Eric Scheske

Mesopotamia Modern day Iraq. The birthplace of civilization. This is where writing and history began. That's why it's significant. The Tigris and Euphrates fertilize the area, making it reasonably fruitful, especially where the Tigris and Euphrates come a lot closer together . . . Which is where the great

Babylon The capital of the Empire of Babylonia, which crushed Judah in 589 BC, thereby ending the Promised Kingdom. It's been hated ever since. Back before there was Nazi Germany, people who disagreed with you might juxtapose you to Babylon. Martin Luther's famous “The Whore of

Hungary How's Budapest this time of year? I tell ya, the Magyars got it goin' on. A COVID per-capita rate well below the European average [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1111779/coronavirus-death-rate-europe-by-country/] , an ongoing resistance to Muslim immigration, and BLM movements under firm control [https://www.breitbart.

Random Today I Learned Malcolm X spent his youth in Lansing, Michigan, and he attended Mason High School for a short while. Both Lansing and Mason are less than two hours from me. My high school lost to Mason in the first round of the high school playoffs about seven

Historical Liquor This is perhaps the neatest drinking story of 2020: Distiller using molecular science to hack the chemical codes of aged spirits and recreate them [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/mad-scientists-booze-recreating-spirits-going-back-era-paul-revere-180971630/] . They're bringing back bottles that, today, costs thousands of dollars, if you can even find them,

What COVID Ought to Teach Us I'm back from vacation and catching up on COVID matters. I was greeted with news that COVID cases are spiking rapidly in my county, and one of my clients has it and is "not doing well." The developments fueled my

I just returned from a short vacation. Blogging resumes tomorrow, with a solid BYCU in the wings for Friday.

Miscellany I'm not sure it's terribly compelling, but these days, I eagerly gulp down every ounce of sanity I find: "Muhammad Ali's only biological son says that his father would be against Black Lives Matter, calling the movement 'racist' and the

> June 20, 1980: 40 years ago, The Blues Brothers was released in theaters. #80s [https://twitter.com/hashtag/80s?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] pic.twitter.com/HlAgX0jlbv [https://t.co/HlAgX0jlbv] > — Old School 80s (@OldSchool80s) June 20, 2020 [https://twitter.com/OldSchool80s/status/1274334952461656067?ref_

Holiday Drinking! Juneteenth! The date in 1865 when word of the Emancipation Proclamation was formally announced in Texas [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cuomo-signs-order-making-juneteenth-a-holiday-for-state-employees] . A day to drink! If you don't drink a beer of color tonight, you're a racist. If you want to try such