The Straight Dope 10/15/2004

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 10/15/2004

Dear Cecil:

What's up with popups? I don't mean the thing that happens when a batter
gets too far under a fastball, I mean those maddening advertising
windows that crowd your computer screen when you surf the Web. It can
take several minutes to swat down the lot of them, giving that animated
bimbo--you know the one--a chance to launch into her
nails-on-a-blackboard spiel about
did-you-ever-wonder-why-your-computer-runs-faster-etc. How can
infuriating potential customers in this manner possibly sell product?
More to the point, why can't I turn these goddamn things off?--Mike
Sharrock, Saint Paul, Minnesota

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Cecil replies:

Mike. Take a deep breath. Although you evidently haven't noticed it, the
era of the popup may be coming to an end. I say "may" because one can
never underestimate the ingenuity of Web marketers and the evil
programming wizards in their employ. For now, though, downtrodden users
such as yourself are getting a break, mainly because popups (not to
mention popovers, popunders, and other variants) have ticked off so many
people that the heavy hitters in the business have come to their aid.
We'll get to that in a bit. First, the basics:

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041015.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #1 -  07/17/1987

Dear Cecil:

This question has gnawed at me since I was a young boy. It is a question
posed every day by countless thousands around the globe and yet I have
never heard even one remotely legitimate answer. How much wood would a
woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? --R.F.B., Arlington,
Virginia  

Dear R.:  

Are you kidding? Everybody knows a woodchuck would chuck as
much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck
wood. Next you'll be wanting to know why she sells seashells by the
seashore. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_083a.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #2 - 08/21/1987

Dear Cecil: 

Have you ever considered the puzzle of doubling ancestors? Everybody has
two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, and so on back
through time, with the number of ancestors doubling in each generation.
Go back 30 generations and the number of ancestors tops one billion.
Eventually we arrive at a time when we have more ancestors than there
could have been people in the world. How can this be? Common sense, not
to mention the book of Genesis, suggests the human race started off with
a handful of individuals whose numbers steadily increased. What are the
implications of these two surging numerical tides, ancestors and
descendants, butting head to head? Enclosed is a $10 check for the
trouble of a personal reply. --George M., Monrovia, California  

Dear George:  

You ask a question as cosmic as this one and you think a lousy
sawbuck is going to cover it? Keep your money until you can fork over
some real cash. The ancestor puzzle has its explanation in what one
genealogist has called "pedigree collapse." This occurs when relatives,
usually cousins, marry, in effect narrowing the family tree.
(Fortunately for the gene pool, most of the cousins are only distantly
related.) When this happens you find that many of the "slots" in a given
generation of your family tree are filled by duplicates.   

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_083b.html

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