Oh, and a second-hand warning

From davidkeck:

Do not, not, not attempt to dry-swallow Aleve (naproxen).

"There is nothing so bad that it cannot be made worse."

Just for my own records

The worst geological disaster awaiting the United States is the collapse of the Cumbre Vieja Volcano on La Palma, Canary Islands.

If the Cumbre Vieja were to collapse as one single block it would create a giant mega-tsunami with an initial wave height of 650 metres and a wavelength of 30-40 kilometres travelling westwards across the Atlantic with speeds up to 720 kilometres an hour towards America.

More details in this PDF.

Things of which I never knew

I have known for a long time that in the technological metaphor of a horse straining impatiently at its restraints, the proper verb is "champing", not "chomping at the bit". What I hadn't known is that "champ" is simply the older English version of "chomp".

(Comment inspired by the latest in crowleycrow's explorations in obsolete metaphors.)

Things it may never have occurred to you to wonder

"Nacho" is a nickname for "Ignacio" (a form of the Latin name Ignatius). The dish we now call "nachos" was the creation of a Mexican chef named Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya in 1943, who called it "Nacho's Specialty".

I know that I had wondered for years but never when I was actually in front of a computer. So now I know, and now you know, too, unless you knew already, or if you've already forgotten, in which case, what were we talking about?