Atlas Obscura informs us that a museum focused on alligators exists. Where is it? You guessed correctly: New Orleans.

On April 8, North America will be exposed to a solar eclipse. You can see the path projected by NASA here. It will be the last solar eclipse visible from the 48 contiguous states until 2044.

If don't live in the path, you may have to travel to reach it and view the event. UPI reports that Delta Airlines is offering a special flight which will show passengers the eclipse. Delta flight 1218 will consist of an Airbus 220-300, which has large windows by jetliner norms. Passengers should wear protective glasses where viewing the sun during the flight.

-via Instapundit | Photo: Callan Carpenter

What's a good word for being drunk? According to an article in The Guardian, this type of word is a drunkonym. A healthy, robust language has many of them to refer to particular types, styles, and means of being intoxicated with alcohol.

Just as the Sámi of northern Scandinavia have many words for snow and we Texans have many words for tortillas, the people of Albion can experience a vast variety of intoxicated states. British English has at least 546 of these words.

Depending upon when, what, and how a Brition drinks, he may become gazeboed, rubbered, mullered, zombied, bladdered, or stewed. Consider trying all of these states, but not on the same day.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: mail.andrewpinter

Fine. You're not invited https://t.co/oTPtZwM5s2

— Republic of Kiribati (@KiribatiGov) February 19, 2024

The Republic of Kiribati (pronounced "Kirr-ih-bass") is a nation consisting of 32 islands stretching across 1.3 million square miles of water in the central Pacific Ocean. The social media manager for the government has had a lively week responding to a viral tweet about the names of villages on the island of Kiritimati.

Emmanuel Rougier, an early 20th Century French priest and entrepreneur, provided the names of the villages when he leased the island.

In modern life, there's a very real risk of being caught in a nuclear blast. You may be caught unawares while casually walking to work, shopping, or doing chores around your home. This is a reality that we've lived with since August 22, 1949. Fortunately, American inventor Harold C. Tifft prudently responded with a portable protective shield. You can read a copy of his patent here.

Why do we exercise? In the West, a cultural emphasis on fitness derives from a desire for military preparedness.

Strabo notes that the Romans had a field dedicated to Mars, the god of war, outside of the city where men engaged "ball-playing, hoop-trundling, and wrestling." An apocryphal statement by Wellington asserts that "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." It is an invented quote, but became a popular attribution because the sentiment is true: sports prepare young people for war.

Which brings us to cornhole.

This is a martial sport popular in the United States, especially at outdoor social gatherings. It consists of throwing beanbags precisely into holes cut into an inclined board. Cornhole requires precision, focus, and courage--martial qualities.

So it is good that Winthrop University in South Carolina is offering scholarships to Gavin Hamann and Jaxson Remmick, who are two young men with prodigious talents in cornhole. The New York Post informs us that they are the first such scholarship recipients in the United States.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: Tony Alter

The Greco-Roman historian Plutarch, in his Life of Julius Caesar, describes an incident in which the future ruler of Rome was reading a biography of Alexander the Great when he burst into tears. His companions asked him why. Caesar replied:

"Do you not think," said he, "it is matter for sorrow that while Alexander, at my age, was already king of so many peoples, I have as yet achieved no brilliant success?"

No matter what any of us can accomplish of the course of our lives, there is always someone greater than ourselves. That person is Peter von Tangen Buskov, who has secured a Guinness World Record for the most matchsticks stuck up the nostrils. That number is 68, but von Tangen Buskov plans to train his nose to take an even greater number, just as Alexander, at the time of his death, was planning the conquest of Arabia.

-via Dave Barry

Little is known about the mysterious and frozen lands of the Caledonians. Historically speaking, we have few sources to work with. The First Century AD writer Tacitus, in his biography of the Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola, describes a great battle by Agricola in what is now Scotland, but provides only that the inhabitants have "red hair and large limbs" -- a description nearly as skimpy as a true Scotman's underwear.

But recent news reports trickling south of the Wall inform us that Scottish people like to "hurkle-durkle" in bed. And, despite gender stereotypes, both men and women do this. The New York Post tells us more, if you really want to know. Social media is abuzz with this scandalous news. Defenders insist that a good hurkle-durkle is beneficial for your health.

As for me, I make no judgments of other cultures or what other people do in the privacy of their bedrooms. Or huts. But I assure you that although my ancestors may have hailed from Scotland, I most assuredly do not engage in hurkle-durkling.

-via Dave Barry | Image: Pxhere

Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer are a musical duo who have, for decades, endeared listeners with their performances on guitars, mandolins, and, most importantly, banjos.

The banjo is traditionally associated with bluegrass music, although you can play almost any genre on it, including classical and hard rock. Fink and Marxer can blend it with traditional Chinese music with the aid of Chao Tian, a master of the Chinese dulcimer (sometimes called a yangqin). Two years ago, at a concert titled "From China to Appalachia", the three musicians performed together.

What is this new genre? On Twitter, Emma Tolkin suggests that we call it Appalachinese.

Appropriate for Valentine's Day, the New York Times (paywalled) tells the love story of Sophie Lund Rasmussen and Troels Pank Arboll, two Danish academics who share an interest in the history of the ancient Near Eastern culture known as the Assyrian Empire. Rasmussen is actually an ecologist, but she likes to read within the academic specialty of her husband, Arboll, who is a professional Assyriologist.

The couple are credited with groundbreaking research into the history of kissing. The historical and archaeological records from ancient Mesopotamia indicate that couples kissed. It was generally a practice not engaged in as a precursor to further intimacy but something that couples did after they had "clashed chariots", if you know what I mean. Specifically, a clay tablet from 2400 B.C. describes a male god impregnating his mother/sister with seven gods and then kissing her.

If you get some romantic time with a partner on this Valentine's Day, perhaps you should pass along this story to set the mood.

-via Dave Barry | Image: British Museum

As a general statement, it would be helpful if popular architecture made broader use of slides. Like batpoles, they're fun and convenient. Julijonas Urbonas, a Lithuanian architect known for his eccentric designs and art installations, erected this one as a public sculpture in a business district in Vilnius.

From one side, it looks just like a stainless steel escalator, yet it leads not to a boardroom but instead to a slide. Two-piece suits are not required for the dress code, but they are strongly recommended. Use it to relax during your coffee break.  Also, since you don't really go anywhere or accomplish anything, you can regard it as just another day on the job.

-via Core77

🤣 pic.twitter.com/BwuFw5be2o

— Clown World ™ 🤡 (@ClownWorld_) February 8, 2024

Liv Swearingen is a singer, YouTuber, and social media star known for her light-hearted online content. But in this apparently now-deleted TikTok video, Swearingen gets serious about an issue near to her heart and no doubt stemming from personal experience: blonde jokes.

As a genre, blonde jokes assume that golden-haired women are dumb. In this video, Swearingen forcefully and persuasively argues that blonde women are, in fact, quite intelligent and denigrating their intellect is morally debasing.

This video of an origin unknown to me shows a bicyclist proceeding quite lawfully through the bike lane on a two-lane road. A driver turns left in front of him, forcing the cyclist to veer off onto the driveway.

The man needed an airbag. Such things actually exist and are technologically improving. But with only a second available, he could not shop for one and improvised with a balloon display conveniently placed a few yards away.

Hey, if it's stupid but it works then it's not so stupid.

-via Born in Space

I wasn't expecting that 😳 pic.twitter.com/UdKiehOW8O

— Penfold (@elbow112) January 28, 2024

G.K. Chesterton, a Nineteenth and Twentieth Century British writer, is perhaps most well-known today for the principle known as Chesterton's Fence. It may be summarized as this: if there is some sort of rule or tradition in place, it may have been created with good reason. You may think that the reason is no longer valid or even counterproductive, but the people who came before you were not idiots and you should proceed cautiously when removing those traditions.

Why was this bicycle in the road? Perhaps it was parked there for a reason. Don't move it until you know what that reason was.

-via David Thompson

Redditor /u/special_evan shares a photo of a multi tool quite unlike the Leatherman PST in your pocket. It's labeled with the words Underwood and Haymarket. Underwood was a metalworker who operated from a shop on Haymarket Street in London. This tool is allegedly made specifically for fishermen and sailors. /u/Nathan51530 identifies the tools from left to right as:

• A hook used to untie knots.
• A scoop for measuring medication.
• A screw starter.
• A different screw starter.
• A corkscrew.
• A toothpick or possibly an awl.
• A saw blade.
• A flathead screwdriver.
• A pick.
• A hook to snag fishing lines.

Of course, from those times to now, tools can be used for different purposes. /u/Big_Message_1110 jokes that, "Every tool is a hammer, unless it's a screwdriver. then it's a chisel."

-via Birch Brother