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I'll never forget reading about the Pompitous of Love in the Straight Dope a few years ago, on my cross-country trip. It satisfied a lifelong curiosity.
In general, long drives across the Southwest are an excellent time to read things like the Straight Dope books. Thank God we had it with us. I still remember clearly everything I learned from that compendium.
(We also had the audiobook Snow Falling on Cedars; so every time I think of the Plains states, I also think of Japanese internment camps and grisly murder).
Heh. No. I had a travelin' companion. But when one of us was driving, the other's job was to be entertaining, which entailed reading aloud quite a bit.