In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classifying clouds — with Latin names we still use today, like cumulus, cirrus, and stratus. Also: when...
Recycling companies discourage what they call wish-cycling. That’s when people err on the side of tossing a questionable item in the recycling bin, like a foil lid from a cup of yogurt or some other material that they hope is recyclable. Those...
murf n.— «The company wants to build a materials reclamation facility (a “murf,” in waste parlance) that would allow it to mechanically sort and process vast amounts of debris. Then Potomac would mine the landfill’s contents...