The Daily Feather — SKUNKED!

Whether on skin or fur, use the following recipe:

• 1 quart of 3% (household strength) hydrogen peroxide

• ¼ cup of baking soda

• 1 teaspoonful of liquid dish detergent

Forget the bears! Do not poke the skunk! On Wednesday night, the husband of Virginia Hassell, one of QI’s three who’ve been with the company from Day 1, poked a skunk. I may be in Culver, Indiana, some 1,211 miles north of Dripping Springs, Texas…but I’d swear I can smell what happened next! Did you know that the liquid a skunk sprays is an organic compound called a thiol? Per Poison.org, “Despite its small size, a skunk can eject up to 5 mL of this oil per gland (so up to a total of 10 mL, which is 2 teaspoonfuls) at their target and for up to an impressive 20 feet with excellent aim. They have a nipple-like protrusion on each anal gland that allows for a precise stream of noxious fluid. When in the air, the odor is detectable at concentrations as low as only about 1 part per billion. This is the equivalent of one sheet in a roll of toilet paper stretching from New York to London.”

Speaking of London, policymakers at the Bank of England were compelled to hike the overnight by 50 basis points (bps), twice what the market was expecting.