We have the Brits to thank for the evocative term “fatberg,” which was added to the OED in 2015
Extras
The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams, crossword by Matt Jones, News of The Weird
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Is music universal?
We’ve been at it a long time, creating tunes for at least 50,000 years—possibly as long as 250,000, if you count our a cappella period.
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How credible are the new blood-pressure guidelines?
What with the fast food, the sedentary lifestyles, and the increasingly hair-raising national politics, we Americans shouldn’t really need help getting diagnosed with high blood pressure—doing just fine, thanks
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Do black dogs experience prejudice?
In a 2016 article, the ASPCA looked at shelter records for nearly 300,000 dogs and cats in 14 communities. Again, the black dogs did better than the general population.
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Do all animals yawn and stretch?
As a scholar of yawning, the French physician Olivier Walusinski, has put it, ‘its survival without any notable evolutionary variations is an indication of its functional importance.’
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What’s the connection between outlaw bikers and ball-peen hammers?
Hunter S. Thompson’s 1966 book on the Hells Angels doesn’t mention hammers, but a later memoir by group leader Sonny Barger recalled punishment he’d visited on some guys who tried to steal his bike: ‘We bullwhipped them and beat them with spiked dog collars, broke their fingers with ball-peen hammers.’
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Take the meth out of your pocket
Compelling Explanations A Tesla showroom in South Salt Lake, Utah, was the nexus of four different arrests on Nov. 24, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, in which at least […]