Fans of Monty Python movies may remember this scene about a killer bunny from the Holy Grail [warning: it’s meant to be funny, but the over-the-top gore may be somewhat upsetting]. What makes it memorable—and comical, in a black-humor kind… Read More
Practically everyone knows that Harry Potter received a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, sustained as an infant when Voldemort tried to strike him dead with a killing curse. But what I didn’t know, until I recently read Adrienne Mayor’s fascinating… Read More
The 10,000-man Greek army, led by its general, Xenophon, was heading home from a battle with Persia in 401 BC when the weary men pitched camp in a lovely area called Trabzon, near the Black Sea. There they feasted on… Read More
The Persian king, Mithradates IV (134 − 63 BC), was so afraid of being poisoned that he regularly drank small amounts of different poisons in an attempt to develop immunity. He was said to have developed an antidote for poisoning… Read More