a Tuesday by any other name

Yesterday had many names. Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras.

But Shrove Tuesday? Pancake Day?
The latter two have nothing to do with the former two, apparently it is around now that a farmer's flour might start to go bad... and what do you make when you need to use up your flour but pancakes? And now it's just an excuse to get together with your friends and have breakfast for dinner.

I learned that there aren't really any summer camps in the UK, not overnight camps. I figured they were a fairly universal thing for kids.


Super Tuesday.
During the coffee break in my Atomic & Molecular Physics class yesterday, we had a much more animated discussion about the Super Tuesday primaries than we did about atomic orbitals... I think the lecturer was the only other American there, and though the elections are not something I've heard discussed in dinner table conversation recently, I'm still surprised at how informed most students seem to be about the American elections.
That said, given their knowledge of the candidates, there are still many fine distinctions I need to make clear: the difference between spring primaries and the November elections, that Republican and Democrat primaries are seperate, and that other elections will occur alongside the Presidential one.

Still you must admit it's impressive.