Unanswered questions

Slate, the online magazine, has an invaluable (or, at least, habit-forming) feature called The Explainer. Now it's running a poll on which so-far unanswered question received this year most deserves answering:

http://www.slate.com/id/2206835/#sb2206929

Two of the questions are musical:

* "Why does some music make you want to shake your butt?"

* "Is it just me, or do all national anthems the world over, no matter how rich and exotic the culture, seem to sound like European marching-band music? Wouldn't one expect China's national anthem be more 'plinky'? Shouldn't Iraq's national anthem sound a little more 'Arab-y'?"

Alas, it appears The Explainer won't be answering those questions. Nurturing sorts will want to assure the 11-year-old that she's not likely to be sucked into a black hole (in the Bermuda Triangle, per another query, or elsewhere). And the prohibitive favorite among voters to date: "Why don't humans have a mating season?"

I voted for butt-shaking music, just to see how The Explainer would deal with it.