Puzzling questions

Why do historians on Radio 4 always use the present tense? Why are scientists amazed when a chimpanzee figures out that moss is more absorbent than leaves and tells his mates? Why did a man called Zeb Sykes present an item on donkeys breeding with zebras? Why do we need paint that is so black that when you paint a room with it you get totally lost when you go in? Why does the shipping forecast still hold such fascination? Why are my feet always cold? Why does the phone stop just as you get to it? What is a side dish with 13 letters, possibly beginning with G? Why is it that when you drop a mug you don't like it bounces and doesn't even chip, but when you drop a mug you really like it smashes into smithereens. Why can you only have smithereens and not one smithereen?  Why can't you have one sud?
Life is so full of questions. Some weeks, life seems to be more puzzling than others.
If you have answers to any of the above questions please feel free to message me on the comment section of the blog. Thank you.