Ask Rachel

Interesting fact: Approximately 100 billion cardboard boxes are produced in the U.S. each year. So go ahead and scrap the ones you’ve been clinging to.

Interesting fact: Two-factor authentication is not all that different than crafting a killer Halloween costume. To make it work, you just need two out of these three: something you know, something you have, and something you are.

Interesting fact: The encore originated in 18th-century Europe when fans wanted to hear a song or performance for a second time. Imagine having to hear “Wonderwall” twice in a row at a concert these days.

Interesting fact: Those fabric-care pictograms have, like, international standards and stuff. They even get periodic revisions. Imagine: someone is earning their retirement by reviewing and updating those things.

Interesting fact: Studies show that, despite centuries of belief, milk products do not actually increase mucus production. They create the SENSATION of more mucus. 

Interesting fact: Denim jackets were introduced in the late 19th century as durable workwear. I imagine the first-ever denim jacket is still hanging on by a thread out there somewhere.

Interesting fact: Actually, the right to draw arms probably IS enshrined in the Constitution, but only if you uphold that pesky First Amendment freedom-of-speech business upon which everything else depends in a functioning democratic republic.

Interesting fact: In looking for interesting facts about clothes moths, I discovered the existence of carpet beetles. If you need me, I’ll be out living in the woods, where there are fewer bugs, thanks.

Interesting fact: A Federal Reserve study showed that low-credit-score and low-income cardholders tend to lose money by using reward cards. Yet another way that being poor ain’t cheap.

Interesting fact: “Fetch” from “Mean Girls” originated from Tina Fey’s mind. She shortened “fetching” (meaning “attractive”) to sound like made-up slang. This makes more sense to me than most other slang.

Interesting fact: Seven-year-olds have an average vocabulary of 2,600 words. Compare this to the average vocabulary of an adult male, which is about a dozen non-linguistic grunts.

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.