Things Discovered While Looking Up Other Stuff

1. The name of pinking shears comes from the verb pink, which is defined as "to stab lightly with a pointed weapon; prick." Or "to decorate with a perforated pattern." It's from the Old English pyngan, "to push or prick." Evidently it's unrelated to the word for the color pink, the origin of which is unknown.
   
   
2. The "Abilene paradox" is a behavioral principle set forth by Jerry B. Harvey that describes the tendency of groups to adopt a course of action that none of the individuals in the group favor. (I wonder if this explains the tendency of Abilene Christian University, a Church of Christ school, to do things that bring down upon it the wrath of many churches of Christ?)
   
   
3. The world's largest lava lamp is in Soap Lake, Washington--well, sort of. They're still trying to raise funds to set it up for public display. So if you go to Soap Lake, you can't see it unless someone takes you to the warehouse where it's being stored.
   
   
4. In Barrow, Alaska, when the sun rises on May 11, it doesn't set again until August 2. Conversely, when it sets on November 19, it doesn't rise again until January 22.
   
   
5. "Yo' Mama" jokes (e.g., "Yo' Mama's so big I had to take a train and two busses just to get on her good side.") are the outgrowth of an oral tradition called "the dozens." They date back to the days of African slavery in America. Why "the dozens"? In New Orleans, slaves who were too old, sick, handicapped, or mutilated were sold by dozen. It was demeaning enough to be sold as a piece of property; the ultimate affront was to be deemed so worthless as to have no individual value. Thus, the harshest insult was to imply that one's mother was so fat, ugly, stupid, or old that she would be relegated to the dozens.