… or, “A Thousand Times, Why?” Why is it That we can send explorers to a moon Chart the depths of an ocean Peer into the core of an atom Cure children of a disease That would have ravaged whole cities As recently as a generation ago Craft a work of art That defies...
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While it is true that pretzels were first made by European monks nearly eight centuries ago, it was many years before they became a household staple. In fact, pretzels were never intended to be eaten at all. They were created as werewolf-bane, a ward against the lupine half-beasts that monks believed to be lurking...
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Supermarkets have secret powers. I am convinced of this. Maybe it’s in the lighting. Some sort of flicker pattern in the fluorescents that’s imperceptible to the eye but received as commandment by the brain. Maybe it’s in the music. An ambient static transmitting instructions to little receivers in the backs of our heads. Maybe...
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When baseball’s Seattle Pilots moved east to Milwaukee in 1970, new owner Bud Selig wanted to do something to distinguish their new identity. His advisors presented an idea: The team was to be called the Brewers, so why not make beer? And so was born Brewer’s Best, the only microbrewery ever to be fully...
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Every now and then, dire news quietly appears in the background of media noise. Let’s call it doom news. The reporter puts on his best Pulitzer voice, while a stern-sounding expert tries to explain why the apocalypse lurks on the horizon—and, as often as not, why it’s already too late. The varieties of doom...
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January is National Hot Tea Month. A deceptively simple drink, tea is actually a complex brew, requiring skill and knowledge. Given tea’s many positive qualities, from immunity-boosting antioxidants to chronotachyons that can shatter the flow of time, we here at AN wanted to take a few moments to help ensure that you are enjoying...
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