Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hydrogen-fueled Hummer can go no more than 50 miles between fill-ups.
At more than $100 per pound, Kopi Luwak is the world’s most expensive coffee. It comes from Sumatra, where plantation workers follow a “gourmet” marsupial known to consume only the choicest berries. The coffee beans are harvested from the animal’s droppings.
According to the Urban Dictionary, “gouranga” is a word that appears on motorway bridges in northwest UK. The theory is its only purpose is to annoy drivers. The word has also been included in spams coming from alleged Hare Krishnas, and as part of a marketing scheme for the computer game Grand Theft Auto.
Devo’s “Whip It” was inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow.
Richard Nixon’s presidential library remains outside the control of the National Archives, the government agency committed to full public access to presidential records.
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.