The primal power of volcanoes has fascinated humanity for thousands of years, and it is no different today. Tourists flock to sites with particularly spectacular displays of volcanic activity despite the potential danger they pose. My own experience with volcano tourism involved a few nights’ stay below the slopes of the Arenal Volcano in Costa […]

This is the first entry in our series of IKEA lists. As I looked through the IKEA online catalogue, certain combinations of words attracted me—those products that bore not one, but two names suggested surnames and identities that seemed vaguely familiar. Where else had I heard similar combinations of carefully ambiguous, yet strangely descriptive names? […]

Walking through an IKEA store, I’m often amused at the names given to various products; how can you not giggle at a wall cabinet given the unlikely name of ASPUDDEN? I know it’s slightly juvenile to find such things humorous, but having no knowledge of Swedish, it all becomes just a delightful deluge of unintentionally […]

The following books with subject matter relating to the Holy Grail, Leonardo Da Vinci and/or the Templars all appeared on the April 9, 2006 New York Times Hardcover Fiction and Paperback Nonfiction Bestseller Lists: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Holy Grail, Da Vinci, Templars) (hardcover | paperback) The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry […]

According to the article What’s Left of Patagonia at Interesting Thing of the Day, both seals and sea lions are pinnipeds, or “fin-feet,” but… Sea lions have much larger front flippers than seals. Sea lions have back flippers that can rotate underneath them; seals don’t. When on land, sea lions can walk on all four […]