Learning to play a musical instrument can be quite daunting; not only do you need to know how to change the pitch in a musical way, but also how to physically manipulate the sound of the instrument. The following instruments are easy to learn because they simplify one or the other (or both) of these [...]

Starting this Sunday (March 11) at 2 A.M., most residents of the U.S. and Canada will set their clocks forward one hour in observance of the start of Daylight Saving Time. This is a change for 2007, since in previous years DST started the first Sunday in April. However, there are many regions in the [...]

By George! A modernized version of “by Jove!” (in other words, Jupiter). For Pete’s Sake! A softer form of “for God’s sake” or “for Christ’s sake,” supposedly a reference to St. Peter. For the Love of Mike! Slightly less popular, according to Google, than “for the love of Pete!” but Pete’s already made the list, so I [...]

Today on Interesting Thing of the Day I wrote about the Chinook winds of the Western US and Canada. There are many other famous winds around the world; below are a few of the best-known ones. If I haven’t included your favorite, feel free to add it in the comments section.

Bora: Adriatic, Greece, Russia, Turkey Brickfielder: [...]

I first became interested in the phenomenon of pubs with names that contain two nouns (e.g., Crown and Anchor) when I visited Oxford a few years ago. Some combinations seemed natural, like Fox and Hounds, while others left me scratching my head (Angel and Greyhound). There are various explanations for these puzzling names, including the idea [...]

2007 seems to be the year for “3″ movies; not only films with “3″ in the title (e.g., 300, The Number 23), but also for those that are third in a series. Here are seven of them, listed in order of their release date.

Spider-Man 3: May 4, 2007 Shrek the Third: May 18, 2007 Pirates of the [...]

Just recently I was listening to a Peter, Paul and Mary album, and realized how many of their songs involve travel or someone leaving someone else behind (e.g., Leaving on a Jet Plane, Early Morning Rain). More than that, many of their songs mention a mode of transportation in particular. I guess it shouldn’t be [...]

Just a few years ago, it was a novelty found only in Sweden: a hotel built entirely out of ice. Each spring it melted, and each winter it was rebuilt, bigger and better than before. The original Ice Hotel is still a hot (well, cold) property; each year thousands of people pay handsomely to sleep [...]