Six Crunchy Popcorn Facts To Munch On

by Nicole Villeneuve Interestingfacts.com Popcorn is such a common, simple snack that we rarely stop to think too much about it. Unlike the sweet yellow corn we eat on the cob, popcorn comes from a variety of corn called Zea mays everta. This type of corn possesses a few traits that quite literally make it …

Fruits And Veggies That Carry Human Names

by Dictionary Scoop    As with Granny Smith apples, many familiar fruits and vegetables are actually carrying around the names of real people.    Behind those supermarket labels are farmers, judges, missionaries, immigrants, and a few very lucky gardeners. Let’s take a look at ten people whose names unexpectedly became part of our grocery vocabulary. …

11 Words From Native American Languages

by Dictionary Scoop    English is a very welcoming language in that it incorporates terms from many other languages from all over the world. And Native American languages have lent many of their words and terms to English speakers.    Some traveled through Spanish or French before settling into English, and others arrived directly through …

Just Your Everyday Sweet-Smelling Blog Post

by Kevin Burton    Just what does teen spirit smell like anyway? You know, people have put some thought into this.    Really.    This is from Nica Rodriguez, writing on http://www.thought.is:    “For starters, the smell of a new book should ring a few bells. There is no denying that a new book smells …

Kids At Lemonade Stand Robbed At Gunpoint

by Drew Pittock USA Today    A 14-year-old was arrested, and another suspect remains at large after an armed robbery at a lemonade stand in Boston, authorities said.    The Boston Police Department announced last month that it was investigating an armed robbery at a lemonade stand, involving two suspects believed to be around 14 and 11 …

Colony High Students Learn To Harvest Moose

by Kyle Wilkinson The Frontiersman    (Blogger’s note: Some people remember dissecting frogs in science class. But wait till you read what students at a high school in Alaska got to do! This is one of the last articles published by The Frontiersman, where I had my first full-time job in journalism before it was …

You Are What You Eat? Taste These Idioms

by Dictionary Scoop    Our language loves to borrow from the dinner table. Many everyday words that sound delicious once referred only to food but have since taken on entirely new meanings.    Take a look at 12 of these idioms and see for yourself! 1-Butterfingers    A term once used for describing the act …

Ten Bizarre Inventions That Never Caught On

by Dictionary Scoop    Budding inventors take note. Some ideas from the past were just too weird, too early, or too wonderfully impractical to survive. Let’s take a nostalgic trip through the patent office’s hall of shame.    Very hard to believe this first one! 1-The baby cage (1930s)    Back when fresh air was considered a …

Our Getaway In Beautiful Downtown Newton

by Kevin Burton    “There are no boring towns, just boring people,” said my first editor. Not all his nuggets were golden. That one was, and is.    My wife Jeannette and I are not boring people Thus we were in no danger of being bored, though we made the curious choice of Newton, Kansas …

Quibbles And Bits: B-Side Fortune Cookies

by Kevin Burton    I list these songs below, and chances are you’ll pick up right away where I am going with them:    “Laughing” and “Undun” by the Guess Who, “It’s Too Late” and  “I Feel The Earth Move” by Carole King  “Who’ll Stop The Rain” and  “Travelling Band” by Credence Clearwater Revival, “Something” …