Hey Answer Girl -

Can you ask Barack if he wears boxers or briefs?

-Susan from Florida

Believe it or not, underwear did not come up during my interview with Barack Obama. The presidential hopeful managed to keep his pants on during our fascinating discussion of energy policy, and I never got around to asking about his undies. (Darn!)

The underwear issue first entered presidential politics in 1992, when Bill Clinton revealed his affinity for boxers during an MTV interview. Now it seems to come up in every campaign.

But when US Weekly magazine asked Barack the boxers-or-briefs question, he kept his preferences under cover.

"I don't answer those humiliating questions," Barack said, adding, "But whichever one it is, I look good in 'em!"

Why yes. I'll bet he does.

I vote boxers. But perhaps further investigation will lead to a more definitive answer.

Hey Answer Girl -

With the amount of oil that they're taking out of the ground every day, why doesn't the ground sag or sink like it does when they take out too much coal or water?

-Glynn C. from Sheridan

The ground doesn't sink because it doesn't depend on oil to keep its shape.

Jimmy Goolsby, a geologist and managing member of Goolsby, Finley and Associates, said that instead of providing stability, oil takes up the space between rock layers underground, and doesn't really have much space of its own.

"Most people don't understand the kinds of reservoirs we have," Goolsby said. "People think oil is in underground lakes or rivers, but it's not. It's inside the rock, not in some giant lake underground."

An example: Take a jar full of marbles. The marbles represent the rock layers underground.

Even if that jar is completely full of marbles, you can still put a lot of water in the jar, because small spaces exist between each marble and liquid can fill those spaces.

In the same way, you can put a lot of oil between the layers of earth underground. And even when the liquid (oil) is gone, the layers of earth are still solid and stationary, and still maintain their place. Thus, the ground doesn't sink.

Complicated, but I hope that helps.

Hey Answer Girl -

If Casper is so much windier than Chicago, why do they call Chicago the Windy City instead of us?

-Barb N. from Casper

Don't worry - Chicago's not trying to steal Casper's thunder.

In fact, Chicago earned its nickname long before Casper could even be considered a city.

Chicago started calling itself the "Windy City" in the mid-1880s, when the Chicago Tribune published a story advertising Chicago as a summer resort city. The advertisement concentrated on the cool breeze that comes off Lake Michigan during the summer months. (What it conveniently forgot to mention is the unbearable humidity that accompanies that wind during summers in the Midwest.)

Common rumor today holds that even after Chicago failed to become the next Hamptons, the Windy City retained its nickname by electing a series of particularly "windy" - or long-winded - politicians. The city is now famous for its lack of respect for the election process and the lies told by so many of its politicians.

As early as 1893, Chicago had already earned a reputation for bad politics. In a New York Sun article from that year, Charles Dana, the paper's publisher, advised his readers to pay no attention to "the nonsensical claims of that windy city."

I would try petitioning Mayor Daley for Casper's rightful title. But be careful - that guy sure can talk.