The real significance of Magellan's voyage was not that it was the first to circumnavigate the planet, but that it was the first to realize just how … - Bill Bryson

The dining table was a plain board called by that name. It was hung on the wall when not in use, and was perched on the diners' knees when food was served. Over time, the word board came to signify not just the dining surface but the meal itself, which is where the board comes from in room and board. It also explains why lodgers are called boarders.

An increase of only a degree or so in body temperature has been shown to slow the replication rate of viruses by a factor of two hundred — an astonishing increase in self-defense from only a very modest rise in warmth.

I had to calm down because a state trooper pulled up alongside me at a traffic light and began looking at me with that sort of casual disdain you often get when you give a dangerously stupid person a gun and a squad car.