Associate State Cartographer Jim Lacy with the Wisconsin State Cartographer's office checked with Ken Cowan at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Both helped provide the information for this answer.

Cowan said distances shown on highway signs - Milwaukee 21 miles, etc. - are measured to a major intersection or prominent building at the geographic center of the municipality. DOT's procedure follows the "Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices," which is published by the Federal Highway Administration.

For the mileage log on the official state highway map, DOT uses geographic information software to determine the municipality's center point. DOT picks the nearest major intersection to the municipality's center point and uses that mark to compute distances between cities.

Lacy and Cowan dispelled the notion that distances shown on highway signs are always measured to the location of the municipality's main post office.

It used to be a safe bet to presume a municipality's post office would be located near its geographical center. That's no longer the case, in some cases, because of unchecked growth.

What is a guilty pleasure?

We found an excellent lead-in online to this question.

"Guilty Pleasures" is an album by Barbara Streisand and Barry Gibb, of former Bee Gees fame. The two released the album in September 2005.

Some of you might hate to love Streisand and Gibb, which for you makes them a guilty pleasure. They're secret, forbidden indulgences enjoyed under cover of darkness.

All of us can name a few things we love and know we shouldn't. Members of the GYA staff love tire foam and instant potatoes. Regarding instant potatoes, the box probably possesses more nutritional value, but it doesn't matter - they're still loved.

The Quick Books Staff and Lou Harry penned "The Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures: 1,001 Things You Hate to Love," in 2001.

The synopsis of the book on http://www.amazon.com lists the following as guilty pleasures: Boy bands, the Olsen twins, Old Spice cologne, water beds, green bean casserole, "The Love Boat," Cool Whip, Neil Diamond, White Castle Hamburgers, Thomas Kincaid, the WonderBra and more.

Is it illegal for me to drive in my car and listen to my iPod through its white headphones?

Various public information officers at the Racine Police Department have helped us with this answer over the years.

There's no blanket prohibition against using those cute white headphones, but it's still a bad idea.

If it's at a level where you can't hear warning signs or signals, you could be cited for inattentive driving.

You'll be cited for inattentive driving if you're listening to your iPod, or wearing any other headphones, and you get in an accident with a squad car responding with lights and sirens.

But you won't be cited for inattentive driving if you get in an accident which would have occurred, regardless of sound, while listening to music through headphones.

The easiest way to avoid confusion is to not listen to music in your car over headphones.

Leave the headphones at home and head to http://www.apple.com/ipod/ and peruse the accessories for the portable player of your choice. There's a complete line of accessories available to listen to your iPod on the road.

Pick up the Griffin iTrip, which plays songs from your iPod through your car's FM radio. It costs about $40.

Or get a Sony car cassette adapter, which allows you to play your iPod through your car's cassette player. It costs about $20.

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