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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Cool Cold Kiwis (for the Week of Feb. 22, 2009)
February 22, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: OK, here's your kiwifruit. So how can I grow my own kiwifruit? A. Thank you. Chomp. OK, here's your answer: It depends on where you live. If where you live has mildish winters — Oregon, say, or California or the ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Can the Grandma Not Get Run Over By the Reindeer? (for the Week of Dec. 9, 2007)
November 29, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: There's that song, "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." How fast would the grandma have to run to not get run over by the reindeer? A.: If the grandma is running straight away from the reindeer, as if racing ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Bumbles Bounce, Will Santa Float? (for the Week of Dec. 23, 2007)
December 20, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: Did you hear that the North Pole is melting? A.: Yes. Yes, I did. The news, as I've read it, is this: Scientists say that the polar ice cap, the frozen Arctic Ocean water, that normally covers the North Pole is melti ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Build Your Own Bee House (for the Week of June 10, 2007)
June 6, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: How can I build a house for native bees? You mentioned it last week. A. Get a piece of untreated wood about the size of a loaf of bread. Say, 12 inches long and 4-8 inches thick. ("Untreated" means it hasn't had a ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Boubou? Funny Bird Names (for the Week of Dec. 2, 2007)
November 21, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: What's a flying steamer duck? Why should we beware of it? [See last week.] A.: It's simply a duck with a funny name. Does it fly? Yes. Does it steam? It does — like a steamboat, not a teapot. But no need to beware ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Blargh of the Albatross (for the Week of Jan. 28, 2007)
January 24, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: This one time, at science camp, an albatross (albatross!) threw up on my aunt. A. Whoa! Thanks for sharing. Here's what I think: I think that the camp took a trip to a rookery. (A place where some bird types, such as al ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Bio-who-ia? (for the Week of June 18, 2006)
June 18, 2006 Q. Dear Twig: OK, I'll bite. What's bio... bio... phlablahblah? [See last week.] A. For starters: You spell it biophilia. (Ah! Hard to spell!) And you say it, "BY-oh-FILL-ee-uh." (Ah! Hard to say!) Think of it, yes, as a ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Big Z's (for the Week of July 26, 2009)
July 26, 2009 Q. Dear Twig: What's the biggest zucchini in the world? A. The book called Guiness World Records 2008 lists it as having weighed 64 pounds, 8 ounces. A man in the United Kingdom named Bernard Lavery grew it in 1990. Also very big is a ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Big Stink? Smell a Winner! (for the Week of Feb. 3, 2008)
February 3, 2008 Q. Dear Twig: What's the worst smell in the world? A. Here are two of my personal favorites, ones I've actually smelled myself (but not smelled like) (at least not that anyone's said): Snake musk, which snakes squirt to s ...
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Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Bee Good! But Why? (for the Week of June 3, 2007)
May 24, 2007 Q. Dear Twig: Alright, I'll ask. How do native bees help us? A. Most native bees go by two other names: solitary bees and pollen bees. Scientists call them solitary bees because most types live and nest alone, not in hives with thousands ...