The Straight Dope 11/19/2004

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 11/19/2004

Dear Cecil:

I have a friend who continually insists that various historical figures
were pedophiles. She's made accusations against such diverse notables as
Richard the Lion-Hearted, William Wallace, Julius Caesar, and James
Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. I find the accusation against such a
beloved figure as Barrie particularly objectionable. I put it to you, O
Great Dispenser of Wisdom: Was James Barrie a buggerer? --Pufnstuff, via
e-mail

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Cecil replies:

One might have phrased this a bit more delicately, Puf. Then again,
what's the point? With the release of Finding Neverland, a film about
the story behind Peter Pan starring Johnny Depp as Barrie, it's
certainly the first question a lot of people will ask. So here's the
answer: I don't think so. Of course, that's what I said about another
guy with an unusual interest in kids, Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis
Carroll), right before those pictures of naked little girls showed up.
However, I deal in the world of what's known.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041119.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I went fishing for salmon for the first time in my life last year in
Washington along a beautiful quiet river with about 100 or so other
anglers. Besides depositing beer cans, cigarette butts, fish guts, fast
food trash, hundreds of yards of fishing line and multitudes of hooks,
etc., I quickly noticed that due the rocky nature of the stream bottom
anglers commonly broke their lines several times per session. Most of
these "sportsmen" used lead weights on the end their lines. Considering
that this has been happening every year for 30 (?) years or so there is
probably a truckload of submerged lead lurking there. Does this practice
pose a risk to the environment? Is lead really the most suitable
material for this endeavor? --Mike

SDSTAFF Una replies:

Two things you might find surprising: First, lead fishing weights have a
long history--the Egyptians used lead net sinkers 5,000-7,000 years ago
(reference 2). Second, perhaps the greatest danger posed by lead fishing
tackle is neither to fish nor humans, but to birds.

The effect of lead shotgun shot on the environment has been studied for
some time. Large die-offs of waterfowl due to lead poisoning were first
reported in the late 1800s (reference 5) and continued through the next
century, eventually prompting the 1991 Federal ban on the use of lead
shot in hunting. However, the impact of lead fishing tackle has not been
as well studied, perhaps due to the belief that the enormous amount of
lead shot put into the environment by hunters far outweighed any impact
from fishing. According to research by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service published in the mid-1980s, about 3,000 tons of lead shot were
discharged by hunters into the environment annually (reference 4).
Reference 2 claims the amount is even larger:

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfishsinkers.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 10/30/1987

Dear Cecil: 

Why haven't they found a way to concentrate sound waves the way lasers
do with light? -- Jim C., Portsmouth, N.H.

Cecil replies:

This is surely kismet, Jim. Most physicists whom one approaches on this
question go on about light and sound being fundamentally different
phenomena, and say that "stimulated emission of radiation"--the essence
of lasers--has no counterpart in the world of audio. However, shortly
after your letter arrived, I received a note from Stephen Wilson, Ph.D.,
of Applied Intelligent Systems in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which holds out
some hope. Steve takes issue with the discussion in my book, The
Straight Dope: A Compendium of Human Knowledge, on whether, if all one
billion Chinese yelled at the top of their lungs at once, we could hear
them in the U.S. (See "If all Chinese jumped at once, would cataclysm
result?") I thought the question too dumb to be worth answering, but
Steve offers the following conjecture:

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_114.html

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