what-was-it-we-were-doin/83 "1999-06-03T05:41:00Z")
Please note I’m cross-posting this from the General Questions section — I think it most definitely screams for the hand of the master to resolve – but I am not the originator. I’ve heard Paul Simon’s song, “Me and Julio… --- ## [Zombies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombies/82)
**Author:** [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [June 2, 1999, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombies/82 "1999-06-02T20:00:00Z")
Cecil’s discourse on zombies completely ignores what most of us define as a zombie: A reanimated dead person. Granted, the old “Juliet” formula is probably the basis for real-life accounts of zombies, but what about actu… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=319) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=321)