Wherein people throughout the ages know eating acorns doesn’t always mean you eat like a pig. Have you ever wondered if the squirrels might be onto something,” The Farmer’s Almanac asks. I’ve never wondered if they’re on to something, but by gosh I’ve wondered if they’re up to something. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed…I just know they’re … Read More
Medieval
She’s as Medicinal as Tupelo Honey
In which medieval Europeans know honey is just the thing to treat an arrow stuck in your face. A great literary figure, almost Aristotelian in his classification of the natural world, once said, “The only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey…And the only reason for making honey is so … Read More
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I Got Mummy in My Tummy
Wherein Europeans for centuries knew powdered human corpses give you the energy and strength to walk like an Egyptian…a living one. I’ve never understood people who play with their children by pretending to eat them: “Oh, you’re so cute I could eat you up! I’ll just nibble those little toes…nom nom nom!” I’m always relieved … Read More
I Love You Period
Wherein medieval scribes used dots to make texts easier to read…unless they were confusing readers with a game of dots and boxes. Punctuation marks are a tremendously important part of typeface design. To mention only monospaced fonts, the difference between “curly” quotation marks and “straight” ones (which look like little ticks around sentences) can make … Read More
