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It seems to me that even at my age, life is an endless series of questions. I am forever looking up words in the dictionary. Since the number of words in everyday usage is large but probably not huge, you'd think I had pretty well learned them all by now, no? The American English Language has sayings and idioms. While most of us know and understand most of them, often they provoke other questions for me. Sometimes, our society operates in strange ways, and I wonder why.

In this page, I have put forth a few of my questions, and I'd be happy to correspond with you regarding them. I guess this list will be under construction permanently, and I'll just add new questions to the end as they come to me. Thus, the questions are in no particular order. I'll modify the revision number and date at the bottom of the page each time I add a question.

If any conversations result from questions on this list and the results seem to be interesting, I'll include links to those conversations or summaries.

There is no intended order or precedence for these questions. They just pop into my head when I think of things. Some are questions only because I don't understand the subject. I think some are questions because maybe no one understands the subject. Please don't take any of them as argumentitive.

"Why do we call it 'Fathers' Day?'" It has always seemed to me that becoming a father is very easy. We males require no training, it feels really good while you are doing it, and it doesn't take very long. On the other hand, it is much harder to be 'Dad,' and it takes the rest of your life. I've always thought we should rename it to "Dads' Day." While becoming a Mother takes longer than Father, Mom's may have similar views.

"Why is there a 'cap' on FICA taxable wages?" Social Security is said to be headed for bankruptcy. When it will get there depends on whose agenda you listen to, but there seems to be no doubt that at some point in the future, near or far, there will not be enough money to pay all of the eligible people at the current benefit rates. Near the end of my employment, my salary had risen enough that right at the end of the year, we got a couple of paychecks with no FICA deduction, and that slowly backed up in the year until it was 5 or 6 paychecks by the time I retired. Now, that was certainly nice of course and I didn't volunteer to give the extra money back. However, I have never understood why all wages aren't taxable.

"What would happen to Social Security's solvency if that cap were eliminated?" I am sure that eliminating the cap would be hailed as a "tax increase," and whoever proposed it would undoubtedly be vilified, even though it would be a very progressive tax ... the wealthier you are, the more dollars you pay. But in fact, my question is just, "What would the fiscal effect be if the cap were removed?" It is never discussed.

"Where does the term 'Dog Pile' come from?" When our kids were little, I would wrestle with them on the floor or grass. It was especially fun for them because I'm ticklish, and usually when adults wrestle with little kids, it's the kids that get tickled. It often began with the cry, "Dog pile on Dad!" I've never seen or heard of dogs jumping into a pile.

"In terms of service in the US Military, how come John Kerry was a 'bad guy' and George Bush is seen as a 'good guy' by so many Americans?" In our recent 2004 presidential election, a man who volunteered to serve in the regular military in combat, and who was injured at least once ended up the bad guy in terms of his military service in the eyes of many Americans. A fellow who never saw combat, who disobeyed the orders of his commander, failed to show up for his annual flight physical, and was thus grounded from the only job in the Texas Air Guard he was qualified for is seen by those same Americans as the good guy when it comes to military service. My question has nothing to do with who should be president, who really won, whether either guy is qualified to be President, or anything else like that. I'm only wondering how these two records of military service ended up being ranked by many Americans in what common sense would say is the inverse of how they should have been.

"How did the Bush campaign during the 2000 Republican Primary in South Carolina get away with trashing the military record of Sen. John McCain?" We all know about John McCain's service and patriotism, and you can look above for George's record. And, my question isn't about their actual records, those are what they are. George trashed John's record and got away with it. How?

How was Saxby Chambliss, a legislator who never served in the military, able to successfully trash the patriotism of Sen. Max Cleland, a man who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam?

"Why aren't more Americans concerned about this?"

"Who are the 'Second World Countries?'" I believe the US, Western Europe (at least), Japan, and the like are "First World Countries." Africa is full of "Third World Countries." Why don't we every hear about "Second World Countries?"

Exactly how does Le Tour de France really work? I know it's a race, and it is divided into 'stages', one stage a day, I think. After that, it gets a little cloudy. They all pedal in a tight pack called 'the peleton." The peleton is pretty dense and collisions are frequent. Is that the idea? The guy wearing the yellow jersey won the previous stage, I think. I presume they wash the jersey at night. There are other color jerseys for other achievements but I don't know if those achievements matter. All the people in the peleton get the same time at the end of the stage, but somehow, somebody wins the stage with a better time? Eventually, Lance Armstrong wins the race. I know I'm missing something here. But then, "my game" is hockey and I can easily see that someone could watch the game and never figure out the rules ... or if there are any.

"Where did the current American obsession that everything must be 'fair and balanced' come from?" Not long ago, the editor of our local weekly wrote a short editorial on the "Hidden Human Costs of War." It made the point that while combat can cause life changing physical injuries, it can also injure people emotionally. Trust me, she is correct, and her editorial was brief and well written. The following week, there was a very long letter to the editor decrying the editorial as being "one-sided." It was one-sided, of course -- it was intended to be. The editor wanted to make a point, and she did, very well. Whether or not I agree with the point is moot. What's wrong with just making it? Where did we ever get the idea that you have to argue all sides of an issue?

"What does the universe look like to someone on a planet that formed from the 'stuff' that was distant from the 'stuff' that made our solar system?" We all probably have our own image of the Big Bang that started our universe. When the universe was the size of a basketball and expanding, everything in it was close together. However, some of the primordial stuff was not at the center (that would be where we were in the picture I have in my mind). As the universe expanded, this "stuff" got farther and farther away from us. What does the universe look like to someone on one of those planets that formed from 'stuff' near the edge of the basketball? Can they see the nearest edge of the universe easier than we do? If so, I wonder what it looks like?

"Wouldn't it make more sense that, if I travel backward in time, I am in that earlier time as the person I was then?" The Hollywood (and literary) standard for time travel is that I get into the time machine, I go backward in time, and I appear in the past as a separate individual, as old as I was when I started the trip. I'm also there at whatever age I was at that time (as is everyone else). Not that I want to go back and relive all parts of my life, mind you! I just don't understand the concept of creating two of me.

"If time travel into the past is ever discovered in the future, and it does allow one to go back and observe the world as an independent person and not a part of it, why haven't we encountered time travelers by now?" It seems that, if the future is infinite as most of us hope, and if travel into the past really is possible, by now someone from the future should have come back to observe us, no?

"Precisely how did/does someone dishonor my (or anyone's) military service by disagreeing with the policies of our government leaders who are all civilians?" Those who spoke against the government policies in Vietnam were said to be dishonoring the service and sacrifices of those of us who were in the military and fighting the war. How can that happen? I created my own record by my own actions. The Air Force said my record was "Honorable" (I have a DD-214 to prove it). It is all history now, fixed in time. How can someone else's actions or statements dishonor it, then or now?

Similarly, exactly how does the marriage of two men or two women 'threaten' my marriage?" Lots of things have threatened my almost 38 year marriage to Andrea. They're the same things that threaten most every marriage -- kids, money, kids, work, teens, military service, teens, etc. My marriage has never been threatened by infidelity, and I am quite sure it has never been threatened by someone else's same-gender marriage, and I'm equally certain it never will be. What then is the exact meaning of the Defense of Marriage Act? Whose marriage is being defended?

"Ever notice that those who say, 'Now is not the time to assign blame' are usually the ones' to blame?" In the wake of the disaster caused by Katrina, with the truly obscene, awful performance of FEMA, both the director (Michael Brown) and his DHS boss (Michael Chertof) said exactly that.

"Why do hot dogs sink when put into cold water, but float after the water and the dogs have heated up?"

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