Who gives a hoot about lousy paper in public toilets?

Today’s question: Why do ordinary people seek to buy the softest, sturdiest toilet paper while businesses tend to supply the flimsiest, neartransparent products for public use? If businesses believe they are saving money on cheap T.P., don’t they understand that this crisp, narrow stuff you can read a newspaper through only incites the user to roll out several feet of paper to fold or crumple into a safe density for use? Is this not an example of a false economy? Business people should be smarter than that. Why, oh, why?

I really, really don’t know why you would ask me about this, and I really, really don’t care.

Why don’t you bring this matter up with managers of stores where you patronize the bathrooms?

I’ve been having an argument with a guy online. I say the United States is a democratic republic. He says we’re just a republic. Who’s right?

We are a republic, or, if you like, a federal republic. Although I suppose you can say democratic republic if you like.

We are a republic because we elect representatives to make decisions for us, as opposed to a democracy, in which decisions are made by the people directly though town halls, ballot initiatives or referenda.

How do they determine the exact minute of sunrise and sunset? Is it when the sun first hits the horizon or when it is fully up or down?

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, sunrise and sunset “conventionally refer to the times when the upper edge of the disk of the Sun is on the horizon. Atmospheric conditions are assumed to be average, and the location is in a level region on the Earth’s surface.”