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Published: November 24, 2008 1:00 PMq It was Canadian journalist, editor and poet Mark Abley who made the following observation: “Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand.”
q Those who study such things say that an adult right whale requires 400,000 calories a day to survive. They also note that the mainstay of these mammals’ diet is a flea-sized crustacean called a copepod.
q If you live in Georgia, you need to be careful about that wagging tongue: In that state it’s illegal to spread a false rumour.
q One hurricane can generate up to 200 times the energy of all the world’s power plants combined.
q If you’re planning to head to Kansas, you might want visit Cawker City during August. That’s when the home of the world’s largest ball of twine hosts a weekend-long Twine-a-Thon festival.
• Are you a locavore? In all likelihood, you don’t even know what a locavore is -- until very recently, I didn’t, either. It was the 2007 Word of the Year as chosen by the New Oxford American Dictionary, and it refers to a person who eats nothing but local food.
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Thought for the Day: “For disappearing acts, it’s hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.” -- Doug Larson
(c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.
