All questions are excellent ones, if interpreted by genius. In 1973 I got a glimpse of that when eminent physicist Hans Bethe gave a guest lecture at Rice University. A member of the audience raised his hand and asked something which even I, a wet-behind-the-ears undergraduate, sensed was outrageously silly. Bethe scarcely paused. He nodded, thanked the anonymous man, and used the naïve query as a launching pad for a lovely mini-commentary on nuclear astrophysics that built upon the material under discussion. No embarrassment for anyone, and a superb lesson on how to be gracious and helpful. The same approach applies to innocent questions asked at times by little children—questions which often point to deep philosophical issues ...

(cf. ChandraStories (2004-02-25), HansBethe (2004-11-29), ...) - ^z - 2008-11-03