The Straight Dope 12/12/2003

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 12/12/2003

Dear Cecil:

What's the story on Leo Strauss? My extremely limited
knowledge of this guy is that he was a crackpot political
philosopher given to perverse readings of Plato and
Aristotle, who nonetheless attracted a cult following of
students. Now I read in a recent issue of Newsweek that one
of the Bush administration apparatchiks who fed information
to Dick Cheney is a Straussian and that Strauss believed in
the "noble lie," the implication being that the search for
weapons of mass destruction was a pretext to drag Cheney,
Dubya, and us into the war in Iraq. A quick search on the
Internet reveals wide belief that a Straussian
neoconservative cabal is pulling the strings in Washington.
It sounds bizarre, but these are bizarre times. What's
going on? --Justin P., Bellingham, Washington

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Cecil replies:

Bizarre is right, brother. This is beyond a doubt the
strangest period in American history of which I have
personal knowledge--and I lived through the Nixon 
administration. While I don't buy the idea that an
Illuminati-like cult is behind our current adventures abroad,
I'm sure that when the story of this era is written, Strauss
and his disciples will merit a long footnote.

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was born and educated in Germany,
relocated to the UK in 1934, then emigrated to the U.S. in
1937. After lecturing for several years at the New School
for Social Research in New York, in 1948 he accepted a post
at the University of Chicago, where he spent most of the
rest of his career. A charismatic teacher, he attracted a
coterie of brilliant students, many of whom became prominent
neoconservative thinkers and polemicists; a sizable number
of Strauss devotees have served in Republican
administrations, starting with Reagan and continuing through
Bushes I and II. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/031212.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

What happens to an ant that gets separated from its colony?
Does it find a new home? Can it live on the streets like
homeless people do? I am interested because I have an ant
farm and would like to create an ant version of
"Survivor." --Schwartztrauber

SDSTAFF Doug replies:

If a worker ant gets separated from its colony, it's doomed. 

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

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 06/28/1974

Dear Cecil: 

I can't for the life of me figure out why tennis scoring
is so screwed up. First you get fifteen, then thirty, and
just when you think there's a pattern developing, the
next point is called forty. I've been asking all the
"experts," but they all just shrug and mumble. What do you
say, Cecil? --Mary C., Phoenix

Dear Mary:  

There's a reason for everything, my dear--not necessarily
a good reason, but a reason just the same. Tennis scoring
has its origin in medieval numerology. The number 60 was
considered to be a "good" or "complete" number back then,
in about the same way you'd consider 100 to be a nice
round figure today. The medieval version of tennis,
therefore, was based on 60--the four points when 15, 30,
45 (which we abbreviate to 40) and 60, or game. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_304a.html

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