We can send a man to the moon. We can explore the depths of the ocean. We can make hydrogen power things. We have a pretty good idea about how the universe started. But we have no clue how one of the simplest mechanisms, something that we all take for granted as one of the easiest ways to get around, works.

What about this guy?

That's not how it happened, or what was ruled, or even who did the ruling.

While it was against the rules, and they have every right to grant/revoke titles as they wish . . . it does sound a little worse to say "doping," with its implication of exotic hormones and steroids, than to just say he was giving himself more blood.

As far as I know, the only things he took were red blood cells and EPO (which makes more red blood cells). No steroids.

I almost didn't get "bread pudding", but then I did, and then I laughed pretty good. Subtle, that.

This is a link to the mousse recipe (originally from this Irish Pub cookbook . . . . there are actually several amazingly delicious recipes in the full cookbook, including a [bell] pepper soup that I cannot get enough of.)

Oh, it is. Regardless of which other desserts you've ever seen, this one is the most delicious.

I once served Guinness mousse (made with Guinness) at work, thinking (foolishly) that the warm-but-not-hot temperature you briefly bring mousse to would be enough to "cook off the alcohol".

What's the maximum sentence for conspiracy, possession of stolen property, entry of goods by means of false statements, and interstate and foreign transportation of goods converted and taken by fraud, all totaling 17 counts? Exactly what you'd think!

I dub thee bird-sucker.

WIC is a baseline, not a cap. Families with a little disposable income can max out their WIC purchases, and then pay cash for Pizza Rolls. I saw it all the time when I was a grocery cashier.

There are limits to everything. Cheaper food is less nutritious and more calorie packed than fancy expensive whole foods, yes, but at some point you become too poor to even get enough "cheaper food". At that point, you're eating "no food", which is less calorie dense, and you start getting thinner.

Surely these scientists aren't claiming that Earth got its carbon after it was formed, via meteorites. I can't read the paper, but that also can't be right.

I only eat two kinds of fish: fish that I or a family member clubbed to death ourselves, and McDonalds Filet-o-Fish. The species of the former I can always attest to; the latter was never sold as anything other than "fish", and thus is (hopefully!) labeled correctly.

It's all reflective. They want the astronauts to be visible to drivers at night.

One morning at the breakfast table a spider was spinning a web off the overhead lamp. It was so . . . mesmerizing . . . to watch it make its circles, to see the way it felt out the spacing between lines and kept everything tight . . . it ended up being one of the very few spiders I released outside instead of…

Yes! Finally, some Straub-erry love from Lauren. I was always sad that the great sci-fi strip Starslip never made "Saturday Webcomic" before it ended.

Ha!

Wikipedia puts the lactase-persistence boom (when it went from a fringe mutation to a highly selected-for trait) at around 10,000 years ago. If that's true, it's still cheesemaking that's relatively recent, not the "evolution of lactase-persistence."