Hopefully you had a big, delicious Thanksgiving this year! But did you have a hard time staying awake after lunch? Most people did, and almost everyone blames tryptophan. But is tryptophan really the main culprit? What even is tryptophan, anyway? Tryptophan is an amino acid that our bodies use to help make both vitamin B3…
With Thanksgiving less than a week away, I felt it would be helpful to answer a few “Mundane Mysteries” about preparing your turkey for the big day. With a little help from the good folks at Butterball, who handle tens of thousands of calls to its Thanksgiving hotline every year, here are the answers to…
First, let me say that I am in no way a doctor or any other type of medical professional. I’m just a wordsmith who enjoys knowing where the language we use comes from & what it all means. Please direct any actual medical questions you may have to your healthcare provider. With that said… Over…
Do you know the real difference between Memorial Day & Veterans Day? The Department of Veterans Affairs encountered enough confusion that they dedicated an entire section on their website to explain the difference between the two similar, though very different, holidays. Memorial Day & Veterans Day are observed about 6 months apart: Veterans Day every…
Ever wondered, while sitting at a bar or enjoying an adult beverage at home, why liquors are called “spirits”? I mean, sure…the way people act after a few shots of vodka may make it seem like they’ve been possessed by a ghost or demon. But is that the reason some refer to gin, tequila, whiskey,…
Whether it’s “Springing Forward” or “Falling Back”, you’ve probably wondered at one point or another, “What even is Daylight Saving Time? And why does it exist?” Founding father Benjamin Franklin was actually the first to suggest DST, back in 1784, as a money-saving ploy in one of his satirical essays. But, while Franklin was mostly…
When people heard the word “PLACEBO” back in the 1200s, there were no sugar pills or clinical trials. Actually, “placebo” had nothing at all to do with medicine back then. In reality, for members of the Roman Catholic Church (which was most folks back in those days), “placebo” would more likely have made them think…
Whenever a forecaster says anything about a pending “nor’easter” during a weather report, stores start selling out of batteries, milk, and bread. For a lot of folks, nor’easter basically means “a really big storm”. And that’s not wrong, since nor’easters have earned their bad-boy reputation. But what makes a really big storm a nor’easter? According…
You could definitely ask your buddy whether The Godfather Part II is as good as everyone says it is, but you’ll never know for sure unless you sit through all four hours of it & see it for yourself. After all, the best way to determine the something’s value is to experience it firsthand, right?…
Whenever you hear an old saying, like “letting the cat out of the bag”, does it ever make you think “for Pete’s sake, what does it mean”? But then you think, “why did I just say that? What does ‘for Pete’s sake’ even mean?” Who’s this Pete character, and why should I care about his…