Ask Rachel

Bear-naked, uppity coffee lovers & emergency contacts: 01/20/2022; Interesting fact: Filtered water is actually not “sticky” enough to grab onto coffee flavors. You want hard water for the perfect cup, but only the right kind of hard water, by which (apparently) we don’t mean ice.; Read More

Wet January, doggy nail-biter and streak freak: 01/13/2022; Interesting fact: Despite the Sonoran sensation in your maw, marijuana does not actually dehydrate you. Unlike alcohol. So really, drinking booze should mean you’re “dry,” not the other way around? I give up.; Read More

Coffeeholics, harshing all the mellows & no touching: 01/06/2022; Interesting fact: Coffee can make you tired because of something called “adenosine receptors.” Try it. Go read about them and see how tired it makes YOU feel.; Read More

Building the wall, in the dark and signing off: 12/23/2021; Interesting fact: If you dislike Brits playing Batman, just think about how they must have felt when Robert Downey Jr. got cast as Sherlock. Or – wait, Peter Dinklage is American?

If you dislike Brits playing Batman, just think about how they must have felt when Robert Downey Jr. got cast as Sherlock. Or – wait, Peter Dinklage is American?; Read More

Chex-complex, otter therapy & Hanukkah Hollywood

12/09/2021

Interesting fact: You think octopuses are clever? Otters store their crab-crushing tool-rocks in a loose patch of skin under their armpits.

Drought-cember, bigly handymen & Ziplock hoarders: 12/02/2021; Interesting fact: Most Hallmark Christmas movies are shot in a mere two weeks, with a paltry $2 million budget. I would do many things for $2 million in a mere two weeks.; Read More

Vaxx-giving, flipping the bird and working the streets: 11/24/2021; Interesting fact: The TV trope of calling women “sir” appears to have originated with Star Trek. Yet military people online tend to say that female officers should be called “ma’am.” I’m all for a hybrid “Sir yes ma’am!” for everyone.; Read More

Contract autocrats, down w/ children & dirty laundry: 11/18/2021; Interesting fact: Load rebalancing is the biggest factor in washing machine time waste. So don’t wash your delicates in the same load as your elephants.; Read More

Supply chain scapegoat, hot tub horrors &?Santa unchained: 11/11/2021; Interesting fact: You should drain and clean your hot tub every four months. A good rule of thumb is to order cleaning supplies on Day One, and they ought to arrive around that four-month mark.; Read More

Corn-fused, road rage DNA & running w/scissors: 11/04/2021; Interesting fact: “Can” is short for “canister,” so technically, any round container is a can, whatever the material. Any other shape is just a con.; Read More

Enya face, the white light and coffee jitters

10/28/2021

Interesting fact: Enya has recorded songs in 10 different languages. She’s also sold 75 million records, so clearly someone out there likes her stuff.

Clean freaks on holiday, number feels & rotten eggs: 10/21/2021; Interesting fact: Coconut oil’s usefulness as an antibacterial agent is one of those suburban myths that make for much less enticing storytelling than their urban counterparts.; Read More

Checking out, show shrinkage &?Etsy excuses: 10/14/2021; Interesting fact: According to the Federal Reserve, checks still account for 12% of all non-cash payments. Some people really need to learn about Venmo.; Read More

Woeful wipers, book bandits & space junk spangle: 10/07/2021; Interesting fact: A recent study estimates between 4,000 and 7,000 tons of space dust falls to Earth every year. This despite other studies estimating it’s more like 40,000 tons. Although if you want to get very technical, the entire planet is made of space dust, so there’s that.; Read More

Flaming hot omens, how not to relax &?closet cat haters: 09/30/2021; Interesting fact: Flaming Hot Cheetos were invented by a janitor at Frito Lay who pitched the idea straight to the CEO, and the janitor is now an executive vice president. No word on what happened to the CEO.; Read More

Selling yourself short, swamp stumper & courting friends: 09/23/2021; Interesting fact: The Creole holy trinity is onion, bell peppers and celery. I am pretty sure that is also the Veggie Tales holy trinity.; Read More

Twofer suckers, planting conspiracies and doggy style: 09/16/2021; Interesting fact: Red is the most common safe word, followed by the much more evocative (and, frankly, harder to mishear) pineapple.; Read More

GIF'd off, not making cents and pressing situation: 09/09/2021; Interesting fact: My Merriam Webster is Urban Dictionary, and its definitive spelling of that thing you flip in the street is a “u-ey.” It’s a thing that Australians can “chuck.” I wonder if they also chuck beaches.; Read More

Seat shifters, the worst fans ever and short people, redux: 09/02/2021; Interesting fact: John Harington, the inventor of an informally eponymous flush toilet in Britain during Elizabethan times, is a distant relative of Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in “Game of Thrones,” which although I have never watched, I know ended with a finale that should have been sent to the septic tank, thus bringing things full circle.; Read More

To lick or not to lick, concert coping and short people hugs: 08/26/2021; Interesting fact: They also make no-lick peel-and-stick envelopes that require no saliva exposure. But they’re not fancy enough to be ONvelopes.; Read More

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