Kestrel’s Plausible Facts
Kestrel’s Plausible Facts
Kestrel
I like to collect information. On any given day, tens (hundreds?) of questions pop into my mind that I am curious about. I try to infer answers from what I already know, and then I do a bit of research to see if I’m right. I always learn something! This blog is a collection of things I’ve researched and learned. I don’t always do deep research, which means the topics covered are sometimes quite surface-level. Just enough to satisfy my curiosity, hence “plausible” in the title. While these posts are based on what I’ve read elsewhere on the internet, they may not give the full picture. Humans can make mistakes, but it's more fun reading mistakes from humans than mistakes from LLMs.
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FRBs are “fast radio bursts,” and scientists use radio telescopes to discover them. FRBs usually come from space, at least the ones that scientists are interested in, but sometimes they come from the lunch room. Around 1998, the Parkes...
Cucumbers used to be called “cowcumbers”. Via I had to verify this one myself with my favourite source, Etymonline: Cowcumber was the common form of the word in 17c.-18c., in good literary use and representing the modern evolution of the...
If you search “the last duel in Canada,” you will find multiple sources citing the fatal duel between Robert Lyon and John Wilson in 1833. A duel so famous that the local town has a park named after it and a plaque from the Ontario...
I set out to write about bitterness in olive oil and was caught off guard by some interesting facts about the compounds that create the flavour and, sometimes, full-bodied experience of tasting a good olive oil. I recently had a chance...
I’ve been home-baking bread on and off for 15 years. I started with commercial yeast breads, and then followed The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and focused on sourdough (levain) breads. Eventually, I got tired of maintaining a starter and...
I recently came across photos of Sarah Paulson’s 2026 Met Gala outfit featuring a $1 bill covering her eyes and thought, “Oh, that tired trope.” Paulson’s outfit reminded me that I rolled my eyes when Banksy’s statue of a person with...
There are two kinds of fibre in the foods we eat. Many people think of fibre as stringy, flaky, tough things like bran, brown rice, or apple skins. Need more fibre in your diet? Eat brown bread! These fibres are called insoluble fibre. I...
I once worked on a project to bring inclusive-themed bench installations to a small municipality. The benches had an inscription on them and were painted bright colours. It was fun! The committee I worked with was adamant that the...
The only research I have done for this post is observing finches in two very distinct geographic locations. This is a true, plausible—even spurious—fact. Finches have a sinusoidal flight pattern. Meaning they flap their wings up to the...
Low bar. I know. Time’s New Roman isn’t exactly my favourite font face. Comic Sans, though? Well, I think it’s pretty good at what it does. I read Absurd Pirate’s post on Comic Sans and thought I’d share some history about Comic Sans....
Kestrels are tiny falcons, and they are cute as heck. “Kestrel” is a name applied to many different types of Falcons around the world that are similar in their size and behaviour. The name came into English circa 1600 from the French...