Until last week (two weeks ago? very recently, anyhow), I was unable to light a lighter. I thought I just had weak thumbs (which I still think is true considering how much trouble I have with parking breaks.)
Then someone turned the lighter 90 degrees in my hand (so that I was striking with the side of my thumb rather than the center) and it worked just fine.
I learned that “Ford Prefect”, the name of a character in the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, is the name of a real Ford model that was produced in the UK fifty and sixty years ago. I actually thought the name was an invention of Douglas Adams; IIRC the character Ford was supposed to have gotten his Earth name from some kind of software, which, unfortunately in his case, had turned up this highly distinctive name. Which was the opposite of what he wanted, namely a name that would be ordinary and forgettable. I liked the author’s “invention”, as I had supposed it to be, because “Ford Prefect” sounded like perfectly good English to me, yet without any meaning whatsoever–sort of like the Chomskyan “Colorless green dreams…”. Perhaps I should have said perfectly good American, because “prefect” does have some meaning in contemporary UK culture that we don’t share.
Remember, he thought that automobiles were the dominant form of life on our planet. “Ford Prefect” is a common automobile name. 
I just learned that the mouse-over text for XKCD comics is there & updated with the comic.
I didn’t know until I was well into adulthood that a ram is a boy sheep.
I thought rams were a whole other type of critter.
That I have been adjusting my car mirrors wrong all my life. No wonder I had a blind spot!
Wait… You mean they’re *not *for checking my makeup?!
How do you adjust it to not have a blind spot? I’m in driver’s ed right now and the way we’re taught to do our mirrors causes a blind spot to the side and back that we have to check by turning our head.
A properly adjusted side mirror is angled out farther than you think is necessary. You must test to make sure it’s properly adjusted. Park your car next to another car in such a way that your rear bumper is aligned with the other car’s front bumper. Unless it’s a very large car, you won’t see it in your rear view mirror (because duh, it’s in your blind spot). Then adjust your side mirror until you can see the other car in its entirety. Repeat for the other side of the car. Now you will have a continuous view of any car passing you from the rear on either side, even when it’s in your blind spot.
I will never understand the people who adjust their side mirrors such that they provide a direct backward view. You already have one fully functioning rearview mirror that doesn’t cover your blind spot, do you really need three?
It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize how to smoke without hurting myself-- I would always either burn my thumb on the lighter or get smoke in my eyes. Even though I knew that flame and smoke went essentially straight up, it took a while to adjust my subconscious mannerisms to always avoid these things. Still get smoke in my eye sometimes though.
Regarding semiweekly and biweekly:
I really thought I had this one figured out. Seeing that the terms are essentially interchangeable is rocking my world right now. I like words, and I really like them to have strong definitions.
This is how I thought it worked, and how I think we should change the definitions:
Biweekly = two times weekly
Semi-weekly = 1/2 times weekly or one time every two weeks.
Tell me why this doesn’t make sense. Let’s take it back!
Well, I just learned that the Duke Men’s Basketball coach spells his name Mike Krzyzewski and not Mike Chechefsky.
Easy way is to drive at a slightly different speed to another car that is in a lane to your left. As you move away or towards this other car it will move from your inside mirror to your side mirror. Adjust the side mirror until this transition is as short as possible. Meaning, the other car should not be visible in your side mirror unless it is JUST about to disappear from your inside mirror. You will find that this means you need to angle your side mirror out quite a bit. The other thing you will find with the side mirror adjusted properly, is that by the time another car disappears from your side mirror, you can see the front of it by looking out your side window. No need to turn your head and look out the rear window anymore.
The common mistake when adjusting side mirrors is to adjust them so you can see the side of your car. Why do you want to see the side of your car all the time? Don’t you know what it looks like? 
No, the easy way is to do this in a parking lot beside a parked car. It’s easier and safer to do this at 3mph than 60mph.
I was in my 20s before I figured out why there were all these (American) football-shaped chocolate candies in Easter Baskets, and you pretty much never saw them any other time of year.:smack:
Ok, I’ll bite. Why?
Egg = football?
I’m not into sports, but I’ll guess it’s because Easter comes during football season?
Oh? Huh. But aren’t footballs pointy on both ends?
The Super Bowl is in January. It’s closer to March Madness, though. Maybe they should be basketballs.