# Latest **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md?page=880&state=muted [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 881 --- ## [Restricted numbers](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restricted-numbers/980890)
**Author:** [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [March 10, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restricted-numbers/980890 "2023-03-10T02:05:47Z")
What exactly does it mean when an incoming call appears on one’s phone as “restricted number”? Who is likely to have a restricted number? Why would one have a restricted number? --- ## [Another help-ID-this-book thread: 1970s-ish story anthology aimed at teen girls (?), with some Jane Austen?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-help-id-this-book-thread-1970s-ish-story-anthology-aimed-at-teen-girls-with-some-jane-austen/980957)
**Author:** [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [March 10, 2023, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-help-id-this-book-thread-1970s-ish-story-anthology-aimed-at-teen-girls-with-some-jane-austen/980957 "2023-03-10T01:09:20Z")
Cannot recall title or editor, but I do remember it included at least some excerpts from classic novels along with some less distinguished typical YA fodder, primarily about love and dating. One of those excerpts was one… --- ## [What is your personal "bible"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-personal-bible/980849)
**Author:** [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Replies:** 46\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-personal-bible/980849 "2023-03-09T23:45:16Z")
Well, one could say my personal bible is the Holy Bible, as I’ve read that thing cover to cover three times, some books even a few times more and having deteriorated my first copy of it, I had to get me a new one a few … --- ## [Methods of estimating?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methods-of-estimating/979160)
**Author:** [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methods-of-estimating/979160 "2023-03-09T22:50:51Z")
To pass the time, I sometimes try to guess the ages of celebrities and other people who I lack factual information about. Today, I was watching an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show on TV, and I tried to guess how old Mor… --- ## [Lydia Love Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lydia-love-jackson/980516)
**Author:** [@jag70r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jag70r)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lydia-love-jackson/980516 "2023-03-09T22:40:45Z")
I’m wondering if anyone knows of this Freemen Chickasaw woman? --- ## [College Basketball 2022-2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-basketball-2022-2023/976438)
**Author:** [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Replies:** 20\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-basketball-2022-2023/976438 "2023-03-09T21:18:07Z")
I’m starting this thread because I’m assuming there are other NCAA basketball fans here on the Dope. We’re about a month into the season, and already a lot has happened. North Carolina started the season ranked #1 and … --- ## [Verifying Gmail account via YouTube?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verifying-gmail-account-via-youtube/980909)
**Author:** [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verifying-gmail-account-via-youtube/980909 "2023-03-09T20:47:18Z")
My wife was typing out an email in her Gmail account last night when her screen changed and a message popped up saying she needed to verify her Gmail account. This isn’t unusual, but instead of sending a verification cod… --- ## [Is sitting close to the TV bad for the eyes? When did this idea start?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sitting-close-to-the-tv-bad-for-the-eyes-when-did-this-idea-start/980847)
**Author:** [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sitting-close-to-the-tv-bad-for-the-eyes-when-did-this-idea-start/980847 "2023-03-09T20:21:46Z")
So I think a lot of us have been told by our parents that sitting too close to the TV is bad for your eyes. Is there any truth to this? when and where did this idea begin? --- ## [Why does a banana ripen more quickly in my office than at home?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-banana-ripen-more-quickly-in-my-office-than-at-home/980788)
**Author:** [@SDWC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDWC)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-a-banana-ripen-more-quickly-in-my-office-than-at-home/980788 "2023-03-09T20:20:44Z")
I occasionally bring a banana to work. Today, as a matter of fact. This particular banana was sitting in my kitchen in my fruit basket for a few days, still yellow, couple dark spots, pretty firm. I arrive in my offic… --- ## [Which pennant-winning MLB team succeeded despite the loss of a great player?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-pennant-winning-mlb-team-succeeded-despite-the-loss-of-a-great-player/980352)
**Author:** [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Replies:** 30\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-pennant-winning-mlb-team-succeeded-despite-the-loss-of-a-great-player/980352 "2023-03-09T18:48:34Z")
I’m sure there are many such, but I was just reading about Tony Conigliaro’s beaning in 1967 and thought “Gee, that should have devastated the Red Sox,” who of course went on to win the 1967 AL pennant. Either through in… --- ## [Can someone please explain efforts to cap insulin?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-please-explain-efforts-to-cap-insulin/975039)
**Author:** [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-please-explain-efforts-to-cap-insulin/975039 "2023-03-09T17:45:26Z")
An intelligent conservative and I are talking about the efforts in Congress to cap the price of insulin so I need a fair analysis or I’ll get fact-checked. Here are two points: He says that he too is hazy on details,… --- ## [What's the maximum age of a presidential candidate whom you'd be willing to vote for?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-maximum-age-of-a-presidential-candidate-whom-youd-be-willing-to-vote-for/980710)
**Author:** [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Replies:** 68\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-maximum-age-of-a-presidential-candidate-whom-youd-be-willing-to-vote-for/980710 "2023-03-09T17:41:16Z")
As it currently stands, the Democratic Party is largely still coalescing behind Biden as the 2024 nominee, despite the fact that he’d be 86 years old by the time he stepped down at the end of his second term, were he ree… --- ## [The Weird Disclaimer on 'Mythbusters': Why 'We're what you call experts'?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weird-disclaimer-on-mythbusters-why-were-what-you-call-experts/980884)
**Author:** [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Replies:** 22\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weird-disclaimer-on-mythbusters-why-were-what-you-call-experts/980884 "2023-03-09T17:40:48Z")
Been rewatching old episodes of Mythbusters, and I’m confused as to why they disclaim their own disclaimer. “Don’t try anything you see at home. We’re what you call experts.” Um, they are experts. Is there a reason for t… --- ## [Retirement acceptance(?) steps](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement-acceptance-steps/980365)
**Author:** [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Replies:** 66\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retirement-acceptance-steps/980365 "2023-03-09T17:31:56Z")
So today I realized I really have no possible need for my beat up old brief case. I emptied it out and got rid of most of what was in it. Though I kept a few things like the Business card from my favorite Boss. He passe… --- ## [Restaurant Prices - why so high lately?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-prices-why-so-high-lately/980411)
**Author:** [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Replies:** 71\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-prices-why-so-high-lately/980411 "2023-03-09T16:33:52Z")
Now that we’re squarely in the post-Pandemic era, my family and I have started eating out again in the last 9 months or so, and the prices are sky high- about twice what they used to be. I mean, places that would cost $… --- ## [We know how to celebrate here in the UK](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-know-how-to-celebrate-here-in-the-uk/957896)
**Author:** [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-know-how-to-celebrate-here-in-the-uk/957896 "2023-03-09T16:25:17Z")
…with a large grey car park of course ! --- ## [Music Quiz - Name Popular Song Given Brief Lyric](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-quiz-name-popular-song-given-brief-lyric/980697)
**Author:** [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Replies:** 18\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-quiz-name-popular-song-given-brief-lyric/980697 "2023-03-09T15:42:57Z")
Taken from the “Best Single Lines in Rock Music” thread, can you identify the song and group of any of these fairly popular songs (mostly rock or pop) over many decades? Have you come here to play Jesus To the lepe… --- ## [What running gags, schtick, do you detest?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-running-gags-schtick-do-you-detest/961131)
**Author:** [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Replies:** 94\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-running-gags-schtick-do-you-detest/961131 "2023-03-09T14:45:51Z")
For me, it’s Seth Meyers’s by-play with his cue card guy Wally, or anything really to do with his staff. Half of his “Closer Look” time is taken up with in-jokes that probably amuse his writing team, or maybe his mom, bu… --- ## [The Magicians, rewatching](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-magicians-rewatching/977901)
**Author:** [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Replies:** 29\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-magicians-rewatching/977901 "2023-03-09T13:30:00Z")
I forgot how really good and compelling this show was. I described it once long ago as Narnia meets Harry Potter goes to Graduate school. Thing is, its better than either. Of course I love all the references. Star Trek… --- ## [70's movie shown in junior high science class](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-movie-shown-in-junior-high-science-class/620242)
**Author:** [@Scifiguy3k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scifiguy3k)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-movie-shown-in-junior-high-science-class/620242 "2023-03-09T07:24:37Z")
Does anyone remember movies shown in junior high back in the 70’s. The movie I’m having trouble remembering starts out with a man in a white hazmat suit walking through a deserted city. He then enters a museum and seem… --- ## [Anybody understand how Quora makes money?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-understand-how-quora-makes-money/948124)
**Author:** [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-understand-how-quora-makes-money/948124 "2023-03-09T07:09:12Z")
I was drawn to it because it, like the Straight Dope, professes to have experts in various areas available to answer one’s questions, but many if not most of the threads there seem to be written by schoolchildren looking… --- ## [Odd airplane, the Northrop Alpha](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-airplane-the-northrop-alpha/980888)
**Author:** [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-airplane-the-northrop-alpha/980888 "2023-03-09T06:22:34Z")
Six passengers in the forward cockpit but the pilot sitting in open air atop the fuselage way behind them. I don’t know how the pilot could see to land with that huge engine up front. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North… --- ## [How many animals kill things using gravity?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-animals-kill-things-using-gravity/980841)
**Author:** [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-animals-kill-things-using-gravity/980841 "2023-03-09T03:48:00Z")
By which I mean by dropping prey and eating what’s left? I was reading about bearded vultures who do it, and the article mentioned golden eagles likewise know the trick. I’d guess corvids have figured it out. Anyone else… --- ## [Possibility of USPS employee stealing my package?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possibility-of-usps-employee-stealing-my-package/980899)
**Author:** [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possibility-of-usps-employee-stealing-my-package/980899 "2023-03-09T03:22:16Z")
Well you see the title and now my story which I will ask your humble opinions. Last Wednesday I ordered an iphone from an online service called swappa.com. I have ordered several phones from this place in the past years… --- ## [Android 10 tablets, comic readers, and a programming question](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-10-tablets-comic-readers-and-a-programming-question/980900)
**Author:** [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/android-10-tablets-comic-readers-and-a-programming-question/980900 "2023-03-09T02:59:45Z")
For a few years I have been reading comic and manga .cbr/.cbz files on Android devices using an app called Comicat. Comicat is, from my point of view, nearly perfect, almost exactly what I would have asked for if I were … --- ## [Spider Solitaire Addicts: What's Your Record?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-addicts-whats-your-record/90593)
**Author:** [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Replies:** 148\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-addicts-whats-your-record/90593 "2023-03-09T02:34:25Z")
Since Phil started the Freecell thread, I thought it was time for a Spider Solitaire thread. Here’s how I’m doing in Spider: One suit: too easy. I’ve played a few dozen games; lost only once. Two suits: I play 100 gam… --- ## [Did American bus operators ever use schoolbus-type buses for scheduled intercity transport?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-american-bus-operators-ever-use-schoolbus-type-buses-for-scheduled-intercity-transport/980824)
**Author:** [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-american-bus-operators-ever-use-schoolbus-type-buses-for-scheduled-intercity-transport/980824 "2023-03-09T00:33:21Z")
We just watched A Kind Of Murder, in which an architect becomes a suspect in the murder of his wife. The couple live in a midcentury showplace of a home of the type realtors call “architectural”, and it’s clearly near N… --- ## ["revolutionary" air compressor](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolutionary-air-compressor/980896)
**Author:** [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [March 9, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revolutionary-air-compressor/980896 "2023-03-09T00:12:56Z")
A good 10% of industrial energy consumption is used up by air compressors. Lontra has created a rotary/non-reciprocating compressor that has an innovative engineering design. Compressing air to reach net zero. A ‘revol… --- ## [Test polls redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-polls-redux/980620)
**Author:** [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [March 8, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-polls-redux/980620 "2023-03-08T23:26:29Z")
poll --- ## [Google News & its new look. Me no like](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-news-its-new-look-me-no-like/975935)
**Author:** [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Replies:** 54\ **Last updated:** [March 8, 2023, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-news-its-new-look-me-no-like/975935 "2023-03-08T23:00:17Z")
I just saw the new look on Google News. I hate it. That is all. Thoughts? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md?page=879&state=muted) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md?page=881&state=muted)