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One story is that it was something a Chicago newspaperman talked retailers into doing back in the 1870s when papers cost $0.01 and 1 cent coins weren't widely available. By pricing pricing items lower, people would take a paper to round up to an even dollar. Another theory is that it was just some competitor looking for an edge.

If you're talking about the army blankets then you heard wrong. It's bullshit made up by Ward Churchill.

If you talking about Ward Churchill. Then yes - its bs.

If you're trying to say no blankets were distributed....
http://www.straightdope.com/co...
https://www.umass.edu/legal/de...

Distributing blankets infected with smallpox was certainly discussed by officials in 1763, way before Ward Churchill's alleged events.

See here and here.

Arguably, the real limit for responsible drivers is the speed rating of the tires. With some ad-hoc Google research I find no tires for heavy trucks that are rated more than speed class "M", which is 81 mph or 130 km/h.

This said, if you look on old forum threads like http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=97985, you can find statements like this:

No, it's not a myth. A company I worked for had trucks that would go that fast. We had several tractors with Caterpillar 3406B engines set at 425 horsepower. One was always getting worse fuel mileage then the others. We had the local Cat dealer check out the tractor. They went into the computerized fuel system on the engine and were able to show how fast the driver had been running with it. He had been hitting 118 out on I-10 through Arizona pretty regularly. With a few keystrokes they cut his top end back to 85 MPH and the fuel mileage improved a lot. A lot of the tractors on the road have Detoit Diesel 60 series engines set at 500 horsepower and they will also easily run over a hundered if they are geared right and haven't had the top speed set down. Is it smart to run that fast? No way. It takes a lot more distance to stop as you get rolling faster. Trucks running close together to "draft" are just an accident waiting to happen.

But I guess in 2001, speed limiters were not as widespread as today...

OP is correct that birds are immune to capsaicin (the chemical in hot peppers which makes them "hot"). Speculation is that pepper plants use the chemical as a way to discourage land mammals from eating their fruits, thus guaranteeing their seeds would be dispersed more widely by birds. Pepper spray isn't going to do squat.

One I've heard was Lenin's supposed quote: "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." A few problems.

One, Lenin was not a pithy speaker. He didn't come up with great one-liners. The actual quote was "They [the capitalists] will furnish credits which will serve us for the support of the Communist Party in their countries and, by supplying us materials and technical equipment which we lack, will restore our military industry necessary for our future attacks against our suppliers. To put it in other words, they will work on the preparation of their own suicide."

Two, Lenin never literally said it. He never delivered this line publicly during his lifetime. He wrote it in some notes. These notes were collected after Lenin's death in 1924 and were eventually published in 1961.

Three, while I can't find the original text, I've heard the passage is taken out of context. Lenin's main point in the original manuscript was that some short-sighted communists thought they could work with capitalists and dupe them into serving communist goals. Lenin gave the passage as an example of what these people thought. But Lenin disagreed with trying to make deals with capitalists and was warning communists against trying what the quote suggested.

GP is about as accurate as that politician who claimed wind farms would cause global warming, by reducing the wind.

Climate is dominated by wind in the upper atmosphere, completely unaffected by the tiny amount of energy that might be pulled out by wind farms.

What about tidal power, though? Won't that affect the Moon's orbit over time? Apparently, I'm not the only person to worry about this. Looks like it could be a real problem in a few billion years!

it's a weird area.

Indeed. Homer Simpson lives in Northern Kentucky. I have relatives in Kentucky, and for a while they thought The Simpsons was a documentary.

but modern tanks will survive its shitty popgun,

The A-10 has weapons other than its 30 mm gun. Hellfire and Maverick missiles do wonders against every tank on today's battlefield.

This article from 5 years ago is a long discussion from people who appear to know what they are talking about regarding this subject. The overall consensus: while the A-10 may not be able to destroy a MBT with only its gun, that gun can render a tank inoperable (track hits), sufficiently damage components and cause other havoc which will make any tanker nervous. When combined with its under wing stores, tanks and their supporting vehicles and infantry would be toast.

Further, this article goes into a deeper discussion about penetration capability of the 30 mm gun vs armor, what tank (specifically the T-90) has what armor as well as factual incidents of tanks being hit by such rounds or other tanks.

Again, depending on where you hit a tank, the A-10 can immobilize it, damage it to the point it's essentially useless or, if lucky, can destroy it with only its gun.

The other thing to consider is loiter time. The Warthog can stay over a battle area substantially longer (up to 3 hours) than any other aircraft, especially the F-35. That is great for seeking out targets of opportunity or even acting as a spotter for ground troops/tanks.

IOW it can't be used against an enemy with an air force and it can't fly low enough to use its gun.

A) that is why we achieve air superiority. However, how that is supposed to be done with the F-35 is still unclear since that is the role the F-15 and F-16 are designed and used for. Technically the F-14 as well but its role can vary.

B) the warthog is designed to fly low. Yes, it can dive if necessary but its primary course of attack is at a low, shallow angle. You don't want a slow(er) flying aircraft to be high in the air. You want it to swoop in, lay waste to its target then get out. By flying low you present a very small window of opportunity for opposing troops on the ground to target it as well as make it more difficult for radar to pick it up and track.

So-called second-hand smoke is a bad example, considering that it's unproven at best. It's killed zero people, obviously, and the media credulously reported everything the anti-tobacco lobby published. I mean, that's where you got the idea, right?

I'm always amazed when otherwise intelligent people believe that one. It doesn't even pass the common-sense test. Haven't you ever wondered how a whiff of smoke is going to hurt someone when smokers are filling their lungs all day, everyday, for decades on end? And even then, only seventy-percent of smokers are killed by it. You'd have to be a believer of homeopathy theory not to see that as suspect. But that's only cigarettes. Pipe smokers have the same mortality rate as non-smokers, (actually, they live a little longer on average), and cigar smokers don't do that much worse - yet they are surrounded by tobacco smoke. How can that be? That, my friend, is the kind of boring news the media ignores. They pounced on ridiculous figures like "42,000 Non-Smokers Killed by Second-Hand Smoke Each Year". Seriously. Google it.

A bungled robbery NEVER results in a double tap to the back. In a bungled robbery, the gun goes off while the victim and perp face each other most often, and there is not a second shot to confirm death. That's the whole point, the perp panics and forgets to take the stuff - he doesn't calmly put another round through the heart.

Seth Rich was alive and conscious when the police arrived. He died an hour later. Doesn't sound like a shot through the heart to me.

I checked the last two executions by firing squad in Utah - four bullets, not two, admittedly, but that involves aiming at the heart. The most recent was pronounced dead within two minutes. The next recent was dead within four minutes. Note this is death - not unconsciousness. Unconsciousness should happen sooner.

A Straight Dope discussion seems to give several examples of unconsciousness happening within seconds.

The rule of thumb is you can beat your wife as long as the stick you use is no bigger than your thumb.

While plenty of commentators have denounced such a rule (including at least two 19th century American judges), it does not appear the rule itself has ever actually existed.

This "regulated spousal abuse" is found nowhere in English (and thus also American) common law. Using any kind of switch, thumb-width or otherwise, to "correct" one's wife has been illegal in the US since at least the Colonial era.

Not to say abuse didn't occur, but there was no rule on the books about it being OK as long as it was carried out with a thin enough implement.

OTOH, the "approximation" sense of the phrase has been in use for many centuries.

The whole point of "erty" keyboards is to slow down the typists and reduce key-jams. It's an intentionally bad standard which has lived beyond its meaningfulness for more than 30 years now (when was the last manual typewriter made?)

That's a myth: http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Well, it's partly a myth. Yes, it is a myth that QWERTY was intended to slow down typists. It *WAS* intended to reduce key-jams on manual typewriters, and it did this by introducing frequent alternation between hands and by placing frequently used letters far apart. The frequent alternation between hands actually speeds up typing, so that's a positive for QWERTY, but the placement of frequently used letters far apart is no longer necessary -- and it was never optimized for modern computers and speed/ergonomics.

Basically, the Dvorak proponents often overstate their case, and your link is correct that some of the studies promoted by Dvorak himself had questionable methodology. The supposed benefits of 20-40% increase in speed and getting up to previous QWERTY speed with only 20-25 hours of training is bogus and was known to be bogus for the past 50 years or more.

On the other hand, various studies do show Dvorak has some advantage over QWERTY, both theoretically (in terms of motion needed to travel by the hands, etc.) and practically, but that advantage is likely more in the 5-10% speed increase range and it likely requires about 100 hours of retraining to get back to QWERTY speed for an existing touch-typist. That's just a lot of work for a small benefit, especially when one can use that 100 hours instead to train in specific ways and increase QWERTY speed instead -- which likely will result in a small speed increase as well.

So, GP is correct that QWERTY was designed to reduce manual jams that can no longer happen, and it IS a bad standard for modern computers, etc. But the improvements for moving to a better layout are quite small and would require extensive retraining... so we all tend to stick with a (slightly) inferior standard.

(How "inferior" is really difficult to know precisely, because to my knowledge the "gold standard" study has never been done. There are quite a few studies which have taken QWERTY typists and retrained them in Dvorak. And there are studies that waited until those retrained typists got up to their previous QWERTY speeds and then pitted them (now Dvorak typists) against existing QWERTY typists. But I've never seen reference to a study that took existing Dvorak typists who have been using that layout for years and retrained them in QWERTY -- probably because such people are incredibly rare, and likely next-to-impossible to find in the modern era of ubiquitous keyboards. 25 years ago we could have done a study like this, since many people wouldn't learn to type until high school or later, but now it may be next-to-impossible to even start training someone who has never spent significant time with a QWERTY keyboard first. And that previous QWERTY exposure will significantly affect "muscle memory" and cognitive load when confronted with a new standard, even after many hours of retraining.)

The whole point of "erty" keyboards is to slow down the typists and reduce key-jams. It's an intentionally bad standard which has lived beyond its meaningfulness for more than 30 years now (when was the last manual typewriter made?)

That's a myth: http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Last century GM and friends bought then shut down public transport in Los Angeles forcing people had to buys cars instead. They were convicted and fined, but the massive profits they covered the cost of the fine. Apologists say GM did it because public transport was losing cash. So what does that mean? GM is a publicly spirited liquidator of unprofitable companies? OLRY?

Uber and Driverless cards if they really takes off could bite the car industry. Are we seeing a repeat? http://www.straightdope.com/co... http://www.latimes.com/me-2003... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Don't forget Ship Captains! They can marry people.

That's not actually true. http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Intersting - although a little ambiguity in there. What I like is the last part: "Regarding ship captains and marriages, you should let readers know about the best possible resolution. It's a plaque I've seen on at least half a dozen vessels (mostly sailboats, for obvious reasons to anyone who already understands). It says, "Any marriages performed by the captain of this ship are valid for the duration of the voyage only." Sound like a loophole for good Religious people to get a little while on board.

Don't forget Ship Captains! They can marry people.

That's not actually true. http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Okay, let's be honest here. While it's clear that the colonizing powers had a reckless disregard for the wellbeing of the native population, your smallpox blanket claim makes you sound like a lunatic.

It doe indeed sound like lunacy.

but......

http://www.nativeweb.org/pages...

http://www.straightdope.com/co...

The interesting thing is, This Lord Amherst? An Englishman , so if people want to blame da 'murricans, it was not. evil ol' us.

It was one of the superior Europeans, who do seem to have a particular desire to practice genocide, as proven throughout history.

By the time it reached end-of-life, the first space station became famous for hosting fungus mats of an unknown species:
http://www.straightdope.com/co...

From your link: "The fungal infestation came to light in 1988, when Mir inhabitants noticed that a porthole was obscured by what one alarmist described as "an unknown film that was spreading like some horror-movie scum." Closer examination revealed green-and-black encrustations behind control panels, inside air ducts, and in other nooks and crannies throughout the spacecraft. The stuff didn't literally eat metal and plastic but did give off corrosive chemicals such as acetic acid. Acetic acid is basically vinegar, so one doesn't want to become unnecessarily alarmed. Still, the acid pitted Mir's titanium, plastic, and glass, suggesting that the spacecraft's structural integrity might be threatened if the fungus were left unchecked."

By the time it reached end-of-life, the first space station became famous for hosting fungus mats of an unknown species:
http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Well, since the FAA has regulated RC aircraft and manned aircraft for years, and now congress wants them to regulate drones, perhaps someone gave a definition for drone.

https://rcflightline.com/drone...
http://www.informationweek.com...
http://boards.straightdope.com...

That last link has a quotation from an actual bill that congress passed
https://www.modelaircraft.org/...

It's like a super-high-altitude aircraft, at ground level

In other words, moving in air so super-thin and close to a vacuum as makes no difference.

2. The difficulties of providing oxygen through masks are no greater in a hyperloop capsule than in an airplane.

The oxygen mask aboard an airplane is good for ten minutes. The airplane flies in open air not inside a sealed pipeline mounted on pylons and elevated rather high above the ground.

This isn't anything like the Channel Tunnel which has a parallel and built-in escape route.

3. A hyperloop capsule is a giant air ram which has to work to move its air to behind the vehicle

No movement, no compression.

Repressurization can surely be done far faster than an airplane can descend in altitude.

As the bird flies, the distance between San Diego and San Francisco is 450 miles.

No one is certain, but it's thought that a China Airlines 747 might have gone supersonic during an emergency descent in 1985. According to the Wikipedia article, "Altitude decreased 10,000 ft (3,000 m) within only twenty seconds." and "They had descended 30,000 ft (9,100 m) in under two and a half minutes".

How rapidly can a commercial aircraft descend?

http://boards.straightdope.com...

Given that a typical laundry machine spin cycle generates 114.6 g, I doubt that generating a mere 1 g on something small is outside of NASA's technological capabilities.

Sorry, son, but society voted and you're wrong.

Ah, so "right" and "wrong" can be determined by popular vote now?

Is not that nice... All those committees voting for Pi to be "3" or for rejecting the theory of evolution are now vindicated, aren't they?

Your response is an example of Appeal to Authority: unable to defend the point yourself, you can only state, that some others support it. Fail.

Apparently it's trivial to make an upper middle class income doing that:

http://www.straightdope.com/co...

So I ask, why does anybody give to them anyways? Many of them make more money than the people who give them money.

It is called Russian Roulette . . . It was a favourite pastime in USSR and had to be kick - started in a bar.

Fiction.

We have that. It's called "Monopoly."

via Straight Dope http://www.straightdope.com/co... ;

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo!
Nora's freezin' on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don't we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don't love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker 'n' too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, 'lope with you!

Hunky Dory's pop is lolly,
Gaggin' on the wagon, Willy, folly go through!
Chollie's collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarm bung-a-loo!

Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an' polly voo!
Chilly Filly's name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly's jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!

Trying to solve a technical problem (that any good search algorithm is going to have be biased rather than pick sites at random) with political action isn't going to solve the problem. It's like the politicians who wanted to make a law saying that pi=3.2 because it's "easier to deal with."

And of course, having two competitors would end up having the lesser of the two trying to imitate the algorithms of the more successful one (which is just history repeating itself with PageRank).

I have a question... Does anyone know why are the photos in black and white? Is that for higher resolution, because of low/high light situations?

Ok nvm, found my answer here: Why are images from space probes always in black and white?

Still think they should take photos with RGB filters too so we can see what it would actually look like, you know, for PR photos...

Good question... Maybe the roof is sloped?

BTW, I just saw this old article which suggests Assange has a "sunlamp", but as in my other comments, I can wonder if it is good enough for adequate vitamin D production?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...
"The fugitive has just a sunlamp, a running machine and internet connection in the threadbare room inside the ground-floor apartment in Knightsbridge."

A comment here suggests Ecuador only rents a few offices from the Columbian embassy, so maybe they don't control enough contiguous space to get Assange to the roof?
http://www.talkleft.com/story/...
"They are saying the Assange hasn't seen light since he got there, so I assume no roof access, and judging from the vehicle traffic, it doesn't even appear to have a garage. He's sleeping on an air mattress in someone's office. I can't find the link, but I read that Ecuador only occupies a couple offices in the building, basically renting space from the Colombian embassy."

And:
http://boards.straightdope.com...
"The "B" implies that the embassy occupies one of the floors, not the entirety of number 3. Which floor depends on how they are labelling them. The usual way in the UK would be for the ground floor to be plain "3", then the next floor up "3A" etc. Now, it looks like this building has a mews level, so who knows, it may just be the one floor above ground level, rather than the second."

So, it seems possible the Ecuadoran embassy subpart of the building has no roof access.

If it gets a 2/3 majority vote, the bill becomes law anyway.

On the second vote. It doesn't matter if the first vote is unanimous, the president can still veto. It was unclear what you meant by "it" - the overide veto vote or the initial vote.

http://boards.straightdope.com...

why does living in England exclude you from understanding tipping? Is this a serious question, or a troll?

According to that bastion of incontrovertible knowledge, 10% tipping is customary in the UK (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_%28gratuity%29)

Don't care for wikipedia? How about the arrogant Cecil? http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Yet another link claims the practiced started in English bars. http://www.billshrink.com/blog...

if you don't like any of the above explanations you can always google your own...

Temperature? Peace of cake! Nasty insect born diseases and drastically reduced supply of food and fresh water? There will be a much less than 6 billion of us left after it all goes down.

Meh, so we will have to reevaluate the toxicity of DDT again.

Geiger counters are fun. You scare the crap out of people by walking around with one set to a very sensitive scale with the speaker on full.

Coleman lantern mantles will set that puppy off big time http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p...

The story was someone couldn't make it past a radiation monitor (and no reason why). Questioning them it was found they had been camping that weekend and changed out a mantle.

Now the mantles are used as sources, or show the public common things that are radioactive http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Interesting; more interesting is the amount of debate on the topic.

Here's a couple links that all show different opinions of the potential dangers:

http://jalopnik.com/5937778/ho... (good one, has link to an actual study)

http://www.straightdope.com/co... (OK source, no study links but dude seems to know his stuff)

http://www.godlikeproductions.... (buncha freakin' morons, but worth reading so you can laugh at them)

That's a myth. http://www.straightdope.com/co...

This article makes it sound like the inability to afford food ends when you graduate.

But then grocery stores that gouge customers who don't have club cards or that charge confiscatory prices for food that is so plentiful we pay farmers not to grow it is a subject very much like liquor stores in poor neighborhoods.

You're not allowed to talk about it.

Some links from the Straight Dope... entertaining reading..

http://www.straightdope.com/co...
http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Some links from the Straight Dope... entertaining reading..

http://www.straightdope.com/co...
http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Placebos are more effective than prescribed antidepressants.

You are misinterpreting what you probably heard somewhere.

http://www.straightdope.com/co...

A review of 177 studies involving more than 24,000 depressed patients found placebos alleviated symptoms in 38 percent, while antidepressants reduced them in 46 percent. Psychotherapy alone reduced symptoms in 47 percent, about the same as antidepressants but usually at higher cost. Best of all was combining antidepressants and psychotherapy, with a 52 percent success rate.
A review of 96 studies published from 1980 to 2005 concluded the placebo effect was likely responsible for 68 percent of the improvement seen in patients taking antidepressants. Another review pegged it at 84 percent. What's more, the placebo effect appears to be growing over time.
Some research says there's no medicinal benefit. A European study of "active placebos" (where the placebo mimicked the drug's side effects) found no significant difference between placebos and antidepressants. The latter were just particularly persuasive fakes.

The fact that the placebo effect is increasing the more they keep prescribing them is most likely due to overprescription of antidepressants to misdiagnosed patients.
When you treat everything with an antidepressant of course it will eventually show the same (or even lesser) effect as placebo - CAUSE YOU'RE NOT TREATING THOSE ACTUALLY DEPRESSED.

Same thing would happen if they started putting people's arms and legs in casts for every single bruise.
It would show that in most cases, immobilization via plaster cast is no better than placebo as a treatment for healing injured arms and legs.

The fact that they are achieving similar results with psychotherapy alone indicates that those are not people with chemical or hormonal issues.
They are probably just "sad" and not clinically depressed at all. OR... looking for a "high".
They go to a psych, fill out a questionnaire and answer "yes" when asked if they are depressed.
Or answer a question. Same thing.

Same method is used to determine if those pills worked - they fill out a questionnaire and answer "yes".
If they used that method for diagnosing cancer, everyone who ever went to a doctor would be diagnosed with cancer.
And there'd be some AMAZING results regarding all the things that completely cure cancer. From foot-rubs to lava lamps.

Excellent, can you get to work on See Spot Run now?
http://www.straightdope.com/co...

Metric calendar would be daft!

I was brought up using the Fahrenheit scale, but I but I now think that in both colloquial & scientific use, Fahrenheit is also daft!

http://www.straightdope.com/co...
[...]
Everybody knows 0 degrees on the Celsius scale is the freezing point of water and 100 degrees is the boiling point. On the Fahrenheit scale, however, freezing is 32 degrees and boiling 212. How on earth were these numbers arrived at? Do 0 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit mean anything?
[...]

No.
At best, half-true.

As long as the information you give (which constitutes testimony or confession) is not coerced, it's admissable.
If it is however coerced, then it's not admissable.

So the question is "does the lie constitute coercion?"

In Fazier vs Cupp, "Your cousin already confessed", no.
In Lynumn v. Illinois, "Financial aid for your infant children will be cut off, and your children taken from you, if you don't 'cooperate'", yes.

Intrinsic misrepresentations (usually not coercive)
1. Placement of the defendant's vehicle at the crime scene.
2. Physical evidence linked to the victim found in the defendant's car.
3. Discovery of the murder weapon.
4. A claim that the murder victim is still alive.
5. Presence of the defendant's fingerprints on the getaway car or at the crime scene.
6. Positive identification of the defendant by reliable witnesses.
7. Discovery of a nonexistent witness.

Extrinsic misrepresentations (more likely to be coercive)
1. Assurances of divine salvation upon confession.
2. Promises of mental health treatment in exchange for a confession.
3. Assurances of treatment in a "nice hospital" (in which the defendant could have his personal belongings and be visited by his girlfriend) in lieu of incarceration, in exchange for a confession.
4. Promises of more favorable treatment in the event of a confession.
5. Misrepresentations of legal principles, such as (a) suggesting that the defendant would have the burden of convincing a judge and jury at trial that he was "perfectly innocent" and had nothing to do with the offense, (b) misrepresenting the consequences of a "habitual offender" conviction, and (c) holding out that the defendant's confession cannot be used against him at trial.
6. Misrepresentations by an interrogating police officer, who is a close friend of the defendant, that the defendant's failure to confess will get the officer into trouble with his superiors and jeopardize the well-being of the officer's pregnant wife and children.

(credits to Straightdope: http://www.straightdope.com/co... )

If we were so concerned about humane execution we would use the guillotine.

I'm not sure about that. It's been debated whether a person decapitated by guillotine remains conscious for some period after their head is removed. There seems to be conflicting information about this, but I don't think it's clear that beheading by guillotine renders the victim immediately unconscious.

In contrast, execution by electric chair looks pretty gruesome to spectators, but I think I've read that since the current is passed between the victim's scalp and an ankle, the current flowing through their brain polarizes all of the neurons within milliseconds. Their body may be convulsing and smoking, but is their brain functioning at all while it's happening?

Replying to myself... all yous forgot how to google. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=554420. Still don't believe me, do the actual math. Why in the world would think this relationship is liniar is beyond me.

Don't knock this as Homer Simpson level work, beer has shaped history for thousands of years. From the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock to the establishment of trade routes beer has always had it's place.

The idea of beer as somehow being sinful is a bit like the diamond ring, it's essentially a modern invention. Monks in Europe brewed beer for centuries as a bonafide way to make money for the monastery to live on. Any number of religions have brewed and used beer for their religious purposes all over the world, it is literally a mark of civilization. When water was historically often filthy and unfit to drink, it's use as a stock drink for the masses wasn't anything to mess about with. When the colonies were established beer was one of the first priorities for the colonists.

The strain on our Federal budget and perpetual deficit due to things like duck penii studies?

As someone else pointed out above, even if you are in a high tax bracket, you probably paid something like 0.002 cents out of your taxes toward this study. The vast majority of U.S. taxpayers probably paid something on the order of a ten-thousandth or hundred-thousandth of a cent.

Even if this study is bogus, are you really sure this is where you should be directing your focus? I'm all in favor of trimming the federal budget, but you may want to spend a little time figuring out the huge categories of expenses in the federal budget before complaining about something that constitutes something like 0.00001% of it for one year (literally). Many people here have mentioned defense (which takes up roughly 19% of the annual budget, which is about 1,600,000 TIMES the size of this duck study every year, but we could just as easily talk about other expense categories that cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

I read about the shape of their penii from the Daily Beast and I care about how much was spent on researching them because I get the impression from this anecdote and many others how bad we are at controlling waste, pork, and fraud.

We're absolutely TERRIBLE at controlling waste, pork, and fraud. Do have any clue how much money is handed out to random defense contractors every year through inappropriate channels? With just a little Googling, you could come up with dozens of categories of spending that EACH cost tens of thousands of times your duck study every year. Recalling one soldier from Afganistan for one year would save roughly 2.5 times as much as your duck study.

I think you're absolutely right that there's a huge amount of waste and corruption. However, directing your anger at legitimate scientific inquiry, which is already severely at risk within the federal budget, is a bit odd -- if your goal really is to save taxpayers a significant sum of money.

Also, by the way, your Daily Beast article actually argues that the duck research is legitimately interesting. From the little I know, I agree. I'm not a biologist, but I heard about the strange properties of duck phalluses years ago -- long before this study -- and it wouldn't surprise me if studying them would produce some unique insights into reproduction, perhaps far beyond just ducks or birds. Just because you're too ignorant to imagine that such research might be useful, it doesn't mean that it isn't. There are all sorts of reproductive issues in the world these days, from endangered species who aren't reproducing property to falling human birth rates in developed countries, and I'll trust the experts to know whether this research could be helpful.

Lastly, if you want to go on some ignorant screed about something, take a few minutes and at least learn to spell the topic you're discussing. The plural of "penis" is "penises," as you can see in your Daily Beast article. If you insist on using the Latin plural, it is "penes" (since it's a 3rd declension noun), but you won't find that except in very old medical textbooks. "Penii" is just something ignorant people say when they're trying to look smarter than they are.

>Priuses (Prii?)

'Priuses' is the only plural that makes sense. 'Prius' *is* a Latin word from the start - Wikipedia says that its correct plural form is 'priora', with caveats. Latin is a tricky language and any guess is likely to be unluckly. Stick to English plurals when in doubt, and see http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2139/what-is-the-plural-of-penis for an entertaining and insightful read on the topic.

While I'm at it: 'penii' is wrong, and 'virii' is completely, utterly wrong. Viruses and penises are great, see the article for the actual Latin plural of penis (there is no such thing for 'virus').