I have heard about this site off-and-on over the years…even perused an article or two in e-mail. But I never realized how handy it could be to have a stupid question answered.
I was looking at the latest copy of Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine (aka, The Devil’s Monthly), when I noticed the cover. There is a power plug being put into an electrical socket. Pretty innocuous. Until you start wondering: “What are those holes in the plug for?” Questions like these drive me mad!
Then, I recalled a conversation I had with Sgt. Grump yesterday about how to find the answer to useless questions. Aha! Enter The Straight Dope. One query of the archives, and I found the article Why are there holes in the prongs of electrical plugs?. I will be able to sleep tonight.
Cecil Adams has been writing a column, answering these kinds of dumb questions since 1973. The Straight Dope was even a TV show on A&E in 1996. (Cecil Adams is a pseudonym, but how can “Solonor Rasreth” hold that against him?)