Friday, February 2, 2018

Groundhog Day/Superbowl links


Don't like what the groundhog has to say about how long winter will last? You're in luck: Punxsutawney Phil has been correct just 39% of the time since 1887.

Jonah Goldberg's classic Groundhog Day column.



As Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell take off down the street once Groundhog Day has ended, Nat "King" Cole is singing Almost Like Being In Love - here's Mark Steyn with a history of that song.

Some Super Bowl reading:
Football during WWII, when almost all able-bodied men joined the military: The combined Steelers/Eagles team called the Steagles.
Were footballs ever actually made of pigskin?
The Lost Tribe of Gypsy Harlots: The Mythical Invasion of the Super Bowl Hookers.
ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include beer, wine and whiskey pairings for all those Girl Scout cookies you're buying, illustrated fitness tips from 1900, some February links (pagan Roman purification (februa = purify) and Mary's purification 40 days after the birth of Christ), and recreating ancient recipes. 

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Thursday links


One for Criminal Minds/Mindhunter fans: 10 Cases That Shaped the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Illustrated fitness tips from 1900.


February links - pagan Roman purification (februa = purify) and Mary's purification 40 days after the birth of Christ.

Recreating ancient recipes.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include W.C. Fields' birthday, crimes that changed history, beaming music at a potentially life-friendly exoplanet, advice from ancient Greece on which spices to rub on your livestock to make them frisky, and visiting Niagara Falls in the early 19th Century.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Monday links

"A woman drove me to drink, and I never even had the courtesy to thank her": It's W.C. Fields' birthday: quotes, a brief biography and film clips.

Goldman Sachs president's personal assistant stole $1.2 million worth of his boss's wine, then embarked on a world tour while the FBI tracked him. But who was he before?

The crimes that changed history.

Advice from ancient Greece: Need Your Livestock to Breed? Reach for the Spice Cabinet.


Is music universal? The Norwegian group Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) is beaming binary-coded music at one potentially life-friendly exoplanet 12 light-years away. 

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Australia Day, the science of why swearing reduces pain, that time the Soviet Union paid Pepsi in warships, and the anniversary of the Soviet Army liberation of Auschwitz.