Being a bird probably is pretty cool -- mainly due to the whole flying thing (eating worms, not so much). But being a bird has its downsides, namely all the manmade stuff they crash into. And then there are the cats. Here are the non-natural causes of bird deaths each...

Earlier this year United Van Lines released their 45th Annual Movers Study, which reports on state-to-state migration patterns. Here's the map summarizing the 2021 data. Note the legend -- blue states had more people inbound than outbound, while yellow states are...

I tend to get appreciative comments when I share things I'm enjoying currently. In that spirit, here are five things I've been digging lately. 1. Garmin Instinct Solar Watch I was in the market for a new watch this past fall. In terms of activity and sleep tracking, I...

My basement man cave with my analog stereo setup Japanese Tea Ceremonies The Japanese Tea Ceremony is a ceremonial way of preparing, presenting, and drinking a type of green tea called matcha. The process of making the tea and its presentation is considered an art and...

One day in 1972, Dr. Henry Heimlich, a thoracic surgeon, was reading an article in the New York Times Magazine about accidental deaths and noted that choking was number six on the list. About 3,000 people died each year from choking. Being a thoracic surgeon, Dr....

Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity. -A. Edward Newton, author, publisher, and collector of 10,000 books. In...

The four symbols on the inside sleeve of Led Zeppelin's fourth album I discovered the band Led Zeppelin when I was in middle school.  I was completely blown away. Prior to then, I had mainly listened to what my parents listened to: 1970s soft rock and oldies from the...

They probably aren't arguing about Euclid's proof of infinite primes Gregory Benford's 1980 science fiction novel Timescape contained this line: “Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.” This is known as "Benford's Law of...

According to legend, 15th century Japanese Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa broke a beloved ceramic bowl. His artisans attempted a repair which he rejected. He instead asked them to mend the bowl using gold. Thus was born the Japanese art of Kintsugi. Kintsugi is as much of...

For me, 2/2/22 is a day of converging events. It's "2's day" -- a meaningless yet fun string of 2's in the date (even 02/02/2022 is fun). It's Groundhog day (maybe my favorite holiday). A day of snow in STL (a foot or so is predicted). And it is The IFOD's fifth...

Vesna Vulović 50 years ago, on January 26, 1972, a DC-9 exploded at 33,000 feet over East Germany with 28 people on board. A bomb in the cargo hold placed by Croatian terrorists caused the explosion. Shockingly, one person, flight attendant Vesna Vulović, survived....