If you could solve one mystery...

[rowech]

Reading about D.B. Cooper again has me thinking, "if I could know the solution (or full truth) to one unknown mystery, what would it be?" So, I figured I would throw it out here for discussion to see if there were any common ones.

[rowech]

Reading about D.B. Cooper again has me thinking, "if I could know the solution (or full truth) to one unknown mystery, what would it be?" So, I figured I would throw it out here for discussion to see if there were any common ones.

I should add, I'm not thinking of just crime mysteries but historical mysteries, etc. as well.

[NobodyHere]

Women

[nol]

It'd be nice to get some closure on the whole Jesus thing.

[Chief Rum]

Jesus? Let's talk important stuff.

Like what did the Pats employee do in the bathroom with Tom Brady's balls?

[HarryLime]

from an aussie perspective..

did a dingo really take the baby?

[Kodos]

What IS Victoria's secret?

[cartman]

How many licks it does take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie roll pop.

[Kodos]

What IS Victoria's secret?

Did she used to be Victor?

[Izulde]

What IS Victoria's secret?

I actually know the answer to this.

And no, I'm not going to tell you.

[Lathum]

JB magics true identity.

[SteveMax58]

Who put the bomp in the bomp da bomb da bomp

[Fonzie]

Where did my hair go?

[ColtCrazy]

I'm torn between finding out about Jack the Ripper or knowing who let the damn dogs out.

[JPhillips]

A definitive answer to the Shakespeare authorship question.

[Shkspr]

I assure you, I write my own material.

[CraigSca]

Easily the origin of the universe - how many there are - what was before the Big Bang, etc.

[Izulde]

A definitive answer to the Shakespeare authorship question.

Funnily enough, one of my students did a research paper on this very question this semester. Haven't read the final draft yet - that's during this weekend's gradeathon.

[EagleFan]

The Uffington White Horse. The Wow! signal. The lost colony of Roanoke. The Mary Celeste. Oak Island. DB Cooper.

Hard to pick from the above.

Either that or I would like to know exactly Why Can't This be Love...

[BYU 14]

Scooby Do where are you?

[Draft Dodger]

Roanoke is a good one, DB Cooper as well. The Maylasia Air thing

I don't believe in any JFK conspiracy, but it would be nice to have that definitively resolved

[Fonzie]

More seriously (and picking up on the Wow! signal/origin of the universe theme), if I could have one mystery answered it would be this: how common is intelligent life in the galaxy/universe? Is the reason we don't see evidence of others because they don't exist? Or because we're not savvy/advanced enough? Is such life common but routinely destroyed via some Great Filter? If there's a Great Filter, is humanity past it yet?

[The Jackal]

Already been said but yeah my first reaction was Roanoke.

[Dutch]

What *was* Willis talkin about?

[cartman]

From the world of crime: The identities of the Zodiac Killer and Jack the Ripper

[NobodyHere]

How does Kevin Costner keep getting work?

[QuikSand]

ping Sidhe

[Kodos]

ping Sidhe

Did the yetis silence Sidhe?

[JPhillips]

Funnily enough, one of my students did a research paper on this very question this semester. Haven't read the final draft yet - that's during this weekend's gradeathon.

Several years ago I directed a play about the controversy called the Beard of Avon. I was doing research at the Folger Shakespeare library and they have no sense of humor about it!

[ColtCrazy]

I agree, Roanoke would be a good one.

Knowing what happened to Jimmy Hoffa, Richard III's nephews, and Henry Hudson

[timmae]

What happened to Patrick Kane's 2010 stanley cup winning puck???

[bbor]

Caramilk secret....how do they get the caramel in there?

[Desnudo]

How many licks it does take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie roll pop.

Answered

How Many Licks Does It Take to Get to the Center of a Lollipop? (http://www.livescience.com/49787-how-many-licks-to-reach-center-of-lollipop.html)

[Ironhead]

Cocky & Funny Answer: What happened to my socks?

Serious Answer: Did the three men who escaped from Alcatraz make it to land or did they drown?

[JonInMiddleGA]

At the risk of being sent boxes of tin foil, the first things that came to mind for me were some of the conspiracy theory items that linger. Specifically the JFK Assassination and, from that, MLK.

In a similar vein, I'd kinda like all those UFO stories to be wrapped up one way or another. Obviously many are hamfisted hoaxes but do ANY of them involve extraterrestrial origin?

[Dutch]

For UFOs I always think back to the Spanish arriving in the new world. In a nutshell, we'd know about it.

[QuikSand]

Well, I know the funny stuff has mostly taken over... but if you're serious about this, I think you need to dial back more than the last few decades or even centuries, and get to the biggest stuff there is.

How did life in our universe and on our planet begin?

Something like that seems like the way to go.

[Dutch]

Well, I know the funny stuff has mostly taken over... but if you're serious about this, I think you need to dial back more than the last few decades or even centuries, and get to the biggest stuff there is.

How did life in our universe and on our planet begin?

Something like that seems like the way to go.

And why did the origins of life allow for humor when its clearly getting in the way of serious questions like post #17?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Well, I know the funny stuff has mostly taken over... but if you're serious about this, I think you need to dial back more than the last few decades or even centuries, and get to the biggest stuff there is.

Priorities: we haz 'em.

[NobodyHere]

Well, I know the funny stuff has mostly taken over... but if you're serious about this, I think you need to dial back more than the last few decades or even centuries, and get to the biggest stuff there is.

How did life in our universe and on our planet begin?

Something like that seems like the way to go.

If I was being serious my answer would be tomorrow's lottery numbers or something that would make me rich.

[nol]

Well, I know the funny stuff has mostly taken over... but if you're serious about this, I think you need to dial back more than the last few decades or even centuries, and get to the biggest stuff there is.

How did life in our universe and on our planet begin?

Something like that seems like the way to go.

Eh, looking at the original question more closely, it would almost have to be something trivial. If some magic thought bubble is popping into your head and giving you the answer to some big question, you're not going to have much in the way of being able to convince everyone that you're telling the truth.

If you find out that the universe originated exactly as some religion says it did, everyone outside that religion will think you're a quack (and that theoretically shouldn't change things too much for adherents of the "winning" religion, who already knew the answer). If it's a scientific answer, you're going to be dismissed as a heretic, and even members of the scientific community are going to need some proof beyond "yeah, that sounds pretty plausible."

It would be an unthinkable burden to know the how life/the universe began and fail to have that knowledge change the world in any significant way, so it probably would be better to have some fun little "you wanna know what REALLY happened to Jimmy Hoffa?" story you can tell at parties.

[Dutch]

The irony is that even if the Bible (or other religion's idea) is correct, it could only be proven with scientific fact.

[sabotai]

If there is a law of physics, or a "loophole", that will allow humans to one day travel faster then the speed of light.

[revrew]

How many licks it does take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie roll pop.

True story: When I was a kid, I decided to count. It took me 144 (licking just one side until I exposed the middle). I wrote the company a letter telling them that.

I then received a certificate in the mail in return from the Tootsie Roll company congratulating me on being "one of the few who know."

[Desnudo]

Well, I know the funny stuff has mostly taken over... but if you're serious about this, I think you need to dial back more than the last few decades or even centuries, and get to the biggest stuff there is.

How did life in our universe and on our planet begin?

Something like that seems like the way to go.

42

everyone knows that

[Wolfpack]

42

everyone knows that

Yes, but what about the question?

[Schmidty]

From the world of crime: The identities of the Zodiac Killer and Jack the Ripper

My first thoughts.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Eh, looking at the original question more closely, it would almost have to be something trivial. If some magic thought bubble is popping into your head and giving you the answer to some big question, you're not going to have much in the way of being able to convince everyone that you're telling the truth.

Pretty much +1

[Izulde]

[QUOTE=nol;3028352]Eh, looking at the original question more closely, it would almost have to be something trivial. If some magic thought bubble is popping into your head and giving you the answer to some big question, you're not going to have much in the way of being able to convince everyone that you're telling the truth. /QUOTE]

You'd also have to change your name to Cassandra.

[albionmoonlight]

Whether faster than light travel/communication is possible, as a practical matter, in the universe.

[Kodos]

How common is sentient life on other planets? Is it just us and the Rigelians?

[Brian Swartz]

Mine would be something like who built the great pyramid. There are others but that's one I constantly wonder about and find it amazing.

[cartman]

Who is the girl in The Smith's "How Soon Is Now" video. And, on that topic, just how soon is now?

[Dutch]

How common is sentient life on other planets? Is it just us and the Rigelians?

The universe is massive. If there is no other life. It seems like an awful waste of space.

[OldGiants]

Where is Jimmy Hoffa buried?

[Easy Mac]

Why do I currently have explosive diarrhea?

[EagleFan]

At least it's not implosive...

[CAsterling]

Mine would be - Did the ball really cross the line for the disputed English goal in the 1966 World Cup Final.

[britrock88]

The universe is massive. If there is no other life. It seems like an awful waste of space.

My current thinking is that based on the size of the universe, there's certainly other life out there, but there's also no chance of us finding it.