Today me will live in the moment unless it's unpleasant in which case me will eat a cookie

- Cookie Monster

"Farewell, Romance!" the Cave-men said;
"With bone well carved He went away.
"Flint arms the ignoble arrowhead,
"And jasper tips the spear to-day.
"Changed are the Gods of Hunt and Dance,
"And He with these. Farewell, Romance!"

( Read more... )

Prof. Geoffrey Parker writes, of the Spanish branch of the Hapsburg family tree:
"For generation after generation, they married close relatives. Philip II's oldest son Don Carlos, arrested and imprisoned because of his dangerously unstable behavior, could boast only four grandparents instead of eight, and only six great-grand parents [sic] instead ( Read more... )

Who hath desired the Sea?-the sight of salt water unbounded ( Read more... )

from The Economist leader, "So, Mitt, what do you really believe?":
A businessman without a credible plan to fix a problem stops being a credible businessman. So does a businessman who tells you one thing at breakfast and the opposite at supper. Indeed, all this underlines the main doubt: nobody knows who this strange man really is. It is half a ( Read more... )

"Taxation without representation is tyranny!"
"No. Closing your port, revoking your colonial charter, putting royal officials beyond colonial law, and quartering soldiers in your houses, that would be tyranny."
"It sure would..."
"By an odd coincidence, I have some new laws here."
- Kenneth Hite, The Complete Idiot's Guide to U.S. History, Graphic ( Read more... )

Once upon a time* in the dead of winter in the Dakota Territory, Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat down the Little Missouri River in pursuit of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized rowboat. After several days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then ( Read more... )

Many more witty sayings are attributed to Mark Twain than he ever actually said or wrote, of course; a couple nights ago on Jeopardy there was even a whole category dedicated to "Things Mark Twain Never Actually Said." The same goes for Winston Churchill, in spades, doubled and redoubled, and I suspect the following story belongs in that category ( Read more... )

It may not be a truth universally acknowledged but it's no secret either, that names of medications are a great source for third-rate fantasy names. This insight goes back at least as far as W.S. Gilbert:

When from the poet's plinth ( Read more... )

The Little, Brown Handbook makes even footnotes exciting:
"Citing sources-Chicago style"!