dear wise folks: many a night i've lain awake, wondering, are there more individual smells about now than there were in prehistoric times? seems to me that as species go extinct they take a whole host of smells with them into the afterlife (how did dodo dandruff smell? did trilobites ever have bad breath?); but, on the other hand, we're always busy making new smells (the smell your toaster makes the first time you use it after a three-week vacation, the chemical aroma of those dodgy handcreams in airplane bathrooms...) if anyone can come up with an equation to solve this question, i'll be so happy.

-- jane (frippett@ekno.com), December 16, 1999

Answers

Dear Jane,

Have you tried Restoril (generic name: temazepam)? It's a short-acting benzodiazepine (think Valium). Conks you right out, but no groggy hangover the next day.

Great for when you're lying awake at night wondering about anything.

cheers,

B

-- Ben (bengreen@ekno.com), December 17, 1999.

Zoloft also helps with the not caring.

-- m (michelep@ekno.com), December 17, 1999.

how did dodo dandruff smell?

I think the concept of dandruft is uniquely a primate concern with the appearance and little more. Thus, birds--extinct or not--would have little concern for minor, but normal, scalp conditions.

did trilobites ever have bad breath?

Since Trilobites lived in water for the most part, I think any concern with their breath is over-rated. Besides, they probably smell like any other fish, if any are still alive (very unlikely being near pre-Cambiran and whatnot).

-- Chris Gillis (cagillis@concentric.net), December 17, 1999.

no wonder your country's in the state it's in. can a country be in a state?

-- jane (frippet@ekno.com), December 17, 1999.