elstaffe’s Reviews > Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? and Other Imponderables: Mysteries of Everyday Life Explained > Status Update

"Underarm hair, human, 146" (249) again, why specify, index

"Pubic Hair, human, 146" (249) WHY SPECIFY HUMAN, INDEX??

Oh, because body odor in dogs is also an index entry in this book

"Body odor, human, 92" (247) why did you have to specify human, index

"So the British devised an ingenious, if imprecise, method. Someone figured out that gunpowder would ignite in an alcoholic liquid only if enough water was eliminated from the mix. When the proportion of alcohol to water was high enough that black gunpower would explode—this was the proof of the alcohol." (177) "someone figured out" was it intentional, though, or just "what if I try this"

"Where Do Houseflies Go During the Winter?
To heaven, usually." (133)

"Here are some of the successful variations of preneed selling:
1. Sell child burial protection. Child protection doesn't cost much, but it does provide great cash flow. By the time the child is likely to die, compound interest has made this presell very profitable." (97) so much more space devoted to teaching cemeteries how to make money than I'd've thought

"The Castilian pride in their 'blue blood' was a thinly veiled proclamation of pride in their light complexions, and a subtle way of indicating that they were not, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, 'contaminated by Moorish, Jewish, or other foreign admixture.' For the paler the complexion of the skin, the more blue the veins appear." (91) woof