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• Today's Question: Can dogs get venereal disease? How does falling rain bounce off without causing injury?  (By Cecil Adams)
  Recent Additions:
  • In statues, does the number of feet the horse has off the ground indicate the fate of the rider?  (A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams)
  • Did the black doctor who invented blood plasma die because white doctors wouldn't treat him? (A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams)
  • Is it true a duck's quack won't echo? (A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams)
  • Is the lost city of Atlantis at the bottom of a lake in North Dakota? (A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams)
  • Napoleon complex: How did the image of Napoleon get to be a stereotype of crazy? Did tin disease contribute to Napoleon's defeat in Russia? (By Cecil Adams)
  • Why is there supposed to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? (A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams)
  • Did whites ever give Native Americans blankets infected with smallpox? (A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams)
• Threadspotting: What we loves about our loves. (Submitted by Stauderhorse)
• Weird Earl's: Everyone's gone to the moon.  Or have they? (Submitted by hoopyfrood)
  Send your nominations for Threadspotting and Weird Earl's to :TubaDiva@aol.com. Do it today!
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Hello and welcome to the official Internet home of Cecil Adams, World's Smartest Human Being, and his famous syndicated column The Straight Dope. Here you will find all manner of things relating to the column and the vast Straight Dope media empire.

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Go ahead, dash off a note to cecil@chicagoreader.com--your direct link to the Master! Cecil Adams, the world's smartest human being, can answer any question. (Not that he necessarily will, just that he can.) While few thrills in life can equal having Cecil simultaneously answer your question and make fun of you in his weekly column, for a quicker response we suggest the following:

1. Check the Straight Dope archive to see if your question has been answered before. We currently have close to 2,000 answers online, with more added daily.
Consider posting your query to the "General Questions" forum of the Straight Dope Message Board. Chances are the Teeming Millions (Cecil's affectionate term for his faithful readers) can answer your question or at least point you in the right direction.
If you wish to comment on a past column, we strongly recommend posting a message to the "Comment on Cecil's Columns" forum of the SDMB. Cecil's minions patrol this forum regularly and Cecil himself occasionally drops in to favor his readers with bonus info.

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Who is Cecil Adams and how did he get to be so smart? Don't ask us. But we're happy to share with you the pitiful collection of FAQs (frequently asked questions) we've been able to scrape together about Cecil, his minions and the mysterious world they frequent. Note that these aren't so much questions that are frequently asked of Cecil, these are more questions that are frequently asked about Cecil.

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