Matt: Okay, so I’m driving along. It could be Anytown USA. Sun is out. Gotta have the sun out. I’m wearing my shades. I notice that a lot of cars around me have these weird …

Dear Matthew Alice: Are there any saints in the Bible? I don’t recall reading about Saint Abraham or Saint Lot. A Catholic friend said that Peter was the first pope and thus the first person …

Mr./Ms. Matthew/Alice: Perhaps you could resolve a lingering dispute between a friend and me. He insists that armadillos cross streams by holding their breath and walking along the bottom until they reach the other side. …

Dear Matthew Alice: In the movie Fargo, Margie’s husband, Norm, is painting in a competition for wildlife postage stamps. Is this something artists get paid for or work worth doing because of the honor of …

To: Matmail: The City of San Diego owns how many golf balls? — A. Pismo Clam, La Jolla Okay, I’ll bite. My answer is zero, but something tells me Senor Clam is already preparing his …

Dear Mat: Since even a minute quantity of somebody’s blood can be analyzed to determine the person’s DNA, what happens when somebody’s entire blood has been replaced by someone else’s blood during a transfusion? — …

Dear Matthew Alice: I lived in Pennsylvania in the 1960s. One of the things that I remember about the place is that there were underground coal fires that had been burning for years. Have they …

Dear Matthew: A cocktail waitress at Milligan’s told me that a maraschino cherry will stay in your stomach for four years. Something to do with the preservatives. This seems unlikely, at best, but it raises …

Last December, my wife and I successfully completed the adoption of a baby boy from an Eastern Bloc country. We have both decided that he is officially the cutest child in the entire world. In …

Matt: I just read somewhere that California has an official state dance, the Western Swing. Can this be possible? — M.J., San Diego In Sacramento, all things are possible. But right at the top, to …

Mr. Alice: When and where did the displaying of one’s middle finger to another originate, AND is there an “official” or “proper” name for the gesture, AND how did it come to represent expressions of …

Hi, Matt: From time to time you hear about people amputating their own leg or arm in an emergency. That makes me wonder, if somebody with no training can cut off a limb and survive, …

For Matthew Alice: I seldom see daddy longlegs, but when I do, they are in the bathtub. Is there an explanation? — Lynne, San Diego As if it were any of our business, Lynne, you …

Dear Matthew Alice: A while ago I was at home when, as I strolled by the phone, it rang. I picked it up and said, “Hello?” Almost instantaneously, a female voice at the other end …

Hey, Matt: I own four Bichon Frise dogs, and we get tons of hair when we comb them. It’s real soft and luxurious, and the wife and I have often remarked on how it would …

Matmail: At the old Pioneer Cemetery, or what's left of it, in Mission Hills there are several headstones with “Woodmen of the World” engraved on them. The Woodmen emblem sports crossed axes on a tree …

Dear M. A.: My friend Ernie says the list of “Production Babies” in the credits for Toy Story refers to all the kids born during the production of the film. I think it lists the …

To Matmail: The boys and I in the sheet metal shop were trying to determine the difference between virgin and regular wool. What gives? — Mike Malone, [email protected] The royal family had Princess Di inspected …

I Dear Matthew Alice: I’ve always wondered, how do they make those snowball things, where you have a scene in a bubble and it snows when you tip it over? And what do they use …

Matthew Alice: Who, specifically, was driving the car when JFK was assassinated? What was his name? What happened to the car? How about the items that were in JFK's pockets? And his suit? Just need …

Dear Matthew: Why do dogs cock their heads to the side when they are confused or intrigued? This is a serious question. A puppy did this to my wife recently when she spoke to him …

Matt: If Barbie was a real person, what would her measurements be? — DJ, Del Mar Thirty-seven-year-old Barbie is still 5'6" tall, nearly 50 percent leg, and measures an anatomically grotesque 38-18-33, same as she …

Dear Mr. Alice: When I was but a tyke, an observant friend pointed out a strange sight, one I always look for even to this day. We were heading south on 5, between 52 and …

Dear Matt: Does an empty tank of helium weigh more than a full one? Tanks. — Vik, La Mesa Now that you’ve gotten that weighty question off your mind, is your head a little lighter? …

A queen-size bed is 60 inches wide by 80 inches long. A standard king-size bed is 78 inches wide by 80 inches long. You gain a whole foot and a half of stretch-out room. A …

Oh One of Endless Knowledge: In a recent musical-intellectual discussion, it was brought to our attention by a colleague that in the song “Love Rollercoaster” by the Ohio Players there can be heard a blood-curdling …

Matmail: Where did the term “spamming” come from? I assume it has something to do with the canned meat, but what? — Marika, San Diego “Spamming,” for you pencil-pushers, is the mass distribution of an …

Dear Matthew Alice: Why is it that when I bomb my house for bugs, the dead ones are always on their backs? — J.A., La Mesa Those bombs attack the bugs’ nervous systems, and they …

Matt: If someone is executed by guillotine, would he retain consciousness for a short time after the blade fell? Would he see the basket rushing toward his face? Would he have a hell of a …

Dear Straight: We've got a bet going around our office that Steve Young was married to Marie Osmond for a short time. Could you please confirm this? — Ken, San Diego No can do, Ken. …

Dear Matthew Alice: I was paying my bills when a question occurred to me that only you could answer. Why is it that envelopes that come with bills are always marked “Place Stamp Here” or …

Oh Wise One: What are those blue-green laser lights emanating from an office building in UTC most nights of the year? Somebody testing communication systems? Bored physics students trying to pick off low-flying aircraft? Answer …

Dear Saint Matt: Help! My husband and I have been arguing over this useless bit of info for four years. According to him and the headstones on the back ridge, Grant Park in Mission Hills …

Dear Matthew Alice: My mother-in-law told me she believes her father got Parkinson’s disease from a flu shot. I think it sounds pretty far-fetched. But she insists on it with the same tenacity she asserts …

Matt: Okay. I hope I’m not out of line or anything, but you seem to be the answer guy, and I just gotta know this. Ready? Here goes.... In the movie Pulp Fiction, what was …

Hey, dude: I sent this in October. If there's a holdup, at least e-mail me and tell me, and tell me you don’t know the answer or whatever the problem is. I don’t even care …

Ignoring a deluge of requests, we’ll end the year with our annual pop quiz designed to show you how much smarter you are now than you were 364 days ago — ail thanks to the …

Dear Matt-o-matic: Unable to resist the lure of a good fad, I stopped drinking alcohol several years ago. Now, since I still enjoy at least the illusion of wine with a meal, I sip the …

Dear Matthew Alice: Where did the expression “spring cleaning” come from? Did someone somehow determine that springtime is the best time to thin out our possessions? — Cathy McCormick, San Diego Well, you can bet …

Mr. Alice: There’s a puzzle I’ve had in my mind for a long time. Every time I see those full-page color ads in Parade magazine and other magazines for “collectors plates” and “collectors dolls” and …

Matthew Alice: I’m planning a sailing trip around the world. You’re invited! What is the difference between true north and magnetic north? Do the north and south poles really change polarity? What is dead reckoning? …

Dear Matt: Every time I talk on the phone, my cat rubs against my legs and gets in my face and generally makes a nuisance of herself. What is it about the telephone that she …

Matthew Alice: Everybody has seen that big, black jet in front of the Aerospace Museum, but most people don’t realize that the spy plane is an A-12 model Blackbird, which was piloted by the CIA, …

Matthew: Any truth to what I heard, that British Bobbies were the first to wear sneakers to help them sneak up on Jack the Ripper? —Webwalker, somewhere on the Net Hey, Matt A.: Some of …

Dear Matthew Alice: I have fallen in love with Jewel Kilcher and would like her address and daytime phone. Thank you. — Idey, Blacksmith Union/KCR Then I publish it and she’s so hassled by music …

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 Body Parts file? What information do you have on this? Why would …

Dear Matthew Alice: In The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and the Scarecrow have just befriended the Tin Man, and the characters skip down the path, a cryptic figure among the blue-tinted forest backdrop seems …

Oh Venerable and Sagacious Matthew Alice, Smoother of Furrowed Brow, Soother of Say, I Pray for the Quenching of Query Long Unsettled: I went to high school in Stuttgart, Germany in the late ’60s. At …

Matt: What does the T in T-shirt stand for? — Just Wondering, San Diego T-shirts got all the deep thought they deserve. The T stands for T, the shape of the shirt when spread out …

Dear Matthew Alice: In school I was taught about our five senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. The sixth sense is relegated to inexplicable knowledge or other shadowy mental abilities. I propose that our …