What is phytosanitation?

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The Golden Girls is packed with Betty’s genius. Every St. Olaf story is perfect in its own right, but my favorite is when Rose tells about her trip to the big city of St. Gustav, the city that never naps. It started to rain, and the people yelled at her, “Don’t you have enough sense to come in out of the rain?” She, in fact, did not, and she brought this life-changing knowledge back to the good people of St. Olaf. It makes me laugh so hard every single time. The way Betty conveyed Rose’s naivete and full-heartedness with such humanity is my favorite thing.

They actually don’t. A small study by David Holmes at Manchester Metropolitan University showed that mice prefer grains and sweet things over cheese. As to how this myth got started, it’s not entirely clear, but it reaches at least as far back as Shakespeare. One theory is that in the medieval era, there wasn’t much food available for mice to steal from human houses, so little teeth marks in cheese were the most obvious signs of their presence. And although this misconception well predates modern cartoons, there’s another theory that it was just easier (not to mention cuter) to draw mice with a nice hunk of cheese rather than something like grain, so cartoonists perpetuated the stereotype. Whatever the reason for this wide-spread myth, the fact is that mice will eat cheese if it’s all that’s around, but they’d really prefer cereal.

Obviously the fig part comes from the fruit paste filling, but Newton doesn’t refer to Sir Isaac Newton, as many believe. Instead, it references the city of Newton, Massachusetts. The company that invented them, Kennedy Biscuit Works, named many of their cookies after nearby towns.

The tower hasn’t hit the ground yet because its tapered and slightly curved shape keeps its center of gravity fairly low. That means it can tip quite a bit before toppling. In a more poetic sense, though, the tower was falling over for a long time—albeit very slowly. Its tilt, which was first noticed shortly after construction began in 1173, kept increasing until 1990. That’s when engineers declared that, at a tilt of more than five degrees, it was in danger of collapsing. A team then figured out how to correct the lean, bringing it back to a safe angle. Since then, it’s been getting straighter, believe it or not. The residual effects from the construction meant the angle had decreased another four centimeters by 2018.

Most of those happy little trees have a happy little home in Virginia at the Bob Ross Inc. headquarters. According to the company’s president, Joan Kowalski, Ross gave many paintings away over the course of his life, but the company still owns over 1,000 of his iconic paintings and plans to hold on to them. However, the Smithsonian did acquire a few pieces in 2019 including: paintings an easel used in the first season of The Joy of Painting and fan letters. The museum currently has no concrete plans to display them, but eventually, they’ll go up in the National Museum of American History.

It’s hard to argue otherwise. In his national championship win last night, he passed Colt Brennan on the all-time list for passing touchdowns in a single season, with 60; he also posted the second-best completion percentage (76.3), the third most passing yards (5,671), and the highest-ever passing efficiency rating (202) in a single season. If you’re a skeptic, you can check those stats here. Perhaps most telling, none of the quarterbacks in the top five of the above statistical categories won the national championship that season...besides Joe Burrow. In the national title game, he set the record for most total touchdowns and combined yards in the BCS/CFP era.

The biggest cave in the world is Sơn Đoòng cave in Vietnam. It has a volume of nearly 40 million cubic kilometers. Inside, there’s a river, two jungles, and a localized climate. It was discovered in the early 1990s, and nobody returned until 2009. A man named Ho Khanh first found it while hunting—he’d heard wind and the flow of the river inside. However, on return trips, he couldn’t find the cave again. He searched for it for years before he finally led researchers to it more than a decade later. Now, a limited number of people can explore it each year.

The first and only woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director was Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2009. There have been four other women nominated in this category: Lina Wertmüller in 1976 (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion in 1993 (The Piano), Sofia Coppola in 2003 (Lost in Translation), and Greta Gerwig in 2017 (Lady Bird).

For a while the word “catsup” was more commonly used in North America, and then “ketchup” took over due to large-scale manufacturers like Heinz and Hunt's calling their product “ketchup.” Short answer: ketchup and catsup are the same thing; a tomato-based condiment with vinegar and spices.

Nearly 100 percent of international data crosses the ocean via undersea cables. They’re only about three inches in diameter, but they span entire oceans. Plows dig grooves in the sandy ocean floor, lay the cables in, and the current buries them; some are buried as deep as Mount Everest is high. This seems insane—it is insane—but we’ve actually been using ocean-spanning cables since 1866, when the first successful trans-Atlantic telegraph line was laid. In 1956, we started making international phone calls via deep sea cables. Today, there’s a system of nearly 300 undersea cables that transport our data. Oh, and to answer your potential followup question: Even if you’re using wifi or phone data, it eventually reaches a physical cable and, if need be, sprints across the ocean.

Unfortunately, they’re not there to clean your shoes—they’re there to keep your feet away from where the step meets the side of the escalator. That’s where many of the worst escalator injuries occur, so it’s best you forego your customary between-floor shoe cleaning (I write to myself, begrudgingly). Schindler, an international escalator manufacturer, explains their trusty elevator skirt brush here: “A continuous length of bristles projects out from the skirt, gently deflecting and guiding riders away from the step-to-skirt gap. The brushes are made with durable monofilaments, and provide a soft surface to warn passengers and encourage them to keep away from the extreme sides of the step.” So...can you keep brushing your shoes with them, even a little? No, stop that.

There are dozens of ways to cut energy costs on a daily basis, but here are five of the most basic: Cook with something smaller than your oven. Whenever possible, use a microwave, air fryer, or other small appliance to cook. It’s usually quicker, and the heat is focused more on what’s being cooked, thus saving energy. Replace your HVAC filters regularly, and use your vents wisely. These filters often become clogged with dirt, dust, and debris. How often you need to change your filters will depend on how much you run your heater and air conditioner, the amount of debris circulating through the rooms, and the type of filter you use, but in all cases, you should check on them every four to six weeks. Additionally, making sure your vents are closed in rooms you do not use and open and clean in rooms you do use will distribute temperature much more economically. Turn off lights and, since many electronic devices draw power even when they’re turned off, unplug appliances. These probably go without saying, but they can make a big impact on your energy bill. Replacing your incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient alternatives reduces their electricity output by 25-80 percent. Weatherize and insulate your home to save on heating and cooling expenses.

The no core theory was popularized by a 2013 video by Foodbeast in which an apple was eaten whole—seeds and all—from the bottom up, eliminating the “core” entirely. Some oppose this apple eating method based on safety concerns, as apple seeds contain amygdalin, which releases cyanide when digested. However, you’d have to eat roughly 18 apples (including seeds) to even get close to a lethal dose. So, you can safely eat through an entire apple. With that established, the confusion then lies in what constitutes the actual core. By one definition, the core is just the thin, fibrous band that runs through the center of an apple, containing the seeds and attaching to the stem. However, The Atlantic argues that the “core” is actually what we choose to leave behind after consumption, which varies from person to person, and eating the apple in its entirety prevents the core from ever existing. They also state that most of us waste up to 30 percent of perfectly good fruit as a result of avoiding the core. One study suggests that the core and seeds actually contain the highest concentration of healthy bacteria, and researchers encouraged people to consume the entire apple to get the most nutritional benefit.

I think it would be more fun and personally rewarding (albeit probably immoral) to get away with any lie you told. Identifying any lie you hear will most likely only teach you things you wish you didn't know.

This is often a really tricky call to make. You don’t want to miss important information or let work pile up in your absence, but you also don’t want to get others sick. However, when a fever is involved, the choice is simple: Stay home. You should wait at least 24 hours after the fever’s gone before returning to the outside world. This can be especially helpful in preventing the spread of seasonal flu. Other symptoms tend to have more wiggle room, and the choice often ends up being a complicated dance of trying to balance how important it is to be there, how contagious you are, how flexible your work or school is, and how much your symptoms would impact your quality of work.

According to Diana Bernstein, climate scientist and Assistant Research Professor in the Division of Marine Science at the University of Southern Mississippi: “Apart from human activities, Australia’s hot and dry summers are to blame for the start and the spread of the wildfires." Although the region knows to expect a fire season, these most recent fires have been worse than most. This is because Australia is currently experiencing its worst drought in decades as well as a heatwave that broke the record for the highest nationwide average temperature in December. These elements combined have caused the fires to spread more rapidly than usual. Many experts also reference climate change as a contributing factor, as the increasingly extreme weather conditions are taking their toll on an already at-risk area. There is also the human element—there have already been 24 people charged with deliberately starting bushfires this season.

A common theory is that it just sounds gross, but that was somewhat debunked by a group of researchers from Oberlin College and Trinity University. They ran three experiments and discovered that 14 to 21 percent of participants were averse to the word. However, similar sounding words like “foist” and “rejoiced” did not garner the same negative feelings from the participants. “Moist” was considered most distasteful when it was paired with sexual or unrelated positive words, but many were not as bothered when it accompanied food words such as “cake.” This suggests that the reason for the disdain was more tied to what the word implied—and its association with bodily functions—than to its sound. There’s also something to be said for the cultural component, or the theory that people hate the word because other people hate the word.

At some point down the road, a major conflict isn’t impossible—but as of Jan. 7, 2020 (and despite World War III trending on Twitter), no nations have declared war as a result of the U.S.-led killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3. Yes, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei did vow to take revenge on U.S. targets in the region, and a war between the countries is possible, but a world war is “a war engaged in by all or most of the principal nations of the world,” says Merriam-Webster. A lot would need to happen in order for this to occur.

Hostile architecture, also known as defensive architecture, is a design strategy that aims to restrict certain behaviors in public spaces. The most well-known example is installing pointy studs, dubbed “anti-homeless spikes,” on benches and windowsills to make sleeping or loitering on them uncomfortable. Other methods look to deter skateboarding, littering, and public urination. Proponents say that these architectural obstacles are necessary to prevent crime and maintain order in urban areas. However, critics argue that they target vulnerable populations and create a public safety concern for all members of society, especially children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

This one’s pretty tricky. First of all, subliminal messages are images or words that you’re exposed to so briefly or covertly that you don’t realize you’ve experienced them. Proponents of subliminal advertising claim that your subconscious is so deeply affected by these messages that behavior can change drastically, and it’s so subtle that you think you came up with the idea yourself. Sounds pretty nefarious, but don’t worry too much. The most famous study about subliminal advertising—the one where “Eat popcorn” and “Drink Coca-Cola” was inserted for fractions of a second into movies and drastically increased concession sales—is a complete myth (the lead researcher later admitted the data was fabricated). So, if that’s what led you to ask this question, rest assured that this pretty alarming study is totally bogus. However, some more credible studies have shown subliminal advertising to be modestly successful. Those effects are mostly short-lived, though, and there’s no evidence to suggest that modern advertisers are using them in their ads. And even though it recognizes them as ineffective, the Federal Trade Commission does categorize subliminal messages as deceptive—and therefore illegal.