Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was supposed to keep thieves away — and some were as vicious as...
Martha recommends Pax, by Sara Pennypacker, a book targeted at children but in which adults will find much to admire and mull over. In preparing the book, Pennypacker spent a great deal of time studying the behavior of foxes. Martha shares a...
What do you call it when your dog or cat suddenly turns into a blur of fur, racing through the house? Trainers and behaviorists call those frenetic random activity periods or FRAPs. Other people just call them zoomies. This is part of a complete...
In China, dogs say wang wang instead of woof woof. Wikipedia has a great list of such cross-linguistic onomatopoeias. Of course, we all know what the fox says. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Dog Says “Wang-Wang”” Hello, you...
Brady evidence n.— «In a criminal context, the Governor is being denied what is called “Brady evidence”—evidence that could tend to prove he isn’t guilty. Since this is not yet the criminal trial, Fitzgerald doesn’t have to show that it exists...
casher n.— «According to the FBI , ATMs from 49 cities were hit—including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Montreal, Moscow and Hong Kong.…These people in the photos are believed to be “cashers,” low-level players, in a scheme devised from some...