Dear friends,

In my quest to try every coffee-flavored candy, I did buy the Thanksgiving Dinner candy corn (I only ate a few of the coffee ones, I'm not a masochist). You would think a bag of those would certainly kill you but it would actually take 1,627 pieces of candy corn to kill an 180 lb adult.

The Einstellung effect (the tendency to apply the solutions you know even when simpler solutions exist) explains a lot about my approach to software development, among other things. Another example: taking a route you know well when driving rather than letting a maps app guide you, even though the maps app would likely show you a faster route. (My kid calls driving-without-a-maps-app 'freestyling'.)

The 'accusative' case got its name because Latin grammarians confused the Greek word for 'cause' with the Greek word for 'find fault'.

Galen suggested giving wolf dung (mixed in liquid) as a cure for colic, particularly dung from a wolf that had eaten bones, especially if the dung hadn't touched the ground. (Nobody was diapering wolves in the ancient world, supposedly they habitually evacuate on rocks, bushes, etc.) 

A Cinderella stamp is "anything that looks like a stamp but that was not issued by the post office for the mail."

I love subject-specific dictionaries and Corrosionpedia's Corrosion dictionary is top-notch. (Killed Steel is the name of my new band.)

This phrase has been running through my head since I read it: "A Greek proverb, employed of those who pestered for continued favors, ran "Out of doors, Keres! It is no longer Anthesteria." [source]

More fodder for the theory that any portmanteau that can be created, will be created: sproutrage.

Stay well!

Your friend,

Erin