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Fact of the Day - NEW COLOR Did you know.... If you’ve never heard of olo, there’s a good reason for that: You’ve almost certainly never seen it either. The new color, described as a “blue-green of unprecedented saturation,” has been seen by only five people in a laboratory setting, as it’s beyond the range of normal human visibility. Researchers discovered the teal-like hue by stimulating the M cone in subjects’ retinas with a laser device called an Oz, which allowed them to see a color said to be more saturated than any found in the natural world. The retina has three cones — L detects long wavelengths, M detects medium wavelengths, and S detects short wavelengths — that typically overlap to a certain degree. By using the Oz, scientists were able to activate the M cone in isolation, making it possible to see a color never perceived by humans before. “It was jaw-dropping. It’s incredibly saturated,” said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who both co-authored and participated in the study, in an interview with The Guardian. “We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented color signal, but we didn’t know what the brain would do with it.” Researchers believe, or at least hope, that the science that enabled the participants to see olo could one day help people with red-green colorblindness experience the full spectrum of color. Source: Scientists have discovered a new color only five people have seen.

Fact of the Day - NORTH ALWAYS AT THE TOP ON MAP Did you know.... If anyone is responsible for modern maps’ northward focus, it’s Claudius Ptolemy. North doesn’t always mean “up” when it comes to geophysics. Scientists have known for decades that magnetic north, a spot once located in Arctic Canada, is moving toward Siberia. And magnetic north is different from geographic north, a place where all the meridians of longitude intersect in the Northern Hemisphere. But even these facts don't quite explain why modern maps always feature north at the top. There’s nothing inherently upward about north. Some ancient Egyptian maps put south on top; in medieval Europe, Christian cartographers tended to give that distinction to east, since you had to turn that way to face Jerusalem. Others placed east on top because of the rising sun (that’s why we “orient” ourselves). And early American settlers sometimes used maps with west on top, because that was the direction they often traveled. If anyone is responsible for maps’ northward focus, it’s Claudius Ptolemy. His Geographia, written in the 2nd century CE, featured a map of the known world with north on top. Why he positioned it that way is not clear, but it may be that the Library of Alexandria, where he did his research, just didn’t have much information on the Southern Hemisphere. Renaissance scholars revived Ptolemy’s work, and by then, the phenomenon of magnetic north had been discovered, making his layout even more appealing to mapmakers. The magnetic north pole, however, was not located until 1831. On an otherwise disastrous expedition to Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage, British explorer James Clark Ross discovered the pole—the spot where a compass needle on a horizontal axis points straight down—on the west coast of Canada's Boothia peninsula. "I must leave it to others to imagine the elation of mind with which we found ourselves now at length arrived at this great object of our ambition," Ross wrote. "Nothing now remained for us but to return home and be happy for the rest of our days." Source: Why is North Always At the Top on a Map?

What's the Word: EBULLITION pronunciation: [eb-ə-LIH-shən] Part of speech: noun Origin: Latin, late 16th century Meaning: 1. The action of bubbling or boiling. 2. A sudden outburst of emotion or violence. Examples: "The professor asked lab students to heat hydrochloric acid to its ebullition point." "When I got my college acceptance letter, I had an ebullition of tears of joy." About Ebullition “Ebullition” is based on the Latin “ēbullītiō,” meaning “bubbling up.” Did you Know? Making candy at home requires close attention to the temperature of ebullition. Most candies begin as sugar syrups, which are then boiled to precise temperatures in order to achieve certain characteristics of clarity versus cloudiness, or hardness versus chewiness. High-temperature ebullition is necessary to turn sugar syrup into hard candy, and it requires a gentle touch, since boiling sugar syrup risks splashing back at the chef.

Fact of the Day - SPUD WRENCH Did you know... Wrenches get the best nicknames out of virtually any tool. Casual home improvement projects don’t usually call for a spud wrench, a tool that turns fasteners on one end and features a long, tapered spike on the other. It’s a curious design, albeit one that still occupies the equipment collection of specialty workers. In the tradition of many other wrenches—the monkey wrench, the Allen wrench, and the Crescent wrench—it also sports a strange name. So why is it called a “spud wrench”? And what exactly is it used for? The Origin of Spud Wrench The Oxford English Dictionary’s first citation for the term spud wrench in print occurred in 1939 (though we were able to actually date a reference back to 1906). Per the OED, a book with the high-octane title of Steam and Hot Water Fitting described the spud wrench as “another handy tool … made to fit the spuds of the different sizes of the union radiator valves and traps.” In this instance, spud appears to refer to a plumbing component, hence the need for a specialty wrench. Another OED citation, this one coming in 1960, provides a different perspective with some regrettable language. The wrench “is so called because the handle is formed into a long, heavy pin (or spud) that is thrust through and used by the erection men for matching up holes in connections to be fastened together.” In one case, the spud is a part. In the latter, it’s the handle itself—a piercing tool used by “erection men” to line up holes in steelwork so that a bolt or other securing hardware can be threaded through. But the OED omits any etymology for the term. One possible explanation comes with the slang term for food. Spud was used to describe a potato as far back as the 1800s. The tool used to uproot the potato was also known as a spud. The most likely explanation is that a spud wrench may have reminded someone of such a tool, though its purpose was to align holes, not to be used for farming work. Why People Reach for a Spud Wrench The spud wrench grew popular with the growth of high-rise construction in the 20th century when workers had to secure iron or steel beams and girders and needed a tool that could perform several functions at once. The tool became known as an ironworker’s spud wrench for this reason, though it also had applications in automotive assembly. The appeal was in the versatility: Line up two holes with the tapered end, then flip it to use the wrench to secure a bolt. But the wrench isn’t relegated strictly to steelwork. As the OED noted, plumbers use a spud wrench to loosen specific components (bolts, collars) in older toilets, which connect the toilet with the refill water tank. This version of the spud wrench, however, is considerably different in design than the construction spud wrench, with two adjustable heads meant to circumvent the tight space of plumbing fasteners. Spud wrenches are still part of the ironworker’s tool belt. They’re emblematic enough of the trade that in 2003, a gathering of workers involved a spud wrench tossing competition in which players scored points by landing the wrench’s spiked end on a bull’s eye 25 feet away. Tossing, dropping, or otherwise mishandling a heavy tool of impalement can have consequences. In 1979, a Missourian worker named Al Shaw was sitting on a beam when a spud wrench fell 125 feet, plunging into his back. It missed his spinal column by just 2 inches. Source: Why Is It Called a “Spud Wrench”?

What's the Word: NOCUOUS pronunciation: [NAHK-yoo-əs] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, mid-17th century Meaning: 1. Noxious, harmful, or poisonous. Examples: "The lab techs wore close-fitting face masks to protect them from the nocuous liquids they were mixing." "Removing the nocuous plants growing behind the garden was a complicated job." About Nocuous “Nocuous” is based on the Latin “nocuus,” an adjective based on the verb “nocere,” meaning “to hurt.” Did you Know? The definition for “nocuous” in the Oxford English Dictionary includes the words “poisonous” and “venomous.” But talk to a veterinarian or park ranger, and they’ll tell you that those two words are not synonyms. A poison is a toxin that enters the body by inhalation, swallowing, or absorption through the skin (think: poison ivy). Venom is a toxin that enters the body through injection: snake bites, bee stings, spider bites, etc. So, while both venom and poison are nocuous in that they are harmful, they are not synonymous with each other.

Fact of the Day - DEFECTIVE CARS Did you know... Having your engine burst into flames after driving off the car lot is a sour experience. But where did the association with lemons come from? Shopping for a car, new or used, can be a nerve-wracking experience. If you buy new, you risk sticker shock and dealer add-ons. Purchase used cars and you’re never quite sure if your new vehicle will turn into a headache 10 miles down the road. In the latter case, we sometimes refer to defective cars as “lemons.” States even refer to their consumer protection bills against crummy cars as “lemon laws.” But why do we associate a death trap with a tangy fruit? The Connection Between Cars and Lemons According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang, using lemon to denote a fraudulent or worthless purchase dates back to 1909; its use in reference to cars specifically goes back to 1923, when one used car dealer profiled in The Oakland Tribune is said to have “congratulated himself upon having rid himself of a lemon finally.” Lemon as a noun or adjective has often been associated with something unpleasant or unpalatable—as some people find the tartness of the lemon to be—or something that’s turned sour. The car-lemon connection may have been cemented with an ad Volkswagen ran in the 1960s. Like most of their minimalist advertising from the period, it consisted of a photo of a car and a stark caption: “lemon.” The copy goes on to say that Volkswagen’s quality inspectors had caught several flaws with this particular car, ensuring it didn’t arrive to a dealership with those blemishes intact. “We pluck the lemons,” the ad concluded. “You get the plums.” The Origin of Lemon Laws It wasn’t until 1975, though, that consumers had federal lemon protection. The Magnuson Moss Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act guaranteed consumers wouldn’t be stuck with a faulty consumer product, including cars, or suffer unreasonable warranty terms. The law applies to consumer items of all types, though cars were of particular concern as they’re often the most expensive item prone to mechanical failure a person can buy. It quickly became known as “the lemon law,” though it really refers more to the warranty of the vehicle than the vehicle itself. In New York, for example, state law says that a new car must conform to the manufacturer’s warranty and that, if repair cannot be made within a reasonable number of attempts, the purchaser is due a refund. The lemon laws can vary by state and by vehicle condition, so it’s important to know which rules apply. It’s also crucial to get an inspection and pull a motor vehicle history report when buying used and to pay attention to what a dealer’s window sticker might say about a vehicle being sold with a guarantee or as-is. There is one situation where having a lemon can pay off—sort of. According to analysts at iSeeCars, who examined used car prices against the MSRP of a new car, one color had the lowest depreciation at 4.5 percent, far lower than the average of 15 percent. That color? Yellow. Source: Why Do We Call Defective Cars “Lemons”?

What's the Word: SERRIED pronunciation: [SAIR-eed] Part of speech: adjective Origin: French, mid-17th century Meaning: 1. (Of rows of people or things) Standing close together. Examples: "The doors opened to reveal the elevator was already full of serried passengers." "I wanted to stay for the last band of the night, but the crowd was so serried, I could barely breathe." About Serried The adjective “serried” is based on the related verb “serry” (meaning “press close”), a loanword from the French “serré,” meaning “tight,” “cramped,” or “locked.” Did you Know? One of the places most famously full of serried travelers is the Tokyo subway system, which moves 9 million people every day. During off-hours, Tokyo’s subways are rarely crowded, but as rush hour begins, a Tokyo train has a more tightly serried population than most spots on Earth. The crowds are so heavy that the subway authority employs white-gloved attendants (known as “passenger pushers”) to squeeze riders into cars in a serried formation in order to allow the doors to close.

Fact of the day - STONE TOOLS Did you know... Humans are often thought of as the smartest animals, and one of the perks of our top-notch brains (with a little help from our opposable thumbs) is supposedly that we’re the only species that can use tools. That’s what we used to think, anyway. More recently, research has shown that our tool-use ability is not as unique as we once believed. Take, for instance, the capuchin monkey. Research published in 2019 showed that these pint-sized creatures, native to Central and South America — and sometimes known as “organ grinder” monkeys — have been using stone tools to process food for more than 3,000 years. Archaeologists analyzing a site in Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park discovered that the monkeys had used rounded quartzite stones to smash open cashew husks against tree roots or stone “anvils.” After digging through layers of sediment in four phases of excavation, the scientists found stone tools that had been used by the capuchins dating back around 3,000 years. The researchers also found signs that the monkeys’ tool use had changed over time — the creatures first used smaller stone tools, and then around 560 years ago, switched to larger ones, which may have meant they were eating harder foods, according to National Geographic. This evolution could have occurred due to different groups of capuchins moving into the area, or a change in the local plants. Either way, the study marked the first time such an evolution in tool use had been seen in a nonhuman species. Scientists suspect that further exploration of this site, and others like it, could give an unprecedented look at humanity’s own tool-use evolution, which began millions of years ago. Furthermore, primates — the taxonomic order to which humans also belong — aren’t the only ones gifted with brains capable of using tools. Elephants, dolphins, and a variety of birds are only a few of the other species that use tools — whether sticks, rocks, or tree limbs — to survive and thrive on planet Earth. Orangutans know how to make instruments. When it comes to primitive tools, instruments don’t usually count — that is, unless you’re an orangutan. In 2009, scientists revealed that orangutans use folded leaves to make sounds that may trick predators into thinking they’re bigger than they actually are. These musical noises, called “kiss squeaks,” were even used by wild orangutans who sensed the human researchers as a threat. This discovery is the first known nonhuman instrument and nonhuman tool used for communication. It’s also not even the extent of the orangutans’ impressive, tool-making abilities. A 2018 study revealed that orangutans were better at making tools than human children up to age 8. This growing body of scholarship only shows that complex intelligence is not a trait exclusively enjoyed by Homo sapiens. Source: Monkeys have been using stone tools for thousands of years.

What's the Word: PENTIMENTO pronunciation: [pen-tə-MEN-toh] Part of speech: noun Origin: Italian, 19th century Meaning: 1. A visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint on a canvas. Examples: "Beneath the image of the bull in the center of the painting, there was a pentimento of a ship’s mast." "Robyn left a pentimento of the image he had painted over peeking out from beneath his painting." About Pentimento The Italian “pentimento” means “to repent,” or “to make a correction or update.” In English, it describes the visible memory of a previous image beneath a more recent painting as an artifact of artistic correction or update to the previous work of art. Did you Know? Often, a pentimento (“pentimenti” is the plural form) is the product of correction in a painting. In some cases, a painting may be entirely painted over with a new work, leaving behind the ghost of the original image as a pentimento. However, pentimenti may reveal aspects of the artist’s process. Works by most of the great masters rarely contain these remnants, but Caravaggio and Rembrandt tended to paint more experimentally, with less prior planning. They more frequently made changes on canvas as they worked, sometimes leaving pentimenti.

Fact of the Day - THE TOOTH FAIRY Did you know... While the Tooth Fairy herself may be surprisingly modern, the bits of folklore that went into her creation are hundreds of years old. The Tooth Fairy is a familiar figure to millions of children around the world. The mythical character is most popular in English-speaking countries, with kids knowing that if they put a lost baby tooth under their pillow at night, the elusive Tooth Fairy will sneak in and replace it with money. Although not as big of a deal as a visit from the other two major fictional gift-givers—Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny—a visit from the Tooth Fairy is still highly anticipated. But compared to jolly St. Nick and the egg-bearing bunny, both of whom have roots that date back hundreds of years, the Tooth Fairy is a relatively modern invention. Here’s the strange—and surprisingly rodent-filled—origin story of the winged figure. The Tooth Fairy Takes Flight The Tooth Fairy has been swapping milk teeth for money for generations. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that the history behind the folklore started being uncovered. In 1972, Rosemary Wells, a professor at Chicago’s Northwestern University Dental School, was asked by a student about the history of the Tooth Fairy. “I thought I’d simply go to the library, get the information and bring it back,” she explained in a 1992 interview. But Wells couldn’t find anything about the mythological fairy and so decided to conduct her own investigation. After years of research, she became the foremost Tooth Fairy expert—her business card even identified her as the “Tooth Fairy consultant.” While the myth of the Tooth Fairy may seem like a tale as old as time, the story’s first mention in print is surprisingly recent. In a September 1908 issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune, the Household Hints column featured a tip from reader Lillian Brown: “Many a refractory child will allow a loose tooth to be removed if he knows about the tooth fairy. If he takes his little tooth and puts it under the pillow when he goes to bed the tooth fairy will come in the night and take it away, and in its place will leave some little gift.” Tales of the Tooth Fairy were likely being shared orally around the time Brown wrote in with her tip, but the figure doesn’t pop up again in print until 1927, in Esther Watkins Arnold’s short children’s play The Tooth Fairy. The myth then continued to spread its wings throughout the 20th century—particularly after World War II. Folklorist Tad Tuleja suggests three reasons for the Tooth Fairy’s rise in popularity during the mid-20th century. Firstly, people experienced greater prosperity after the war, which meant many parents could now afford to give their kids a little bit of money. It was also around this time that the traditional family set up became more child-orientated; this led to parents being more likely to soothe their children’s small anxieties (for instance, over losing a tooth). Finally, there was the popularity and influence of fairy-filled Disney films—from the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950) to Tinkerbelle in Peter Pan (1953). There’s usually a general consensus about what mythical characters look like—for instance, Santa is typically bearded, rotund, and red-suited—but the lines are a little more blurred with the Tooth Fairy. In 1984, Wells conducted a survey and found that 74 percent of participants believed the Tooth Fairy was female, while 12 percent thought the figure was male (the remaining 8 percent thought they could be either gender). Some children don’t even picture the Tooth Fairy as a humanoid being at all: Wells documented one kid who imagined a Tooth Fairy Dragon. In today’s culture, the Tooth Fairy is most often depicted as a small female fairy, but there are also some more creative modern interpretations, such as half-hummingbird Toothiana from Rise of the Guardians (2012). It All Started with a Mouse Although the Tooth Fairy is typically anthropomorphic, the myth may have originated from older Continental European stories of a Tooth Mouse. To this day, in many counties, the tooth-for-money swap is said to be performed by a small rodent rather than a winged fairy. It’s thought this mouse-based myth may have been blended together with the numerous children’s tales about fairies to produce the Tooth Fairy that we know today. In France, baby teeth are collected by La Petite Souris (The Little Mouse), who can be traced back to Madame d’Aulnoy’s 1697 fairy tale La bonne petite souris (The Little Good Mouse). The story features a fairy who can turn into a mouse and who knocks out an evil king’s teeth (but doesn’t exchange them for money). This tale was translated into English in 1890—less than two decades before the Tooth Fairy first appeared in print. In Spain, the tooth-collecting mouse is El Ratoncito Pérez (Pérez the Little Mouse), who first appeared in Fernán Caballero’s Cuentos, oraciones, adivinanzas y refranes populares (1877). But Pérez didn’t become the Tooth Mouse until 1894, when Luis Coloma was asked to write a story for Alfonso XIII, the child King of Spain who had just lost his first milk tooth. Rather than cash, Pérez left a present fit for a king—the Order of the Golden Fleece—under the fictional monarch’s pillow. The story was first published in English in 1914, when tales of the Tooth Fairy were starting to take root. Stories of a Tooth Mouse weren’t the first time that myths and rituals had been created around childhood tooth loss, though. In the Old Norse poem Grímnismál, it’s said that Álfheimr—the Land of the Elves—was a “tooth gift” for the god Freyr. In New Guinea and Senegal, it was tradition to bury baby teeth, while in South Korea kids would throw their pearly whites onto the roof. But the ritual of offering teeth to a mouse is the most prevalent and enduring practice (although it’s now rivaled by the Tooth Fairy), having been documented in cultures around the world. Along with various countries in Europe, folklore about a Tooth Mouse ranges from Ukraine and South Africa to numerous Latin American countries. Children don’t always receive money; in some countries the tooth is offered in a sympathetic magic exchange, with the belief being that it’ll make their adult gnashers grow in as strongly as a rodent’s teeth. Source: The Strange Origins of the Tooth Fairy

Fact of the Day - BIRDS Did you know.... South America is known for its stunning avian diversity, with colorful toucans, ubiquitous parrots, and an untold number of other feathered friends. (Seriously, there are new species being discovered every year.) But no country in South America — or the world, for that matter — compares to Colombia. With around 1,900 bird species within its borders, the country hosts nearly 20% of all avian species in the world, which is more than any other nation. Although some of the most common varieties — like sparrows, tanagers, and finches — may be recognizable to birders in more northern climates, the critically endangered blue-billed curassow (Crax alberti) and the rare Cauca guan (Penelope perspicax) are just a few of the dozens of species endemic to Colombia. And the country takes its natural wonders seriously. As one of the most biodiverse nations in the world, with the Amazon taking up 35% of the country’s landmass, Colombia committed to declaring 30% of its land a protected area by 2030 — and got it done eight years early. A 2023 study also found that Colombia takes an unusual approach to conserving its natural areas by adding biodiversity protection as a secondary goal of many other policy initiatives, such as ones addressing poverty and civil strife. That doesn’t mean Colombia is immune to threats of deforestation and climate change, but the country is working hard to protect its bounty — which includes 10% of the world’s total species. Colombia is home to a world-famous river known as the “liquid rainbow.” Some of the world’s rivers are known for historical reasons (Italy’s Rubicon) or their proximity to major centers of power (London’s Thames), but one of the most amazing rivers in the world lies in the backwoods of Colombia. In fact, it was so well hidden that the river was only discovered by non-Indigenous people a little more than 50 years ago. Called Caño Cristales, or the “Crystal Channel,” the river is located in central Colombia’s Sierra de La Macarena National Natural Park and is known for its vibrant display of colors, earning it the nickname “liquid rainbow.” The river gets its mixture of yellows, greens, blues, blacks, and especially reds from the reproductive process of aquatic plants (Macarenia clavigera) that live in the riverbed. Because water levels are affected by the country’s wet and dry seasons, the best time to glimpse this river is from May until November. Source: Colombia has more bird species than any other country.

Fact of the Day - MONKEY BREAD Did you know... The beloved pastry has a whimsical—yet undoubtedly odd—name. Monkey bread—a sticky pull-apart pastry that’s typically made from canned biscuit dough—is a sugary, cinnamony treat. Perhaps it’s a traditional part of your family’s Christmas feasts. Or maybe grandma was known for whipping it up for special brunches. Despite its seemingly silly name, monkey bread has nothing to do with actual monkeys. So why is this sweet pastry named after primates? Let’s dig into the history of monkey bread, starting from the very beginning. Monkey Bread’s Hungarian Roots Before it became a centerpiece on Americans’ tables, this dish was known as something else entirely. Food historians trace its roots to aranygaluska, a Hungarian dessert that translates to “golden dumpling.” This pull-apart sweet bread was brought to the U.S. by Hungarian Jewish immigrants in the late 19th century. Aranygaluska was a bakery staple in immigrant communities, especially in California, for several decades. In the 1970s, Betty Crocker even featured it in a cookbook; the book labeled the sweet dish as “Hungarian Coffee Cake.” Eventually, the dish became known as “monkey bread”—a name that has stuck around to this day. And thanks to actress and first lady Nancy Reagan (a big fan of the treat), monkey bread made it to the White House Christmas table, cementing its status as a classic. The pastry has continued to evolve; now, there are seemingly countless recipes floating around the internet for traditional monkey bread, other sweet versions, and even savory spins on the dish. The Many Theories Behind Monkey Bread’s Name There’s no clear answer as to how monkey bread got its name. But, like most good mysteries, there are several theories at play. The most common explanation is that it’s named after the way it’s eaten: with your fingers, pulling apart the sticky pieces of dough one by one, much like a monkey might eat something. Some also trace it back to 20th-century slang. In the 1940s, monkey food was Southern slang for casual snacks you could pick at. That, combined with jumble bread—another old-timey term for breads made from small pieces of dough—could have led to monkey bread. Another theory credits silent film star ZaSu Pitts, who reportedly used the term in a 1945 cooking column after bringing the recipe home from Nashville. Pitts was known for her lavish Hollywood parties; and apparently, her monkey bread was a hit. In the end, monkey bread might just be one of those names that stuck, literally and figuratively. Like the dessert itself, it’s a little weird and oddly delightful. Source: Why Is It Called “Monkey Bread”?

Fact of the Day - WORST ANIMAL DADDIES Did you know... These dads won’t be getting any Father’s Day cards this June. In addition to getting your dad a card or new tie this Father’s Day, be sure to thank him for not trying to eat you when you were young. Devouring babies may sound savage and strange, but when it comes to certain species, kids becoming a meal for their fathers is just par for the course. Lions You may already know that a male lion that recently became head of his pride will usually kill all the cubs sired by the previous leader. But while that makes lions terrible step-dads, it doesn’t make them terrible fathers. What makes lions bad dads is a combination of greed and laziness. Papa lions spend most of their day lying in the shade, waiting for one of their mates to bring home dinner. The female does the majority of the hunting and pretty much all of the parenting; the male’s job is to protect his territory from other prides and scavengers like hyenas. Once the mama brings home her kill, the male lion is always the first one to eat and he often leaves only scraps for the rest of the pride—including any of his recently weaned children. Grizzly Bears It’s rare for any animal-kingdom father to eat his own young when he isn’t desperate for food, but the male grizzly bear will do just that. These creatures are extremely protective of their territories—which can range all the way up to 1500 miles—and are opportunistic hunters, willing to kill and eat anything that happens to enter their home turf. Even cubs, whether they’ve sired them or not. Males may also kill cubs to force their mother to go into estrus so he can breed with her. Bass There are a lot of bad aquatic fathers. In fact, even those that are highly protective of their spawn, like male bass, are still prone to eating their own children. In the case of the bass, this occurs after most of the newborns have swum away and a few stragglers remain. Suddenly daddy stops protecting his kids from predators and becomes a predator himself, swallowing up all of the stragglers as a reward to himself for helping the strong ones stay alive. Sand Goby Similarly, the male sand goby is relentless about guarding his eggs from predators, but even if he has plenty of extra food available, he will still eat about a third of his brood. Research into how he decides which eggs to keep and which to eat reveals that size matters: male gobies tend to eat the largest eggs. In many species, large babies mean a higher chance for survival—and thus, they are the most protected members of the family—but the sand goby knows that the largest eggs take longest to hatch. Pops snacks on the eggs that would take the longest to develop so he can get out of there and back to mating as soon as possible. Assassin Bug With a name like “assassin bug” you’d hardly expect this insect to be sweet, but filial cannibalism is still pretty gruesome. The male assassin bug is tasked with protecting his eggs until they hatch. His tactic mostly involves eating the eggs on the outside edges of the brood, which are otherwise most likely to fall victim to parasitic wasps. This defensive strategy is so hardwired that the bugs do it even in laboratory settings completely devoid of any potential parasites. Scientists believe this is because eating the eggs doesn’t only protect the insects against possible parasites, but also provides the male assassin bug with ample nutrients when his guard duty leaves him unable to forage. Interestingly, assassin bugs do have a bit of a soft spot—the males are some of the only insects that are willing to adopt broods from other fathers. (They don’t eat any extra eggs when their kids are adopted.) Source: 5 of the Worst Fathers In the Animal Kingdom

Fact of the Day - HOT DOG Did you know... You’ve probably wondered what’s really inside a hot dog before. We have the answer—though we don’t recommend reading it before your next cook-out. At baseball stadiums, holiday cookouts, and in the dorm rooms of broke college students everywhere, hot dogs have become a staple meal. Each time we wield a wiener, however, rumors and innuendo over the food’s manufacturing integrity come flooding to the surface. Is this tubed meat made from monkey brains? Is there an underground network of hot dog companies that slip in cows’ feet as a filler? Why are hot dogs so nutritionally suspect? Fortunately, most of your worst fears may be unfounded. Except for the feet. More on that in a moment ... What Goes into a Hot Dog Ever since Upton Sinclair uncovered the misdeeds of the meat industry in the early 1900s, the government has kept a close eye on animal product manufacturing methods. Gone were the sawdust and dog and horse parts that previously made up hot dogs and other highly-processed meats. Companies had to obey strict preparation guidelines that significantly reduced the chances of foodborne illness and forced them into using transparent food labels. Hot dogs are no exception, though you might have to decipher some of the language on the label to understand what you’re really biting into. Beef, pork, turkey, or chicken dogs originate with trimmings, a fanciful word for the discards of meat cuts that are left on the slaughterhouse table. That usually means fatty tissue, sinewy muscle, meat from an animal’s head—not typically a choice cut at Morton’s—and the occasional liver. This heap of unappetizing gristle is pre-cooked to kill bacteria and transformed into an even more unappetizing meat paste via emulsion, then ground up and pushed through a sieve so that it takes on a hamburger-like texture. A number of things could be added at this point, including ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to aid in curing, water, corn syrup, and various spices for taste. Less appetizing ingredients can also include sodium erythorbate, which the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council swears is not actually ground-up earthworms: “In contrast to a popular urban legend, erythorbate is NOT made from earthworms, though the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports receiving many inquiries about erythorbate’s source. It is speculated that the similarity in the spelling of the words 'erythorbate' and 'earthworms' has led to this confusion.” Got that? No worms. After another puree, the meat paste is pumped into casings to get that familiar tubular shape and is then fully cooked. After a water rinse, the hot dog has the cellulose casing removed and is packaged for consumption. While not exactly fine dining, it’s all USDA-approved. Hot Dog Labeling More skittish consumers should pay attention to packaging labels. If you see variety meats or meat by-products, that means the hot dog probably has heart or other organ material in the meat batter. Additives like MSG and nitrates are also common, though all-natural dogs usually skip any objectionable ingredients. If it’s labeled “all beef or “all pork,” you can be assured it's coming from muscle tissue of that animal, not organs. But those trimmings? By definition, they can contain a lot of things that come off an animal, including blood, skin, and even feet. It’s all edible, though some might object to the very idea of eating random cow or pig parts. At least none of it is actual human meat, as some people feared when a Clear Lab food advocacy test in 2015 showed 2 percent of hot dog samples contained human DNA. That was more likely due to human error and trace amounts of hair or fingernails making their way into the batch, not a worker falling into the vat. Enjoy! Source: What’s Really Inside a Hot Dog?

Fact of the Day - THIRD EYELID Did you know... If you look closely in the mirror at the inside corner of either of your eyes, you’ll notice a pinkish protuberance. This thin, curved membrane sits directly adjacent to the eyeball and is called the plica semilunaris, which is an evolutionary remnant of the nictitating membrane, known colloquially as the “third eyelid.” (This is not to be confused with the lacrimal caruncle, a tiny bump at the very edge of the eye that helps keep the eye moist.) Though the third eyelid is useless for us modern humans, it once served a purpose for our prehistoric ancestors. Many animals, including dogs, cats, and some birds, reptiles, and fish, still have a functioning nictitating membrane. This translucent membrane protects the eye while still allowing the animal to see, and also essentially acts like windshield wipers by removing debris and maintaining moisture. Birds rely on their nictitating membrane while in flight and fish while swimming. Its purpose in prehistoric humans remains unclear due to the lack of definitive fossil records. Charles Darwin waited more than two decades to publish his theory of evolution. From 1831 to 1836, naturalist Charles Darwin traveled the world researching evolution — but even after his return to England, he didn’t reveal his findings to the public for another two decades. Some claim Darwin feared a negative reaction from scientific and religious communities, while others suggest he used the gap to ensure his theory was irrefutable, hoping to compose an extensive, unassailable treatise before informing the world. In 1858, Darwin received an essay from naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that proposed similar evolutionary theories to his own. This unexpected development prompted Darwin to divulge his findings to the scientific community alongside Wallace. In 1859, he introduced his theory of natural selection in his work On the Origin of Species. Later, in 1871, Darwin published The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he first publicly posited that humans descended from apes. Source: You can still see part of your third eyelid.

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Fact of the Day - DAKOTAS AND CAROLINAS Did you know.... We have an even 50 states thanks to these geographic decisions. If the colony of Carolina and the Dakota Territory hadn’t decided to split themselves up a few hundred years ago, we’d have only 48 states right now. But why did these particular places become geographic variants of each other? Here are the answers. Why Is there a North and South Carolina? John White’s painting of an Indigenous village at the time of the English settlers’ arrival at Roanoke Island, in present-day North Carolina, 1585. | Print Collector/GettyImages Though French officials had attempted to establish forts along the coast, permanent European settlement of the Carolinas began with Juan Ponce de León claiming most of the present-day southeastern U.S. for Spain in 1513 and calling it La Florida. Indigenous peoples resisted the Spanish incursion for decades and Spain eventually abandoned its efforts to settle the region. In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh convinced a group of English settlers to establish a colony on Roanoke Island, but by 1590, their fort had been abandoned and the people had mysteriously disappeared. Then, England’s Attorney General Sir Robert Heath managed the Carolina territory for King Charles I of England. Heath made no attempts at colonizing the area and, following the king’s execution in 1649, Heath fled to France. Heath’s heirs would eventually try to reassert their claim to the territory, but King Charles II ruled the claim invalid and gave ownership to a group of eight noblemen known as the Lords Proprietors. The Lords—helmed primarily by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, who was influenced and assisted by the philosopher John Locke—retained control of the area from 1663 to 1729, with members of the eight-man group being replaced as necessary with other lords. A 1676 map of Carolina prior to the split. | Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain The Lords Proprietors set up a framework for governance and settlement of Carolina and dispatched an expedition of colonists. Mostly, though, they fought constantly and were unable to make decisions that made sense for the economic development of the enormous territory. None of the original eight lords ever set foot in North America. They hired and fired a laundry list of governors, noted in their papers: “John Jenkins was deposed,” “Thomas Miller was overthrown and jailed by ... ‘armed rebels,’ ” “Thomas Eastchurch was forbidden to enter the colony,” and “Seth Sothel was accused ... of numerous crimes for which he was tried, convicted, and banished.” On top of all that, wars broke out with the Tuscarora and Yamasee tribes. The lords, realizing that this strategy wasn't working, appointed a governor to oversee the entire territory and a deputy governor to handle the northern half in 1710. Two years later Carolina was permanently divided into north and south territories. The English Crown eventually took back South Carolina from the Lords Proprietors and made it a royal colony; the Crown also convinced the reluctant Lords to sell back their shares of North Carolina, and it was made a royal colony in 1729. Both retained this status until they ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788 (South Carolina) and 1789 (North Carolina). The Origins of North and South Dakota A flotilla of covered wagons and military equipment accompanies George Armstrong Custer’s 1874 expedition to the Black Hills. | Historical/GettyImages Most of the land that would become North and South Dakota was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. After Minnesota was admitted to the Union in 1858 and the federal government and Sioux officials signed the Yankton Treaty the same year, the remaining land and ceded territory was organized into the Dakota Territory. But it wasn’t until the 1874 discovery of gold in the Black Hills, the sacred land of the Sioux, did prospectors and the military really begin invading the area. (Ironically, Dakota means “friend” or “ally” in the Dakota language.) Railroads followed the gold rush; settlers poured into the upper Great Plains. Until 1883, Yankton in the far southeastern corner served as the capital of the whole territory, but northern settlers refused to recognize the remote town as the center of governance. They declared their own capital, Bismarck, in 1872. This caused enough tension to require a split down the 46th parallel into two territories—but there were other factors in play. President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, and the Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives resisted giving the Dakotas statehood, since the overwhelmingly Republican states would likely elect Republicans to Congress. The situation changed when Republican Benjamin Harrison was elected president and Republicans gained majorities in both houses of Congress, paving the way for a statehood bill to pass. On November 2, 1889, North and South Dakota were admitted to the union, becoming the 39th and 40th states, respectively. Source: Why Are There Two Dakotas and Two Carolinas?

Fact of the Day - COSMIC LATTE Did you know..... We tend to think of space as cold and dark, but that’s only because most stars are light-years away from the pale blue dot we call home. The universe is actually quite bright on the whole, and its color has been given an appropriately celestial name: “cosmic latte.” In 2002, astronomers at Johns Hopkins University determined the shade after studying the light emitted by 200,000 different galaxies. They held a contest to give the result — a kind of creamy beige — its evocative moniker. (Other entries in the contest included “univeige” and “skyvory.”) As with just about everything in the universe, however, the color isn’t fixed: It’s become less blue and more red over the last 10 billion years, likely as a result of redder stars becoming more prevalent. In another 10 billion years, we may even need to rename the color entirely. NASA didn’t really spend millions of dollars developing a pen that could write in space. The second half of this oft-cited myth contrasts NASA’s supposed approach with that of the Soviet Union, who are said to have simply given their cosmonauts pencils. American astronauts did likewise, though NASA wasn’t always thrilled about it — pencils are flammable, and their tips breaking off could lead to damage on sensitive equipment. The so-called space pens actually came from the Fisher Pen Company, which offered its AG-7 “Anti-Gravity” pen to NASA in 1965. None of the investment money came from the government, however, and astronauts and cosmonauts alike ended up using the writing tools at a cost of $2.39 per pen. Source: According to astronomers at Johns Hopkins, the color of the universe is “cosmic latte.”

Fact of the Day - DRAGONFLIES Did you know... On a statistical level, some of the world’s most fearsome predators aren’t actually that fearsome. Wolves succeed in about only 20% of their attempts to catch prey, whereas lions enjoy a success rate of around 30% when working as a pack. Those numbers, though respectable, pale in comparison to the success rate of the mighty dragonfly, which catches about 95% of the prey it pursues — making it the world’s most successful hunter. These insects do all their hunting in midair, of course, making the feat even more impressive; they mainly prey on small insects such as mosquitoes, flies, or butterflies. Scientists attribute this prowess to dragonflies’ nearly 360-degree field of vision, their individually controlled wings, and their brains’ unique ability to coordinate these instantaneous actions. Other surprisingly adept hunters include the harbor porpoise, whose success rate hovers at around 90% (allowing them to chow down on more than 500 small fish per hour), and African wild dogs, which capture their prey more than 60% of the time — though they often lose them to larger predators such as lions and hyenas. One dragonfly species’ migration has been called “the most extraordinary journey in nature.” The more you learn about dragonflies, the more astonished you’ll be by these tiny creatures. Consider the globe skimmer, for instance, which more than lives up to its name: The “winged wanderer,” as it’s often referred to, completes the longest migration of any insect, an 11,000-mile journey between India and Africa that Discover Magazine called “the most extraordinary journey in nature” — in part because it takes several generations to complete, meaning no single dragonfly can complete it itself. At just a few centimeters long, globe skimmers can fly for 90 hours straight — albeit with a fair bit of assistance from wind, which is why the journey can only be undertaken at certain times of year. To keep their energy up, they eat small insects and aerial plankton. Their exact route has yet to be plotted, however, because globe skimmers are literally too small for any existing tracking devices. Source: Dragonflies are the world’s most successful hunters.

What's the Word: BUNBURYING pronunciation: [BUN-bər-ee-ing] Part of speech: verb Origin: British English, 19th century Meaning: 1. (Humorous) Avoiding one's duties and responsibilities by claiming to have appointments to see a fictitious person. Examples: "My boss had a habit of Bunburying out of his obligation to meet the CEO each time she visited our office." "As a student, I tried Bunburying my way out of an exam, but my teacher didn’t believe me." About Bunburying “Bunburying” is a verb based on the character of Bunbury in Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Did you Know? English author Oscar Wilde coined the term “Bunburying” in his play “The Importance of Being Earnest,” as a verb that evoked a character named Bunbury. Though Bunbury is discussed in the play, he never appears onstage — Bunbury is a fictitious character whom another character references to create excuses that get him out of situations he wishes to leave. As a humorous verb, “Bunburying” means inventing a made-up appointment with a fictitious person in order to avoid one’s responsibilities.

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Fact of the Day - MICKEYS Did you know.... Animal-based names are surprisingly common when it comes to units of measurement. In addition to horsepower (which usually measures the output of engines or motors) and hogsheads (today mostly used for alcohol), there’s also the mickey — a semi-official means of measuring the speed of a computer mouse. Named after a certain Disney character who’s probably the world’s most famous rodent, it’s specifically used to describe the smallest measurable movement the device can take. In real terms, that equals 1/200 of an inch, or 0.1 millimeter. Both the sensitivity (mickeys per inch) and speed (mickeys per second) of a computer mouse are measured this way by computer scientists. Had the original name for the device stuck, it’s unlikely this measurement system would have come about. The mouse was briefly known as a “bug” when it was invented at the Stanford Research Institute to make computers more user-friendly, though that seems to have been a working title that no one was especially fond of. (That version of the device was also extremely primitive compared to the mice of today — it even had a wooden shell.) As for how the mouse got its current name, no one can quite remember, except that that’s what it looked like. A lot of people didn’t think the mouse would take off. In perhaps one of the most infamous articles ever published about computers, the San Francisco Examiner’s John C. Dvorak wrote in 1984, “The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse.’ There is no evidence that people want to use these things.” Written as a review of Apple’s landmark personal computer, which had launched earlier that year, Dvorak’s not-so-prescient article wasn’t exactly a hot take at the time. The relatively small number of people who used computers regularly back then were just fine using the keyboard for everything, and Dvorak was hardly alone in asserting that he didn’t want to use a mouse. His predictive abilities didn’t seem to improve with time, alas, as he also wrote that Apple should “pull the plug” on the iPhone prior to its 2007 release. Source: The speed of a computer mouse is measured in “mickeys,” named after Mickey Mouse.

What's the Word: ALTRICIAL pronunciation: [al-TRISH-əl] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 19th century Meaning: 1. (Of a young bird or other animal) Hatched or born helpless and requiring significant parental care. Often contrasted with precocial. 2. (Of a particular species) Having altricial young. Examples: "The birds were altricial, so one of the hatchling’s parents was always on guard at the nest." "The mother perched attentively over her baby’s stroller like an altricial bird tending to a chick." About Altricial “Altricial” is related to the Latin “altrices,” plural of “altrīx,” meaning “female nourisher.” Did you Know? Altricial birds are those whose babies require significant care and feeding upon hatching. Birds born this way include songbirds, hummingbirds, and woodpeckers. Not all birds are altricial. Waterfowl, for example, are precocial — that is, born with their eyes open, a layer of down, and the capacity to leave the nest quickly. By contrast, altricial birds are born with closed eyes and virtually no feathers. They are unable to keep warm independently and can’t hold their heads up, making them completely reliant on their parents for survival.

What's the Word: DOLORIFUGE pronunciation: [də-LOR-ə-fyooj] Part of speech: noun Origin: Latin, late 19th century Meaning: 1. Something which mitigates or removes grief. Examples: "After his team lost the World Series, the star pitcher took up mountain climbing as a dolorifuge." "After I suffered my first breakup, my mom introduced me to the dolorifuge of ice cream and bad TV." About Dolorifuge “Dolorifuge” is formed by combining the Latin “dolor,” meaning “pain,” with the English suffix “-fuge,” related to the Latin “-fugus,” describing a noun that removes or dispels something. Did you Know? Virtually every person suffers a broken heart at some point in life, and it’s important to take time to grieve these feelings. One way to do that is to turn to a dolorifuge — a fresh source of pleasure that distracts from grief. What makes a dolorifuge successful is how much it engages the sufferer and provides them a break from their woes. Many find physical activity, exercise, and mental challenges a powerful salve for a broken heart, while others find a dolorifuge in socializing, and still others recharge by staying home and engaging in comfort activities such as reading books or playing video games.

Fact of the Day - TRADEMARKED SMELLS? Did you know... When we think about trademarks, it’s usually with regard to the logos and catchy slogans of our favorite brands, or maybe even iconic sounds such as the NBC chimes or the deep rumble of the THX logo. But trademarks extend beyond what we see and hear — they can even include what we smell. In fact, a specific scent can become so closely tied to a brand that it earns legal protection. This may sound strange, since smells are invisible, hard to describe, and intensely subjective. But in the right circumstances, a scent can trigger memories, emotions, and brand loyalty just as powerfully, or even more so, than a logo or jingle. Companies that understand the emotional punch of scent are increasingly looking to protect their olfactory signatures, known as smell marks. Getting a scent trademarked, however, is a rare and complicated feat. As of 2023, there were only 15 officially registered scent trademarks in the United States, for products ranging from dental wax to shoe polish. Compare that to the millions of visual logos and sound marks and you can start to see just how unusual and special this form of brand protection really is. Here’s a look at how it works, which companies have pulled it off, and why scent might be branding’s next big frontier. Trademarking a Scent Is an Uphill Battle In the United States, trademarks are managed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the rules for scent trademarks are notoriously strict. First, the scent must be nonfunctional, which means the smell cannot be part of what makes the product useful. If a fragrance is an essential feature of the product — think the scent of a perfume or air freshener — it can’t be trademarked because it plays a fundamental role in the product’s usefulness. Second, the scent has to be distinctive. It must trigger immediate brand recognition, much like seeing the Nike Swoosh or hearing Intel’s startup jingle. The average pleasant smell is not enough; it must be unique and unmistakably associated with one particular company. Finally, the scent has to be describable in words. Applicants are required to submit a clear, detailed description of the smell they want to trademark. As anyone who’s ever tried to capture a scent in words can attest, this can prove to be incredibly difficult — and describing this invisible experience in a way that satisfies legal standards is even more challenging. These hurdles mean most companies don’t even attempt to trademark their signature scents. Smell Marks Can Help Cement a Brand’s Identity The tiny handful of successful scent trademarks showcases the power of this type of brand affiliation. Hasbro’s Play-Doh is one of the most famous examples: The company trademarked the smell of its modeling compound, describing the scent as “a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.” It’s an incredibly specific description, but anyone who’s played with Play-Doh can likely recall the scent instantly, demonstrating the strength of our olfactory memory. Another case comes from Verizon Wireless, which trademarked a custom “flowery musk scent” used inside its stores. This smell is part of an intentional strategy to shape customer experience, adding an invisible but memorable layer to retail visits. The smell isn’t just pleasant — it quietly signals to your brain that you’re in a Verizon store before you even glance at a logo or phone display. Perhaps one of the quirkiest smell marks comes from the world of bowling. Storm Products trademarked the scent of its bowling balls, producing models that smell like grape, cinnamon, and other unexpected aromas. It’s an unusual marketing tactic, but it works — bowlers can quickly associate the fruity smell with Storm’s high-performance gear. Scent Is Tied to Memory — And Emotion Our sense of smell is one of the most primal and emotional senses we have. It’s directly wired into the limbic system, the part of the brain that handles memory and emotional responses. A scent can instantly transport you back to your grandmother’s kitchen, a particular summer vacation, or your first car. Brands understand how powerful our sense of smell can be. Scent can forge a deep, subconscious connection with consumers that can prove even more enduring than a visual symbol or catchy tune. Hotels pump signature scents into lobbies, elevators, and hallways to create a sense of relaxation and familiarity. Luxury car makers scent their showrooms subtly with leather and wood notes to enhance perceptions of craftsmanship and elegance. And amusement parks infuse the air with playful, nostalgic aromas — such as cotton candy or popcorn — to draw visitors deeper into the childlike magic of their world. We All Smell Things Differently Despite the benefits of smell in marketing a product or experience, trademarking a scent remains an elusive achievement. We all have a different “smellscape,” meaning each of us perceives smells differently. These differences have a range of causes, from our genetics, cultural backgrounds, or even what we’ve eaten recently. And since it can be difficult to describe the specifics of an aroma, our descriptions are often vague and subjective. Even beyond the obstacles of our individual perceptions, brands must demonstrate that consumers have come to associate a particular smell with their goods and nothing else. This often requires expensive consumer studies and focused marketing efforts that drag on for years, sometimes decades. Play-Doh has been in business since 1956 — imprinting its unmistakable smell on the memories of multiple generations — but the iconic scent wasn’t officially trademarked until 2018. While scent trademarks clearly remain difficult to attain, for brands willing to invest the time and money, the payoff — legal protection for one of the most enduring aspects of their identity — can be well worth all the hassle. Source: Is It Possible To Trademark a Smell?

What's the Word: CALLITHUMP pronunciation: [KAL-ə-thəmp] Part of speech: noun Origin: American English, 19th century Meaning: 1. (U.S.) A somewhat riotous parade, accompanied with the blowing of tin horns and other discordant noises. Examples: "The high school football team’s victory parade was the biggest callithump our town had all year." "The avant garde music on the radio sounded more like a callithump than a symphony." About Callithump “Callithump” was likely coined in American English by combining a nonsense sound with the English word “thump,” meaning “a blow,” or “to hit hard.” Did you Know? The noun “callithump,” describing a noisy and riotous parade, was formed by merging the nonsense word “calli” with the existing word “thump,” meaning “to wallop.” One example of a callithump is a cacophonous mock-salute to or parade for newlyweds, such as the tradition of tying metal cans to the back of the couple’s car. A callithump can be organized, as in the Midwestern U.S. tradition of a callithump parade (a costumed children’s event with prizes) often held on the Fourth of July, but there is historical context of a callithump (also “calathump,” “cowthump,” and other variations) as an unplanned, chaotic, even riotous event.

Fact of the Day - FINGERNAILS Did you know... The human body contains a panoply of biological wonders. The human eye can detect around 1 million colors, and the nose can discern a trillion distinct scents. The brain is the most complex form of consciousness in the animal kingdom, and it takes the coordination of 200 muscles just to move our bipedal bodies around. Amid all these incredible capabilities, our nails get little scientific attention. Yet they are a rarity in nature — in fact, only primates have them, thanks to the evolution of their dexterous fingers. Embedded in your nails are other tiny mysteries, including the light-colored half-moon shape at the bottom of the nail plate. Though few of us stop to think about the purpose of this mark, its existence is a vital part of our nails and also serves as an indicator of our overall health. Here’s a closer look at this curious feature of our fingernails. The Scientific Name Is Latin for “Little Moon” The crescent-shaped mark at the base of the nail is known scientifically as the lunula, which is Latin for “little moon.” Although it has its own specific name, the lunula is only the visible part of a larger structure known as the nail matrix. That structure is one of the four major parts of the fingernail, along with the nail plate, nail bed, and the skin surrounding the nail (including the cuticle). Arguably, the matrix, which contains nerves, lymph, and blood vessels, is the most important of the four as it produces the cells that eventually harden into nail plates. Although the lunula can be many colors (more on that later), it typically appears white because it’s made of layers of newly formed cells that haven’t fully hardened and become transparent yet. (The rest of the nail is a pinkish color because the transparent plate allows the blood underneath to show through.) Sometimes lunulae will be easily visible and other times they can be obscured — usually because they’re hidden under the cuticle, though in some cases an obscured lunula could be a sign of a medical condition such as diabetes or heart disease. The Color Can Be an Indicator of Health The lunula, and the fingernail more generally, is a remarkable glimpse into our overall health. Typically, a healthy person will have white lunulae, but if the area is a different color it could be indicative of a potentially serious health condition. According to Healthline, the lunula can appear in various colors including blue, brown, black, red, and yellow, and can be an indicator of diabetes (pale blue), heart failure (red), renal failure (brown), or other serious conditions. This is why doctors will often examine your nails when you go in for an annual physical. It’s a Visible Part of Nail Growth The nail matrix serves another important function: regenerating the nail. Although it may not seem like it, our nails are always growing. They grow out from the base of the nail at a rate of roughly 1 nanometer (one-billionth of a meter) every second, which averages to about 3.47 millimeters per month. (If you’ve ever noticed that you tend to trim your fingernails more frequently than your toenails, that’s because a toe’s nail matrix produces only 1.62 millimeters of nail per month on average.) Nails grow from the nail matrix (which includes the lunula), where special cells create multiple layers of keratin, the same protein that makes up hair. The typical nail has roughly 196 layers of these cells. So the lunula is essentially the visible portion of the growth zone, where new cells are actively produced right before your eyes. Source: Why Do We Have Half-Moons on Our Fingernails?

What's the Word: SUPERJACENT pronunciation: [soo-pər-JEY-sənt] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 16th century Meaning: 1. (Technical) Lying over or above something else; overlying. Examples: "I spread a superjacent layer of topsoil in the garden to protect my seedlings." "You can find the seasonal items on the superjacent shelf." About Superjacent “Superjacent” is a loanword from Latin, formed by joining the prefix “super-” (meaning “over”) with “jacere,” meaning “to lie.” Did you Know? The earth we stand on is not simply composed of soil. Encircling Earth’s crust is an appropriately named layer called “bedrock,” and superjacent to that is another layer called “parent rock.” Above these layers of rock are three more superjacent layers that make up what most people think of as “earth” or “ground.” These include two types of soil: subsoil, which sits upon the rock layer, and topsoil, which sits above subsoil. Superjacent to all of these is what’s known as “humus,” or “the organic layer,” a dark dirt made up of decaying leaf litter and other decomposing matter, making it the most nutrient-rich part of all the soil layers.

Fact of the Day - RADIUM Did you know... Radium is, quite famously, not good for you. Its effects on the body are deleterious, not that anyone realized this when Marie Curie discovered the alkaline earth metal in 1898 — a scientific breakthrough that led to her winning the 1911 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Before long, the dangerously false belief that radium had health benefits began to spread: It was added to everything from toothpaste and hair gel to food and drinks, with glow-in-the-dark paints made from radium still sold into the 1970s. It was marketed as being good for any “common ailment,” with radioactive water sold in small jars that shops claimed would “aid nature” and act as a natural “vitalizer.” Of course, none of this was true — exposure to even a small amount of radium can eventually prove fatal. Curie had no way of knowing this at the time, just as she didn’t have the slightest inkling that her notebooks would remain radioactive for more than 1,500 years after her death. She was known to store such elements out in the open and even walk around her lab with them in her pockets, as she enjoyed how they “looked like faint, fairy lights.” Marie Curie also won a second Nobel Prize. Marie Curie wasn’t just the first woman to win a Nobel Prize — she was also the first person to win two and remains the only person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields. Her first award came eight years before her Nobel Prize in chemistry, when she and her husband Pierre Curie won the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics for their work in radioactivity. More than two decades later, their daughter Irène Joliot-Curie won the 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry along with her husband Frédéric Joliot for synthesizing new radioactive elements. Source: Radium was added to food and drinks because it was thought to have health benefits.

What's the Word: DUUMVIRATE pronunciation: [doo-UHM-vər-it] Part of speech: noun Origin: Latin, 17th century Meaning: 1. A coalition of two people having joint authority or influence. Examples: "After the founder brought her husband into the company, the pair operated as an equal duumvirate." "Northern Ireland is a modern duumvirate ruled by the first minister and deputy first minister, who share identical powers." About Duumvirate “Duumvirate” is based on the Latin “duumvirātus,” formed by combining “duumviri” (meaning “of two men”) and the suffix “-ātus,” describing possession of a feature. Did you Know? A duumvirate is a circumstance in which two people hold joint authority or power. Numerous countries have governing duumvirates (also called “diarchies”). While “duumvirate” often describes political systems, the term can also be used to describe any situation led by two equals. For example, a company run by a partnership between its CEO and its president is a duumvirate.

Fact of the Day - SHIPWRECKS Did you know... These are the five deepest shipwrecks ever discovered, including the USS ‘Samuel B. Roberts,’ which went to the depths of the Philippine Trench during the Second World War. In October 1944, during the Battle off Samar—one of four major actions during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in World War II’s Pacific theatre—the USS Samuel B. Roberts found itself in dire straits. The destroyer escort had only a fraction of the guns and torpedoes carried by the naval warships it accompanied. It stood no chance against the Imperial Japanese naval force, which was desperate to fight off a U.S. invasion of the Philippines at Leyte Gulf. After firing every round of ammunition, smoke shell, and illumination round on board to provide a protective smoke screen for the destroyers, the Sammy B was sunk by a Japanese battleship and disappeared into the depths of the Philippine Trench, dragging around 90 of its 224 crew members with it. Nearly 80 years later, American adventurer Victor Vescovo piloted his deep-sea submersible Limiting Factor in the Philippine Trench and managed to locate the wreck of the Sammy B. The ship, which had broken in two during its long descent to the seafloor, confirmed details about the Battle off Samar that had previously been known only from eyewitness accounts, such as punctures in the stern showing exactly where Japanese shells had fatally struck. The vessel’s final stand “was just an extraordinary act of heroism,” Vescovo told the BBC following the 2022 discovery. “Those men—on both sides—were fighting to the death.” Under Pressure Equally impressive is the depth at which the Sammy B settled. It lies at a staggering 22,621 feet—or 4.28 miles—below sea level, where the temperature remains around 32°F and the pressure rises to 5 tons per square inch. Located in one of the deepest sections of one of the deepest trenches in the world, it should come as little surprise that the Sammy B currently holds the title of the deepest shipwreck ever discovered. It broke the record held by the USS Johnston, a U.S. naval destroyer that sank during the same battle as the Sammy B and in the same deep-sea trench. An expedition team led by Microsoft co-founder and explorer Paul Allen discovered the wreck in 2019, and another expedition led by Vescovo confirmed its identity in 2021. While the Sammy B remains No. 1 for the time being, it’s possible that other shipwrecks from the Second World War reached even greater depths after going under, including the still-unlocated escort carrier USS Gambier Bay and destroyer USS Hoel. 5 of the Deepest Shipwrecks Ever Found Warships aren’t the only thing that have come to rest at incredible ocean depths. A list of the five deepest wrecks ever found also includes passenger and merchant ships, and all were sunk during World War II. Ship: USS Samuel B. Roberts Depth: 22,621 feet Location: Philippine Trench Date of Sinking: October 25, 1944 Ship: USS Johnston Depth: 21,180 feet Location: Philippine Trench Date of Sinking: October 25, 1944, during the Battle off Samar Ship: SS Rio Grande Depth: 18,904 feet Location: Southern Atlantic Ocean near Brazil Date of Sinking: January 4, 1944 Ship: USS Indianapolis Depth: 18,044 feet Location: Philippine Sea Date of Sinking: July 30, 1945 Ship: SS City of Cairo Depth: Roughly 17,000 feet Location: Southern Atlantic Ocean near St. Helena Date of Sinking: November 6, 1942 Source: What Is the Deepest Shipwreck Ever Found?

What's the Word: GOURMANDIZE pronunciation: [GOOR-mən-dahyz] Part of speech: verb Origin: French, 17th century Meaning: 1. Eat good food, especially to excess. Examples: "Some people travel to see the sights, but Mark loves to gourmandize in other countries." "For my birthday, I invited my friends over to gourmandize and play board games." About Gourmandize “Gourmandize” is a loanword from French. Did you Know? To understand “gourmandize” as a verb, it’s important to understand the difference between the nouns “gourmet” and “gourmand.” A gourmet is usually someone knowledgeable about food and drink with a sensitive and cultured palate, while a gourmand is simply an enthusiastic eater and drinker. In its earliest forms in both French and English, “gourmand” described a glutton, but over time the term has eased to describe someone who is enthusiastic about food without necessarily being knowledgeable about it. As such, “to gourmandize” is to consume food with the enthusiasm and gusto of a gourmand.

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Fact of the day - CELSIUS SCALE Did you know... On Christmas Day 1741, Anders Celsius, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, took the world’s first temperature measurement using degrees Celsius — well, kind of. His scale had one big difference compared to the system we use today: It was backward. Instead of 0 degrees marking the freezing point of water, it instead marked the boiling point, while 100 degrees marked the freezing point. The reason for this arrangement may have been in part to avoid using negative numbers when taking temperature readings. After all, it’s pretty cold in Sweden a majority of the year, and air temperature never gets hot enough to boil water (thank goodness). Celsius’ scale, then known as the centigrade (or “100-step”) scale, remained this way for the rest of his life, but in 1745 — one year after his death — scientist Carl Linnaeus (of taxonomy fame) ordered a thermometer with the scale adjusted to our modern orientation. Several other scientists also independently reversed the scale. Yet it wasn’t until some two centuries later, in 1948, that the International Bureau of Weights and Measures decided to rename “centigrade” to Celsius, in part to fall in line with the other major temperature scales named after their creators, such as Daniel Fahrenheit and William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin. Although the Swedish scientist didn’t invent, or even use, the precise scale that now bears his name, his groundbreaking work is still worthy of the accolade. Before Celsius, a couple dozen thermometers were in use throughout the world, and many of them were frustratingly inaccurate and inconsistent (some were based on the melting point of butter, or the internal temperature of certain animals). Celsius’ greatest contribution was devising a system that could accurately capture temperature under a variety of conditions, and his name now graces weather maps around the world (excluding the U.S., of course). There was once such a thing as a decimal time. Today’s second is derived from a sexagesimal system created by the ancient Babylonians, who defined the time unit as one-sixtieth of a minute. Fast-forward to the tail end of the 18th century, and the French Revolution was in a metric frenzy. In 1795, France adopted the gram for weight, the meter for distance, and centigrade (later renamed Celsius) for temperature. However, some of France’s decimal ideas didn’t quite stand the test of, er, time. By national decree in 1793, the French First Republic attempted to create a decimal system for time. This split the day into 10 hours, with each hour lasting 100 minutes, and each minute lasting 100 seconds (and so on). Because there are 86,400 normal seconds in a day, the decimal second was around 13% shorter. Although it was easy to convert among seconds, minutes, and hours, France’s decimal time proved unpopular — after all, many people had perfectly good clocks with 24 hours on them — and the idea was abolished two years later. Since then, a couple of other temporal decimal proposals have been put forward, including watchmaker Swatch’s attempt to redefine the day as 1,000 “.beats” (yes, the period was included) in 1998 in response to the internet’s growing popularity. However, ancient Babylon’s perception of time is likely too ingrained in human culture to change any time soon. Source: The Celsius scale was originally backward.

What's the Word: ARCADIAN pronunciation: [ar-KEY-dee-ən] Part of speech: adjective Origin: Latin, 16th century Meaning: 1. Relating to an ideal rustic paradise. Examples: "Though the cabins offered every modern convenience, the resort’s decor motif was purely arcadian." "Driven by arcadian longings, Sam and Kelly decided to move to the country." About Arcadian “Arcadian” is from the Latin “Arcadius,” based on the ancient Greek “Arkádios,” meaning “an Arcadian.” Did you Know? “Arcadian” describes something related to an ideal rustic paradise. In Greek mythology, Arcadia was the home of Pan, the god of nature, while geographically, Arcadia was a mountainous district in the Peloponnese region of ancient Greece. While “Arcadia” is still a popular place name, “arcadian” as an adjective refers to the utopian ideal of the mythical Arcadia, a place where one is at peace with the beauty of nature.

Fact of the Day - PENGUINCUBATOR Did you know... Sir Allen Lane wanted to bring paperback books to the masses—and he thought a vending machine was the perfect way to do it. Sir Allen Lane was the creator of Penguin Books, which is credited with popularizing high-quality mass-market paperbacks. Paperbacks existed prior to Penguin, but they were often poorly made or had trashy subject matter. Lane changed all that: He published classic literature in paperback form and legitimized the paperback. He also offered them at an affordable price (sixpence per book at launch, or about the same as a pack of cigarettes). According to an archived version of Penguin’s website, it all came about after Lane paid a visit to Agatha Christie: “[H]e found himself on a platform at Exeter station searching its bookstall for something to read on his journey back to London, but discovered only popular magazines and reprints of Victorian novels. Appalled by the selection on offer, Lane decided that good quality contemporary fiction should be made available at an attractive price and sold not just in traditional bookshops, but also in railway stations, tobacconists and chain stores.” One of the ways Lane brought books to non-bookstore locations was the “Penguincubator,” a vending machine for his paperbacks that he invented in 1937. (He may have gotten the idea from the German publisher Reclam, which first made book vending machines in the 1910s.) You can see a photo of the machine here. James Bridle writes at Publishing Perspectives that the first Penguincubator was located outside Henderson’s—a bookshop called “The Bomb Shop” due to the fact that it sold radical literature—at 66 Charing Cross Road. This “signaled his intention to take the book beyond the library and the traditional bookstore, into railway stations, chain stores and onto the streets.” Unfortunately, the idea wasn’t exactly a successful one: As one bookseller recounted in The British Book Trade: An Oral History, “it had to be wheeled out and locked at the front of the shop every night, then brought in every morning. And every morning, apparently, there were letters of complaint shoved under the door: ‘We put a shilling in this machine and no book came out of it.’ It was a complete failure.” While the Penguincubator is no longer around, you can find a Penguin Books Vending Machine in England’s Exeter St Davids Train Station that was installed in 2023 in honor of Lane’s search for a book there all those years ago. According to the city of Exeter, “The machine has proven to be a hit with locals and commuters alike, garnering millions of views thanks to a string of viral social media posts and national press attention that lauded its uniqueness.” And in 2025, the machine “will play host to a curated selection of books from Penguin’s 90 years of publishing success with Exeter City of Literature managing the unique book dispenser’s inventory. Customers can expect to encounter a series of themed books in the machine to celebrate Exeter’s place in the bookish world as one of only 53 UNESCO Cities of Literature.” Source: The Penguincubator: The 1937 Vending Machine for Books

What's the Word: SINGULTUS pronunciation: [sing-GUHL-təs] Part of speech: noun Origin: Latin, 18th century Meaning: 1. Hiccups. Examples: "I get singultus every time I drink sparkling wine." "We tried startling Elsie, but her singultus persisted until she held her breath for a full minute." About Singultus “Singultus” is a loanword from Latin, describing speech interrupted by sobs. Did you Know? Nearly all mammals experience singultus — the medical name for hiccups — but scientists aren’t quite sure of the cause. What we do know is that singultus is a two-stage event, beginning when the diaphragm contracts suddenly to create a gasp of air, which is immediately followed by a sudden closure of the opening between the vocal cords that allows breath in. Thus, hiccups sound a lot like sobs, as is suggested by the condition’s Latin name, “singultus.” Scientists believe hiccups don’t really serve a purpose anymore, but are the product of evolutionary history dating back to when our ancestors had gills that needed to be pulled closed in a hurry.

Fact of the Day - ACTUALLY PINK Did you know.... The Addams Family was filmed in black and white, and it’s difficult to imagine it any other way — not only because it premiered in 1964, when color television was still something of a novelty, but because the aesthetic perfectly suits the show’s gothic vibes. It was hardly dour on set, however, as the iconic living room where most of the action takes place was actually pink. A resurfaced photo of the set shows just how garish many of the colors were — including bright pink walls and rugs — which in hindsight makes perfect sense: As long as nothing looked out of place in the final black-and-white rendering, its real-life hue didn’t make much of a difference. Several of the set’s props were repurposed from another MGM production, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which was released a few short months prior to The Addams Family. The characters of the latter made their first appearances in a series of single-panel New Yorker comics by series creator Charles Addams, the first of which debuted in 1938. None of the characters had names in the original comic, however. Most of them, including Morticia and Wednesday, received their monikers when Addams licensed a doll collection based on the cartoon in 1962. And speaking of names, Wednesday’s middle name is — naturally — Friday. Lurch and Thing were played by the same actor. In addition to his roles in Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie, Ted Cassidy is best known for his performance as Lurch in The Addams Family. He reprised his role as the hulking butler in several iterations of the franchise, including the 1973 animated series and the 1977 television movie Halloween With the New Addams Family, as well as in episodes of the 1960s Batman TV series and The New Scooby-Doo Movies. But Lurch wasn’t his only contribution to the show, as the disembodied hand known as Thing belonged to Cassidy as well — something many fans didn’t realize at the time, as the character is credited as “Itself” in the credits. Cassidy had a separate contract for playing Thing and portrayed the character with his right hand, though he occasionally switched to his left to see if anyone would notice. Audiences probably didn’t, just as they likely couldn’t tell when assistant director Jack Voglin portrayed Thing in scenes featuring both of Cassidy’s characters. Source: The living room set of the “Addams Family” TV show was actually pink.

What's the Word: COSSET pronunciation: [KOS-it] Part of speech: verb Origin: Anglo-Norman French, 16th century Meaning: 1. Care for and protect in an overindulgent way. Examples: "It’s rewarding to cosset one’s pets and receive unconditional love in return." "Not wishing to cosset my daughter, I asked her to handle her college registration on her own." About Cosset “Cosset” is likely related to the Anglo-Norman French “coscet,” meaning “cottager.” Did you Know? In its first use, “cosset” was a noun that referred to a lamb raised by hand, before eventually shifting to suggest a spoiled child. It took about a century before “cosset” became a verb meaning “to treat like a cosset by petting, caring for, and indulging” — or overindulging. Today, cosseted animals are enormously popular on social media, where videos of pampered cats, spoiled dogs, and even tame raccoons are enjoyed by millions of viewers.

Fact of the Day - UNCLE Did you know.... One theory says it comes from an Irish word; another says we have the ancient Romans to thank. But the joke is on those theories, because the real story is more complicated than that. Perhaps you’ve been forced to say it while getting noogies from a bully on the playground. Or maybe you’ve heard it used in a movie where one character roughing up another insists that they “say ‘uncle’,” or admit defeat, before they’re set free. But why uncle—why not aunt or mom or some other authority figure? Where did this bizarre saying come from? Uncle Meaning and Origin Theories According to the Oxford English Dictionary, say uncle is a uniquely North American phrase that first popped up in the written record in 1891 in an article from the Iowa Daily Citizen, and it had taken on the meaning “admit defeat” by 1912, when the Modesto News declared “This Time it is ‘Martie’ Graves and Don Johns who made them say ‘Uncle’.” There are a number of theories about where the phrase came from; one mentioned in the OED posits that we might get this sense of uncle from the Irish word anacol, which means “protection” or “quarter.” But, as David Wilton at Word Origins notes, “This idea was first put forward in the journal American Speech in 1976, but it is speculation with essentially no evidence to support it … there [are no] recorded instances of say anacol or anything similar that would lend credence to the idea of a folk etymology.” Yet another theory says that we get it from the days of the Roman Empire. Supposedly, young children of that era who were attacked by bullies wouldn’t be set free until they said “Patrue, mi Patruissimo,” or “Uncle, my best Uncle,” because at that time, the brother of one’s father was accorded almost the same level of status and power as one’s dad—therefore, declaring the bully to be your “Best Uncle” was tantamount to granting him a title of respect. Joking Around It seems more likely that we have a joke to thank for why we say “uncle” to give up. The joke from the OED’s first citation reads in full: “A gentleman was boasting that his parrot would repeat anything he told him. For example, he told him several times, before some friends, to say ‘Uncle,’ but the parrot would not repeat it. In anger he seized the bird, and half-twisting his neck, said: ‘Say “uncle,” you beggar!’ and threw him into the fowl pen, in which he had ten prize fowls. Shortly afterward, thinking he had killed the parrot, he went to the pen. To his surprise he found nine of the fowls dead on the floor with their necks wrung, and the parrot standing on the tenth twisting his neck and screaming: ‘Say “uncle,” you beggar! say “uncle.” ’ ” As Michael Quinion at World Wide Words writes, later versions of the joke have the man’s niece persuading him to buy her a parrot—and that’s why the bird is saying “uncle.” But in a way, we do have Ireland to thank, because according to Wilton, the joke seems to have first appeared in a Dublin newspaper in June 1891. From there, it made its way into a London newspaper and then to the Iowa Daily Citizen, at which point say uncle spread across the country and became part of North American vernacular: “The original joke may have gotten its start in Ireland,” Wilton says, “but it had nothing to do with anacol and did not develop into a stock phrase until it had crossed the ocean.” Source: Why Do We Say “Uncle” When Admitting Defeat?

Fact of the Day - EXPRESSION Did you know.... For most of us, literally putting our feet in our mouths isn’t a physical possibility once we reach adulthood. So, where did this curious expression originate? We’ve all put our foot in our mouths at least once—metaphorically, at least. This vivid little expression commonly refers to making an awkward blunder in a conversation, like mixing up someone’s name or making an ill-timed joke. It first appeared in print in the late 18th century, but its exact origins are murky. Putting your foot in your mouth came about only after the phrase put your foot in it had established itself in the English language as a way to refer to making a mistake. The first print appearance of the expression was in a 1796 play. In Bannian Day, a play by George Brewer, one character expresses their uncertainty: “To be sure I an’t now a little at a loss to know whether I’ve made a good hand of this, or whether I’ve put my foot in it.” The fact that the phrase was tapped for a medium that’s meant to be acted out suggests that people may have been saying something similar, if not identical, aloud regularly before it was ever written down. It’s thought that this original expression may first have emerged from the idea of accidentally stepping in something undesirable, like mud or feces. It’s not clear if putting your foot in your mouth, in particular, was a derivative of this first phrase or if it emerged independently, but it wasn’t until 1879 that the version we know initially appeared. The Iowa-based Waterloo Courier reported that someone was “bound to put his foot in his mouth whenever he [opened] it,” and in 1902, the Atlanta Constitution wrote, “General Bragg has gone and done it again! His happy faculty of putting his foot in his mouth whenever he opens it hangs to him like a toper’s appetite.” Putting Your Foot in It vs. In Your Mouth: What’s the Difference? Still, as similar as they may appear to be, there are slight differences between these two phrases. For one, put your foot in it is more often used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, whereas put your foot in your mouth both emerged in and more commonly appears in the American lexicon. But put your foot in it is also a much more general saying. Conversely, putting your foot in your mouth is reserved for conversational mishaps—your foot is in your mouth because of a verbal mistake, specifically—while put your foot in it could refer to any erroneous action. So, for example, while accidentally spoiling a surprise gift for someone would be considered both putting your foot in your mouth and putting your foot in ‘it,’ buying someone a terrible gift would only ever be called putting your foot in it. Moving away from its original construction, putting your foot in your mouth further evolved in the mid-20th century into the term foot-in-mouth disease for those who can’t help but make constant social blunders. It’s a tongue-in-cheek term referencing foot and mouth disease, which is a real illness that affects livestock with hooves, like cows, pigs, and sheep. Usually, animals that contract this illness are put down to avoid it spreading to others—though luckily for humans with foot-in-mouth disease, the consequences aren’t usually so severe. Interestingly, however, putting your foot in something may not always be used negatively. A notable exception to the usual association is the phrase’s definition within African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Instead of referring to an embarrassing mistake, the phrase is used to compliment particularly delicious cooking. If someone made an especially phenomenal meal, they’re said to have put their foot in it. So, next time someone tells us we’ve put our foot in something, we can only hope they’re talking about a dish we’re serving them and not something we’ve just said. Source: Where Does the Expression ‘Put Your Foot in Your Mouth’ Come From?

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Fact of the Day - NOT IN THE U.S. Did you know.... The world’s largest fast-food chain has an estimated 45,000 locations, none of which are located in the United States. It’s called Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, and the popular chain more than doubled its total number of stores in just three years (between 2022 and 2025). Around 90% of Mixue locations are in China, with the rest scattered across 11 other countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, including Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. Mixue was founded in 1997 by a student named Zhang Hongchao. It started off as a tiny, lone stall selling frozen treats in China’s Henan province before its formal establishment as a company in 1999. The number of Mixue franchises snowballed after that — a fitting trajectory, given the mascot is a snowman named Snow King. Today, Mixue sells ice cream, bubble tea, and iced beverages at an affordable cost. The company’s 45,000 locations (as of March 2025) surpass all other global fast-food brands, even including giants such as McDonald’s, which has 43,477 locations worldwide. Mixue’s rapid expansion is partially due to a strategy that prioritizes smaller stores in well-trafficked areas, which ensures low overhead costs and plenty of foot traffic. While analysts believe Mixue may one day expand into the U.S. and Europe, the company is focused on Asian and Oceanic markets for the time being. There are no Taco Bells in Mexico. Although the chain was inspired by Mexican cuisine, you won’t find any Taco Bells in Mexico itself. This isn’t for lack of effort, as Taco Bell has tried to break into the market on two separate occasions. The first attempt was in 1992, when the company opened a food cart in Mexico City. But locals were confused by the inauthentic names of menu items and also taken aback by the comparatively high prices. Taco Bell tried again in 2007 — a choice Mexican writer Carlos Monsiváis decried to the Associated Press as “like bringing ice to the Arctic.” That time, Taco Bell marketed itself as an American fast-food chain rather than pretending to sell Mexican fare. It opened a location in Monterrey, Mexico, that sold items such as french fries and ice cream, but that, too, failed to take off. Source: The biggest fast-food chain in the world doesn’t have any U.S. locations.

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Fact of the Day - STRIKEOUT Did you know... The use of the letter ‘K’ as shorthand for ‘strikeout’ dates back to the earliest days of America’s favorite pastime. When it comes to baseball, the use of the letter K to represent a strikeout is one of the most elegant and concise practices in the sport—especially for headline writers. It should come as no surprise, then, that the originator of the abbreviation was the forefather of the modern sportswriter, Henry Chadwick. The British-born, Brooklyn-based writer for the Long Island Star and The New York Clipper in the mid-19th century is credited with the invention of the box score, one of his many contributions to the game that earned him posthumous election into the Hall of Fame. Baseball in America developed before television, radio, or even widespread photography, which made newspaper reports of the game crucial to the spread of the sport’s popularity. Chadwick wasn’t the first person to record the runs scored per inning, but Baseball Magazine declared one of his 1859 game summaries as “The First Baseball Box Score Ever Published,” and he became known as the founder of the modern scoring system. Many of the shorthands he developed over the following decades are still part of the modern baseball lexicon, including the K. Although these days score cards use lines to indicate base hits, Chadwick used an HR for home run, a D for double, and so on. As for making an out at the plate, Chadwick needed an abbreviation for what was known at the time as having “struck three times.” He is usually credited with coining the term strike-out. In terms of the box office, though, he went with K because the letter S was already taken. But also because he often used the phrase, the batter was struck, and the last letter in struck is the letter K. Beyond that, a backwards letter K has taken on other connotations in the world of baseball. Fans also recognize it as a way of indicating that a batter struck out without taking a swing with the third strike. The MLB officially credits Chadwick with popularizing its usage, which may account for why he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938, and why he was the only journalist in it for decades. Source: Why Does ‘K’ Stand for ‘Strikeout’ in Baseball?

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Fact of the Day - SLOGAN Did you know... Much like the durable gems it refers to, the advertising slogan “A Diamond Is Forever” has endured the test of time. The line was first penned in 1947 and cemented a connection between diamond rings and romance, though it was, ironically, conceived of by a woman who never married, opting instead to prioritize her career and spend time with her dogs. Mary Frances Gerety was a copywriter at the N.W. Ayer & Son advertising agency, where she was assigned to De Beers, a company that controlled the global supply of rough diamonds. At the time, diamonds weren’t as widely associated with love as they are today — before World War II, only an estimated 10% of proposals featured a diamond engagement ring. Many women tended to prefer more practical engagement gifts, such as a car or washing machine. It was up to Gerety to change that perception by convincing couples that diamond rings weren’t just a luxury, but an essential part of a marriage proposal. While working late on an ad campaign for the company, Gerety realized she’d forgotten to come up with a memorable slogan. According to The New York Times, Gerety later recalled, “Dear God, send me a line,” and jotted down the now-iconic phrase before heading to bed. When she awoke the next morning, she thought the slogan was passable but nothing special. But those four simple words, “A Diamond Is Forever,” proved to be hugely successful. U.S. diamond sales skyrocketed from $23 million in 1939 to an astounding $2.1 billion by 1979. Gerety’s creation was later named the top slogan of the 20th century by Ad Age. “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” was first performed by Carol Channing. The song “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” was popularized by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes — a musical performance later ranked as the 12th best in film history by the American Film Institute. But the song was originally sung by actress and comedian Carol Channing, who debuted it on the stage four years earlier. Channing starred as Lorelei Lee in the original 1949 Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The show featured music by Jule Styne — who also scored Gypsy and Funny Girl — and lyrics by Leo Robin, who won an Oscar for the 1938 song “Thanks for the Memory” from the Bob Hope film The Big Broadcast of 1938. Together, the pair composed “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” which was made famous by Channing during a nearly two-year Broadway run. Channing performed her signature song once again in the 1974 Broadway show Lorelei — a spinoff of the original 1949 musical. Source: The woman who coined the slogan “A Diamond Is Forever” never married.

Fact of the Day - ODD GRAMMAR RULE Did you know... You know this rule, even if you don’t know you know it. The English language is full of all sorts of quirks that can be infuriating to non-native speakers. (Imagine learning as an adult that cough, enough, and though all make different sounds.) To those of us who speak English as our first tongue, these nonsensical grammar conventions come as second nature—and some rules are so innate that they rarely get taught in school. Take this example: This passage tweeted by editor Matthew Anderson comes from the book The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase. It outlines the rules of adjective order when preceding a noun. According to the text, the order goes “opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun,” and any change made to that organization will make you “sound like a maniac.” For instance, big black dog is a perfectly acceptable phrase, but saying “black big dog” just sounds awkward. At least that’s the case for native English speakers—people learning English as a second language are tasked with committing that seemingly arbitrary sequence to memory. If they don’t, they risk getting confused stares when asking for “the green lovely rectangular French old silver whittling little knife.” That’s not the only English rule we know without knowing we know it. Here are a few more, from why the phrasing is my brother’s car and not the car of my brother to why we say “abso-freakin’-lutely” instead of “absolute-freakin’-ly.” Source: The Odd Grammar Rule Most English Speakers Know But Are Rarely Taught

With the Steam version releasing tomorrow I figured now is a good time to remind everyone of the play order in case anyone is unsure or questioning it. I've seen a lot of people confused on the Steam forums because there are so many entries in the series and it's a pretty confusing structure if you're not familiar with the series. Here is the release order with everything you need: KH 1.5+2.5 Collection: KH Final Mix (2002) KH Re:Chain of Memories (2004) KH2 Final Mix (2006) KH 358/2 Days (2009) [Cutscene movie] KH Birth by Sleep Final Mix (2010) KH Re:Coded (2011) [Cutscene movie] KH 2.8 Collection: KH Dream Drop Distance HD (2012) KH X Back Cover (2017) [Movie] KH 0.2 A Fragmentary Passage (2017) KH Union X (2016-2021) (Shutdown mobile game, cutscenes only) Here is a nice fandub of the cutscenes up to the part prior to KH3. KH3 + ReMind DLC (2019-2020) KH Union X (2016-2021) (Shutdown mobile game, cutscenes only) Here is a nice fandub of the cutscenes that are post KH3. KH Melody of Memory (2020) (Rhythm game) At the moment it's not on Steam. You can buy it on the Epic Store. KH Dark Road (2020-2022) (Mobile game) You can play this game, but I recommend watching it: Upcoming Unreleased Games: KH Missing-Link (Mobile game) (2024) KH4 (TBA)