• Are green potato chips poisonous?
• Does using a gasoline-powered lawn mower produce as much pollution as driving an SUV 300 miles?
• Why do clouds of gnats always hover around a fixed point in mid-air?

Have you ever wondered about such conundrums, but despaired of ever learning the answer? Well, despair no more. Cecil Adams will use his superior intelligence and amazing talents of investigation, and tell you “The Straight Dope.”

Think of a snopes.com with a somewhat sarcastic, but very funny, twist, and you have Adams’ blog. With the byline, “Fighting Ignorance Since 1973 (it’s taking longer than we thought),” you know it’s got to be worth your time.

Cecil Adams is a syndicated newspaper columnist who’s work appears in 30 newspapers in the US and Canada. He’s published five books and has a TV program available on the A&E cable network. How did I manage to miss this guy for so long?

The scope of questions that Adams answers is truly mind-boggling. From history (In 1776, why didn’t soldiers use bows and arrows instead of muskets? ) to science (Do bees poop in their honey?) to health issues (Is radiation from the new airport security scanners endangering my health?) to the just plain weird (Are Americans dumber than Europeans?), Cecil knows all.

In a couple of hours wasted spent researching the website, one of my favorite articles was What are sweetbreads really?, though I also really liked the one about gnats (above).

Next time you want to take a break and enjoy some entertaining reading, I highly recommend you check out “The Straight Dope.”