Ask Rachel
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- Ask Rachel
- 03/07/2019
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Interesting fact: David Byrne once shaved his beard on stage, with beer instead of shaving cream, as performance art. He ought to have tried it with hot chocolate.
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- Ask Rachel
- 02/28/2019
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Interesting fact: Why 12 inches in a foot? The Babylonians developed a counting system known as the Sexagesimal system with a base of 60, and maybe I should have paid more attention in algebra.
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- Ask Rachel
- 02/21/2019
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Interesting fact: Hypoallergenic dog breeds might be a myth. Looks like allergens depend more on the individual dog than the breed. Stuff it, Labradoodles.
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- Ask Rachel
- 02/14/2019
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Interesting fact: Necco manufactured nearly 8 billion Sweethearts each year. No word on how many of those Sweethearts went unrequited.
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- Ask Rachel
- 02/07/2019
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Interesting fact: Rumor on the street is that Netflix may soon be cracking down on password sharing. If you want to make the world a better place, please, please hack us all a workaround.
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- Ask Rachel
- 01/31/2019
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Interesting fact: We say “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” to mean “be resourceful,” but really, the term originated as “pull oneself over a fence by one’s bootstraps” to mean “that’s freaking impossible.” American Dream 101.
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- Ask Rachel
- 01/24/2019
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Interesting fact: Every week, I see bags of recycling sticking out of recycling bins. DON’T DO IT! Those plastic bags aren’t recyclable and can end up in entire loads going to the dump.
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- Ask Rachel
- 01/17/2019
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Interesting fact: Every state in the union requires hairstylists to be licensed. It made no sense to me either, until I tried cutting someone’s hair in college once and basically ruined her life. Trust the professionals.
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- Ask Rachel
- 01/10/2019
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Interesting fact: The Wikipedia page on answering machines refers to “modern answering machines,” and I’m still laughing at that.
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- Ask Rachel
- 01/03/2019
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Interesting fact: John Hughes wrote so many movies, and yet he wrote more than you ever realized. His worse efforts, like those Beethoven the dog films, were penned under his Edmond Dantes pseudonym. No one’s clamoring for a remake of those.
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- Ask Rachel
- 12/20/2018
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Interesting fact: Believe it or not, a century ago, whitetail deer were pretty much wiped out across the country. They’ve since staged a comeback, thanks in no small part to the back streets of Durango.
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- Ask Rachel
- 12/13/2018
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Interesting fact: Anyone who wants to claim “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is harmless, non-predatory fun needs to check out the original score. The two parts were written for “Wolf” and “Mouse.”
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- Ask Rachel
- 12/06/2018
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Interesting fact: Hats do not, in fact, make hair grow faster or slower. They don’t make you go bald or white. I didn’t even realize these were myths about hats until, desperate to fill this space, I looked up “hat hair facts.”
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- Ask Rachel
- 11/29/2018
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Interesting fact:
The first swirling money game-show booth (on “The Diamond Head Game”) was called The Money Volcano, and its rules were brutal: any $1 bill in your pocket meant you lost everything. - Read More
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- Ask Rachel
- 11/21/2018
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Interesting fact: Cranberry sauce was first sold to the North American public in 1912. I need to check my calendar, but I think that means it’s not an original Thanksgiving dish.
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- Ask Rachel
- 11/15/2018
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Interesting fact: A statistically significant increase in motor vehicle accidents occurs on the Sunday after we turn the clocks back. Let’s go ahead and blame traffic and immigrants on Daylight Savings Time, too.
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- Ask Rachel
- 11/08/2018
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Interesting fact: Sushi originated as a means of preserving fish in fermented rice. Is it any wonder that humans started eating the rice too?
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- Ask Rachel
- 11/01/2018
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Interesting fact: Airline miles are generally worth 10-15 cents each. They’re no Bitcoin, but you can buy them now for a mere 30 cents apiece!
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- Ask Rachel
- 10/25/2018
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Interesting fact: I looked up the etymology of “dickweed” thinking perhaps it was an Old World herb or something. Nope. It’s just a beautiful word that, like cocaine, is a gift to us from the 1980s.
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- Ask Rachel
- 10/18/2018
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Interesting fact: In fairness, this Andy Thomas painter guy has also done a Democratic president canvas, and neither one was commissioned by an actual president. But it’s still tacky. And if you’re going to omit presidents like Chester A. Arthur, you could omit Nixon. And Trump. Why not.
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