Of all the questions you’ve asked on the SDMB, which do you think would have been most worthy to be answered in the SD column by Cecil himself? My own choice, based on genuine educational value, oddballness, and prurient interest, is What’s the original Anglo-Saxon word for “penis”?
To be honest, if I have an important question I give it to people I know in real life.
The dope is recreation to me… and almost always drunk recreation at that.
I asked one once about spin and relativity: i.e., if all motion is relative, then a spinning object (e.g., a space station creating artificial gravity in that fashion) ought to be with equal validity described as a stationary object surrounded by a universe spinning around it, yes? So why does the space station “work”? Would someone please explain to me the forces involved in pressing the shoe-soles of the residents of the space station to the outer-ring “floor”, in language that does not favor one definition of motion over the other, or else instead explain what determines that Object X (or Constellation-of-Objects X) is motionless and that some other object (or Constellation of Objects) moving in relationship to X is in fact moving and not the other way around. And if it’s somehow different for radial motion than it is for linear motion. Etc.
Maybe if Cecil had answered it, I’d have understood the answers 
My question that I thought was the most thought-provoking was How can a paper diaphram (i.e. stereo speaker) mimic virtually every sound when a trumpet can only sound like a trumpet, and a violin can only sound like a violin, etc.? One or two posters even commented how Cecil-worthy it was, IIRC.
Another oldie but goodie that sticks with me was my contention that lowering temperature does not, in fact, surpress a fire as is always stated. Eventually someone came up with a nifty little demonstration that proved me wrong. I may have lost the argument, but I stand proud of the fight I fought and the case* I made.
- That case, btw, contended that what most experts describe as the act of lowering the temperature of a fire by adding water was really the act of depriving the fire of fuel since dry paper will burn and soggy paper won’t.
The best sort of question to refer to the Perfect Master would be one which (1) is undeniably of great importance; (2) probably has a knowable value-neutral factual answer; and (3) is one which the Teeming Millions have already debated and failed to conclusively resolve.
This one, for example.
Not sure I’d agree on that. My take is that Perfect Master is popular for addressing questions of less than great importance.
I’ve asked quite a few (I hope) good ones
Relativity and very long sticks using a very long stick to tap out a message in Morse code.
The Eighteenth Ammendment Why did the banning of alcohol require an ammendment, but cocaine was banned without one?
building a bridge How do they build the underwater parts of bridges?
How do seeds sprout? when a seed germinates, it pushes a shoot up,so it goes above ground, and a root down into the soil. But how does the seed know which direction is up and which is down?
Saloon Doors Those saloon doors in cowboy movies, did they really exist? what purpose did they serve?
That is a good question. I though of it myself. Researchers have spent countless hours and millions of dollars trying to recreate other things that humans and nature do. That was a lucky one because paper and a magnet can sound like almost anything.
My thread on Have we lost any technologies was probably the most Cecil-worthy I’ve posed. We got a few good ones out of it, but I’d still like to see the Master take it on.
How do animals with Very Sharp Teeth keep their teeth so sharp? What about snakes?