Finally, XKCD has provided the definitive “soda or pop? map. (Medicine broth!)

Speaking of maps, here’s a list of the richest and poorest counties in each state. It makes for interesting comparisons.

Have you heard of anthropometry? How about Bertillonage? It was an exploratory method of identification, which might have been useful if it had been in the days of stringent computer limits and not human error. (Well, okay, probably not even then.)

A new book on Thomas Merton explores the paradoxes of the hermit/traveler/bon vivant/contemplative.