Answer Man Solves Mystery of Bird Bands

Tradition, yes, but age is also an important piece of information for the reader. As it says in The Post stylebook: "The age of anyone who is the subject of a story should be stated. After one's sex, few facts say more about a person more efficiently than providing his or her age."

Every reporter, young or otherwise, encounters subjects who do not wish to give their age. This is irritating. Answer Man can understand not wanting to be defined by age -- his children often accuse him of not acting his -- but why do so many people treat their ages like a state secret? Is it because 50 is the new 40? In Answer Man's experience, the age-naysayers are usually women.

For the record, Answer Man is 44. Some days he feels younger than that. Other days he feels every one of those hard-earned years.

Send a Kid to Camp

Kids are proud of their ages, no matter what it is. And they know precisely when they go from being 7 to 7 1/2 and from 7 1/2 to 7 3/4 .

That's about the age at which local youngsters can start going to Camp Moss Hollow. But for many, the only way they can go is if someone foots the bill. For years, that "someone" has been the readers of The Washington Post. Here's how to make a tax-deductible donation so an at-risk kid can spend a week at camp:

Make a check or money order payable to "Send a Kid to Camp" and mail it to P.O. Box 96237, Washington, D.C. 20090-6237. To contribute online, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.

To donate by MasterCard or Visa by phone, call 202-334-5100.

Questions: answerman@washpost.com.