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| Preface | |
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| Why Did Pirates Love Parrots? | |
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| Why Do Packing Peanuts Come in Such Strange Shapes? | |
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| Why Can't You Buy Grape Ice Cream? | |
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| Why Don't You Ever Hear Giraffes Vocalize? Do They Ever Make a Sound? | |
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| Why Do Some Slot Machines Use Fruit Symbols? | |
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| Why Does Lightning Have a Zigzag Pattern? | |
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| Why Do Men Have Domain Over the Family Barbecue? | |
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| Why Do Bats Roost Upside Down? What Prevents Them from Falling Down? | |
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| Why Are Most Bibles Printed in Two Columns? | |
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| Why Do Bottles Have Necks? | |
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| Why Is the Pitcher's Mound Elevated on a Baseball Diamond? And Come to Think of It, Why Is There a Pitcher's Mound in the First Place? | |
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| Why Are Most Psychics Women? | |
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| Who Was Monterey Jack, and Why Is a Cheese Named After Him? | |
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| Why Is the Moon Sometimes Visible During the Day? | |
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| How Do They Get the Paper Tag into Hershey Kisses? And Why Are They Called Kisses? | |
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| How Does the Vending Machine Know When It's Sunday and That the Newspaper Is More Expensive? | |
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| What Happens to Olives After the Oil Is Squeezed Out? | |
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| Do Ostriches Swim? | |
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| When You Switch Chairs with Someone, Why Does the Seat Sometimes Feel Warm? | |
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| What Accounts for the Different Shapes of Cheeses? Why Is Cheddar Rectangular While Brie and Provolone Are Round? | |
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| What Does the "D" in D-Day Stand For? | |
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| Why Is an Elephant's "Nose" Called a Trunk? | |
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| Why Are American Football Fields 53 1/3 Yards Wide? | |
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| Why Do Books, Legal and Financial Documents, Manuals, Pamphlets, Musical Scores, and Standardized Tests Sometimes Have Pages That Say: "This Page Intentionally Left Blank"? | |
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| In Bowling, Why Is a Strike on the "Wrong" Side of the Headpin Called a "Brooklyn Strike"? | |
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| Why Are the Number 13 and Friday the Thirteenth Considered Unlucky? | |
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| Since Doughnut Holes Are So Popular, Why Can't We Buy Bagel Holes? | |
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| Is There Any Logic to the Pattern of Train Whistles? Why Do You Often Hear a Signal of Long-Long-Short-Long? | |
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| Why Does Dog Food Have to Smell So Awful? | |
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| In Track Events with Staggered Starts, Why Do the Outside Runners Cut to the Inside Immediately Rather Than a More Gradual, Straight Line? | |
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| Are Brussels Sprouts Really from Brussels? | |
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| How Did They Mark Years Before the Birth of Christ? And How Did They Mark Years in Non-Christian Civilizations? | |
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| Why Are There More Windows Than Rows in Commercial Airlines? Why Aren't the Windows Aligned with the Rows of Seats? | |
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| How Do Audio Cassette Decks "Know" When To Go into Auto-Reverse? | |
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| Do Real Artists Line Up the Object To Be Painted by Putting Up the Thumb of Their Outstretched Arm? If So, Why? | |
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| Why Does Store-Bought Bread Often Have Two Mounds on Top with a Channel in Between? | |
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| Why Does Water Vapor in the Sky Clump into Clouds Instead of Diffusing Evenly Throughout the Atmosphere? | |
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| Why Is Carbonated Water Called Club Soda? | |
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| Why Are There Holes in the Deposit Envelopes for Automated Teller Machines? | |
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| Why Do Women's Hips Sway When They Walk? Is This Intentional? | |
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| Unimponderables-What Are Your Ten Most Frequently Asked Irritating Questions (FAIQ)? | |
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| Why Do Drive-Up ATMs Have Braille Markings? | |
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| Do Blind People Dream? If So, Do They Dream in Color? | |
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| Why, Unlike Other Sports, Do Baseball Managers Wear the Same Uniform as the Players? | |
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| How Many Licks Does It Take To Get to the Center of a Tootsie Pop? | |
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| How Does the Hair on Your Head and Chin Know To Grow Long, But the Hair on Your Eyebrows or Arms Stays Short? | |
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| Why Do We Park on Driveways and Drive on Parkways? | |
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| Why Do They Use Sterilized Needles for Lethal Injections to Prisoners? Why Do They Use Rubbing Alcohol on Their Arms? | |
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| Why Did Kamikaze Pilots Wear Helmets? | |
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| Why Are "Black Boxes" Orange? | |
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| If You Can Answer the Questions in Your Book, Shouldn't They Be Called "Ponderables" Instead of "Imponderables"? | |
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| Why Do the U.S. and Other Navies Use a Fouled Anchor as Their Symbol? | |
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| Why Are Computer Circuit Boards Green? | |
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| Why Do Wet Dogs Go Out of Their Way To Shake Off the Moisture in Front of Their Master? | |
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| Why Is a Square Boxing Area Called a "Ring"? | |
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| Why Does Iced Tea Get Cloudy? | |
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| What's Medicinal About a Medicine Ball? And What Do They Stuff in Medicine Balls To Make Them So Heavy? | |
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| What Is the White, Usually Oval Patch Found on the Bottom of McDonald's Hamburger Buns? | |
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| Why Do Some Places, Such as Newfoundland, Australia, India, and Parts of the Arab World, Have Half-Time Zones? Why Do Some Large Countries Have Only One Time Zone? | |
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| How Did the Candy Snickers Get Its Name? | |
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| Why Do Motorcyclists, Especially Those Riding Harley-Davidsons, Rev Their Engines While Waiting at Stoplights? | |
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| Why Are Salmon Pink? | |
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| Why Do Parrots and Other Birds Mimic Human Speech and Other Sounds? | |
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| Why Are Portholes Round? | |
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| Now We Know Why Ships' Portholes Are Round. Why Are Airplane Windows in the Passenger Cabins Oval? | |
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| Why Don't Trains Have Cabooses Anymore? | |
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| Do Birds Sweat? | |
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| Why Is the Earth's Core Still Hot? | |
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| Why Do More Men Snore Than Women? | |
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| Why Do Vultures "Waste Time" by Circling Their Dead Prey Instead of Swooping In and Chowing Down Immediately? | |
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| What's the Purpose of the "SysRq" Key on Most Computer Keyboards? | |
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| Why Do Taxicab Drivers Often Put Their Car in Park While Waiting at a Stoplight? | |
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| Where Do Telephone Companies and Utilities Obtain Telephone Poles? Are They Special Logs? | |
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| Why Do Telephone Poles Extend Far Above the Highest Wire or Crosspiece? | |
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| Why Does a Can of Diet Coke Float in Water While a Can of Coca-Cola Sinks? | |
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| Why Do Male Figure-Skating Announcers on Television Wear Tuxedos? | |
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| Why Is It More Tiring To Stand Than To Walk? Why Is It Hard To Stand Still on Two Legs? | |
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| If Thanksgiving Is a Harvest Celebration, Why Is It Held in Late November? | |
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| Why Do Self-Service Gas Stations Usually Disable the Automatic Handle on Gas Pumps? | |
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| Can Women Use "Just For Men" Hair Coloring? | |
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| Drug Labels List Active and Sometimes "Inactive" Ingredients. What Are Inactive Ingredients and Why Are They Used If They Don't Do Anything? | |
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| Why Do Peanut Butter Cookies Have Crisscross Marks on Them? | |
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| Do Starfish Have Faces? | |
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| Why Do We Often Find a Folded-Up Piece of Tissue Paper Inside One of a Pair of Men's Dress Socks? | |
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| Updates | |
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| Why Do Fish Eat Earthworms? Do They Crave Worms or Will Fish Eat Anything That Is Thrust upon Them? | |
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| What Exactly Are We Smelling When We Enjoy the New-Car Smell? | |
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| Why Do Mosquitoes Seem To Like Some People More Than Others? | |
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| Why Do We Wave Polaroid Prints in the Air After They Come Out of the Camera? | |
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| Why Are U.S. Elections Held on Tuesday? | |
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| Why Can't We Tickle Ourselves? | |
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| Why Aren't There Any Miniature House Cats? | |
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| Does Anyone Really Like Fruitcake? | |
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| Why Do Older People Tend To Snore More Than Younger People? | |
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| Why Are the Sprinkles Put on Ice Cream and Doughnuts Also Called Jimmies? | |
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| Why Is Yawning Contagious? | |
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| Is There Any Logic to the Numbers Assigned to Boeing Jets? What Happened to the Boeing 717? | |
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| Why Did They Take Away Red M&M's? Why Have They Put Them Back Recently? | |
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| Why Do Horses Sleep Standing Up? | |
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| When Do Fish Sleep? | |
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| Why Don't Crickets Get Chapped from Rubbing Their Wings Together? | |
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| Why Does Looking Up at the Sun Cause Many People To Sneeze? | |
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| Inbox | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Help! | |
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| Index | |