Dear All-Knowing One: Why is it that you sometimes see urinals filled with ice in public restrooms? Is the ice just dumped there to get rid of it, or does it serve a purpose? — …
August 28, 1997
Straight from the Hip
Archived articles
The purpose of ice in urinals
All of music did not begin with rock and roll
Dear Mr. Alice:As some friends and I were kicking back one day listening to the Beatles and reading the lyrics that came with the album, we were wondering, what was the first music artist to …
August 21, 1997
The facts of life — death, taxes, and parking spaces
Dear Matthew Alice: How many facts of life are there, and what are they? — Wondering, La Jolla There are three facts of life: There will always be death; there will always be taxes; there …
August 21, 1997
The small Braille sequences on the bottom rim of beer bottles
Dear Almighty Matt: Okay, here’s the deal. I, like many of my fellow Americans, have a strange fascination with beer. I mean, what’s better than beer? Not much. Well, the other night I was once …
August 21, 1997
The most important parts of any car are its tire treads
Matt: I’ve, always wondered why car tires need tread patterns in them. Why is a tire better if you cut designs into them than if they Were just plain? And why are there so many …
August 14, 1997
The essential difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius?
Hey, Matt: Why doesn’t the temperature scale have freezing at zero and boiling at 100? Why 32 and 212? —Buddy Borgen, L.A. Move to Europe, Buddy. Or Canada. Or Mexico. Or almost any place except …
August 14, 1997
The legality of owning an owl feather
Matthew Alice: I found an owl feather and stuck it in my hatband, and some lady insisted that it was illegal for me to do that. How can that be? — Richard, Escondido I don’t …
August 7, 1997
If two full moons a month equal a blue moon...
Dear Matt, Purveyor of Knowledge, Great and Infinitesimal: While perusing my 1997 tide calendar and looking ahead to the tide fluctuations in the coming months, I noticed in October that there re two new moons …
August 7, 1997
Where hamburgers came from
Matmail: All right, this has bugged me for years. Hamburgers. There's no ham in them! In fact, these days there is little meat of any kind in them. How did they get named? Is it …
August 7, 1997
Alcohol and Siamese twins
Matthew Alice: Can a Siamese twin get their connected sibling drunk? — mattyj, the Net Got to say I’ve never considered that dilemma. One twin a teetotaler, one a lush. One out carousing all night, …
August 7, 1997
The making of Twinkies
Dear Matt: I just love that dangerously delicious snack food the Hostess Twinkie!! Those beautiful little gold bars of yellow sponge cake and that cloudlike white filling can make me dance with joy! During a …
August 7, 1997