The Straight Dope 08/08/2003

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The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 08/08/2003

Dear Cecil:
Is there any truth to the rumor that Anne Frank's father
was the person who finished writing his daughter's famous
diary? I recall being told that the original is kept in
a Swiss bank vault and when examined it was discovered
that the last chapters were written in ball point pen, a
writing instrument not invented until after Miss Frank's
death. --Stavok, via the Internet

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Cecil replies:

Depends on what you mean by "finished writing." He certainly
tweaked it, as editors do. But thanks to the unusual
provenance of the document, neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers, and
other unsavory characters have seen fit to scream fraud.

Anne Frank, a precocious Jewish girl whose family emigrated 
in 1933 from the German city of Frankfurt am Main, to 
Amsterdam, began keeping a diary on her 13th birthday, June
12, 1942. On July 6, the day after her older sister, Margot,
received a deportation order to a labor camp, her family
went into hiding in a "secret annex" above her father's
place of business, where they were joined by four other
refugees. On August 4, 1944, three days after the diary's
last entry, police raided the annex and arrested the eight
occupants.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030808.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

Just watched a segment about Stonehenge on a repeat of
"In Search Of . . ." on the History Channel. The show
seemed like a bunch of bunk, sucking up to the
touchy-feely, crystals-and-spirits crowd (with a touch
of "Chariots of the Gods" gobbledygook thrown in to
further muddy the waters). I want to know: What is the
absolute, no-holds-barred Straight Dope on Stonehenge?
--Brad in New York

Guest contributor Antiquarian replies:

It's a calendar, except instead of pictures of shapely
women in bikinis, it's got big chunks of rock. At sunrise
or sunset, you note where the shadows of some stones fall
relative to other stones, and that tells you the date.
The best known alignment is for the summer solstice, a
date of significance to many cultures. Stonehenge is a
favorite of New Age enthusiasts, who imagine it to have
been a Druid temple in the days of the early Britons. I'm
glad you're not buying that. As an archaeologist who has
studied and worked briefly on excavations at Stonehenge,
I can say the significance of the monument goes well beyond
the puerile (and baseless) Druid crystals-and-spirits story.
 
For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mstonehenge.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 01/06/1984

Dear Cecil: 

Why are manhole covers round? --Barry L., Glendale, Arizona

PS: This is no joke.  

Dear Barry:  

Hey, man, the Straight Dope is always serious--it's REALITY
that's a joke. The commonly told story, which may even be
true, is that manhole covers are round so some moron from
Streets and Sanitation, or whatever it is they have out
there in Glendale, won't be able to drop them accidentally
into the manhole.  This may require some thought. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_247a.html
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