Margarita trucks are a thing in SoCal, but lack legality in other places.
Also a thing are Savory teas. i was in the grocery store the other night and came across Numi's savory tea. They are literally decaffeinated black or green teas with dehydrated veggies and herbs added, and not too terrible (but, i have kept broths on hand to drink, so i suppose that i am firmly in their targeted demographic). Huff Post (of all places) has a review article that nicely outlines each flavor profile, and another can be found here.
While in Florida over the Independence Day weekend, Jack asked why Jolly Roger (pirate) flags are so named; these have been around since the 1700s, and from wikipedia, as it gives the best documented explanation i can find, "Jolly Roger had been a generic term for a jovial, carefree man
since at least the 17th century and the existing term seems to have
been applied to the skeleton or grinning skull in these flags by the
early 18th century.
In 1703, a pirate named John Quelch was reported to have been flying
the "Old Roger" off Brazil, "Old Roger" being a nickname for the devil.[7]It is sometimes claimed that the term derives from "Jolie Rouge"
("Pretty Red") in reference to a red flag used by French privateers.
This hypothesis is considered a false etymology, as the phrase "Jolie Rouge" in reference to a pirate flag does not appear in any historical sources". These are not to be confused with Jolly Rancher candies, which were so named after the company that originally made them. This sweets shop in Golden, CO was called Jolly Rancher to evoke an "appealing and friendly Western company" (sourced here). Eventually, the shop came to focus on the hard candies which took on the name, and was eventually picked up by Hershey
Keloids are (basically) an overgrown scar. i was asked about vaccinations and keloids the other day, and the conversation evolved to whether there is a genetic component to them. Maybe?
This is an interesting, surprisingly in-depth article regarding menstrual cups and the history of feminine products. Recently, New York has started providing such products free of charge in schools, homeless shelters and prisons. This is really something (given both cost of those products as well as societal squeamishness), and it'll be interesting to see if other places adopt similar programs.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have a new album out (produced by Danger Mouse!), and recently taped a half awesome, half absurd segment of James Corden's Carpool Karaoke. i will say it makes me super happy to hear their new single Dark Necessities on the radio, though an accurate description of the music video might be ''70s furniture, scraped up skater ladies, Flea in a sink?!'. Being a former female-on-a-skateboard, i wish the lady longboarders pictured were not quite so injured, but i guess the point was to show 'toughess'?
A vocabulary size test has been taking my fb feed by storm (not terribly surprising given that my friends are pretty literate and writers). Looking further into it, an adult native English speaker's vocab size is generally between 20,000-35,000 (reference here), ranging up toward 40,000 words. The vocabulary size test mentioned for that data is a different one, and seems somewhat more accurate to me.
An amazing scene from this year's Tour De France was last Friday, when yellow jersey-wearer Chris Froome was in a bike crash with a motorbike and two of the other top riders less than a kilometer from the stage finish. His bike was unridable, his spare on a car 5 minutes behind, and the competition getting away. So, he started running toward the finish, inspiring a host of memes. Race officials ended up giving all three riders involved in the crash the same time as the one who was able to finish, meaning Mr. Froome keeps his yellow jersey for that stage. Remarkable. (At time of posting, he remains about 2 and a half minutes ahead of the next cyclist.)
