Email Author Marty Smith

2002 Stories by Marty Smith

• The Ask Master

  published August 28, 2002

  If you really were from Southern Illinois, you'd know that the Surface Mining Reclamation and Control Act of 1977 set strict environmental... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published August 21, 2002

  How can you tell when buttermilk has gone bad? Cookbert Well, if it starts hanging out with questionable... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published August 14, 2002

  During the recent national obsession with the fate of those trapped miners, it occurred to me: Why don't environmentalists get more upset... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published August 7, 2002

  Someone at a party recently told me that the world's finest—and most expensive—coffee is made of beans which are eaten and then,... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published July 31, 2002

  There is one "real practical advantage" to wearing a baseball cap backward [The Ask Master, July 11], as opposed to the standard... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published July 24, 2002

  Why does Starbucks call its coffee sizes short, tall, grande, and venti? What happened to small, medium, large, etc.? More >>

• The Ask Master

  published July 17, 2002

  Regarding your response to Baffled in Belltown: For decades, glib writers, stuck-up wine stewards, and 98-point-cherry-picking collectors... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published July 10, 2002

  Is there any real practical advantage to wearing a baseball cap backward? Doctor Demento That's right, kids,... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published July 3, 2002

  Why is white zinfandel so popular? Not only is it embarrassing, it doesn't even taste good. Baffled in... More >>

• The Ask Master

  published June 26, 2002

  Why is it that commercial success and media attention only happen to people after (and exactly to the extent that) they begin to... More >>