The Straight Dope 01/06/2006

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 01/06/2006

Dear Cecil:

It's a staple of ghost stories, horror films, spooky TV shows, and
creepy books. And I suppose for someone with a heart condition, it may
well be true. But can a young, healthy person be literally scared to
death, without any physical cause? --Rebecca S., Seattle

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Cecil replies:

For once fiction writers and doctors agree: it's possible to die of
fright, or for that matter grief, anger, joy, or just about any other
intense emotion. Most victims are older, and likely in precarious health
to start with, but a few are young--in some cases really young. One
British kid, in what is surely a mother's worst nightmare, was
reportedly so freaked out by a visit to the dentist in 1970 that she
died of a heart attack at age four.

Sudden death due to stress has been reported throughout history.
Physician George Engel, in a 1971 review in Annals of Internal Medicine,
notes that in the New Testament the apostle Peter tells Ananias, "You
have lied not to man but to God," whereupon Ananias and later his wife
Sapphira fall down dead. For more recent instances Engel over a six-year
period compiled press accounts of 170 deaths due to "disrupting life
events." Three-fifths involved men, commonly 45 to 55 years old; the
peak age for women was 70 to 75. In 27 percent of cases, the largest
category, the precipitating event involved fear. Examples: "A
63-year-old security guard died after being bound by robbers. . . . A
woman seeing some teenagers outside her apartment beating and robbing a
bus driver died while phoning the police. . . . A 35-year-old man
accused of robbery told his lawyer, 'I'm scared to death!'; then
collapsed and died."

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060106.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #1 - 06/05/1992

Dear Cecil:

Prior to the invention of the flying machine, did people fold paper into
the traditional paper airplane shape and let 'er fly? Or did the
airplane inspire the invention of the paper airplane? --Michael Anstead,
Montreal, Quebec

Dear Michael:

One of your more piquant questions, ain't it?

Presumably you didn't have model railroads until you had railroads. But
not only did model (including paper) airplanes precede airplanes, the
former were an essential step in the development of the latter, and the
histories of the two are inextricably linked.  

Unfortunately, that's about all we can definitively say about paper
airplanes, a subject that is shrouded in obscurity. Deservedly, the
cretins may say, but what do they know? Credit for the first paper 
airplane is generally given to Leonardo da Vinci. This prompted 
Scientific American magazine to name the prize awarded in its 
1967-68 paper airplane contest the Leonardo. But while Cecil does
not want to take anything away from the ultimate Renaissance man 
(I love that sketch of the chunky babe with the grin),
close examination suggests he may not deserve the honor.

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_017.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #2 - 03/06/1992

Dear Cecil: 

How did we arrive at our standardized sizes of 8-1/2x11 inches for
letter paper and 8-1/2x14 for "legal paper"? Was it totally random or
was there some practical reason? --Phillip Raskin, Plantation, Florida

Dear Phillip:

Random, mostly, although you'll hear lots of crackpot theories and lame
jokes. Sample: lawyers use legal size because they need 14 inches to say
what ordinary folks can fit in 11.

Some say legal paper is used because when you're taking notes in a
courtroom you don't have to make noise changing sheets as often. A
likely story, you may say, but we don't really have a better one.

As for letter paper, it's cut from a 17x22 sheet, the mold for which,
legend has it, was the largest a paper maker could conveniently carry in
days of yore. It's claimed Henry VIII standardized this size, called
foolscap, to prevent chiseling by the trade.

Nice try, but the truth is that . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_016.html

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