Miscellaneous

H.I.F. From Reddit [http://www.reddit.com/]: "TIL Despite the heavy public criticism of Pope Benedict's comment that condom distribution isn't helping the fight against AIDS in Africa, the Harvard AIDS prevention director agreed with the pontiff, saying condoms may actually be exacerbating

H.I.F. When should you drink coffee or tea? Not the first thing in the morning, according to this blog post [http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/02/why-you-shouldnt-drink-coffee-in-the-morning/] . Your body naturally "self-caffeinates" for the first few hours, so you shouldn't need any caffeine until

"In Avila is the stony convent, not at all altered, where Saint Teresa experienced her visions. In the austere vestibule of that convent, the skeptical Kirk felt a presence--so strong a presence that women he knew, later, would run sobbing from the place." Russell Kirk, The Sword of

According to a new study, women are more attracted to men who talk less. Which is why you often overhear women say, "Check out that mime."

H.I.F. Politicians and generals didn't build this country. Why are they the only ones featured on our currency? James Schneider at Econlog wants to know [http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/02/who_should_we_r.html]. Dan Bourdreaux at a related website, Cafe Hayek, offers

H.I.F. Best news story out of Detroit in 40 years: Three different Detroit homeowners used guns to defend themselves against intruders this week [http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/wayne-county/3-different-homeowners-use-guns-to-defend-themselves-against-intruders-this-week] .

Max Beerbohm never completed his undergraduate studies. He dropped out of Oxford before his last year. Why? It was superfluous. At a very young age, he was already a rising man of letters. "He needed a degree," Joseph Epstein once noted, "about as much as the pope

I'm reading Catherine de Hueck's Poustinia. I'm greatly intrigued, but I have many questions. Are they exclusively associated with Madonna House [http://www.madonnahouse.org/tour/poustinia.html]? Did they ever take off like she hoped? Where do you find a Poustinia in the

Is it alright to have a futile hope? I do: I hope Latin makes a comeback, at least in the Catholic Church. I'd sell my soul to the devil for a Latin Mass! Okay, I'm exaggerating. I won't even drive an hour once a