Ask Rachel

Interesting fact: It is, in fact, unhealthy to hold it in for extended periods. (Hashtag not a doctor, hashtag not medical advice.) So please just go far enough off the trail that no one can use their five senses on your sweet release. Hashtag thank you.

Interesting fact: A dog’s nails might grow, on average, 0.1 mm per day. So it would take more than a billion years for a dog’s nail to grow the circumference of the Earth.

Interesting fact: Hamburgers, despite the name, are a distinctly American myth. Much like democracy itself. (Happy Fourth, and don’t die out there!)

Interesting fact: Some moths make silk. Other moths eat silk. I’m not very high, but I’ve been sitting with this realization for half an hour now.

Interesting fact: A social media manager’s rule of thumb is four educational and entertaining posts to every one promotional one. Huh. I’m clearly overdue for selling you all something.

Interesting fact: The kitty-litter industry claws through 5 billion tons of clay each year. Pretty sure half of this ended up on my college roommate’s kitchen counter.

Interesting fact: “Bluey” is reportedly the first show to demonstrate unstructured childhood play. And this advice column, week in and week out, demonstrates even less structure than that.

Interesting fact: Dinosaurs had belly buttons. A triceratops-like dinosaur fossil was found with a belly button scar much like modern alligators have. Lint, however, does not fossilize.

Interesting fact: Many canned foods are good well beyond their best-by date. So you have several more years to pretend you’ll eat those garbanzo beans back there.

Interesting fact: The vulnerable part of disappearing message security is what’s referred to, apparently with a straight face, as an “analog hole.” (Meaning anything digital has to become visible or auditory for humans to perceive it.)

Interesting fact: If you need a new password, a passphrase might be your best bet – some experts believe a seven-word passphrase is essentially unhackable. Unless it’s your dog’s name.

Interesting fact: La Plata County’s website does not seem to take a stance on dog paw prints as witness signatures, one way or the other.

Interesting fact: Baseball saw double-digit increases in its national TV audience for viewers age 18-34 last year. Weird, because I didn’t think kids these days had attention spans.

Interesting fact: The term “cockpit” for a pilot’s little room seems to come from ye olde nautical term for “where the coxswain sits.” That ought to clear up any other possible misuse of the word.