Spyke

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science

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Speak to your doctor if you experience:

Translucent teeth

Elbow malfunction

Hemming/hawing

Pregurgitation

Temporary omniscience 

Rectal certitude 

Permanent buoyancy 

Recalcitrant offspring 

Purple haze

Vehement denial

Moonwalking 

Rogue waves

Charm offensives

Offgassing

False dichotomies

Spotted dick

Camaro envy

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How could we go about making a jurisdiction where advertising is illegal?

From near Nashville Tennessee through North Alabama and Mississippi to the Louisiana border there exists a 444-mile roadway called the Natchez Trace Parkway. The only signage you will see is related to non-commercial scenic viewpoints. No billboards. No businesses. Nothing but forests and fresh air. Furthermore, no commercial traffic is allowed whatsoever on the full length of the byway, and the authorities strictly enforce that rule.

It's glorious. Waterfalls, walking and biking trails, Indian mounds, and miles and miles of advertising-free roadway.

https://www.natcheztracetravel.com/

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What's the worst travel delay you've experienced?

I will never fly American Airlines as long as I live.

Spent 12 hours at the Austin airport hoping to catch an earlier flight to reach my dad's bedside in Alabama, but no luck. Plane from DFW to Austin was then delayed by an hour and a half. It arrived, we boarded, we got pushed back from the gate, taxied a bit then stopped. Pilot says they're checking with maintenance about a mechanical issue. Nearly 45 minutes later they taxi to a different gate and say it may be another hour before we can attempt to depart again. By then my connecting flights were all unreachable, and I opted to deplane (luckily only had a carry-on), and took a ride share home arriving near midnight.

My wife had left in the car to meet me in Alabama, and was already two hours away. She turned around and came home, picked me up, and we headed back out on the 14-hour drive to AL, where my entire family was with my father.

We were crossing the Mississippi River when I learned my father had died. I didn't get to say goodbye in person.

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What is something in your house (a piece of furniture, a tool or houseware) that is more than 20 years old?

I have a Lower Paleolithic Acheulean bi-face hand axe likely made by Homo erectus. My father-in-law brought it back from Libya when he was working in oil fields in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I had it assessed by a lithic-specialist archeologist from the Witte Museum in San Antonio, Dr. Harry Shafer, who wrote a nice little report on the piece.