Dear Mary Alice: If someone is arrested and given the opportunity to be released on bail, can he/she pay with a personal check or a credit card? Not that I’m planning ahead or anything...this was …

Matmail: One thing I’ve always wondered about is the McDonald's signs that say “Over 65 billion served." Sixty-five billion what? I figure it’s either: (1) items (i.e., Cokes, fries, and the big stuff like Quarter …

Matt, you knower of all knows: I can’t sleep at night because of this, and I need to know. On MTV’s The Real World and Road Rules, it appears as though every now and then …

Attention: Mattfax: I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a large cold front sweep through the plains, but it’s pretty awe inspiring. In 1993, somewhere around the Wyoming state line, my wife and I drove …

Matmail: Did you know that there is a tree with a knot tied in it on the southwest corner of Balboa and Ruffin Road? Check it out. No one believes me till I show them. …

Dear Matt: Why do some cheeses smell like people’s feet and vice versa? 2. Who deduced that the extract from a sheep’s stomach was the missing essential ingredient for cheese making? — Curious, North Park …

Mattman: How come when I put two potatoes in my microwave it takes twice as long to cook them as to cook one? When I put two potatoes in my conventional oven, it doesn’t take …

Dear Mr. Alice: I was contemplating a hot bowl of soup the other day, eager to eat but reluctant to burn my tongue. So of course, I scooped up a spoonful, blew on it a …

Matmail: This weekend we rented the 1980 film The Gods Must Be Crazy. In this film the rhinoceros is depicted as being the “self-appointed fire marshal of the veldt,” and one is actually seen stamping …

Matt: Do plants feel pain? — Marcos, San Diego Mankind has tried, mankind has failed to prove that lettuce shrieks in pain when we tear it up for salad. Peter Tompkins started all this in …

Matmail: Are cockroaches cute when they are babies? Perhaps a better way to phrase it is, are they smaller? Smoother? Less likely to make eye contact? I see various sizes around San Diego sometimes in …

Dear Matthew Alice: Are you real? That is to say, are you actually one person, or are you a group of people under an assumed name? — Name Withheld to Avoid Embarrassment, Clairemont Every decade …

Dear Matt: A three-part question, if you don’t mind. (1) Regarding this new craze of the cute little Macarena dance, where and how did it originate? (2) Is it not true that the trumpet solo …

To: Matmail: My girlfriend contends that Top Ramen is made up of multiple noodles, whereas I maintain that it consists of a single, rather lengthy noodle, which, unfortunately, always seems to break during handling. What …

Dear Mat: Was Mein Kampf ever translated to Hebrew? — Ron, the Net Yes, in part. Adolf Hitler’s 1924 autobiography cum racial hatefest and world-domination plan was in about a dozen languages by 1937. After …

Dear Matt: My friends and I were recently driving over the bay bridge in San Francisco. During the drive, we started thinking about how to escape a sinking car. In the movies, stunt people seem …

We recently heard that eating a meal can affect a person's hearing. After a person has eaten, the sense of hearing is affected, and a person cannot hear as well. Is this true? Why? — …

Dear Matt: What is the record for the most consecutive foul tips in a major-league baseball game? Conceivably a batter could do this for days. I have personally seen seven or eight in a row, …

Moldy oldie clean-up time. First, from a vegan in a quandary. I mean, who can you believe these days? Me, sweetie. Dear Matthew Alice: Being a diehard vegan, I was rather upset when I read …

Dear Matthew Alice: We drink both regular and decaffeinated coffee. We grind them to espresso fineness. But when we make the coffee, it takes twice as long for the decaf to drip through the filter. …

DO -< £ > H H I m £ r~ n m Matthew: I’ve heard from some semi-reliable friends that Edison’s breath is in a container in some museum. Does this qualify for your Famous …

Dear M. Matt: Are the things sold as “baby carrots” (the variety sold in plastic bags) in the grocery store really baby carrots? Or are they regular-sized, adult carrots that have been cut and shaved …

A little old biz on the docket here at the Vastly Superior Court of Last Resort, in re: the People v. O.J. and its peculiar relation to the Goldmans et al. v. O.J. — why …

Dear Mat: Has anyone ever had sex in space? — Curious of North Park Dear Matthew Alice: When a female astronaut is in space, how does her weightless condition affect the process of menstruation, since …

Dear Mr. Alice, This may be a tough one, but I was wondering where the expression “close enough for government work” comes from. I have asked many people over the years but never even got …

Dear Matt: After last summer’s Olympics, we discovered that the 2000 Summer Olympics will take place in Australia. What I would like to know is if it will take place during their summer or during …

Dear Matthew Alice: Why does my dog howl when he hears sirens? What is he saying? — Jake, San Diego Loosely translated, it’s something like, “I’m over here, strange fellow canine. Follow my voice and …

Dear Matt: Why do Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Goofy have only three fingers instead of four? I know Donald Duck has a wing, so that can be drawn with as many fingers …

Dear Matthew Alice: I’ve heard that there’s such a thing as dog years, and that one dog year is the same as seven human years, so is there such a thing as cat years? — …

To: Matmail: While driving around the highways and byways of North County on one of the few days when puffy clouds were scudding by like weightless behemoths, I got to wondering. Exactly how much does …

Dear Brainiac: Who invented the Magic 8 Ball? Has it always been made by Tyco? From where does it get its power? — mattyj, the Net Chris Campbell, Tyco marketing veep, fields incoming Magic 8 …

Matt, My Man: I guess it’s time to cut a firebreak around my home. I hate to clear natural vegetation, but it’s better than having my house burn down. Part of the vegetation is toyon, …

Dear Matthew Alice: A friend and I have had a long-standing argument regarding why the sailors of old pierced their ears. Nowadays everybody and his uncle does it, but I believe it was because, on …

Matt: Do our eyes grow, or are we all born with a full-sized set? — W.B., San Diego The usually all-knowing, all-seeing Matt Alice was blindsided on this one. Growing eyeballs? What nonsense, I figured. …

Dear Mr. Alice: I love crossword puzzles. Someone once told me they were invented during World War II to send coded messages. I think that’s wrong, but I don’t know the real origin. Can you …

Dear Matthew: Do insects sleep? Are there any regular animals that don’t? I guess I mean mammals, birds, and reptiles. — Carolyn Kurtz, Valley Center Well, personally, I haven’t gotten a solid eight hours since …

Matt: How can O.J. Simpson be sued for wrongful death when we legally have to assume he didn’t do it? I can understand such a suit if the criminal court declared him guilty, but he …

To Whom It May Concern: Have you ever noticed that comic readers in San Diego don’t receive the artist’s full comic? Notice the missing panels in “Peanuts” and “Doonesbury” in the enclosed Sunday comics sections …

Dear Matthew: Does handwriting have an accent? I mean, can graphoanalysts tell where you’re from by your writing? — Brian Bosque, San Diego Figure people from the South form big, slow, loopy letters? New Yorkers …

Matthew Alice: A while ago I saw a high-powered hose being sprayed on high-voltage electric line harnesses. Is this bad? I also saw heavy cables being laid into the concrete at Lindbergh Field in a …

Matthew Alice: What is the correlation between all these Christian ministry TV shows and their exaggerated hairdos, outlandish way of dress, and bordello-like sets (i.e., Tammy Faye and the lady with the pink hair)? Does …

Matthew Alice: I was in the ladies’ room at work recently when a few of us began discussing why it is that men have the peculiar habit of taking reading material (magazines, newspapers) into the …

Dear Matt: While my husband and I were watching the Democratic convention, I commented on how Chelsea Clinton had blossomed. I began wondering whether or not she's allowed to date. My husband says absolutely not. …

To: Matmail: Once again we mere mortals approach the sacred oracle at “Straight from the Hip” with a question that has no real purpose except our great thirst for your knowledge. We have a question …

Do bacteriologists, physicians, and persons similarly knowledgeable concerning “germs” lick envelopes, whether from the post office or received in advertising mail? — R.N. Morgan, Hillcrest So you’re suggesting not only are we guaranteed to lose …

Matt: What information is entered into the computer by the customs officer when I return from TJ? What do they do with this information? — Mike888, the Net No surprise, the main thing is your …

Dear Matthew Alice: I don’t understand how loofah sponges work if it takes seven years to completely replace all our body cells. If we scrape them off, how do they come back so soon? — …

To: Matmail: I was born and raised in San Diego and have seen many changes. One thing that has remained constant until recently has been the Stadium Way/Friars Road overpass drummer. I remember as a …

Dear Matthew Alice: The following has been puzzling me for some time now. I have asked numerous friends, and none of them have been able to supply a reasonable response. Why do commercial restroom toilets …

Hello, Matthew Alice, most gracious knower of all things far and wide: I heard that the word “honeymoon” has its origins in ancient Icelandic culture. Mead (wine made from honey) was the customary drink for …