The Romans were the first people on record to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Why? After all, many scholars believe that the incidents around the nativity indicate that Jesus was most likely born during spring or late fall, rather than the darkest days of winter....
When I read that “the Wall” in Game of Thrones was based on Hadrian’s Wall in Britain, I didn’t think that made a lot of sense. Then I realized that could be because I knew almost nothing about Hadrian’s Wall. So, I decided to research to look for similarities as well...
One of my law school professors told us that the name “Fitz” as part of someone’s last name indicated they were descended from a bastard son. Since Fitzgerald and similar names are commonly perceived as very Irish, I thought a blog about bastard names would tie in...
The loss of the sun in the morning due to Daylight Savings Time irritates me beyond belief. I can’t imagine living in a world without electricity, candles or even oil lamps, when the darkness of night was relieved only a distant fire or tiny points of light high up in...
I once saw a guy in my office printing out drawings of jack o’lanterns with a line through them. At first, I wondered what he had against pumpkins. How can any parent not like a smiling vegetable? Then I read the message under the picture “Sorry, no trick...
For some reason, the other day I had to look up Irish whiskey to see whether it was spelled with an “e,” and while I was checking the spelling, I learned about the history of Irish whiskey, too. It was interesting enough to inspire me to share (the...