- New Thing Learned for 12 January: Plastic drumheads are made from the same kind of plastic as 2-liter soda bottles. Alas, no mention was made of whether one gets recycled into the other. [Source: Discovery Channel, "How It's Made"]
- New Thing Learned for 13 January: A duel was once fought in Paris between combatants in hot-air balloons. The winner was the man savvy enough, or perhaps underhanded enough, to take aim at his opponent's balloon, killing the other man and his second. [Source: The last duel, James Landale]
Since it's the wrong time of year to plant lavender and other cat-unfriendly greens outside our windows, I went into Whole Paycheck to look into maybe using essential oils as part of our strategy to chase away Mister Widdles if he or she gets past the citrus-based first line of defense. Unfortunately, someone had gotten a few of the tester caps smeared with patchouli, and now my gloves smell like hippies. I am Displeased.