Things Learned While Looking Up Other Things: the messy mind of a fact hoarder

The journalist Sydney J. Harris (who died way back in 1986) would occasionally include works titled “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things” in his syndicated column, which I used to read in The Charlotte Observer newspaper. That’s essentially what this post is about. When you tell everyone that you stole someone else’s idea, […]

Things Learned While Doing Other Things: The Tangential Thinking Edition

I’ve written this sort of list before. I was inspired by late journalist Sydney J. Harris, who would occasionally print a column entitled “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things.” Like Mr. Harris, I have a tendency to collect random factoids that rarely even appear as Jeopardy clues. My brain is just wired that […]

More Music Facts Learned While Looking Up Other Things

This post was inspired by the late journalist Sydney J. Harris who would occasionally write a column he called “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things,” in which he included bits of trivia that just didn’t fit into any other column he was writing. My wife and I were watching an old episode of […]

More Facts About Words and Phrases Learned While Looking Up Other Things

As always, I give all credit for the idea of this post to the late journalist Sydney J. Harris, who would occasionally include something he called “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things” in his syndicated column. This is a post about words and phrases. As a writer, these are my building blocks, so […]

Fun Facts Learned While Looking Up Other Things (Smorgasbord Edition)

This post was inspired by the late journalist Sydney J. Harris who would occasionally write a column he called “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things,” in which he included bits of trivia that just didn’t fit into any other column he was writing. In my previous editions, each post had a separate theme. […]

Facts About Words and Phrases Learned While Looking Up Other Things

Fun Music Facts I Learned While Looking Up Other Things

Fun Trek Facts I Learned While Looking Up Other Things

The journalist Sydney J. Harris used to write a syndicated column that I always read on the back page of The Charlotte Observer when I was a teenager. Occasionally, he would write a column he called “Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things,” in which he included bits of trivia that just didn’t […]

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learned while looking up other things