Today I learned that the scientific name for the 'Baby's breath' flower is Gypsophila[^1]. I also learned why Grackles travel in packs[^2] but that's another essay. I've been trying desperately to stuff some new new words into my noggin. I figured some of the terrible song lyrics from the 80s I know would be pushed out trying to learn the formal names of plants.
Today I learned that there is a flower that smells like shrimp. For the last week I had been asking the better half if she smelled shrimp. At first, I had just assumed that perhaps the neighbors had cooked a Beaufort stew outside and had maybe dumped some of the water into their yard. I knew I was wrong after it stuck around for a week.
Today I learned that Oxalic acid causes spinach teeth and is used in 1. Oxalic acid sticks to the calcium in your saliva and form little crystals that don't dissolve. When attached to your teeth, they produces the uncomfortable "spinach teeth" feeling.