Is it time to retire all of those old “a drink a day is good for you” studies yet? Especially since they were generally funded by associations of brewers and wineries?
According to this CBC article:
Downing as little as one alcoholic drink a day seems to increase a woman’s risk for developing cancer, according to a [...]

Today we celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, both of whom struggled mightily against backward-thinking reactionaries in their respective spheres of influence.
We all know the political controversies surrounding Darwin’s evolution theory (note that there is no scientific controversy, only a political one), and it may come as no surprise that Pope [...]

Seriously, the more I look at Catholic feast days, the more perplexed I am. Did you know that they actually have an official patron saint of banking?
It may be amusing at this point in time, with all of the bad news about the US banking system, to recall what some of the early American presidents [...]

Believe it or not, the Catholics actually have an official patroness saint of bell-ringers. Luckily, loud bell-ringing is not quite as prevalent today as it once was, but it’s still damned annoying.
From America Revisited (1883) by George Augustus Sala:
“The bell-ringing nuisance is nearly as offensive in England as it is in America, and in both [...]

From Josiah Quincy III (1772-1864), mayor of Boston:
“The journey to New York took up a week. The carriages were old and shackling, and much of the harness made of ropes. We generally reached our resting place for the night, if no accident intervened, at ten o’clock, and after a frugal supper went to bed with [...]

On this day in 1709, the Scotsman Alexander Selkirk was rescued after being stranded for 5 years on a deserted island. After returning to civilization, he became friends with Daniel Defoe, who would eventually write the novel The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
Apparently, the real inspiration for Robinson Crusoe went a little [...]