Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold, And the mate of the Nancy brig, And a bo’sun tight, and a midshipmite And the crew of the captain’s gig. The elderly naval man in W.S. Gilbert’s Yarn of the Nancy Bell, who survived by dining on his mates, was fictional, but survivors of […]
Category: Personal history
Death penalty abolished in 30-year reform campaign
Law and order 1822-1967 From my book, About Canada, Toronto, Civil Sector Press, 2012. For some two centuries, the death penalty hung over the parts of North America that eventually became Canada, before it was abolished—for all but military crimes. Under British law, there were some 230 crimes that carried the death penalty, early in […]
Holy urine cure
Taken both as a drink and applied externally, urine has been called the world’s oldest medicine. A 5,000-year-old religious Sanskrit text, the Damar Tantra, extolled its benefits. British actress Sarah Miles, in a 2007 newspaper interview, said she had been drinking her own urine for 30 years as immunization against allergies, among other supposed benefits. […]