["Ask Marilyn" column from Parade Magazine, 92.Oct.11, pg 12] Dear readers, Each week I receive hundreds of letters, which vary as widely as the people who write them. The following are among those I consider priceless. Why do some men wear blue bikini underwear? -- V.C., El Cajon, Calif. Does water sink or float? -- L.T., Tinley Park, Ill. Why is it that everyone else knows you have bad breath before you do, especially when the nose is only one inch from the mouth? -- B.M., Tempe, Ariz. I want to know if the light in the refrigerator goes out or stays on when the door closes. -- L.H.K., Lewiston, Ind. I want to pass on a neat tip: Used dental floss can be added to soups for healthful fiber reinforcement. -- G.M., Portland Ore. Do fish ever get thirsty? -- B.B., Albuquerque, N.M. Is it possible to video-record dreams? -- Mrs. S.Z., Summit, Ill. Over the years, I've eaten in many Chinese restaurants and noticed that none of them had windows. I have asked at many different Chinese restaurants, and no one seems to know why. Is it for privacy, tradition, or some other reason? Can you help me find out? -- L.R.S., Lincoln Park, Mich. Do fish have necks? (P.S.: Due to legal problems stemming from a divorce, if you must publish the answer, please use a fictitious name and address. Thanks much.) -- F.E.B., Fort Lewis, Wash. How can a family of three make 27 bags of garbage out of six bags of groceries? (P.S.: They *do* eat.) -- R.A.K., Sun Prairie, Wis. What aspirin would you choose if you were stranded on a desert isle? -- S.S., Fort Walton Beach, Fla. After death, will human flesh sunburn? I'm very curious about this. -- D.G.C., Richmond, Va. Do insects survive being flushed down the toilet? -- T.D., Fargo, N.D. This idea has been pestering me off and on for about 20 years. How did the lady bug gets its name? Also, is there a bug called the man bug? -- T.C., Astoria, N.Y. Do hamsters have individual fingerprints the way humans do? -- I.G.A., El Toro, Calif. Will a ceiling fan cool a dog? -- L.B., Vero Beach, Fla. My dog is an Australian shepherd, and I have sometimes wondered what language she would speak if for some strange reason dogs were able to talk. Would she speak the language from which her breed was derived, or would she speak English like my family? If she spoke English, would she have an Australian accent? -- J.P., Juno Beach, Fla. If you empty a swimming pool and fill it with cola, could you swim in it or would you sink to the bottom? -- M.H., Fountain Valley, Calif. How could the Wizard be "of Oz" and also *be* Oz? This has stumped me for a long time. -- C.R., Superior, Wis. Where I work, we had a question about which is older: time or dirt. It told them if anyone knew, Marilyn would know. -- F.J.D., Ambridge, Pa. Do the rules of ethics change every 10 years? If not, how often? -- G.W.S., Washington, D.C. Was Gorbachev the first Soviet leader to weigh more than his wife? -- J.H., Carteret, N.J. Why does some cars' exhaust smell like chicken noodle soup? -- M.L., Stayton, Ore. If all the women in the world sprayed their hair at the same time, how would it affect the O Zone? -- M.H.W., Harrisburg, Pa. If you melt dry ice, can you swim in it without getting wet? -- S.R., Newark, N.J. I'm a gifted student. I want to know how mice were discovered and when. -- J.W., Camp Lejeune, N.C. Why are earlobes the most underrated part of the human body? -- S.C., Brooklyn, N.Y. My question concerns the exact time. I would like to know when (on what date) it was started, where (at what location), how it was determined and who was involved. -- H.T.B., Baltimore, Md. I have a question for which I can't find an answer from either books of knowledge or from my most intelligent friends: Why do my dogs show no interest in television? -- F.E.S., La Mesa, Calif. I've heard that because rabbits have a high body temperature and their body heat dissipates very fast through their long ears, they've been used to heat houses. Can you tell me how many rabbits it would take to heat a three-room apartment when the temperature outside is 45 degrees? -- F.K., Columbia, Md. [from Parade_Magazine, 2001.jul.01] I have a cat that weighs 3 pounds.  If she wants to be picked up, she weighs about that or less.  If she does not want to be picked up, she weighs about 25 pounds.  How do cats do that?"   "I have cobwebs in my basement; however, I have never seen a cob.  What is a cob?"   "Do you believe in the Big Band Theory?"   "How many recycled aluminum cans would it take to build one Boeing 747 jetliner?"   "What is the sex of Twenty Bird?"   "I'll sleep better at night if you could explain why so many things taste like chicken."   "If you sank an elevator shaft through the Earth from the U.S. to Australia and boarded the elevator in New York, would you be standing on your head when the elevator door opened in Sydney?"   and my favorite...   "Is it true that IQ can actually differ dramatically even from day to day?  Is it also true that an IQ can drop even without having children or any other activity that causes brain damage?"