as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
Have a drink with: You. Just have a drink. 2021’s off to a start, huh? Talk about: What wine goes with an attempted coup? Yesterday’s breach of the United States Capitol by a shaggy horde of insurrectionists egged on by the President of the United States was a historical anomaly of the worst kind: the…
Have a drink with: The Greely Expedition Survivor: Climate Research Edition Ask them about: Eating your shoes Hey folks! If you think you’ve got it bad having to stay home for Thanksgiving, well, at least you’re not marooned in the Arctic having to eat your shoes for dinner. My piece on the ill-fated Greely Arctic…
Raise a glass to: Democracy Vote! Vote! Vote! Look. A lot of people are saying a lot of things about Election Day. The results may take too long. Is absentee balloting trustworthy? And what the hell is up with the Electoral College? It is all very stressful. But these questions are not new, and there…
Have a drink with: Mark Twain & Henry David Thoreau Bring water, though. Ask them about: grilling tips One of the current West Coast wildfires made news recently when investigation revealed it had been started by smoke bombs at a California gender reveal party. The accident (not the first of its kind, following a similar…
Have a drink with: Postal Inspectors Don’t mess with the postal service. Ask them about: Snow, rain, gloom of night, Tommy guns When former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was arrested recently on charges of defrauding donors to an online fundraising campaign known as “We Build the Wall,” it was by agents of the United States…
Have a drink with: Your Local Mountebank Healthcare! Fireworks! Toads! Ask him about: What ails you We’re all getting a lot of weird healthcare advice lately, and I admit that it’s hard to stomach the idea that our country, which vanquished polio and smallpox with scientific elbow grease, is entertaining the medical expertise of a…
Have a drink with: The 1919 Anti-Mask League NO BARS, okay? NO. Ask them about: Coughing in large groups Since COVID-19 became a public health emergency in March, different cities and states have responded with protective measures, many of them including a recommendation or a requirement to wear a mask when in proximity to other…
The Flour Rioters of 1837 Bread, meat, rent and fuel Ask them about: sourdough starter? In the pandemic months of 2020, one of the most initially surprising facts of life was the desolation of the supermarket baking aisle, with flour in desperately short supply as we all stress-baked our way through isolation. It isn’t the first…
Have a drink with: Black Historians Ask them about: Maybe just listen. Here’s something I found while I was researching this week. It’s a column from a September 1863 issue of Scientific American: Part of the process of researching a subject is looking at all the adjacent issues that you encounter along the way, building…
Have a drink of: ANYTHING BUT BLEACH. Disinfectants are not medicine. Ask about: No. Don’t. Just DON’T. I can’t believe I have to say this, much less marshal the historical evidence to prove it, but, please: don’t drink bleach. Don’t inhale bleach. Don’t inject bleach. DON’T USE BLEACH TO DO ANYTHING BUT CLEAN UP AROUND…
