Dear Matt: What the hell does Bob Dylan have in his right hand on the cover of the Highway 61 Revisited album? I’ve been trying to figure it out for a couple of years already. …
June 19, 1997
Straight from the Hip
Archived articles
When Bob Dylan took off his sunglasses
How much 20-pound bond paper weighs
Dear Matthew: I have some plain whitepaper, and it says right on the box that it's “20-pound bond.” The package of paper does not weigh 20 pounds, so what does that label mean? — Milene, …
June 19, 1997
How much liquor your average citrus fruit absorbs
I’ve been bothered by the thought recently that the slice of lemon I put in my rum and Coke is soaking up too large a portion of my rum. The other night at a PB …
June 19, 1997
I-15 as the first automated freeway
Mr. Alice: Just out of curiosity, what is with those rental trucks and cars parked in the I-15 car pool lanes when they’re not in use. Is this some top-secret mission? Are they having a …
June 12, 1997
The weird numbers inside the frame of your glasses
Dear Matt: What do those little numbers mean on the inside of the nose bridge of my glasses? Mine have the number 45 to the left, with a little square or box shape, and the …
June 12, 1997
A facelift without surgery
Mattster: My lady friend is thinking of buying a face exerciser. She says it will get rid of her wrinkles by building up her face muscles. It’s like a face-lift without surgery. It sounds nuts, …
June 12, 1997
The true color of Athena's eyes
Matthew Alice: In the recent teledrama the Odyssey, Athena appeared with spectacular blue eyes. In Andrew Lang’s translation of the Odyssey, she is consistently called gray-eyed. What is Homer’s word for the color of her …
June 5, 1997
Your index finger has nothing to do with an index
Hi, Matthew: Where did the index finger get its name? 2. Why do clocks run in the direction we call clockwise? Shouldn’t they run the other way in the Southern Hemisphere? 3. Is a person …
June 5, 1997
If someone hits you, why you see stars
Matt: I bashed my head on an open kitchen cabinet the other day. I saw stars, little flashes of light. Where did the light come from? — Michelle, San Diego They were made up by …
June 5, 1997
How they track semis on the I-5
Dear Matt: Picture this. I’m driving home from L.A. on the 5, approaching San Onofre. I pass under what looks like an overhead street lamp, only instead of a lamp, there's what looks like a …
June 5, 1997
How cross-eyed Siamese cats see
Mattster: My girlfriend has a Siamese cat. It gives me the creeps. The thing is cross-eyed. Really! It just lies under the coffee table and stares at me. At least I think it’s staring at …
May 29, 1997