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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Tree Zapped by Zapping? Prognosis 'Not Great' (for the Week of June 8, 2008)
June 8, 2008 Q. Dear Twig: A tree in our yard got hit by lightning. The trunk has a big long scar. Will it live? A. "The prognosis for this tree is not great, though it really depends upon the amount of damage to the tree's vascular system." ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Tomato Splatability (for the Week of Aug. 30, 2009)
August 30, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: Why do some tomatoes splat more when I throw them at my brother? A. Everything else being equal — the ripeness of the tomato, how hard you throw it, what you throw it at — the type of tomato is the main thing: fresh market ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Three More Questions About Chickens and Eggs (for the Week of Feb. 8, 2009)
February 8, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: About those backyard chickens: Don't you need a rooster if you want them to lay eggs? A. No. A chicken will lay eggs anyway if it's old enough (at least four to five months old) and gets enough light (at least ab ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: The Pull of the Pork (for the Week of June 14, 2009)
June 14, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: Why do they call it pulled pork? A. Because the meat, after cooking it, comes off of the bone and apart very easily. So easily, in fact, that you don't have to cut it, you can pull it apart if you want to. Add "pork ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: The Eagle Has Landed... on a Monkey (for the Week of Jan. 11, 2009)
January 11, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: Is there really something called a monkey-eating eagle? A. Yes. No. And there's more than one kind. But none of them go by that name anymore. (Huh? It's cold and my head hurts.) See, there used to be a bird calle ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Someone Cut the Grass (for the Week of May 20, 2007)
May 14, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: Why does cut grass smell like it does? A. Because of chemicals called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. In particular, because of a VOC that goes by a cool-to-say name. Scientists say cis- 3-hexenal ("sis-three-HEK-suh-n ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Splash in Trash (for the Week of May 3, 2009)
May 3, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: What's going on with that big pile of trash in the ocean? A. It's called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It's in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. And it's growing, or at least is way bigger than we t ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Septic Secrets! (for the Week of Aug. 19, 2007)
August 19, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: What goes on in a septic tank? A. To quote the bard, "Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand." Ha ha! Just kidding. My own treehouse has a sept ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: See Cow? No, Sea Cow (for the Week of Jan. 18, 2009)
January 18, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: What's a sea cow? A. "Sea cow" is another name for animals called dugongs and manatees. Like land cows, dugongs and manatees are big, peaceable, plant-eating mammals. Unlike land cows, dugongs and manatees l ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Ranking Skunk Species (for the Week of April 1, 2007)
March 23, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: You said there are several skunk species. How do they smell? The same? Different? A. It seems they smell about the same. Scientist Bill Wood, who in the past two weeks has given us lots of great stinkin' skunk facts, says ...