Episodi

  • What is a Waggle Dance?

    What is a Waggle Dance?
    Apr 15 2023
    Waggle Dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. Dogs eat bees because they like to chase and capture things. Did you know that one of every three or four bites of food we eat is thanks to honeybees? Bees pollinate about 90 different crops, from apples and oranges to almonds and blueberries! People have known about the importance of bees for centuries.  Cave paintings in Europe show that people were harvesting honey 8,000 years ago!  The Egyptians were beekeepers, and their methods were copied throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.   The average honey bee can fly at speeds of 20 miles per hour and communicate with each other by dancing!  A typical hive has up to 60,000 honey bees in constant bombination.  The world couldn’t survive without bees.  Einstein predicted that “if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only 4 yrs of his life left!" The stinger of a bee is one-tenth of an inch long the other nine-tenths is pure imagination. What do you call a person whose grand terror is being stung by a bee? An endidophobe  (NI-de-FOBE!)  The average American consumes 1.3 pounds of honey a year. We steal honey from the bees and then get mad when they sting us.  What’s another word for this kind of hypocrisy? Tartuffish (tor-TOOF-ish)!  What is a word for fear of bees? Melissophobia or apiphobia.        
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    1 min
  • Did You Know Only Male Turkeys Gobble?

    Did You Know Only Male Turkeys Gobble?
    Nov 14 2022
    Well, we’re leaving the goblin season and entering the gobbler season! Did you know only male turkeys (or toms) gobble? Females (or hens) make a clicking noise.  The heaviest turkey on record was raised in England and weighed 86 pounds! Hey ladies, if you’re tired of cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year, you might try to get your guy to barbeque or deep fry a turkey.  This involves danger and men love danger. What’s a word for a male cook? A bobachee!   Other countries such as  Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and more celebrate Turkey Day.  Ironically the country of Turkey doesn’t.  One thing’s for sure, at my house my sons always fight over who gets the wishbone.  What’s a word for stealing food from another person?  Leptobiosis!
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    1 min
  • How Many Apples Are In One Gallon Of Cider?

    How Many Apples Are In One Gallon Of Cider?
    Sep 19 2022
    Autumn used to be called “harvest” Until about 1500, autumn was just called “harvest.”  The full moon closest to the autumn equinox is known as a harvest moon. Before cities were electrified, the bright night, the harvest moon was essential for farmers harvesting their late-year crops.  Apple cider is nearly as popular as pumpkin spice during the fall. But keeping up with the demand for fresh cider requires a whole lot of apples—just one gallon of apple cider requires . What’s a word for the last small apples remaining on the tree after harvest? Griggles! Churn Supper  is a term from the 1800s  for a feast at the end of the hay harvest, (the onset of autumn with memories of  the sweet tang of the newly-crisp air, and the colors of the foliage.) Pumpkins, perhaps the most iconic image of autumn, are grown on six of the seven continents (sorry, Antarctica). Their name comes from the Greek word pepon, roughly meaning “large melon.”
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    1 min
  • Are you Mosquito Bait?

    Are you Mosquito Bait?
    Jul 28 2022
    Why are mosquitos more attracted to some people than others?  Mosquitos in general find their prey by sensing the carbon dioxide humans and animals produce when they exhale.  Mosquitos can lock onto a carbon dioxide emission from over 50 meters away. Recent studies have shown that mosquitos or gallinippers are also more attracted to people with type O blood.  However, the most important variable that determines if a mosquito prefers you to someone else is the scent of the chemical compounds produced by microbes and bacteria that live on our skin.  That’s why insect repellants that use DEET are the most effective for masking the smell of our skin. What’s a word for the fear of itching? Pruritophobia! The real question is, “Why didn’t Noah just swat those two mosquitos in the first place?”
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    1 min
  • What the Heck is Belly Button Lint?

    What the Heck is Belly Button Lint?
    Jul 28 2022
      Let me get right to the question: “Do you have an “innie or an outie”?  Yes, we’re talkin’ bellybuttons!” If you’re an outie you are definitely the minority, but that’s good news because you don’t have to worry about a little problem that people with innies have. Bellybutton lint.  I know it’s disgusting but someone’s got to talk about it.   Did you know there’s a word for “the small mass of lint, such as that which accumulates in the belly button”?  It's called pledget. Researchers say the color of the pledget in your belly button is related to the clothing you wear, it usually ends up being a blue-grey color just like the lint that collects in your clothes dryer! Have I turned you into an omphalopsychite yet? That’s a person who’s obsessed with their belly button. Why do you suppose women pierce their belly buttons? Maybe it’s because of all that pledget they need a place to hang some air freshener!
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    1 min
  • Who Is Smarter, Doggos or Cats?

    Who Is Smarter, Doggos or Cats?
    May 20 2022
    Who’s smarter, dogs or cats?  Cat owners, prepare to extend your claws.  Studies at Oxford University suggest canines are smarter than felines, because dogs are more interactive.   Cats prefer to be left alone and mollycoddled.  To a dog you are family, to a cat, you are staff☺.  Dogs also have to listen to all our ballyragging commands such as:  Sit! Shake! Roll Over, Quit barking and Get off the couch!  Dogs must be in a constant state of botheration from us!  In addition to understanding the human language, dogs seem to know the difference between right and wrong!  In fact, dogs fit the definition of  a snapsauce perfectly. A snapsauce is “someone who purposefully sneaks the last bite when no one is looking!”  Our angelic looking Boston terrier would always grab  a cookie, wait until my husband walked out the door before jumping on the couch!      
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    1 min
  • Are You Ready to Gobble Till You Wobble?

    Are You Ready to Gobble Till You Wobble?
    Nov 9 2021
    Are you ready to gobble till you wobble?  Americans alone feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on thanksgiving!  The word  ‘turkey’ may  originate  from the fact that turkeys make a turk, turk, turk, sound when they’re it is scared. The skin that hangs off the turkey’s neck is called a Wattle!  Turkeys have great hearing and have a wide field of vision, which makes sneaking up on them difficult.  But, when you do, they quickly become bumsquabbled!   Some of us crave certain food for the Thanksgiving meal. Personally, I look forward to the cranberries or bounceberries as they’re sometimes called! (You know they’re ripe if they bounce when you drop them on the floor!) What’s a word for craving a certain food to the point of madness? AHP-suh-MAY-nee-ak) opsomaniac!  
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    1 min
  • Is This A Fake Smile?

    Is This A Fake Smile?
    Oct 27 2021
    Studies show people who smile more tend to live longer than those who don’t.  It seems the simple act of smiling causes a positive emotional state in a person!  Of course, smiling can have a positive effect on those around you as well.   It has been shown that waiters and waitresses who smile generate larger tips, especially if there’s a little huzzlecoo, or flirting thrown in!    Fake smiles are 10 times bigger than genuine smiles, because they’re meant to be seen!   The  TV news anchor who wishes you “Good evening”  and then proceeds to tell you why it isn’t, is a good example of a person feigning a smile.  What's a word for someone who fakes a smile?  An eccedentesiast!  Women generally smile more than men.  Apparently, the smile muscle, or the zygomaticus major, is thicker in gals than in guys. However, it's unclear whether females are born with a bigger smile muscle, or if it just bulks up from more exercise.
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    1 min