Ask Rachel

Interesting fact: Exotic spring break destinations like Panama City are starting to ban alcohol on the beaches. This could explain Purgatory’s popularity with the Texas crowds.

Interesting fact: Board, as in “room and board,” dates to the 1200s as a reference to a table. That’s not funny or anything. It’s not even that interesting. In hindsight, I probably could have figured it out on my own, without the OED.

Interesting fact: Many Muppets are built on patterns. For instance, Forgetful Jones was built on the same “Large Lavender Live Hand” pattern as Count von Count. This discovery blows my mind more than any 23 And Me results ever could.

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.

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.

Interesting fact: Hypoallergenic dog breeds might be a myth. Looks like allergens depend more on the individual dog than the breed. Stuff it, Labradoodles.

Interesting fact: Necco manufactured nearly 8 billion Sweethearts each year. No word on how many of those Sweethearts went unrequited.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Interesting fact: The Wikipedia page on answering machines refers to “modern answering machines,” and I’m still laughing at that.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.